Happy birthday to the Italian-American sculptor and sound artist Harry Bertoia! He was a jewelry-maker and designer who hit big with some finely crafted chairs. This allowed him to concentrate on creating these unique sound sculptures that lived in his barn that doubled as a mini concert hall. He would strike or "play" these things and the sound would reverberate into my amazed eardrums. I first heard these otherwordly sounds when a cache of self-produced "Sonambient" albums were found and distributed to the public in the mid-1990s. I bought a few of these records and still treasure them to this...

Peace & Rhythm are featured over at Wax Poetics. And together we're running a contest. Enter your email and try to win some goodies! Wax Po has long been one of our favorite sources of music news, record digger's delights and classic cuts for examination. Check out the link: http://www.waxpoetics.com/blog/news/contests/peace-rhythm-giveaway/  

Happy birthday to the harmolodic genius Ornette Coleman! His saxophone crying and unique compositional style were as groundbreaking on the avant-garde jazz front as John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor & Sunny Murray, Sun Ra and Albert Ayler were in that new freedom era that started in the late '50s and caused an avalanche of free-jazz in the '60s. In fact, it was Coleman's "double-quartet" album, Free Jazz -from '60, which gave name to a whole genre to follow. The musical revolutionary grew up poor in Fort Worth TX and learned to sight-read and started teaching himself alto sax at 14, right...

Here's a brand new mixtape put together by DJ Studebaker Hawk of tunes found on Peace & Rhythm releases to date, from the very first 7" to the freshest! Give it a listen, check out the links, buy some records, support independent music!! A huge thank you to all the artists we've had the pleasure of working with, Studebaker Hawk for the mix, Margot Glass for the art, and YOU for listening!! Track list: 0:00 Peliroja - Situaciones (comp: J. Batista, M. Eckroth, J. Plasse) - from Situaciones / Ciudad de Nadie 7" P&R-45-002  (OUT OF PRINT) band website, official...

The Burkinabé singer Amadou Balaké had a long and varied career, recording Mandé music, soul, afro-cuban, salsa, highlife, afrobeat/funk and various West African regional styles. He was among the artists who explicitly bridged Afro-Cuban sounds with contemporary African music in the '60s & '70s into the 2000s. He was a taxi driver in Mali before joining Harmonie Voltaiqüe and scoring big with the tune he changed his name to ("Balaké"). He joined Super Volta before launching his solo career in the mid-'70s. He also sang in Les 5 Consuls. He went to NYC in the late '70s to cut a...