Dust-to-Digital Parlortone

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Excavated Shellac: Strings (Parlortone)
Going on two years now, I’ve been geeking out whenever my RSS responded to a new post on Excavated Shellac, a webblog hosted by Jonathan Ward specializing in meticulously detailed commentary about and mind-blowing music from his impressive collection of 78s from around the globe. Naturally, I was thrilled but not at all surprised to find out that Atlanta’s stalwarts of all things musically great (Dust-to-Digital) was issuing some of this music via their vinyl-only imprint Parlortone. As it turns out, none of the tracks on Excavated Shellac: Strings are available elsewhere, including on the blog, so…bonus! The theme of this collection being stringed instruments, of course the collection features a wide array of tunes from the four corners of the world whose primary and/or sole instrument is stringed — guitar, oud, tar, violin, etc. While the LP is figuratively tied together with strings, Ward did a fantastic job of finding common ground within this vast category, despite the impossibly broad linguistic (Ganda to Vietnamese), temporal (1920s to 1950s, but really the whole of music history), and cultural (Bolivian to Norwegian) expanse; at the risk of new-age-y thinking, there is a palpable humanity in these sounds.

Some standouts include the first track by Armenian tar maestro Soghoman Seyranyan, the title of which translates simply to “dream.” There is a certain nocturnal quality to the piece, but I wouldn’t call it peaceful. One is immediately struck by the remarkable dynamic control and finesse of the soloist. The track was recorded in the 1950s, but echoes of the pain of atrocities perpetrated on Armenia from a few decades earlier resonate here. Switching gears, there is the delightful “Tko Se Bregom Sece” (translated: “Walking Up and Down the Hill”) by Braca Kapugi Tamburica Orchestar i Pjevacki Zbor. The tamburica ensemble moves along soothingly in love-song mode until the final moments of the tune when they punch it, and finish with a frothy and fevered “malo kolo,” or small circle dance. The record ends on a high note with Kemanî Amâ Recep’s “Çifte kiris ile Rast Taksim,” a work of undeniable violin virtuosity from Turkey. The tune is performed “ciftelli” meaning “double strings” (tuned GgDd), giving the illusion of two players performing together. The effect and the performance are breathtaking, as is the LP taken as a whole. Bravo to Ward and Dust-to-Digital for the continued attention to detail, from the excellent mastering job, to the thoughtful sequencing, all the way down to the awesome Parlortone label stickers. Great too that this is apparently just the beginning of Parlortone and Ward’s partnership, with an all-African boxset and an ongoing series of theme-based LPs already in the works.
- Kevin Coultas (via The Other Music Update)