Osamu Kitajima - Benzaiten (Antilles, 1976)

This album is a highly unlikely hybrid. Traditional Japanese instrumentation (flute, biwa, and percussion) fuses with prog rock and western funk (electric wah gutar, clavichord, and thumping basslines). The result is improbably amazing. As far as I'm concerned, everything works perfectly. The album is as tense as it is light-hearted, with a solid narrative. Slow grooves and popping jams glued together by ancient sounding vocals. There are over the top moments but you'll find them as forgivable as I do.

Thanks to Rob for the heads up.

R.I.P. Mighty King Hannibal

The funk legend of Norton Records, James T. Shaw aka Mighty Hannibal aka King Hannibal has passed away at 74. He had a couple of particularly powerful songs that were important to me:

One was "The Truth Shall Make You Free", a song to drug addicts preaching that Jesus could help them get off smack. This is ridiculous but the song slays me every time I hear it. It is by far the best 45 in my entire record collection, and possibly the best gospel funk track of all.



Then there is "Hymn No. 5", a banned from the airwaves Vietnam protest song. I've included the long version so you can delve deep into the heaviness and despair of it all.



Sleep well, King.

Asei Kobayashi & Mickey Yoshino - Hausu OST (Nippon Columbia, 1977)

I think the Criterion Collection synopsis describes this film best in one sentence, "An episode of Scooby Doo directed by Mario Brava." So, with that in mind, you can imagine how strange the soundtrack must be. Its not your typical horror music at all. Then again, when do the Japanese do anything typical? Its actually light on the spooky and heavy on the slap bass. Yep, aliens came to earth and made a score based on funky slap rhythm section, flute, piano, and synth. To be honest, some of the tracks have borderline porn sounds, and I prefer to  disregard the piece that sounds as though Steely Dan were scoring Saturday morning cartoons. Although, this is supposed to be trippy, so whatever. Truly bizarre music, especially when paired with watching the film.





Get it HERE

Adam Forkner - Infinity Beat Tape (Self-released, 2012))

Ever feel down and out? Lose your job? Lose your girlfriend? Overdose on smack? Get elected to political office? Didn't get financial aid? Break a condom? Burn your pizza?

Well, do i have a solution for you. Take a psychedelic audio pizza party vacation with my man Adam Forkner, aka White Rainbow. This shit is a band-aid for yer soul. Ambient synths and beats to warm your heart and belly laugh to. Oh, and a hell of a lot of Zapp and Prince worship toward the end. And there for damn sure ain't no parking on the dancefloor. This is...well, its Adam Forkner. Dig it, Honeydip. Especially from "New Toyz" on.

V/A - Pomegranates: Persian Pop, Funk, Folk and Psych of the 60s and 70s (B-Music, 2010)

Finders Keepers has impressively researched the exciting and turbulent political times of Iran's 1960's - 70's. The compiler, Massha Taghinia is an American born of Iranian parents and many of these tracks come directly from his mother's record collection. Because of this connection, we receive a rare glimpse of the superstars of that country's Pop, Folk, Funk, Proto-Disco and Psych. Not only is every track delightful but the overall experience is enhanced by the idea that all of this music happened under the Shah's reign. A curious experience ranking with Sublime Frequencies collections of rock n' roll tracks from Cambodia during the period under the Khmer Rouge. We are privileged this has have fallen on Western ears.

Get it Here

The Vampires of Dartmoore - Dracula's Music Cabinet (1969, Finders Keepers, 2009)

With this post I'd like to introduce a pre-Halloween horror score extravaganza. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, a whole month of spooky, scary and / or campy treats for you to prep your All Hallows shindig.

Vampires of Dartmoore were not an actual band, Dracula's Music Cabinet was not an actual film. And in stating this I'm proud to say that faux film scores are not the latest fad. They've been happening since 1969. So there, Ha!

Not just another Vampyros Lesbos-type score to add to the list of hip 60's catalog, this joint has a Psychsploitation theme(I stole that from somewhere). The opening track leaves us wondering if the moaning is from sexual pleasure or the pain of the blood-sucking nightbreed. Later we're offered anything from detective / mystery outings with Scooby Doo on the Mighty Wurlitzer to proto-hip hop beats by Casper the Friendly Ghost with an S&M habit and a sheet of acid.

Ultimately, this is a fine burlesque show funky jazz hip hop horror masterpiece just waiting to be sampled to death. Supposedly this recording was the creative outlet of a group of people that were employed to make sound effects records for a German library archive. Only a job that boring could spawn something this exciting.

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Chrisma - Chinese Restaurant (Polydor, 1977)

In 1976, Maurizio Arcieri and his wife Christina Moser formed the duo under the name 'Chrisma." That year, the couple moved from Milan to London to record "U" and "Amore" with the producer Nico Papathanassiou and his brother Vangelis (yes, THE Vangelis). Their collaboration with Papathanassiou and Vangelis continued through 1978. During this time, the duo recorded the album "Chinese Restaurant."

This is synth-punk meets Goblin meets Carpenter with some funk and jazzy guitar thrown in. Christine's vocals have that unusual sensuality of a Jennifer Charles or an Anne Clark but without the discomfort of the spoken word. This is one of those records you discover and want to kick yourself for not having listened to it for the past ten years.

They didn't have much more as weird or interesting as this; however, there are a handful of tracks that make the catalog worth sifting through. The renowned film composer Hans Zimmer even joined them later for some really uninspiring material. wow. Either way, this is definitely worthy of our time.

Get it Here

oOoOO - Mixtape (Actual Pain, 2010)

Mixtape of skating rink bliss. oOoOO's seance conjures 1979-1980 and puts his own bizarre spin on things, adding his own track to other sexy funk jams by Sylvia Striplin, S.O.S. Band, Barbara Mason and, of course, 3-6-Mafia.?!?

This is yet another reminder that Witch House artists refuse to be be pigeon-holed in any way. Get it free at Actual Pain