A killer set of funky raw soul from the early 70s Norfolk, VA scene – literally Raw Soul – as the excellent group is at the heart and soul of all the material in the set! It features tracks credited to Raw Soul plus singers & groups Lanis Guess, Shirley Johnson, Sir Guy, Josephine Jones, Lee Fields, Page One and others – all heavy burners from the Virginia scene. The tunes are raw, soulful and tightly funky – with the guitar, bass and drums of Barry Saunders, Maurice Glass and Grover Elliot nicely gritty throughout and the excellent sax work of Dorsey Brockington all over the set. It ranges from hard and heavy funk to less frenetic southern soul. Totally excellent – here's hoping more compilations are coming down the road! Titles include "How You Gonna Do It", "Leave My Beat Alone" and "The Gig" by Raw Soul, "That Beat's Got The Devil In It" by Lenis Guess, "Feels So Good" by Shirley Johnson, "Candy Man" by Josephine Jones, "Wrong Crowd" by Prince George", "Thank Goodness Gotta Good Woman" by Page One and more.

This LP was mastered here at Monkeyclaus studio, and is an amazing project to be a part of. Brent Hosier of Arcania Records is a magical music finder and always puts together a full package with lots of information and the best most rare songs from Virginia. This is a testament to his craftsmanship, quality and respect the music deserves.

Available at these online retailers :

Groove Distribution
Dusty Groove
Turntable Lab

Talibam! is nearly impossible to pin down. Both men, drummer Kevin Shea and
Mottel, spend the majority of any given year on the road in the US and Europe,
whether it be with Talibam! or their various other projects. It is a metaphor
for their sound: it will never stay in one place, but will remain completely
recognizable and true to its spirit. It seems the duo has embraced flux as their
modus operandi.

Talibam! presents a collage of sounds, rapidly and fiercely, often not allowing
time for the listener's mind to adjust before moving on. Their show at the Echo
Curio consisted of 35 songs in 40 minutes.

The drumming is always "out", jazzy, freaky, and swinging, even when it settles
into a heavy, doom-laden groove for a minute. Shea is a skilled and formally
trained drummer who seems completely bored by conventionality and uses his
gift to forge a wild new style. His set up includes a Roland SPS drum trigger pad,
which he uses to introduce anomalistic sounds to his pallet. Shea is able to play
completely around the beat while keeping within it, creating very abstract beats,
which push the music forward always. Mottel is surely his equal in skill, fearlessly
shredding throughout gigs and recordings both. The curious thing about Talibam!
is that they have fantastic chops and pro skills yet they have decided largely to
deconstruct music to find a home for their talents.

Live, Talibam! comes across as an untamed beast of sorts. Mottel and Shea
fancy themselves a party band, which I can definitely see, but it seems that many
audiences don't know how to digest the music. Folks look dumbfounded. There is
definitely a good amount of smiling and head bobbing but also plenty of puzzled
looks. Talibam! is a band that I describe foremost as a free-jazz-punk-comedy
duo. Their set also encompasses elements of electronic and dance music,
trance, heavy sludge, pop, chants and cheers, and sing-a-longs. No matter
what, it always swings and is always high energy and kinetic. It is marked with
confidence, attitude, and elan, and often feels as if it is on the cusp of derailment.
I loved all of the 40-minute set, although there was about a 3-minute period of
ecstasy where I was overcome by the muse of dance and thrashed as if Talibam!
were my puppet master. It was serious.

Talibam's last proper studio release "Boogie in the Breeze Blocks" is a testament
to all the thoughts voiced above. It is mercurial and fanciful yet completely well
crafted and vastly enjoyable; its police scanner comedy sketches are hilarious
highlights; it has a heavy crew of collaborators; and it was released by the
legendary jazz label ESP. Their upcoming release is to be a hip hop foray
called "Puff Up the Volume". The direction of the album was forged by an odd
event, whereas a gong fell on and broke Shea's foot during a dance performance
in Europe, just prior to their entry into the studio to record. I can't wait to wrap my
ears around this one.

Enjoy the live recording presented here. Drink some Kombucha because
Talibam! would. Thanks to Grant from the Echo Curio for the recording
hook up!

DOWNLOAD HERE

First I would like to Thank the Creator for lending me the creativity to make this happen. Also to my spirit who guides me through the trials and tribulations. This album is dedicated to all the fellow musicians, mc’s, singers, videographer's, and business people who help me through this journey of mine without you there is no Okai. Special thanks to Negus Maximilian from the RegimeChange set who has worked on putting the Okai’s Odyssey together. He Produced, mixed, Rhymed, and Engineered on this one. Thanks to my Diamond Shari for helping me with everything I do.

This album will be a free download for the summer for my avid devoted listeners, then for the fall it will go on for your purchase on RegimeChangeMusic website. If you liked the “Odyssey” so much that you thought I was crazy for making it free please support me and go check out “Dekonstruktion of the Mind” or “RegimeChange” project on RegimeChangeMusic.com and download some indigenous HipHop music. That is the category of music i put Okai, RegimeChange, NegusWorld, Bataka Squad in. We call it Indigenous HipHop.

In the future I am currently working on the BrownRiceFamily album that should drop this summer. BrownRiceFamily album will be a mixture of different Caribbean music and I am very excited about being in a band where i can express all my talents to the fullest. Also UnderGroundHorns are in the process of mixing all the songs we’ve recorded so look out for that instrumental album this summer as well. So as you can see its going to be a busy summer and I am looking forward to it. Once again i thank the Creator and my Spirit for providing me with the opportunity to stay busy doing what i love to do.

Peace and Give Thanks.

Friday through Sunday are the Grand Discovery Days commemorating the launch of the Loop. Monkeyclaus will host a tour of our studio and live recording demo from 11 -1 pm Saturday, June 12. Local Guitar Aficionado Miles Pearce will raise the level of quality sound with classical guitar most likely influenced by he recent incarnation as the lead in the local Flamenco Fusion Group Bosque.

There are a bunch of other exciting open houses and tours on the Bluewall Media Developed Interactive Website and Don't Miss the Square Dance happening tonight at the Rockfish Valley Community Center.

For any additional information please refer to the Nelson Scenic Loop Website.

We hope to see you there!

10 Facts About the LOOP

* 50 Miles Long
* Consists of 4 Scenic By-Ways
* Traverses Three Ridge Mountain Watershed
* Rises from Elevation 850 - 4050
* Bisected by Rockfish and Tye Rivers
* Blue Ridge Parkway is 75 Years Old
* Monticello Fish Hatchery is 80 years Old
* Nelson County founded in 1807
* Wintergreen Resort Contains 10,000 Acres
* Appalachian Trail Runs the West Border




This will Be Fun !

City Saints Download

Recorded at Monkeyclaus and produced by Abel Okugawa, City Saints tells the tale of crazy wisdom, Buddhist mischief and revelry. All proceeds go towards the release of We Are Star Children's new and upcoming album.

Custom design your iPhone app and share music, photos, videos, tweets, gig dates, ticket sales, merchandise and links to buy your music on iTunes with your fans. For as little as $.50 a day, MobBase gives you a mobile, interactive fan club, storefront, merchandise table, and more.

Your iPhone app is highly customizable and can have your unique image, look, and feel — you pick and choose the content you offer to fans, arrange the features however you like, upload background and button images, and select color themes. And, because MobBase is built on an advanced content management system, it’s easy to add, manage and update content and design in real-time, whenever the mood strikes.

No its not FREE , but it does sound FUN !

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Long live tiny music venues.

The Garage is an art space/concert venue/amateur film theater/
impromptu studio/potluck dining hall/etc located on 1st Street across from Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia.

On most Friday nights, you can find the Garage’s door wide open as we enjoy art openings/viewings of monthly exhibitions or concerts by local and regional bands that bring together large crowds in the stadium seating (aka: on the hill of the park) across the street. We’re also known to host an occasional film screening, dance party, art performance, potluck, or other creative gathering as requested (or hosted) by a community member.

Here at the Garage we value community, creativity, collaboration, and accessibility. We love the paradox of the Garage’s intimacy and yet strange publicness.

We are interested in what it means to be creating and facilitating art in a “public yet private” context. We are not exactly sure where the Garage is located within those realms, but we are inquisitively exploring the topic through various art projects and collaborative conversations.

You can get in touch with the Garage by contacting:
Kate Daughdrill: kate.daughdrill@gmail.com
Sam Bush: spb2n@virginia.edu

More Info at The Garage Website

C-Town and his axe

With full disclosure I must admit that I am a close friend of Colin and I supplied drums on the last cut of the record, so I have witnessed that process to some small degree. Dozens of folks participated in the creation of this record, but the concept, heart and soul, and driving energy was all from Colin. It is a deeply personal recording which was enabled through the efforts of a community of friends and collaborators, The Colin L Orchestra. The original concept of combining the easeful, bluesy, laid-back vibes of country music with avant-garde minimal repetition survived the three years of growth and change. The sound transformed and became its own entity, new and exciting.

What really strikes me about "Infinite Ease" is the wonderful quality of production which make the recording sound polished and whole, innovative but never overdone. Production credits are attributed to Colin and Eli Winograd. Eli's solo project, Two Prong, is a soulful and eclectic collection of sonic delights. His earlier solo work as Two Prong was electronic and more abstract, whereas the newer record "good vs. bad" is lush textural pop. It seems that the duo's inventive arrangements for "Infinite Ease" came to life in studio mixing sessions. The fidelity of the recording is total, giving great hope for the new genesis of home recordings enabled by Pro Tools and such. I can state all this with conviction based upon my experience laying down rhythm tracks for the song "Best Thing" in September 2007. We recorded in a musky basement in Virginia, with low ceilings and no real sound treatment or dampening. Hearing the simple arrangement that we learned just hours before recording transformed to such a lustrous gem via studio manipulation and sonic honing is incredible and inspiring.

The album is divided into three tracks, the first of which is actually four distinct songs. The opening tune, "You Need Sleep" is laid down with help from the Boston's, Devil Music Ensemble, with supple bass via Jesse Lent and gorgeous ethereal flute from Maxx Katz. Colin's vocals are beautiful, contemplative and spot on. In no other past project was the quality and range of his voice thusly displayed. I especially enjoy the ghostly falsettos which occur on this cut, and several other times throughout the album. "Beer Can Blues" follows the dreamy repetition of the opener with a unique and slightly jarring rhythm which sounds as if it was created from ping pong balls bouncing off a warm sounding alarm tone. This cut is by far the most raucous of the album. As the intro to the song concludes, a party whistle blows and the train leaves the station full force. The familiar country vibe of the record returns with a wilder edge, then melts into "Descaped". This is essentially a washy melodic segue with wailing psychedelic guitar leads soaring overtop. It begins with haunting fiddle and the tones stack until flutes swirl and finally the guitar takes over. I felt almost like I was droning away with Sigur Ros the first time I listened to the album, until Colin's signature guitar shred crept in, not unlike Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" interpretation.  Track one concludes with "Numbers Hall", a classy and comic ditty reminiscent of Graham Parsons at his best. Vocal lines are repeated over and over: musings such as "I just want to fornicate, to fornicate, to fornicate....." and "I should shut up and do the dishes, do the dishes, do the dishes....."

"Hold Tite" is a gentle beast unto itself. This is the most experimental and delicate piece of the record. It is warbly, sprawling, deconstructed and heart wrenching. I recommend giving it a listen on some quality head phones if possible. All tracks are completely treated, even the percussion, to create a somber, dreamy, druggy anthem, complete with Acapella breakdowns and insect noises. Nice one.

The final cut "Best Thing" has the sound of a monster Neil Young riff repeated for ten minutes with some high flying guitar leads and crucial dynamics, which keep the jam fresh. It is indeed a monster and a head bobber, with boldly projected vocals, full of conviction, or perhaps irony? All in all, it's a nice closer to a brilliant record, which keeps the listener engaged throughout. It is easy to listen to over and over, while driving, writing, thinking, or doing the dishes...and feels unique and original, whilst obviously rooted in very familiar American musical traditions.

This fine platter of psychedelic country minimalist songwriting is slated to be released Spring 2010 from Providence R.I.'s Corleone records, on 12" vinyl and as digital download.  It's a stark contrast to Langenus' first Corleone release "The American Dream: Living with the Rock", a lo-fi production of hilarious short songs tackling most all genres: dub, noise, punk, country and karaoke, etc.  "Infinite Ease" is now available as a short run CD-R direct from Colin himself until the official release in Spring.  Contact him for mail order inquiries. ( massdistro@yahoo.com) This is bound to be a universally lauded release for 2010.  "Infinite Ease" is a sleeper cell success, made infinitely listenable through painstaking efforts.

Words by Matthew R. Clark