Just got another Balkan music fix. I’ll be jonesing again soon, but it feels nice at the moment.

Gotta wrap up the reviews of my last batch of CDs before I pick up new ones, which could happen any time. I got these two off CDBaby, which is a great place to order all sorts of independent music.

Figli di Madre Ignota

One of my favorite new discoveries is Figli di Madre Ignota, a band from Tuscany, Italy (The name means “children of unknown mother”). I found them thanks to Jango Internet radio. I made a “Gypsy” themed station and tried to get as many Eastern European-sounding bands to pop up as possible. The first thing I thought of was Gypsy Punk band Gogol Bordello, but Figli is different. Not much of a punk flavor. More of a big band sound, with the nice horn section and a bit of swing. They refer to their music as Spaghetti Balkan. It does have an Italian sort of flair about it. I also hear influences like dancehall reggae and ska, klezmer, and surf. I bet they would be nearly as fun to see live as Gogol Bordello.

Very enjoyable album all the way through. Lyrics are Italian, except for the excellent “Theme from Paradise,” which is in English and “Dago Shoes” (mostly English). The booklet has translations for “Falafel Express” and “Nema Problema Tourist.” And by the way, the CD came with two free videos, one for “Theme from Paradise,” the other from “Ole Ole.”

BalkanBeats Vol. 2

Since I was already on CDBaby about to order something with a Balkan feel, I decided to get some straight-up Balkan music. I’m always on the lookout for new stuff like that, so I went with a mix so I could find some new favorites. And I certainly did. Also found some great new tunes by bands I already knew and loved.

New ones that jumped out at me include: “Anti Geroj” by Azis (very Indian-sounding), “Mozarrella” by Kal (reminds me a bit of Taraf de Haidouks), “Gypsy Part 1″ by Biber, “Ha megfogom az ördögöt” by Besh O Drom (killer song, love the flute), “Hora Evreiasca” by Fanfare Ciocarlia (already one of my favorite bands – awesome Gypsy brass, really fiery number), “Otpisani” by Boban Markovic Orkestar (more great Gypsy brass by another current favorite), “31″ by Va Fan Fahre (this is a new favorite, a Balkan brass band from Belgium with a klezmer influence, absolutely explosive – a “magic organ” version of this song turns up later as a hidden track), “Moldavian Song” by Emir Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra (I’ve loved Kusturica and his band for years and this does not disappoint – incidentally, Kusturica is also a hell of a movie director. Time of the Gypsies and Underground are some of my favorites and also feature great soundtracks by Goran Bregovic).

See if this doesn’t get your blood pumping:

Doleful Lions new album update: no more Parasol deal, digital release soon on Jesus Warhol, CD version tba

Last week I interviewed Jonathan Scott of the horror-infused lush pop group The Doleful Lions once again about his upcoming album, Let’s Break Bobby Beausoleil Out of Prison. His plans have changed since the last time I interviewed him in March. At that time, he said the album was nearly finished and would soon be released on the Urbana, Illinois label Parasol Records.

Well… There’s been a change of plans. He just finished the album, but it won’t be coming out on Parasol. He and Parasol had a bit of a falling out, to put it mildly (there is talk of legal action and Jonathan’s brother Robert quit the band out of disappointment with the label) and it will now be released in digital format on the Jesus Warhol label. He still has the option to release a CD on another label and has been shopping it around. He’s got yet another album almost in the can.

Jonathan believes Let’s Break Bobby Beausoleil Out of Prison is the best album of his career. I’ve heard it and I agree it is very very good.

The digital album will be available soon on JWR. I’ll post another update when it’s up.

Since mylast post about the Doleful Lions has been among my most popular – people keep clicking, probably to find out when the album will be out – I figure I owe people an update. And if you haven’t read that post yet, check it out. Jonathan gave me a hell of an interview.

MusicMissionary: So how do people get the digital album?

Jonathan Scott: They can go to http://www.jesuswarhol.com and it will be avaliable there really soon, Colin [Colin Lipe, who runs the label] wants to have a try at mastering it and we need to finalize the cover and stuff but it should be up in the next couple of weeks.

MM: Can you tell me about what happened with Parasol in the first place? When we left off it was good to go. You were just waiting to hear back.

JS: Oh yeah that blew up in a big way, I talked to them in january and kind of had it out with them, I just voiced my concerns with them and the guy I was talking to said and I quote, “you are being a cry baby bitch.” Also when I called there the guy that answered didn’t even know who the Doleful Lions were. Mind you I have put out 7 albums with them and been with them for 15 years.”

So I thought we left it good after the argument and we agreed that we would talk and keep in contact, so I e-mail them a couple of weeks later and nothing. Then more time passed and I was getting pissed that they weren’t talking to me. You have to understand about 8 years ago the guy that worked there at the time told me in your next bank statement you will be in the black and we will owe you some money, because of the iTunes and e-music sales, so 8 fucking years go by and no statement no contact practically. So when I started asking some questions, not even “Pay me!” or anything just asking if they were interested in putting out this record, I heard nothing.

On top of the fact that they had not sent me a bank statement in 8 years. I don’t even know how many records we have sold with them, really. I have no clue. So when I didnt hear back from them, I got mad and a little drunk one night and left some pretty angry messages on their Facebook wall. So then they blocked me from their Facebook and never talked to me again, until finally a guy that used to work there was trying to broker something between us. But Parasol basically told me in their last e-mail: you better get a lawyer.

MM: Have they had a personnel change?
JS: Yes massive personnel changes, the people I used to talk to there who I had a good relationship with left.

MM: So where are you now with the album and with the Doleful Lions? I assume you’re not giving up? You don’t seem like the type.
JS: No way haha. I will never give up, I mean I understand why my brother quit it is hard, it is hard to not really have good things happen when you work hard on a record for a year, but what else am I gonna do? I have been doing this for 15 years I already have the next record written I am not gonna let those people at Parasol make me quit, I am gonna get the rights back to my music from them and carry on. I am not stopping, I will probably be 65 and putting out the 20th Doleful Lions record on some unknown format not yet invented.As long as I can write music I will continue making music. I love it too much.

MM: Sounds like a good way to take it.
JS: Even with all this bad stuff, my favorite thing in the whole entire world is sitting down at my 4 track and coming up with stuff and listening back to it and thinking wow that is pretty all right, I still get freaked out when I come up with stuff. I wonder where it comes from. I still feel like that 5 year old kid listening to Kiss 45″ wishing I was Ace Frehley you know?

 

Update to the update: Jesus Warhol deal is also off. Jonathan just posted the album himself on Bandcamp. You can get the album here.

SheLoom’s debut, Seat of the Empire: perfect pop for the Digital Age

It took me a while, but I finally got hold of SheLoom’s Seat of the Empire. That’s been on my to-do list ever since I discovered them back in the old days on TheSixtyOne. Back then they were called Loom. I think they ran into another band by that name and had to make a switch. SheLoom is one of those bands that didn’t exist before the Internet, a trans-Atlantic collaboration between Filippo Gaetani, an Italian, and Canadian Jordon Zadorozny. The duo creates lush Beatlesque pop that reminds me at times of Skylarking-era XTC.

As soon as I heard “Sink or Swim” on T61 I recognized Jordon’s influence. He was the lead singer of a group called Blinker the Star. That group’s August Everywhere has been a perennial favorite of mine for several years. Seat of the Empire has a similar appeal. Great sense of melody. Great production.

I enjoy the whole album but the first three — “Seat of the Empire,” “Bolero” and “Sink or Swim” — really start things off with a bang and “All for Love” is a hell of a finish.

Apparently Filippo and Jordon have deemed their collaboration a success, because they are already working on a new album, according to their website, SheLoom.com. I will probably still be into this album when their new one comes along.

You can order Seat of the Empire from CDBaby. Or buy the digital version via iTunes. Personally, I would go with the physical artifact. Love the cover art.

Also, check out Blinker the Star’s August Everywhere if you get the chance. I can never stop pimping that album.

Iranian singer Maral Afsharian (formerly of the Plastic Wave) gets write-up in Rolling Stone

Just found out someone I respect a lot is getting some respect from the mainstream music press. Rolling Stone published a great article about Iranian singer Maral Afsharian, former lead singer of the electronic rock group The Plastic Wave. She and her former bandmates are true rock ‘n’ roll rebels, by the way. They got arrested and jailed in 2007 for playing at an outdoor concert in Iran (female lead vocalists are a big no no in that country).

Former Plastic Wave alumni Saeid Nadjafi (aka Natch) and Shayan Amini are currently touring the U.S. in their group called The Casualty Process.

Check out Maral on the Plastic Wave’s “My Clothes on Other Bodies.”

And Maral’s page on Reverbnation.

You might also enjoy reading my article on The Plastic Wave, posted back in December 2010.