There is the overwhelming sense of an ethnographic forgery which holds deep reverence for sources and inspirations, bending them into an authored Fourth World authenticity entirely Florian Fricke's own." Euan Andrews Gongs and cymbals are gently rubbed while pan pipes breezily whistle and toot. "Declamatory voices wail from on high plateaux, as waves of analogue synths ebb and flow in blissful tidal surge. Read our review of Cheese Brain Fondue here The whole thing sounds dynamic and vast." Tristan Bath For one thing, it captures the band as a truly immense sonic force to be reckoned with. "The whole thing is a massive, multi-coloured, fuzzy triumph.
Terminal Cheesecake - Cheese Brain Fondue (En Concert Á L'Embobineuse, Marseille) And it's really what pushed me to actually start. There was this unfinished quality to it, that I learned from. "I wanted to pick Haha Sound, because I think there's a lot of very beautiful songs on it, and in fact it may well be their masterpiece, but I Tender Buttons, because it had a huge effect on me. This particular mix, Middle Eastern Heavens II, was made for Jakarta Radio." John Doran, for the Guardianĩ2. I don’t know much about the compiler of this great mix, apart from the fact that he’s called Ernesto Chahoud aka DJ Spindle, he’s Lebanese, he’s the founder of the Beirut Groove Collective and a big collector of Middle Eastern belly dance music. Ernesto Chahoud - Jakarta Radio Middle Eastern Heavens II It's been a cold rainy summer and we've all been stuck inside listening to music up here." Jenny Hvalĩ3. Else Marie Pade - Electronic Works 1958 - 1995 "Knitting Factory's excellent Fela Kuti reissue programme keeps on rolling out, and I for one am not complaining." John Doranĩ4. Custom built for having a psychedelic dancefloor meltdown to." John Doran "There's something almost weirdly Fairport Convention-esque about this loose limbed, Brit disco rarity given a second lease of life by Boom, especially standout track 'Magic Mandrake'. Simply put, this record is minimal: simple drum machine and absolutely mad lyrics, mad singers all the way through, long tracks, double vinyl." Neil Barnes, Leftfield It's a dirty record, that's what this is. The only place I know that you can listen to it is on YouTube. I could only get it on vinyl and it sold out immediately. "From what I can guess about Paranoid London, they're not playing the digital game at all. Paranoid London - Paranoid London (digital reissue) "If, for whatever reason, you've remained immune to the charms of experimental, Middle Eastern influenced rock trio, Sun City Girls so far, then this is almost certainly the entry point to their bewilderingly large back catalogue you've been looking for." John Doranĩ7. Not recommended for Daesh sympathisers." Richard Fosterĩ9. "I'm in love with funky music / Simple melodies make me smile" sings Beckie Bell over a uptempo shuffle. The lyrics are often surprisingly un-disco, too "Tant pis Cést la Vie", anyone? But regardless of the undercurrent of melancholy in some tracks, this is a h.a.p.p.y. Kelly's 'Drôle D’Histoire D’Amour' is a stand out in this regard with bass squiggles and synth sweeps meeting a Greek chorus head on, whilst Kelly sorts out her love life on the blower. Most of the tracks boast a snazzy mix of 80's pop, soul and classic disco all whipped up into the smoothest, shiniest, finger-popping sound imaginable. "Despite the resoundingly un-PC cover, French Disco Boogie Sounds (1975 - 1984) is a tonic for these serious times. Various Artists - French Disco Boogie Sounds (1975 - 1984) Thanks for showing an interest in what we do I hope you enjoy this music as much as we have this year and please do have a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year. His words were so inspirational I feel they should only be read on one knee, facing magnetic north while wearing one's most ostentatious hat and, ideally a velvet cape bearing one's family crest. However, nothing I can say here can top the stirring words that my good friend and tQ co-pilot Luke Turner imparted last week about the health and diversity of music in the "fucked bottom". If you add these two lists together and then combine them with our top tracks list (due to run next Thursday) then, in short, you get the clearest indication of what we're about and the sort of musical avenues we're going to be exploring next year.
It is a top 100 of reissues, compilations, DJ mixes, live albums, splits, box sets, anthologies and the all important "etc." category, voted for by Christian Eede, Sophie Coletta, Laurie Tuffrey, Luke Turner and myself (with some suggestions from Richard Turner and Mat Colegate). The second of our big end of year charts is just as important as the albums of the year list that we ran last week - if not more so in my opinion.