NYUK NYUK 101

These may very well be elementary for some, but for any of those who may not have these, do yourself a favor and get them now. All of them (and don't dismiss "We Will Fall" until you listen to it at 3 in the morning). I don't know...I'm so out of touch, I really have no idea if anyone other than Stooges fiends listen to the Stooges (or are even cognisant of them) these days. Even if you do have these, there's also a thing from Legs McNeil's book Please Kill Me about the Stooges era romancin' of Iggy Pop and Nico.

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All this and and the original stereo and mono mixes of "Search and Destroy"! Yowza, no? From the Stooges third Raw Power, these are significant because the album was remixed for the CD reissue, and now lacks the bite. There's also a lofi demo version for afore mentioned fiends.

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As good (and essential) as this stuff is, this isn't even the Stooges finest hour. That, of course, would be their second LP, Funhouse. Sadly, no live mp3 freebies to be found. (Hey, come on...they'll pop up sooner or later). As a consolation, see the link to Lester Bang's 1970 review below.

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The Stooges - 1969 mp3 and the rest of the first album at This Recording (Scroll to the end of the post for the mp3s)

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Search and Destroy (original mix) mp3, mono version and two other mixes at Boogie Woogie Flu

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Lester Bang's legendary long-ass review of Fun House, originally published in Creem, in 1970. This is how engrossing rock journalism can be. Read all of it, and then take your latest issue of Spin or Rolling Stone to the recycling bin. (You should just burn Blender.)

THIS SHOULD KEEP YOU BUSY

Right now is a really good time to be into African music. As Captain Planet (on Soul Sides) puts it, there is a "vast, continent-wide vinyl archeology [sic] dig that seems to be taking place." DJs, collectors and music scholars have fanned out, on vast record hunting missions, to find remaining copies of rare African afrobeat, funk, juju and highlife records, before they're gone for good. With varying motives, whether it's to discover, preserve, flaunt, profit or make people dance, the core they share is an obsession with the music. And there is an urgency. Until recent years, the relatively low global demand for African music placed so little value on the physical product, that the vinyl copies were being thrown out, treated as junk, and in some cases burned for fuel.

Where to start? Compilations seem to be coming out as fast as they can be packaged, usually accompanied by informative liner notes and exotic promo photos. And the fact there there's so much excellent music that has heretofore been unavailable on CD, the quality of the music has not yet suffered from the pace. As the compilations are released, scattered MP3's invariably show up on music blogs, as is the case with four cuts recently posted on SoulSides (downloading all four is highly recommended).

Voodoo Funk is a mind-blowing blog by Frank Gossner, a German DJ who retired from club life, moved to Africa, and devoted himself full-time to finding and preserving the endangered grooves of impossibly rare afrobeat and funk sides. His travels are chronicled and finds posted, some with the wonderfully primitive sleeves that scream other-worldly-ness. Much of the music is not available on CD, or on vinyl outside of Africa. Even without the music being posted, it's a fascinating read as he describes the lengths he will go, and the dangers of traveling long distances to remote areas with would-be hosts knowing full well that he's carrying a decent sized chunk of change. Take Me There Fast, a documentary about his mission, is a work in progress by Leigh Iacobucci, and the trailer can be found here.

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As rare as some African vinyl can be, some music never even gets pressed. Where financial constraints prevented the jump to record stardom, easily duplicated cassette tapes filled the void. That's where Awesome Tapes From Africa comes in. Just as the name implies, the blog hosts samples of tapes that are, by and large, awesome. Host Thursdayborn spent a year in Ghana, and has another blog documenting the Hiplife movement, a indigenized national music mixing contemporary hip hop and Ghanaian influences.

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If the unfamiliarity of African music puts you off, don't let it. It's high time to get down. .

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West Africa Overload: 4 MP3s at Soul Sides from four different comps
Fela Kuti - Open and Close, Zombie, (and 4 other MP3s) at Diddy Wah
Voodoo Funk
Take Me Away Fast - trailer
Take Me Away Fast - filmmaker Leigh Iacobucci's page
Awesome Tapes From Africa
The Hiplife Complex