For our precious friend Emre Yerlikhan aka babel, whom we lost today at the ripe age of 34. A devout literary fanatic and a bright mind, his place won’t be filled. May his ideas & ideals live on through his friends and may he rest in peace.

Yesterday we were watching and chatting about this amazing Eurovision song from 89. When out of the blue Tolga came up with three versions. Tolga sez :

“Here are the three versions of Turkey’s 1989 Eurovision entry: Grup Pan : Bana Bana. The first version is a studio mix, the second one is a live version and the third one is a remix. Although the song received 5 points, placing 21st in a field of 22 in that year’s contest, I personally think that Bana Bana is the best amongst Turkey’s Eurovision entries with its complex harmonic and percussive content. Thanks to composer and arranger Timur Selçuk.”

This is such a high point for Eurovision among all the cheesy eurodance crap.

God, these lyrics by the stoner rock duo-turned-trio Big Business are great, even though I don’t really get what he’s ranting about. From their latest album Mind the Drift on Hydra Head Records.

While you were sleeping
Been doing some thinking
Everyone’s taking a side
The Ayes all and any
The nayes half as many
There’s plan to put break in your stride
Became crystal clear when we cracked the veneer
That nobody wanted us here
We’re out of the habit, stead chasing rabbits
Goddamnit, it’s not how we planned it
Sound the alarm

Sat Sapienti is a periodical where we feature kickass songs with matching wise lyrics.

A strong contender for the best album of the year AD2009, In the Country’s “Whiteout” is best described as transcendental. The third album by the Norwegian trio on Rune Grammofon is a one-of-a-kind mixture of contemporary jazz (or post-jazz) progressive music and classical composition.

Some personal remarks; their previous album “Losing Stones, Collecting Bones” was hard to get into for me, and to tell the truth I was a bit skeptical about “Whiteout”. Yet after a few pieces of background listening, it felt as though the space/time has warped and I was taken aback by the increasing clarity of mind while attending other things (that means not having to switch tabs every 10 seconds to do something meaningful). OK, it was highly subjective but it doesn’t need a genius to figure out that this has magical qualities especially after the first 15 minutes.

We already know Morten Qvenild’s piano can do wonders as his work with Shining, Jaga Jazzist and Suzanna and the Magical Orchestra has demonstrated in the past, yet Whiteout isn’t your standard jazz trio album. It is indeed an unparalleled amalgam with bassist Roger Arntzen, drummer Pål Hausken and producer/ multi instrumentalist Andreas Mjos in what could be one of the most grandiose journeys into unchartered musical territories. Let’s see if it will stand the test of time.

Alamaailman Vasarat is known for their own breed of progressive folk music with accordeons, violins and a healthy dose of distorted guitars and macabre humour. It sounds like one of the best recipes and it is!. Yet as nadirauxpommes put it “It’s either that Alamaailman Vasarat inherently can not surprise anyone who’s heard their past works by this point, or they’ve simply toned it down.”

Their 4th album Huuro Kolkko is a concept album inspired by a Finnish fan named Richard Kolkko who had recently inherited a strange package of old photos, broken insect collection boxes, notes and a rugged journal from a distant relative Huuro Kolkko, a Finnish explorer from the early 1900’s:

“Huuro Kolkko was never recognized by his fellow scientists but nevertheless rambled many continents on his own without any official funding or promise of fame among public let alone his peers. During his travels, he made extensive studies of local cultures, drew maps of areas never visited by man and collected specimens of insects, flora and wild life. Mentioned in the journals are also some vague rumors of lost islands or even a small continent Huuro Kolkko supposedly found during his various travels. While it is somewhat unclear whether this actually happened or not, it surely makes a good story and this is what brought the unknown explorer and Alamaailman Vasarat together. Richard Kolkko, a big fan of Alamaailman Vasarat, knew that we also had our own imaginary continent called Vasaraasia (Hammer Asia, also a title of our debut album from 2000). Richard contacted Alamaailman Vasarat and showed some journals and notes of Huuro Kolkko. Needless to say, the band was immediately drawn to the subject. ”

Despite the amazing story Huuro Kolkko seems to suffer from some kind of listener fatigue for Vasarat fans thanks to the the amazing bar set by their previous records towering above them like Sergei fkn Bubka. The gradual toning down of the distortion since Käärmelautakunta doesn’t help and they sound like a tamer folk band sometimes with blunted edges. Although the music remains surreal, unconventional and rewarding, it sadly sounds the same to experienced ears.

Don’t be put off by the reviews though as Vasarat’s music still remains heads and shoulders above 99% of the musical output of any given time period and they’re really only competing with themselves. 3.5/5

Just a quick reminder that our favourite Canadian / French turbo folk prog punk husband & wife duo Vialka will be playing live today in Peyote, Istanbul. I was thoroughly hooked on Vialka’s amusing melodies and energic rhyhtms on their “Curiosities of Popular Customs” album and after 3 years I still think that their cabaret-like concert and bizarre music is unmatched. You can buy their music from indietorrent, check more on their own site (with lots of freebies) but the best would be to see them live. They’re modern day gypsies travelling all over the world, so they will make it to your vicinity inevitably.

image cred

Here we are with #74 and the first thing you’ll notice is that the mix is uploaded to soundcloud. It looks better, plays better and you can leave comments on the timeline! So much gem unearthed by Can mostly this time, Nico Fidenco & Food of the Gods unbelievable stuff. Enjoy and leave feedback if you like it!

From Jimi Tenor to Alamaailman Vasarat, the Fins have a monopoly on bizarre music. I’ve always wondered the reason to their connection with Sun-Ra’s cosmic vibes resulting in the maddest alchemy of orchestral jazz, noise and progressive rock. A new addition to the roster is Astro Can Caravan, mind you they’ve been around since 2000 but they’ve released very sparsely and their only full length is 2005’s 21st Century Drifting Episode, so it took me a while to find out about them.

“Trying to define Astro Can Caravan’s music precisely is not easy. The strong presence of wind instruments makes one to think about something jazzy, but there is also a large amount of different influences from ancient Ethiopia to Finnish nature and its primitive sound.”

This experimental 20 piece orchestra channels the outer space into molds of Sun-Ra, Magma, Can and Finnish composer Kerkko Koskinen, who is their label mates on (surprise!) Ricky Tick Records which they’ve recently released a new 3 track EP. Sample it on their myspace.

Remember the time when you were a kid and your attention span was 4 seconds. You’d chase one stimulus after the other with utter amazement. Now, you can go back to that instance and remember what kind of music was accompanying your adventures! The lovable Ben Jacobs aka Max Tundra has got his third one six years after his amazing sophomore “Mastered By Guy At The Exchange“. The prince of wacky one man live shows and outsider humour is back to give Dan Deacon a run for his money with “Parallax Error Beheads You”. Years have made him mature at times but thank god he hasn’t lost his humour, he’s still blessed and plagued by his wildly creative and surreal mind.

When you listen to this album, you’d think that it was made by an eccentric millionaire, with every name-brand pop music producer in the world contributing their own two seconds of material. Upon closer inspection, you’d realize that it’s been six years since “Mastered By Guy At The Exchange“; in that time, Max probably hasn’t had a single good night’s sleep. Domino

Cooking with Max Tundra

Image Creds

And then, the Earth being small, mankind will migrate into space, and will cross the airless Saharas which separate planet from planet and sun from sun. The Earth will become a Holy Land which will be visited by pilgrims from all the quarters of the Universe. Finally, men will master the forces of Nature; they will become themselves architects of systems, manufacturers of worlds. Winwood Reade, THE MARTYRDOM OF MAN, 1872

Previous Space themed selection.