Rebetika! Are you familiar? Neither were we. But we've been tipped off to the outcast culture and amazing backstory behind this under-appreciated genre of Greek blues music. This is right up our alley aesthetically and has somehow managed to remain under the radar for far too long. So here's to making rebetika a household name. Or, hey, at least the new popular tab in your local record store's "world music" section (take that, Tropicalia).
To familiarize yourselves, feel free to check out the BBC's wonderful documentary about rebetika with narrator Anthony Quinn, who starred in 1964 film Zorba the Greek. You can pre-order the double LP set or CD at the Third Man store at this link. Enjoy!
Just finished listening to the whole album. By the third side, I’d begun asking myself “Do I like this music?” At the end I decided that it’s not the kind of music that you like or dislike, it’s music that you respond to. And then I read King’s comments about how the “aesthetic normative varies radically at times from one culture to the next” and “might the same be said of our convictions and perceptions, our deeply held beliefs, our cognitive grasp of the world?” Indeed. And it really is things like this that can shake up our convictions and perceptions, you guys weren’t kidding in your original description of this collection. God damn. Thank you for this, Third Man. I have no idea how often I’ll listen to this album once I feel I’ve fully digested it, but already it’s one more addition to the collection of ways you make me look at the world differently. Oh, and that “How the other half hears” note under the tracklist on the back cover— I’m happily in the latter camp.
A few songs into side one of the records, and my first thought is that this is the sort of thing I expected from Wolf Eyes. Maybe that shows that I don’t understand trip metal, but this music proves that it’s possible to combine droning with melody and create something very interesting, engaging, and moving. Still waiting to watch the documentary after I’ve gotten through the whole album and read Chris King’s notes. Having just received this tonight almost makes me sorry that I’m leaving tomorrow morning for a trip to Nashville. Almost… But this is like the Document and Paramount reissues, it’s going to take weeks to fully digest and absorb.
This makes me think a cool Green Series could come out from one of these artists! Maybe the single could interview a well known artist about singing styles or name of the instruments and what they sound like. The other side could be some Smyrna Style in a hooka house too. The other day I was wondering about a Vault Green Series featuring Jack in a DVD teaching how to upholster a piece of furniture and hidng some flexi vinyl in the furniture. Then maybe another part of the vault could be flexis in a fabric-covered pocketed book of Upholsterers Singles. A Green Series vinyl of Jack interviewing the other guy in the Upholsterers while he was at work in the shop might really be something too! Just dreaming I guess.
I’m extremely EXTREMELY excited to receive this. Upon first impression, I was blown away by the jazz and blues sound— like Monk, Mingus, Johnson, and Grant Green all sat down, took mushrooms, and went apeshit— but it’s beyond that… I’m hooked already, and it’s not even arrived in the post yet. THIS IS ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS WHY I LOVE THIS RECORD COMPANY! (Sorry for yelling). Thanks for the film tip!
C’mon! WTF! http://www.mtv.ru/the-dead-weather/videos/impossible-winner
I checked this film out yesterday and thought it was quite informative for its time on the SmyrnaStyle delineation… It set a great mood for understanding the elements of appreciation as relates to this newest release. Its good to have access to stuff like this as a part of really coming to a refined sense of some serious global and cultural complexity. I never really had appropriate perspective on how the political climate impacted the music until now…. That nightclub scene made me recall a scene in that Jarmusch film Only Lovers Left Alive too….great fn and powerful learning!!!
Trickster retskcirt is in the audience at @ 22:00 into the feature. He’s smoking a cigarette.
Will have to check this out later. Thanks!
Bookmarked to watch later, after I’ve listened to Why The Mountains Are Black since my copy is on its way. Looking forward to having my mind blown wide open. And to dancing a lot, apparently.