Music Discoveries 2026 April-June

Of course, the big news is that Asha Bhosle died last week (Obit, W). Here’s a fun and catchy song “Sanam Tum Jahan” from the 1981 movie Kaalia (with dance moves and lipsyncing from Parveen Babi).

I was looking up something on my old Music Discoveries columns, and I realized how fun and revealing they were to read. Really, I just dash these things off, but it always manages to have fun stuff.

1965 Update

I still am focused relentlessly on cultural artefacts from the 1965 period, and added a few musical things.

Absolutely delighted that the wacky Bollywood dance number Jaan Pehchan Ho from the 1965 film Gumnaam (YT) Of course, the tune is very familiar to me, and I remembered that it appeared in the recent US movie Ghost World. I think I will watch Gumnaam eventually.

I just realized that the avante-garde jazz label ESP-Disk was really busy in the mid 1960s, and I in fact bought a a number of their albums a few years ago. Here’s their discography. Sonny Simmons, Burton Green Quartet, Sun Ra, etc.

Eurovision Coverage

EUROVISION FOR AMERICANS: For the first time ever, Americans will be able to watch the Eurovision finals on YouTube without being geo-blocked. The finals start Saturday at 2 PM CST & lasts 3 hours. (PS, also streamable on Peacock).

These German twins (the Kessler Sisters) made a splash in the 1959 Eurovision contest. (YT) They became a hit in the USA as frequent guest on 60s TV shows like the Ed Sullivan Show, singing with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Perry Como, etc. Here’s their lavish dance number Quando Quando (for Italian TV?)

ELECTROSWING AT EUROVISION: I’ll say more about the competition later (overall: terrific!), but I was blown away by the noncompeting interval act — an electroswing song by Austrian DJ & producer Parov Stelar — with stellar singing from Moldovan-Bulgarian Elena Karafizi (who is on Bandcamp btw). I just love it!

All singers in Eurovision were outstanding — really! But often the songs themselves were not particularly memorable. The winner’s song (Bulgaria) was certainly memorable (and infectious!), but so were songs from Israel, France, Poland, Cyprus, Italy, etc. I just love Sal Da Vinci’s traditional pop song with an elegant disco sensibility. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNpFNJLhSfA

Of course, Dara (Bulgaria) had a great, funny & iconic & infectious song, Bangaranga (YT) But the choreography with chairs was incredible — and I noticed only later that the stage crew spun the room around. She definitely channels the energy of Ruslana, Netta & Verka Serduchka. It’s so great that (finally!) a Balkan country will be hosting next year. Here’s the original music video (not live) which is equally great.

Fans are Gaga about the Bangaranga song, but watching how they staged it without slipups is also incredible (YT)

OLDER STUFF BY DARA: Here’s a catchy 2019 song “Darbie” by Eurovision winner Dara. (YT) Some of her YouTube vids were already racking up millions of hits long before Eurovision brought her to the public spotlight.

Here’s an amazing 1992 Nirvana concert they did in Buenos Aires (YT) at the height of their fame. Their opening act

Articles and Interviews

Related: here’s the 2025 winner of Innervision (Russia’s Eurovision clone). Song was average, but maybe I’m not Asian enough for it.

The news about a new Eurovision for Asia really blew my mind. 10 countries have signed up so far. The first competition will be November 2026. I would bet that at least Japan or Indonesia will sign up before the deadline.

Bandcamp Purchases

1. Fear of Missing Out [compilation] by Isaac Martinez
2. Patient Zero by Mara Calder. I raved about Calder’s recent debut album We Stay Ugly ‘Til the Pretty Decays, and this EP is just as good.
3. I’m In Love With A Satanist by Zen The Heretic. A surprisingly fun punk/heavy metal EP.
4. Several albums by Lithuanian composer Paulius Kilbauskas: Maria’s Silence OST, Music for Non Existent Movie,  by Paulius Kilbauskas and Sasha was Here (OST). That also includes several live performances: LRT Opus Ore Live and Live at Kaštonas/ChestNut and Elements 
5. Several albums by feminist and pop cellist Unwoman. That includes IF YOUR RAGE CAN’T BE BEAUTIFUL  (the most recent) and Desire Paths  (which she calls her best). As part of a duet called Beauty Queen Autopsy, she made an album called Lotharia  a while back. All good stuff.
6. Foufouka is a Greek composer of downbeat electronic pop/vaporwave. I enjoyed dream to tell and cocktail on mars.  

I have been redeeming some bandcamp coupons to get free downloads. You can find them on Get Music and Band.codes

1. Milk of God by the Shining Tongues. (Home) First album by British psychedelic pop band.
2. Pick of the Litter by Boy with the Greyhound Tattoo.
3. Finding It Hard To Explain Something So Obvious (EP) by Agora Sci Fi. . Music of NYC animator/artist Nathania Rubin. Bedroom dream jangle pop
4. Frippada Andaluza by Malabriega.
5. Noir & Jazz & Dark & Slow by Neonnoone. Post-dark jazz from Miami.
6. Kharybdis by syn.terra (Home) Instrumental atmospheric jazz by a NY composer Sam Lerner. Upbeat and melodic instrumental rock whose brassiness recalls the KPM tracks from the 1970s. Also Mechanical Jazz,
7. R202RB by Raidio Tony. Jazzy guitar jam sessions loosely based on classic rock styles. Aha, this is AI music..
8. Cosmic Continuum 2.0 by Riff-Slammin Joe Chapman. Wisconsin heavy metal guitarist.
9. Horizons by Brian Jo. St. Louis singer-songwriter.
10. Concierto de evocación sonora para conjunto instrumental by Senogul. Remarkable experimental Spanish 2008 jazz-rock album from the Astronomy Recording Music label.
11. Ice Cream For Crow Presents… Cujo Rosco. Re-release of 2 eps of this shoegazing singer .
12. Northern Kingdoms by VA (Fangorn). Compilation of “Dungeon Synth” recordings, which sound like traditional British Tolkeinesque melodies with a synthesizer. This slightly resembles early Doctor Who music, but it is always melodically interesting.
13. ELECTRONIC. Vol. 1: Digital Time Paradox by Michael HERTER. Herter is a German electronic composer who creates a lot of instrumentals suitable for content creators (filmmakers, game designers, etc). So they are not exactly earth-shattering, but they are pleasant enough.
14. Together by Plum. Los Angeles singer-songwriter.
15. Crazy Boy Crazy by the Parker Poseys.
16. The Stories that You Weave by Victims of the New Math.
17. Little Epiphanies by the Kind Hills. Laid back slacker pop by a Brisbane band consisting of people from different countries. “In a series of subtle shifts, this international indie-pop collective presents a work that conveys the dull ache of lost love without unnecessary embellishment. It also offers a remedy to such pain as ‘simple pleasures’, an argument it conveys through an unhurried, unfettered, jangly indie-pop that never strays into the fluffier realms of contrition.”
18. Commonwealth by Columbuss. Upbeat Canadian pop.
19. Mocean of the Otion by Zesty Italians
20. Samplehead’s Taster by Samplehead.
21. You are not All Alone this evening by Evening Disclosure. Compilation of vaporwave tracks
22. Starting To Show by CJ Redan
23. A Curious Collection by Old Moth Dreams. Slow and dark ambient album labeled “dungeon synth.” Good sleep music; it’s ponderous but straightforward. “It is macabre, yes. It is unpredictable, certainly. It is schizophrenic fun from a parallel crypt—the sort of delirious sonic artifact you find only once in a lifetime, trembling in your hands, wondering how it got here… and why it seems to be breathing.”
24. 11 Songs by Liberty Belle. Jangle-pop from French singer Jean-Francois Cantot. “a  heartfelt homage to The Go-Betweens.”

Youtubey/Podcasty Things

Here’s a rare 60s recording by Curt Boettcher (who went on to start several sunny California bands).

This NYT profile of Boettcher by Alexandra Molotkov says:

College students would steal and hoard their parents’ copies of his records. As it stands, Boettcher — a pop-music producer whose heyday was the late ’60s — now survives in rock history mostly as a liner-note credit. He could have been, but never was. Yet he enjoys a godlike status among a select group of music fans, for whom obscurity is more enticing than fame.

Freegal and Library CDs

Here’s a pretty amazing collection of free/downloadable/streamable 1980s Italo-Disco and Euro-Disco tracks. Euro-Disco provides a fun and semi-mindless listening experience. Cover versions of many synthpop songs, lots of German and Italian singers singing in English (!) and long techno remix sections for just about every song! This treasure trove of 80s music is certainly going to change my generally negative impressions of 80s music.

Happy to see that Freegal has some albums by Dara and Parov Stelar. Also I have been using Freegal to collect some odds and ends from 1965-6.

Ever since I started to listen to a satellite radio station about 1940s music, I have been learning about that decade of music. Turns out archive.org has lots of high quality recordings, some of which appear to be from CDs of earlier albums. I am going to explore them in depth. For now, I merely need to link to this amazing URL which contains tons (and I mean tons!) of 1940s music.

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.