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El Palmas Music are back with a third instalment of rare Venezuelan sounds from the 60s and 70s, a wild trip through salsa, boogaloo, garage rock, jazz and delinquent pop. Venezuelan music was moving at such a pace through the 60s and 70s that almost as soon as a new craze was born, another was preparing to eclipse it. In barely 10 years, musicians latched on to the sound of the Latin big bands of Cuba, New York and Colombia, turned to the 60s pop and rock ‘n’ roll of England and the US, before heading back to salsa as it took root across Latin American, before forays into jazz, psych rock and Afro-Venezuelan rhythms took hold in the 70s. This fertile musical period, coming at a time when Venezuela was economically abundant and culturally as relevant as any other developed country, has always been the focus of the Color de Trópico series, and continues to be the case on this third instalment, though it should also be noted that the tracks are getting rarer and rarer, indicative of the curatorship of DJ El Palmas and El Drágon Criollo and their constant search for new sounds that reflect Venezuela’s musical treasures at this time. Color de Trópico Vol. 3 starts with Un, Dos, Tres Y ... Fuera’s “Aquella Noche”, a song that’s fully indicative of Venezuela’s coastline with the much-loved Un, Dos, Tres Y ... Fuera giving a llanero rhythm (normally played on a harp and other stringed instruments in its rural incarnation) a fully Afro-Caribbean makeover with pulsating bass and an electric keyboard that teases and energises the groove. It possesses some of that same mid-70s vitality and need to experiment as Grupo Vaquedanus, the band of sax maestro Santiago Baquedano, and their cover of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five”, here fashioned as “Toma Cinco”. This version strips away all the niceties of the original, turning it in to a psych-fuzz jazz romp with Baquedano’s raspy sax leading the way. Step back 10 years and the energy remains even if the musical terrain was different. Girl group Los Pájaros hit hard with a boogaloo whose instruction is simple enough: “shake it baby, kiss for you, take the rhythm, and do the boogaloo”. Los Pájaros were one of a number of groups who were taking inspiration from the 60s sounds of the US and Britain but repackaging it for Venezuelan youth. Pop stars Geminis 5 were at it too with a fuzzy ballad “Tus 16 Años”, and Junior Squad even injected a bit of San Francisco hippy charm into affairs with their loose adaptation of The Turtles “She’d Rather Be With Me”, retitled as “Siempre Para Ti” and sounding as rough, ready and full of youthful vim as anything made north of Mexico. On the farthest end of the pop spectrum is The Pets with their cult hit “El Entierro de un hombre rico que murió de hambre” (“The Burial of a Rich Man Who Died of Starvation”), a true countercultural anthem that even dips into “The Funeral March” for a minute, and which is much desired by record collectors. Finally, we must mention the salsa ensembles and their big band predecessors, always an important element of any Color de Trópico compilation. On Volume 3, we find one of the earliest salsa groups in Venezuela, Los Megatones De Lucho, who recorded a pachanga, “Yo Se Que Tu”, long before salsa was even a thing. Influenced by Venezuela’s very own Los Dementes and Joe Cuba’s sextet, Principe Y Su Sexteto were one of Venezuela’s most prominent salsa ensembles. On their 1969 track “San De Manique” we get a different vibe altogether, it’s a creeping son with just vocals, bass and congas for its opening minute, before really kicking into action with a twisted guitar line and wild percussion, while always retaining a raw, Afro-Latin feel. Last, but not least by any means, is one of Venezuela’s most beloved salseros, Johnny Sede, who pipes up with a classic salsa, “Guararé”, showing how the style had developed in just a few short years. You could accuse El Palmas and El Dragón Criollo, the curators of this collection, as getting some sort of a sick thrill at throwing such a weird and unwieldy bunch of tracks together, and that may be true, but there is logic too. These are songs full of life and creativity that signalled an era of boundless optimism. Listen to them now, and you’ll find yourself feeling those emotions once again.

"from Bern Switzerland the old-school No-Hit Hobo Psycho-Western-Punkabilly Sensation: BOGOS !!!! 1st album Recorded by Zeno Tornado, Punk v/s Ennio Morricone Banjo - ONCE UPON A TIME IN OLD BERN - Have a beer or 10 with me and let me tell you the story of the 4 young barflies, in 2009 near Bern they formed as: "Baseball Bat Boogie Bastards" as an old-school Psychobilly band, 3 young Punks and school friends who were no strangers to wild uncouth rock n' roll around semi-acoustic guitarist Ädu Bogo, double bass player Ritchu Bogo and stand-up drummer Mitchu Bogo crushed 50s rockabilly with country and trash beats from the 60s garage punk area and the simplicity of 70's punk bands into a wild mix of their own, in 2018 they took another step forward and morphed into the no-hit hobo-billy-punk sensation: BOGOS !!!! With Adri, an important component came into the band 'the Banjo from Hell' and they are now committed to Blue Grass Country or Hobo Folk... that was very good for them during the Corona period and they were therefore able to play a lot of acoustics, and with Mitchu Bogo is very active in the Bern scene as concert promoter and with his radio show "Swamp Digger Radio Show" on Radio Rabe the entire recordings and mixings where made by Zeno Tornado at Zeno's Living Room in 2020"12" LP: + Free Download Card CD: comes in double gatefold jacket incl 12 side booklett (no plastic exept the CD)

Punk rock was all the rage in 1977, but that didn’t bother the Count Bishops: five unashamedly blokes, emerging from the bars and clubs of London, with a solid rock’n’rollin’ sound that some thought retrograde and others timeless. At the very least, they could claim to be the finest Polish, Australian, American, English band in town.

This was the debut of singer Dave Tice, who joined the original line-up of Zennon De Fleur (rhythm guitar and haulage), Johnny Guitar (guitar), Steve Lewins (bass) and Paul Balbi on drums. As tight a unit as you could wish for, they produced a driving, raucous rhythm and blues.

The LP is a mix of originals, blues tunes and classic 60s covers, all played with plenty of meat on the bone. Julian Holland is credited as piano on ‘Down The Road Apiece’, and I wonder whatever happened to him. Vic Maile, one of the country’s finest engineers, pushed faders and worked magic on the audio. Two originals, ‘Baby You’re Wrong’ / ‘Stay Free’ became the single off the album and the band hit the road with Motörhead. If you remember being on that tour, you weren’t.

It’s a record that has stood the test of time, when some of their punkier contemporaries now sound of their time.

The sleeve of the first issue was printed on the reverse of the board, giving it a suitable gritty, rough-cut look that we have reproduced here as best possible 45 years later. The blurred photograph on the front lends them an air of menace, a bunch of long hairs in a time of short cuts.

They went on to one more studio album before Zenon died as a result of a crash in his Aston Martin, which he had lovingly restored. The four remaining members reformed in 2005 for the Ace 30th anniversary party at Dingwalls Dancehall in Camden Town and they still rocked the house.

An exceptional live concert for this band, formed at the beginning of the ’60s in San Francisco, where are interpreted the great songs such as “Shake Some Action” and “Feel A Whole Lot Better” on this evening of August 17, 1979 at Whiskey A Go-Go.

Under the leadership of talented Cyril Jordan, this quintet of musicians will influence many groups, embodying a spirit of rebellion and freedom.

A band that will always be a bit out of step with the world of rock and, that will develop the myth of cult-popular musicians, influential but more commercially discreet: the good ingredients of cult/legendary band.

Gold vinyl.

Svart Records proudly present Earthly Remains, a three 7" singles box set with new Coffinshakers tracks!

The ”Earthly Remains” box-set includes three songs from the latest ”Graves, Release Your Dead” album and three brand new tracks from the same sessions. These tracks shouldn’t be seen as left-overs though, they certainly deserve their place in any serious Coffinshakers collection and in a sense makes the album complete.

”March of The Coffinshakers” marks the procession of the dead featuring a lead guitar taken straight from the spaghetti-horror dimension with massive string arrangements to boot. ”Raising Hell” sees the band in garage mode, complete with a vicious fuzz! Finally the doomsday story of ”No Return” almost takes us to crooner territory, imagine that! The three 7”s are housed in brand new watercolor artwork by Jenny Bengtsson. Will you dare to take one step further into the strange realm of The Coffinshakers?

Svart Records proudly present Earthly Remains, a three 7" singles box set with new Coffinshakers tracks!

The ”Earthly Remains” box-set includes three songs from the latest ”Graves, Release Your Dead” album and three brand new tracks from the same sessions. These tracks shouldn’t be seen as left-overs though, they certainly deserve their place in any serious Coffinshakers collection and in a sense makes the album complete.

”March of The Coffinshakers” marks the procession of the dead featuring a lead guitar taken straight from the spaghetti-horror dimension with massive string arrangements to boot. ”Raising Hell” sees the band in garage mode, complete with a vicious fuzz! Finally the doomsday story of ”No Return” almost takes us to crooner territory, imagine that! The three 7”s are housed in brand new watercolor artwork by Jenny Bengtsson. Will you dare to take one step further into the strange realm of The Coffinshakers?