Aria Orion - Let The Sharp Stone Fly (2009)

Ok, here's something else. It comes from the distant stars of Aria Orion, circa 2009. The singer uses her powerful, haunting yet comforting voice that compels me to stay. Upright bass, subtle percussion, the rhythm changes, keeps you on your toes, very intriguing stuff.

http://www.mediafire.com/?lzmyjmjzywn

Favours For Sailors - Furious Sons (2009)

Reminds me of Television, something you can dance to. A chorus of crashing guitars and delicious licks. Singer sounds a bit like Robert Smith on dopamine, upbeat Dexy's, I don't know. The words are dark but the music is more like sunshine. This gives me hope for music.

http://www.mediafire.com/?lzmyjmjzywn

Captain Beefheart - Safe as Milk (1967), The Kinks - Face to Face (1966)

1966 was a good year for 'pop music'... The Beatles released Revolver, which was pretty fucking good, but The Kinks released Face to Face, which doesn't get enough credit.

http://rapidshare.com/files/55880456/1966_-_Face_to_face_By_sXcAp_.rar

The following year, Don and or Van Vilet aka Captain Beefheart was breaking all the barriers.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DFGBTE7H

Scientist - Rids The World Of The Evil Curse Of The Vampires (1981)

Wag wan chile, dis is no pappy-show, no relic from King Tubby or Lee Perry, it is not da rub-a-dub mystic world of Augustus Pablo, but it's arie, sane? Take dis Hallowe'en dub music for the magic time when da Rastafar become vampire zombies. I be hearin deep bone rattles, whispers of graveyard duppies and voodoo laughs far too long Jah. It is time- I am gone. Seriously though, this is a cool album, and there are very few references to scary creatures of the night.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ndzmmumjmlu

Otis Redding - Otis Blue (1965)

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?lowoay25mt2

Mt. Moon - A Burial in Seven Births (2009)

Looking into the future? Maybe you have take in the whole view and savour it to get perspective. Got some droney dream language here. The last song has some beautiful harmonies and the song before that is real sad. Not going to tell you how it starts.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yemx10zhuwb

Ornette Coleman - Something Else!!!!

Back to the future.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mm1tnyyliz2

School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms (2008)

The art of climbing. Listening to this right now and if you are a fan of Cocteau Twins, High Places, Deerhunter, any sound of that nature, you should probably wrap your ears around this. Shimmering melodies and vocals mixed with wonky tribal dance-loops. It's making me dizzy.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mdzzhhkdmmq

Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt (2004)

First the Finns, now the Swedes. Dungen is definitely channelling The Who and Love.. but everything is where it should be. The drumming is crisp. The melodies are strong. The little bursts of horns and piano and solos are there, but it's raw and authentic. No idea what they're singing about, but they seem to be having a good time.

http://www.mediafire.com/?zmtcdfwrozj - link courtesy of http://glowingraw.blogspot.com/

The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985)

"I saw my task... was to capture them in their delapidated glory before some more professional producer fucked them up," Elvis Costello wrote of his role behind the controls for the Pogues' second album, Rum Sodomy & the Lash.

Rowdy Irish folk. Good drinking music.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G3W4BV09

Dr. John - Gris gris (1968)

Dr. John tripping out, voodoo funk.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ouzqlztyd0g

Happy Mondays - Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches (1990)

House/dance music with humour, huge beats and lyrics, recommended for horny hippies.

http://rapidshare.com/files/182157700/Happy_Mondays_-_Pills__n__Thrills_and_Bellyaches.rar.html

Beck - Odelay (1996)

One of my favourite albums when I was younger. The noises really get to you. His new stuff ain't too shabby neither.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?0lpdz1u3849

Ibrahim Hamma Dicko

Born in 1937, Ibrahim Hamma Dicko started singing very early in childhood because he was discovered to be a wonderful interpreter of Koranic verses during religious ceremonies. He settled in Gao, a little town in Mali on the edge of the desert beside the Niger River, between Timbuktu and Niamey. His songs are the real proof of the diversity and richness of Malian music, revealing such great talents as Salif Keïta, Nahawa Doumbia, Abdoulaye Diabaté and Oumou Sangaré just to mention a few. —Courtesy Calabash Music

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2IQMPN4Z

Lotus Plaza - The Floodlight Collective (2009)

I don't know much about this band but I'm digging the sounds. I hear Atlas Sound/Deerhunter is involved. I think Bradford Cox is turning into Devendra, with his hands in every pot.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8AGBEALS

Tinariwen - Aman Iman: Water is Life (2007), Group Bombino - Guitars from Agadez, Vol. 2 (2009)

http://www.mediafire.com/?aottnsgz356

Some wikified history:
The Tuareg are a nomadic pastoralist people. They are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa. They call themselves variously Kel Tamasheq or Kel Tamajaq ("Speakers of Tamasheq"), Imuhagh, Imazaghan or Imashaghen ("the Free people"), or Kel Tagelmust, i.e., "People of the Veil" [...] Long-standing competition for resources in the Sahel has caused Tuareg conflicts with neighboring African groups, especially after political disruption and economic constraints following French colonization and independence. [...] In the 1980s rebel fighters founded Tinariwen, a Tuareg band that fuses electric guitars and indigenous musical styles. Tinariwen is one of the best known and authentic Tuareg bands. Especially in areas that were cut off during the Tuareg rebellion (e.g., Adrar des Iforas), they were practically the only music available.


Group Bombino is also good. The guitars, drumming, chanting and clapping is hypnotic.

http://www.mediafire.com/?uzmdiaw1mqi

Madvillain - Madvillainy (2004)

Like the host says on Bistro - just lay back, have a good time, and enjoy the music.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ndz4jeyjziz

Clinic - Internal Wrangler (2001)

I like Clinic because they have a really unique sound. I would describe it as freaky dance music (Return of Evil Bill), but they can also write striking little ballads (Distortions). Singer sounds a bit like Thom Yorke. AMG is usually a helpful music site, but the combination of words they use to describe the moods of this album are hilarious: volatile, playful, paranoid, brooding, intense, sparse, nocturnal, ambitious???

http://www.mediafire.com/?jmwl1ujnyjz

Calexico - Carried to Dust (2008)

Calexico is dusty, mellow folk-rock with horns, giving it a kind of up-beat, Latin vibe.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OEB6VE93

Kuupuu - Unilintu, Islaja - Paala Aurinkoon (2009)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/yttmg1nmhcj/Unilintu.rar

Joanna Karanka aka Kuupuu is part of the Finnish Free Folk scene (artist names include Avarus, Anaksimandros, Kukkkiva Poliisi, and Maniacs Dream). I hear bells, keys, noises, and chanting coming from a haunted electronic forest. If that's too weird for you, as it is for me, Islaja is a bit more accessible. It sounds like a choir of detuned guitars swirling through waves of Leipäjuusto.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/yyojmtjzzqm

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonu

Dare you not to move to this music.

http://www.4shared.com/file/81852844/c7c00747/T_P_Orchestre_Poly-Rythmo_de_Cotonou_-_The_Vodoun_Effect.html

EPMD - Strictly Business (1988), Business Never Personal (1992)

Funky old school hip/hop.

Business Never Personal:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=892JR7T4
Strictly Business:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3XHQGAOS

Weave EP (2009), The Raincoats (1981)

http://www.mediafire.com/?gin2ed5wh1j

WEAVE! is just a little EP. Reminds me of a tribal Santogold. Kinda fun. Makes me think of this other noisy grrrl band called The Raincoats. If you like The Pretenders, Blondie, you might wanna check them out.

http://rapidshare.com/files/116626838/Raincoats1983.zip

Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker (2009)

Lo-fi stories that explore life with a friendly guitar and a funny host. Half-way through it starts to drift a bit and lose a little focus... not necessarily a bad thing.

http://rapidshare.com/files/127000508/Kurt_Vile_-_Constant_Hitmaker__2008_.rar.html

A.R. Kane - "i" (1989)

Thinking about 4AD brought back some memories about that whole music scene. I nearly crapped my pants when I remembered I had this album. This stuff is pretty crazy. It's a potent mixture of dream pop, dub, dance, electronica... The name is A.R.Kane but I swear it comes from the future.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ymykrzkqrwy

Cocteau Twins - Treasure (1984), Heaven or Las Vegas (1990)

Probably the most influential band 4AD ever signed. Listening to them is like a taking a warm bath in a frozen, deserted dream. No idea what language is being sung, but it doesn't matter, the words and noises are alien and heavenly and weird and liquid. Treasure is dark, HoLV is a bit lighter and where I would start if you've never heard them.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MR92I1XN - Treasure
http://www.mediafire.com/?2yyytmjmywm - Heaven or Las Vegas

This indie darling Marissa Nadler is also channelling their vibe - I would go so as far to say ripping them off. Her voice is a carbon copy, the only difference is she uses real words.

Treasure
Heaven Or Las Vegas

Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One (1997)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/hb9uoy

Lula Côrtes y Zé Ramalho - Paêbirú (1974)

I stumbled on to this from a Portugese music forum. Paêbirú is an obscure Brazilian psychedelic concept album about the four elements (earth, air, fire, water) that was lost to time in a warehouse fire in 1974. It contains wild experimental jazz freak outs. It's more fun than anything, instrumental in every sense of the word.

http://www.mediafire.com/?bz8f7u6tqlg

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains (2009)

http://www.mediafire.com/?qlfnmfemtzj

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone (2009)

Yeeeeeeeah Neko!
I think this is being released in a couple weeks...
Please don't be angry with me for spreading your lovely music.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/pvkpbz

The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II (1994)

Ohhhh shit.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LVGFKQFD

Reverend Beat-Man - Surreal Folk Blues Gospel Trash (2007)

Raw, psychobilly carnage. I don't know if I believe everything the good Reverend says, but I know you'll enjoy his stories. Makes me think of a drunk, depressed, Iggy Pop.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=C23FXXCM

Department of Eagles - In Ear Park (2008)

Not your typical walk in ear park, this is unique and intriguing and it needs your attention. The songs are drenched in some velvet dark poppy goo, heavy on the piano, too.

http://www.mediafire.com/?enjzzuokndt

Here We Go Magic (2009)

Don't know much about this band, reminds me of Caribou. First half of the album sets a mellow funky electronic pace but then it gets too weird and droney for me for a few songs and then it ends with a bang good pop song.

http://www.mediafire.com/?w4jwwimntjm

Benoît Pioulard - Précis (2006)

Some French-American dude who uses a pseudonym and sings in English. Kinda like Grizzly Bear in that folky dream pop vein. Easy to dive into the hazy melancholic atmosphere throughout the album but it never feels depressing. Highly recommended for sleep.

http://www.mediafire.com/?oh43vhzmglm

Santogold (2008)

Santogold is a lady mixing dub and dance and pop. Think No Doubt + MIA. Infectious tunes.

http://www.mediafire.com/?zbj2m94nyml

M. Pyres - Consider Me Ghost (2009)

M. Pyres - Experimental lo-fi punk, like No Age and Abe Vigoda. These are just demos, but if they were more polished, they'd lose that distorted fuzzy goodness.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?lhmldmmlk4l

Phantom Buffalo - Shishimumu (2005)

I don't know how to describe Phantom Buffalo. Soothing and strange. Kinda reminds me of the Flaming Lips. The lyrics, like the album cover and the song names are sometimes absurd, childish (Domestic Pet Growing Seeds, Distracting Salamander) and sometimes weird, alienating (Parasitic Wedding Vows, Ask Your Grandmother). The album starts off slow and builds up to some really intriguing pop tunes. The more you listen the more you pick up on insightful lyrics and melodies.. but it's a little disturbing, like the horizon burning in the corner.

http://www.mediafire.com/?bkm1bmbax3g

Dub Collosus - A Town Called Addis (2008)

Trippy dub music with epic chants, fat bass, soothing guitar, and funky horn/wind solos. Haven't heard anything like it.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OZF5TQ7Y

Take Me Away Fast

The story of a DJ who roams around West Africa talking to legends and digging for rare voodoo funk records. I can't wait for this documentary to be released.

Check out the trailer here:
http://www.trotroproductions.com/Works-in-Progress.html

Animal Collective + Vahsti Bunyan = Prospect Hummer (2005)

http://www.mediafire.com/?iblyvqn32zp