Erkin Koray - Erkin Koray 2 (1976)

From ignatius' review on RYM (4.5/5):

"This is my favorite Erkin Koray album, thanks to full, baroque arrangements and solid tunes. Here Koray comes across as something like a Turkish Scott Walker, a strong singer steeped in larger-than-life hypnotic melancholia, backed by terse, dizzying strings and some other Turkish instrumentation such as saz and other typical Anatolian percussive aspects, but the richness of the tunes and the blending of east/west pop approaches conquers all. Clearly, he's one of Turkey's biggest rock stars ever. Superb work."

Get it here.

Also:
Erkin Koray - Erkin Koray (1973)
Erkin Koray - Elektronik Türküler (1974)

Selda - Türkülerimiz 1 (1995)

I'm sure you're familiar with Selda; you've probably heard Oh No sampling "Ince Ince" on those Skate 2 commercials, or, more recently, Mos Def rapping over this same beat on his latest album The Ecstatic (first track). I may get around to posting Selda later, but for now Türkülerimiz 1 will do.


"What a voice this girl has! Very well played fusion/mix of turk-arabic roots and folk-european pop...
I have no idea if this is mainstream or not, but it sure is news and fresh to me, and with lovely strange words like; Bülbül :)" - Lilleboll (4/5)

"I usually compare Selda Bağcan to Violeta Parra and sometimes Mercedes Sosa because they arranged folk songs with modern style.This is the characteristics of the genre of their music. Nuevo Cansion and Anadolu Pop (or Rock) did the same thing (I guess Anadolu Pop were a bit late as 5-10 years late This is maybe they (Turkish counterparts) followed this kinda intenational cultural movements or just it was re-produced in the conditions of that era .I don't have the album right beside me so i can't write which songs belongs originally to whom, but Bağcan mostly covered folk artist Neşet Ertaş and Mahsuni Şerif.Some songs are anonymous such as "Kalenin Dibinde Taş Ben Olaydım" and "Gesi Bağları".There are some that written and/or composed by Selda Bağcan such as "Çemberimde gül oya".But i should note that the songs which covered are played with the guitar(and/or other pop/rock instruments) which is not local musical instruments and therefore hadn't been used in the original versions.Thus one can never ignore The Selda factor which made the songs into a brand new form and made the songs known by broader audience particullarly the youth which is familiar with the westerner popular pop/rock music." - Moremun (4/5)

Get it here.

Erkin Koray - Erkin Koray (1973)

Didn't feel like finding a review of this either, but trust me, it's great. Unnamed reviewer at Dusty Groove America had this to say about Erkin Koray:

"The first full album of work by Erkin Koray -- a Turkish rocker from the late 60s and early 70s, and one who did a lot to fuse American rock styles with "arabesk", a Turkish version of Arab popular music! Erkin started out in the beat group years, and some of the earlier tracks here show that influence -- but as time goes on, the guitars get heavier and mix more with traditional instrumentation to create a sound that's really unique -- almost an eastern take on progressive modes of the west, played to best effect by Koray on the electric baglama -- a weirdly tuned stringed instrument that's a bit like a trippy version of the lute!"

Uh, okay. Get it here.

Erkin Koray - Elektronik Türküler (1974)

I didn't feel like looking for a review, so here is yerdenyere's review over on Rate Your Music (5/5):

"Without a doubt, the manifesto of and template for Anadolu Pop as a whole. Erkin's chops were never in doubt, but the arrangements here, particularly on Yalnızlar Rıhtımı and Türkü, leave one capable of believing that psychedelia would have sprung spontaneously from the soil of Asia Minor even if American blues had never crashed into British Invasion beat. This is a masterpiece, crucial to anyone interested in the history of rock n roll, much less Turkish music or 'world' psychedelia. As we say in Istanbul, "Erkin Baba yaşasın...." Many thanks to the World Psychedelia label for its reissue, which has finally made this unparalleled recording available on cd."

Word. Get it here.

Outrageous Cherry - Nothing's Gonna Cheer You Up (1997)

From allmusic (4.5/5):

"The third release by Outrageous Cherry, Nothing's Gonna Cheer You Up, shows the band filtering classic sounds of the past -- the jangle-rock of the Byrds, Big Star, and early R.E.M., and the dark minimalism of the Velvet Underground -- through '90s lo-fi technology. The band has a very talented songwriter in guitarist/singer (and producer) Matthew Smith -- if he was writing songs like the ones on N.G.C.Y.U. back in the '60s, he'd have several hits on his hands. The opening track, "I've Never Seen Your World," sets the tone for the rest of the album, and is a perfect example of what to expect from the other cuts (cleanly strummed guitars, echoey and distant vocals, primitive drumming a la V.U.'s Moe Tucker, etc.). Many of the tracks contain strong melodic hooks that create a comforting sense of familiarity, which is the ultimate sign of great songwriting. Other standout tracks include "Panavision 70," "Genevieve," and the title track. This is definitely Outrageous Cherry's best and most accomplished album yet, a guaranteed delight for fans of fuzzed-out, sticky-sweet '60s pop."

Get it here.

Sarolta Zalatnay - Sarolta Zalatnay (2007)

From Stylus (B) :

"Oh, Cini, how little we knew ye. Literally. Sarolta Zalatnay, better known in her home country of Hungary as Cini, never really made it over to America in, well, any capacity. Being Hungary’s #1 pop star for a number of years, both the desire and the ability simply weren’t there. But in listening to this self-titled collection of some of her finest moments, it’s hard not to imagine an alternate reality where (with some English language versions, natch) that Cini could’ve been welcome over here as the second coming of Janis Joplin.

That idea is helped out considerably by the final track on Sarolta Zalatnay, in which Cini takes on Joplin’s classic “Move Over.” Cini provides a reasonable facsimile, even if she isn’t quite as full-throated about it. The charms on Sarolta Zalatnay aren’t always down to Cini’s brassy voice, though. Oftentimes it’s as much a pleasure to hear the Locomotiv GT, Metro, Omega, and Skorpio backing tracks. These instrumentals are remarkable for their funkiness; you can imagine enterprising DJs scouring this record for breaks, such as the ones that begin “Ne Hidd El,” “Zold Borostyán,” and “Rögös Úton.” Sarolta Zalatnay offers much for the listener not looking for the perfect breakbeat, though. “Adj Egy Percet” is a flute-flavored lament (I’m guessing) that speaks for much of its duration in the international language of “na-na-na”’s, while “M?nanyag Álmok” is a lushly orchestrated chamber-pop piece worthy of the Free Design.

The one name that I keep coming back to, however, when listening to Sarolta Zalatnay is Betty Davis. In comparing some of these tracks to the upcoming Light in the Attic reissues of Davis’s self-titled and They Say I'm Different albums, it’s hard not to hear Cini as the rock/jazz/soul/funk hybrid that is consistently hard to pin down, but equally as consistently hard to stop listening to.

Cini might’ve done well to take a page from Davis, however, after these stunning records were released and her collaborators began to embody what most American imagine Hungarian pop music sounds like. But instead of disappearing from the public eye, in 2001 she was seen in Hungarian Playboy (at the age of 54) and three years later she was convicted of fraud and sentenced to three years in prison.

With Sarolta Zalatnay, and recent reissues of Selda and Mustafa Ozkent, Finders Keepers is making a strong case for Eastern Europe as one of the final frontiers in the rock reissue game. In their press release for this record, they mention that Cini’s work here sits alongside Czechoslovakia’s Marta Kubisova's Songy a Balady, “as well as early LPs by Greece's Elpida and Poland's Maryla Radowics.” Let’s hope they’re in the pipeline."

Get it here.