num mueangsurin: kantruem khayao lok

artist: หนุ่ม เมืองสุรินทร์ (num mueangsurin) 
album: กันตรึมเขย่าโลก (kantruem khayao lok) 
tracklist: 
01. โตวนาโม (to na mo) 
02. โนโค้กเขมร (no coke khmer) 
03. อากัมปรอ (akam pro) 
04. ไปไหนมา (pai nai ma) 
05. รักสาวเสราะไชง (rak sao sro chngai) 
06. ขอพร (kho phon) 
07. คนบ้านนอก (khon ban nok) 
08. โมโฮบบาย (mo hop bai) 
09. อย่าเลย (ya loei) 
10. ปะการันเจก (paka ran chek) 

this week, bilingual thai-khmer rap from the border region! i don't know much about our star here, num mueangsurin ("the boy from surin city"); he seems to have mostly vanished from memory as far as the internet is concerned. thanks to some helpful liner notes, though, i can tell you that his 1994 cassette from topline-diamond features music by the era's ever-present a. num phuthai, as well as two lesser-knowns, maengkabi and frank nio-thong, and was recorded between bangkok's chaturong, phaibun, and c.a. studios. the tracks are a combination of luk thung- and kantruem-flavored originals with some light rap verses, and rewrites of both international and domestic pop hits (see: dr. albarn's "no coke"). enjoy! 

masae 'sun saengsaeo: chut sun-sur-native 1

artist: มาแซ 'ซุน แซงแซว (masae 'sun saengsaeo)
album: ชุดซุนเซอร์เนทีฟ ๑ (chut sun-sur-native 1)
tracklist:
01. บางนรา (bang nara)
02. มะละกอที่รัก (malako thi rak)
03. วันพรากจาก (wan phrak chak)
04. ชนชั้นคน (chon chan khon)
05. เหมือนบ้าง (muean bang)
06. ดูดดื่ม (dut duem)
07. จะทำอะไรดีก็ไม่รู้เหมือนกัน (cha tham arai di ko mai ru muean kan)
08. ประชาชนผู้มีหนวด (prachachon phu mi nuat)
09. ชายหาดสีขาว (chai hat si khao)
10. มารดาแห่งความมหัศจรรย์ (manda haeng khwam mahasachan)

today, a left-field discovery that my friend chris chanced upon recently in bangkok! masae 'sun saengsaeo a.k.a. surachai songthawonthawi is a wandering poet associated with the phuea chiwit and socially-engaged buddhism circles (see: introductory blurb by none other than sulak sivaraksa!). according to the liner notes, the album's title is a contraction of "surrealist-alternative", a genre designation given by fellow writer wat wanlayangkun. the tracks display a range of influences from psychedelic-/blues-rock to reggae to guitar-&-violin-driven folk tunes (which masae credits to the apache people). the decidedly lo-fi production was handled by aphinan chit-sopha, who got together a band of his students from srinakharinwirot university's songkhla campus (now thaksin university) to back masae. quite an unusual entry, hope you enjoy! 

thep thunder: chuea mai la

artist: เทพ ธันเดอร์ (thep thunder)
album: เชื่อไหมล่ะ (chuea mai la)
tracklist:
01. เชื่อไหมล่ะ (chuea mai la)
02. แร๊พแขก (rap khaek)
03. คำโบราณท่านว่า (kham boran than wa)
04. ไอ้เซ่อ...จ๊กมก (ai soe... chok mok)
05. ลาวไม่ธรรมดา (lao mai thammada)
06. ดื่มเบียร์แหย่เมีย (duem beer yae mia)
07. ส้วม (suam)
08. ยาเสพติด (ya sep tit)
09. กินฟรี (kin free)
10. นมโค (nom kho)
11. เสียดายวิชชุดา (sia dai witchuda)
12. นักแม่นรู (nak maen ru)
13. ขี้หิด (khi hit)
14. คนหัวล้าน (khon hua lan)

this week, '90s novelty rap & more from comedian thep pho-ngam! born in roi-et but raised in narathiwat, thep got his start doing live voice-over work for the open-air cinema around hat yai, and later joined the troupe of phloen phromdaen during the luk thung star's comedy-oriented "talking-music" phase. he left the group with fellow comedian den dokpratu to form a duo, before finally founding his own eponymous act with chaeng cho-madan and mum jokmok, with whom he pivoted from live acts to film and television. he also had a music career on the side, under the stage-name "thep thunder", and today's cassette is his 1993 debut with onpa marketing co., ltd. he has by no means left comedy at home, however, with the songs being parodies of international pop hits of the day, including rap/bhangra/dancehall crossovers (mc hammer's "u can't touch this", malkit singh's "gur nalon ishq mitha", dr. alban's "no coke") as well as more established classic rock and new wave tunes (santana, deep purple, the romantics, michael jackson, etc.). does the humour hold up? or the production, for that matter? i'll let you decide.. enjoy!

buddha bless: kat man du

band: บุดด้า เบลส (buddha bless)
album: กัด มันส์ ดุ (kat man du)
tracklist:
01. shake it baby!
02. ดุ๊ก ดิ๊ก (duk dik)
03. หุ่นยนต์ (hunyon)
04. นรก (narok)
05. ปักตะไคร้ (pak takhrai)
06. จ้น จน (chon chon)
07. โดเรมอน (doraemon)
08. สวยจัง (เทยนี่หว่า) (suay chang (thoei niwa))
09. แค่อกหัก (khae okhak)
10. เปียกอับชื้น (piak ap chuen)

keeping with newer music for the moment, here is thailand's first (i think..) reggae/dancehall group! this might not be everyone's thing (alexandra can't stand them, for instance) but i think they're alot of fun! i'm not sure where exactly they're from (probably bangkok).. i'm assuming their claim of จังหวัด แดนซ์ฮอลล์ (dancehall province) isn't completely accurate. buddha bless rap about hell, doraemon and lemongrass.. so i think lyrically they have all the bases covered. this one's just off cd, back to old cassettes next week!!