Vieux & Cheick Niang / Guguou - Brothers (Purplish)
Telepathic duets & oddball lysergic fusions. Say hello to the far-flung sounds of Purplish Records.
A few brief thoughts…
I've finally arrived at the Purplish Records party, a new cassette reviving, world exploring label that launched in February. I'm a fan. Their latest double headed release is from Vieux & Cheick Niang & Guguouu. The Niang's are two brothers from Mali with telepathic duet superpowers & an innate ability to transcribe the notes of traditional African instruments to guitar. Next up is Guguou, an Istanbul collective with a lysergic, playfully serious, improvised electroacoustic fusion sound - just take a listen.
There are 4 other LPs so far & I've compiled them all on a mind opening Purplish Records playlist on Tidal, Apple Music, Youtube Music, Soundcloud & Spotify (if you must).
Have a listen.
Once again the Bandcamp release doesn’t have all the tracks available, which is partly due to Bandcamp making the artists and labels change LPs from pre-release to released manually, something many forget to do immediately. Come on Bandcamp, sort it out, and in the meantime check the playlist above.
What the release notes say:
Vieux & Cheick: Djelibougou
Vieux & Cheick are brothers musicians, instrumentalists from Mali. They come from a large family of musicians. Their late father was a pioneer of tradi-modern music, and afro jazz. That cultural origin stands out in their music with a combination of traditional notes and modern instruments. With the guitar, this pair can transcribe the notes of N'goni, Kora and other traditional instruments. Creating music together was a way of living for them as they grew up together. Today, they live and play in different countries, different environments, so these reunions, are special / precious moment when they reconnect. Recording this album was a moment to rekindle the spirit of their childhood, pay tribute to their late father and simply enjoy the blood connection
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Guguou: Great Place To Be Locked Up
Utilizing low-tech and electro-acoustic tools to process sounds and vocals, they create strategies to distort and manipulate them, while incorporating experimental forms and techniques of popular music with improvisations and lyrics written in everyday language. Inspired by Dada and situationism, their productions blur the boundaries between life and art and approach the art in a playful, interventionist, and performative manner.
credits
Vieux & Cheick Niang: Djelibougou
Songs written and performed by Vieux & Cheick Niang
Recorded and Mixed by: Mikey Coltun in Bamako, Mali 2018
Mastered by: Seth Manchester at Machines With Magnets
Artwork: David Coltun
Creative Direction + Design: Can Misirlioglu
Vieux Niang: 12 String Acoustic Guitar
Cheick Niang: 6 String Acoustic Guitar
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Guguou: Great Place To Be Locked Up
Recorded by Oğuz Erdin at Rubikup
Mixed by: Barkın Engin
Mastered by: Seth Manchester at Machines With Magnets
album art: Mert Öztekin
Photo credit: Liana Kuyumcuyan
Creative Direction + Design: Can Misirlioglu
Keys: Güneş Terkol
Bass and Vocals: Güçlü Öztekin
Electric Guitars: Barkın Engin
Drums and spds: Oğuz Erdin
Brass, Keys and Percussion: Mert Öztekin