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Search Result for Artist or Label or Title or Catalog like gergis
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SUC 031CS
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Mark Gergis is a producer, musician and audiovisual archivist known for his radio and video productions, recordings, and performances. His work has focused on regional folk-pop music from the Middle East and Southeast Asia, including choubi and dabke from Iraq and Syria. As an archivist, Gergis is currently working on the project Syrian Cassette Archives, for which he aims to restore, preserve, catalog and share his large collection of Syrian media from what can be called Syria's "cassette era" (1970s-2010). As an artist, under his name and others (Porest) he has released music on the Sublime Frequencies, Discrepant, and Nashazphone, to name just a few. It's a wonder that amongst this hectic schedule he still finds time to present us with a new (old) collection of early century recordings (1999-2013). Locational recordings, radio, and TV intercepts, cassette excerpts, environments, and street music all expertly all expertly meshed into a vivid sound journey from places that were (and might) never be again.
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SF 095CD
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Radio is an audio compass; the radio antennae, a divining rod. Positioned anywhere, it opens an exclusive window directly into the location in which it sits. Signals received on the medium wave (AM) and FM bands reveal programming intended for a local population by governmental, independent, pirate, or corporate media broadcasters. Anything from low-powered ethnic minority transmissions, high-powered westernized pop stations, and omnipresent state-run radio can be found on these bands. Shortwave bands expand the breadth and scope, pulling in regional and international receptions. Everything received factors into the experience. Music, news, talk shows, advertisements, station IDs, cross-phased interference, errant or intentional static-generated sounds, distant detritus, and random broadcast anomalies all become equally relevant. This disc continues the Sublime Frequencies locale-specific radio collage series with Vietnamese radio recordings culled and assembled from signals received in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City between December 2013 and November 2014. Inside the 70-minute program are moments of outstanding folkloric, traditional, and pop music, including performances on the electric guitar and the dan bau (a one-stringed guitar-like instrument), eclectic Vietnamese folk and rock stylings, dramatic effects-laden radio theater and musical segues, new wave pop forays, traditional percussion and vocal chants, news segments, dynamic radio bumpers, jingles and advertisements, comedic interludes, phoned-in karaoke sing-a-longs, English-language programming, early-morning exercise regimens, and coded messages from the outer ether. The grand total sum of these radio recordings doesn't aim to present a certified ethnographic study of contemporary Vietnam. Rather, the material here aims to distill and replicate the excitement, engagement, and discovery gained during heavy exposure to Vietnamese broadcasts over an eleven-month period during the teenage years of the twenty-first century. CD comes in a beautiful digipak with full color images, a booklet, and liner notes by Mark Gergis, who recorded, compiled, sequenced, and produced the project for Sublime Frequencies on location in Vietnam.
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BM 003LP
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"Bulbous Monocle focuses its lens further into the legacy and archives of the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. These Things Remain Unassigned -- a phrase coined by Brian Hageman, one of the band's musical snake appendages emanating from its Medusa crown -- is presented as a double LP (gatefold jacket with a twelve page libretto). It gathers together the band's singles, compilation tracks, outtakes and never before released gems encompassing the arc of TFUL's musical corpus. Every track has been surgically remastered by Mark Gergis (Porest / Sublime Frequencies / Mono Pause) with his signature craftsman approach. This collection is an auditory and visual feast. The extensive booklet included features band ephemera, concert flyers, photographs, and commentary about each track from Mark Davies. Beyond the rare singles and unreleased tracks from the TFUL archives, are cover versions from such disparate artists and composers as Ennio Morricone, Krzysztof Komeda, The Residents, The Shaggs, Caroliner Rainbow and Pérez Prado." "... In addition to these compilation one-offs, there were also a few studio recordings that were never quite completed or released. Throw in an alternate mix or two and the handful of singles that came out on various labels over the years, and you end up with what I feel works well as its own body of work, a bunch of adopted oddballs that somehow fit together as a family. I hope youʼll agree with me that these things are now no longer unassigned, but part of a somewhat cohesive whole, stitched together into something mysterious and glistening." --Mark Davies (2023)
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SF 1067LP
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Erkin Koray and Sublime Frequencies are pleased to present this collection of rare tracks and lesser-heard singles. All tracks were recorded and released in Turkey between 1970-1977 and culled from Koray's personal vinyl collection. Includes exclusive photos and remastered audio. What more is there to say about Erkin Koray? An iconic guitar and songwriting genius. A voice of gold. Having founded the country's first-ever rock and roll group in 1957, he is regarded worldwide as the father of Turkish rock. Forging Western sounds with his own inimitable musical mastery, he self-produced singles and LPs throughout the 1960s and 1970s that shook and altered Turkish society. Erkin didn't stop at rock and roll. Over time, he began to find inspiration in folk sounds from Turkey's Anatolian interior, and radio broadcasts received from Egypt and Lebanon. He looked to the East from his West-leaning Istanbul perch, and began incorporating these sounds into his own work. This amalgamation was as unprecedented and unorthodox in Istanbul at the time as rock and roll itself had been in the 1950s. The resulting hybrid sound ignited what became known as the Arabesque music movement in Turkey -- which continues to this day. While Erkin has recorded and performed tirelessly throughout the years (both as a solo artist, and with the powerful groups he formed), his extensive back catalog only began to be explored by the international community in the 1990s. He is now recognized as one of the foremost global leaders of psychedelic, folk rock, pop and balladry. His music has stood the test of time more than many of his Western contemporaries and influences have managed to, and his prolific work ethic has not ceased. He continues to live and breathe music, performing epic concerts, and continuously plotting new recordings and strategies. His vision and integrity, coupled with his pronounced world views and inherent musical greatness, have made him the unique and magnificent living legend he is today. This collection features tracks not found on the many unauthorized Erkin compilations and LP reissues that have emerged in the West over the years. Ranging from the sublime to the surreal, these tracks offer an essential glimpse into the extensive repertoire of the great Erkin Koray. --Mark Gergis, July, 2011
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SF 067CD
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2023 repress. Erkin Koray and Sublime Frequencies are pleased to present this collection of rare tracks and lesser-heard singles. All tracks were recorded and released in Turkey between 1970-1977 and culled from Koray's personal vinyl collection. Includes exclusive photos and remastered audio. What more is there to say about Erkin Koray? An iconic guitar and songwriting genius. A voice of gold. Having founded the country's first-ever rock and roll group in 1957, he is regarded worldwide as the father of Turkish rock. Forging Western sounds with his own inimitable musical mastery, he self-produced singles and LPs throughout the 1960s and 1970s that shook and altered Turkish society. Erkin didn't stop at rock and roll. Over time, he began to find inspiration in folk sounds from Turkey's Anatolian interior, and radio broadcasts received from Egypt and Lebanon. He looked to the East from his West-leaning Istanbul perch, and began incorporating these sounds into his own work. This amalgamation was as unprecedented and unorthodox in Istanbul at the time as rock and roll itself had been in the 1950s. The resulting hybrid sound ignited what became known as the Arabesque music movement in Turkey -- which continues to this day. While Erkin has recorded and performed tirelessly throughout the years (both as a solo artist, and with the powerful groups he formed), his extensive back catalog only began to be explored by the international community in the 1990s. He is now recognized as one of the foremost global leaders of psychedelic, folk rock, pop and balladry. His music has stood the test of time more than many of his Western contemporaries and influences have managed to, and his prolific work ethic has not ceased. He continues to live and breathe music, performing epic concerts, and continuously plotting new recordings and strategies. His vision and integrity, coupled with his pronounced world views and inherent musical greatness, have made him the unique and magnificent living legend he is today. This collection features tracks not found on the many unauthorized Erkin compilations and LP reissues that have emerged in the West over the years. Ranging from the sublime to the surreal, these tracks offer an essential glimpse into the extensive repertoire of the great Erkin Koray. --Mark Gergis, July, 2011
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RRGEMS 013LP
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Kadef (Karma Agape Discernment Enactment And Freedom), a group of musicians invited by Devin Brahja Waldman for a recording session in Montreal, QC. This music speaks about freedom and evolution of consciousness. The album could be categorized as improvised Gnawa jazz krautrock: a combination of sounds discovered for the first time thanks to the artists involved. Personnel: Ziad Qoulaii - vocals; Mathieu Pelletier-Gagnon - keyboards; Anas Jellouf - guembri, qraqeb, drums; Devin Brahja Waldman - drums, saxes, electric bass; Vicky Mettler - guitar; Sam Shalabi - guitar; Anass Hejam - guitar; Hamza Lahmadi Kenny - oud; Rachid Salamate - guembri, vocals. Heavyweight black vinyl; classic thick tip-on gatefold record jacket; booklet with liner notes by Brahja. Artwork and calligraphy by Ala Dehghan; layout by Ilja Tulit. Mastered by Mark Gergis.
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FBT 2022LP
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The first new Climax Golden Twins record in many years. Founded in 1993 by Robert Millis and Jeffery Taylor, Climax Golden Twins is perhaps best known for the soundtrack to Session Nine (directed by Brad Anderson in 2001, original soundtrack on Milan International). CGT have released ambient recordings (Lovely on Anomalous Records), compilations of rare 78rpm shellac records (the Victrola Favorites book on Dust-to-Digital), field recording, collage, and musique concrète experiments (Dream Cut Short in the Mysterious Clouds on the Japanese Meme label), and instrumental rock, noise, and improv (5 Cents A Piece on Abduction Records and Imperial Household Orchestra on Scratch). Their new double-LP continues many of these threads and features contributions by friends from Seattle's vibrant music scene and beyond including Alan and Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls), Ko Ishikawa (master Japanese sho player), Greg Kelley (extended trumpet technique specialist), Porest (Sublime Frequencies' Mark Gergis), members of Kinski, Diminished Men, the A Frames, Dreamsalon, and more. The last official Climax Golden Twins release of new sounds was 2008's Journal of Popular Noise. In the years since, CGT composed the score to the film Chained (directed by Jennifer Chambers Lynch in 2012), united with Seattle's A Frames to record a few LPs as AFCGT (including one on Sub Pop), released further Victrola Favorites cassettes and CDs, and continued to perform live. In addition, Jeffery Taylor plays with the improv outfits Hound Dog Taylor's Hand and Spider Trio, while Robert Millis has released solo recordings, pursued installation and sound art projects, plays with Idol Ko Si and has worked extensively with the Sublime Frequencies record label (producing Indian Talking Machine and Paris to Calcutta: Men and Music on the Desert Road (SF 112CD) in addition to films and compilations of music from Korea, Thailand, Japan, Myanmar, and more).
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BM 002LP
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"Bulbous Monocle presents a first-time vinyl reissue of The TFUL 282 masterpiece LP originally released in 1994 on Matador Records. Even in a catalog that bristles with pinnacles, Strangers from the Universe remains pinnaclier than most. Somehow harnessing influences from Bali to Cinecittà to Memphis to the wobbly Sunday morning organ at Oakland's Rose of Sharon Missionary Baptist Church without feeling contrived or showoffy, Strangers is possibly and/or indisputably the most successful shotgun marriage of the Fellers' disparate pop sensibilities with their outlandish song structures, their acre-feet of tape snippets with their hydra-headed arrangements, and their individual compositional and instrumental skills with their congenitally peculiar joint sensorium. Eager as always to experiment with unconventional (i.e., daft and cumbersome) approaches to writing and recording, the Fellers fine-tuned their working methods for Strangers, assigning individual members as 'sheriffs' to oversee the arrangement of promising morsels into coherent compositions. Even more daringly, they decided to let Greg Freeman, their long-suffering engineer, control his own mixing board. 'The result was a much more cohesive sound than we'd ever gotten with our usual approach,' says TFUL282 multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mark Davies. The Fellers' 1994 tour saw the band in full flight bringing the Strangers material to their growing fanbase. Sharing bills with Matador labelmates Pavement and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion for more high-profile gigs, TFUL 282 tore through the US playing from coast to coast and sharing stages with kindred spirits the Sun City Girls, Fly Ashtray, and a host of regional bands who stood in awe at the overwhelming spectacle and furious sonic and visual onslaught that this band could generate on a nightly basis. 'I've always thought of Strangers and the fall tour for it as a pinnacle of sorts,' Mark says. It's easy enough to cite some highlights as evidence: 'Hundreds of Years,' a blossom-garlanded Tower of Song erected at the intersection of Abbey Road and Jalan Kajeng; the galvanic sputter of 'Socket' and 'February' (the latter titled after a handy mnemonic for 'Fingered Eastern Banjo'); Brian Hageman's oddly moving 'The Operation,' which Mark calls 'one of the most sonically dense/confused things we ever did.' Bulbous Monocle's long-overdue reissue puts every single one of this millipedal LP's best feet forward with meticulous remastering by the golden-eyed and gimlet-eared Mark Gergis, making it an essential acquisition for the diffident toe-dipper as well as the seasoned bathyscaphist."
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BM 001LP
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"Bulbous Monocle, a new label focused on the legacy of the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 and the scene from which it reveled in between the years 1986-1996, is honored to launch the label with arguably the most lauded and concise testament from the band. 1993's mini-masterpiece Admonishing the Bishops. Originally released on the Matador Records label, this title and most of the 'Fellers' discography has been out of print for over 25 years. Now, newly remastered by Mark Gergis (Sublime Frequencies et.al) this perfect EP is sounding better than ever!" "Formed in San Francisco in 1986, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 had the bad luck to display a range of cultural and musical reference points shared by relatively few members of that era's archconservative 'underground culture.' On any given day, you might hear that their records were too manicured or too chaotic, too cerebral or too absurd, too personal or too impersonal, too experimental or too pop. Above all, they were derided as 'self-indulgent' by critics who expected artists to tiptoe deferentially around their audience's blind spots. To be fair, their early recordings had about as much relation to their in-the-flesh grandeur as a dripping faucet does to Iguazu Falls. Against steep technical odds, Greg Freeman of Lowdown Studio made their LPs work beautifully as aural monuments. But listeners who hadn't seen the Fellers' live could be forgiven for finding these albums a bit forbidding. Which brings us to Admonishing the Bishops -- a wholly unexpected breakthrough release comprising four down-home, crowd-pleasin' tracks engineered by Volcano Suns/Shellac bassist Bob Weston during the Fellers' epochal tour with Sun City Girls in fall 1992. 'The studio was in Steve Albini's basement, and we stayed there at his house for a couple days while we recorded and mixed,' vocalist/guitarist/bassist/banjoist/trombonist/etceterist Mark Davies explains. The relaxed, low-stakes atmosphere -- along with the band's tour-hardened performances and what Mark calls 'the joy of getting our minds blown every night' by Sun City Girls -- yielded tracks that were polished and approachable without sacrificing any of the band's complexity or ferocity. Back in San Francisco, they decided to release these tracks as a 10-inch EP rather than saving them for a full album. Mark notes that bassist Anne Eickelberg spearheaded the project: 'She wanted to put out something concise after the somewhat bloated double-LP.' Upon its release in 1993, Admonishing the Bishops' concision, clarity and accessibility went over like a duralumin-and-fabric zeppelin. With its 20/20 focus on the band's songcraft, it's an ideal introduction for curious neophytes and a natural choice for the first installment of Bulbous Monocle's highly anticipated TFUL282 reissue series. Long-time listeners, meanwhile, will appreciate this reissue's meticulous remastering by Mark Gergis of Sublime Frequencies. Or else." --Brandan Kearney, Portland, OR 2022
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NP 037LP
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Shirk is the new AOR flavored free improvisation solo album by Sam Shalabi, featuring Eric Chenaux and Nadah El-Shazly, where synth pop and sound poetry fester. Sam Shalabi is an Egyptian-Canadian composer, improviser and guitarist living between Montreal and Cairo. Starting out during the late '70s punk era, his work has evolved into an experimental synthesis of modern Arabic music that incorporates free improvisation, traditional Arabic music, noise, classical, text, and jazz. Other than his numerous solo albums, he is a founding member of Shalabi Effect, a free improvisation quartet that bridges western psychedelic music and Arabic Maqam. He has also released four albums with Land Of Kush, the experimental 30-member orchestra which he directs. He has appeared on over 30 albums and toured Europe, North America, and North Africa. Mastered by Mark Gergis. Vinyl master and lacquer cut by Frederic Alstadt, Angstrom Studio. Edition of 300.
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SF 120LP
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2022 limited repress. Sublime Frequencies present the first ever retrospective of Phương Tâm, the groundbreaking Saigon teenager who became one of the first singers to perform and record rock and roll in 1960s Vietnam. By chance in early 2020, Hannah Hà (USA) learned that her mother, Phương Tâm, had once been a famous young singer, performer and recording artist at the heart of Saigon's music scene in the early 1960s. The family had heard some mention of their mom as a singer at the time, but the extent of her legacy and the many songs she had recorded came as a big surprise. Further investigations soon led Hannah to producer Mark Gergis, compiler of Saigon Rock and Soul (SF 060CD, 2010), enlisting him to join her on a journey of discovery and recovery. The result is this essential document of Phương Tâm's brief but prolific career, and at the same time, reuniting the long-lost music with its singer. The unique strengths and qualities of Phương Tâm's voice, coupled with her commanding stage presence, had swiftly elevated her to top billings on Saigon's nightclub stages. Parallel to the brutality and uncertainty of an already protracted war, South Vietnam's music and recording industry were developing at a rapid pace in the early 1960s. Globally, musical trends with wild, ephemeral dance crazes were being thought up weekly; the twist, hully gully, the mashed potato -- none of them a problem for Phương Tâm. She soon caught the attention of Saigon's leading recording companies and composers (Y Vân, Khánh Băng, Trường Hải, Thanh Sơn, Y Vũ and Mặc Thế Nhân, among others). Her energy translated unsurprisingly well in the studio, backed by electric guitars, contrabass, drums, lush brass sections, saxophone, piano, organ and rich backing vocals. Between 1964-1966, Phương Tâm would record almost 30 known tracks, released by the three main record companies in Saigon. The teenage starlet became a vital centerpiece of pop music of the time, and one of the very first singers to perform and record rock and roll (known locally as nhạc kích động, or, action music) -- though as you'll hear, she could also transform a jazz ballad into something otherworldly. While these musical styles were undeniably influenced by contemporary trends worldwide, the musicians and composers worked to localize the sounds, incorporating linguistic adaptations, lyrical content and past artistic traditions into something all their own. In 1966, as Saigon's music scene continued to evolve and escalate, Phương Tâm walked away from her singing career without looking back -- marrying the man she loved and beginning the next rich chapter of her life. But her recorded output had laid the stylistic groundwork for the following generations of singers, and many of the songs she first sang would later be further popularized by others. Her impactful, but short-spanning career has seen her legacy remain historically understated until now. Due to the lack of master tapes or documentation from pre-1975 Vietnam, and the scarcity of records and tapes that had survived the war, it was difficult to grasp the extent of Phương Tâm's discography. A collective effort was required in sourcing materials and information to compile this record, involving key collectors and producers internationally (Jan Hagenkötter, Cường Phạm, Adam Fargason, Khoa Hà -- granddaughter of composer Y Vân, and researcher Jason Gibbs). As the veils of history were slowly lifted, the genuine thrill was witnessing Phương Tâm herself, hearing these songs for the first time in over 50 years -- sometimes since the day she recorded them. At the heart of this project is a family story -- Hannah Hà's dedication to recovering and sharing her mother's musical legacy is helping put Phương Tâm back on center stage after 55 years. But it is also a story that adds critical context to the fragmented understanding of Vietnamese popular culture during the 20th century, particularly after so much has been lost to war and dislocation. The album features 25 tracks, restored and remastered from original records and reel tapes. Deluxe double LP release comes with two 14-page booklets in English and Vietnamese, featuring extensive liner notes by Hannah Hà and Mark Gergis, exclusive photos, album and sheet music art, original magazine and newspaper extracts, nightclub advertisements and more.
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SF 120CD
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Repressed. Sublime Frequencies present the first ever retrospective of Phương Tâm, the groundbreaking Saigon teenager who became one of the first singers to perform and record rock and roll in 1960s Vietnam. By chance in early 2020, Hannah Hà (USA) learned that her mother, Phương Tâm, had once been a famous young singer, performer and recording artist at the heart of Saigon's music scene in the early 1960s. The family had heard some mention of their mom as a singer at the time, but the extent of her legacy and the many songs she had recorded came as a big surprise. Further investigations soon led Hannah to producer Mark Gergis, compiler of Saigon Rock and Soul (SF 060CD, 2010), enlisting him to join her on a journey of discovery and recovery. The result is this essential document of Phương Tâm's brief but prolific career, and at the same time, reuniting the long-lost music with its singer. The unique strengths and qualities of Phương Tâm's voice, coupled with her commanding stage presence, had swiftly elevated her to top billings on Saigon's nightclub stages. Parallel to the brutality and uncertainty of an already protracted war, South Vietnam's music and recording industry were developing at a rapid pace in the early 1960s. Globally, musical trends with wild, ephemeral dance crazes were being thought up weekly; the twist, hully gully, the mashed potato -- none of them a problem for Phương Tâm. She soon caught the attention of Saigon's leading recording companies and composers (Y Vân, Khánh Băng, Trường Hải, Thanh Sơn, Y Vũ and Mặc Thế Nhân, among others). Her energy translated unsurprisingly well in the studio, backed by electric guitars, contrabass, drums, lush brass sections, saxophone, piano, organ and rich backing vocals. Between 1964-1966, Phương Tâm would record almost 30 known tracks, released by the three main record companies in Saigon. The teenage starlet became a vital centerpiece of pop music of the time, and one of the very first singers to perform and record rock and roll (known locally as nhạc kích động, or, action music) -- though as you'll hear, she could also transform a jazz ballad into something otherworldly. While these musical styles were undeniably influenced by contemporary trends worldwide, the musicians and composers worked to localize the sounds, incorporating linguistic adaptations, lyrical content and past artistic traditions into something all their own. In 1966, as Saigon's music scene continued to evolve and escalate, Phương Tâm walked away from her singing career without looking back -- marrying the man she loved and beginning the next rich chapter of her life. But her recorded output had laid the stylistic groundwork for the following generations of singers, and many of the songs she first sang would later be further popularized by others. Her impactful, but short-spanning career has seen her legacy remain historically understated until now. Due to the lack of master tapes or documentation from pre-1975 Vietnam, and the scarcity of records and tapes that had survived the war, it was difficult to grasp the extent of Phương Tâm's discography. A collective effort was required in sourcing materials and information to compile this record, involving key collectors and producers internationally (Jan Hagenkötter, Cường Phạm, Adam Fargason, Khoa Hà -- granddaughter of composer Y Vân, and researcher Jason Gibbs). As the veils of history were slowly lifted, the genuine thrill was witnessing Phương Tâm herself, hearing these songs for the first time in over 50 years -- sometimes since the day she recorded them. At the heart of this project is a family story -- Hannah Hà's dedication to recovering and sharing her mother's musical legacy is helping put Phương Tâm back on center stage after 55 years. But it is also a story that adds critical context to the fragmented understanding of Vietnamese popular culture during the 20th century, particularly after so much has been lost to war and dislocation. The album features 25 tracks, restored and remastered from original records and reel tapes. Six-panel digipak, with two 32-page booklets in English and Vietnamese, featuring extensive liner notes by Hannah Hà and Mark Gergis, exclusive photos, album and sheet music art, original magazine and newspaper extracts, nightclub advertisements and more.
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CREP 081LP
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Contemporary and historical Porest recordings channeled from behind the somnambulistic event horizon. The now sound... The bleak oblique. The minimal and the maximal. Filmic chamber drones, meditative radio massage and forged spiritual violence bury pop ephemera into the swirling murk of de facto instrumental nihilism and orchestral context-free drama. Side A: A harmful journey into sickness and despair. You get sick and die. Side B: You are healed. You stand erect and live forever. Layered field and radio recordings back electro-acoustic experiments via electric saz, strings, balypso, reeds, and synths. Big drones, small ensembles and mood-anthems recorded by Porest and friends between 1995 and 2020 in West Oakland, Germany, Sumatra, Syria, Hanoi and London.
Personnel: Mark Gergis - bağlama drama, balypso, bass, breath density, edits, electronics, gravel, horn, hot volume, foley, glass, Moroccan fiddle, site-recordings, organ, percussion, pulse wash, radios, recorder, reverb, synthesizers, tapes; Jerry Blue - electric guitar ("No Terracotta Relief"); Heco Davis - clarinet ("Liminal Treason"), saxophone ("One Million Dollars"); Erik Gergis - washtub bass & brushes ("One Million Dollars"), synth ("(Terlok)"), accordion ("Liminal Treason"); Peter Valsamis - co-arrangement/production & percussion ("(Terlok)"); Jeremy Wilson - marimba ("One Million Dollars").
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NP 032LP
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2021 repress. A selection of eight songs covering the period from 1979 to 1989 by one of Rai's softest voices. Wah-Wah driven, mid-tempo guitar based early Rai from the city where Rai's "harder" form was conceived. Sad romantic songs about lost loves and other sorrowful tales. Mastered by Mark Gergis. Vinyl master and lacquer cut by Frederic Alstadt - Angstrom Studio. Edition of 300.
"... In the mid-1970s, the music scene in the Oran region was dominated by groups such as Les Aigles Noirs, Choc, or The Basils -- playing mainly Western pop covers, ranging from the Beatles to French romantic songs. Then, there were also the emerging new Rai sounds, championed by Messaoud Bellemou and his troupe -- with a sound driven by trumpets and saxophones. I was 17 in 1978, when I joined Les Aigles Noirs as a 'stage animator' . . . This is how I met Ahmed Zergui. Zergui and his group, Les Freres Zergui were pioneers. They were the first to introduce wah-wah pedals and drums in Rai . . . It combined Rai, rock and jazz elements into something unheard before. It was about 1979 when Ahmed Zergui offered me to join his group as an animator . . . In 1979, I released my first cassette Jayya Arassa / Jaya Techoufi Babak on Editions Mekkeraphone with Zergui on guitar. Cheb Khaled was the rising star of Rai after releasing 'Ya Sada' and he covered my song 'Jat Jat', which helped attract a lot of attention, and resulted in many show requests around Oran . . . Ahmed Zergui passed away in 1983 . . . The group separated and we did not know what to do . . . In 1984, I began reaching out to former members of the group, such as Omar Assou, Kassem Atek, Nasser, and Houari Toubi. In Oran, I linked with the label La Nouvelle Etoile, who invited me to start recording again. We signed a three-year contract and we released nine cassettes together; the first of which featured 'Jibek Liyam' and 'Malgre Ma Dert Fiya'. Rai was progressing fast, and had started to integrate modern instruments such as Roland synthesizers, drum machines, etc... We started recording at Studio Malik in Oran, and this is where we met the true legend that was Meghni Mohamed . . . By the late 1980s, we had worked with most of the established Rai labels such as Editions Anwar, Editions Maghreb, or Editions Saint Crepain. In 1994, Kassem Atek and I considered applying quarter tones and Hijaz Maqam to the electric guitar. I was very familiar with them on vocals, but applying them to guitar was a first in North Africa. This new sound had a relatively large success, which resulted in numerous releases...." --Drissi El-Abbassi (Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria September 2020)
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HMRLP 008LP
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The unique and magical sound of Los Siquicos Litoraleños (The Psychics of El Litoral), fermented in the rural north of Argentina, land of gauchos (Argentine cowboys), mate tea, chamamé folk music, and Psilocybe Cubensis. In this remote region, cut off from the fashions of the city, Los Siquicos were able to nurture their obsessions, hone their craft, and develop a singular style that takes the traditional chamamé folk music of rural Argentina, then throws it in a blender with Latin-American cumbia and chicha, the tropicalia of Os Mutantes and Tom Zé, the free music of Sun Ra, Captain Beefheart, The Residents, UFO conspiracies, radical philosophy, and a strong dose of the absurd. Out in the hinterlands, they fully embraced the spirit and ethic of DIY punk, gaining a reputation for wild, open air shows on the backs of flatbed trucks, or from makeshift set-ups in village squares and at local fêtes and fairs, where confused locals half recognize the twisted sound of a chamamé beamed in from another planet. Hive Mind Records are delighted to help bring Medianos Éxitos Subtropicales Vol. 2: El Relincho Del Tiempo (Medium Subtropical Hits Vol. 2: The Neigh of Time) out into the world. The album features a number of brand-new songs alongside tracks chosen from Los Siquicos' extensive archive of home recordings. El Relincho Del Tiempo contains the soupy dub-cumbia of "Para Ser Un Gran Hombre", the fantasy radio-hit "La Danza Del Brontosaurio", and the shamanic ecstasy of "Los Ninos Del Brasil" or "Dostoyevski En El Minimercado". Los Siquicos Litoraleños invite you to take a leap into their world in which the sounds of the future and the past blur into one, where the music of the whole planet is digested and spat out in new shapes, where the noise is joyful.
"... a unique triumph of homegrown rural psychedelia, standing alone on the edge of an unchartered vanguard... Los Siquicos Litoraleños are the contemporary group you keep hoping exist, but can never find. If you were to reach for spiritual comparisons, you wouldn't be forgetting the most spirited moments from Sun City Girls, Butthole Surfers, Faust, Os Mutantes, Captain Beefheart or The Residents." --Mark Gergis
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LP
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CREP 069LP
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Previously released on CD accompanied by Gone, Gone Beyond, The Mirror is the dreamy soundtrack of an A/V project from collage artist extraordinaire Vicki Bennett aka People Like Us. With The Mirror Bennett continues her eternal disassembling of popular music by exploring how the narrative of familiar sounds/songs can change dramatically under a new context, with that context always changing, in a never-ending flow. Each song is singular. And each song is a collage of an undefined number of other songs from other artists. It sounds familiar because that has been the modus operandi of People Like Us since the early 1990s. But The Mirror plays with the notion of the familiar, driving around a collection of famous pop songs/artists, messing around with the memory of the listener and, of course, one's unique comprehension of those specific songs applied in a new context. Because of the use of familiar pop sounds, The Mirror is often grandiose, like an epic film with only highs, never letting the listener down or letting them doubt the power of pop. Even, of course, when the coordinates are twisted, mixed, over or underrepresented. Each moment feels like something that could only happen in a parallel universe. Although that may sound naïve, it's just a lost thought of reaction to the beautiful collages of People Like Us in The Mirror. This mirror doesn't reflect an image of ourselves or an image of pop. But an image on the way memories drift and are being constant rebuilt. An unfinished collage. Mastered by Mark Gergis; vinyl cut by Rashad Becker.
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LP
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KHZ 1001LP
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Although Sir Richard Bishop (SRB) and W. David Oliphant (WDO) worked together periodically in the '80s through Sun City Girls and Maybe Mental, they never set out to simply work together as a duo. Fast forward to 2011, SRB, feeling the need to temporarily step out of his solo guitar zone, approached WDO with the idea of this joint collaboration... Beyond All Defects was composed and recorded live in the studio in Phoenix, Arizona in December of 2011 (remastered in 2018 by Mark Gergis) and presented on vinyl for the first time by Twenty One Eighty Two Recording Company. The sonic landscapes presented here find their origins in Tibet, and are heavily inspired by Tibetan Buddhism -- specifically the body of teachings known as Dzogchen. Many of the musical ideas for this project were literally derived from dreams the night before they were created. The remaining ideas were formed centuries ago. Sir Richard Bishop plays acoustic guitar throughout. Often detuned, bowed, and beaten, the guitar was "treated" by Oliphant during the live recording process. SRB also provided audio from field recordings he captured in India. WDO used a variety of computer software with a MIDI controller to create all the other sounds. All tracks were captured in real-time, direct to disk. Beyond All Defects is the first in a series celebrating the audio adventures created by Arizona sonic composers. Clear vinyl; Edition of 500.
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Cassette
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SUC 006CS
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Porest, aka Mark Gergis, comes to Discrepant's Sucata Tapes with a "trapped in the box" experiment, featuring his non-nonsense radio collages, blurring the lines of reality with hard facts and proof... A mini-album created from Porest's Hanoi, Vietnam base for Dr Klangendum. Framed by a claustrophobic radio drama, and featuring a wide range of sound and music from the Porest archives, as well as material recorded exclusively for this program. Big and small songs, tape collage, on-location radio recordings, horror and humor.
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CREP 034LP
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LP edition of Rizan Said's King of Keyboard, originally released as a CD by Beirut-based Annihaya Records in 2015 (END 011CD). Reissued by Discrepant in collaboration with Annihaya. ''There is no other Syrian dabke musician that has enjoyed the local, regional, national, and international recognition that Rizan Said has, and for that, the world is lucky. Rizan is a musical ambassador from a disappeared Syria, and this is not to be taken lightly. Once upon a time, not too long ago, Syria was a culturally diverse country possessing a certain unity. A place not synonymous with barbarism and savagery. Far from the capital of Damascus, the northeast of the country, known as the Jazeera, was rich with history and culture. Rizan was a musical prodigy from a young age -- a gifted player of percussion and reed instruments before a wealth of synthesizers began flooding Syria in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Steadfast on the Syrian cassette album circuit at the time, Rizan the boy wonder was already sending his signals out from the Jazeera frontier, thanks to a partnership with local producer Zuhir Maksi. It can be said, that without Rizan Said, a good number of Syrian singers from the 1990s onward might never have been heard -- most notably Omar Souleyman, a collaborator with Rizan for two decades. Where synthesizers can bring a certain artifice and death to the sound of music, Rizan's torrential speed and flair on the keys bring new life to Syrian and Kurdish sounds -- lightning fast as required -- respectfully forcing the component sounds of folkloric dabke into the next level. This is the updated sound of the ages, where hand drums and reed flutes are now emulated and pounded out on Korg keyboards'' --Mark Gergis, April, 2015. RIYL Omar Souleyman, EEK.
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LP
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NP 019LP
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Porest's fourth long-player, Modern Journal of Popular Savagery is a damning collection of parallel realities told in song and sound. Following 2006's masterful Tourrorists, MJoPS pits post-globalized hate pop, cabalistic text-to-speech drama and violent tape music against soapbox anthems and swirling barbed-wire psychedelia -- sometimes within the same track. The result: a terrifying and ridiculous audio shakedown that both avoids and completely indulges the inherent trappings of art and politics. Fuzzed out guitars and keyboards, epic modulated grooves, "samples" and far-out fucking field recordings index the colonization of our consciousness. You're already dead -- and none of your intellectual friends can save you. Guests include Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls), Peter Conheim (Negativland), and Jake Rodriguez (Bran?Pos). Recorded between California, Syria, Vietnam and points in between.
Across decades, Porest (aka Mark Gergis) has issued a trail of confounding agitprop sound art, tilted pop, diabolical radio dramas and carefully rearranged realities on the Abduction, Seeland and Resipiscent labels. Porest's blatant embezzlement of human syntax and cultural misunderstanding broadcasts vital mixed messages. Collaborations have included: Aavikko (Finland), Sun City Girls (USA), and Negativland (USA) among others. Gergis was a co-founder of the long-running experimental Bay Area music and performance collective Mono Pause -- as well as its offshoot Neung Phak, performing inspired renditions of southeast Asian musics. Since 2003, with the Sublime Frequencies label, an ethnographic music and film collective out of Seattle, Washington -- and more recently, with his own record label -- Sham Palace, Gergis has shared decades of research and scores of archived international music, film footage and sound recordings acquired during extensive travels in the Middle East, South East Asia and elsewhere.
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CD
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SF 1011CD
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2016 digipak edition with restored/remastered audio, which replaces the long deleted 2004 original edition. Includes three added bonus tracks, extensive booklet of liner notes and vital new track and title information. Lovingly assembled and notated by Mark Gergis. Primarily drawn from over 150 aging and often unmarked cassettes found at the Asian Branch of the Oakland Public Library in California during the late 1990s, Cambodian Cassette Archives showcases an unbelievable collection of dynamic music recorded between the 1960s and the 1990s, both in Cambodia and abroad. Male and female vocalists share the spotlight in a Khmer blend of folk and pop stylings, with cha-cha psychedelia, phase-shifting rock, sultry circle dance standards, pulsing new wave, haunted ballads, musical comedy sketches, easy-listening numbers, and raw instrumental grooves presented in an eclectic variety of production techniques. Heard throughout are legends of Cambodia's golden age during the 1960s-1970s, including Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Sereysothea, Pen Ran, and Chhoun Vanna, among others. With their fantastic ensembles, they helped rewrite Khmer musical history, often weaving traditional melodies into the various dance crazes and rock and roll sounds infiltrating Southeast Asia at the time. Then, between 1975-1979, the Khmer Rouge tragically seized and devastated the country, killing millions and nearly erasing the culture. This collection also focuses on what came next -- the lesser-heard music of the Cambodian diaspora, recorded in the 1980s and 1990s. Beginning inside Thai refugee camps, singers such as Kieng Yuthhan were among the first to record what can be called a post-war Khmer music. Songs ranged from renditions of revered Khmer songs from the golden era to original music that borrowed from both traditional and Western styles. Some flirted with contemporary disco or new wave influences, while others pursued more traditional ballads or more traditional romvong-style dance music. Groups were mainly composed of guitars, drums, keyboard, vocals, and occasionally fiddle or xylophone. Some enjoyed brief popularity on the local Cambodian music circuit at the time, while others remained regional obscurities. The majority of this music was never reissued digitally, and therefore lived and died on cassette. Includes performances by Kieng Yuthhan, Darkie, Klan Han, Meas Samon, Sinn Sisamouth, Son Thoeung, Eueng Nary, Pen Ran, Wat Phnom Orchestra, Golden Dragon Band, Prum Manh, Ros Sereysothea, Dara Chomchan, and Chhoun Vanna, as well as several tracks by unknown performers.
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CD
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END 011CD
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It can be justifiably said that without Rizan Said a good number of Syrian singers from the 1990s on might never have been heard -- most notably Omar Souleyman, who has collaborated with Said for two decades. Where synthesizers can bring a certain artifice and death to the sound of music, Said's torrential speed and flair on the keys bring new life to Syrian and Kurdish sounds, respectfully forcing the component sounds of folkloric dabke to the next level. This is the updated sound of the ages, with hand drums and reed flutes emulated and pounded out on Korg keyboards. Packaged in a poster sleeve with green foil cover; hand-numbered edition of 500. Liner notes by Mark Gergis.
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2CD
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SF 1025CD
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Originally released in 2005, while the U.S.-led war against Iraq was tearing the country to pieces, Choubi Choubi Vol. 1 brought a collection of incredible Iraqi music and styles that had rarely showcased abroad. This 2014 deluxe-edition 2CD reissue is a must-have. It features re-mastered, and in some cases, completely restored audio, revised and updated liner notes with new artist and track information, plus four additional tracks not featured in the first CD issue. Meticulously compiled by Mark Gergis from his archives of Iraqi cassettes and LPs found in Syria, Europe and the Iraqi neighborhoods of Detroit, Michigan and elsewhere within the diaspora, this unique collection of folk and pop styles displays a wealth of outstanding music that is exclusive to Iraq. Choubi is Iraq's version of Middle Eastern dabke music, and can be found throughout the country. It's performed at weddings and parties nationally by its melting pot of Arabs, Kurds, Christians, and Rom gypsies -- known as Kawlia. The Kawlia have been some of the most active recorded choubi artists in Iraq since the 1980s, and many tracks featured in this volume feature their outstanding performances. There are many reasons why Iraqi music stands alone in the dynamic world of Arabic music: one example is the unbelievable rapid-fire machine-gun rhythms fluttering atop the main tempo. This is the work of a unique nomadic hand drum called the Khishba -- also known as the Zanbour (Arabic for wasp). A style prominently featured here is the infamous Iraqi Choubi -- a driving, rhythmic style that can include fiddles, double reeded instruments, percussion, bass, keyboards and oud over its signature beat. Other styles featured are the Basta (an urban Baghdadi sound), Iraq's legendary brand of Mawal -- an ornamental vocal improvisation that sets the tone of a song, regardless of the style, and the outstanding Iraqi Hecha -- with its lumbering and determined rhythm pulsing beneath sad, antagonized vocals. Most of the music in this collection was produced during the Saddam period -- between the 1980s and 2002. Since the 2003 invasion and the wholesale disassembly of the country, classic tracks like these have already become part of a disappeared past. This 2CD package comes in a beautifully redesigned digipak and features 70 minutes of classic original recordings compiled by Mark Gergis with extensive liner notes.
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2LP
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SF 085LP
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Restocked. In 2005, Sublime Frequencies released Choubi Choubi: Folk and Pop Sounds from Iraq, and in the ensuing years it has become one of the most beloved and venerable titles in their catalog. Now almost 10 years later, this highly-anticipated second volume is finally here. Compiler and producer Mark Gergis has once again put forth a revelatory and poignant collection of Iraq's national folk music. What has happened to Iraq since the 2003 U.S. invasion and eventual occupation? Endless death, destruction and chaos, the complete take-down of a functional and sovereign secular government (regardless of your opinion on that government), puppet installations, contrived sectarian divisions, the wholesale looting of culture, rampant opportunism, and apparently no lessons learned -- all at the Iraqi people's expense. Naturally, music has continued to be produced in Iraq -- however, since 2003, musicians and artists have been consistently targeted and attacked by extremists, who have also bombed music shops and forced the closing of venues and music halls. The musical style most prominently focused on in this volume is the infamous Iraqi choubi, (pronounced choe-bee), with its distinct driving rhythm that feature fiddles, double-reed instruments, bass, keyboards, and oud over its signature beat. Choubi is Iraq's version of the regionally popular dabke, another celebratory Levantine folkloric style of rhythm and line dance. What really defines the Iraqi choubi sound are the crisp, rapid-fire machine-gun style percussive rhythms set atop the main beat. To the uninitiated, they sound almost electronic. Sometimes they are, but more often this is the work of the khishba -- a unique hand-drum of nomadic origin (aka the zanbour -- Arabic for wasp), which appears across the board in many styles of Iraqi music today, with extensions of it also heard in Syrian and Kuwaiti music. Among other styles featured in this volume are Iraq's legendary brand of mawal -- an ornamental vocal improvisation that sets the tone of a song, regardless of the style, and the outstanding Iraqi hecha, with its lumbering and determined rhythm pulsing beneath sad, antagonized vocals -- as heard on tracks A4 and B2. The tracks on this collection were produced during the Saddam era -- between the 1980s and early-2000s. An important goal within the Iraqi Baathist agenda was to promote its brand of secularism, which saw the establishment of cultural centers, and a fostering of the arts. Music was more encouraged, albeit more institutionalized than ever -- particularly folkloric and heritage music such as choubi. In an Iraqi army comprised of seven divisions, Saddam referred to singers as the eighth. Still, unless a rare level of stardom has been achieved, being a singer or musician isn't usually encouraged or viewed as a respectable lifestyle in much of the Arab world. It's often those deemed social outsiders that tend to find their niche in music -- particularly the "party music" heard on this collection. Among them are the Rom Gypsy Iraqis (known as Kawliya in Arabic). A number of female singers wear masks and adopt pseudonyms to protect their identities, as some are runaways or prostitutes making ends meet in the seedy nightclub scene. Occasionally, they end up with successful recording careers. Sajida Obeid, who has appeared on both volumes of Choubi Choubi! is an example of a talented Kawliya singer from the nightclub scene of the 1980s who rose to choubi infamy in Baghdad. Choubi inevitably invokes tawdry connotations within Iraqi society (cheap nightclubs for the lower classes, outcast gypsies and singing prostitutes), but in fact, many calibers of Iraqi singers and ensembles have recorded and performed the music. Unofficially, choubi can be called the national dance of Iraq. Though some may deny this claim (mostly due to its reputation and stigma), at most Iraqi weddings you'll find people from all walks flaunting their best choubi moves. Iraqi music has always had a way of transcending religious groups and ethnicity, collectively shared between Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians and myriad other Iraqi minorities. In 2013 sadly, this diversity and unity within Iraq is increasingly fragmented, but traditions continue throughout the internationally displaced diaspora. Limited edition 2LP set in a heavy gatefold jacket with beautiful artwork and liner notes by Mark Gergis.
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SHAM 004LP
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New lower pricing on this 2013 release. "Sham Palace (USA) and Annihaya (Lebanon) are pleased to present from the mystical locus of Curuzú Cuatiá, in Corrientes, rural northeastern Argentina, Los Siquicos Litoraleños, with their first international full-length release. The result: a unique triumph of homegrown rural psychedelia, standing alone on the edge of an unchartered vanguard. Los Siquicos have spent the past decade recording and performing mountains of material and distilling it into a rare form of ultra-cerebral roots music from the countryside; rich with strange passion, beauty, experimentation, horror and humor. Corrientes sits in the Argentine Mesopotamic region, in the area known as el Litoral. Inhabitants of this region are known as Litoraleños. Los Siquicos Litoraleños (The Psychics of el Litoral) aren't running from their musical heritage, they are staring straight at it -- spinning it around, refracting it, and transmuting it into something that is probably one of the most genuine things that has happened to folk, rock, experimental or psychedelic music in many years. Having met through various musical projects in the mid-2000s, Los Siquicos formed as a trio in 2004, determined to develop an unheard style of music. They created their own genre -- Chipadelia, (a reference to the traditional chipá bread, typical of northeast Argentina and Paraguay). It involves equalizational demolition therapy -- which they describe as 'using sound to change people's perceptions, and words to produce cognitive dissonance in order to free the masses from the prison of fixed ideas and prejudices.' Being a peripheral band living in a semi-rural town, Los Siquicos remained outsiders to the Argentinian rock circuit for quite a while, though their unpredictable live performances in Buenos Aires caused a stir amongst the local scene. Their shows often feature extended line-ups, with members cloaked in surreal gaucho costumes, playing segments of free-music and altered versions of chamamé and cumbia tunes influenced by the myriad regional gaucho dance bands. All the while, projections of cows, fractals, UFOs and their beloved countryside play out in the background. At home, they're affectionately referred to as 'El Pink Floyd de los pobres' -- the poor man's Pink Floyd. Over time, the group has gained underground acclaim both nationally and abroad after sending their signals out in the form of self-released CDs, internet presence, and a handful of European tours. This collection has been culled from multiple recordings made between 2005 and 2010. It showcases some of the finest compositional moments in the group's dense and damaged repertoire -- pitched-down cumbias soaked in dub brine, swirling solar instrumentals, and surrealist, shamanic lyrics laid across guitars, drums, tapes and electronics. Forty-four minutes of deep, multi-fidelity electric and acoustic psychic sound-forms for a better today. Los Siquicos Litoraleños are the contemporary group you keep hoping exist, but can never find. If you were to reach for spiritual comparisons, you wouldn't be forgetting the most spirited moments from Sun City Girls, Butthole Surfers, Faust, Os Mutantes, Captain Beefheart or The Residents. Sonido Chipadelico opens with the mind-melting psych-rocker 'Cinta Planeteria' -- like a Latin American time-travel experiment gone wrong. 'Cachaka Espejo,' 'Tenemos Semillas' and 'No Sabemos Nada' reinvent cumbia radio tunes as if heard from a distance of at least two blocks away on a dirt road in the barrio, then deconstructed, propelled into the outer ether, and beamed back into a burning dub transistor. 'El Chipa Chiriri' is a subverted chamamé-styled track -- revealing the recipe for the local Corrientes cheese bread. 'Necesita Ecualisacion' is a call for aural and mental equilibrium encouraging change rapidly from the present state of things to an improved and more complex, flexible state. The hypnotic 'Sirena Chunga y la Movida Solar' is perhaps one of the strangest folkloric songs ever committed to tape -- not unlike what light must hear when it travels inside of a vacuum. 'Si, Si, Si' is an uptempo, angular anthem in collaboration with Dutch experimental duo Static Tics. Also included is Los Siquicos' haunting acid-ballad cover of 'Quizás, Quizás,' and much more -- further into the greater depths of sound and surprise..." --Mark Gergis
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