Although technically only around for the past six years, the UK based record label Finders Keepers has been, according to its owners, in the making for the past 40 years! The rich, diverse and offbeat music in the Finders Keepers catalog (a melange of psychedelic, funk, folk, jazz, avant-garde and "whacked-out movie musak to a lost world of undiscovered vinyl artifacts from the annals of alternative pop history") spans recordings from the last 40 (and more) years, and from all over the globe. For example two, of its recent impressive releases are the CD/2LP Pomegranates compilation of 60's & 70's Persian funk, folk, psych and other pop quirkiness; and the avant-pop meets funk-rock soundtrack to the movie Stone, the 1974 Australian biker psych cult classic that, complete with a glowing Quentin Tarantino endorsement, is being relaunched with a big screening at Lincoln Center in NYC this Friday.
 
Both the label's founder, Andy Votel, and Finders Keepers' US rep (and Amoeba Hollywood employee) Mahssa will be at the NY screening event. I recently caught up with Mahssa at the SoCal Amoeba to talk about Finders Keepers and how she got involved with the eclectic and most unique UK label that accurately describes itself as an "accidental world music label with a punk aesthetic and DJ friendly ethos."  

Top 10 World Music Sales for the week of July 20th-26th

1. V/A – Analog Africa No. 5: Legends Of Benin
2. Mahssa - Vol.1-Oyun Havasi
3. V/A - Sound Of Wonder!
4. V/A - Panama 2!
5. Amadou & Mariam - Welcome To Mali
6. V/A - Rudo Y Cursi Soundtrack
7. Goran Bregovic - Welcome To Bregovic
8. Joyce - Visions of Dawn
9. Selda - S/T
10. 11 albums tied at 10



Top 10 World Music Sales for July (so far)

1. Mahssa - Vol.1-Oyun Havasi
2. V/A – Analog Africa No. 5: Legends Of Benin
3. V/A - Panama! 2
4. Bebe -Y.
5. Chico Sonido - S/T
6. V/A - Black Rio 2 : Original Samba Soul 1971-1980
7. Eydie Gorme - Cantan En Español
8. V/A - Sound Of Wonder
9. Goran Bregovic - Welcome To Bregovic
10. 4 albums tied at 10

Do to an unforeseen glitch in the Amoeba Hollywood database, the mix CD by Amoeba Hollywood’s very own Mahssa was accidentally omitted from all the World Music charts up til now. A thousand apologies go out Mahssa and all those who have been deprived of her Middle Eastern Psychedelic mix CD, Oyun Havasi Vol.1. Released by B-Music in May, this tasty treat of Turkish, Persian and Arabic Psyche rockers could serve as a guide to explore the many gems hidden in Amoeba Hollywood’s Middle Eastern section. Only drawback to the mix CD is there is no track list. So if you love the sound of Turkish Rock and Iranian Psychedelic Folk, one has to dig, just like Mahssa has. No cheating allowed!

Speaking of B-Music, the latest installment in their Finders Keepers series is Sound Of Wonder!, focusing on Pakistan's little known-to-westerners “Lollywood” sound. What is Lollywood, you say? Lollywood was a tongue in cheek term made up in the late 80’s by Glamour Magazine gossip columnist Saleem Nasir because the Pakistani films that rivaled the Bollywood films were all filmed in the city of Lahore…get it? The Pakistani film industry thrived, much like India’s film industry, but had little success outside of Pakistan’s borders. The music on this compilation sounds like a low-fi, spaced out version of Bollywood music with more edge and Urdu lyrics. Most of the tracks on this compilation are done by composer M. Ashraf and singer Nahid Akhtar, with one track containing the legendary Noor Jehan, the legendary Pakistani singer who recorded over 10,000 songs in her lifetime and was the first female Pakistani film director. Of all the Finder Keepers releases, I feel this one is their strongest to date. Also available on LP.