Mor Thiam (USA/Senegal) - Dini Safarrar (1973/2015)

What's up cephalochromoscopers, cephalochromologists, dudes and dudettes? I may have not written a post since April 2012, which is why posting a noisy grindcore album right away just wouldn't feel 'ethical'. I hope you're all doing well, blastbeats included, and please feel uninhibited to leave a comment or send an email - I'd love to hear what's up! Judging by most of the blogs that I followed, the blogosphere is in a state similar to punk, and browsing through old posts trying to find a trace of life feels like wading through the post-apocalyptic ruins of something once grand (can we call it the e-pocalypse, though?).

I don't think it was (only) the downfall of our Mediafire-dependency that got to us, but it certainly helped: Lo-Res Viscera made a fitting farewell-post about that part of the deal. But (luckily, there's always a 'but'), it goes without saying that there is always someone keeping the air alive. For example, Nigel never really stopped over at Hipness as a Second Language, did he? Neither did Burek at Flying Teapot.

All things considered I guess I haven't been completely away because I do know of certain wonderful things that transpired in the (almost ten year-long) meantime, such as Andrew Childer's awesome work (his exceptional Grind and Punishment writing-endeavor may have been of the best on the blogosphere, but the last five or so posts of his garnered zero attention, if the comment section is to be trusted), on Compiling Autumn (and I hear Da5e had something to do with it, too ;)), Rob Marton's and Jon Chang's delicious, rifftastic new band with a far too long and surprisingly flat band name, No One Knows What The Dead Think (backstory, anyone?), Takafumi Matsubara's 2021 solo album, Strange, Beautiful and Fast, then there's the new Swarrrm stuff, Atka...

But perhaps it's all common knowledge to most of you + definitely a line of thought that ought to continue in some other post 'cause I've certainly never cared for Akon and neither have you, but his dad is a Senegal-born percussionist and he's killing it on Dini Safarrar, the blasphemous black-fucking-metal cover art included. "Mor Dogo Thiam (pronounced 'Chahm') is a cultural historian, dedicated philanthropist and genius on the djembe. He began his career as a drummer while a young boy in his native Senegal, before moving to St. Louis, Missouri in the early 1970s, where his unique musical skills earned him the respect of the local jazz community."

 

Give it a shot on Bandcamp, the best place around!

Speaking of which, despite the fact that we've always posted download links, the future is elsewhere. First of all, Bandcamp is the shit and as far as I'm concerned it's the best thing that has happened for artists in a long time. "But what about stuff that isn't available on Bandcamp?" I hear you, I have the answer and it's as short as a good grind song.

In fact, it's one word.

Soulseek.