DJ/Rupture - Uproot

Sandunga already posted the excellent Nettle album, here's DJ/Rupture's mix from last year that was one of my favorite records of 08'. 

Rupture's mixes always have this unique cohesion to them. Drawing from a pool of worldwide artists these songs from varied genres and moods blend together perfectly going by with an almost dreamlike flow. The album feels like a journey from beginning to end which isn't very common amongst mix albums.

"Uproot oozes self confidence, with effortless mixing of disparate source material. The hour-long record does not seem to run nearly this long, due to the economy of ideas and excellent pacing. Dancehall bangers flirt with chamber music, Nigerian folk and Moroccan hip-hop, eventually decaying into an extended suite of near beatless ambient post-rock. The closing tracks recall Godspeed You! Black Emperor, a striking contrast with the first half of the record’s wobbling low-end bass and dub. It’s an exquisite way to cool off a mix. Uproot is an accomplished release from one of New York’s finest DJs, one that deftly illustrates his transition from showy wunderkind to an elder statesman of forward-thinking mixology."

Get it

Brian Eno/David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

Classic collaboration between two innovators that liked to explore beyond typical western music and incorporated many elements into their funked out, percussion layered, sound collages. Recorded in the period between Fear of Music and Remain in Light the style here might sound familiar at times but instead of writing songs with traditional singing Eno and Byrne mixed a bunch of different vocal samples ranging from Arabic singing , to radio hosts, to exorcisms and more.

Get it Here

Don Cherry/Krzysztof Penderecki - Actions

Penderecki is one of the great modern composers. He's most famous for his piece "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" which you've probably heard on different films. Here he teams up with free jazz madman Don Cherry and an orchestra packed with the cream of the crop of European improvisers for a live album recorded at theDonaueschingen Music Festival in 1971.

Cherry's pieces are a blend of arabic chanting, oriental and indian music mixed with his explosive passages of energy playing and jazz freak outs.

I'll let the BBC explain Penderecki's piece which is called "Actions for Free Jazz Orchestra":

"The Penderecki piece explores the balance between composition and improvisation in a less playful yet no less meaningful way. Drones and extended techniques such as overblowing (which explore a concern with timbre) sit alongside brass chords which hang in the air as well as 4/4 walking bass. Apparently influenced by the Original Globe Unity Orchestra piece of 1967, "Actions" often sounds more overtly 'jazz' than that group; there are episodes that showcase the explosive playing of guitarist Terje Rypdal and saxophonist Brotzmann that will make your hair stand on end."

Download