Essay Recordings is home to good music and musical innovation released on CD and 12" vinyl. Featuring Balkan beats, gypsy music, favela funk, world music, traditional music, free style electronica and more, these are obscure and eclectic tracks from cultures all around the world, melting the East with the West, the North with the South. Essay Recordings artists include: Shantel, Bucovina Club, German Popov, OMFO, Señor Coconut, Amsterdam Klezmer Band, Boom Pam, Balkan Beat Box, etc. Check out: Rio Baile Funk - Favela Booty Beats, volumes 1 & 2: a hot mix of favela hip-hop and Rio dance beats; Trans Balkan Express: a heady mix of electronic club music and vibrant Roma music; any of Señor Coconut's overviews on the latest sound system styles in South America and the Caribbean; and the Amsterdam Klezmer Band where Balkanic textures, Turkish gypsy music, rebetika, klezmer and darbuka beats all melt in a sea of dub and groove-infused electronica, taking the previously acoustically-based music to a new level.
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AY 038CD
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With this open-minded approach, Shantel is the audible side of a different Germany. He is the first to have injected a cosmopolitan sound into the local pop culture. In his case, migration can be heard and danced to. He plays musical treasures from South-Eastern Europe, the Middle East, or the Mediterranean in a new context, making it possible to experience intuitively the culture it originated in. His method is cultural sampling: taking things out of their context and putting them into a new one. Club culture as a concept of permanent development, not as a museum in which to repeat the same, eternally -- like in Berlin, where thousands of tourists wait in front of Berghain so as to be able to experience the predictable. On the 30th anniversary of Club Guerilla (1997), Shantel opens a new chapter on his never-ending tour under the heading: Shantology: 30 Years of Club Guerilla. Part one of the Shantology trilogy appears in the form of The Bucovina Club Years. The albums will be full of unpublished newly recorded and "well hung" material that will impressively highlight the timeless hit quality of his music. A review? No, more a retrospective look forward. This disco partisan likes things exciting, and is always good for surprises. The double-CD has 34 mixes, songs from an exciting era beginning in the late 1990s and extending to 2007. Keep those peepers pealed for the rest of the trilogy. Features Tropkillaz, Haaksman & Haaksman, Mahala Rai Banda, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Goran Bregovic, Jewish Monkeys, Amsterdam Klezmer Band, Ian Oliver, Binder, Kriegelstein Boban Markovic Orkestar, Friends Of Boban, Taraf De Haidouks, DJ Click Vs. Shantel, Bucovina, Sandy Lopicic Orkestar, Vienna Phil Banda, Baba Zula, Boom Pam, Zdob Si Zdub, Senor Coconut, Dissidenten, and OMFO.
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AY 037LP
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Double LP version. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl. Includes CD. "Cosmopolitan, globetrotter, paprika bambaataa, constantly in search of new sounds: Shantel gracefully turns pop-cultural clichés and conventionally-accepted genre-definitions upside-down. When he brings the entire stage to life with his Bucovina Club Orkestar, molding global sounds into compact, anarchic hymns, eclecticism and escapism no longer seem so very far apart. No worries: The Kiez is Alright. Disko Devil Shantel is on the case" --Rémy Kolpa Kopoul. Viva Diaspora is strongly inspired by the creative anarchy of crisis-ridden Athens, Greece. Viva Diaspora has no intention of jumping onto the crossover-and-remix bandwagon. Viva Diaspora is bold, risky, and self-assured; this is how acoustic, traditional, and Mediterranean songs sound today and this is how they can come into their own in a contemporary party context. Viva Diaspora sounds like a road movie -- cinema for the ears -- of a 24-hour trip through Athens, Frankfurt, Paris, Kingston, Brooklyn, Istanbul. Includes collaborations with Areti Ketime and Imam Baildi.
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AY 037CD
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"Cosmopolitan, globetrotter, paprika bambaataa, constantly in search of new sounds: Shantel gracefully turns pop-cultural clichés and conventionally-accepted genre-definitions upside-down. When he brings the entire stage to life with his Bucovina Club Orkestar, molding global sounds into compact, anarchic hymns, eclecticism and escapism no longer seem so very far apart. No worries: The Kiez is Alright. Disko Devil Shantel is on the case" --Rémy Kolpa Kopoul. Viva Diaspora is strongly inspired by the creative anarchy of crisis-ridden Athens, Greece. Viva Diaspora has no intention of jumping onto the crossover-and-remix bandwagon. Viva Diaspora is bold, risky, and self-assured; this is how acoustic, traditional, and Mediterranean songs sound today and this is how they can come into their own in a contemporary party context. Viva Diaspora sounds like a road movie -- cinema for the ears -- of a 24-hour trip through Athens, Frankfurt, Paris, Kingston, Brooklyn, Istanbul. Includes collaborations with Areti Ketime and Imam Baildi.
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AY 031CD
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In the '90s, artist and producer Shantel was arguably the most in-demand downbeat act, a master and connoisseur of exotica/electronica fusion. In the early years of the new millennium he almost singlehandedly invented a new musical genre with global reach that spawned a whole slew of copycats. Now we see him reinvent himself once more and are left wondering where it all fits in. Actually, it's quite simple: Shantel creates a hybrid, bringing together subculture, music history and social history, mixing them with his own creative energy. The end result is an album that reflects his own personal experience and wanders, as he puts it, between pop culture, high culture and street cred. Music history or more precisely the early history of a popular music form that spread internationally, was the thematic focus of the album Kosher Nostra -- Jewish Gangsters' Greatest Hits, an adventurous and ambitious journey through the clubs, cabarets and casinos of the '20s to '60s. Meticulously researched and compiled by Shantel and Oz Almog, the album was highly acclaimed by Martin Scorcese. Whereas his previous albums were conceptually-oriented productions, Anarchy & Romance is his first artist-focused album. His previous albums structured basses and beats with the obvious aim of getting the dancefloor moving. This time, in departing once again from the mainstream to create yet another unique world and a completely new approach, Shantel starts with the live situation to craft a more open sound that is riskier, rougher, rawer -- in short, more colorful. Instead of an emphasis on electronic sounds, it has a more organic, grungy, garage-band feel. Shantel writes and sings all the tracks himself, plays guitar and various other instruments, and uses no samples (with one exception, as described below). He developed the ideas for the songs at random, on his travels or during long hours spent in hotel rooms. In addition to the tight rhythmic structure, the emphasis here is clearly on melodies and harmonies -- with a consistently pumped-up energy level. With frenzied guitar riffs and howling electronic keyboard (in this case a vintage Fender Rhodes piano from the '70s) he deconstructs a boogie into syncopation, fires up a disco number with flamenco rock guitar, and indulges in sheer hedonism with minimalist shuffle beats and a pinch of rockabilly. This is not so much a departure from the Shantel we know, as much as a logical progression. When a child of 1968 casts a glance at the late '50s and early '60s, that period is seen through a prism. One example of this is Shantel's reinterpretation of the fulminant Finnish tango "Letkis - A Touch of Beauty," which is the only track to use a sample. Yet the '60s flavor is constantly fragmented and reworked from a new viewpoint -- otherwise it wouldn't be a Shantel production. Guests on this album are Justin Adams, right hand man and guitarist of Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) -- the two are currently making music history once more with The Sensational Space Shifters -- Cherilyn MacNeil and Emma Greenfield of neo-folk band Dear Reader, who provided the title-song for the award-winning film Oh Boy, and bass legend Ken Taylor, as well as the string section of the Junge Philharmonie Frankfurt am Main.
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AY 031LP
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Limited gatefold double LP version. Comes on 180 gram vinyl and includes a CD copy of the album.
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AY 029CD
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Essay Recordings welcomes the return of Turkish psychedelic rockers BaBa ZuLa. For their latest masterpiece, they have brought on board some truly inspirational artists such as Asian Dub Foundation co-founder Dr. Das, nu-jazz mastermind Bugge Wesseltoft and other magnificent guest musicians including Titi Robin, Alcalica, Serra Yilma and Dem Yildiz. On Gecekondu, BaBa ZuLa founder Murat Ertel (wooden spoons, percussion, machines and toys) and Levent Akmann (saz and other stringed instruments, vocals, oscillator, Theremin) are accompanied by members of their touring band Cosar Kamci (percussion, darbuka) and Elene Hristova (vocals). This Istanbul-based group is the face of modern Turkish music, blending the sounds of electric saz, wooden spoons, percussion, and ancient shamanistic tradition, and mixing them up with '60s psychedelia, electronica and dub. The result is a contemporary, urban psychedelic folk sound that is both rooted in tradition and also boasts a uniquely contemporary Turkish underground sound. Gecekondu takes its name from the Turkish word for a neighborhood constructed without planning permission -- a kind of squatters' district that has become part and parcel of Istanbul's urban fabric. Millions of people now live semi-legally in such areas on the outskirts of the city, with the authorities turning a blind eye. They built their "gecekondus" -- literally "overnight constructions" -- under cover of darkness and, by the break of dawn, they had become part of the city map. These little-regarded neighborhoods, which have grown successively, are often seen as lacking all aesthetic beauty. For the most part, they are left to their own devices, and have their own specific problems and unique form of chaos.
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AY 030CD
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This is the second full-length album by Emigrantski Raggamuffin Collective, Rotfront, produced and recorded by Kraans De Lutin (known for his work with Culcha Candela, Flo Mega, Tiger HiFi, Irie Revoltes) in the Phlexton Studios in January/February 2011. Each track embraces a different subject, with winking statements ranging from the oppression of minorities in Eastern Europe to single mothers and ex-wives of notorious secret agents, to smoking in space or wild weddings in the multi-cultural suburbs of Berlin and of course, some hilarious stories from Rotfront's tour diary. How to describe the sound of VisaFree? Imagine Naftule Brandwein jamming with Nirvana, while Lee "Scratch" Perry works the controls, mixing the session, making some songs sound like disco and others like heavy metal. These are sounds as full of sweat and emotion as good sex, as strong and crystal-clear as Bulgarian home-brewed liquor, and as refreshing and full of color as Berlin itself. The immigrant choir sings in their different languages and several genres are proudly displayed equally. VisaFree reflects the biographies of the band members, presenting hip-shaking music with lyrics defying boredom, prejudice and discrimination against foreigners. Rotfront wishes not only to entertain -- the band's multinational line-up demonstrates how exciting and successful a cultural interchange can be and how profoundly ugly racism is. This is global pop, which is open to diversity where narrow labels such as "world music" do not apply. A Ukrainian, two Hungarians, an Australian and five Germans mix ska, reggae, dancehall and cumbia sounds with klezmer, Berlin's own in-your-face brand of hip-hop, Eastern European turbo-polka, Mediterranean melodies and rock riffs. Guitarists and vocalists Yuriy Gurzhy and Simon Wahorn were joined by bombastic brass/woodwind trio Max Bakshish (clarinet and saxophone), Dan Freeman (saxophone) and Anke Luchs (trombone) with drummer Jan Pfennig (a legend on the Berlin drum'n'bass scene, with a band called Human Sampler), fabulous female vocalist Dorka Gryllus and Mad Milian, who is a name to watch out for on the Berlin hip-hop scene.
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AY 013CD
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Shantel presents Kosher Nostra, an unparalleled journey back in time to the music clubs, vaudeville theaters and gambling casinos in the U.S.A. The sound can be described as a wild mix of swing, jazz, twist, Charleston and the adorable charm of Yiddish songs and ballads. The idea of Jewish gangsters in America is not something that is deeply engrained in the popular imagination. Yet nobody who looks into the history of the American mafia can deny the extent to which such figures as Meyer Lansky, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Dutch Schultz or Louis "Lepke" Buchalter shaped the machinations of the underworld, along with the classic Sicilian godfathers. The artist Oz Almog, who is also a curator at the Jewish Museum in Vienna, addressed the issue in a high-profile exhibition featuring his own paintings together with police photographs, crime-scene sketches, newspaper articles and the biographies of the gangsters themselves. Shantel, who actually wrote his undergraduate thesis at Frankfurt University on the topic of organized crime, has thoroughly researched the Kosher Nostra and its influence on American musical culture, going to great and sometimes quite adventurous lengths to put together this anthology charting the hidden history of organized crime in America. The myth of Kosher Nostra seems to be closely interwoven with the musical history of the USA in a rich and fascinating tapestry of diverse musical genres: in such hot-spots as New York, Chicago, Detroit and later Las Vegas, the music of Eastern European Jews fused with African-American jazz to create a new sound. The tracks on this anthology represent a parallel society made up of various ethnic scenes, all with their own media and an open-minded curiosity for new and exotic input from the WASP community on the one hand and the predominantly Catholic Irish and Italian communities on the other. This development of an aesthetic approach that crossed all ethnic boundaries spawned a music, film and musical industry in 1920s/1930s America that quickly spread, with an impact that was felt even in Europe. In the course of his research, Shantel unearthed some extremely rare gems: who knew, for instance, that Connie Francis had once recorded an entire album of Yiddish songs, or that Tom Jones had sung the praises of "his" Yiddish Mama? This unparalleled journey back in time to the music clubs, vaudeville theaters and gambling casinos of the 1920s to 1960s bears compelling witness to this enormously diverse and truly remarkable fusion of styles. The anthology is accompanied by an informative and detailed essay in a 60-page fully-illustrated booklet, giving an introduction to the theme of Kosher Nostra and introducing each of the artists featured. Other artists include: The Andrews Sisters, Chubby Checker, Solomon Schwartz Et Son Orchestra, The Bagelmann Sisters With Abe Ellstein Orchester, Leonid Utjossow, Al Jolson, Barry Sisters, Molly Picon, Aaron Lebedeff & Alexander Olshanetzky, Sophie Tucker, Yiddish Swing Orchestra, The Gilt Edged Four, Cleo Brown, Wilmoth Houdini and Roza Eskenazy.
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AY 028CD
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This is the ninth album by Amsterdam Klezmer Band. The story started in 1996. A few boys from Amsterdam with a Jewish background got inspired by the catchy sounds of klezmer and Balkan music and started busking. Since that time, the band has evolved into a seven-strong line-up, representing one of the finest among the klezmer and Balkan music scene in Europe. The Amsterdam Klezmer Band is blessed with an enthusiastic following in the Netherlands, the whole of Europe and even in Brazil. Their refreshing approach to klezmer and Balkan music transcends the traditional aspects of this music and results in a very lively mix of Eastern-European sound. Their strength lies in their ability to appeal to a remarkably broad audience across all age groups; they play clubs or theaters, festivals, parties, weddings or formal functions and can both fire up a crowd and create pure listening pleasure with the vibrancy of their playing. Popular Amsterdam Klezmer Band tunes are being covered and Amsterdam Klezmer Band remixes are found in many clubs from Berlin to Sydney. Now, the unmistakable Amsterdam Klezmer Band sound is optimally encapsulated once again in 14 brand-new tracks which are all original compositions written by the band members themselves. Sirba, turbo-polka and booty-shaking cocek, oompah and motley rhythms, all with the characteristic and inimitable Amsterdam Klezmer Band virtuosity, are to be found on this album. Also, of course, no Amsterdam Klezmer Band album is complete without front men Alec Kopyt (a cult singer from Odessa, who's a renowned specialist of prison songs) and Job Chajes, singing and rapping their way through this new treasure trove of highly-infectious and original Amsterdam klezmer-style repertoire. Katla is the name of the biggest volcano in Iceland. This title possibly implies this new album's explosive, joyful character. Other members include: Jasper de Beer (double bass, guitar banjo, backing vocals), Gijs Levelt (trumpet, backing vocals), Joop van der Linden (trombone, percussion), Janfie van Strien (clarinet, backing vocals), Theo van Tol (accordion, davul), Midou Akhrif (darbuka), and Bokkie Vink (cymbalon).
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AY 013EP
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Most people today know "Misirlou" as Dick Dale's signature piece, extremely popular back when issued in 1961 and then again when used in Pulp Fiction in 1994. But this song is an old folk song with obscure origins. Long before Dick Dale made it popular in the West the song was already a hit with the Turkish, Greek or Jewish population of Asia Minor. Let's not forget that Dick Dale's daddy was a Lebanese immigrant to the US. Now this is the glorious return of this tune revamped by the mysterious Disco outfit Jewrhythmics. This is the first single that announces the release of their first album. A fabulous cast of international producers were called to play with the track.
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AY 026CD
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On his fourth album, New Weird Austria, Binder & Krieglstein takes the path less traveled and presents his own personal take on Austrian folk music. Stylistically, he wanders between the worlds of electronic and folk music, bringing together a motley array of guest vocalists on diverse tracks without ever blending them. Folk music and punk are kindred souls: it is the rough-and-ready aspect of both that Binder & Krieglstein distills into something quite unique. In its more extreme forms, the punk dance form, pogo, is not so very far removed from folk dance, and stamping feet are just what electronic music calls for. Folk music and pop just go together -- or, rather, what we have here is the irresistible transition of folk music into pop music. The 12 tracks on New Weird Austria meander wildly yet precisely between influences from electronica, ska, hip-hop and house on the one hand, and polka, landler and traditional Styrian on the other, while still leaving plenty of room for guest performances by Austro-pop legends Wilfried, Didi Bruckmayr, Mieze Medusa, artist Karl Grünling, Molto Mosso, Heimo Mitterer (Portnoy), Steirischer Jägerchor, Christian Fuchs and Suzy On The Rocks (both from Vienna's thriving electro-underground band Bunny Lake). Partner and singer Makki of the Binder & Krieglstein live-band feature with several songs, too. Rainer Binder-Krieglstein launched his successful solo career after a stint as drummer with such bands as Fetish 69, Toxic Lounge and Sans Secours and has since gone on to explore any number of stylistic directions.
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AY 012EP
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Featuring 4 tracks from OMFO's Omnipresence album (remixed for vinyl use) with a very special remix by Viennese super-heroes Makossa & Megablast. Years of travelling Central Asia far and wide -- making hundreds of recordings, delving into ancient musical cultures, learning to play strange and unfamiliar instruments -- have culminated in this experimental electro-acoustic masterpiece. An unprecedented combination of sound and instruments takes you on a journey through time and space.
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AY 022CD
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This is the third full-length release by German Popov aka Our Man From Odessa aka OMFO for Essay Recordings. Omnipresence is the magnum opus by explorer and discoverer, OMFO. Years of travelling far and wide, making hundreds of recordings, delving into ancient musical cultures, and learning to play strange and unfamiliar instruments, have culminated in this experimental electroacoustic masterpiece. An unprecedented combination of sound and instruments takes us on a journey through time and space, captivating the imagination from the very first moment. Collaborating with artists and musicians from around Eurasia is his greatest passion; traditional cultures and their connection with cosmic metaphysical forces, his greatest inspiration. OMFO wants to introduce Western audiences to what he regards as the "intrinsic modernism of the Orient." This includes extending the listener's experience of music beyond the boundaries of mere entertainment and taking it into the realms of ritual. His "Primitive Equations" project with DJ Goldfinger -- a series of events featuring the music and art of indigenous people -- uses "field recordings" accompanied by video projections of related images. In October 2007, thanks to the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia, OMFO was able to visit Tajikistan, where he had the opportunity to work directly with musicians from the remote Pamir mountain region of Badakhshan. This led to a series of multimedia events throughout Europe and Central Asia: "Falak: The Heavenly Music On Stage." It is from this wealth of experience that OMFO has drawn the inspiration for Omnipresence. In his quest to resolve the issue of traditional cultures and their role in the age of technology, this record is a catalyst for the fusion of these two seemingly irreconcilable concepts. At the same time, OMFO continues to work in the field of film music, mainly creating soundtracks for the video installations and performances of leading Kazakhstan artist, Almagul Menlibayeva, whose work will be shown at the Venice Biennale this year. This is true music from Omfostan.
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AY 021CD
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This is the debut full-length release by Berlin's ultimate party collective, Rotfront. Founded in 2003 and the brainchild of expat Ukrainian musician Yuriy Gurzhy, Rotfront is the resident band at Berlin's Kaffee Burger, which is also the birthplace and home of the legendary DJ crew, RussenDisko. Rotfront, with its high-octane brew of musical references, has taken the baton from all the other collectives that have come out of Berlin to take the world by storm with their Eastern European sounds (polka, klezmer) and smoldering southern rhythms (ska, cumbia). Yuriy Gurzhy joined forces with Hungarian musician Simon Wahorn, initiator of the Hungaro Groover Soundsystem, to create the entirety of the "Emigrantski Raggamuffin Kollektiv," Rotfront. A Ukrainian, two Hungarians, an American, an Australian and five Germans mix ska, reggae, dancehall and cumbia sounds with klezmer, Berlin's own in-your-face brand of hip-hop, Eastern European turbopolka, Mediterranean melodies and rock riffs. Russian, Hungarian, German and English lyrics tell of life in Berlin and the adventures of immigrants in the city. Guitarists and vocalists Yuriy Gurzhy and Simon Wahorn were joined by accordionist Daniel Kahn (of Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird), bombastic brass/woodwind trio Max Bakshish (clarinet and saxophone), Dan Freeman (saxophone) and Anke Luchs (trombone) with drummer Jan Pfennig (a legend in Berlin's drum'n'bass scene with a band called Human Sampler), fabulous female vocalist Dorka Gryllus (a Hungarian actress), and while he is the youngest band member, Mad Milian is a name to watch out for in the Berlin hip-hop scene. Whether there are 7, 12 or 15 musicians on stage at any one time, nobody is going to be alone on the dancefloor for long. Includes a Emigrantski Republik passport booklet.
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AY 020CD
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This is the debut full-length release by Macedonian producer and DJ Ahilea (Ahilea Durcovski), a key mastermind behind the incredible Viennese neo-electro-Balkan scene. Before you're too baffled, don't forget: Vienna is, after all, the gateway to the Balkans. Ahilea has brought together a fantastic group of musicians for a wild ride along the Autoput. So fasten your seatbelts and brace yourselves for a new and visionary take on Balkan music. This man is so hot that he gets daily requests for new tracks from DJs the world over. The REAL Café Svetlana is the stuff of legend -- it was frequented by the great anarchist, poet and prominent Munich bohemian Erich Mühsam. Today, tucked away in a little side-street in Vienna, it can only be found by those who are humming the right tune as they turn the right corner... and when they do, they enter a whole new world. Mühsam's description of the Café Svetlana is as follows: "...it is the haunt of many painters, writers and budding geniuses of every kind, as well as many foreign artists, Russians, Hungarians and Balkan Slavs; in short, the kind of people the locals call 'shlaviner.'" The sound of Café Svetlana recognizes the multi-ethnicity and culture of the Balkans. But instead of flying the nationalistic flag, this is music to be savoured with a glass of slivo, palinka, raki or tsuika, and with an open mind and respect for the musicians. Every style comes into its own here: Greek rebetiko, Turkish and Macedonian belly-dancing, Serbian and Croatian folk dances, Roma songs, Albanian-Epirotic clarinet sounds, thunderous brass and the mournful yet cliché-free lament of the fiddle. All with a touch of fresh beats & grooves, bass lines, and finely-chiselled loops from the master of the mixing deck. This is nu-pop music from the Balkans to take you from the bar to the dancefloor and all the way back home.
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AY 019CD
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This is the second release on Essay Recordings by the Amsterdam Klezmer Band, an energetic and poetic stage act that has charmed international audiences with their refreshing approach to klezmer and Balkan music that transcends the traditional, resulting in a very lively mix of Eastern-European sound. The Amsterdam Klezmer bug is spreading, hence the title of Amsterdam Klezmer Band's latest release Zaraza. In Slavic languages, zaraza means "infectious" or "contagious," in Polish, it is the word for "epidemic." Zaraza is indeed an infectious album from an extremely virulent and passionate band. The album contains 15 brand new tracks -- all original compositions rooted in the klezmer tradition and infused with Romanian, Turkish, Serbian, Russian and Macedonian sounds -- showcased in their purest form, with virtuoso and provocative performances by Jasper de Beer (double bass, guitar banjo, backing vocals), Job Chajes (alto saxophone, vocals), Alec Kopyt (vocals, percussion), Gijs Levelt (trumpet), Joop van der Linden (trombone, percussion), Janfie van Strien (clarinet, backing vocals), and Theo van Tol (accordion). Since its foundation in 1996, the band has evolved rapidly, becoming world-famous on countless festival tours for bringing the Amsterdam streets and pubs to the world at large. Nowadays, only part of the Amsterdam Klezmer Band repertory consists of traditionals of Balkan or klezmer origin. Most of the AKB repertory has been created by the band members themselves, who all without exception contribute musically to an ever-growing melting-pot of infectious Balkan/Gypsy/klezmer cross-over grooves. Passionate performances, spectacular live shows and a good dose of street credibility form the ingredients of their crazy cocktail.
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AY 018CD
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Tel Aviv's Boom Pam returns with a second album for Essay Recordings. Puerto Rican Nights is made up entirely of cover versions of the beloved tunes they've been playing live throughout the years, and which are now officially being released for the first time. As the band explains, "Our mix really describes Tel Aviv... a place where people from all over the world meet. This sound is a sharp cocktail of all the different styles that collide here. And we try to bring them all together." Their music is a prolific dialogue between East and West, with an almost hypnotizing virtuosity and eloquence that moves you. Each member of the band differs from the other and plays an equally important part within the exchange of their artistic personalities. Whether it's their great version of "Shayeret Harochvim" with Maor Cohen (originally a song by Israeli folk pioneers Dudaim), which they turn into a country/surf/Israeli rock version, their theatrical version of "Marylyn Jones," a song from an Israeli Hassidic comedy, with the charismatic singer Dror Romem, or sticking tight to the groove of Tomer Yosef's "Ani Rotze Lazuz" ("I Want To Move"), Boom Pam hold onto their roots, while pulling up others deep from the Balkan underground. There are three great tunes which Uri found on his parents' old cassettes from their days in a Balkan dance group: the first is the dramatic opener "Ushest," and the second is "Krai Dunavsko," in which they flow freely from Greek music to dirty rock 'n' roll, and the third is "Chervoné Coralé." They also bring Dick Dale to life with their speedy version of "The Wedge," drawing new connections between American surf guitar and the glissando sound of Arabic quarter tones. "Longa Sultaniyegah" is an old Turkish song which Uzi learned from his brother. "Ay Carmela" appears in two shiny versions, one instrumental and the other with singer Italo Gonzales. The song was part of the soundtrack to the Israeli movie Comrade, and the section starring the band is included as a bonus video, along with the video for "Dalida." The instrumental version of the song "Boom Pam" is also here, since it has become their personal trademark. Boom Pam are: Uzi Feinerman (guitars, banjo, harmonica & vocals), Yuval "Tuby" Zolotov (tuba), Uri Brauner Kinrot (guitars, saxophone & vocals), Dudu Kohav (drums & percussion).
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AY 016CD
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This is the soundtrack to the German-Turkish film, Yasamin Kiyisinda (trans. The Edge of Heaven), directed by Fatih Akin and scored by Shantel. Linked by death, the fragile lives of six people connect on emotional journeys toward forgiveness and reconciliation. The music for this drama is like a soundtrack to a road movie. Accompanying the film's protagonists, the music oscillates between traditional tracks from Istanbul and the Black Sea (home of the much too short-lived singer/songwriter Kazim Koyuncu, who wrote the main track) and European club and dub sounds. Acclaimed Bucovina Club mastermind Shantel followed these diverse cultural traces to compose a haunting, atmospheric score chock full of exclusive, unreleased tracks in which he fuses each different influence in his unique style. Featured artists include Shantel, Sezen Aksu, Kazim Koyuncu, Sevval Sam, Nese Kara Böcek, Selim Sesler, Ahmet Kaya, John Bullard, Yusuf Kaba, Mackali Hasan Tunc, The Rootsman, Binder & Krieglstein, Birol Topaloglu, Rona Hartner and DJ Click.
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2LP
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AY 015LP
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2014 repress. Limited edition vinyl: two 180 gram vinyl 12"s, cover printed on high quality 350 gram cardboard. Renowned German DJ/producer Stefan Hantel, aka Shantel from Frankfurt/Main, has firmly established himself as an all-around, world-class electronica producer. After pioneering the concept of Balkan clubbing with his now legendary Bucovina Club parties and albums, Shantel moves on to the next level and releases Disko Partizani (his first solo album in seven years), which lays the foundations for an innovative new brand of pop music. This is the sound of new Europe, incorporating vibrant influences from the emerging new frontier that stretches all the way to Mitteleuropa, the Southeast, Greece, Turkey and beyond. The album features great performances by a host of musicians from southeast Europe and by Shantel himself, who also appears on lead vocals, gracing several tracks with an unexpected, elegant deadpan delivery. Disko Partizani sees Shantel successfully synthesizing his experiences as a producer, musician and DJ to create catchy, energetic and festive pop songs, full of hooks and surprises. Eastern European elements are adopted with real respect for their cultural roots, and then fused and transformed into a new form of urban music that works as an interface between East and West. Venerable melodies and rhythms -- some of them dating back to the Byzantine Empire -- are rejuvenated and used as a new source of inspiration for modern, trans-European pop, a welcome alternative to some of the more worn-out Anglo-Saxon musical models. Shantel conceived these songs while traveling, and found inspiration in the most unlikely locations: a railroad station in Romania, a highway stop in Greece, an airport terminal in Istanbul, an Arabic café in Tel Aviv, a taxi stand in Sofia, the back seat in a Mercedes Benz belonging to a Macedonian gypsy king, backstage in London, Paris and Rio de Janeiro. Some may define it as belly dance meets hip-hop, electronica-fuelled Balkan stompers, Klezmer reggae rock'n'roll tunes, etc., with lyrics in English, Romanian, Serbian, Rom (Gypsy) and so forth. Whatever this is, it is joyful madness.
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CD
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AY 014CD
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This is the debut album by Austrian artist Binder & Krieglstein on Essay after two previous albums on Austria's own Zeiger Records. For a while, the most hyped line-ups and projects on the Austrian music scene had names such as Kruder & Dorfmeister, Dzihan & Kamien, Pulsinger & Tunakan. These were simply the names of the movers and shakers who put the Vienna Sound on the music map in the '90s and came to represent a whole new pop/electronic image. So when the name Binder & Krieglstein appeared, it was bound to make you think that this was just another similar act jumping on the bandwagon. Far from it: the very name itself encapsulates the wit and self-irony of Rainer Binder-Krieglstein from Graz. It may sound like a duo, but there's only one person behind it. "Punky lo-fi with attitude, trashy electronic sounds and a generous smattering of humor," is how the Austrian radio station FM4 described his debut album International. Samples, loops and sounds all held together by the drumming and musical vision of Binder-Krieglstein. Anything goes: electronic, brass band or pop. Pure eclecticism? A streetwise lust for life, more like. Minimalism to the max. An urge to capture atmospheres, attitudes and moods and serve them up in distilled form to a surprised and delighted audience. Binder & Krieglstein leaves room for everything from quirky folk guitar and idiosyncratic double bass to moody downtempo grooves, swinging jazz textures and straight tech-house beats. The new album produced by Shantel for Essay Recordings, has the title Alles Verloren, which, in German, means "all is lost." But don't be fooled into thinking it's all gloom and doom. Binder & Krieglstein combine local German pop with various influences from hip-hop and reggae to polka, creating a unique style with lyrics in German and English. Listeners might be reminded a little of Manu Chao or Beck.
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CD
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AY 012CD
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O.M.F.O. -- Our Man From Odessa -- is the master of crossover par excellence. Born in the port of Odessa (Ukraine), German Popov emigrated to Amsterdam in 1989. As an explorer, German Popov loves to travel around Central Asia making live recordings of everything from the traditional songs and melodies of the steppes to the modern restaurant bands of Tashkent with their tinny keyboard sound. So welcome to electronic Walachia, where folk meets Kraftwerk and where bizarre instruments and electronic sounds combine to create a whole new musical dimension. With his ideas and his musicians he bravely goes where no human ear has dared to go before. Futurism meets folklore imaginaire: ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in Eastern European space. His first album on the Essay Recordings label, Trans Balkan Express put him in the international spotlight and none other than Borat, (the controversial Kazakhstani journalist character invented and portrayed by British-Jewish comedian Sacha Baron Cohen) has chosen two tracks from the album -- "Money Boney" and "Magic Mamaliga" -- for the soundtrack to his latest film. Produced by Atom TM and O.M.F.O
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CD
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AY 005CD
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This debut from Boom Pam is filled with magical surf guitars from Tel Aviv kicked by tuba and drums on an ecstatic Mediterranean spicy Balkan trip! Forget the daily headlines and immerse yourself in Tel Aviv's vibrant music scene. If there's a sound you can't find here in this offbeat Mediterranean metropolis, it probably doesn't exist. The music brewed up by the Boom Pam four is the acoustic equivalent of a high-energy drink. They already have a cult following in the Middle East, and now they have wowed European audiences in their gigs with Shantel at his Bucovina Club in Berlin, Frankfurt and Zurich. This CD, released worldwide exclusively on the Essay label, marks their recording debut. It is hard to categorize their music. So maybe we should invent a new category for Middle Eastern surf rock with a pinch of Balkan, a touch of irreverence and a lot of groove. Along with their two surf guitars, minimalist percussion and distinctive tuba comes a unique blend of Mediterranean, Balkan and Greek styles, sweetened with Jewish melodies and fattened up with cinematic circus music. The musicians are fed up with the klezmer cliche that still tends to be associated with Jewish music. "Nobody listens to klezmer," they say in unison. "Klezmer is the stuff that's sold in airport shops as 'the music of Israel.' Well, there is usually some klezmer in it, but that really isn't what's happening here -- that's what's popular outside Israel, but it isn't what's happening here. And there's a lot happening here."
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CD
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AY 009CD
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After the wildly successful international bombast of Rio Baile Funk: Favela Booty Beats, here comes another round of mutant hip-hop, raw grooves and mad breaks that will transport you to another imaginary party with big speakers in some hot and hidden Rio slum. It's been a while since the DJs from the black music balls in Rio started cutting and pasting Miami bass beats, African drumming, samba, Bahia carnival tunes and incredible sampling from Front 242 to Dire Straits. Blended with lyrics about crime, love, guns, faith and everything else, this is music that didn't need TV or radio to become popular. More Favela Booty Beats illustrates the changes that have occurred in Rio favelas ever since the first edition grabbed global dancefloor attention. One of the first tracks on this CD, "Rap de Caxias," by MC MDY, gives a good introduction: over some beats that sound like a cross between musical heritage of Miami, Rio and Salvador, he names the stars of the funk carioca and the favelas they belong to with celebratory abandon, from Rocinha to Vidigal to Jacarezinho. Then, Mr. Catra, the James Brown of the booty beats, represents with two of his strongest tracks: the overtly sexual "Vem Nha Nha" and the claim for loyalty "Cabelo Voa." If he had a women's counterpart, it would be Deize Tigrona, who comes in collaboration with Edu K, with a new version of "Sex-O-Matic," remixed by DJs Mavi and Sany, two of Rio's best kept funk secrets. Mr. K delivers AGAIN on this mix with "Hot Mama," another track from his album Frenétiko, which gets an insane remix by Bonde Do Rolê, whose reckless crossover of booty beats and rock will draw everyone's attention. There's MC Sabrina, the young diva who provides beautifully-sung vocals on her track, and MC Cula with country and western and Brazilian folk music samples, praising the joys of having sex in the horse-riding position. It's the Kama Sutra with beats! And there's still more music to keep you busy: "Vascão 2000," by Dennis DJ is a curious reworking of a football team hymn with mutant Miami bass beats, and the rhythm-fuelled "Jiu Jitsu," "Catita" and "Dança do Dedinho" with gunshots making the breaks will bring to life the REAL Rio. All these tracks paint a vivid and colorful picture of what is like to be inside this big, exciting, and often paradoxical party called Funk Carioca. And now get that booty started!
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12"
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AY 009EP
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2009 repress. The Rio dance craze gets a fresh treatment by Daniel Haaksman. Baile Funk is music from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Bouncing booty beats with Portuguese raps that make 50 Cent look like a wimp. Baile Funk is a reflection of Brazil's melting pot society, merging a mixture of funk, Miami bass, electro, rap, hip-hop, freestyle and bastard pop. From Black Orpheus to City of God, the idea of life in a Rio de Janeiro favela has changed substantially, and so has its soundtrack. Now, it's time for booty beats, the mutant hip hop that you've probably heard somewhere -- the raw groove with mad breaks and shouty lyrics that you can never understand, steering you towards an imaginary party with big speakers in some hot and hidden Rio slum. It's been a while since the DJs from the black music balls in Rio started cutting-and-pasting with Miami bass beats, African drumming, samba, Bahia carnival tunes and pop music -- incredible sampling that veers from Front 242 to Dire Straits. Then the MCs, most of them raised in the favelas, came in with rhymes about their everyday life -- meaning sex (fun on a low budget), crime, love, guns, faith and anything else. Put all this together and you have funk carioca. Here's the 12" taste of the album: VA - Rio Baile Funk: More Favela Booty Beats.
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CD
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AY 011CD
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This is the latest installment in the vaunted legacy of Señor Coconut (Atom Heart, Uwe Schmidt), the world's only German/Chilean "electrolatino" interpreter of pop standards. This time out, Coconut -- famous for his laptop-mambo and acid-merengue covers of Kraftwerk, Sade and Michael Jackson -- is back with a proper Latin big band, fronted by the inimitable Venezuelan singer Argenis Brito, to pay homage to Kraftwerk's Eastern counterparts in the annals of techno-pop pioneers, Yellow Magic Orchestra. Making the orchestra that much more magical, all three of YMO's members -- Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto -- make guest appearances on the album. And rounding out the barmy, mixed-up social club, the album features a host of distinguished collaborators from all corners of the electronic-music world -- including Towa Tei, Burnt Friedman, Mouse On Mars, Akufen, Schneider TM and Nouvelle Vague's Marina -- in a series of playful, cryptic interludes that aim to crack open, once and for all, the mystery of Señor Coconut. Active from 1978 to 1983, YMO was, in many ways, Japan's answer to Kraftwerk, exploring the ways that pop songcraft could be rewired for a new era of circuitry. What distinguished them in their early years from their button-pushing, synthpop contemporaries around the globe was their intense, questing musicality -- YMO shrunk entire musical worlds to fit their motherboards. Depending on the selection, in YMO you can hear disco, jazz, funk, balladry, show tunes? You get the idea. "Yellow Magic" features a piano solo ripped straight from the Afro-Cuban tradition; "Pure Jam" sounds like a breakdancer's remake of Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles. It probably goes without saying that the same "globalizing" questions Schmidt explored in his Kraftwerk versions were in many ways already answered in YMO's own recordings, which combined Japanese technological advances with Japanese worldly curiosity, filtered through that country's geographical and cultural distance from the West. Is it any surprise, then, that in listening to Señor Coconut's mambofied versions, and then going back to the originals, it turns out that there was a sultry Latin streak running through YMO's chips all along? YMO's relentless sonic inquisitiveness -- which led all three members on to distinguished solo careers and powerhouse collaborations in pop, neo-classical, experimental music and soundtracks -- provides ample material for Schmidt and his collaborators. Once again, Coconut has convened a talented ensemble of Latin jazz players on vibraphone, marimba, double bass, horns and percussion, and Argenis Brito is back on the mic, crooning as only he can.
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