News

• December 27, 2010 at 03:42 PM

  Just a Sweet Taste! Our Favorite Distro Reissues of 2010!

  Here at Light In The Attic, we're not the only ones digging deep to bring you killer wax. And luckily for us many of our favorite reissues and rediscoveries over the year come in as distro titles, so we get to drool all over them right when they come out of the shipping crate. Hears a little list of some of the albums that got us down right feverish in 2010. Here's to an equally mind blowing 2011!

  Charanjit Singh: Synthesizing - Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat (Bombay Connection)

  This title came our way back in May and right away, LITA's Josh Wright (AKA The Dude With The Plan), perked right up. I mean come on, this record is the stuff of legend. Only a few hundred copies known to exist (CHECK!), TB-303 and TR-808 synths/drum machines (CHECK!), Indian disco (CHECK!!!). Bombay Connection really knocked this one out of the park.

  

  El Gusano: Fantasia del Barrio (Heavy Light)

  Late '60s / early 70s Texas psych and chicano soul mixed with heavy Vietnam vibes made this release a real stand-out this year. An instrumental concept album, expertly executed and now, after decades of languishing in obscurity, can sit proudly on all of our shelves. Heavy Light...Dig!?!

  

  Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical: Ranil's Jungle Party (Masstropicas)

  Man, the party kept going all year long with this dandy little release from Masstropicas. Mixing deeply funky psychedelic-surf guitar jams with traditional “huayñdance music, Ranil and Co. get down and dirty Peruvian style. The result is a style mash-up not unlike African “Juju” or “High-Life” music, popularized by the incendiary Stratocaster guitar playing of King Sunny AdéIn fact, think of Ranil’s Jungle Party as King Sunny Adéamming with some Andes dudes while on vacation in Peru. So good...

  

  Blundetto: Bad Bad Things (Heavenly Sweetness)

  This their first full length is a blend of sultry cafe soul, late-night acid jazz, and laid back, umm blunted riddims to make up twelve flavorful, mostly instrumental groovers. But if that wasn’t a hard enough sell, check out the range of guests who flex their muscles to chill: former Bones Brigade ripper-turned-backpack world beat maestro Tommy Guerrero (“Ken Park”); the horn section from Daptone’s fine Budos Band (“Mustang” and “La Carretilla”); East Bay MC Lateef the Truth Speaker (“My One Girl”); and the chameleon-like Shawn Lee (“Nautilus” and “La Carretilla”). Sounds like Heavenly Sweetness to our ears!

  

  Los Saicos: Demolicion! The Complete Recordings (Munster)

  We were so excited about this release. I mean, we couldn't shut up about it. Want proof, click HERE, we dare you!!! But seriously, this rare collection of singles from Los Saicos rocked. All the way back in Peru in 1965/66, Los Saicos were tearin' shit up and today, thanks to the fine folks at Munster, we have the proof. And boy does it sound good.

  

  Daniel Johnston: The Story Of An Artist (Box Set) (Munster)

  And last, but certainly not least, the great Daniel Johnston. And what a god damn sweet release it is. We were literally drooling when this came in. This deluxe and limited edition box set packs in the very early recordings by one of the most gifted songwriters of the last three decades. Includes Daniel’s six cassette-only albums recorded between 1980 & 1983 – 129 recordings straight out of the original cassettes, packaged in individual sleeves. CD or LP box set choices made this release the cat's pajamas. Essential. Thanks again, Munster!

• May 05, 2010 at 07:55 AM

  Distro Fever: Charanjit Singh, Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat

  Light In The Attic bigwig Josh Wright recommends this recent addition to our catalog of distributed titles. From the homies at Bombay Connection comes this rare record from Charanjit Singh, a session musician who played on numerous Bollywood film scores during the 1960s and '70s. Here's a description of the album from Bombay Connection: "So it turns out the record was no rumor. Only a few hundred copies of the LP were ever pressed, and only a handful seem to have survived. Moreover, the LP outdoes all expectations. Performed on the synths that would later define acid house, the Roland TB-303 and TR-808, the album sounds light years ahead of its time with its repetitive beats and hypnotic electronic melodies. Its maker, Bollywood session musician Charanjit Singh, set out to translate ancient Indian Ragas to the modern synthesizer, and in doing so, seems to have invented house music along the way. The 10 tracks make a consistent listen from A to Z. Its restrained minimalism and lack of cheesiness make it incredibly contemporary, sounding animated, fluid and unabashedly alive." Here's what Pitchfork wrote about the record in 2007: "This is an electronic disco album from India that came out in 1983 that my friend Ryan Junell passed on to me. Though the "what the hell is THIS?" factor is high, it's not a campy novelty record, nor does it resemble the full-dress kitsch Bollywood classic Disco Dancer (Bombay's must-see response to Saturday Night Fever). It turns out that a nonstop Roland drum machine pulse and sleek Moroder-esque arpeggios make a killer bed upon which to play classical ragas on analogue synthesizers. On "Raga Meghmalhar", a monsoon raga drizzled with crispy white noise storm sound effects, the endlessly spiraling melodic patterns of synthetic santoors and veenas click so seamlessly with the Munich-style bassline chugging and lockstep kick drum that Singh's antique futurism feels completely inevitable. PS: Reissue labels take note, this thing is ready to take a cosmic disco dancefloor to a higher plane." The Guardian also published a review of the album last month. With all this praise, how can you not check it out? Purchase Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat here.