Surinder Kaur + Prakash Kaur | Solid Gold

Listen to a crazy-great track from this CD

Get the disc here.

I found this absolute gem four or five years ago in Manhattan on Lexington Ave near the corner of 28th at a particularly fabulous Indian cinema and music store that I believe closed down within the next year. The owner's son complained bitterly that the store was not doing well because they did not sell pirated material. Everyone, he said, preferred to get things on the cheap. But his father had integrity and sold only original discs.

Read more about Surinder Kaur here.

Mandalay Thein Zaw & Soe Sandar Tun | Mya Na Di

Listen to track from this sublime CD

Get the whole thing here.

Found at Thiri Video in east Elmhurst. Peter Doolan of Monrakplengthai had found out about this place a while ago and contacted me to see if I'd be interested in coming along with him on his first trip there. We finally met up today and made the trek.

I'm heading out the door, but I have another CD from the same store that I'll upload this coming week sometime, and when I do, I'll tell you all about our trip to Thiri.

Until then ... enjoy this insanely fabulous CD!

Hoàng Oanh | Souvenir Ky Niem 04, Ngay Em 20 Tuoi

Listen to the first track on this hair-raisingly beautiful CD

Get the whole kit & kaboodle here.

Frankly, I'm scared to upload anymore music until September 1st, when my Divshare account limit zeroes out again. When I started this blog last year I had about 5 or 6 visitors a day; now I'm getting well over 100. By pop music standards, 100 people a day ain't much, but it's enough to push me up to the next level of Divshare accountage or whatever the word is that means "Gary, we're going to need a lot more money from you if you want to keep doing this."

But, what the hay. This is something I found on Argyle Street in Chicago a few years ago, and is one of my five favorite Vietnamese CDs. Hoàng Oanh is probably the most famous female singer from Vietnam prior to 1975 when, obviously, everything changed. I've got another fabulous CD from her on this site; just click on "Vietnam" in the label cloud to the right. I think Oanh now lives in Cerrito, Calif., and still performs.

Here's a somewhat recent performance on video:

Tsin Ting | Song of Tomorrow

Listen to Hong Kong go-go classic, "Firebird"

Get it all here.

Want the track listing?

I found this terrific CD, and two dozen others from the same (deservedly) legendary series, at one of my favorite Chinatown DVD/CD stores on Bowery. The shop, sadly, has since closed, though not before I happily absconded with their entire stock of these.

And, more upsetting, I don't know what's become of this series, either. Most that were previously available through yesasia are out of print, and have been for years. There is no website anywhere that I could find from the publisher. From what I can tell, this project has been abandoned.

Get more from this series at What's in my iPod? and Ambuscade from Ten Sides.

Read a bit about Tsin Ting's life and career here.

See the clip from Hong Kong Nocturne, where this song made its debut:

Various Artists | 21st Century Japan

Listen to the first song from this set

Hear song number 5

Listen to the 21st song

Get all 30 songs here.

A nice shout out about Bodega Pop from WFMU's "Beware of the Blog" reminds me that, in fact, my initial plan was not to do a blog at all, but a CD label. Talking with conceptual poet and WFMU DJ Kenneth Goldsmith, who encouraged me to consider doing a blog instead, ultimately led me (and now you) here.

Kenny was right, of course; I've probably posted more music to this blog in the first year than I'd have been able to publish in CD form, even if I lived to be 100. But a boy can still dream, can't he?

Were I to seriously consider a label, I think the very first project would be to compile a couple dozen of the most thrilling contemporary tracks from Japan, focusing on indy rock and some of the more accessible experimental stuff--from noodles and Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her to Melt Banana and OOIOO.

And that is, more or less, what I've done here. Some of this was found in Japan, but most of it was discovered online, a good portion of it at Rebel Japan Music, one of my all-time favorite music blogs.

If you like what you hear, I encourage you to seek out other music by the bands that intrigue you; many of whom, again, can be found on Rebel Japan.

And don't be too harsh on my imaginary CD cover--it's the first I've ever "designed."

Unknown Khmer Surin Music

Listen to the first track

Get the whole thing here.

Found at a Thai/Cambodian grocery store in Portland, Oregon, a few years ago. Khmer Surin is a northern Cambodian/Thai dialect, similar to Khmer, but different enough that some suggest it be considered its own language.

Fez City Clan | Fez City Clan

Listen to a fabulous track from this CD.
Grab it all here.

When I began collecting music from around the world in the 1990s, I could never have imagined that one day you'd be able to walk into a music store like Kim's or Other Music and find a solid row of rock music from around the world.

The same cannot yet be said for rap and hip-hop. There is so much out there, all over the world, that it seems likely that at some point some intrepid soul or souls will launch a label or two and begin a similar process for the genre.

There seem to be two kinds of non-American rap: That which attempts to sound in every way as close to contemporary American rap as possible; and that which creates a kind of fission (as opposed to fusion) between the source and host musics, the result of which is often exciting and genuinely new. Obviously, I'm far more interested in the latter.

Happily, that's what we have in the CD above, which I found in a music stall in Marrakeh's Jamaa el Fna.

Some day--perhaps some day soon--I'll put together a zip file of samples of rap and hip-hop from around the world that I've discovered over the last decade. Until then, enjoy the present disc!

Cuī Jiàn | Balls under the Red Flag

Listen to "Flying"

Listen to "Balls under the Red Flag"

Get it all here.

Found for a dollar in a Chinese-language bookstore in Flushing.

Ground-breaking Beijing art/punk rocker Cuī Jiàn has been recording since the mid-1980s. Considered the father of Chinese rock (he was the first mainlander to adapt Western-style pop), he actually started out with the Beijing Philharmonic Orchestra when he was 14 years old. His song "Nothing to My Name" became an anthem during the Tiananmen Square protests, despite his own protest that it was merely a love song--nothing more, nothing less.

His music is at times funky, experimental, slightly off-kilter--sort of like James Chance & The Contortions x Sonic Youth, though I don't think I've heard anything quite like at least some of the tracks on this CD. As the title would suggest (and yes, it means *those* balls), he often mocked China's communist past (and present), ultimately getting himself banned from airplay and major public performances until 2005. Recorded in 1994, "Balls under the Red Flag" is considered by many to be his masterpiece, one of, if not the greatest rock records ever recorded in China.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that he's single-handedly responsible for the current Beijing punk movement.

Read a long, detailed article on Cuī Jiàn here.

Read an interview with him here.

Great live version of "The Village Attacks the City" (song begins 2:10 into video):

Dolphin | K.A.M.A.-3

Listen to a track from this CD

Get it all here.

Found today in St. Petersburg Book Store on Brighton Beach Avenue in Brooklyn. A rather fabulous low-fi alt-rock band with minimal vocals and lots of chunky screechy guitar above a wobbling bass and chippy trap set. Sounds live, and may well be so.

The following bit of Joy Division-y goodness, however, is all studio, and well worth a watch:

Various Artists | Altin Mikrofon 1965

Get it all here.

I found this and two other discs (1966 and 1967-68) at Uludag Video in Brooklyn on I think Avenue W near Ocean Avenue.

I'll upload the other two in the next day or so. Meanwhile, a bit of context ...

From Anatolian Psych:

Altın Mikrofon (Golden Microphone) song contest was first held in 1965 to help give a new direction to contemporary Turkish music through the use of western techniques, forms and instruments. The participants were consist of college student bands of metropolitan cities like İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir, who most of them were widely renowned bands like Moğollar, Haramiler, Erkin Koray. The finalists would get their contest song (and a song of their choice) recorded and printed as a single and sold on the music market for revenues which were left solely to the benefit of these groups.

Many bands and artists like Sis Beşlisi, Mavi Işıklar, Mavi Çocuklar, Cem Karaca & Apaşlar, Selçuk Alagöz, Silüetler, Oksijen, Kaygısızlar, Hayaletler and many more were introduced to Anatolian cities other than İstanbul, Ankara, and İzmir.

As the regulations for the contest was announced, 78 competitors applied immediately. The jury had a long list of 119 people (which reduced to 82 at the begining of the competition) including important musicians, artists and journalists like M. Nurettin Selçuk, Nadir Nadi, and Safiye Ayla.

Video? Yeah, video: