Los Van Van – Llegue Llegue
Los Van Van – A Ver Que Sale
Los Van Van – Mi Ritmo Caliente
Los Van Van – Solo Soy Un Van Van

Today is known as the “Day Of Rebellion” in Cuba. The 26th of July effectively marks the beginning of the revolution led by Fidel Castro, with the attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago De Cuba in 1953. On this day, it made sense to share a record that I picked up on my most recent trip to Cuba. Los Van Van, along with Irakere, are perhaps the most well known Cuban band of the 1970s. They created a dynamite fusion of styles, a ritmo called “Songo” that is mixes elements of Afro-cuban music with some deep and heavy funk. This was a record I was really hoping to find, and though this copy isn’t exactly pristine (Cuban vinyl tends to have been well loved, either by previous owners or by the sunshine and heat of the island), it showcases that monster sound of these early days of Los Van Van and the revolutionary rhythms of Cuba.

Leigh Stephens – Another Dose Of Life

Gonna take a little break from the DJ equivalent of writer’s block to highlight one of my absolute favorite Psychedelic songs. As I mentioned, all the way back in 2010, this was a record that I literally walked into, on a trip to the short lived, but much beloved Records LA store. Scott Craig had just started playing a reissue of this album when I walked in, and coming into “Another Dose Of Life” provided exactly what the title promised. I’d loved the Leigh Stephens’ era of Blue Cheer, but had never heard his solo work. It was then, and remains a complete revelation. One of my absolute favorite listening experiences, seemingly better every single time I listen to it.

Eduardo Araújo e Silvinha – Opanige
Eduardo Araújo e Silvinha – Manda Embora Tristeza
Eduardo Araújo e Silvinha – Capoeira
Eduardo Araújo e Silvinha – O Tempo Que Esse Tempo Tem

Still haven’t made much progress in getting together my promised Brazilian mix, and it’s all because of records like this. Eduardo and Silvinha Araujo were initially connected to the pre-Tropicália Jovem Guarda rock movement. Even as their sounds got increasingly funky as the 60s moved into the 70s, there was always a bit of the rock edge to them. This album first found it’s way on my radar due to the inclusion of “Opanige” in one of Madlib’s Medicine Shows. Though that song is a monster, the whole album is pretty dope, as you can tell from the other tracks above.

Strangely enough (well, strange to me at least) in more recent years, Eduardo Araujo made a switch to Country music…maybe it was just too difficult to top just how funky things got here in 1976.

Jards Macalé – Let’s Play That
Jards Macalé – 78 Rotacoes
Jards Macalé – Revendo Amigos

I’m thinking that Brazilian mix probably won’t be ready to go until Monday, as I keep finding it difficult to stop listening to records and actually think about mixing them together in some form or fashion. Latest to stop me from getting things done the way I want to is this album from Jards Macalé. Macalé was a pivotal figure in the Tropicália movement, though he didn’t record much under his own name, you can find his fingerprints all over albums from Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso and his sister Maria Bethania.

This album was recorded with just a trio, but a mighty one, with Macalé on vocals and guitar, Tuti Moreno on the drums and the golden child of Tropicálismo, Lanny Gordin on guitar and bass. It’s Gordin’s guitar playing that is featured on just about every major record from this period, almost always instantly recognizable because of it’s heavy fuzz and almost avant-garde jazz sensibilities. Lanny could play real sweet and sweaty too, as he does here (and also on a record I shared long away, Gal’s 1970 album Le Gal) as the trio mostly lays down a very mellow groove. I can’t tell you how much more I wish these three boys had recorded during these years.

Eduardo Conde – De Onde Vens
Eduardo Conde – A Volta
Eduardo Conde – De Manhã

I’ve been working on getting together a mix of Brazilian music over the last few days, but a major problem I’ve been having as I get tracks together is that I find myself getting stuck on particular records. Instead of dropping the needle on a few tracks, as soon as I hit a REALLY good song, I end up listening to it over and over again or the whole album or both! So, a mix I thought I’d be done with on Wednesday “might” get done on Sunday, if I’m lucky.

This album from Eduardo Conde is one of the ones that I got stuck on my turntable for an hour or so. Conde didn’t record too much, he’s mainly known as an actor (including a turn as Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ Superstar!), but this album provides evidence that perhaps he should have recorded more. What drew me to the record was the gorgeous sound of it. It was described to me as a “Verocai” record, as in Arthur Verocai, but he only has a few writing credits here. Instead, Nelson Motta, as the producer, is the one most responsible for the sound of the album. His work is greatly enhanced by the 5 separate arrangers, most notably Dori Caymmi, whose fingerprints are all over the two best songs to my ears, “De Onde Vens” and “De Manhã.”

Like a lot of Brazilian records in my collection, this was one that I first discovered via Joel Stones, who used to run the legendary Tropicalia in Furs story in NYC. I got horribly outbid for Joel’s copy, but a while after that I was able to track one down via another NYC dealer, Cecil “Pretovelho” Hopkinson. Hopefully I’ll be able to pry it off of my turntable long enough to get back to the business of getting this mix together before this month is over.

Toni Tornado – Me Libertei

My fifth favorite song from the first seven years of Melting Pot is a heavy one for multiple reasons. Most obviously, musically…”Me Libertei” hits bonecrushingly hard. That minute long introduction is one of the longest and hardest hitting ones of all-time…not just from Brazil, but ever. From there it stays deep in the pocket as Tornado raps about how he’s freed himself through his music.

Todo o meu canto sai do meu coração / Everything I sing comes from my heart

“Me Libertei” is also a heavy choice because it’s a song that I never would have tracked down without Matthew Africa’s help. As I detailed in the original post, I only had the song with no artist info, but even still “…eventually, as is often the case since he has a copy of every record in creation, Matthew Africa was able to identify that it was indeed Toni Tornado and that it came from this record, released originally in 1971.” Matthew responded thusly:

I’d have no idea of it at the time, but exchanges like these were fated to be finite. Matthew’s passing in 2012 is still felt deeply by those who were touched by him. But I like to think it’s through music like this that Matthew’s legacy lives on forever.

Chris Spedding – You Can See
Chris Spedding – For What We Are About To Hear/Backwood Progression
Chris Spedding – The Soldiers and the Goodtime Girls
Chris Spedding – Backwood Theme

I don’t know about you, but today I needed some Sunday afternoon laid back sounds to ease my mind. As I mentioned in the Melting Pot Radio Hour, Chris Spedding’s “You Can See,” is a song that I’ve been periodically obsessed with since tracking it down at Groove Merchant at the beginning of the year. Having come across Spedding’s work with the Battered Ornaments, I had a sense that I’d dig on this and dig it I have.

While the album has a variety of sounds, tempos and subject matters discussed, it’s the moody and mellow songs that I keep coming back to. The opening and closing instrumental passages (there isn’t any separation between the “For What We Are About To Hear” instrumental invocation and “Backwood Progression” on the album, and no reason to break it up that I could justify) are nice bookends and “The Soldiers and the Goodtime Girls” is quite fine, but “You Can See,” is the song that stands out on this record and keeps me coming back. This slow-burner is almost elegiac in the way it unfolds, centered on a woman I feel like I know far too well.

You can see she’s been pushed around,
She’s a sad-eyed woman when she comes to town,
She’ll never weep but her heart will ache,
She’ll always gives far more than she could ever take.

But the real reason I keep dropping the needle on Spedding’s ode to this love-weary woman is that it contains one of the addictive organ lines I’ve ever heard, courtesy of Paul Abrahams. It’s hard to describe the power certain musical moments have on us. I can’t fully explain why Abrahams’ playing worms it’s way into my mind and heart the way it does. It just does. Hearing the song once is never ever enough. In fact, I could happily live in a world where that keyboard riff endlessly repeats itself, like a bit of incidental music in a film, randomly appearing at just the right moment and transporting me to a place deeply comforting, far away from all the troubles of this world.

Edip Akbayram & Dolstar – Daglar Dagladi Beni

With all of the craziness that just went down in Turkey yesterday, perhaps it’s fitting that I’d planned of remarking on this track, my sixth favorite thing I’ve shared on Melting Pot since we began in 2009. As I’ve mentioned previously, this song was put on my radar by a youtube video promising, “Crazy Turkish Heavy Psych Funk Breaks.” The poster was selling the 45 on Ebay at the time and was trying to guard their find (even dismantling comments on the video) and likely keep the price as high as possible. I’m not a fan of unsolved mysteries and so after several hours of “digital digging” I was able to end the mystery and make sure I had a copy of this 45 on it’s way to me. My copy isn’t pristine, but I actually like that the 45 is cracked and fuzzy, it gives the song an extra kind of power, that only a well worn piece of vinyl can have. Still hoping that this ends up in Quentin Tarantino film one day, it’s tailor made for the beginning of a training/fight sequence. The song IS used to great effect early on in the anniversary mix that DJ Frane made for us, setting the table for everything that follows. Proof positive that the internet ain’t half bad at all.