Forge your own chains LP (Viny)

Forge your own chains (heavy psychedelic ballads and dirges 1968-1974)

The ever evolving state of the music industry is a funny thing. In 2010, just about anyone could, potentially, get their music out to thousands of listeners with some decent recording software and the Internet. Yet, because so many damn people are doing it, it gets that much harder to make one’s noise heard, or to stand out above a perpetually rising sea of indie rockers in training. Thing is, in spite of the absurd number of bands out there right now, to some degree, there has always been an absurd number of bands making music, but due to the high expense of recording and difficulty of distribution, most of them weren’t heard by much of anyone. However, the flipside of modern times producing such a great abundance of new music is that now is also a time in which many lost classics have been unearthed and brought into the present.

Evocative dirge “Twilight” by South Korea’s Shin Jung Hyun & The Men could double as opening theme for both a Wes Anderson or Quentin Tarantino film, which I actually would like to see happen, come to think of it. Meanwhile, “Two To Make a Pair” by Nigeria’s The Strangers is a shorter, more direct groove layered with perhaps two organs, or maybe just one very ambidextrous organist. Damon’s “Don’t You Feel Me” is opium den striptease fodder (that’s a good thing), Shadrack Chameleon’s “Don’t Let It Get You Down” is another meaty Hammond ballad, Colombian outfit Ana y Jaime’s “Nina Nana” is a high energy ballad with some impressively quickly-sung lyrics, and Iran’s Kourosh Yaghmaei delivers “Hajm-e Khaali,” a brief but swirling standout with some truly gorgeous guitar licks.

1. Top Drawer “Song of a Sinner” 8:44
2. Sensational Saints “How Great Thou Art” 3:35
3. East of Underground “Smiling Faces Sometimes” 6:27
4. D.R. Hooker “Forge Your Own Chains” 4:45
5. Shin Jung Hyun and the Men feat. Jang Hyun “Twilight” 5:40
6. T. Zchiew and The Johnny “Let Yourself Be Free” 3:46
7. The Strangers “Two To Make A Pair” 2:52
8. Damon “Don’t You Feel Me” 2:36
9. Ellison “Strawberry Rain” 5:33
10. Morly Grey “Who Can I Say You Are” 3:45
11. Shadrack Chameleon “Don’t Let It Get You Down” 4:44
12. Ofege “It’s Not Easy” 4:25
13. Ana Y Jaime “Nina Nana” 3:18
14. Kourosh Yaghmaei “Hajm-e Khaali” 2:42
15. Baby Grandmothers “Somebody’s Calling My Name” 9:13