Father of Modern Discography Dies at 88

NY Times Obituary

Original Barnstormers Spasm Band (!)

On the note of record collecting, here's another link to LPCoverLover.

R.I.P. Bobby Farrell

Bobby Farrell of Boney M. passed away 30 December, 2010. 

Boney M. was a 70's disco-funk group created by German record producer & singer-songwriter Frank Farian, also behind the infamous Milli Vanilli scandal. He recorded the dance track "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" in December 1974, and when the record was released as a single, it was credited to "Boney M.", a pseudonym Farian had created for himself after watching the Australian detective show Boney. After a slow start, the song became a hit in the Netherlands and Belgium. It was then that Farian decided to hire performers to 'front' the group for TV performances, which eventually led to Bobby Farrell being hired to sing and dance for the group's shows. Coincidentally, Farrell died in St. Petersburg on the anniversary of Grigori Rasputin's death.*

I don't know Boney M.'s catalog too well, but was given Nightflight to Venus and was pleasantly surprised by the title track's awesome drums, robotic vocals, and overall intergalactic funk attack. The deeply percussive segue into the Russian-themed "Rasputin" is a winner too, as the video above shows. They also had pretty sweet style.

R.I.P. Bobby.

kutyerthroat.com

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*Source: Wikipedia

Sotho Sounds & Flowers of Lesotho

Sotho Sounds: "Mobopong… By The Rivers Of Babylon"

While in Africa this past summer, I came across a CD by a group call Sotho Sounds from Lesotho. They play a groovy kind of indigenous junk-punk, given that most of their instruments are made from found objects (similar to Congolese group Konono No. 1 in that respect, but with a much chiller output). There's not much out there on Sotho Sounds, and I attempted to contact them while in Lesotho, but heard nothing back. At any rate, they sound great.

 http://womad.org/artists/sotho-sounds/

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As we had the time of our lives during the 3 weeks we spent in Mohale's Hoek, Lesotho working with the people of St. Camillus Centre for Orphans & Vulnerable Children, my wife Aylie & I recently started a non-profit in support of the people we met there.

We helped the children we worked with make cut paper flowers, and we've used images of the flowers to make note cards to sell in the hopes of raising funds to send back to St. Camillus. Please visit our website, Flowers of Lesotho, to learn more, order cards, or donate to the people of St. Camillus.

Seaquence

I present the amazing robo-krill music synthesiser Seaquence.org

Check out the How-To Video:

Have a listen to my "Second Dive".

Couldn't help but be reminded of my Planequarium mix, given the underwater adventure theme.

Props to Wrath 66 of Baby Grrl! Labs for tipping me off to the wonders of Seaquence.

Smithsonian Institute Blues: Re-up of a classic dinosaur track

Original post.

Big Joan*, and

*I also found this bizarre image courtesy of Google Image Search.

Booglarize

This video rules.