Somewhere far away, down by a stream...

(Guest post by good friend Makrugaik, who's currently living down in South Africa, location where he almost got run over by Hugh Mazekela some weeks ago. Thanks for this great (in many ways) post mkrgk.)

... lives a group of people, in a quiet village. They do not seem to talk much.

Last year while going through the downloads on my other favourite music blog, Bumrocks, I came across a link to the site of Tim Sweeney, who was doing a guest post week for Sensei Andre. Being a DFA fan I decided to check it out. I downloaded a mix that he'd done featuring something called Can't Be Beat by The Quiet Village Project. The song really made an impression on me. I had to know more. I rifled around and ended up finding a site for the record company credited on the mix list. Whatever We Want Records. There was a message saying that they would soon have mp3's availible for download. That message is still there. I emailed the address on the site, telling them that I really enjoyed the track and I'd really be interested in getting it. I told them that I thought it was beautiful. A guy called Carlos emailed me back, saying that it was really cool that someone in South Africa had heard this stuff and directed me to a site called no ordinary monkey. Turns out that these guys were putting on a show with said Quiet Village playing. And then, lo and behold, a message came up on Beats In Space one day saying that Quiet Village would be doing a mix on the 1 November 2005. My birthday! I downloaded it as soon as I could. It was great. Who were these people? Turns out that Quiet Village is none other than Matthew Edwards of Radio Slave and Joel Martin. Well, I didn't have a clue.
Radio Slave were apparently a DJ'ing pair that made a huge impression on the undergound house scene. Matthew Edwards had recorded previously as Rekid. He also bought out a single on Skint (label that originally released Fatboy Slim) under the name of Matthew E, one of the tracks was recently posted on 20jazzfunkgreats. Hell, even they didn't know who he was. And they live in the same town. Quiet Village are supposed to be releasing an album soon. All I can say is, dudes, it better come out, man. As far as the label is concerned, speak to Etienne De'Crecy. In Atsthtok, they call him "The Wolf". The story so far for them is as follows: Can't Be Beat/Pillow Talk, Too High To Move/Drax and The Fragments Of Fear Halloween mix, which has been feautured on this blog previously in the comments.

Map Of Africa are made up of two people. Both are famous. The first one is a chap called DJ Harvey. He was one of the original DJ's at The Ministry Of Sound (like, when it was still good...). You can read a bit more about him here. The other guy in Map is Thomas Bullock formerly of ARE Weapons and currently of Rub 'n Tug. Rub 'n Tug made serious waves last year with their mix of Open Letter To New York City by the Beastie Boys. To say that it was better than the original would be an underst... The track Dirty Loving features DJ Harvey on vocals. Or Thomas. Can't remember now. Suffice to say that in an interview with i-D they mentioned that they had finally fufilled their boyhood dreams of becoming Lemmy (Hawkwind, Motorhead).
The other guy in Rub 'n Tug is called Eric Duncan. He did a mix for Beats In Space that was truly awesome. After I listened to it I emailed to tell him that I had coined a new phrase. Eric Duncan don't f_ck around. He said that he really liked that phrase. He's so cool that he didn't even let Tim Sweeney list the records he had played on BIS. If you listen to the mix you can hear Tim listing the stuff at the end, while Eric hesistantly answers when Tim's not too sure of the titles. Eric was probably making the titles up. Special mention needs to go out to Andre Bumrocks. Andre has put up with alot of inane questions from me over the last year or so. He's even had to deal with me asking about cricket, which in fact does not interest him in the least. Andre's the man. Who else could have inspired me to purchase Double's album Blue (got it for only five rand so...). At the time that it came out I would have been shot for buying it. His discoveries are always a revelation. And thanks for posting Tango Terje's Edit of Andreas Vollenweider's Belladonna. You brightened some very dark days...and Luscious, keep phasing in from the other dimensions.

Quiet Village - Can't Be Beat
Quiet Village - Pillow Talk
Map of Africa - Dirty Lovin'

Quiet Village Mix for Beats in space:
Part 1
Part 2

Jordi Savall was one of the first classical musician's to take an interest in re-creating early music in a way that it would have originally sounded. I first came across him through the All The Mornings Of The World soundtrack in late 1996. The film, from 1991, was based on a book that fictionalised a mentor student relationship between two composers, Marin Marais and Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe. The idea of the story is that Sainte-Colombe teaches Marais how to play the viol da gamba at his home. Sainte-Colombe used to play at the royal court and now doesen't, and Marais is trying to make it into the royal court or something. I wouldn't actually know for sure because I still haven't seen the film. The main reason why the music makes such a strong impression is because the viol is an awesome instrument to listen to. A pre-cursor to the cello, it is a bowed bass string instrumet. When it's played in duet, the effect is quite astounding. Savall is actually one of the most revered modern day viol players. But his story goes so much deeper. He has also been a major force is resurrecting early vocal pieces, with his wife Monterrat Figueras and the ensemble Hesperion XX, now Hesperion XXI. To get an idea of how much stuff this guy has recorded check this out. One of the best things I've ever heard by him was Bach: The Art of Fugue, which was never performed in the way that it was originally intended before Savall. I'm pretty sure that's what it said on the CD cover...The way I understand it, The Art Of Fugue is usually performed on the organ or something. Anyway, Jordi Savall is leet. No doubt about it.

Les Pleurs (Sainte Colombe) version a 2 violes
Cadenet (fl.c.1200-c.1230) S'anc fui belha ni prezada
Troisieme Lecon de Tenebres a 2 voix (F. Couperin)

The words:
Los enemigos se han valido
de aquello que ella mas amaba;
ahora ve como los extranjeros
entran en el santuario:
aquellos, Senor, que no admitias
entre los tuyos en la asamblea.

Todo su pueblo gime
mientras suplica alimento,
para poder comer,
cambia bienes preciosos,
y asi recuperalas las fuerzas.

"Senor, fijate en mi,
que he quedado humillada."
Aquelos que pasais por el camino,
a todos os es indiferente!

Mirad bien y vereis
si hay un dolor como este:
el dolor con el cuel me atormneta,
con el cual Senor me aflige,
ahora que esta indignado.

Del cielo ha enviado en fuego
que ha consumido mis huesos;
me ha puesto una trampa en el camino,
de pronto me ha hecho caer.
Me ha dejado abandonada,
enferma todo el dia.

Me carga las infidelidades comor un yugo:
con su mano las anuda
y me las carga en el cuello;
me agota las fuerzas,
El Senor me pone en manos de gente
a quien no puedo enfrentarme.

Jerusalen, Jerusalen, conviertete
a tu Dios y tu Senor.

I think I speak for modern Occultists everywhere when I say this track contains some serious power for change. Check this one out, Harmony (I wonder if he reads blogs). I can also recommend the novel Thais by Anatole France.

Last tracks are for Moka. Never ignorant soul, as Malkmus would have said. How exactly does one start a blog and makes it super famous in just five months? Must be magic.
Speaking of which, the first song is none other than the theme tune from Atsthtok, The Magic Number by De La Soul. From the album 3 Feet High and Rising, this is probably one of the most infectious hip hop tracks of all time.
Zooropa made an enormous impession on me when it was released in 1993. First U2 album that I had bought in years. Achtung Baby is pretty good though. In early 1994, due to a bizarre sequence of events, I was fortunate enough to fly over Europe from Greece to London listening to this album on a walkman. Epic. Something I'll never forget. Till now, I never thought I'd feel that way again...

De La Soul - The Magic Number
U2 - Lemon
U2 - Stay (Faraway So Close!)

Image by John Constable.
Go and check out Makrugaik's mp3 blog, Aythtok, for a dose of more great tunes. Today he posted three songs from one of my favorite records from the 90's, Moon Safari.