Sound Travels on Mondays is wrapped around an ever-present fascination I have with both world and new music. Every Monday, four new songs from any and everywhere on the planet.
Started the set with the very first Russian band to make a Monday session (in which the music is brand spanking new). Auktyon, an avant-rock group from St. Petersburg, Russia, blend abrasive free jazz and prog rock influences with loose, danceable rhythms. Not a jam band like we tend to conceive of them but more of a wild circus of sound leaning toward the Gogol Bordello end of the spectrum. My buddy Michael Jackson swears the tune I played today is a carbon copy of Dave Matthews Band's "The Stone" and I hear a bit of that for sure. The Eastern angle is easy to spot though and the song's a jam. As is the Beats Antique tune I played from their latest instrumental joint, Elektrafone. Beats Antique is the world fusion project of Zoe Jakes and Miles Copeland (yep, Stuart Copeland of the Police is his bro). They concoct heady beats built on global rhythms and are coming to Turner Hall on November 26th.
Auktyon "Ogon (Fire)" Top
Beats Antique "Alto" Elektrafone
Thing continued to get interesting in the set with some new music from David Albarn (Gorillaz) and his DRC Music project. Recording as DRC Music, Albarn heads a group of producers who've recorded an album with Congolese musicians for Oxfam to help them in their efforts to help people affected by the widespead violence in The Democratic Republic of the Congo. A conflict outside the view of many peoples' awareness and sorely neglected by the international community, it's great to see enlightened artists at work to help a cause of such great need that is sorely overlooked when most of us profit from its continued savagery (look up coltan and your part in it too.) I ended the set with a funky cut from Debo Band. They are coming to town this Saturday to perform at Alverno's Pittman Theater for Alverno Presents and I encourage you to check out this Boston-based Ethio-funk outfit. If you've a little musical prodigy on your hands, Express Yourself Milwaukee (3333 W. Lisbon Ave.) is having them over to conduct hands-on workshops from 10am-1pm on Saturday. Call 414-272-3498 for more details...
DRC Music "Hallo" Kinshasa One Two
Debo Band "Mignoten Man Yawkai" Flamingoh
And here's a bit of Debo Band in action, this video is from last year's Global Union Festival.