This follow-up to 2008’s beloved Shadow Music of Thailand ambitiously expands the scope of its predecessor to cover three decades of Thai pop in Sublime Frequencies’ characteristically non-comprehensive and freewheeling fashion. As expected, the result is yet another exotic, raucously fun, and thoroughly kitschy classic.
Siamese Soul is the latest dispatch from the indefatigable Mark Gergis’ life of obsessive culture-scavenging and tireless travel. Compiled from a mountain of forgotten cassettes and records acquired throughout journeys across rural Thailand, this album is less kooky than Thai Pop Spectacular and covers a wider variety of artists than Shadow Music, though placing a firm emphasis on both funkiness and soulfulness. The omnipresent horns and funky bass lines will be quite familiar to Western ears, but they are transformed into something wholly bizarre (and oft-excellent) by unusual instrumentation, odd melodies, Eastern percussion, and a host of seriously intense vocalists.
While the entire album is strong from start to finish, I was most struck by the two contributions from Ubon Pattana with Surin Paksiri. Very little information is given about them (one is a Sarawan Dance and the other is a story about a tribewoman), but both feature sleepy hypnotic rhythms, hazy, drugged-out instrumentation, and captivating and impassioned vocals from Angkana Khunchai. I was also quite fond of Kwan Jai & Kwan Jit Sriprajan’s “E-Saew Tam Punha Huajai” (Advice Column For Love Troubles”), which features some rather cathartic and stunning vocals that seem totally disproportionate to its subject matter (it is purportedly a teasing song about a woman who loves three generations of men). Incidentally, this compilation would still be noteworthy for sheer baffling eclecticism of subject matter even if the accompanying music was not so striking: while the fifteen songs are largely about relationships, they also cover a hunter’s karmic comeuppance, the superiority of breast milk to alcohol, frogs, and the unconditional love one receives from one’s bong. The song about frogs even features some disorienting field recordings of the titular amphibians that (inadvertently?) transform a relatively straightforward funk jam into something approaching outsider psychedelia.
Naturally, the punky smash-and-grab nature of this compilation precludes any sort of rigorous or informative liner notes, though there are quite a few charming period photos included. Gergis and co-compiler Alan Bishop are (quite obviously) not from Thailand and I suspect that finding background information on these artists would be a daunting endeavor for even a native. Fortunately, the duo’s lack of academic discipline or Thai fluency is more than compensated for by their enthusiasm and excellent taste. Siamese Soul is a raw, fun, and enigmatic party of an album and there is literally no one else that would have found and disseminated these songs.
Samples:
- Daw Bandon, “Bong Ja Bong”
- Ubon Pattana with Surin Paksiri, “Lum Sao Phutai Rum Pan”
- Teun-Jai Boon Praraksa, “Ha Fang Kheng Kan”
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