Tag Archives for audioblog

Monday Evening Awesome African Tape

Another awesome tape from Africa, courtesy of the blog of the same name. Karamoko Keita does mellow guitar jamming with male-female call and response vocals. “This tape is legendary in my world,” writes ATFA proprietor Brian Shimkovitz. He continues:

I bought this tape in a neighborhood in Accra, Ghana. Known for its high concentration of people from other West African countries, Nima is one of the busiest, and toughest, places in town. Several tape shops lie along the main road that bisects this enormous slum. The shop where I found this Karamoko Keita recording has tapes you can’t find anywhere else in the city, tapes from Nigeria, Mali, Ivory Coast…that shop is chill.

Head over to Awesome Tapes From Africa to access the full 41 minutes of African guitar bliss.

Tuesday Evening Listening: When You Awake Mixtapes

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Our pal Jody over at When You Awake has a new mixtape up, put together by Akron/Family member Dana Janssen. It’s called Top 10 Songs To Ride A Bike Thru NYC To and it features pedal-pushing hits from Harvey Milk, Fela, Tinariwen and Lil Wayne. It’s an annotated mixtape, naturally, so you can also look for tips on what to look out for (curbs) and drink after the ride (kombucha). Check it out here.

She also reminds us that Akron/Family will be playing a three-night run at the Steve Allen Theatre here in Los Angeles on March 10, 11 and 12, no doubt previewing material from their new album, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free, due out on May 5. The show is presented by Arthur and Aquarium Drunkard, and all you need to know is found by clicking here.

While you’re over at When You Awake you should also totally check out their double-disc set of post-Valentine’s Day jams, Music For The Morning After, featuring one disc of songs selected by bands like Vetiver, Howlin Rain and Beachwood Sparks. Disc two has another set of jams picked by writers, bloggers and DJs including Aquarium Drunkard, Little Radio, and a very special foresty nugget contributed by your humble Arthur Magazine contributing editor. Go get it here.

More on our selection, Kate Wolf’s “Early Morning Melody,” plus a bonus track after the jump.

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Tapes and Tapes and Tapes

In a technological down-shift that will warm many an aging Deadhead’s heart, cassette tapes continue to be the medium of choice deep in the American underground. This embrace of outmoded audio technology is old news to regular readers of Bull Tongue, Byron Coley and Thurston Moore’s Arthur column — new installments of which will be featured here on the Arthur site — but even old hands can find this network of brilliant and often purposefully obscure music tricky to navigate.

Among the many resources that your contributing editor consults in searching out the latest drone and psychedelic noise releases is Expressway To My Skull, an audioblog and review site maintained by Vancouver’s Mark E. Rich. Rich is on vacation at the moment, but prior to leaving he posted Expressway’s Guide To The Cassette Underground, a handy digest of “earth psych” labels, DIY distributors and cassette-only radio shows.

You can also check out his monthly cassette review columns by clicking here. Have a nice vacation, Mark.

(And P.S. thanks for the Bull Tongue shout-out.)