Record collecting heavyweights Godsy & Zeus AKA Gareth 'Cherrystones' Godard and Joel 'Quiet Village' Martin adopt two more aliases as Junior 'Sugarcreek' Kincaid & Dwight 'Crawdaddy' Pickens in this foray into the murky backwaters of Bayou country. It's not often I've forked out for a mixtape in recent times but this one has been worth the punt and some. The gumbo-thick selection takes in the likes of Link Wray, Ten Years After and Travis Wammack in a heady and heavy seventies rock jamdown bound to get bourbon corks squeaking, humidity levels rising and gators writhing.
Just finished this enthralling read by Rob Young called Electric Eden - Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music, which charts the meandering development of the folk music canon in Britain over the last hundred years or so. The book has enjoyed almost unanimous critical acclaim and you can pick up a copy in all good bookshops. Young's painstakingly well-researched tome will have you seeking out the music and musicians considered within on a page-by-page basis.
Young manages to successfully weave the development of Blighty's indigenous folk narrative into the prevailing social, cultural and political climates of the time. Although his own overtly socialist political stance threatens to take over at times, his knack for vivid descriptions of the sonic palette and enthusiasm for the folk continuum, more than make up for it.
For a taste of the artists covered within, pay a visit to the Seek Music website, where music writer Ian Preece has compiled a mix inspired by the book, that takes in the likes of Davey Graham, Shirley Collins, Fairport Convention and Ewen Macoll.
If like me your knowledge of classical music is on a par with an understanding of advanced neuroscience, here's a cute and accessible little introduction through the back door from the leftfield, courtesy of the ever-enlightening Mississippi Records' tape series. It features a selection of scratchy compositions from the likes of avant-garde composer Erik Satie, street musician 'The Viking Of 6th Avenue' Moondog and Maureen Tucker from The Velvet Underground.
For more Mississippi Mixtapes, covering all kinds of obscure music from early doo wop and rhythm 'n blues to Jamaican soul and African oddities visit the Root Blog here.
To belatedly kick things off on the Vurshon blog, here's an 80 minute mix of digi-dub from outer space featuring Twilight Circus Dub Soundsystem and complimentary selections. Link & tracklist below...
Glen Brown & King Tubby - ‘Lambsbread Dub’ (Leftfield’s Half Past Dub mix)
Strategy - ‘Dunes Dub’
Jack Dangers meets Dubloner - ‘Turn Left For Jabilaya’
Mike Stott - ‘Modern Love 2’
Twilight Circus Dub Soundsystem - ‘Oats’ Ryan Moore is the Netherlands-based multi-instrumentalist and echo warrior behind Twilight Circus and has been producing his own unique take on the dub canon for nearly two decades now. As well as releasing a slew of great albums and compilations of dubplates featuring ethereal keys and the trademark Twilight sonic palette, Moore has also released some mighty good soundsystem singles featuring contributions from heavyweights like The Disciples, Big Youth and Brother Culture. Check the Twilight Circus website for a full discography and links to buy stuff. This mix (hopefully) showcases the wide breadth of his sound intermingled with other digital oddities of a somewhat other-wordly nature, from the French adventures of High Tone and Zenzile Dub, through UK players like The I-Tones and Dub Specialists to the claustrophobic experiments of Forest Swords and Strategy.
