The Good Thing Archive

There isn’t a single Analog Africa release that I don’t consider sending out to all of you fine club members. I really have to hold myself back. I could so happily include all of their records in the subscription. It would make my life easier and none of you would ever complain about it. Trust me. They are all that good. Earlier this summer I played Kathleen the first single released from this here Movers anthology and she said in her characteristic way, “Oooooo, this is good. Can we do this one?” Yes it is good and yes we can! Named by the band’s manager and financier - because you can’t help but move when you hear these tunes - the Movers were one the biggest bands in South Africa in the early and mid 70s with their first album selling over half a million copies within 3 months of its release making them the first black South African band to be played on white radio stations. The Movers flame was so bright but burned quickly. By the end of the 70s the band had no original members. This collection was put together by Analog Africa as a greatest hits from The Movers’ greatest days. And you know what? It’s pretty great. - WP 10/3/22

Astrid Medina’s Yellow Caturra - Tolima, Colombia

Those of you who have been members of the Good Thing for long enough may recognise the name of this group from a previous Luaka Bop gospel compilation - The Time for Peace is Now - that we sent out in December of 2019. This time around Luaka Bop has resurrected an entire album - in fact the only album - by the Staples Jr. Singer’s - bringing it back from oblivion. Formed in 1969 when the three founding members of the group were still under the age of 14, The Staples Jr. Singers built a following by touring extensively on the gospel circuit in the Bible Belt across southern US. Though the name of the group is an homage to their favorite group, the Staples Jr Singers is actually a family band led by Anne, Edward and A.R.C. Brown. The family still performs regularly at small venues and churches with four generations of family members having joined the band over the years. The group wisely changed their name to the Brown Singers in the late 70s and have been performing under that name ever since. Luaka Bop reissued When Do We Get Paid in May of this year and it has received a very warm reception giving the national recognition that they have deserved for 50 years.

Guracho - Guji, Ethiopia

I’ve been digging this Friendship band for a couple of years now ever since discovering them on the Mississippi Records offering list. For the record, everything on the Mississippi Records offering list is worthy of a listen. So I was very excited this spring to hear that they were coming to town with one of my favorite local bands - DEAD GOWNS - opening up. Such a great show that was followed up a couple of days later by an email from our friends at Merge Records asking what I thought of doing the newest Friendship record as a Good Thing. Why, hell yes! We must! Love the Stranger has everything that I’ve come to love about this band - picturesque lyrics presented in a talk-singing fashion that is also somehow very catchy and all of this under the umbrella of the simplest of chord progressions. We’re psyched to be offering this one. Hope you dig it too!

El Mirador - Huehuetenango, Guatemala

A little while after college I was flabbergasted that some of my friends had started putting on what sounded, to my untrained ear, like country music when we were hanging out. Huh? Country music? Really now. What the hey? Had we already run out of options? Were we that desperate for new music? I once read that it takes an average of seven positive experiences before something that once tasted, say, “bad” to start tasting “good”. Like learning to enjoy whisky or black coffee for that matter, enough exposure under positive circumstances will quickly make something once thought to be icky into something amazing or delicious. Thus went my introduction to Gram Parsons in the summer of 2004. My overly strict country music barriers were strong and had lasted for many years, but by the end of the summer they luckily began to crumble. Grievous Angel in particular became an all time favorite. It has been a mainstay in the Little Tandem record collection since day one. It’s one of those records that we grab in the middle of a rush when you don’t have time to look through the collection. A perfect go to. Always works no matter the cafe vibe. Especially in the summer. So here you go. It’s July. Enjoy!

Duromina - Jimma, Ethiopia

Given the rather generic name of the band, finding much out about them on Google is an almost impossible task. “East Coast band” has several million results none of which have anything to do with this band. Singer Gwen Guthrie’s Wikipedia page doesn’t even mention East Coast once! How is it that this record, which features Gwen’s vocals and the recording debut of founding Cameo members, keyboardist Gregory Johnson and bandleader Larry Blackmon, is not something of a funk classic? The most likely reason is the fact that the album was released by Bernard Purdie’s Encounter label which floundered after releasing a mere 5 records. How else to explain this being its first repress since 1973? I first heard this record at the suggestion of one of our record distributor pals who thought it might make a good selection for the Good Thing. I’m generally not a soul-funk fan but I thought I’d give it a listen and see how far into the record I got. I ended up listening to it 5 times in a row without even realizing it. On the 3rd go round the tune, “Anything You Have in Mind” really jumped out and I started sharing it with many friends. Gwen Guthrie’s vocals paired with the guitar line in the chorus is just so cool. After that I was hooked on Gwen, the fuzz guitar and joy emanating from the trombone heavy horn section throughout the rest of the record.. This album is a Good Thing for sure!

Gathaithi - Nyeri, Kenya

“The album brilliantly captures the bittersweet times of living as a black musician in South Africa under apartheid: the melody is one of jubilant urgency and produces a strenuous sound that captivates the listener. It’s like stepping into a scene where a lonesome saxophone bellows into the night and carries the weight of unattainable freedom.”
-Kwezi Kobus + Carla Lottering

Recorded almost one year to the day after the death of his hero, John Coltrane, Winston “Mankunko” Ngozi’s Yakhal’ Inkomo is considered by many to be the most important South African jazz record of all time. The record is beautifully laid out with 2 original compositions on side A and 2 tunes by some of his inspirations - Horace Silver and John Coltrane - on side B. Originally released in South Africa in 1968, the album had a very limited pressing during aparthied. Because of this, the level of playing and unusually high quality of the recording (it sounds like Blue Note at its best!) hard to find original copies of the record would sell for upwards of $1,500 until recent reissues finally brought the price down. The album won Mankunko nearly instant national fame as well as the Castle Lager “Jazz Musician of the Year” for 1968! Translated from Xhosa, the title means “The Bellowing Bull'', referring to the sound of a bull on the way to the slaughter house. Many believe the title to be a coded nod to the struggle of his community under aparthied but that meaning flew under the radar of the white government. Aparthied had a serious effect on the South African Jazz scene. As the regime tightened its grip in the 60s many of the country’s finest musicians went into exile. Winston could have left to find success but he refused to go into exile or tour internationally - too strong was his connection to his home country. At one point he even turned down a chance to tour with Duke Ellington. While Yakhal’ Inkomo is really a Mankunko record, the backing trio can’t go unnoticed especially the astonishing piano solos of Lionel Pillay, an Indian pianist whose presence on the record meant that they were a mixed race group which broke Aparthied laws of the time. We’ve been sitting on this record here in our roastery for a few months now and I am so excited to finally get it out and into your hands. I do believe that once you hear Mankunko’s saxophone, Yakhal' Inkomo will quickly fall into your home’s heavy rotation.

Ivan Molano - Tolima, Colombia

At long last we get to enjoy the follow up to one of my favorite albums of the last many years. Back in 2018, Etran de L’Aîr stunned and dazzled us with their debut record, No. 1, and now we’re so excited to be able to offer you this long awaited and much anticipated endeavor. No. 1 was recorded outdoors and in public. The recording session drew the neighborhood out and clapping and hooting by the excited audience can be heard throughout the record. Agadez brings the band into focus in the studio (a mobile studio in their hometown of Agadez, that is) for a much tighter and more refined sound that still prevails in capturing the energy that makes No.1 so addictive. The studio setting though makes the guitar playing sound all the more explosive and impressive. While not as charming as an outdoor recording, it does not disappoint. Far from it. Etran is one of the longest standing bands on the scene in Agadez, Niger. The group features a rotating cast of members all from the same family. When they initially formed in 1995, the current band leader Moussa Ibra was just 9 years old. How cool is that?! The band has come a long way. Starting with just an acoustic guitar and a calabash that they beat with a sandal for a drum and now they are doing European tours. Let’s hope the winds of success land them in North America some day soon as well. - Will Pratt 3/7/22

Astrid Medina - Tolima, Colombia

I recently shared Nala Sinephro’s Space 1.8 with my college roommate saying, “We would have done great homework to this record!” Afterall, we did all our best nightly studying to instrumental records from Tortoise, Brian Eno and the like, always humming in the background. My roommate, who is still in academia, responded, “I love that album and I do homework to it!” These days I’m renovating our cafe and listening to Space1.8 on repeat for hours on end. So versatile - perfect for philosophy homework and demolition! I was first made aware of this record last fall by a customer who was looking to get her hands on it. I hunted high and low but was not able to scrounge a single copy. I was intrigued! Who was this 22 year old harpist!? I started listening to the album quite a bit and made sure that one of our distributors would reserve us a tall stack should it ever get repressed. In December the record deservedly started showing up on a whole bunch of best of 2021 lists which would explain the difficulty I was having obtaining it. I’m now a little nervous that I’m behind the ball here and maybe some of our club members might already own it. Welp, here’s hoping I’m wrong and that you are just as surprised, delighted and endlessly blown away by this record as I am. -WP 1/31/22

Daniela Gutierrez - San Marcos, Costa Rica