Sam Prekop "Sam Prekop"

Sea and Cake frontman Sam Prekop's solo debut certainly isn't rare in any sense (it dropped just out a decade ago) but it's a damn good record that came on shuffle the other day. Listened straight-through for the first time in a long time, possibly ever. Yo! Have you heard... Sam Prekop?

Released on Thrill Jockey in 1999, Prekop's solo debut features all the major players in the chicago underground: Chad Taylor (percussion) and Rob Mazurek (cornet) of Chicago Underground Duo, John McEntire of Tortoise and Jim O'Rouke. Jazzy guitar licks, minimalist accompaniment, relaxed grooves and shifting time.

"A Cloud to the Back" is, in every sense of the word, "dreamy," so soft it was featured in a toilet paper commercial (I tried to find this on youtube...fail). "Don't Bother" is bursting with tension but barely builds beyond a whisper, mostly instrumental save Prekop's one verse. Mazurek's cornet is brilliant in "Faces and People."

Prekop even admits in interviews that this first solo record doesn't differ much from the Sea and Cake's output, save the expanded lineup of musicians.

Another Prekop solo record came out 6 years later in 2005 - haven't heard that one. Enjoy the tracks below.



1. "Showrooms"
2. "The Company"
3. "Practice Twice"
4. "A Cloud To The Back"
5. "Don't Bother"
6. "Faces And People"
7. "On Such Favors"
8. "The Shadow"
9. "Smaller Rivers"
10. "So Shy"

Buy Prekop's records direct from Thrill Jockey... and while you're there pick up a couple more from the label's endlessly impressive roster.

2 Mex "B Boys In Occupied Mexico"

Last night's Aesop Rock show at Mohawk has me thinking back to those days in college when indie hip hop was the only thing you'd hear coming out of my stereo. Quannum Spectrum, Anti-Pop Cosortium, Freestyle Fellowship, Cunninlyguists, Raptivism Records - if it was hip hop and preferably political or downright militant I was probably rocking it.

Yo Have You Heard... 2 Mex's B Boys in Occupied Mexico? 2 Mex is an LA-based emcee who's released records with the rap collective The Visionaries (LMNO, KeyKool, Writer's Block and DJ Rhettmatic), SonGodSun and Of Mexican Descent. Most of the crew's record's have been independently released on their own Up Above Records. Really really great underground LA hip hop collective, not unlike the Good Life Cafe scene and Quannum / Solesides a little further north in the Bay Area. Pretty much anything these cats drop is quality.

Sharing a couple tracks this week: "Making Money Off God" teams 2 Mex with Busdriver, another avant-garde rapper from the West Coast, "Doctors, Drums and Danger" features fellow Chicano emcee Xoloanxinxo. 2 Mex's partner in the duo Of Mexican Descent, Xolo actually shows up on half the tracks on B-Boys.

A little something extra: this real great video from another 2 Mex collabo, Look Daggers, featuring Mars Volta keyboardist Ikey Owens. Sick!





1 Ghost Writer
2 L.A. (Like…)
3 Percussion Precaution
4 Humble Is the Style of the Day (Featuring Xololanxinxo & LMNO)
5 Control Mexica (Featuring Xololanxinxo & Fermin)
6 M Is for Memo
7 Across & Down
8 Making Money Off God (Featuring Bus Driver)
9 Doctors, Drums and Danger (Featuring Xololanxinxo & Sick Jacken)
10 Offering
11 Won
12 Lord 25 (Featuring Xololanxinxo & Zen)
13 I Didn't Mean to Touch Your Hand
14 Love You the Same
15 It Will (The Won't Go Away Remix)
16 The Believe In Yourself Song (Featuring Angie Gonzalez)
17 The Truth (Featuring Jerry Quickly)

The Visionaries on wiki
2 Mex on itunes

Billy Cobham "Spectrum"

Sorry for the late posting - expect to see this every Sunday. Don't expect me to be in Vegas every weekend wasting all my money on roulette. Either way here's this week's Yo...


Billy Cobham is a beast. He was one of the first jazz/fusion drummers to start playing open handed lead (meaning he starts beats or fills with either hand, allowing him to dance all over the drumset with ease). Cobham played on one of my favorite Miles Davis records Live-Evil, started Mahavishnu Orchestra with fellow Davis-alum John McLaughlin, then moved on and did some solo stuff. If it was 70s and fusion and had killer beats, Cobham was probably laying down those rhythms.

Spectrum was Cobham's first solo record, with Jan Hammer (also of Mahavishnu fame) on keys and Tommy Bolin (Deep Purple) on guitar. To say this record is "jazz" would be somewhat correct but it feels more like improvised rock n roll.

The track I shared here, "Searching for the Right Door / Spectrum," starts off with a pretty amazing drum solo. Then Cobham drops what may be one of the sickest backbeats I've ever heard. I get chills when I hear this fucking beat. Hope you do too.




1. Quadrant 4
2. a. Searching for the Right Door b. Spectrum
3. a. Anxiety b. Taurian Matador
4. Stratus
5. a. To the Women in My Life b. Le Lis
6. a. Snoopy's Search b. Red Baron

Billy Cobham on wiki
Billy Cobham on itunes

VA "Savage Sounds of South Africa"

Took me a while to find any information on the web about this release, in fact I can't even remember where I got it from originally. Nabbed the tracklisting off Paradise of Garage Comps (outstanding blog, check them out)... Van Morrison's Them, John E. Sharpe and the Squires and The Zeroes figure most prominently. The Upsetters take on Otis Redding's "Pain in my Heart," The Zeroes tackle The Who's "I Can't Explain."

Side note: Why is Them on this comp? Pretty sure they were from Belfast (Wiki agrees). I'm not fully convinced the tracks are really Them and not covers. Speaking of covers... cover songs from obscure South African garage bands of R&B classics like "Pain in my Heart" begs the question: why wouldn't I just listened to the inimitable Otis?

Most of this music was locked down and little heard outside of Apartheid South Africa until recently. For collectors and enthusiast of classic garage rock, "Savage Sounds of South Africa" is a great listen. I decided to go ahead and share the whole record, rather than a few select tracks. Link below.

Side 1
1 Them - One Time Too Many
2 The Zeroes - Work All Day (Sleep All Night)
3 Beau Brummel - Someone To Love
4 John E. Sharpe and The Squires - Yours For The Picking
5 Group '66 - I Know About Love
6 Them - I Want To Be Rich Again
7 The Gonks - Woman Yeah
8 The Shangaans - Yeh Girl
9 The Upsetters - Pain In My Heart

Side 2
1 The Hobos - If I Ever Saw You
2 Them - It's A Day
3 Birds Of A Feather - Come On Up
4 The In-Crowd - Come Back
5 The Difference - I Wonder Why
6 John E. Sharpe and The Squires - Monkey Shine
7 The Shangaans - Liwa Wechi (Lee-wa Weck-ee)
8 The Zeroes - I Can't Explain
9 John E. Sharpe and The Squires - I'll Explain

Download

Charles Gayle "Ancient of Days"

Charles Gayle is a pretty fascinating story. the dude was homeless for 20 years, playing on the new york subway platform for change before having some records come out overseas in the 1980s. this particular record, Ancient of Days, came out on the Knitting Factory label in 1999 and is one of his more straightforward record. the ubiquitous honks and squeals of free jazz are there but Michael Wimberly's drums are pretty straight forward, bombastic in the Elvin Jones vein, and Hank Johnson's piano gives the songs movement and pulse. if i were going to give anyone an introduction to this sort of 90s era free jazz, Charles Gayle's Ancient of Days would be just as good a starting point as any. the two tracks shared here, "Betrayal" and "Glorified Love," introduce and close the record and show the range of Gayle's sound.

interesting side note, Gayle's was known to book gigs, oftentimes billed as solo piano performances, and instead show up dressed as a clown (as shown on the Days cover art) and proceed to preach about the horrors of abortion. strange.

1. Betrayl
2. Risen Eternal
3. Holy Servant
4. Draw Me Nearer
5. New Earth
6. Glorified Love

Charles Gayle on wiki
Charles Gayle on itunes

brand new...

so i had this idea of starting a blog where i just throw up tracks from random albums that i have. not pretending to have the biggest collection of music but i know i don't have the smallest. and there's some gems of randomness buried in those stacks. every sunday, check out Yo! Have You Heard... for some weird random music i've been listening to.