Recommendations for avant-garde music with great rhythm

[Davey]

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Originally Posted by wower /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was looking at Ali Farka Toure, Erik. Can you recommend any of his albums specifically? thx

The first self-titled one is kind of a classic, and also might be the best overall. Not really what one would normally think of as avant garde, but just incredibly bluesy guitar music and great vocals. The improv he did with Ry Cooder called Talking Timbuktu is a great one, very nice sonics too, especially on the vinyl. He recorded one a few years ago before his death in a crumbling old schoolhouse outside of his home in the village of Niafunke on the banks of the Niger River with a state-of-the-art mobile recording studio, just titled Niafunke. Really nice. His guitar protege Afel Bocoum recorded one there too, amidst the snakes and mosquitoes, that's a haunting traditional acoustic set with a mesmerizing call and response vocal chorus. The name of the album and his group is "Alkibar" which means 'messenger of the great river'. Cool stuff. Lots of great west African music around. If you love the guitar, check out one of my favorites, the timeless acoustic collaboration between Sengalese star Baaba Maal and blind singer/guitarist Mansour Seck called "Djam Leelii : The Adventurers". Originally recorded in 1985 and released with very limited distribution, it is now available on a well mastered CD with bonus tracks. Beautiful, sublime and evocative, foreshadowing the wave of acoustic Afro-pop to come in the nineties, including those from Toure.

 

[mcmyers]

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Originally Posted by s m @ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Almost all of the recos here are cool stuff I think, but I think what the OP desires is a taste of the out-there anchored by a solid beat, rather than totally avant-ized beats....

Exactly. While I do love electronic stuff, I'm particularly interested in the kind of stuff where a group of players are reacting to each other, playing off each other, but all of whom are following great beat. I never really got into James Brown until I started to listen to his longer jams, where he actually tells the band what he wants them to do as they're doing it. "Get It Together" is a great example of that. I love the part where he tells one of his bandmates (Maceo?) to "let it ooze out" and then the sound of the horn actually oozes.

Not sure if that song would count as avant. Maybe improvisatory is a better term. And that's what I love about Can, especially on their live CD, Box. They get really out there on some of those songs, but they never let go of the beat. It's never just noodling (or at least not usually).

But anyway, I'm glad to see this thread is still going. I'm definitely filing stuff away for further exploration. Hope other people are enjoying the recommendations as well.