tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30706731282375897842024-02-20T12:38:32.657-08:00Raheem RecordsRaheem Recordshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17201395864799870559noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3070673128237589784.post-22596634633859558002011-02-21T10:35:00.000-08:002011-02-24T13:40:03.472-08:00Derek Monypeny "Don't Bring Me Down, Bruce" LP is now available<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Derek Monypeny's vinyl debut of solo oud recordings, <a href="http://derekmonypeny.bandcamp.com/">"Don't Bring Me Down, Bruce"</a> is now available. This is a limited edition of 250 LPs. </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">LPs are $16.00 ppd in the U.S., $23.00 ppd for the UK. Other international customers, please e-mail raheemrecordsATgmail.com before ordering</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Send funds via PayPal to raheemrecordsATgmail.com Other forms of payment can be worked out - just send us an e-mail.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>Derek Monypeny</b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>“Don’t Bring Me Down, Bruce” LP</b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>RHM 001</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve never been one of those armchair sound-travelers myself. Say the words “world music” and it immediately conjures up a specific, neutron-bomb-worthy scenario in my mind, involving a jester’s hat, a farmer’s market, and a pan-pipe enema. So it’s strange that I find myself drawn to this LP of all-instrumental solo oud recordings by Derek Monypeny, the first-ever release on his new Raheem label. <br />
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It's doubly surprising that I care at all about this thing given Monypeny's credentials. Apparently he is a former member of the bands Oaxacan and Sir Richard Bishop's Freak Of Araby Ensemble (whoever that is - I guarantee you they're no Lothar And The Hand People). And get this - in 2009 he put out a solo <em>double cassette</em> on the Weird Forest label. The last time I had a <br />
got-damn <em>cassette tape</em> in my hand, it said "Billy Idol" on it and I was throwing it across the room at my little sister. Anyway - this guy seems to be the exact model of "underground" buffoon who spends all his mom's money on effects pedals for his hella weird jams (of course they're "jams," and "rad" ones at that) - and yet he's made something genuinely intriguing here.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Side 1 consists of six very stark, intimate composed pieces. Almost as if Jandek took a trip to Mississippi via Istanbul and Calcutta, but had somebody help him get tuned up first. Real loner atmosphere here, authentic ache, no steel drums in sight. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Side 2 is made up of two long, tranced-out hunks of what the late Mr. Vliet once dubbed “psychedelic Bromo-Seltzer.” The last song, “Sobek” is an ecstatic 12-minute-plus undersea raga with crazed percussion, everything run through a severe phase-wah wringer that will scatter seeds and stems all over your study.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To sum up: This is one of those out-of-nowhere, higher-minded head scratchers that everybody loves. I salute Mr. Monypeny, and hope that Jeff Lynne lends him that spaceship from the <i>Out Of The Blue</i> tour sooner rather than later.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">-Bix Glanz, <i>The Yellow Front Journal</i>, spring 2011</div>Raheem Recordshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17201395864799870559noreply@blogger.com0