Sublime Frequencies has been a largely underappreciated dynamic in the archival and safekeeping of recorded music in unlikely worldly locales. Having only been active for a few years, the imprint has dished out scores of indispensable compilations showcasing impossible-to-find artists, folk standards and even entire genres of music. For their three most recent releases, the Seattle-based label unearths music from ‘70s Myanmar, current day North Korea and Saddam-era Iraq.

As explained in the liners of Choubi Choubi!: Folk & Pop Sounds From Iraq, the lifestyle of an Iraqi musician isn’t often smiled upon. Choubi singers tend to be outcasts and/or gypsies. And apparently, the music is quite unique to its region. The anonymously uncovered “Oh Mother, the Handsome Man Tortures Me” is no doubt one of the strangest rackets to ever grace my set of West-saturated ears. Right out of the gate, the spastic wind instrumentation and clangy percussion provide a uniquely spare and otherworldly backdrop. The khishba hand drum sputters and bursts along like muffled machine gun fire. Touches of Western pop ideologies seep their way in here and there but most likely remain practically undetected.

The oldest and perhaps most Western-leaning song of the three, “Lam Sai-Tahlo” by Saing Saing Maw, harnesses the security of electric guitars, tambourine, drum set, etc. Essentially, this is as easily classifiable as “rock” as it is “world.” Maw, a former Shan truck driver, is cited in certain circles as a pivotal figure in fusing rock stylings with traditional Burmese folk music. Compiled from spare 1970s Burmese cassettes, Guitars of the Golden Triangle: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar (Burma), Vol. 2 provides excellent documentation on a long-ignored psych-friendly Southeast Asia.

Along with happening across some fairly agreeable tracks here and there, Sublime Frequencies also showcases the utterly bizarre. Radio Pyongyang: Commie Funk and Agit Pop From the Hermit Kingdom features programming culled from North Korea’s national “public” radio station, Voice of Korea (formerly Radio Pyongyang). As you probably could guess, several of the tracks pay blatant homage to the ever-spunky Kim Jong-Il, and most of the content dives headfirst into the nationalist mind state of the region. The tastefully titled “Start ‘Em Young” is a peppily orchestrated children’s song employing theatric child-sung chorusing and the occasional spell of spoken dialog. While Radio Pyongyang may not include any straight on instances of funk as implied by the title, it’s an interesting and somewhat surprising look at the modern day Hermit Kingdom.

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