“Hayvanlar Alemi” (Used 6 times)

Henry Hynes here guest blogging for the FMA. This is a mix of some of the free music I liked the most this year. For fans of guitar music, drum machines, general paranoia, Turkish psych...

Contemporary Turkish improv-psych-folk-rock group Hayvanlar Alemi have been a favorite discovery for many Free Music Archive members, myself included. I've written previously about how the group is inspired by the global psychedelic awakening of the 60s and 70s that blossomed pretty much everywhere from America to Zambia to Cambodia to India to their home country of Turkey (where artists like Selda Bagcan and Ersen are possibly my favorites of this entire era).

The Sublime Frequencies label, founded by Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls) and Hisham Mayet, has done incredible work shedding light on traditional music and psychedelic sounds from around the world, including those from previous decades (Cambodian Cassette Archives, 1970's Algerian Proto-Rai Underground, The Vinyl Warp of Latin American Psychedelia) and a transportive sound-collage series (i.e. Radio India, Radio Thailand, Radio Java, Radio Morocco). Meanwhile, contemporary artists like Syrian debke legend Omar Souleyman and the Western Saraha guitar sounds of Group Doueh have found international recognition and toured the globe thanks to Sublime Frequencies' support. The label is known for presenting these types of prolific artists (Omar Souleyman is said to have released over 500 cassettes!) through well-curated slices of sound.

Many of these sublime sounds have undoubtedly been an inspiration to Hayvanlar Alemi's music, so it's fantastic news that Sublime Frequencies is issuing their first-ever vinyl LP Guarana Superpower. We just received a promo copy here at WFMU, and Guarana Superpower is a helluva record that includes reworked versions of a few tunes that were first heard on Hayvanlar's many free mp3 releases Demolar (which our friend Olgu introduced to WFMU way back in its CD-R format -- thanks Olgu!).

Enjoy the Demolar version of these tracks, and you can pick up Hayvanlar Alemi's Guarana Superpower LP here.

a mix of psychedelic sounds ranging from funk to shoegaze to folk to sitar-laced spacerock, by artists hailing from across the USA (Bay Area, Ohio, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Florida) to the UK, Russia, and Turkey.

Big Troubles is the shoe-gazin' duo of Alex Craig and Ian Drennen from Ridgewood NJ. They're bringing the 4-piece live band to my radio show Talk's Cheap on Tuesday May 11th. This comes off a Various Deficiencies Volume 1, free compilation from Blackburn Recordings that also features music from Cursillistas, Metal Rouge, City Center, Cloud Nothings. (Cover art for Big Troubles' debut 7'' at right)

5unday5essions is an online collaborative project (that you are encouraged to take part in!) with all sorts of interesting results this this song about swallowing mustache hair.

The Vocokesh hail from New Berlin, Wisconsin. This sitar-laden jam is one of three tunes available via Strange Attractors Audio House, along with many more instrumental "out" sounds from the likes of Kinski, Cul de Sac/Damo Suzuki, Glenn Jones, Tsurubami, and Steffen Basho-Junghans.

Hayvanlar Alemi are a contemporary psych-rock band from Turkey inspired by the first international wave of psychedelic music. Here's an article I wrote about their dub album Visions of a Psychedelic Ankara.

Tommy Jay (pictured at left) is the not-so-secret weapon of the Harrisburg, Ohio collective revolving around musicians like Mike Rep (he of "lovingly fucked with by-" fame), T.A. Lafferty, The General, Nudge Squidfish, Jim Shepard, Don Howland, and Ron House. This 1974 basement recording can be found on Tommy Jay's Tall Tales Of Trauma, one of many collections just now being put to vinyl courtesy of the good people at Columbus Discount Records.

Seems like all the world's a dub these days, and by and large that's a good thing. I've been wading deep into the underwater sounds of DJ /Rupture & Matt Shadetek, Titus 12, and a couple of the world's finest dub-oriented netlabels: LCL (Libre Comme Lair), and Jahtari. A lot of the stuff that's bending my ear lately has veered toward the electronicly manipulated sound. Which is a good thing too. But it's also one reason why it's so refreshing to hear Visions of Psychedelic Ankara, the newest album from Turkey's most awesome contemporary rock band.

I think of Hayvanlar Alemi as a modern continuation of the global psychedelic/folk/rock phenomenon of the late 1960s and early 1970s, an era of when the electric guitar melded with traditional musical influences around the world. Artists like Ersen and Selda in Turkey, Traffic Sound in Peru, Os Mutantes in Brazil, Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family in Zambia, Sinn Sissamouth and Pan Ron in Cambodia...

This first wave of international psych-rock is a major influence on Hayvanlar Alemi's music -- for example, their Demolar 2007-2008 drew inspiration heavy on sounds from "Cambodia, Malaysia, Bolivia and Japan, mutated African guitars, some post-rock ambiance, touches of surf and dub, and a live improv." Dub has always been an element in Hayvanlar Alemi's music, and it's brought to the forefront on Visions of Psychedelic Ankara. I highly recommend checking out all four of Hayvanlar Alemi's free albums here.

I'm working on a mix of dubbed out favorites from the FMA and beyond -- was hoping to make it part of this post but I think I'll take my time with it.

What dubbed out sounds have you been diggin lately? If you're craving more dub, have you checked out LCL (Libre Comme Lair)'s recent adds to the FMA? Holy smokes!