What follows are my fave spins and outernational reissues and discoveries from the past year. Some collections were released in December 2010, but didn't make it into my box until the new year. Most got a few shines on "The Dream of Harry Lime" over the course of the year.
As ever, the outernational sound lives and builds, with unlikely origins outside this time and place, in a folk passion and genius that inevitably finds its season in our own eternal present. All good things to the archivists, enthusiasts, zigzag wanderers and ambassadors that keep bringing the good noise out.
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Var. Artists –– ...i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces (Old Weird America, Dust-to-Digital)
The Lijadu Sisters –– Danger (Nigeria, 1976, reissue, Knitting Factory)
Var. Artists –– The Sound of Siam - Leftfield Luk Thung, Jazz & Molam in Thailand (Thailand, Soundway)
Var. Artists –– Opika Pende - Africa at 78 RPM (Africa, Dust-to-Digital)
Var. Artists –– Angola Sountrack (Luanda, Analog Africa/Forced Exposure)
Kourosh Yaghmaei –– Back from the Brink (Iran, Stone's Throw/Now-Again)
Var. Artists –– Turkish Freakout 2 (Turkey, Bouzouki Joe Records)
Shin Joong Hyun –– Beautiful Rivers and Mountains, 1958-1974 (South Korea, Light in the Attic)
Aka –– Hard Beat (Indonesia, Strawberry Rain)
Var. Artists –– Those Shocking Shaking Days (Indonesia, Now-Again)
Terakaft –– Aratan N Azawad (Mali, World Village)
Var. Artists –– Life is Dance (Pakistan, B-Music)
Tinariwen –– Tassili (Sahara, Sony Music)
Var. Artists –– International Style - Thai Funk Volume 1&2 (Thailand, Light in the Attic)
Var. Artists –– Boddie Recording Company: Cleveland, Ohio (US Soul, Numero 035)
Funky Rob Way –– Just One More Time (Ghana, Analog Africa)
Var. Artists –– Thai? Dai! (Thailand, B-Music)
Zdenek Liska –– Mala Morska Vila/The Little Mermaid (Former Czechoslovakia, B-Music)
And a couple 2010 releases still in heavy rotation:
Var. Artists –– The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia in 1970s (Nigeria, Soundway)
Kris Kristofferson –– Don't Tell Me When the Story Ends (Basement America, Light in the Attic)
