I’ve been waiting for these guys to follow up Sahara Swing for ages now. Looks like it was worth the wait. Jazz on drugs FTW, always.

The trio will now release a series of vinyl-only EPs – of which Tamanrasset is the first – that will culminate in their second album. Tamanrasset‘s five songs demonstrate The Malcouns’ deft handling of musics from Eastern and Northern Africa alongside Western psychedelia, jazz and funk; the song “Girma’s Lament” – its title an homage to the great Ethiopian pianist, arranger and vocalist Girma Beyene – is a great representation.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD: Karl Hector and the Malcouns – Girma’s Lament (Via Stones Throw)

Karl Hector & The Malcouns are another incarnation of the German funk band Poets Of Rhythm, who are incidentally also The Whitefield Brothers. In 2008 they released the Sahara Swing LP, which combined funk, afro-jazz and psychedelic krautrock to inspire hugemongous erections for music nerds the world over. Since then the band has been quiet, presumably working on their new one as The Whitefield Brothers, meanwhile releasing only 1 single in this incarnation (I posted the bside from it here) The one shred of anything approaching new material that has surfaced recently has been this live show recorded in Dublin.

The set list here contains several selections from Sahara Swing, a couple of tracks that I hope are new material and one or two songs recorded by this band in their other guises. There are also a few covers, among which are a Mulatu Astatke classic and a take on Rob Kanda’s weirdo afro-psych favorite “Make it fast, make it slow” which the nerds should recognize as the original to J.Dilla’s “Make it fast”.

Karl Hector & The Malcouns live at ChoiceCuts by ChoiceCuts

This post is really juvenile in many ways, no way around it.

It’s in the mid 70s today, likely the last time that will happen for months. I’ve made a huge mistake. I should have taken a day off, but I didn’t. Instead I’m sitting inside next to some guy with a cold who is a prodigy virtuoso of the bodily noises. This fucker blows his nose like John Bonham played the drums – hard and loud in extended 30 minute stretches. I am at least 50 feet from anything resembling a window but I know the sun is out there and it’s making fun of me. I can tell, and it’s not psychotic paranoia. That yellow ass bastard is actually sitting on my roof right now, listening to music and calling me a bitch. I’m thinking about writing an anti-sun diss record called Sunned.

So I’m lashing out by taking a staunchly un-productive stance and passing the dwindling afternoon by ripping some songs from MySpace. This is a desperate measure, but I can’t find any of these via more legitimate means of purchasing (lol) or downloading. As per my blogging obligations I’m sharing the plunder. And of course a trip to MySpace isn’t complete without some jailbait girls exploring their self esteem issues in the most constructive manner possible.

That guy just cleared his throat again. Next time he does it I’m gonna shit in his mouth.

JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound – I’m trying to break your heart

http://www.myspace.com/theuptownsound

JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound are a from Chicago. They’ve been getting some buzz around the ‘net on the strength of their album Beat Of Our Own Drum (recommended) and a youtube vid of them covering Wilco’s “I’m trying to break your heart”. After the video made blog rounds all summer a studio version of the cover now popped up on their myspace page, albeit with no official release date even hinted. So here it is.

The band will be backing Numero’s traveling Eccentric Soul Review this November, which could potentially be the best show to see this year.

Karl Hector & The Malcouns – El Gusto

http://www.myspace.com/themalcouns

Karl Hector & The Malcouns’ Sahara Swing was one of my favorites for 2008. The album combined African jazz, krautrock and some good ole funk with face melting results. This myspace gem is in the same spacejazzedout vein. As far as I can tell it hasn’t been released officially yet, hopefully it’s an accurate preview of what their next release will sound like.

Ikebe Shakedown – The Prisoner

http://www.myspace.com/ikebeshakedown

Ikebe Shakedown are from Brooklyn. Their sound bears more than passing similarity to several other Brooklyn bands AHEM El Menahem Michels Budos Affair Street Band AHEM, but the horns on this song are so deadly that it’s really hard to hold a grudge. The second half of the track is where the real magic happens. They will be releasing an EP called Hard Steppin on Oct 27, which seems promising.

Red Astaire – Keep on moving

http://www.myspace.com/redastaire

I’ve posted some Red Astaire stuff before, he is a Swedish producer who dabbles in all sorts of musical styles. This light bouncy reggae/rocksteady/soul number would’ve been the perfect summer song if I got a hold of it a few months ago. Now it’s frankly just pissing me off considering the current situation.

And one more for good measure….