CDs for eyes?! Ḍarāvanā!
Yes it’s that time of year again.. when lighthearted darkness consumes our minds and we invite spirits to the dinner table. This year’s Hallowe’en Special is guaranteed to leave you slightly unnerved, with a brain full of foreign tongues and monster grooves.
((Stream the full episode here))
…featuring vampire rap, monster reggae, Catalonian hellbilly, Bollywood gore, dark cabaret, zombie calypso, goblin folk, French drone, deep Greek electro, and much gore..
Týr: Classic Viking metalheads reviving the 90s. The 1090s.
Midway between Norway and Iceland lies a splattering of islands lost in time. O the mysterious Faroes. Only 50,000 humans make up this quasi-nation, politically tied to Denmark yet refusing membership in the European Union (as decided by the conservative Norse Gods). Yet despite geographical isolation and the continued practice of whale hunting, the Faroese are surprisingly futuristic in their musical meanderings.
Tindholmur Island. Get your free-range organic pilot whales and puffins here (not approved by PETA).
Aside from the requisite Viking-revival bands wielding electric axes, the Faroe Islanders are also making some very tasteful electro-funk hip hop, jangly folk, sinister drone-scapes, ambient jazz, experimental pop, and my personal favourite: grit hop played on giant industrial machines, courtesy of the band ORKA. To boot, there is a great Faroese record label, TUTL, that provides a potent platform for local bands to broadcast their music in Scandinavia and beyond.
Dig into these sounds and more on the [[FAROESE FEATURE]].
Downtown Atlanta: this is not
Orient your cochleas towards the Caucasus, here drifts a wave of sublime sounds from Georgia. Not the southern American state, but rather the magical country on the far east of Europe – or if you prefer, the western fringe of Asia (continents are surprisingly nebulous entities). The rugged Georgia-Russia border is only a few dozen kilometres from the current Sochi Winter Olympic Games taking place in the deep south of Russia, but Georgia is still light years removed from the global cultural spotlight. And so we dive…
Sonically speaking, Georgians are best known for their age-old mastery of polyphonic vocal harmonies. This is a technique that has spread to all corners of the planet, yet Georgians have been doing it for so long that they still seem to do it better; this effortless layering of voices has found its way into non-traditional genres as well.. like throw-back choral swing!:
Stream the Georgian broadcast [[HERE]], featuring some of the world’s most potent vocalists, with sides of prog, folk, hip hop, and mystery beats.
Tengir-Too will rock you
Beautiful music is always right around the corner– or hiding in the remote foothills of Central Asia. This week we travel to Kyrgyzstan and discover a surprisingly rich feast of sounds. Virtuosic vocals, komuz shredding, jaw harp harmonies, folkloric metal, dark hip hop, bebop, and mucho more! Listen and ye shall agree: Kyrgyz got soul power!
Hear the sounds of Kyrgyzstan HERE
Not so sinister, is it?
This week we visit the 3rd youngest country on Earth, and also one of the smallest (born prematurely, or perhaps Serbia smoked during pregnancy) … Montenegro! It’s still a mystery why the place is called ‘Black Mountain’, or why the rest of the world still uses the Italian name (real name: Crna Gora). No matter, we have come for the music!
Montenegro as a nation-state is barely 7 years old, but the coastal Balkan nation has a discrete history that extends to a time well before its incorporation into the former Yugoslavia– heck, they even had a king. It’s a bit complex (brain-draining) to get into the specifics of nationhood and identity, so let’s just say that the borders have changed but the musical masters have stayed. Therefore, we shall not confine our soundsplash to post-2006 independence. We would miss the formative years of Rambo Amadeus!
WANDERING RHYTHMS RADIO 