Deal!

He may have been hyped quite a bit recently, but Willis Earl Beal seems to be the real deal alright, and I'm sad I had to miss out on his gigs here last week. Luckily, we've got his soulful debut Acousmatic Sorcery - think of a lofi ratatouille with bits of Tom Waits, Robert Johnson, Otis Redding, and Daniel Johnston thrown in - to listen to, out now on XL Recordings. With bonus points for framing the song & dance man who was just awarded a presidential medal of freedom on the album cover of course. Take it away.

Willis Earl Beal - Take Me Away
Willis Earl Beal - Evening's Kiss

Are You Satisfied

"I saw you smile when you walked in with a gun..." I'm pretty sure Wally and the boys had been listening to quite a few 13th Floor Elevators albums before recording this extraordinary garage punker back in '69. Do You Feel Allright sadly proved to be the last offering of Amsterdam's finest, which inexplicably sank without a trace. Strange things happening indeed.

The Outsiders - Do You Feel Allright

Tiene Corazón

Back with the only album I managed to score during a wonderful but busy trip to my beautiful Catalunya: Canastera. One of the few Camarón classics I didn't own yet, it's another collaboration with the mighty Paco De Lucía on guitar. Here's two choice cuts, sung straight from the heart as always.

El Camarón De La Isla - No Dudes De La Nobleza
El Camarón De La Isla - Las Campanas También Lloran

Ta Luego Amics

Will be flying out to visit the fairest city en todo el mundo tomorrow. Hosanna indeed. Back in a week or so. In the meantime, chew on this, amics... Six ditties about some other big cities.

Kevin Coyne - Amsterdam
Wreckless Eric - Paris In June
The Nomads- Bangkok
ZZ Top - Jesus Just Left Chicago
The Last Poets - New York, New York
Fairuz - Beirut Hal Zarafat

What Shall We Do

Corn mother Demeter was the goddess of the harvest for the ancient Greeks. And them Fieldhands wrote a fine li'l ditty about her. Come back soon, sweet lady... Hellas sure could need your help right now.

Strapping Fieldhands - Abandoned By Demeter

So Uptight

You've probably all heard Sunshine In Chicago by now, that bittersweet taster for Sun Kil Moon's upcoming album. Won't post it here then so. Instead, let's go back in Mark Kozelek time a wee bit, with a well-titled song from the second SKM album Tiny Cities, surprisingly made up completely of Modest Mouse covers.

Sun Kil Moon - Four Fingered Fisherman

Abomey Madness

Crazy stuff from Benin. Particularly check out that wild guitar sound, courtesy of one Nicolas Gomez. Boy sure could play. Find it on African Scream Contest, an essential afro-rocking compilation on the superb Analog Africa label. Worth it for the accompanying booklet alone.

Picoby Band D'Abomey - Mi Ma Kpe Dji

Scratch Candy

Wouldn't want to call this one a Black Ark classic exactly, but it's cool to hear a forgotten Scratch production just the same. Inglan-born miss McKenzie was flown in with high hopes by Chris Blackwell's Island label to record her debut in Lee Perry's famed Trenchtown studio, but what she found was a wizard pretty much at the end of his tether. Which is probably why the resulting, rather tepid-sounding tracks remained in the vault for decades, except for two songs that got a very limited local release on Perry's own label. For a taste, here's one of Candy and Lee's better moments.

Candy McKenzie - Jah Knows

Flower Power

As spring sucks big time thus far, all one can do is to smell the flowers safely indoors. The specimen pictured above is one tulip out of fifty currently residing in a shiny champagne bucket in the kitchen at For The Sake Of The Song headquarters. Yup, ran cold out of bubbly. And as a soundtrack, here's a sweet-smelling musical six pack for ya. "Don't send me no flowers, I ain't dead yet..."

Liz Phair - Flower
The Breakers - Don't Send Me No Flowers
Buffalo Tom - Sunflower Suit
Dr. Octagon - Blue Flowers
Jacks - Uragiri No Kisetsu (Gloomy Flower)
Caitlin Rose - Dead Flowers

Out Of Luck

"Sometimes the devil wears a ski mask, and god created border towns..." Just another Tom Russell beauty from last year's excellent Mesabi album. Featuring longtime Sir Doug sideman Augie Meyers on piano, while that special narcocorrido flavour comes courtesy of Jacob Valenzuela on trumpet and Joel Guzman on accordion. "Saint Jude, your children are running out of luck..."

Tom Russell - And God Created Border Towns

Awright

The hot dogs from Hoboken took on an obscure '67 Velvets gem long before it finally got an official release on that marvellous Peel Slowly And See box. Way to go, guys.

Yo La Tengo - It's Alright (The Way That You Live)
The Velvet Underground - It's All Right (The Way That You Live)

Pattern Forming

Staying on the remix front a wee bit longer, here's the rather wonderfully named instrumentalist Zoon Van Snook, hailing from - where else? - Bristol. His oddtronics stuff is not my usual cup of tea, but the treatment (and added vocals!) he gets from my fave freakfolkers Tungg really tastes delicious. Find it on Remixes From The Nutty Tree, out now on Mush records. "Dive into hot spring scalding..."

Zoon Van Snook - The Cross I'd Bear (Tunng remix)

Come And Join Me

On my cloud, that is. Standout among many a chill remix of Gil Scott-Heron's glorious last stand by boy wonder Jamie xx Smith.

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx - My Cloud