While out walking lately, I’ve been smelling the early sings of spring: those deep wafts of dirt-ridden umami. Earth poo beginning to regenerate life (and actual poo, revealed from within the melting snowbanks). Like death warmed over, in the words of Bill Callahan.
Most of the walking I’ve been doing lately has been to the office. I’m happy to finally share that I’ve been invited to work as programming director with Suoni Per Il Popolo, a festival I’ve long admired. We’re planning a month’s worth of live shows this June and there’s so much I’m excited about. We’ll be releasing details over the coming weeks. For now and until then, more music, regularly.
click on the covers to listen or go your own way ~~
Terre’s Neu Wuss Fusion - A Crippled Left Wing Soars With The Right (2001)
This is one of the most exciting and addictive pieces of music I’ve heard in a good while. As I’ve mentioned before, house music is relatively new terrain for me, and discovering the work of Terre Thaemlitz (aka DJ Sprinkles) has felt like the lightning rod moment. Her work embodies a righteous insistence, pushing against the auditory edges of the music and pushing back against the expectations of the capitalistic, heteronormative mechanisms that surround it; all the while locating a very specific heart and spirit of the idea of house music (as I’m coming to understand it). And this piece in particular is just such an ungodly, inside-out groove.
Prefab Sprout - Jordan: The Comeback (1990)
My other current addiction: track two of this album, ‘Wild Horses’. There simply aren’t words to convey the feeling imparted by its tinselly, lip-biting, white-boy funk. There are plenty of other incredible songs on Jordan too, plus a few stinkers and at least one I wish didn’t exist. Guess which one and I’ll send you an album in the format of your choosing.
Márta Sebestyén - Dúdoltam Én (1987)
The real heads know.
Mica Levi - Jackie OST (2020)
For whatever reason, I didn’t listen to this on initial release when it was making the rounds propelled by heaps of praise (and I still haven’t seen the movie). What I did do recently, however, is walk home with this in my headphones and a disorienting level of hunger in my body. The city sky fading thin purple and blurry gold behind the late evening snow. Highly recommend!
Abdul Wadud - By Myself (1977)
This is near the outer limits of ‘out’ in terms of the music I generally share on The Reg. I’m including it here to encourage you to put some time aside for a complete and focused listening. The way in which Wadud is able to commune with his instrument and activate a versatile set of sonic traditions is untouched in my mind. There’s something really special about how this work pulls the listener to and through new ideas. Giving this album some undivided attention really pays off. It’s just one guy and a cello, how weird/groovy could it really be?
Baligh Hamdi - Instrumental Modal Pop of 1970's Egypt
A compilation highlighting a decade in which Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi was at the height of his powers. Having spent the 60s composing hit songs for many prominent Arabic singers, he then assembled his dream cast of players to record instrumental sets of his originals, each full of sharp grooves, enacted with deadly precision. *bonus point: Hamdi composed the song ‘Khosara Khosara’, a sample of which became the bedrock of ‘Big Pimpin’’. In 2015, the use of the sample was contested by Hamdi’s descendants, not on the grounds of improper licensing but based on the fact that Jay-Z’s song was misogynistic and therefore violated Hamdi’s moral rights under Egyptian law. The case caught headlines but was eventually thrown out before it reached a jury.
I’m super interested in feedback / dialogue / suggestions. If you have ideas about the newsletter, want to share music with me, have specific questions / requests, don’t hesitate to get in touch. And please: share this newsletter with a pal if you feel so inspired!
Yrs.,
Andrew P.
andrewdanielpatterson [at] gmail [dot] com