March 6, 2002

• Remember a few years back, when everyone who was even a little bit hip had a friend who had a copy of Afro-Celt Sound System’s first CD? For the record, I was that friend. But that’s not the point here.
  
  The point is that I finally got ahold of Hedningarna‘s ‘Hippjokk’ CD, which I’ve been looking for for YEARS. And I can say without qualification that it was worth every second of effort.
  
  I brought up Afro-Celt Sound System because it’s a similar blend of traditional roots music and techno-y dance music. But the difference here is that if you took away the techno stuff, you’d still be able to play it at a rave, and people wouldn’t throw tomatoes at you. I particularly like this review from the website linked above:
  
  “Imagine eating black bread tainted with ergot and hallucinating with a bunch of peasants from a Breughel painting while K.C. and the Sunshine Band jam with a squad of Viking berserkers playing bagpipes. All other rave music is hereby declared dilettante fecal matter.” – Charles M. Young, Musician
  
  Here’s an example.
  
  A note about the method of acquisition: I can’t just order a CD off the web (I could get all of Hedningarna’s catalog this way, if I wanted to). Music has to find its way into my path, perhaps through friends, perhaps by accident, perhaps by some kind of divine intervention. When I say I’d been trying to find this CD for a long time, what I mean is, this CD has been trying to find me for a long time, and I prefer it that way.
  
  Today I thought I’d go to Fremont to get some lunch. When I got off the bus, I crossed the street, and lo and behold I was in front of Dusty Strings, a music shop specializing in roots/traditional/bluegrass/celtic/etc music. I went in on a whim, and there, inside, they have all these CDs of music I’ve wanted to run across for quite a while. There it all was, waiting for me. I had to choose only two.

  • 7:42 pm
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