Visit our new site at grassrootsliving.tv

Re:Emerging - Finders Keepers Records

Some of my favorite new music is hardly new. I can’t begin to count the number of hours I’ve spent in record shops and expos searching through old records for something that’s “new to me”. Now, a new label, Finders Keepers Records, is doing the work for me (and you) and doing a fine job of it.

http://www.finderskeepersrecords.com/about.html

The British label is dedicated to reissuing some of the rarest vinyl gems they can dig up; from…

…”Japanese choreography records, space-age Turkish protest songs, Czechoslovakian vampire soundtracks, Welsh rare-beats, bubblegum folk, banned British crime thrillers and celebrity Gallic Martini adverts… presented on CD, 7” and traditional black plastic discs in authentic packaging.”

But the release that caught my attention is their compilation called Pomegranates. Pomegranates offers up a superb selection of Persian funk from the ’70s; music created within such a unique sociopolitical context that it sounds familiar, but through a Persian “filter” that recontextualizes western influences in a way that sounds completely new, even to someone with my very eclectic sensibilities.

Pomegranates: http://www.finderskeepersrecords.com/discog_fkr029.html

Ok, one more while we’re on the subject of everything old being new again:

There’s been a lot of chatter and excitement within my circle of friends about Matador Records’ 21st anniversary bash in Las Vegas (Oct 1-3 at the Palms). Headliners include Pavement, Sonic Youth, and Belle and Sebastian.

If you can get there, I’m sure it’ll be great. For me, a trip to the west coast this fall is not in the cards (sorry for the pun).  Luckily, several of these legendary indie-rock bands (and some of the newer bands on the bill as well) will be touring here on the east coast in the coming months.  Catch headliners Pavement in Philadelphia at the Mann Music center:

http://www.manncenter.org/events/2010-09-17/pavement