VINYL SHOW & TELL VOL. 7 - CEM KARACA...

Cem Karaca
"Apaslar" 4 song EP 45rpm
( 60's / Turkey )

{I can't get to sleep tonight and am super faded...This record is it right now.}

Turkey was the most western country you could find in the middle east, in the 60's and 70's for awhile at least in terms of pop culture (besides India). As the amazingly large slew of reissue albums can attest, psych, garage, beat, and surf rock were well alive in and around Istanbul. It's also worthy noting that this was happening pretty much at the same time as the British and American scenes that influenced it (usually there's a stylistic "lag time" of a few years).

My guess is 1965-66 for this one; by 68-69 these guys were getting pretty heavy & fuzzed unlike the twangy surf greatness here. seriously great guitar playing all around, great mixture of traditional Turkish music and Dick Dale/Tornados/Davie Allen style. I know the Ventures were huge all over that part of the world, but these guys are way rougher. The singer sounds pretty desperate at times (compliment). And it's four songs, not two...rad.

They're all awesome, but the last one's a burner (and I'm not just saying that to get you to listen to the whole thing). I really need to go to bed.

alright, this one gets a 10 out of 10 on "let's call it a day" scale...