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Ben Sisario’s latest feature for The New York Times shines a light on ‘Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten’, a documentary about the rise and fall of Cambodia’s Rock Music scene in the 1960s and ’70s.

Southeast Asian rock (and funk, for that matter) from that era is a favorite of mine: Gritty recordings, slightly untuned instruments, but with unique melodies and phrasings which often hark back to traditional folk songs from the region. Of course, the energy and the optimism of the music feels bittersweet now with the knowledge that a secret war and a subsequent Khmer Rouge genocide would so destroy much of the culture – and kill many of the people who made it.

Thankfully, a modern resurgence of interest in this music is making it more broadly available. Compilations have emerged in recent years (like the ‘Sounds of Siam’ series by DJ Chris Menist) and modern bands like Cambodian Space Project use the classic sound as a template for new explorations.

Readers in the United States should check the listings for when the film is coming to town and, if you’re on the East Coast, you might even get a bonus concert from some of the musicians featured by the movie-makers1.

  1. If you get to go – I’m happy for you but, I must admit, also a little jealous. I’ll work on being a better person. []
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Have you ever read an article and come across a detail which made you say “Ahhhhhh!” out loud? That’s what just happened to me about halfway through this Stereogum interview with Radiohead drummer, Phil Selway.

Phil was talking to Stereogum to mark the 20th Anniversary of ‘The Bends’ (Amazon / iTunes / Spotify), describing the process of recording the album and how the music they made reflected the emotional moment of the band’s development.

The detail that made me involuntarily vocalize? He mentioned that Thom Yorke recorded the soaring main vocal track for “Fake Plastic Trees” after returning from a Jeff Buckley show, full of inspiration.

This is a link post – You can visit the site mentioned by clicking the main link above (or just click here).

Whenever I find out about websites like Albums That Never Were, I get a little giddy.

Okay. A lot.

A music fan called ‘thesoniclovenoize’ meticulously reconstructs and documents famous unreleased albums (or imagines new ones in some cases) from a variety of sources.

Browse through the collection and I’ll see you in a few days, once you re-emerge from this rabbit hole of musical delights.

This is a link post – You can visit the site mentioned by clicking the main link above (or just click here).

If you’re like me and you look forward to pretty much anything that Bonobo (a.k.a., Simon Green) puts out, then I suppose that today is very good day for both of us. His new album ‘The North Borders Tour – Live’ has been just been released – and the CD version even comes with a full-length companion DVD.

The release is made up of 11 tracks recorded at various stops (London, Seattle, Croatia, etc.) on the 18 month tour for the studio release of “The North Borders”. And European fans – take note! “Golden Tickets” are being hidden in some of the albums stocked at indie record stores which will enable you to attend the final shows of the tour in style (check out this post on the official site for more details about this Willy Wonka-esque gesture).

Listen or buy it on Spotify // iTunes // Amazon.

(Video is for ‘Prelude – Kiara [Live]’, taken from Bonobo’s DVD of ‘The North Borders Tour – Live.’)

Like almost every other person who has ever tried to write a pop song, I’m a fan of The Beatles. Truth be told, though, I never spent all that much time listening to the “Post-Beatles” work of the Fab Four – save a childhood rewind-and-replay-until-the-tape-breaks obsession with a Paul McCartney song called  “Coming Up”.1

Recently, though, I took the time to watch Martin Scorsese’s ‘George Harrison: Living In the Material World’ documentary (iTunes / Amazon) and gained new respect for how Harrison forged an identity for himself both during and after The Beatles. Seeing that film is probably why I noticed that today is the release date for ‘The Apple Years 1968-75’ (iTunes / Amazon)

A remastering of 6 albums worth of George Harrison’s post-Beatles output, ‘George Harrison: The Apple Years (1968-75)’ serves as a counterpart to Harrison’s other post-Beatle boxed set, ‘The Dark Horse Years 1976-92’ (Amazon). This new collection features re-released versions (with bonus tracks, natch) of ‘Wonderwall Music’, ‘Electronic Sound’, ‘All Things Must Pass’, ‘Living in the Material World’, ‘Dark Horse’ and ‘Extra Texture (Read All About It)’.

This collection seems like a great place to jump in to Harrison’s solo work if you are, like me, a lot more familiar with The Beatles than with what he did afterwards, . Check out the trailer above or, for more details on the remastering project, click here to go to the Official George Harrison page describing the release.

  1. I liked the song well-enough, but my love was mostly due to what a seven year old me considered to be McCartney’s bravura, multi-character green-screen performance in the video. []

Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow Do A Joint Reddit ‘Ask Me Anything’.

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More Prince goodness… Herc’s Hideaway has a nice round-up in honor of the 30th Anniversary of ‘Purple Rain’.

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Bob Stanley looks back on the legacy of Prince and Madonna, 30 Years after the release of ‘Purple Rain’ in “Highs in the Mid-Eighties” for the Paris Review.

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Spotify Search Playlists help you quickly find music that gets your head nodding and makes your ears happy!

This article originally appeared at Veritrope.com

I’m a fan of Spotify, a freemium music service which gives listeners access to a collection of over 15 million songs. It’s a fantastic way to enjoy music, but its library is so large that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with options when it comes to putting together playlists or finding new artists.

One solution: “Spotify Search Playlists”. Here are two search tips which can help you quickly find music that gets your head nodding and makes your ears happy.

[Read more…]

UPDATE — Final Mix Released! (See Below)

Long-time readers know that I’m a big fan of Karsh Kale, my old neighbor and the current heavyweight champion of making music with cool people all around the world. For Valentine’s Day, Karsh shared an early mix from a recent collaboration with Blackstratblues (a.k.a., guitarist Warren Mendonsa’s new project after moving on from Indian Rock legends “Zero”).

“Hallelujah / Ode to a Sunny Day” is a straightforward concept: Kale sings a Jeff Buckley-esque interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” over the music to Mendonsa’s “Ode To A Sunny Day”, which was originally featured on 2009’s “The New Album”.