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LP
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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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7"
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SHAM 005EP
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This special limited edition 7" EP showcases the fantastic and underrated synthesizer sounds of Hong Kong's Oscar Young. These four instrumental cuts from 1976 see the prolific musician and producer modernizing Chinese folk melodies and rocketing them into the space-age. Solid synth leads are backed with fuzz and wah-wah guitars, tight funk bass lines and haunting organs -- integrating shades of surf, soul, rock, and disco into his unique sound. Multifaceted rhythms feature punchy electronic beats peppered with hand-drums and other natural percussion, while synths of all shapes and textures pan throughout the spacious mixes. Young's adventurous and unpredictable technique and production never missed a beat -- unless it was intended. Oscar Young -- known also as Yang Road Fire, or Yang Daohuo -- worked prolifically in the East Asian rock and pop music scene between the 1960s and 1980s. He first gained acclaim as an arranger, working with singers such as Teresa Teng, Xiao-Jun Huang and go-go bands like the Apollo, as well as creating scores for movies. His classical background allowed him to create a perfect hybrid of traditional Chinese music and new electronic sounds and instruments of the time. Young released multiple volumes of albums: his own series spans over 30 volumes, while his collaborations with the Apollo Band yielded an equal amount. His music can be compared to the likes of Martin Denny or Dick Hyman's synthesizer-infused exotica, or the high-profile Moog pioneers, Perry & Kingsley. The tracks featured on this EP are from his booming period of electronic experimentation during the early-to-mid 1970s, and represent a mere sliver of his giant catalog and immeasurable talent -- a short-but-sweet introduction to the wondrous synthesizer world of Oscar Young.
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CD
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SHAM 002CD
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Dabke is the celebratory music and dance found throughout the Levantine Middle East. By the mid-1990s, a new wave of high-energy electronic dabke music had emerged -- to be heard at weddings, parties and cassette-stalls region-wide. New wave dabke was first introduced to Western ears by way of Omar Souleyman and his northeastern Syrian sounds. This collection presents a hypnotic and diverse selection of electrified dabke dance cuts from a region in the south of Syria known as the Houran. The Houran refers to a swathe of south Syria and northwestern Jordan, beginning just below Damascus, and encompassing the Syrian cities of Daraa, Suweida, Bosra and the Golan Heights. Its populations include Syrians, Bedouin, Druze, Palestinians and Jordanians -- and this unique confluence of cultures is evident throughout these tracks. Hourani dabke is relentless and commanding, driven by heavy rhythms and weaving synthesizers. Long passages of intense musical fervor are punctuated by fierce male vocals, belting out calls for the audience to dance, alongside the lyrical laments and tributes to love and lust. But the sound of the Houran is best defined by the mijwiz -- a double-reed bamboo flute famed for its droney overtones as well as shrill, buzzing melodic lines achieved by circular breathing techniques. Historically, Hourani dabke was played with mejwiz, hand percussion and narrative vocal chants. Electronic beats have inevitably embellished the contemporary sound, magnifying the intensity -- and the mijwiz players have taken their craft to the microphone, in order to maintain the instrument's prominence over the resulting volume. The sampled mijwiz sound has its own specific qualities and in recent years, can even be heard in combination with its organic counterpart. The recordings featured in this collection were captured live to the mixing desk during weddings and parties throughout the Houran during the 1990s and 2000s, and represent a mere sliver of the sounds found in tape and disc vendors throughout the region. Proceeds from this release will be donated to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (IFRC) to help support urgent humanitarian aid work during the ongoing crisis in Syria.
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LP
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SHAM 003LP
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Subtitled: Pan-Indonesian Pop, Folk, Instrumentals & Children's Songs, 1970s-1980s. Indonesia Pop Nostalgia is an eclectic collection of inspired Indonesian folk and pop music culled from cassettes and vinyl recorded and released during the 1970s and 1980s. The music on this collection spans several contemporary popular genres - each inherently unique and born from very different cultural and geographical origins within the archipelago. All, however, are also vitally informed by Islamic, Arabic and South Asian popular and traditional music, alongside various Western musical fads -- a distinctly Indonesian blend that encompasses its histories of physical colonization, spiritual assimilation and economic and cultural exchanges. These tracks were never meant to stand next to each other. Nevertheless, here they are -- an unwitting union of nostalgic musical ephemera from the islands of Java and Sumatra, connected here to serve as one of many possible entry points into the gloriously diverse sounds of Indonesian folk-pop music. Featured: Three incredible synth-heavy funked-out rock grooves by child singers Ira Maya Sopha and Dina Mariana. Orkes Melayu Bulan Purnama with the instrumental track "Malam Joget" in fantastic space-age organ and synth parlance. Folk-rock mood-piece "Jangan Menghina" by Aria Junior. "Dikijoknyo" by Sumatran singer KIM, retelling the classic Bollywood song "Man Dole Mere Tan Dole" (from the 1954 film Nagin) in classic 1980s pop Minang style. The ethereal "Borondong Garingan," performed by legendary group Bimbo, a beautiful example of Sundanese pop music from western Java, at a time when it was first becoming electrified in the 1970s. Orkes Melayu Purnama's "Bangla Desh," a stunning high-drama gem, driven by haunted wind and thunder sound effects woven through a chilling buzz-guitar. Two essential Sumatran Minang instrumental tracks by the composer Kamar Ruddin Z., embodying a striking hybrid traditional/pop quality -- and more, totaling 12 tracks in 43 minutes on this LP. Limited pressing of 1,000. Compiled by Mark Gergis.
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