- INSIDE TRACK: BLACK MIRROR: REFLECTIONS IN GLOBAL MUSICS

Artist: V/A
Album: Black Mirror: Reflections in Global Music (1918-1955)
Label: Dust-To-Digital
Ian Nagoski, owner of The True Vine record store in Baltimore, has gathered an impressive survey of recordings from around the world on this diverse compilation - compiled from his personal collection of 78s that he obtained from basement shops and fellow vinyl enthusiasts. He got hooked up with Dust-to-Digital owner/operator Lance Ledbetter by contributing recommendations to the Goodbye Babylon box set, expanding his original love for old gospel records here to a diverse and all-encompassing mix of musical styles, traditions and origins (with the exception of South America), and holds up well from start to finish - from Laotion prayer rituals, to Scottish bagpipe traditionals. It basically plays like a killer world music mixtape, personally compiled through handpicked highlights of Nagoski's favorite records, made even more legitimate by the fact that 18 of the tracks have never before been issued on CD, and were transferred and mastered straight from vinyl by Steve Smolian. It's not quite an academic affair, though Nagoski definitely did his homework for the liner notes, inspired mainly from his personal love for world musics and record collecting, and it's obvious that the man knows his stuff. Completely enjoyable for both the overall quality of the individual tracks and the sheer variety featured.