International Transport Volume 4 - Black Music

Sometimes we need fantasy and sometimes that fantasy can be pretty and heroic and help us forget our problems by pretending to be someone we aren’t, doing something else.  But sometimes we need to deal with a reality that’s pretty dark – and maybe then, too, fantasy can help, but it’s a darker fantasy we need, something murky and menacing, something that might itself kill us if we’re not careful but that may also help us see a way out.

International Transport Volume 4: Black Music

Tracklist after

(Supplementary info and links after tracklist)

The Weeknd: The Knowing

Peaking Lights: 936

Shabazz Palaces: an echo from the hosts that profess infinitum

Clams Casino: Brainwash By London

Ga’an: Chasmaeon

Tyler The Creator: Yonkers

Makkenz: Yotsuashizoku [Four-Legged Gang]

Daterape: Disto

Umeko Ando: Emushi Rimuse

High Wolf: Solar System Is My God

Holy Other: YR LOVE

Fever Ray: The Wolf

L.A. Vampires and Zola Jesus: Bone is Bloodstone

Syd the Kid and Lux: Flashlight

Many of these tracks were located through Gorilla Vs. Bear, Altered Zones, or other hipster doucheblogs, or can be easily Googled. Notable exceptions are:

Daterape: soundcloud.com/daterapemusic

Umeko Ando: One of the most respected exponents of Ainu traditional chant and mouth harp.

Makkenz: http://makkenz.com/ or search “Makkenz” on amazon.co.jp

Bonus Track: Glaciers of Ice: Truth Serum; soundcloud.com/glaciersofice

And for those confused or upset by the title, it’s a Japanese thing.  Everything from hip hop to reggae to house is commonly referred to here as “Black Music.”  Obviously this is disturbingly blunt from an American perspective, where we prefer “urban” etc.  I’m not sure whether I prefer the directness – but I do like the double meaning, which is mainly what I’m getting at here.  Not “Black [People’s] Music,” but music for the blackest, hidden parts of your reptile brain.