SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES 

 PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

https://www.facebook.com/SUBLIMEFREQUENCIES

OUT NOW!

ROBERT MILLIS 

Indian Talking Machine: 

78 RPM Record and Gramophone

 

Collecting on the Sub-Continent

SF 099CD 2CD/BOOK

Order through Forced Exposure 

http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/SF.099CD.html

Robert Millis's Indian Talking Machine is a 244-page full-color hardcover book with two CDs containing 46 tracks from shellac discs spanning 1903 to 1949, which Millis collected in India and compiled for their first-ever CD release; the book contains over 300 photographs of 78rpm record collections, collectors, and ephemera, as well as detailed track notes and an essay. Limited-edition one-time pressing of 1000 copies. These photos are true "record porn" (that is, shellac 78rpm record porn) -- photographs of shelves groaning under the weight of unimaginable titles, beautiful label- and sleeve-designs from long-gone eras, wind-up talking machines, crammed antique shops, forgotten artists, and more, all of which somehow survived (often barely) India's archival obstacles -- dust, heat, floods, rebellion, partition, and war.Indian Talking Machine is the result of nearly a year in India photographing record collections, interviewing collectors, and visiting archives and record markets; a personal take on the vast worlds of Indian music and the intricacies of collecting sound. One of the earliest non-Western outposts of the "recording industry," India's first recordings were made in 1902. The country's music is as beautiful as it is complex, as subtle as it is profound, and as divine as it is simple; these recordings offer virtuoso instrumental performances, jaw-dropping vocal renditions, folk music, comedy recordings, and even animal impressions. The 78rpm records were transferred by Jonathan Ward (Excavated Shellac) and mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Michael Graves (Analog Africa, Dust-to-Digital, Hank Williams: The Garden Spot Programs, 1950 (2014), and more). Robert Millis is a founding member of Climax Golden Twins and AFCGT, a Fulbright Scholar, a solo artist, and a frequent contributor to the Sublime Frequencies label. He compiled and co-producedVictrola Favorites in 2007 (DTD 011CD), and created both the Burmese Crying Princess (2013) and Korean Scattered Melodies (2013) LPs for Sublime Frequencies, as well as the films This World Is Unreal Like a Snake in a Rope (SF 073DVD, 2012) and Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan (2006). In short, he knows what he is doing. You will not be disappointed. Includes performances by Professor Abdul Aziz Khan,Gauhar Jan, Mysore Chaudiah, Musiri Subramania Iyer,Bangalore Nagaratnam, the Vyas Brothers, Talim Hossein,Babu Aughor Nath Chuckerbutty, L.C. Bural, Veena Shanmuga Vadivoo, Professor Barkatullah Khan, and many more.

The List Review for Various Artists – The Travelling Archive: Folk Music from Bengal

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES 

 PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

https://www.facebook.com/SUBLIMEFREQUENCIES

The List Review for

Various Artists – The Travelling Archive: Folk Music from Bengal

Captivating glimpse of a diverse musical culture

• Source: The List
• Date: 18 December 2014
• Written by: Stewart Smith

The latest batch from Sublime Frequencies includes a smokin' live album from Lebanese / Egyptian guitar legend Omar Khorshid and a compilation of mesmeric Sahel folk, but this collection is of particular interest, representing the first fruits of the label's relationship with Bengali musiciansand researchers Moushoumi Bhowmik and Sukanta Majumdar. Their field recordings from Bangladesh, India and the Bengali diaspora offer a captivating glimpse of a diverse musical culture: wedding songs, Hindu devotionals, and songs from those travelling bards, the Baul. The striking instrumentation across these ten tracks includes tabla, violin and the brittle twang of thedotara. Taped in an office off Brick Lane, Ahmed Moyez's acapella performance of his Sufi poet grandfather's 'Paradhi Hoilam Ami' ('Friend and Master, by what law of yours am I made guilty') is deeply moving, while the Tea Garden singing and stories of a group of young women are a delight.

Link to original review: https://www.list.co.uk/article/67022-various-artists-the-travelling-archive-folk-music-from-bengal/

OUT NOW! THE TRAVELLING ARCHIVE: Folk Music from Bengal: Field Recordings from Bangladesh, India, and the Bengali Diaspora LP

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES 

 PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

https://www.facebook.com/SUBLIMEFREQUENCIES

The Travelling Archive -  

Folk Music from Bengal: Field Recordings from Bangladesh, India, and the Bengali Diaspora

SF - 092LP

To order from Forced Exposure and hear samples: 

http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/va-the-travelling-archive-folk-music-from-bengal-field-recordings-f-lp/SF.092LP.html

The Travelling Archive is a journey through the folk music of Bengal. It is run by Calcutta-based Bengali singer, writer and researcher, Moushumi Bhowmik, and sound recordist and sound designer, Sukanta Majumdar. They have been making field recordings of songs and stories across Bangladesh and eastern India, even the Bengali diaspora in East London, since 2003; documenting and disseminating their research through archives, presentation-performances, art works, and their own independent record label and web site. Moushumi and Sukanta get out there, travel all over, become friends and live with the musicians, record them in their homes and villages, on their rivers, in their tea shops and work fields. Bengal, which includes Calcutta, India, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and more than 250 million people, is an amazingly diverse yet unique region, home to some of the largest cities in the world and plenty of uncategorizable and diverse folk music, including those wandering minstrels, the Bauls. The music and instrumentation presented on this LP features solo voice and chorus vocals, harmonium, dotara (four-string fretless lute), ektara (traditional one-string drone instrument), dugi(small kettle drum), bamboo flute, violin, and even an empty popcorn tub played like a drum. This is a diverse and magnificent sampling of what remains a massive archive of folk music from this region and Sublime Frequencies hopes to continue to release additional volumes in the future. Produced for Sublime Frequencies by Robert Millis, this limited edition LP comes in a tip-on heavy jacket with insert containing liner notes and photos.

ROBERT MILLIS EUROPEAN TOUR: MAY - JUNE 2014MAY

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

Sublime Frequencies' European 
Film Screening Tour 

with Robert Millis presenting

THIS WORLD IS UNREAL

 LIKE A SNAKE 

IN A ROPE

Folk cinema from the eternal never-ending collage that is INDIA. A journey through the ancient Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu featuring Hindu trance ceremonies, street music, festivals, nagaswaram improvisations, impossibly loud cities, ancient temples, processions, devotions, decay, fireworks, abstractions and more. India is impossible to know: it is impossibly old and impossibly new, impossibly rich and impossibly poor, quiet and chaotic. Offered here is one perspective, raw, captured live and in the moment, with an emphasis on India’s complex and mesmerizing sounds. 

MAY 14: BERLIN - N.K. Elsen Strasse, 52 12059 Berlin

http://www.nkprojekt.de/ May 16: BERLIN - (improv set w/ Ratbag and Gilles Aubry) Loophole, Boddinstrasse 60 12053 Berlin http://www.loophole-berlin.com/ May 18: BERLIN - Schwelle 7, Uferstraße 6, 13357 Berlin, Germany 

performance with Sublime Frequencies' contributor, Laurent Jeanneau, 

Using material gathered on various Sublime Frequencies expeditions. May 21: GENEVA - Cave 12, 4 Rue de la Prairie 9pm CHF10 www.cave12.org May 22: BRUSSELS (film screening) Crickxstraat 15, 1060 bruxelles 8.30PM €5 http://www.lesateliersclaus.com/ May 23: AALST - Houtkaai z/n, 9300 Aalst 8pm €13/10 with Dean Blunt http://www.netwerk-art.be/en/concerts/989/dean-blunt-rmillis May 24: AMSTERDAM - OCCII Amstelveenseweg 134, 1075XL Amsterdam 9pm €7 http://occii.org/ May 25: BRADFORD - Threadfest @ Fuse Art Space, 

5-7 Rawson Place BD1 3QQ 1pm Free entry. Also appearing: Philip Jeck + Basic House + Lee Patterson + Dean McPhee + Female Band https://www.facebook.com/events/488180197953434/ http://wearefuse.co/threadfest/ May 26: COVENTRY - The Coal Vaults, Coal Vaults CV1 4LY 

8pm £5/7 http://thetinmusicandarts.org.uk/events/robert-millis-presents-sublime-frequencies/ May 27: LONDON - Cafe Oto, 18-22 Ashwin St, Dalston E8 3DL

* Also screening Robert Millis' film: Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan 8pm £7/8 http://cafeoto.co.uk/sublime-frequencies-robert-millis-the-world-is-unreal-like-a-snake-in-a-rope.shtm

May 28: HELSINKI - Korjaamo, Töölönkatu 51 a-b, 00250 Helsinki with Avarus

* Screening This World Is Unreal Like A Snake In A Rope 8pm €tba http://www.korjaamo.fi/ May 29: TAMPERE - Telakka, Tullikamarinaukio 3, 33100 Tampere

* Screening: Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan 8pm €tba http://www.telakka.eu/ May 30: BRIGHTON - The Cowley Club, 12 London Rd, BN1 4JA 

with F.Ampism + Dickinson/Murphy/Nyoukis 7.30pm £5 http://www.cowleyclub.org.uk/ May 31: GLASGOW - The Old Hairdressers, 20-28 Renfield Lane, G2 6PH

with Bridget Hayden www.stereocafebar.com June 1: BRISTOL - Cube Cinema, Dove Street South, BS2 8JD 8pm £6/8 http://www.cubecinema.com/programme/view/2014/3/28?daysahead=90#event_7324 June 3: Film screening, Athens TBA June 5: Performance Athens, TBA June 7: PARIS - Espace en Cours, 56, rue de la Réunion, 75020 Paris 

with Tara Jane O'Neil 7.30pm €7 http://alifibgigs.wordpress.com/

3 NEW SUBLIME FEQUENCIES RELEASES - OUT NOW

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

Order from Forced Exposure http://beta.forcedexposure.com/Home.html

Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock from Singapore and Malaysia 1964-1970 CD SF079

Until now, for some unknown reason, the psychedelic rock movement in Singapore and Malaysia, aka Pop Yeh Yeh, has never been given the worldwide attention it deserves. This compilation- Pop Yeh Yeh – Psychedelic Rock from Singapore and Malaysia – 1964-1970 – Vol. 1 - is the first of its kind to focus solely on the Malayrock groups of this region.

The Pop Yeh Yeh era, which took place roughly between the years of 1964 to 1970, coincided with the rapid modernization happening at the time in Singapore and Malaysia. (Sublime Frequencies has already released many incredible compilations from neighboring Indonesia, so it’s about time that the Malaysian groups got some attention!) Pop Yeh Yeh artists instinctively cross-pollinated electric sounds of the West with Malay melodies, and added their own local poetic voice to the lyrics they wrote – sung in Malay (and sometimes Bawean). The Pop Yeh Yeh musicians started out playing in styles inspired by Western groups like the Beatles and Cliff Richard, but they eventually succeeded in creating a sound all their own – a sound that is not only accessible to the Western ear, but also retains an undeniable Malay personality.

Nearly eight years in the making, this compilation was exhaustively researched and compiled by Carl Hamm and features 26 classic tracks of the very best bands and singers from Singapore and Malaysia’s Pop Yeh Yeh era, including M. Osman, Orkes Nirwana, Adnan Othman, A. Halim, Roziah Latiff and the Jayhawkers, J. Sham, Hasnah Haron, Zaleha Hamid, and many more. This CD edition comes in a tri-fold digipak with gorgeous artwork, two 40 page booklets with insanely extensive liner notes including band/artist bios, an overview of the era, translated lyrics, and plenty of rare photos taken from vintage magazines, album covers, and the artists’ own personal collections.

Samples: http://beta.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/SF.079CD.html

Scattered Melodies: Korean Kayagum Sanjo LP SF077

[Sublime Frequencies releases their first 78rpm compilations, and true to form these are sounds rarely heard by contemporary Western ears. These 2 albums (SF077/SF078) are compiled by Robert Millis, a long time Sublime Frequencies contributor and a founding member of Climax Golden Twins, He is the author of Victrola Favorites: Artifacts from Bygone Days (Dust-to-Digital 2008), a book of historic early recording documentation, ephemera and music drawn from Millis' 78rpm collection. In 2011, he produced and helped design …i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces (Dust-to-Digital), a similar book drawn from the collection of artist Steve Roden. In addition to composition, sound art practice and design, he has filmed and produced experimental documentaries on Asian music: Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan and This World is Unreal like a Snake in a Rope (both for Sublime Frequencies DVD release) and is an obsessive collector of 78rpm music records and ephemera.]

Scattered Melodies (SF077) is a compilation of Korean Kayagum Sanjo Music. Sanjo, meaning "scattered melodies," is a form of stylized string improvisation developed in the 1890s originally for the Korean kayagum, a smaller distant cousin of the Japanese koto. Stark and haunting, falling in the gaps between folk and classical music, kayagum sanjo employs a gradually increasing tempo, focused improvisation (the “scattering of melodies”), elastic rhythms, and intense snaps and vibrato that seem to power through the hazy abstractions of the 78rpm recording technology (these are old, exceedingly rare records that have survived nearly insurmountable odds: invasion, occupation, war, division.) Presented here are a few of the masters of sanjo as it originally emerged in the early part of the 20th century on 78rpm recordings from 1925 to the early 1950s. This limited edition LP comes enclosed in a beautiful tip-on jacket with two-sided insert featuring extended liner notes by compiler Robert Millis.

Samples: http://beta.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/SF.077LP.html

The Crying Princess:78 rpm Records From Burma LP SF078

[Sublime Frequencies releases their first 78rpm compilations, and true to form these are sounds rarely heard by contemporary Western ears. These 2 albums (SF077/SF078) are compiled by Robert Millis, a long time Sublime Frequencies contributor and a founding member of Climax Golden Twins, He is the author of Victrola Favorites: Artifacts from Bygone Days (Dust-to-Digital 2008), a book of historic early recording documentation, ephemera and music drawn from Millis' 78rpm collection. In 2011, he produced and helped design …i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces (Dust-to-Digital), a similar book drawn from the collection of artist Steve Roden. In addition to composition, sound art practice and design, he has filmed and produced experimental documentaries on Asian music: Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan and This World is Unreal like a Snake in a Rope (both for Sublime Frequencies DVD release) and is an obsessive collector of 78rpm music records and ephemera.]

The Crying Princess (SF078) compiles rare Burmese 78rpm records gathered by Robert Millis and Sublime Frequencies co-founder Alan Bishop during various trips to Burma (Myanmar) and continues the tradition of amazing music from this Southeast Asian nation released by SF (Princess Nicotine, Guitars From the Golden Triangle, Music of Nat Pwe). Spanning the years 1909 to 1960 these unique and ridiculously rare records feature early sides by Po Sein (one of the giants of early Burmese music and theater), vocal and harp music from 1929, "modern songs with electric guitar", and unique Burmese pop songs with piano, all from 78rpm sources. This limited edition LP comes enclosed in a beautiful tip-on jacket with two-sided insert featuring liner notes by compiler Robert Millis.

Samples: http://beta.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/SF.078LP.html

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, and other forms of human and natural expression not documented sufficiently through all channels of academic research, the modern recording industry, media, or corporate foundations. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is focused on an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful experience inspired by music and culture, world travel, research, and the pioneering recording labels of the past including OCORA, SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS, ETHNIC FOLKWAYS, LYRICHORD, NONESUCH EXPLORER, MUSICAPHONE, BARONREITER, UNESCO, PLAYASOUND, MUSICAL ATLAS, CHANT DU MONDE, B.A.M., TANGENT, and TOPIC. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA