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1000 results for “buffyleigh”
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Gratien Midonet – Fô Ou Tchimbi – Decision (1989, Martinique)
As randomly chosen by survey[1] on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 718 on The List, submitted by myself (buffyleigh).
At the beginning of this project, after we had amassed a few hundred album titles for The List and started to see where there were gaps, a few of us went searching around for gems that we maybe weren’t all that familiar with, but knew had to be included. This was one such artist I stumbled on, our only artist representing the Caribbean island of Martinique (in the French West Indies/Antilles).
I had a hard time deciding which of Midonet’s four albums to include, and still think maybe I should have picked his first, Ven en Lévé (1979). The title track of that one seems to have been an anthem of sorts for Martinique’s independence movement, and was apparently banned from French radio for 2 years. But then the second and third albums – L’Inité (1980) and Bourg La Folie (1984; a soundtrack to a since lost film by Antillean director Benjamin Jules Rosette) – as well as this one are all excellent, all highlight Midonet’s Creole lyricism, and all have their particular charms. And so, I simply went with the one that I thought would perhaps entice people to go back and check out the rest of the discography.
Anyway, if descriptions like “tropical acid folk”, “cosmic reggae jazz”, “transcendental fusion”, and “psychedelic dance” pique your interest, I would suggest you take a listen through them all. A compilation is also available, for a quick survey. Whichever you choose, it’s a good decision.
Happy listening.
- Bandcamp: Gratien Midonet – Fô Ou Tchimbi – Decision
- Discogs: Gratien Midonet – Fô Ou Tchimbi – Decision
- The survey choices that initially led to this spotlight were “He flows like the big muddy, but that’s okay”, “Pour him over ice cream”, and “for a nice parfait”, following the earlier surveys that had “Well, I don’t want no Abba Zabba”/“Don’t want no Almond Joy”/“There ain’t nothing better”/“Suitable for this boy”, “Well, it’s the only thing that can pick me up”/“Better than a cup of gold”/“See only a chocolate Jesus”/“Can satisfy my soul”, and “When the weather gets rough”/“And it’s whiskey in the shade”/“It’s best to wrap your savior”/“Up in cellophane”. The second option was the winning selection, and the survey result was translated as picking an album in The List that contained a word in the phrase – in this case, “him”, hidden in the word “Tchimbi”. ↩︎
#1001OtherAlbums #1980s #acidFolk #Antilles #Creole #CreoleSoul #funk #GratienMidonet #ListenToThis #Martinique #music #musicDiscovery #Musodon #WestIndies
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Gratien Midonet – Fô Ou Tchimbi – Decision (1989, Martinique)
As randomly chosen by survey[1] on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 718 on The List, submitted by myself (buffyleigh).
At the beginning of this project, after we had amassed a few hundred album titles for The List and started to see where there were gaps, a few of us went searching around for gems that we maybe weren’t all that familiar with, but knew had to be included. This was one such artist I stumbled on, our only artist representing the Caribbean island of Martinique (in the French West Indies/Antilles).
I had a hard time deciding which of Midonet’s four albums to include, and still think maybe I should have picked his first, Ven en Lévé (1979). The title track of that one seems to have been an anthem of sorts for Martinique’s independence movement, and was apparently banned from French radio for 2 years. But then the second and third albums – L’Inité (1980) and Bourg La Folie (1984; a soundtrack to a since lost film by Antillean director Benjamin Jules Rosette) – as well as this one are all excellent, all highlight Midonet’s Creole lyricism, and all have their particular charms. And so, I simply went with the one that I thought would perhaps entice people to go back and check out the rest of the discography.
Anyway, if descriptions like “tropical acid folk”, “cosmic reggae jazz”, “transcendental fusion”, and “psychedelic dance” pique your interest, I would suggest you take a listen through them all. A compilation is also available, for a quick survey. Whichever you choose, it’s a good decision.
Happy listening.
- Bandcamp: Gratien Midonet – Fô Ou Tchimbi – Decision
- Discogs: Gratien Midonet – Fô Ou Tchimbi – Decision
- The survey choices that initially led to this spotlight were “He flows like the big muddy, but that’s okay”, “Pour him over ice cream”, and “for a nice parfait”, following the earlier surveys that had “Well, I don’t want no Abba Zabba”/“Don’t want no Almond Joy”/“There ain’t nothing better”/“Suitable for this boy”, “Well, it’s the only thing that can pick me up”/“Better than a cup of gold”/“See only a chocolate Jesus”/“Can satisfy my soul”, and “When the weather gets rough”/“And it’s whiskey in the shade”/“It’s best to wrap your savior”/“Up in cellophane”. The second option was the winning selection, and the survey result was translated as picking an album in The List that contained a word in the phrase – in this case, “him”, hidden in the word “Tchimbi”. ↩︎
#1001OtherAlbums #1980s #acidFolk #Antilles #Creole #CreoleSoul #funk #GratienMidonet #ListenToThis #Martinique #music #musicDiscovery #Musodon #WestIndies
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David Bowie – Low (1977, UK)
[This guest post was written by Brook Ellingwood (aka @theotherbrook) about number 537 on The List, to coincide with its spot in our #BowieADay listening schedule.[1] The album was submitted by buffyleigh.]
On first listen David Bowie’s 1977 album Low can seem a cold and sterile affair. Getting to its heart takes some effort and, apparently, at least a thousand words or so.
The influence of minimalist and electronic German bands like Neu!, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream is all over the record, making it not just stark but also a stark departure from the sound of his last single, the danceable funky “Golden Years.” But the title track of the album that song came from, Station to Station, was the first clear movement in the direction of Low and the two following albums that have in retrospect been dubbed Bowie’s “Berlin Trilogy.”
Despite that label, nearly all the instruments on Low were actually recorded at France’s Château d’Hérouville, forever memorialized in the title of Elton John’s album Honky Château. Fearing for his physical and mental health Bowie decamped for Europe, leaving the cocaine-fueled life he was leading in Los Angeles along with the “would-be romantic with absolutely no emotion” Thin White Duke persona he’d adopted. He reached out to Iggy Pop with an offer both to produce an album for him and to give him a similar chance to escape the environment driving his own addictions.
The Idiot, Pop’s first album without the Stooges, features him singing his lyrics over backing tracks on which Bowie is moving even farther towards the German bands’ sounds. It’s the music of two friends in recovery intentionally shedding their old skins. The music of German artists declaring freedom from their nation’s recent history fit the mood. (Given that some of what Bowie was shedding was a perceived fascistic side to the Thin White Duke may further explain the attraction.)
Maybe what’s most “Berlin” about Low isn’t the music that influenced it, or that recording finished there. The album evokes a feeling of disconnectedness one imagines was familiar in a city cut in two by a wall, the western half surrounded by antagonistic authoritarianism while retaining the freedoms of another Germany some 200 kilometers away. When Bowie arrived in Berlin he fell in love with the city.
I feel that its coldness makes Low second only to Bowie’s wrenching Blackstar swan song as his most emotionally honest record. Side One is bracketed by two instrumentals; “Speed of Life,” the most propulsive piece on the album which can be interpreted as his coke years put to music, and “A New Career in a New Town” with its minor key piano figure and harmonica (the first time Bowie had played it on a recording since 1972’s “The Jean Genie) openly declaring his decision to make a break and start over.
Between those instrumentals, the lyrics of five vocal songs are snapshots of a life out of control. “Baby, I’ve been / Breaking glass in your room again…” “I’m always crashing in the same car…” “Please be mine / Share my life /Stay with me / Be my wife…”
Having put his past on Side One, Bowie felt free to make Side Two his present. Brian Eno joined him to collaborate on those four songs, pushing the band Bowie had assembled into entirely new territory. It’s tempting to think of the side as instrumental but Bowie does sing on three of the songs. It’s just that the singing is devoid of discernible lyrics, his voice becoming another atmospheric instrument wordlessly describing both a certain kind of Cold War European bleakness and his own emotional condition.
There was no certainty that RCA would even release the album when they heard it. The label’s first reaction was to tell him to go back to the studio and make something more like Young Americans.
When he refused their second reaction was to postpone its release, dumping it on the market in the post-Christmas doldrums without any significant promotion. Bowie himself seemed to treat it more as something he’d done for personal instead of business reasons and declined to perform in support of it. Instead he went on tour as Iggy’s keyboard player.
Even perceptive and forward-looking critics were initially perplexed by Low. But as the next two Berlin Trilogy albums, Heroes and Lodger, expanded and contextualized this new direction they began to reassess their earlier reviews. Now it’s not unusual to see the album declared as perhaps Bowie’s best, and boldest, work.
Leaving behind the characters he’d been filtering his work through is what gives Low its sense of icy intimacy. And if the album is a personal one for Bowie, my own attachment to it is personal as well.
At 12 or 13, I was interested in knowing more Bowie than I’d heard on the radio but didn’t have much in the way of expendable income. So I bought the only album of his I found in the closeout bin. Low wasn’t just my first Bowie album, it was one of the first three or four albums I owned period, and listening to it over and over on my jerry-rigged bedroom stereo probably did something permanent to my synapses. Before long, he would return to a poppier style with the release of Scary Monsters and I’d learn his discography much more completely, but I’d never give up my experience of Low as an entry point.
Bowie was never shy to put theatrical emotions into his singing but these songs, even the wordless ones, are largely sung in a flat affect stripped of pathos and lacking showy vocal runs. Along with the startlingly different sound producer Tony Visconti found on the album by running drums through an Eventide harmonizer, that vocal style was to become a major influence on post-punk acts a few years later. Joy Division even first performed under the name Warsaw, taken from Side Two, track one, “Warszawa” the Polish name for the city.
Maybe what Low shows us that David Bowie actually was the alter-ego of David Bowie, a pretend sophisticated pop star persona assumed by an art rocker who every now and then took off the mask and made music as himself.
#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #ambient #artRock #Bowie #BowieForever #BowieADay #BrianEno #DavidBowie #experimental #IggyPop #ListenToThis #music #musicDiscovery #Musodon #TonyVisconti
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Sly & The Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971, US)
As randomly chosen by survey[1] on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 476 on The List, submitted by myself (buffyleigh).
I added both this album and the previous Sly & The Family Stone release (Stand!) to The List, thinking we’d do the spotlights in chronological order. The – I don’t know what word to use – progression? development? deconstruction? disintegration? of the band’s sound between the two albums (a span of just 1 or 2 years) is rather shocking. Like, the whole vibe is so different that I wouldn’t blame someone for thinking these albums are from two entirely different bands. Ideally, I would like to suggest that the two albums should be listened to chronologically in a single listening session for ultimate juxtaposition. But, given everything currently going on right now, I personally am not in the mood for the overall uplifting, optimistic energy of Stand!. The rather dark, pessimistic, disillusioned outlook of There’s a Riot though? Well, that seems like a perfect fit, tbh.
And so, since this album has come up first due to my random survey selection process, we’re going to take a listen to this one today, and hope a better mood will turn up soon that will fit Stand!. Music critic Jon Pareles said that this album was “about turning away from the post-1960s turbulence of the Nixon presidency and withdrawing into music as a hazy refuge.”[2] I don’t know about you, but I will most definitely be withdrawing into my music in search of a hazy refuge this year/the next 4 years. And this album – essentially 48 minutes of ennui – is a great place to start that search.
- Songlink: Sly & The Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On
- Discogs: Sly & The Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On
- The survey choices that initially led to this spotlight were “Well, I don’t want no Abba Zabba”, “Don’t want no Almond Joy”, “There ain’t nothing better”, and “Suitable for this boy”. The third option was the winning selection, and so the survey result was translated as picking the third album in The List that contained a word in the phrase – in this case, “there”. ↩︎
- Via the Wikipedia page. ↩︎
#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #funk #ListenToThis #music #musicDiscovery #Musodon #SlyAndTheFamilyStone #soul
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#TomWaitsAWeek Log entry 7
Sometimes things are so obvious that I don't even recognize them. For example that Heartattack and Vine is the first Tom Waits album where an electric guitar is heavily used. (@buffyleigh brought this to my attention)
I like dry and dirty garage blues rock, which is what you get on this album a lot. But you also get "The Heart of Saturday Night" like ballads (On a Nickel, Ruby's Arms). Heck, you even get a radio friendly rock song (Jersey Girl).
I like the raw and dirty ones, so hit me with Downtown and Heartattack and Vine any time!
🎵 Downtown by #TomWaits
💿 Heartattack and Vine, 1980
▶️ https://song.link/y/rJYrcvkkhZ0 -
What a beauty ... #RussianCircles in #Copenhagen #Vega 24 October 2024
(tagging a few who might help me extend my #metal #music #fedi horizon):
@buffyleigh @derthomas
@metal
#postrock #postmetal #gnosis
... oh i forgot just ... #musicset:
309 Empros
harper Station
conduit gnosis
quartered Blood Year
mota Guidance
geneva Geneva
betrayal gnosis
gnosis gnosis
youngblood Station
mladek Emprosas youtube list:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcmJsO5mdFY&list=PLJihr7Yp5EyVRDMe0VywtMX2izIbSFIer
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As randomly chosen by survey* on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 973 on The List, submitted by yours truly (i.e., buffyleigh).
As I sadly so often end up doing, I often don’t catch up on an artist’s discography until after they’ve left us. And while the circumstances are sad, it can be a really beautiful experience to discover new favorite albums that I didn’t even know existed when the artist was with us. This album is one such discovery – Shuhada’ Sadaqat’s (a.k.a. Sinéad O’Connor’s) album of reggae covers.
I generally stay away from covers, especially if they’re done in the same style as the originals. But I think this entire album is so tastefully and beautifully done, Sadaqat’s respect for the material is so obvious. Introduced to reggae in her early London days via a friend who collected all the records that were on the Jamaican charts, and then becoming a fly on the wall of a record shop owned and frequented by old Jamaicans,** Sadaqat connected deeply with the Rastafari community, seeing parallels between their struggles and those of the Irish people, as well as how she approached her own beliefs. As she wrote in the liner notes:
Thanks first and foremost to the great men who wrote and performed these songs and whose inspiration has kept me nourished with strength at times when I might otherwise have lost faith in myself. These men were part of a battle fought for self esteem and for the freeing of God from religion. As such, they are my heroes, my teachers, my masters, my priests, my prophets, my guides and my godfathers. And I could never in a million words or years, express the love and gratitude I feel toward them, for the truth and rights which they benevolently taught through music and which raised God from the dead in the soul of a little Irish Catholic woman. Nor could I express the influence they have had on my own singing and songwriting. The originals of these songs can never be bettered, and so all I can hope in recording them, is to honour the composers and pass on their teachings…
Throw Down Your Arms was recorded in Jamaica and was produced by the amazing duo Sly & Robbie (i.e., Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare), who also played drums and bass on the album. Nearly half of the album is Burning Spear covers,*** the others covers of The Abyssinians, Junior Byles, Devon Irons, Israel Vibration, Peter Tosh, and Buju Banton, ending with Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “War” (which she had previously covered in the infamous 1992 Saturday Night Live performance). Sadaqat personally paid for the majority of the record herself and donated 10% of the profits to Rasta elders in Jamaica.
A physical copy of the album is a bit hard to track down but, if you can, try to get the double-disc version – the second disc is a really fantastic dub version of the album, which I tend to prefer. A Youtube link to the dub version is also below, hopefully it works for you.
Happy listening and, Shuhada’ Sadaqat, may you rest in peace.
- Songlink: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms
- Youtube: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms (dub version)
- Discogs: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms
*The survey choices that led to this spotlight were “If you walk with Jesus”, “He’s gonna save your soul”, “You gotta keep the devil”, and “Way down in the hole”, following the earlier survey that had “When you walk through the garden”, “You gotta watch your back”, “Well, I beg your pardon”, and “Walk the straight and narrow track”. The fourth phrase was the winning selection, so the survey result was translated as picking the fourth album in The List with one of the phrase’s words in the title, the matching word here being “down”.
**See the chapter called “A Lesson or Two” in her memoir, Rememberings (which I highly recommend), published under the name Sinéad O’Connor.
***5 of the 12 songs are from Burning Spear. If you haven’t already, check out our earlier spotlight on Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey, an album I actually discovered via Throw Down Your Arms (because I’m always doing these things backwards, lol).https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/21/sinead-oconnor-throw-down-your-arms-2005-ireland/
#1001OtherAlbums #2000s #BobMarley #BujuBanton #BurningSpear #covers #DevonIrons #dub #IsraelVibration #JuniorByles #PeterTosh #reggae #ShuhadaSadaqat #SineadOConnor #TheAbyssinians
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As randomly chosen by survey* on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 973 on The List, submitted by yours truly (i.e., buffyleigh).
As I sadly so often end up doing, I often don’t catch up on an artist’s discography until after they’ve left us. And while the circumstances are sad, it can be a really beautiful experience to discover new favorite albums that I didn’t even know existed when the artist was with us. This album is one such discovery – Shuhada’ Sadaqat’s (a.k.a. Sinéad O’Connor’s) album of reggae covers.
I generally stay away from covers, especially if they’re done in the same style as the originals. But I think this entire album is so tastefully and beautifully done, Sadaqat’s respect for the material is so obvious. Introduced to reggae in her early London days via a friend who collected all the records that were on the Jamaican charts, and then becoming a fly on the wall of a record shop owned and frequented by old Jamaicans,** Sadaqat connected deeply with the Rastafari community, seeing parallels between their struggles and those of the Irish people, as well as how she approached her own beliefs. As she wrote in the liner notes:
Thanks first and foremost to the great men who wrote and performed these songs and whose inspiration has kept me nourished with strength at times when I might otherwise have lost faith in myself. These men were part of a battle fought for self esteem and for the freeing of God from religion. As such, they are my heroes, my teachers, my masters, my priests, my prophets, my guides and my godfathers. And I could never in a million words or years, express the love and gratitude I feel toward them, for the truth and rights which they benevolently taught through music and which raised God from the dead in the soul of a little Irish Catholic woman. Nor could I express the influence they have had on my own singing and songwriting. The originals of these songs can never be bettered, and so all I can hope in recording them, is to honour the composers and pass on their teachings…
Throw Down Your Arms was recorded in Jamaica and was produced by the amazing duo Sly & Robbie (i.e., Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare), who also played drums and bass on the album. Nearly half of the album is Burning Spear covers,*** the others covers of The Abyssinians, Junior Byles, Devon Irons, Israel Vibration, Peter Tosh, and Buju Banton, ending with Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “War” (which she had previously covered in the infamous 1992 Saturday Night Live performance). Sadaqat personally payed for the majority of the record herself and donated 10% of the profits to Rasta elders in Jamaica.
A physical copy of the album is a bit hard to track down but, if you can, try to get the double-disc version – the second disc is a really fantastic dub version of the album, which I tend to prefer. A Youtube link to the dub version is also below, hopefully it works for you.
Happy listening and, Shuhada’ Sadaqat, may you rest in peace.
- Songlink: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms
- Youtube: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms (dub version)
- Discogs: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms
*The survey choices that led to this spotlight were “If you walk with Jesus”, “He’s gonna save your soul”, “You gotta keep the devil”, and “Way down in the hole”, following the earlier survey that had “When you walk through the garden”, “You gotta watch your back”, “Well, I beg your pardon”, and “Walk the straight and narrow track”. The fourth phrase was the winning selection, so the survey result was translated as picking the fourth album in The List with one of the phrase’s words in the title, the matching word here being “down”.
**See the chapter called “A Lesson or Two” in her memoir, Rememberings (which I highly recommend), published under the name Sinéad O’Connor.
***5 of the 12 songs are from Burning Spear. If you haven’t already, check out our earlier spotlight on Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey, an album I actually discovered via Throw Down Your Arms (because I’m always doing these things backwards, lol).https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/21/sinead-oconnor-throw-down-your-arms-2005-ireland/
#1001OtherAlbums #2000s #BobMarley #BujuBanton #BurningSpear #covers #DevonIrons #dub #IsraelVibration #JuniorByles #PeterTosh #reggae #ShuhadaSadaqat #SineadOConnor #TheAbyssinians
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As randomly chosen by survey* on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 973 on The List, submitted by yours truly (i.e., buffyleigh).
As I sadly so often end up doing, I often don’t catch up on an artist’s discography until after they’ve left us. And while the circumstances are sad, it can be a really beautiful experience to discover new favorite albums that I didn’t even know existed when the artist was with us. This album is one such discovery – Shuhada’ Sadaqat’s (a.k.a. Sinéad O’Connor’s) album of reggae covers.
I generally stay away from covers, especially if they’re done in the same style as the originals. But I think this entire album is so tastefully and beautifully done, Sadaqat’s respect for the material is so obvious. Introduced to reggae in her early London days via a friend who collected all the records that were on the Jamaican charts, and then becoming a fly on the wall of a record shop owned and frequented by old Jamaicans,** Sadaqat connected deeply with the Rastafari community, seeing parallels between their struggles and those of the Irish people, as well as how she approached her own beliefs. As she wrote in the liner notes:
Thanks first and foremost to the great men who wrote and performed these songs and whose inspiration has kept me nourished with strength at times when I might otherwise have lost faith in myself. These men were part of a battle fought for self esteem and for the freeing of God from religion. As such, they are my heroes, my teachers, my masters, my priests, my prophets, my guides and my godfathers. And I could never in a million words or years, express the love and gratitude I feel toward them, for the truth and rights which they benevolently taught through music and which raised God from the dead in the soul of a little Irish Catholic woman. Nor could I express the influence they have had on my own singing and songwriting. The originals of these songs can never be bettered, and so all I can hope in recording them, is to honour the composers and pass on their teachings…
Throw Down Your Arms was recorded in Jamaica and was produced by the amazing duo Sly & Robbie (i.e., Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare), who also played drums and bass on the album. Nearly half of the album is Burning Spear covers,*** the others covers of The Abyssinians, Junior Byles, Devon Irons, Israel Vibration, Peter Tosh, and Buju Banton, ending with Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “War” (which she had previously covered in the infamous 1992 Saturday Night Live performance). Sadaqat personally payed for the majority of the record herself and donated 10% of the profits to Rasta elders in Jamaica.
A physical copy of the album is a bit hard to track down but, if you can, try to get the double-disc version – the second disc is a really fantastic dub version of the album, which I tend to prefer. A Youtube link to the dub version is also below, hopefully it works for you.
Happy listening and, Shuhada’ Sadaqat, may you rest in peace.
- Songlink: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms
- Youtube: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms (dub version)
- Discogs: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms
*The survey choices that led to this spotlight were “If you walk with Jesus”, “He’s gonna save your soul”, “You gotta keep the devil”, and “Way down in the hole”, following the earlier survey that had “When you walk through the garden”, “You gotta watch your back”, “Well, I beg your pardon”, and “Walk the straight and narrow track”. The fourth phrase was the winning selection, so the survey result was translated as picking the fourth album in The List with one of the phrase’s words in the title, the matching word here being “down”.
**See the chapter called “A Lesson or Two” in her memoir, Rememberings (which I highly recommend), published under the name Sinéad O’Connor.
***5 of the 12 songs are from Burning Spear. If you haven’t already, check out our earlier spotlight on Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey, an album I actually discovered via Throw Down Your Arms (because I’m always doing these things backwards, lol).https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/21/sinead-oconnor-throw-down-your-arms-2005-ireland/
#1001OtherAlbums #2000s #BobMarley #BujuBanton #BurningSpear #covers #DevonIrons #dub #IsraelVibration #JuniorByles #PeterTosh #reggae #ShuhadaSadaqat #SineadOConnor #TheAbyssinians
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As randomly chosen by survey* on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 973 on The List, submitted by yours truly (i.e., buffyleigh).
As I sadly so often end up doing, I often don’t catch up on an artist’s discography until after they’ve left us. And while the circumstances are sad, it can be a really beautiful experience to discover new favorite albums that I didn’t even know existed when the artist was with us. This album is one such discovery – Shuhada’ Sadaqat’s (a.k.a. Sinéad O’Connor’s) album of reggae covers.
I generally stay away from covers, especially if they’re done in the same style as the originals. But I think this entire album is so tastefully and beautifully done, Sadaqat’s respect for the material is so obvious. Introduced to reggae in her early London days via a friend who collected all the records that were on the Jamaican charts, and then becoming a fly on the wall of a record shop owned and frequented by old Jamaicans,** Sadaqat connected deeply with the Rastafari community, seeing parallels between their struggles and those of the Irish people, as well as how she approached her own beliefs. As she wrote in the liner notes:
Thanks first and foremost to the great men who wrote and performed these songs and whose inspiration has kept me nourished with strength at times when I might otherwise have lost faith in myself. These men were part of a battle fought for self esteem and for the freeing of God from religion. As such, they are my heroes, my teachers, my masters, my priests, my prophets, my guides and my godfathers. And I could never in a million words or years, express the love and gratitude I feel toward them, for the truth and rights which they benevolently taught through music and which raised God from the dead in the soul of a little Irish Catholic woman. Nor could I express the influence they have had on my own singing and songwriting. The originals of these songs can never be bettered, and so all I can hope in recording them, is to honour the composers and pass on their teachings…
Throw Down Your Arms was recorded in Jamaica and was produced by the amazing duo Sly & Robbie (i.e., Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare), who also played drums and bass on the album. Nearly half of the album is Burning Spear covers,*** the others covers of The Abyssinians, Junior Byles, Devon Irons, Israel Vibration, Peter Tosh, and Buju Banton, ending with Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “War” (which she had previously covered in the infamous 1992 Saturday Night Live performance). Sadaqat personally paid for the majority of the record herself and donated 10% of the profits to Rasta elders in Jamaica.
A physical copy of the album is a bit hard to track down but, if you can, try to get the double-disc version – the second disc is a really fantastic dub version of the album, which I tend to prefer. A Youtube link to the dub version is also below, hopefully it works for you.
Happy listening and, Shuhada’ Sadaqat, may you rest in peace.
- Songlink: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms
- Youtube: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms (dub version)
- Discogs: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms
*The survey choices that led to this spotlight were “If you walk with Jesus”, “He’s gonna save your soul”, “You gotta keep the devil”, and “Way down in the hole”, following the earlier survey that had “When you walk through the garden”, “You gotta watch your back”, “Well, I beg your pardon”, and “Walk the straight and narrow track”. The fourth phrase was the winning selection, so the survey result was translated as picking the fourth album in The List with one of the phrase’s words in the title, the matching word here being “down”.
**See the chapter called “A Lesson or Two” in her memoir, Rememberings (which I highly recommend), published under the name Sinéad O’Connor.
***5 of the 12 songs are from Burning Spear. If you haven’t already, check out our earlier spotlight on Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey, an album I actually discovered via Throw Down Your Arms (because I’m always doing these things backwards, lol).https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/21/sinead-oconnor-throw-down-your-arms-2005-ireland/
#1001OtherAlbums #2000s #BobMarley #BujuBanton #BurningSpear #covers #DevonIrons #dub #IsraelVibration #JuniorByles #PeterTosh #reggae #ShuhadaSadaqat #SineadOConnor #TheAbyssinians
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As randomly chosen by survey* on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 973 on The List, submitted by yours truly (i.e., buffyleigh).
As I sadly so often end up doing, I often don’t catch up on an artist’s discography until after they’ve left us. And while the circumstances are sad, it can be a really beautiful experience to discover new favorite albums that I didn’t even know existed when the artist was with us. This album is one such discovery – Shuhada’ Sadaqat’s (a.k.a. Sinéad O’Connor’s) album of reggae covers.
I generally stay away from covers, especially if they’re done in the same style as the originals. But I think this entire album is so tastefully and beautifully done, Sadaqat’s respect for the material is so obvious. Introduced to reggae in her early London days via a friend who collected all the records that were on the Jamaican charts, and then becoming a fly on the wall of a record shop owned and frequented by old Jamaicans,** Sadaqat connected deeply with the Rastafari community, seeing parallels between their struggles and those of the Irish people, as well as how she approached her own beliefs. As she wrote in the liner notes:
Thanks first and foremost to the great men who wrote and performed these songs and whose inspiration has kept me nourished with strength at times when I might otherwise have lost faith in myself. These men were part of a battle fought for self esteem and for the freeing of God from religion. As such, they are my heroes, my teachers, my masters, my priests, my prophets, my guides and my godfathers. And I could never in a million words or years, express the love and gratitude I feel toward them, for the truth and rights which they benevolently taught through music and which raised God from the dead in the soul of a little Irish Catholic woman. Nor could I express the influence they have had on my own singing and songwriting. The originals of these songs can never be bettered, and so all I can hope in recording them, is to honour the composers and pass on their teachings…
Throw Down Your Arms was recorded in Jamaica and was produced by the amazing duo Sly & Robbie (i.e., Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare), who also played drums and bass on the album. Nearly half of the album is Burning Spear covers,*** the others covers of The Abyssinians, Junior Byles, Devon Irons, Israel Vibration, Peter Tosh, and Buju Banton, ending with Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “War” (which she had previously covered in the infamous 1992 Saturday Night Live performance). Sadaqat personally payed for the majority of the record herself and donated 10% of the profits to Rasta elders in Jamaica.
A physical copy of the album is a bit hard to track down but, if you can, try to get the double-disc version – the second disc is a really fantastic dub version of the album, which I tend to prefer. A Youtube link to the dub version is also below, hopefully it works for you.
Happy listening and, Shuhada’ Sadaqat, may you rest in peace.
- Songlink: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms
- Youtube: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms (dub version)
- Discogs: Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms
*The survey choices that led to this spotlight were “If you walk with Jesus”, “He’s gonna save your soul”, “You gotta keep the devil”, and “Way down in the hole”, following the earlier survey that had “When you walk through the garden”, “You gotta watch your back”, “Well, I beg your pardon”, and “Walk the straight and narrow track”. The fourth phrase was the winning selection, so the survey result was translated as picking the fourth album in The List with one of the phrase’s words in the title, the matching word here being “down”.
**See the chapter called “A Lesson or Two” in her memoir, Rememberings (which I highly recommend), published under the name Sinéad O’Connor.
***5 of the 12 songs are from Burning Spear. If you haven’t already, check out our earlier spotlight on Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey, an album I actually discovered via Throw Down Your Arms (because I’m always doing these things backwards, lol).https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/21/sinead-oconnor-throw-down-your-arms-2005-ireland/
#1001OtherAlbums #2000s #BobMarley #BujuBanton #BurningSpear #covers #DevonIrons #dub #IsraelVibration #JuniorByles #PeterTosh #reggae #ShuhadaSadaqat #SineadOConnor #TheAbyssinians
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As randomly chosen by survey* on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 0h on The List, submitted by yours truly (i.e., buffyleigh).
One of the three albums on The List from 2024, I just had to add this as soon as I heard it.** Not only is it simply a beautiful, joyful spin, but the fact that an album called “I Am Kurdish” was put out by an Irish record label made me immediately want to know more. So, who is Mohammad Syfkhan, and why is this album labelled as being from Syria and Ireland? Well, as per the Bandcamp description:
Mohammad Syfkhan is a Kurdish/Syrian Singer and Bouzouki player. He began playing music in 1980 while he was in college studying nursing. When he got his degree in 1983, Mohammad moved to the city of Raqqa, Syria where he began working as a professional singer and started his own band, The Al-Rabie Band which played concerts, parties, weddings and festivals all over Syria…
Mohammad continued to play with his band while also working as a surgical nurse until the war broke out in 2011. This unfortunately brought tragedy to Mohammad’s family when one of his sons was killed by Isis thus threatening the lives of the rest of his family. His family had no choice but to leave their home and seek safety in Europe. Three of Mohammad’s sons were resettled in Germany while Mohammad, his young daughter and wife were taken in by Ireland…
Since arriving in Ireland, Mohammad has used the language of music to integrate into the local community by playing at private parties and concerts. He regularly plays at weddings and events for the Kurdish and Syrian communities all over Ireland and in Germany. He has collaborated with such Irish artists as Martin Hayes, Cormac Begley, Eimear Reidy, Cathal Roche and Vincent Woods. In 2023 he opened for Lankum at the Cork Opera House and received huge applause from the packed out room.
Mohammad’s own brand of ecstatic music takes elements from Middle Eastern and North African music to create an atmosphere of joy, love and happiness. The songs on ‘I am Kurdish’ have been recorded and mixed with the view to make them to suitable for listening to at a small get together or to be played on a big rig at night clubs. Either way, it is a record that will make people dance.
Three of the tracks on the album feature accompaniment by two fellow Leitrim-based musicians: composer, improviser, sound artist and saxophonist Cathal Roche and composer, improviser and cellist Eimear Reidy.
“I thank everyone who has stood with me and supported me. And I especially thank the Irish people who have engaged with my music in such a wonderful way. I consider myself lucky to have come to this wonderful country that has welcomed me and all refugees. I thank God for everything, and now, thanks to this wonderful country, I am a musician and have a safe home. Thank you to the Irish government and people for giving me the honour of calling this country my home.”
I hope you’ll all enjoy this one. And, if you do, perhaps also check out this excellent live performance, recorded in an Irish castle a couple months ago in the county that Syfkhan now calls home, Leitrim.
*The survey choices that led to this spotlight were “When you walk through the garden”, “You gotta watch your back”, “Well, I beg your pardon”, and “Walk the straight and narrow track”. There was a 3-way tie between the first, third, and last phrases, so each one will get a spotlight. For the third phrase, the survey result was translated as picking the third non-yet- spotlighted album in The List with one of the phrase’s words in the title, the matching word here being “I”.
**Found via this article in The Guardian.
***When this album was added to the list it didn’t yet have a Discogs entry, hence the “0” numbering. It has now been added to Discogs though, hence the link.https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/09/mohammad-syfkhan-i-am-kurdish-2024-syria-kurdish-ireland/
#1001OtherAlbums #bouzouki #CathalRoche #EimearReidy #folkMusic #Ireland #KurdishMusic #MohammadSyfkhan #refugee #SyrianMusic
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As randomly chosen by survey* on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 0h on The List, submitted by yours truly (i.e., buffyleigh).
One of the three albums on The List from 2024, I just had to add this as soon as I heard it.** Not only is it simply a beautiful, joyful spin, but the fact that an album called “I Am Kurdish” was put out by an Irish record label made me immediately want to know more. So, who is Mohammad Syfkhan, and why is this album labelled as being from Syria and Ireland? Well, as per the Bandcamp description:
Mohammad Syfkhan is a Kurdish/Syrian Singer and Bouzouki player. He began playing music in 1980 while he was in college studying nursing. When he got his degree in 1983, Mohammad moved to the city of Raqqa, Syria where he began working as a professional singer and started his own band, The Al-Rabie Band which played concerts, parties, weddings and festivals all over Syria…
Mohammad continued to play with his band while also working as a surgical nurse until the war broke out in 2011. This unfortunately brought tragedy to Mohammad’s family when one of his sons was killed by Isis thus threatening the lives of the rest of his family. His family had no choice but to leave their home and seek safety in Europe. Three of Mohammad’s sons were resettled in Germany while Mohammad, his young daughter and wife were taken in by Ireland…
Since arriving in Ireland, Mohammad has used the language of music to integrate into the local community by playing at private parties and concerts. He regularly plays at weddings and events for the Kurdish and Syrian communities all over Ireland and in Germany. He has collaborated with such Irish artists as Martin Hayes, Cormac Begley, Eimear Reidy, Cathal Roche and Vincent Woods. In 2023 he opened for Lankum at the Cork Opera House and received huge applause from the packed out room.
Mohammad’s own brand of ecstatic music takes elements from Middle Eastern and North African music to create an atmosphere of joy, love and happiness. The songs on ‘I am Kurdish’ have been recorded and mixed with the view to make them to suitable for listening to at a small get together or to be played on a big rig at night clubs. Either way, it is a record that will make people dance.
Three of the tracks on the album feature accompaniment by two fellow Leitrim-based musicians: composer, improviser, sound artist and saxophonist Cathal Roche and composer, improviser and cellist Eimear Reidy.
“I thank everyone who has stood with me and supported me. And I especially thank the Irish people who have engaged with my music in such a wonderful way. I consider myself lucky to have come to this wonderful country that has welcomed me and all refugees. I thank God for everything, and now, thanks to this wonderful country, I am a musician and have a safe home. Thank you to the Irish government and people for giving me the honour of calling this country my home.”
I hope you’ll all enjoy this one. And, if you do, perhaps also check out this excellent live performance, recorded in an Irish castle a couple months ago in the county that Syfkhan now calls home, Leitrim.
*The survey choices that led to this spotlight were “When you walk through the garden”, “You gotta watch your back”, “Well, I beg your pardon”, and “Walk the straight and narrow track”. There was a 3-way tie between the first, third, and last phrases, so each one will get a spotlight. For the third phrase, the survey result was translated as picking the third non-yet- spotlighted album in The List with one of the phrase’s words in the title, the matching word here being “I”.
**Found via this article in The Guardian.
***When this album was added to the list it didn’t yet have a Discogs entry, hence the “0” numbering. It has now been added to Discogs though, hence the link.https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/09/mohammad-syfkhan-i-am-kurdish-2024-syria-kurdish-ireland/
#1001OtherAlbums #bouzouki #CathalRoche #EimearReidy #folkMusic #Ireland #KurdishMusic #MohammadSyfkhan #refugee #SyrianMusic
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As randomly chosen by survey* on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 0h on The List, submitted by yours truly (i.e., buffyleigh).
One of the three albums on The List from 2024, I just had to add this as soon as I heard it.** Not only is it simply a beautiful, joyful spin, but the fact that an album called “I Am Kurdish” was put out by an Irish record label made me immediately want to know more. So, who is Mohammad Syfkhan, and why is this album labelled as being from Syria and Ireland? Well, as per the Bandcamp description:
Mohammad Syfkhan is a Kurdish/Syrian Singer and Bouzouki player. He began playing music in 1980 while he was in college studying nursing. When he got his degree in 1983, Mohammad moved to the city of Raqqa, Syria where he began working as a professional singer and started his own band, The Al-Rabie Band which played concerts, parties, weddings and festivals all over Syria…
Mohammad continued to play with his band while also working as a surgical nurse until the war broke out in 2011. This unfortunately brought tragedy to Mohammad’s family when one of his sons was killed by Isis thus threatening the lives of the rest of his family. His family had no choice but to leave their home and seek safety in Europe. Three of Mohammad’s sons were resettled in Germany while Mohammad, his young daughter and wife were taken in by Ireland…
Since arriving in Ireland, Mohammad has used the language of music to integrate into the local community by playing at private parties and concerts. He regularly plays at weddings and events for the Kurdish and Syrian communities all over Ireland and in Germany. He has collaborated with such Irish artists as Martin Hayes, Cormac Begley, Eimear Reidy, Cathal Roche and Vincent Woods. In 2023 he opened for Lankum at the Cork Opera House and received huge applause from the packed out room.
Mohammad’s own brand of ecstatic music takes elements from Middle Eastern and North African music to create an atmosphere of joy, love and happiness. The songs on ‘I am Kurdish’ have been recorded and mixed with the view to make them to suitable for listening to at a small get together or to be played on a big rig at night clubs. Either way, it is a record that will make people dance.
Three of the tracks on the album feature accompaniment by two fellow Leitrim-based musicians: composer, improviser, sound artist and saxophonist Cathal Roche and composer, improviser and cellist Eimear Reidy.
“I thank everyone who has stood with me and supported me. And I especially thank the Irish people who have engaged with my music in such a wonderful way. I consider myself lucky to have come to this wonderful country that has welcomed me and all refugees. I thank God for everything, and now, thanks to this wonderful country, I am a musician and have a safe home. Thank you to the Irish government and people for giving me the honour of calling this country my home.”
I hope you’ll all enjoy this one. And, if you do, perhaps also check out this excellent live performance, recorded in an Irish castle a couple months ago in the county that Syfkhan now calls home, Leitrim.
*The survey choices that led to this spotlight were “When you walk through the garden”, “You gotta watch your back”, “Well, I beg your pardon”, and “Walk the straight and narrow track”. There was a 3-way tie between the first, third, and last phrases, so each one will get a spotlight. For the third phrase, the survey result was translated as picking the third non-yet- spotlighted album in The List with one of the phrase’s words in the title, the matching word here being “I”.
**Found via this article in The Guardian.
***When this album was added to the list it didn’t yet have a Discogs entry, hence the “0” numbering. It has now been added to Discogs though, hence the link.https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/09/mohammad-syfkhan-i-am-kurdish-2024-syria-kurdish-ireland/
#1001OtherAlbums #bouzouki #CathalRoche #EimearReidy #folkMusic #Ireland #KurdishMusic #MohammadSyfkhan #refugee #SyrianMusic
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As randomly chosen by survey* on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 0h on The List, submitted by yours truly (i.e., buffyleigh).
One of the three albums on The List from 2024, I just had to add this as soon as I heard it.** Not only is it simply a beautiful, joyful spin, but the fact that an album called “I Am Kurdish” was put out by an Irish record label made me immediately want to know more. So, who is Mohammad Syfkhan, and why is this album labelled as being from Syria and Ireland? Well, as per the Bandcamp description:
Mohammad Syfkhan is a Kurdish/Syrian Singer and Bouzouki player. He began playing music in 1980 while he was in college studying nursing. When he got his degree in 1983, Mohammad moved to the city of Raqqa, Syria where he began working as a professional singer and started his own band, The Al-Rabie Band which played concerts, parties, weddings and festivals all over Syria…
Mohammad continued to play with his band while also working as a surgical nurse until the war broke out in 2011. This unfortunately brought tragedy to Mohammad’s family when one of his sons was killed by Isis thus threatening the lives of the rest of his family. His family had no choice but to leave their home and seek safety in Europe. Three of Mohammad’s sons were resettled in Germany while Mohammad, his young daughter and wife were taken in by Ireland…
Since arriving in Ireland, Mohammad has used the language of music to integrate into the local community by playing at private parties and concerts. He regularly plays at weddings and events for the Kurdish and Syrian communities all over Ireland and in Germany. He has collaborated with such Irish artists as Martin Hayes, Cormac Begley, Eimear Reidy, Cathal Roche and Vincent Woods. In 2023 he opened for Lankum at the Cork Opera House and received huge applause from the packed out room.
Mohammad’s own brand of ecstatic music takes elements from Middle Eastern and North African music to create an atmosphere of joy, love and happiness. The songs on ‘I am Kurdish’ have been recorded and mixed with the view to make them to suitable for listening to at a small get together or to be played on a big rig at night clubs. Either way, it is a record that will make people dance.
Three of the tracks on the album feature accompaniment by two fellow Leitrim-based musicians: composer, improviser, sound artist and saxophonist Cathal Roche and composer, improviser and cellist Eimear Reidy.
“I thank everyone who has stood with me and supported me. And I especially thank the Irish people who have engaged with my music in such a wonderful way. I consider myself lucky to have come to this wonderful country that has welcomed me and all refugees. I thank God for everything, and now, thanks to this wonderful country, I am a musician and have a safe home. Thank you to the Irish government and people for giving me the honour of calling this country my home.”
I hope you’ll all enjoy this one. And, if you do, perhaps also check out this excellent live performance, recorded in an Irish castle a couple months ago in the county that Syfkhan now calls home, Leitrim.
*The survey choices that led to this spotlight were “When you walk through the garden”, “You gotta watch your back”, “Well, I beg your pardon”, and “Walk the straight and narrow track”. There was a 3-way tie between the first, third, and last phrases, so each one will get a spotlight. For the third phrase, the survey result was translated as picking the third non-yet- spotlighted album in The List with one of the phrase’s words in the title, the matching word here being “I”.
**Found via this article in The Guardian.
***When this album was added to the list it didn’t yet have a Discogs entry, hence the “0” numbering. It has now been added to Discogs though, hence the link.https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/09/mohammad-syfkhan-i-am-kurdish-2024-syria-kurdish-ireland/
#1001OtherAlbums #bouzouki #CathalRoche #EimearReidy #folkMusic #Ireland #KurdishMusic #MohammadSyfkhan #refugee #SyrianMusic
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As randomly chosen by survey* on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 0h on The List, submitted by yours truly (i.e., buffyleigh).
One of the three albums on The List from 2024, I just had to add this as soon as I heard it.** Not only is it simply a beautiful, joyful spin, but the fact that an album called “I Am Kurdish” was put out by an Irish record label made me immediately want to know more. So, who is Mohammad Syfkhan, and why is this album labelled as being from Syria and Ireland? Well, as per the Bandcamp description:
Mohammad Syfkhan is a Kurdish/Syrian Singer and Bouzouki player. He began playing music in 1980 while he was in college studying nursing. When he got his degree in 1983, Mohammad moved to the city of Raqqa, Syria where he began working as a professional singer and started his own band, The Al-Rabie Band which played concerts, parties, weddings and festivals all over Syria…
Mohammad continued to play with his band while also working as a surgical nurse until the war broke out in 2011. This unfortunately brought tragedy to Mohammad’s family when one of his sons was killed by Isis thus threatening the lives of the rest of his family. His family had no choice but to leave their home and seek safety in Europe. Three of Mohammad’s sons were resettled in Germany while Mohammad, his young daughter and wife were taken in by Ireland…
Since arriving in Ireland, Mohammad has used the language of music to integrate into the local community by playing at private parties and concerts. He regularly plays at weddings and events for the Kurdish and Syrian communities all over Ireland and in Germany. He has collaborated with such Irish artists as Martin Hayes, Cormac Begley, Eimear Reidy, Cathal Roche and Vincent Woods. In 2023 he opened for Lankum at the Cork Opera House and received huge applause from the packed out room.
Mohammad’s own brand of ecstatic music takes elements from Middle Eastern and North African music to create an atmosphere of joy, love and happiness. The songs on ‘I am Kurdish’ have been recorded and mixed with the view to make them to suitable for listening to at a small get together or to be played on a big rig at night clubs. Either way, it is a record that will make people dance.
Three of the tracks on the album feature accompaniment by two fellow Leitrim-based musicians: composer, improviser, sound artist and saxophonist Cathal Roche and composer, improviser and cellist Eimear Reidy.
“I thank everyone who has stood with me and supported me. And I especially thank the Irish people who have engaged with my music in such a wonderful way. I consider myself lucky to have come to this wonderful country that has welcomed me and all refugees. I thank God for everything, and now, thanks to this wonderful country, I am a musician and have a safe home. Thank you to the Irish government and people for giving me the honour of calling this country my home.”
I hope you’ll all enjoy this one. And, if you do, perhaps also check out this excellent live performance, recorded in an Irish castle a couple months ago in the county that Syfkhan now calls home, Leitrim.
*The survey choices that led to this spotlight were “When you walk through the garden”, “You gotta watch your back”, “Well, I beg your pardon”, and “Walk the straight and narrow track”. There was a 3-way tie between the first, third, and last phrases, so each one will get a spotlight. For the third phrase, the survey result was translated as picking the third non-yet- spotlighted album in The List with one of the phrase’s words in the title, the matching word here being “I”.
**Found via this article in The Guardian.
***When this album was added to the list it didn’t yet have a Discogs entry, hence the “0” numbering. It has now been added to Discogs though, hence the link.https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/09/mohammad-syfkhan-i-am-kurdish-2024-syria-kurdish-ireland/
#1001OtherAlbums #bouzouki #CathalRoche #EimearReidy #folkMusic #Ireland #KurdishMusic #MohammadSyfkhan #refugee #SyrianMusic
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[This guest post was written by @satsuma about number 248 on The List. The album was submitted by buffyleigh.]
Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson’s father worked on the first IBM 1401 mainframe computer in Iceland in 1964. He discovered a way to produce musical tones by running a program that caused the machine to produce stray electro magnetic waves that could be heard on a radio. He recorded this early form of computer music to a reel to reel tape, where it now comes to life as the start of this haunting album.
The album blends a string quartet, electronically treated vocals and a dead pan reading of the user manual for the venerable computer and its associated electro mechanical printing unit, that gives instructions for changing the oil and checking the bearings!
The overall effect is quite moving and evokes memories of a different era of technology, where computers were mysterious machines and running a program was as much an art as a science.
- Bandcamp: Jóhann Jóhannsson – IBM 1401, A User’s Manual
- Discogs: Jóhann Jóhannsson – IBM 1401, A User’s Manual
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/07/17/johann-johannsson-ibm-1401-a-users-manual-2006-iceland/
#1001OtherAlbums #2000s #ambient #experimental #IBM1401 #Iceland #JóhannJóhannsson #neoclassical
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[This guest post was written by @satsuma about number 248 on The List. The album was submitted by buffyleigh.]
Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson’s father worked on the first IBM 1401 mainframe computer in Iceland in 1964. He discovered a way to produce musical tones by running a program that caused the machine to produce stray electro magnetic waves that could be heard on a radio. He recorded this early form of computer music to a reel to reel tape, where it now comes to life as the start of this haunting album.
The album blends a string quartet, electronically treated vocals and a dead pan reading of the user manual for the venerable computer and its associated electro mechanical printing unit, that gives instructions for changing the oil and checking the bearings!
The overall effect is quite moving and evokes memories of a different era of technology, where computers were mysterious machines and running a program was as much an art as a science.
- Bandcamp: Jóhann Jóhannsson – IBM 1401, A User’s Manual
- Discogs: Jóhann Jóhannsson – IBM 1401, A User’s Manual
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/07/17/johann-johannsson-ibm-1401-a-users-manual-2006-iceland/
#1001OtherAlbums #2000s #ambient #experimental #IBM1401 #Iceland #JóhannJóhannsson #neoclassical
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[This guest post was written by mega-contributor platenworm about number 624 on The List; the album was submitted by buffyleigh.]
One of the milestones from the golden age of reggae. Dark lyrical matters on a ultra heavy bass background. With a deep deep production from Errol Thompson & Jack Ruby, this album has it all.
It came out in 1975 and on the bass we hear the recently passed away Aston “Family Man” Barrett alongside the also gone but not forgotten Robbie Shakespeare. But the man of the hour is of course Winston Rodney a.k.a. Burning Spear with his soulful voice. And lyrical wise, his uncompromising conscious Rastafarian views and the suffering due to the African diaspora by slavery. Deep Soul Blues music from Jamaica……..
And don’t forget to play the dub version “Garvey’s Ghost” right after this Roots Rock Reggae Masterpiece.
- Songwhip: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
- Songwhip: Burning Spear – Garvey’s Ghost
- Discogs: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
- Wikipedia: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
[Alt text for accompanying image: The album cover of “Marcus Garvey” by Burning Spear. The band name is printed at an angle in red font in the top-right corner, and the album name is along the bottom edge in grey font, with chainlinks printed on each side. The artwork is in black and negative of two people holding spears, with a round photo of Marcus Garvey in the bottom left corner.]
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/02/23/burning-spear-marcus-garvey-1975-jamaica/
#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #AstonBarrett #BurningSpear #Jamaica #MarcusGarvey #reggae #RobbieShakespeare #WinstonRodney
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[This guest post was written by mega-contributor platenworm about number 624 on The List; the album was submitted by buffyleigh.]
One of the milestones from the golden age of reggae. Dark lyrical matters on a ultra heavy bass background. With a deep deep production from Errol Thompson & Jack Ruby, this album has it all.
It came out in 1975 and on the bass we hear the recently passed away Aston “Family Man” Barrett alongside the also gone but not forgotten Robbie Shakespeare. But the man of the hour is of course Winston Rodney a.k.a. Burning Spear with his soulful voice. And lyrical wise, his uncompromising conscious Rastafarian views and the suffering due to the African diaspora by slavery. Deep Soul Blues music from Jamaica……..
And don’t forget to play the dub version “Garvey’s Ghost” right after this Roots Rock Reggae Masterpiece.
- Songwhip: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
- Songwhip: Burning Spear – Garvey’s Ghost
- Discogs: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
- Wikipedia: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/02/23/burning-spear-marcus-garvey-1975-jamaica/
#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #AstonBarrett #BurningSpear #Jamaica #MarcusGarvey #reggae #RobbieShakespeare #WinstonRodney
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[This guest post was written by mega-contributor platenworm about number 624 on The List; the album was submitted by buffyleigh.]
One of the milestones from the golden age of reggae. Dark lyrical matters on a ultra heavy bass background. With a deep deep production from Errol Thompson & Jack Ruby, this album has it all.
It came out in 1975 and on the bass we hear the recently passed away Aston “Family Man” Barrett alongside the also gone but not forgotten Robbie Shakespeare. But the man of the hour is of course Winston Rodney a.k.a. Burning Spear with his soulful voice. And lyrical wise, his uncompromising conscious Rastafarian views and the suffering due to the African diaspora by slavery. Deep Soul Blues music from Jamaica……..
And don’t forget to play the dub version “Garvey’s Ghost” right after this Roots Rock Reggae Masterpiece.
- Songwhip: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
- Songwhip: Burning Spear – Garvey’s Ghost
- Discogs: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
- Wikipedia: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/02/23/burning-spear-marcus-garvey-1975-jamaica/
#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #AstonBarrett #BurningSpear #Jamaica #MarcusGarvey #reggae #RobbieShakespeare #WinstonRodney
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[This guest post was written by mega-contributor platenworm about number 624 on The List; the album was submitted by buffyleigh.]
One of the milestones from the golden age of reggae. Dark lyrical matters on a ultra heavy bass background. With a deep deep production from Errol Thompson & Jack Ruby, this album has it all.
It came out in 1975 and on the bass we hear the recently passed away Aston “Family Man” Barrett alongside the also gone but not forgotten Robbie Shakespeare. But the man of the hour is of course Winston Rodney a.k.a. Burning Spear with his soulful voice. And lyrical wise, his uncompromising conscious Rastafarian views and the suffering due to the African diaspora by slavery. Deep Soul Blues music from Jamaica……..
And don’t forget to play the dub version “Garvey’s Ghost” right after this Roots Rock Reggae Masterpiece.
- Songwhip: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
- Songwhip: Burning Spear – Garvey’s Ghost
- Discogs: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
- Wikipedia: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
[Alt text for accompanying image: The album cover of “Marcus Garvey” by Burning Spear. The band name is printed at an angle in red font in the top-right corner, and the album name is along the bottom edge in grey font, with chainlinks printed on each side. The artwork is in black and negative of two people holding spears, with a round photo of Marcus Garvey in the bottom left corner.]
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/02/23/burning-spear-marcus-garvey-1975-jamaica/
#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #AstonBarrett #BurningSpear #Jamaica #MarcusGarvey #reggae #RobbieShakespeare #WinstonRodney
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[This guest post was written by mega-contributor platenworm about number 624 on The List; the album was submitted by buffyleigh.]
One of the milestones from the golden age of reggae. Dark lyrical matters on a ultra heavy bass background. With a deep deep production from Errol Thompson & Jack Ruby, this album has it all.
It came out in 1975 and on the bass we hear the recently passed away Aston “Family Man” Barrett alongside the also gone but not forgotten Robbie Shakespeare. But the man of the hour is of course Winston Rodney a.k.a. Burning Spear with his soulful voice. And lyrical wise, his uncompromising conscious Rastafarian views and the suffering due to the African diaspora by slavery. Deep Soul Blues music from Jamaica……..
And don’t forget to play the dub version “Garvey’s Ghost” right after this Roots Rock Reggae Masterpiece.
- Songwhip: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
- Songwhip: Burning Spear – Garvey’s Ghost
- Discogs: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
- Wikipedia: Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/02/23/burning-spear-marcus-garvey-1975-jamaica/
#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #AstonBarrett #BurningSpear #Jamaica #MarcusGarvey #reggae #RobbieShakespeare #WinstonRodney
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☝️ 🤘
Asking you to help spread the word / boost. Why?Like many others, Stengade is trying to get away from big tech / corporate /fash platforms - but to this day can't.
It s all facebook, instagram, spotify.It would be nice to show the club and ourselves that this can be done differently.
Of course - if you don't like #slow #heavy #heavyasf #loud music, then don't :)
#REH #REHdom #doom #sludge #NorthernHind #metal #DIY @buffyleigh
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☝️ 🤘
Asking you to help spread the word / boost. Why?Like many others, Stengade is trying to get away from big tech / corporate /fash platforms - but to this day can't.
It s all facebook, instagram, spotify.It would be nice to show the club and ourselves that this can be done differently.
Of course - if you don't like #slow #heavy #heavyasf #loud music, then don't :)
#REH #REHdom #doom #sludge #NorthernHind #metal #DIY @buffyleigh
-
☝️ 🤘
Asking you to help spread the word / boost. Why?Like many others, Stengade is trying to get away from big tech / corporate /fash platforms - but to this day can't.
It s all facebook, instagram, spotify.It would be nice to show the club and ourselves that this can be done differently.
Of course - if you don't like #slow #heavy #heavyasf #loud music, then don't :)
#REH #REHdom #doom #sludge #NorthernHind #metal #DIY @buffyleigh
-
☝️ 🤘
Asking you to help spread the word / boost. Why?Like many others, Stengade is trying to get away from big tech / corporate /fash platforms - but to this day can't.
It s all facebook, instagram, spotify.It would be nice to show the club and ourselves that this can be done differently.
Of course - if you don't like #slow #heavy #heavyasf #loud music, then don't :)
#REH #REHdom #doom #sludge #NorthernHind #metal #DIY @buffyleigh
-
☝️ 🤘
Asking you to help spread the word / boost. Why?Like many others, Stengade is trying to get away from big tech / corporate /fash platforms - but to this day can't.
It s all facebook, instagram, spotify.It would be nice to show the club and ourselves that this can be done differently.
Of course - if you don't like #slow #heavy #heavyasf #loud music, then don't :)
#REH #REHdom #doom #sludge #NorthernHind #metal #DIY @buffyleigh
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Psst, do you need some cool music to listen to?
Dig if you will The List of over 1001 albums from 115+ places/peoples, as recommended by 130+ Fedizens (https://1001otheralbums.com/the-list/)! Think "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", but, like, NOT just Western pop. We chose these albums not because of popularity or sales or reviews by influencers and whatnot, but rather because they’re important to us personally and/or represent bands/genres/peoples not given enough love in 'official' lists.
For the last 2+ years, we've featured an album from The List every few days on the 1001 Other Albums blog (https://1001otheralbums.com/). These spotlights are written by either guest Fedizen contributors or project steward @buffyleigh, and are automatically cross-posted in full to the Fediverse at
@1001otheralbums.com. New spotlights are also summarized and linked here on linernotes.club.The plan is to eventually cover every album on The List, and so far we’ve featured over 230 albums! Sometimes we also do some extra fun things like Fedi-wide AOTY lists, fake festivals, and Fedi-sourced oral history posts, and every once in a while we boost other cool music-related things. Give us a follow here and/or the blog, I bet you'll hear something you dig.
👉 And, if you want to share your thoughts on one of the albums not yet featured via guest post, OR want to add your favourite albums that aren't yet on The List, hmu! 👈
#introduction #music #1001OtherAlbums #MusicDiscovery #ListenToThis
-
Psst, do you need some cool music to listen to?
Dig if you will The List of over 1001 albums from 115+ places/peoples, as recommended by 130+ Fedizens (https://1001otheralbums.com/the-list/)! Think "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", but, like, NOT just Western pop. We chose these albums not because of popularity or sales or reviews by influencers and whatnot, but rather because they’re important to us personally and/or represent bands/genres/peoples not given enough love in 'official' lists.
For the last 2+ years, we've featured an album from The List every few days on the 1001 Other Albums blog (https://1001otheralbums.com/). These spotlights are written by either guest Fedizen contributors or project steward @buffyleigh, and are automatically cross-posted in full to the Fediverse at
@1001otheralbums.com. New spotlights are also summarized and linked here on linernotes.club.The plan is to eventually cover every album on The List, and so far we’ve featured over 230 albums! Sometimes we also do some extra fun things like Fedi-wide AOTY lists, fake festivals, and Fedi-sourced oral history posts, and every once in a while we boost other cool music-related things. Give us a follow here and/or the blog, I bet you'll hear something you dig.
👉 And, if you want to share your thoughts on one of the albums not yet featured via guest post, OR want to add your favourite albums that aren't yet on The List, hmu! 👈
#introduction #music #1001OtherAlbums #MusicDiscovery #ListenToThis