Monday, May 26, 2008

Utah Phillips: Good Though! (1973)


Utah Phillips, a seminal figure in American folk music who performed extensively and tirelessly for audiences on two continents for 38 years, died Friday May 23, 2008 of congestive heart failure in Nevada City, California a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountains where he lived for the last 21 years with his wife, Joanna Robinson, a freelance editor.

Born Bruce Duncan Phillips on May 15, 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the son of labor organizers. Whether through this early influence or an early life that was not always tranquil or easy, by his twenties Phillips demonstrated a lifelong concern with the living conditions of working people. He was a proud member of the Industrial Workers of the World, popularly known as "the Wobblies," an organizational artifact of early twentieth-century labor struggles that has seen renewed interest and growth in membership in the last decade, not in small part due to his efforts to popularize it.

A single from Phillips's first record, "Moose Turd Pie," a rollicking story about working on a railroad track gang, saw extensive airplay in 1973. From then on, Phillips had work on the road. His extensive writing and recording career included two albums with Ani DiFranco which earned a Grammy nomination. Phillips's songs were performed and recorded by Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Tom Waits, Joe Ely and others. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Folk Alliance in 1997.

Phillips began suffering from the effects of chronic heart disease in 2004, and as his illness kept him off the road at times, he started a nationally syndicated folk-music radio show, "Loafer's Glory," produced at KVMR-FM and started a homeless shelter in his rural home county, where down-on-their-luck men and women were sleeping under the manzanita brush at the edge of town. Hospitality House opened in 2005 and continues to house 25 to 30 guests a night. In this way, Phillips returned to the work of his mentor Hennacy in the last four years of his life.

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Tracklisting:
1. Cannonball Blues
2. Queen of the Rails
3. Going Away
4. Frisco Road
5. Starlight on the Rails
6. Calling Trains
7. Daddy, What's a Train?
8. Moose Turd Pie
9. Old Buddy Goodnight
10. Phoebe Snow
11. Nickel Plate Road No. 759
12. Wabash Cannonball/Tolono

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Asian Dub Foundation: Punkara (2008)

The sixth studio album by the collective Asian Dub Foundation. First album released with new singer Al Rumjen formely of King Prawn. Advanced release in Japan on 3/2008 and subsequently leaked worldwide. The opener "Superpower" I can only imagine is about the fall of the USA (lyric) "Watch you gonna do when the well runs dry" as the shit slowly hits the fan and "Burning Fence" don't let up their. The deep political and social lyrics with their distinctive sound is a combination of hard ragga-jungle rhythms, indo-dub basslines, searing sitar- inspired guitars and 'traditional' sounds.
Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Listen to tracks here at this cool Japanese site

Download Punkara:
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password: indahouse

Tracklist:
1. Superpower
2. Burning Fence
3. No Fun
4. Speed of Light
5. Ease Up Caesar
6. S.O.C.A.
7. Target Practice
8. Living Under the Radar (ghostplane)
9. Altered Statesmen
10. Bride of Punkara
11. Stop the Bleeding
12. Awake/Asleep

Burning Fence Video:

Friday, May 9, 2008

War: If It Feels Good. Do It! (2003 Compilation)

2003 Hiphop compilation Produced by: Billy Jam of Hip Hop Slam
A 28 track hip hop compilation of emcee and DJ tracks - all dealing with the issues of war and peace, and US foreign policy, in particular the 2003 war on Iraq and the leader/administration that put America there. Many of the tracks utilize Dubya samples or soundbites, mostly drawn from TV News coverage recorded during 2003. Dedicated to : Barbara Lee (a true American), Chuck D (a true hip hop revolutionary), Steinski (political cut and paste pioneer), and Edwin Starr (R.I.P) for his classic anti-WAR anthem with those timeless lyrics: "WAR! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!"

Download War: If It Feels Good. Do It!
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Tracklist:

1. "Win This War and Have A Good Time" (0:16)
2. DJs Of Mass Destruction "War (If It Feels Good, Do It)" (2:16)
3. Mr. Lif "Earthcrusher" (DJ Pone RMX) (3:57)
4. "Dubya vs. Aaarnold" (0:25)
5. Public Enemy "Son of a Bush" (DJ Pone remix) (3:58)
6. Guerrilla News Network "Happy Ramadan Osama bin Laden" (1:33)
7. Steinski & Mass Media "It's up to you (War Mix) (w/ Man in the Blue bathrobe) (5:10)
8. Azeem "George Bush is a gangsta" (1:41)
9. Tino Corp feat. Ben Stokes "Dubya (Commander In Chief)" (4:11)
10. DJs Of Mass Destruction "Liberate The Children" (3:48)
11. Guerrilla News Network "War" (1:14)
12. Cat Five "American Military Operations" (DJsOMD/RMX) (3:33)
13. DJ Stoic "Land Mine" (3:12)
14. DJs of Mass Destruction "What Weapons Of Mass Destruction?" (2:01)
15. Shing02 "Since By Man Came Death" (6:29)
16. Fox News vs. Biiiaaatch (0:12)
17. 4AM "InDaClub" (5:42)
18. Boots "George Bush is a bank manager" (0:16)
19. O-Type "Blood and Sand" (3:13)
20. The Desert DJs "Fifty Miles of Baghdad" (2:24)
21. ARK "So Many People" (excerpt) (1:28)
22. Guerrilla News Network "Good Vs. Evil" (2:06)
23. DJs Of Mass Destruction "Reprise: War Is What They Got" (2:00)
24. Quiet American "Once Over" (3:22)
25. Aya de Leon "Thin Line/Stop the War" (3:22)

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Roots Of Resistance Vol1


Selected highlights from the Freedom Archives. Sounds and spoken word of the 50s through the 90s featuring Maya Angelou, Paul Robeson, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Hampton, Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, George Jackson, Ho Chi Minh, Jane Fonda, Ramsey Clark, Lolita Lebron, John Trudell and Radio Free Alcatraz, Amilcar Cabral, Nelson Mandela, June Jordan, Salvador Allende, Victor Jara, Joan Baez, Cesar Chavez, Bernardine Dohrn, Kathy Boudin, Sweet Honey In The Rock, Marge Piercy, Ossie Davis, and much, much more. Staggeringly impressive,important, and inspirational. Happy May Day!

Download Roots Of Resistance Vol1
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Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. African Roots Of Struggle
3. Prison Doors
4. Vietnam Victory
5. Puerto Rico Independence
6. From Alcatraz To Wounded Knee
7. Africa And Palestine
8. Cuba And Chile
9. Que Viva Raza
10. Long Live The International Hotel
11. The Rising Of The Women Is The Rising Of Us All
12. We Who believe In Freedom