Dur Dur Of Somalia ‎– Volume 1, Volume 2 & Previously Unreleased Tracks

Classic Somalian disco band from the 1980s. 2018 2 X cd on Analog Africa.

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Various ‎– Mogadisco (Dancing Mogadishu - Somalia 1972​-​1991)

Compilation featuring Somalian disco, funk and soul from the 70s-90s. 2019 2 X cd on Analog Africa.

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Shake That Booty For Jesus: Good God! Apocryphal Hymns

 

It's the start of the Holy Week in the place where I live so this post would be quite fitting, although Evangelicalism is not the brand of Christianity that dominates this place. This is a compilation of 1960s and 1970s African American psychedelic soul/gospel music singing in praise of their god. When I think of modern music singing for Jesus, I can either think of yuk emo hardcore/metalcore, some decent hardcore bands like Zao and Living Sacrifice, and Eric Cartman's timeless Christian rock band Faith + 1 in the South Park classic "Christian Rock Hard." In a sense, the music compiled here is a serious version of Cartman erotic verses for Jesus, as it contains intimate, sometimes sensual soul devoted to the dude (check out Spiritual Harmonizers' "God's Love" or Sensational Saints' - oh the name - "That's All I Need") filled with Fender Rhodes bliss, funky falsetto vocal stylings and fuzzy guitar wah. It's all like going for late night cocktail drinking and coke snorting after a good ol' evening ceremony. Yes, all this sounds corny, but, it could be an empirical statement that African Americans is the most talented ethnic group when it comes to the modern arts (most of my favorite novels have been written by black authors), and their presence has defined American art and culture in the 20th century, so even when they're doing Evangelical music, you can't go wrong. Highlights include the very psychedelic and lysergic "Walk With Jesus" by Otis Johnson, Shelton Kilby's "Poor Wayfaring Strangers," Jonah Thompson's "Get Involved," and "It'll All Be Over" by the Supreme Jubilees. 2013 cd on Numero Group.

As a further token of my love for everything related to African American culture and Black Power, I'll also share the rest of the compilations on the Numero Group Good God! series, which are even wilder as they're infested with coke-stained booty-shake-inducing Evangelical disco/funk, plus a totally unrelated compilation called Good God! Heavy Funk Covers Of James Brown From All Over The World 1968 - 1974, that bears no relation to the rest, apart from the title, and which was released by Guerrilla Reissues. Last but not least, the Numero Group bandcamp has a wide selection of cult compilations that are really worth checking out, especially the insane Seafaring Strangers: Private Yacht cd containing synthetic yacht rock awesomeness.

Download Apocryphal Hymns
Download Gospel Funk Hymnal (256k)
Download Born Again Funk
Download Eccentric Soul
Download James Brown (vbr)

Gate - Saturday Night Fever

This was probably the best record of 2016 for me. Michael Morley of The Dead C makes a dizzying and nightmarish approach to disco, with four 10-minute-plus songs starting as booty-shaking anthems and ending up corroded in washes of psychedelic feedback. Never having been a fan of clubs and parties, this decay pretty much fascimiles  how I felt every time after a couple of hours exposed to the loud music and the lights and the booze.There's this sense of dizziness and isolation as the disco rhythms are gradually but surely overtaken by the noise and Morley's crawling vocal delivery. While this is more musical and rhythm-based, tThe approach is not far away from the hypnagogic postmodern deconstructions of 1980s pop culture as offered by James Ferraro in his early releases. 2016 lp on MIE Music.

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