So, what have you been listening to lately?

[Ken]

Your link is very cool as well.  What kinda blows me away is what's mentioned on Mdou Moctar's wikipedia page.

"His music first gained attention through a trading network of mobile phones and memory cards in West Africa."

[uwe]

He sure looks the part! He probably played at one point with Tinariwen, they've been going for ages and are sort of a musical collective where people hop on and off.

To unacquainted Western ears this "desert ethno blues" sounds like a monotonous drone at first, but if you listen to it long enough it wins this hypnotic trance-like quality and you begin to hear all these poly-rhythmic movements - just don't wait for a chord change to happen anytime quick! 

The mobile phone density in Northern and Western Africa is higher than in most places in Europe. Given the infrastructure challenges people face there, a cell phone (or more than one ...) becomes key. It's cheaper & quicker to get a mobile network up and running there in even the remotest regions than to build a road.

[Ken]

I really like it.  I'd love to visit that scene sometime.

[uwe]

And then there are these guys, also from Mali:



They could have called themselves Iki Black & The Stooges! You know they have garages in Mali too. 

Not that the Godfather himself hasn't noticed ...

[uwe]

You can sing about blow-up rubber dolls and it's still great art.

[gearHed289]

I love Roxy Music. How about this here?

https://youtu.be/1CzKpjBFwjA?si=iOo6pYqVs7Acjd4Q

[uwe]

That first Police album in all its immediacy, urgency and freshness stands as one of the strongest debut albums ever in the history of pop music. When I first heard it, I knew they would be huge and I wasn't wrong. Hard to believe that at one of their first German gigs as an opener for Dr Feelgood, Dire Straits and Barclay James Harvest at an open air they were actually booed off the stage and had to cut their set short. My countrymen were ignorant.

You can forgive Sting lots of things for the strength of that first album alone. Of course it wouldn't have been half as good without Summers' and Copeland's brilliant inputs.

[gearHed289]

I was a little slow to get on board with the Police. It wasn't until the third album that I started to like, and eventually love them. I'm not gonna lie - my interest was partially fueled by reading a Neil  Peart interview where he mentioned really liking Copeland's playing. The added synths helped too. But i did go back and learn to love that debut for what it was. Bold, ballsy, ultra simplistic, and to the point. To this day, I blame Sting for my 80s mullet. 

[uwe]

My mullet influences were Rick Springfield and John Taylor of Duran Duran! I actually showed a picture of Rick in all early 80ies glory to my hairdresser and told her "I want a haircut like that!" - she obliged. 

[Basvarken]

Another brilliant mash-up by Bill McClintock

[Dave W]

[uwe]

You already posted this in the past, you're listening to stuff repeatedly!   

[Dave W]

You already posted this in the past, you're listening to stuff repeatedly!   

I've posted a number of Fats videos but not this one.

You can never have too many Fats videos, even if he looks the same sitting at the piano in every one.

[gearHed289]

[uwe]

What else is new, Proggie Boi?



"It was not entirely original (smirks) ... So I stole it!" See here at 01:25:



Black Night was a throwaway number they jammed at a drunken session after completion of the In Rock album when EMI sent them back to the studio with the old adage: "We don't hear a single!" Blackmore introduced the riff with the comment: "I don't think we can use this, it's too recent!" But none of the others knew the riff. The record company had the de rigueur (not quite in time) handclaps added. No one expected a hit.

https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/deep-purple-black-night-thought-whole-thing-waste-time-101298/3/

It got people dancing.