Pearls Before Swine
The Exaltation Of Tom Rapp

Inversions: ...After the release of Technique & Rite in 2017, and the album Terminal Desert release under the name LaBrecque / Barakat earlier this year, here comes the second “official” Crème de Hassan record on Inversions.Whereas the two previous releases were based on longer instrumental jams, Tricontinental Circus is focused on rhythm and language, and the resulting 11 tracks are short and compact, exploring the possibilities of combining these into improbable hybrids.The tracks include Haitian voodoo rhythms, a Burkinabe flute player aligned with a sequencer and a guitar + synth jam with echoes of the sound of early 1970s Düsseldorf.The languages that are dispersed across the album come from Cambodia, Afghanistan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco and include an Arabic translation of Nietsche by friend of the band Ayoub El Mouzaine.

EM Records: ...A revered figure in his native Isan region, and indeed throughout Thailand, Doi Inthanon is a legendary producer, composer, visionary and talent-spotter, a man who combines business acumen with an unerring ability to both predict and engender new directions in Thai popular music. Fittingly naming himself after the tallest mountain in the nation, he has towered over Thai music since the early 70s, and is still active today. This compilation, the first "various artists" collection in the EM Records + Soi 48 Thai music series, is an avalanche of Doi Inthanon productions, big hits and rare treasures spanning the early 70s to the mid-80s. The songs here cover a range of genres, comprising luk thung isan, Thai funk, and molam, including examples of "lam phaen", one of several styles created by the producer himself. Doi Inthanon is highly regarded as a developer of singers, and this compilation has no shortage of greats: national icons Angkanang Khunchai and Po Chalatnoi Songsoem, second-generation molam idols such as Onuma Singsiri and Hongthong Dao-udon, soul sister No. 1 Khwanta Fasawang, and 80s-90s Isan star Thongmai Mali.Doi Inthanon is a key figure in Isan pop music, and this essential collection conveniently gathers hard-to-find tracks which have been issued on various labels in Thailand, including Double Rabbits, Apple, Uea Aree and his own private label. Available now on vinyl and CD, with most of the tracks on the CD version making their appearance in that format.