Sunday, January 30, 2011

Wild Weekend Vol. 49




















Sunday already? High time for Wild Weekend #49. Let´s see, what do we have here... Well, Tomatito salutes his uncle in Andalusian style, while Tom Russell spends some precious time in the last bar on earth. Meanwhile in the female vocals department, we´ve got a Helen, a Tracyanne and even a Bezunesh. Cool, no? In any case, be sure to have a wild one, y´all.

First we move to sunny Spain to meet up with Tomatito, the virtuoso longhaired gitano who succeeded Paco de Lucía as the principal guitar sidekick of legendary singer Camarón. The little tomato´s Barrio Negro (´91) was a nuevo flamenco album that received high praise almost everywhere, but when I bought it recently it proved just a little too light for my personal taste alas. However, this ode to his uncle Miguel is a timeless gem. Back in the States, let´s zoom in on Chicago, where we encounter a fairly young combo called Disappears. Their brand new longplayer Guider fuses the feedback and fuzz of the Mary Chain with the angst of early Joy Division, adding a whiff of kraut- and postrock à la fellow windy city dwellers Tortoise into the mix to speed things up a bit. Dark stuff this.

Tomatito - A Mi Tio "El Nino Miguel" MP3
Disappears - Halo MP3

Ethiopia´s on our radar once again now, with a groovy song from volume 13 in the truly amazing Ethiopiques series. Presenting Bezunesh Bekele, a lady with a very special voice indeed. And all that shiny brass in the background isn´t too shabby, either. There´s more excellent - and rare - Bezunesh stuff available on the interwebs of course: do pay a visit to the interesting Freedomblues blog for instance. Happy hunting. More female vocals up next, with the charming Helen Love from Wales and her cool tribute to ole Joey Ramone. "All you got to do is call me, there´s a girl who loves you on the other side of the world..." Pop bliss, dearies.

Bezunesh Bekele - Atrakegn MP3
Helen Love - Joey Ramoney MP3

Was playing the iPod in the car the other day when an old Tom Russell song came up. Had almost forgotten just how fine Out In California actually is, kinda like a Carver short story set to music. "I´m sitting here drinking in the last bar on earth..." When you´ve got a first line like that, nothing can go wrong I guess. And we´ll leave you for now with a ramshackle but fun tune from last year a pal of mine just brought to my attention. Gospel Music is a side project of Owen Holmes of the Black Kids, giving him the chance to sing duettes with all kinds of pretty-voiced dudettes. And in the case of Automobile, which gets plenty bonus points just for the use of a melodica, the lucky lady in question just happens to be Camera Obscura´s Tracyanne Campbell. "Take me to the forest, to the mountains, to the bay..."

Tom Russell - Out In California MP3
Gospel Music - Automobile MP3

No comments: