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SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS

Matmos

Return To Archive

    From the ' Sounds of North American Frogs' to ' Speech After the Removal of the Larynx' , Folkways documented the audible nooks and crannies of existence on hundreds of LPs produced by field recordists, scientists, and experimentalists probing the margins of the human soundscape. Seventy- five years later, electronic music duo Matmos have diced, looped, stretched, and recontextualized these recordings on their new album ' Return to Archive' , which was assembled entirely from the so-called non-musical sounds released on Folkways. On just the album's first track, dolphins, beetles, telephones, humans stretching the limits of their vocal cords, a shortwave radio, and metal balers co-mingle in a fantasia of sound both everyday and extraordinary. Each track on Return to Archive morphs its source material into something completely unexpected, honoring and expanding on Folkways' legacy of sonic exploration. Featuring Evicshen and Aaron Dilloway.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Good Morning Electronics
    2. Injection Basic Sound
    3. Mud- Dauber Wasp
    4. Music Or Noise?
    5. Why?
    6. Lend Me Your Ears
    7. Return To Archive
    8. The Way Japanese Beetles Sound To A Rose
    9. Going To Sleep

    Lucinda Williams

    Ramblin' On My Mind

      American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams’ Southern blues roots are unmistakable on her debut record ‘Ramblin’ on My Mind’, showcasing the artistry that would make her an icon.

      Recorded in Mississippi in the late 1970s, the album features a collection of traditional folk and country standards arranged and performed by Williams, with intimate accompaniment by John Grimaudo on his six-string guitar.

      Her raw and drawly voice is as curvy and natural as a back road as she wistfully explores the familiar melodies of Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, and the Memphis Jug Band, among others.

      The vinyl reissue of ‘Ramblin’ on My Mind’, which includes a liner notes booklet with the song lyrics, housed in an original Folkways-style tip-on jacket, is part of the Smithsonian Folkways Vinyl Reissue Series, revisiting some of the most iconic and influential albums in our collection.

      TRACK LISTING

      Ramblin’ On My Mind
      Me And My Chauffeur
      Motherless Children
      Malted Milk Blues
      Disgusted
      Jug Band Music
      Stop Breakin’ Down
      Drop Down Daddy
      Little Darling Pal Of Mine
      Make Me Down A Pallet On Your Floor
      Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
      Great Speckled Bird
      You’re Gonna Need
      That Pure Religion
      Satisfied Mind

      Lula Wiles

      It's Cool

        The two brand new songs on It’s Cool, the new single by Lula Wiles, explore the complexities of dating in the digital age, the trio training its incisive, trenchant wit on the new ways we experience age-old feelings of disappointment, desire, and heartache.

        “It’s Cool (We’re Cool, Everything’s Cool),” is a rollicking, electric-guitar led anthem about the exasperating back-and-forth of loving at a distance, mediated by screens and hesitancy. The languid, lovelorn b-side, “You Only Want Me When You Need Me,” is a late-night, country-tinged lament of conditional love that punctures the pretensions of ambivalent men with the band’s uniquely self-aware humor. With It’s Cool, Lula Wiles further establishes themselves as Americana’s wildcard, unafraid of exploring knotty topics and turning convention on its head.

        TRACK LISTING

        It's Cool (We're Cool, Everything's Cool)
        You Only Want Me When You Need Me

        Various Artists

        Deeper Polka

          Seven bands from urban Pittsburgh through to rural Nebraska, each performing their own distinct ethnic musical variation of the polka. There is Polish honky-style and Norwegian polkability in this collection that exemplifies the continuing polka tradition captured in its glory by Smithsonian folkways.


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