Grand reopening awaits at Marigot #4270 in a few hours...and everyone's invited!

In my forthcoming Unspooled series, Adanson is an event facility/nature reserve in the northeastern Commonwealth of Dominica village of Marigot. The eponymous Manse is an exact replica (with a few Malagasy-inspired touchups) of The Vault in downtown Tampa, which the original Dominican architects drove by on a whim in the late 1950s. Speaking of Malagasy, Adanson's reserve is a sanctuary for the wildlife of Madagascar--to the point where a hundred-foot-tall baobab dominates the front-view scenery and even serves as the enterprise's official emblem.

At this writing, Adanson--now under new management--is anticipating the latest shipment of Upcomers from their venerable affiliates on the west coast, Autrison Records Ltd. The Upcomers, a variable slate of tracks new to any given party at Adanson's, débuted during the old team's comeback tests between November 2018 and early March 2019. Meanwhile, Autrison--established in 2013 and based in the uphill village of Giraudel--is a revival of what was once West Indies Records Limited, WIRL, if but in spirit. The trademark is derived from French autres sons (a translation of website name "Other Sounds", a music-interview portal whose coverage of WIRL's legacy the label pays tribute to). Autrison--and Adanson--specialise in 7"/12" singles for nostalgia's sake, no doubt playing their part in the new millennium's vinyl revival. Adanson, and a few DJs here are there in the Lesser Antilles, are Autrison's biggest customers--but as genres, regions, and content wildly vary in their catalogue's offerings, the rest only pick what's best for their needs. The few phonograph owners remaining in those islands aren't left out, either; many Autrison editions are also available to the general public.

The Marigot team, and their label buddies, champion diversity and world music 24/7⊙--a mission that has fallen on deaf ears [no pun intended] among corporate FM executives and nondiscerning listeners in the West. Speaking of which, the latter has plans for their own radio network, Autrio, scheduled for a 2020 launch in the Americas and Western Europe; guess how they formed that word?

Over at Autrison's Giraudel pressing plant (right after I publish this), the engineers will hold a "lottery" to decide which bonus tracks get a pass as they wrap up processing for June. Autrison's current acetate/acquisition/donation backlog has entries dating from as early as February 17, and is divided by month. For the first week of summer 2019, the oldest usable 51 (all from 17/2) are officially first in line, followed by another two from March (Dan Bull's "Robocopyright" and Neil Diamond's "Play Me", respectively chosen as a response to Article 13 and the theme to Adanson's brand-new request line); the next three from April (Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" from Dr. Strangelove, Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us", and the All-American Rejects' "Gives You H[...]"); one from May (Billy Joel's "This Is the Time"); and a slew of assorted treats from June, 13 all told (Scooter's "Nessaja" [from the opening credits of Brüno], Taylor Swift's "You Need to Calm Down" [on the occasion of Stonewall's 50th anniversary], David Arnold's "Entering the Stargate" [no points for guessing the source movie], and the "Famous Final Hour" of legendary New York institution WPLJ [in its original, pre-Christian incarnation] among them), plus Milli Vanilli's "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" and ABBA's "My Love, My Life" (two last-minute arrivals from the old #4270 team's final fling). Next up: A four-pack sample from each of the March, April, and June backlogs, as chosen by random.org. Total number of singles: A whopping 84.

And that's only the licensed/label-sanctioned bundle. For every licensed track that enters Adanson's halls this weekend (and the rest of the summer), another from the wonderful world of open source will accompany it as well--Autrison management's orders. Since June 9, Autrison has been searching far and wide across Free Music Archive (FMA), Jamendo, the Wikimedia Commons, Starfrosch, and elsewhere on the net in a rush to complement several years' worth of fully-copyrighted offerings--and as a response to and protest of the passage of Article 13 in Europe. Another catch: Since they're broadcasting and streaming to potential millions worldwide (no thanks to their long-term partnerships with Vimeo, Twitch, CMC, Trifecta, Mediaset, AEG, and LiveNation), they're relegated to public-domain/CC0, CC-BY, and CC-BY-SA offerings (plus several others under similar licenses) as a rule. (Following Wikimedia's position, candidates tagged with "-NC" [they can't officially air performances unless they pay up or ask] and/or "-ND" [they can't put their own spins on the tunes] are already out of the question--and treated as unsolicited.) Among the first such highlights: Selections from TRG Banks, RVNS, Lamprey, and Intimate Praise. Adanson has delegated all but the first three as "Artists of the Week", having five or more cues each on offer.

All told, Adanson has outdone themselves--again--with a record 168 in the process. (Slated to be beaten next month.) These tracks will join another 168 from the existing pool--chosen proportionally by their handy randomiser--to form a 336-strong main playlist (not including permanent fixtures, requests, or extras).

The sooner the delivery truck from Giraudel arrives at the Manse this evening, the sooner Adanson will get the party started--and the sooner I swap my SD card back into my device to play it all. (64 GB, mostly occupied by Adanson's collection, cleaned up with MP3Tag.) But as always, this is just the beginning; wait till you see their Fourth of July spectacular starting next Thursday.

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Just to spice up this comeback entry a little, time to reach back to the archive for something that fits the mood here. For the first time on the Steem network, say hello to Samson Dixwell, now Unspooled's merchandising mascot--as drawn (via commission) by Furry+ member "Miracle Chan"/"Yuki Pooki"/"KiwiDogs"/"NanoButt"/whatever-he-now-goes-by-elsewhere back in June 2015. Now personally dubbed "Rockoon", coincidentally the title of a 1992 Tangerine Dream album--and also a real-life rocket-balloon fusion. (Along with his cousin Alfred--the focus of Book 1--Sam has several years of musical and balloon-travelling experience behind him.) I'll upload it across the furry web--after several years' delay--when I get to it. (While we're on the subject, saying hi to @bleuxwolf [whom I'll resteem at some point before June's up]; sorry if anthros remain a hard find on this platform yet.)

In our next entry, a breakdown of the other 168. Later on down the road, a new score for the Unspooled saga; a couple of apps that may save the new team some trouble; and the resumption of draft development for Books 1, 2, 3, and 6. (Just don't expect any finished product to surface for another 2-3 years; I learned the hard way when I missed a November 2018 deadline for the manuscript. This was supposed to be my gift to fellow Nature Islanders on their country's 40th anniversary of Independence, but alas...)

Either way, it's about time I reopened this feature and avoided laying in wait--all because of these hundreds of tunes. (Not to mention I spent some time searching for the last bits and pieces of its Google+ incarnation a while ago, just to see where I last left off.) Either that, or I might as well rest it off come mid-August. Never really ends for this Captain, does it?

⊙ No wonder my explr.fm map boasts acts from 139 countries at press time, with several more on the way soon.

From the one, the only, the all-new...

#MarigotNotebook on

#WhatLiesAground

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