Dead Skeletons - Dead Magick (2011)

Dead Skeletons are an Icelandic trio who've mastered some arcane method of tapping and refocusing that famous geothermal energy of their homeland into their craft for a result that is nothing less than some of the best cerebral psychedelic rock to come from any mid-Atlantic island ever.

Dead Magick


Video for album opener 'Dead Mantra' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsyrOGRxF0E

The Deviants (1969)

Third and final release from The Deviants. Sometimes referred to as "The Deviants 3". Future punk bands owe quite a lot to these guys, seeing as how they're one of the very few bands to have existed in the late sixties who garner the appellation of proto-punk, and they did it quite well to say the least. Vocalist Mick Farren would go on to be one of the most respected rock critics of the twentieth century, while other members went on to form or join other brilliant bands: Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, and drummer Twink's solo ventures. Farren described The Deviants musical style as "teeth-grinding psychedelic rock" somewhere between The Stooges and Mothers of Invention. Regardless of how you choose to hear this album, it's a classic, and that cover art is downright creepy. Make sure to check out their first two offerings as well, Ptoof! and Disposable. I'd be happy to upload those if requested.

Deviants

Black Sun Ensemble - Lambent Flame (1989)

Post-Kashmir Led Zeppelin but pre-21st century sun-baked cosmic desert psych post-rock. BSE were out of Tucson, AZ, led by Jesus Acedo (another in the long line of brilliant musicians who succumbed to mental illness).

Jesus Acedo is the quixotic leader of Black Sun Ensemble who, on the basis of his enigmatic recordings, has been hailed by critics as one of the most innovative guitarists of our time.Born on Christmas Eve, 1962 in Tucson, Arizona, to Mexican immigrant parents, Acedo was one of eight children, the only one with an interest in music. After the death of his father in 1975, Acedo grieved by immersing himself in music. He spent most of his early adolescence at the Tucson public library listening to Ravi Shankar and Led Zeppelin records. At this time, Acedo bought a guitar. In high school, he began experimenting with the unique tunings of his guitar that give his music what one reviewer reverently called "peculiarly mystical, twangy, meditative, Middle Eastern rock sound". Muze, in describing his style, said he can "spit blasts of dragon fire or conjure the exotic, iridescent mystique of peacock feathers with a single stroke."A self-titled debut album was released by Tucson's Pyknotic Records in 1985. Its extraordinary qualities led Acedo to sign a five-year contract with England's Reckless Records, and in 1988 the label released "Black Sun Ensemble" (1988), "Lambent Flame" (1989) and "Elemental Forces" (1991). These records were a critical and commercial success. At the time, Offbeat exclaimed that BSE was "possibly, the world's coolest band." After touring the West Coast with Camper Van Beethoven in support of "Lambent Flame" the Ensemble was captured live on the first side of "Tragic Magic" (1992) for Rough Trade. The second side was a magical suite of mostly acoustic pieces that presaged the extensive title track of the later "Sky Pilot" CD.The inexorable weight of personnel changes, drugs and unexpected success eventually unbalanced Acedo's mental stability. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1992 and spent the next two years in and out of local hospitals. During his breakdown, the band recorded the ill-fated "Psycho Master El" album for Tucson's San Jacinto Records (1994). This record was remixed and remastered in 1998 for Camera Obscura Records. The results were issued as "Sky Pilot" in 1999, which also included rare Black Sun singles tracks and a brand new 20-minute work called "Sky Pilot Suite". "Sky Pilot" got rave reviews by critics and sold well locally and internationally. The Ensemble began playing regular gigs, impressing a whole new generation of listeners. News of Black Sun's return to the stage was appreciated by grunge-rock legend Mark Arm of Mudhoney, who engineered a shared performance at Tucson's Club Congress in early 2001. In February 2001, Camera Obscura reissued the debut Black Sun Ensemble recording from 1985, again to extraordinary reviews.On the wave of recent success, Acedo has brought himself back from madness, poverty and potential obscurity. He is now recapturing his old fire by re-inventing himself, and is working to re-establish his rightful place as one of the key guitarists of our time. This was reinforced by the 2002 CD "Hymn of the Master", and even more so by the 2003 CD "Starlight". BSE continue to be a hit at annual SXSW festivals and have complete a new album, "Bolt of Apollo" for release on Camera Obscura in the second half of 2006.


Biography from Camera Obscura website


Lambent Flame

Destroy All Monsters - Bored

Once again: proto-punk. Once again: Detroit. Ron Asheton of The Stooges on guitar, Mike Davis of the MC5 on bass, a piano-mover named Rob King on drums and a beautiful woman with a great voice named Niagra heading up the vocals. DAM are a legendary group and if one were to be unfamiliar, this seven-track compilation would be a perfect place to start affiliating with them.

Bored

The Outlaws - Dream of the West (1961) & The Blue Men - I Hear A New World (1960)

The Outlaws landed a recording contract with Joe Meek in 1960, Meek intending to have them act as backing band for an artist named Mike Berry. Upon realizing the band's talent, however, Joe decided that they needed to make a record of their own as well as back damn near every other recording artist under his auspices.


"Dream of the West is a concept album on the topic "The Wild West"... All 12 tunes are composed by Joe Meek under his standard pseudonym Robert Duke." The album is "interesting... because Joe Meek's trick of using a composition several times is played in triplicate here: the tracks 03, 08, and 12 can be found with different arrangements and titles on Meek's outer space suite I Hear A New World..." "...a twelve-part suite around the subject "life on the moon." Meek recorded the tracks mainly at his bedroom studio at Arundel Gardens on a borrowed stereo tape recorder (and probably secretly at night at Lansdowne Studio.) As Meek wrote in the liner notes "this is a strange record, I meant it to be."




An altogether fascinating man was Meek. These and other recordings I can't suggest or praise highly enough.






Dream of the West
I Hear A New World










Here's a really cool video someone put together of several songs from both albums.

Metacomet - Depression Ceremony (2010)

Long, plaintive and beautiful. Many bands which attempt the style mastered by Metacomet seem to succeed only in boring the living hell out of me. Not so with Metacomet's Depression Ceremony. Last.fm has this to say: "Metacomet is an ambient-psychedelic trio with Christina Boyd contributing vocals and Max Gardner and Ian Staub serenely dueling on their guitars. Since its evolution out of the primordial ooze of bedroom jams, Metacomet has established itself as an ongoing experiment in melding catchy hooks that embody the mute grandeur of "big skies" Americana with the meditative drone and melodic experimentation of psychedelic/experimental music traditions, especially German Kosmische Musik. The result is a sound that's warmingly familiar but maddeningly difficult to name or define."


Depression Ceremony

Elephant9 - Walk The Nile (2010)

Elephant9 are the prog-psych-jazz-rock Norwegian trio of keyboardist Stale Storlokken, bassist Nicolai Eilersten, and drummer Torstein Lofthus, all of whom were culled together from separate bands, Supersilent, National Bank, and Shining, respectively. Bands I know nothing about. "The instrumental group's heady blend of mid-70's Miles Davis, Deep Purple and Medeski, Martin and Wood has drawn considerable praise from both the jazz and rock communities worldwide." - Allmusic.com


Elephant9 somehow manage to blend vintage and contemporary sound effortlessly and come out with an aesthetic truly original and enjoyable.


Walk The Nile

Human Eye - They Came From the Sky (2011)

This generation's Alien Soundtracks. They Came From the Sky is an album involving alien abduction, cross-species impregnation, mind altering experiments and finally alien invasion. I'd be surprised, to say the least, if these guys didn't admit to a predilection for Chrome. Allmusic.com states that "[e]very so often, some brave or foolish or utterly unhinged band comes along and tries to reinvent punk rock, making the attempt to push the genre in new directions while trying to get the old beast snarling again. While most bands are content to call it a day after roughing things up a little, it's clear that for Detroit's Human Eye, that's simply not enough. On their third album, They Came From the Sky, the band doesn't just get in there and slap punk around a little, but rather they feed it LSD and wail on it with whatever happens to be lying around while shouting that the sky is falling, running the whole thing through some kind of ad hoc MK-ULTRA experiment designed to test the genre's limits. The psychedelic approach pays off for them as they run the raw power of punk through a garage-psych kaleidoscope, with driving jams like "Alien Freaks" alternating between pedal-to-the-metal intensity and Zappa-esque space rock freakouts."


Sacred Bones Records is doing great things.


They Came From The Sky

Swamp Dogg - Uncut And Classified 1A (1981)

Jerry Williams, Jr., AKA Swamp Dogg, is the singular most eccentric figure in soul music. Period. Writing minor hits for the likes of Gene Pitney, Tommy Hunt, Patti Labelle, The Commodores and Gary U.S. Bonds seemed to have run it's course in the sixties, at which time the liner notes for this album state "Swamp Dogg was born one mystical night in 1970. Born in the mind of an outwardly unassuming character who for the previous 28 years had masqueraded as Jerry Williams, Jr., an itinerant singer, writer and producer of little renown... Then came the night of the Dogg and the light of a New Day. Coming from a whole 'nother direction - Macon, Georgia, by way of a cerebral short-circuit - Swamp Dogg emerged with his "Total Destruction To Your Mind" album, the first of an occasional series of erratic but frequently sharp observations on the individual nature of the States and the state of its individuals. Unfortunately neither America nor the rest of the world were ready to be upbraided in so forthright a fashion, especially by a musician of no easily definable status. For whereas Jerry Williams, Jr. might have been type-cast as a regular soul singer, Swamp Dogg was no such animal. An eclectic beast, crossed between '50's R&B and blues, Southern white rock 'n' roll and the New Breed ideas of Sly Stone and George Clinton, the Dogg was an altogether unfamiliar mongrel whose music rarely fitted any known programming formula. As a rock encyclopedia commented in 1976, "Because of his healthy disregard for commercial trends he has not yet received widespread recognition, although he's becoming increasingly known for the powerful imagery in his songs.""

This album was recorded in March of '72 but was "too hot to handle at the time" and was shelved till it's eventual release in 1981.

Do The Dogg

Barrelhouse Mamas - Born In The Alley, Raised Up In The Slum

Beautifully restored rare and long, long out of print 78's by some of the leading chanteuses and pianists of 1920's & 30's rag and blues. Definitely the top choice for late night drinking by one's self. Songs about two-timing men, thwarted love, longing for love, being busted, drunk and down and out. It's all here and it's not all pretty. And these women belted it out. Brilliant and, for the times, necessary, use of double entendre abounds in the lyrics adding the possibility of prostitution and drug indulgences to be the topics of some songs. Overall a beautiful and oft-spooky collection.

Barrelhouse Mamas


*Digital damage on last two tracks

Logan's Sanctuary - Robert Joseph Manning, Jr & Brian Reitzell (2000)

I hear there's a remake of Logan's Run in the works. So I figure I'll drop this'n on ya's before we get bombarded with media hype and a quite potentially diminished effort resulting in disappointed nerds and raving teenagers who know without a doubt that this is the original; there can be no other. Sanctuary is the soundtrack to the hypothetical sequel to Run. Beautiful but somewhat meretricious synth pieces that very much evoke a 23rd century dystopian world. Should appeal to fans and philistines alike.


Sanctuary

The Mirrors - A Green Dream (2001)

Better than everything else put out in 2001. Psychedelic, but not overly so, with garage aesthetics and a punk edge. I'd go so far as to say it's in the upper echelon of recordings in the last decade. By the way, I'm finding it damn nigh impossible to find their other album, Thirteen Patient Flowers, or any of frontman Greg Ashley's other projects (besides the ones executed under his own name: Strate Coats or Sir Lord von Raven). Any help would be appreciated.

A Green Dream

Magic Lantern - Platoon (2010) & Showstopper 7" (2010)

Apparently the final album by the Lantern, and a shame at that. While member Cameron Stallones continues blazing ever-onward with his project Sun Araw (and we love it around here), I'm still a little heartbroken at the loss of one of the best modern purveyors of deep space psych, echo-and-wah-laden, organ wailing behemoths. These guys have a direct line to past masters such as Can, Amon Duul II, Popol Vuh, etc. Kraut via California.

Platoon & Showstopper

Showstopper is the 7-inch that accompanies this album. Containing an amazing cover of Iron Knowledge's deep funk classic, 'Showstopper.' B-side 'Cyprus' funks pretty hard as well.

Fuzzhead - LSD (1992)

There seems to be not much information out there on this band. What is known is that Fuzzhead is the project of one Bill Weita from Kent, OH, and has been active since 1989. "The recordings are basically garage-psychedelic freakouts, lengthy and totally improvised space jams that attain an almost evil quality thanks to an unusually noisy background." Sound good?

LSD

The Gories - I Know You Fine, But How You Doin' (1990)

I can't (off the top of my head) think of a band from Detroit that sucks. The Gories are no exception to this sweeping generalization. No bullshit blues-encrusted garage punk. Poor Motor City, what has become of you?

Gories

Television - Double Exposure (Live '74-'75)

I love Television. I don't like Adventure. So all I've got is Marquee Moon and this; Double Exposure having been recorded several years before their debut, making these songs sort of demo versions. These tracks are rife with Tom Verlaine and the boys' particular sonic genius and cliche as it may be, this really makes me wish I'd been there. Amazing to hear Verlaine's signature breed of guitar-ism translated live.



Double Exposure

Amon Düül II - Wolf City (1973)

My favorite Amon Düül II. It lies cozily between their improv freakout jams and their more accessible material, giving it the perfect edge on which to dance ecstatically, gloriously celebrating all that is Kraut. I'm led to believe that there are a lot of people who still listen to this stuff, but do I know more than one or two?

Wolf City

Leland - This Is My World (1972)

Heavy, paranoid seventies guitar-driven outsider psych. Leland played around San Francisco, taking out advertisements depicting himself in a pair of tights and a cape with just the name "Leland" in big letters. Nothing else. Did that type of stuff work back then?

This Is My World

Michael and the Mumbles (1966)

I'm not gonna get into much description on this one. It's Michael Yonkers, if you're into him. Before he went on to record absolute batshit genius solo records he had this little garage band that I think is an obelisk of pop greatness. If you get around to downloading this and think I just gave you a shitty transfer, you need to know that this is how the original recording sounds. Apparently they didn't have much money to throw at production quality.

Mumbles

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963)

Johnny Hartman was apparently the only jazz vocalist whom Coltrane would work with. I'm still only in "baby's first wobbly steps" mode as far as experience with jazz ballads go, but I feel pretty safe in saying that this is amazing. Upon release it became an instant jazz classic, several tracks on the album being considered the definitive versions. Apparently the whole thing was recorded in one take in one afternoon excepting the track "You Are Too Beautiful" which required two takes due to a dropped drumstick by Elvin Jones.

Coltrane and Hartman

Billy Swan - I Can Help (1974)

Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge gave Billy Swan an electric organ as a wedding present. Billy Swan plays that organ on this album. Y'all know the title cut, but the rest of the album is eminently bitchin as well. Swan gets the "Definitive Version Award" for his cover of The King's "Don't Be Cruel."

Swan

Eddy Senay - Step By Step (1972)

Detroit guitarist who only put out a couple'a records in the early seventies. Amazing guitarist is Eddy and this album is entirely instrumental. Pure groove heavy funk and R&B, extremely relaxed and smooth. The keyboard operator, Rudy Robinson, is just as talented and praiseworthy as Senay, to the point that he should be more credited on the album, seeing as how the two riff off each other the entire time. A classic album.

Step By Step

Peaking Lights - 936

This may be something most of you are already hip to? I don't know, but I like it, I endorse it. They refer to themselves as "post-reggae" and "groove-wave." Unfortunate monikers if you ask me. It's dreamy psych electronic meanderings from a couple in Madison, Wisconsin. "Achingly beautiful melodies float over immersive and occasionally seedy dubbed-out grooves; beats rise out of a hazed jungle underworld, at times sounding like primitive machines. And the effect is nothing short of transcendent. 936 is a refreshingly original and somewhat unexpected blend of classic dub and acid-soaked, female-fronted psychedelia that emerged seemingly out of nowhere to become one of the year's most compelling and replayable jams."


936

The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray Bootlegs 1968-70

Four amazing recordings of 'Sister Ray.' Each between 17 and 28 minutes in length. Each one is singular in comparison to each other and the studio version, showing off the versatility of everyone's favorite art-rock forbears. Whip it on.

Part 1
Part 2

Crystal Stilts - In Love With Oblivion (2011)

Lo-fi garage with cavernous vocals and equally cavernous, echo-laden overtones. One track it'll be twilight on earth, the next it'll be out to space, but doesn't get boring or sound so curmudgeonly a la "pop a buncha Nyquil-dowsed Valium and forget it all" depression that I, for one, can't get my head around. More or less, it's one of those bands that reminds me not to hate a genre just because I hate most of the bands within it.

In Love With Oblivion

Lord Newborn and The Magic Skulls - S/T (2009)

Best instrumental album I've heard recently. A collaboration betwixt three musicians I know nothing about: Shawn Lee, Money Mark and Tommy Guerrero, who have produced the cleanest mess of musical soup I readily know of. Psychedelic and deeply rhythm-laden, it's not failed so far to pique the interest of anyone I've played it for. Elements of the best musical styles find their way in here without feeling awkward or forced.

Lord Newborn and The Magic Skulls

Clap - Have You Reached Yet? (1972)

If there's one thing I can't get enough of musically, it's the ahead of it's time mystique of proto-punk. Clap delivers in plenty. Heavy Stones-meets-Stooges vibe that has been on repeat through my speakers of late. Timeless in it's pure teenage energy.

Have You Reached Yet?

Diminished Men - Shadow Instrumentals (2009)

Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls says: "If current instrumental music was always as majestic and compelling as this, I'd hang up my Retro-Italian Soundtrack collector's boots for good. From the explosive drum rolls on the opening track, the only cover on the record, L'appel du Vere, from Roman Polanski's "The Tenant" (music by Phillipe Sarde), to the darkly exotic finale, "A Housewife's Dream", this album is a superbly crafted mosaic of whipcracking vengeance, speakeasy hallucinations and haunted geography. Besides the Italian Western overtones, the carnival-esque freakshow backdrops, Khorshid-Egyptian guitar passages, and flipped-out electronic space-psych, are perhaps the best surf-inspired tracks I've heard in years. It's spine-chilling how producer Randall Dunn managed to make this record the ultimate mid-60's Surf-Vampire-Western revival soundtrack. Elements of Joe Meek's best Moontrekkers productions cross with a dash of Badalamenti murder blues drums of Dave Abramson to leave their indelible stains across this 41-minute epic journey."


I concur. Excepting the fact that I hate when things are described as "epic." Other than that, I stand by these statements.


Shadow Instrumentals

Wild Billy Childish - 1982 Cassettes

One of the most prolific artists this side of the Renaissance. He's published over 40 collections of poetry, produced over 2000 paintings and recorded over 100 full length albums with bands of the most intriguing monikers: The Buff Medways, Thee Headcoats, The Pop Rivets, Mighty Caesars, Milkshakes, Holly Golightly, etc. These are homemade recordings magnetized in '82 and released in '88, featuring just Billy and his guitar.

Profligate

White Hills - H-p1 (2011)

Space rock is alive and well. Dark buzzing guitars, woozy, effects-drenched atmosphere, motorik drumming, chanted dead-eyed vox, some seriously caustic and crunchy FX. The guitar tones thick and super-distorted. The sound ominous and sinister. The roiling riffage infused with a pulsing droning thrum, all the elements are here in abundance. Add to the cosmic tone a theme of anti-government, anti corporation sentiment and what you've got is a classic of the genre.

H-p1

Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm - A Black Man's Soul (1969)

Recorded in Ike's free time while touring with Tina, this album is a departure from the style typical of his more popular compositions in favor of a more straightforward funk. And it slays. Arguably one of the best funk instrumental albums of the time, and a brilliant example of the man's genius. Turner played guitar and piano on the album, the other instruments helmed by The Kings of Rhythm who are, to me at least, unknown musicians. Billy Preston steps in on the keys for the track "Getting Nasty."

I Like Ike

Krzysztof Komeda - Astigmatic (1966)

Many regard this as the paragon of European jazz recordings.Critic Stuart Nicholson describes the album as "marking a shift away from the dominant American approach with the emergence of a specific European aesthetic." Komeda was a master pianist who, besides leading his quintet, paid his bills by providing soundtrack scores to over seventy films, including the Polanski films Rosemary's Baby, Knife In the Water, Fearless Vampire Killers, all of which are brilliant, by the way, and show his amazing versatility. As is the case with many of the finest among us, Komeda died tragically all too early, four days before his 38th birthday.

Krzysztof

Video is a piece not included on this album, and in fact doesn't accurately represent what you'll find on Astigmatic, but it goes to show the man's genius.

Abner Jay - Swaunee Water and Cocaine Blues

"Jay was born in Fitzgerald, Georgia. His father and grandfather were both slaves in Washington County, Georgia. His grandfather was also a banjo player and imparted a vast repertoire of old-time and folk songs to Abner. He started playing in medicine shows when he was 5. In 1932 he joined the Silas Green Minstrels and would later go on to lead the WMAZ Minstrels on Macon radio from 1946-56, before going solo. He spent many years travelling the American South and playing concerts from his "converted mobile home that opened up into a portable stage, complete with amplification and home furnishings." These concerts, as evidenced in his recordings, were often equal parts spoken word (jokes, philosophical asides, rants) and music. Common instruments on his recordings include harmonica, drum kit, a six-string banjo (that Jay claimed was made in 1748), and the "bones," which were chicken and cow bones that had been bleached in the sun and used to create percussion.  Jay's song repertoire included field songs, Pentecostal hymns and minstrel tunes. He once described himself as "the last working Southern black minstrel." He also performed original material that was mostly secular, and subjects ranged from politics, relationships, war, the bible and depression. In later years he had a residency, playing shows and selling his LPs and cassette tapes at Tom Flynn's Plantation Restaurant in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Anthony Braxton, renowned American composer and philosopher, called Jay and "American Master."

This guy really was something amazing. Playing all instruments himself and belting out his plaintive Southern drawl, Jay's songs get under your skin. By turns sad and funny, happy and lonely.

Abner Jay

Stark Reality - Now

 'One of the most tripped-out albums of funk ever. a rare treasure with a very unusual history. The Stark Reality were a cool little combo formed to work on public television in Boston in the late 60s featuring some heavy guitars, fuzzed-up vibes, and some monster percussion laid out in tight bass & drum rhythms that were years ahead of their time. The group recorded one rare album -- ostensibly a children's record, but based around old compositions by Hoagy Carmichael, completely pulled apart, sliced up, overly harmonized, and spat out into wild funky tunes that bear no resemblance to their originals! The original album -- Stark Reality Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop -- has been a holy grail for collectors for years [we once sold a copy for hundreds of dollars], and the music has only ever really been heard by a few dedicated beatheads that have tracked down rare copies. Now, though, the geniuses at Stones Throw have put out the whole LP, plus bonus material, in one fantastic package that is soon to make the Stark Reality legends amongst funky fans the world over! Mad vibes meet fuzzy guitars meet killer funky beats -- and the whole thing's a masterpiece that will never be duplicated again!' 


Honestly, this is like an insane man's answer to the question "What does Funk, Jazz, Fuzz, Psych and Skronk sound like?"


Stark Reality

Rob Jo Star Band - S/T (1975)

As far as proto-punk goes, most are familiar with a couple obvious examples: The Stooges, The Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, The New York Dolls, Roxy Music, Television, etc. As close to the heart as these are for me, I've got to say that a very small handful of bands got thrown under the bus and deserve the same recognition and devotion. French one-off act Rob Jo Star Band sits mightily, along with Simply Saucer, at the top of that list. An absolute blast of weird, what with the insane synth skree and Damo Suzuki-esque semi-English patois. Must be heard.

Call On One's Muse

Doldrums - Parrot Talk VHS Mixtape

Just gonna let their videos do the work. Honestly, how could you not want this?

Parrot Talk Mix

Backwards Sam Firk - The True Blues and Gospel of Backwards Sam Firk (1968)

"In the early 1960s, Mike Stewart adopted the professional name of Backwards Sam Firk. "My dad used to call me Backwards Sam because my initials are MAS," he explained. He recorded for the private label of the eccentric Maryland record collector Joe Bussard in the early 60s, on his own, with John Fahey and in impromptu groups. 

Mike's pseudonym came to wider notice in the late 1960s when he was associated with Gene Rosenthal's Adelphi Records, an independent Blues label based in Silver Spring, Maryland. The first item in its catalog was his album "The True Blues & Gospel of Backwards Sam Firk," consisting of scrupulous interpretations of repertoire learned from Mississippi John Hurt, Bo Carter, Big Bill Broonzy and other Blues masters of the 1920s and 30s"  

Firk is a fingerpicking master, not to be missed. Mostly instrumentals here, interspersed with a couple vocal tracks. Continues in the vein of the standard blues masters and completely does them justice.

Backwards Sam Firk

Duke Ellington, Charlie Mingus, Max Roach - Money Jungle (1962)

The Jazz Gods smiled upon the world back in September '62 when Duke Ellington decided to get together with Mingus and Roach to record this beauty. Truly a jazz "supergroup," although I hate that term. Mostly new material was written for the album with the exception of new renditions of Ellington classics "Caravan" and "Solitude." I recently told a friend of the existence of this collaboration and got a head-cocked-to-the-side-raised-eyebrow-"bullshit" look. So here's the proof.

Money Jungle

Wooden Shjips - West (2011)

New album from the San Francisco psych cosmonaut drone rock masters themselves. These guys are the torch bearers, no doubt. To be honest, I'd been apprehensive about this release, their style not having paved much territory since it'd been developed, but my doubts are thoroughly assuaged via West. New sonic metals are forged.

Go West

Diplo and Tony Tripledouble - AEIOU2

DJ and producer-extraordinaire Diplo teamed up with Philadelphia record fiend Tony Tripledouble to concoct this amazing mix compiled from obscure psych, funk and soundtrack material. Originally released on cassette in a total somewhere around 500, it's popularity has given rise to a proper reissue. Classic breaks 'n beats.

AEIOU2

Lewis Reed

Haha........Lewis. First two sung by Lou. Last two written by Lou, performed by The Jades.

Brand New Wayo: Funk, Fast Times and Nigerian Boogie Badness 1979-1983

I'm wary of all these African comps that seem to be sprouting up like weeds these days. Each one seems to promise unheard auditory miracles culled from a magical, nearly-untapped vault that's been recently discovered, only to (in most cases) fall short. I'll stand up tall and proud next to this one, however. High energy, eclectic and sophisticated post-disco jams from Nigeria's Second Republic, a time and place where democracy had returned after twenty-three years of military dictatorship and a burgeoning oil economy supported an expansion in industry, the music industry included. People were in a celebratory mood and it definitely shows here. "Record companies upgraded their technology and cranked out a staggering volume of output to an audience hungry for music to celebrate the country’s prospective rise as global power of the future. While it was a boom time for a wide variety of popular music styles, the predominant commercial sound was a post-afrobeat, slickly modern dance groove that retrofitted the relentless four-on-the-floor bass beat of disco to a more laid back, upbeat-and-downbeat soul shuffle, mixing in jazz-funk, synthesizer pop and afro feeling. At the time, it was still mostly locally referred to as “disco,” but has since been recognized as its own unique genre retrospectively dubbed “Nigerian boogie.”" Compiled lovingly by the die-hard over at Comb And Razor.


Wayo

The Lovin' Spoonful - Hums of The Lovin' Spoonful (1966)

The Spoonful's third full-length. Pretty disparate stylistically, but their intention was to sound different each time they recorded on this joint, so, they succeeded. I'm not infused with scholarly knowledge about who initiated "country rock" when, but I'd be willing to wager that select cuts from this album were among the first with 'Nashville Cats,' (a genius tune that pops into my gulliver often), 'Lovin You,' et al. Also included is their biggest, 'Summer In The City.'

Up north there ain't nobody'll buy 'em I said 'but I will.'

Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro - Uhuru Peak (2010)

This damned thing represents in excess of a year's worth of scavanging on my part. I still remain clueless to why it was so elusive (barring, of course, ordering the thing from Japan to the tune of sixty+ dollars, shipping not included.) Anyway, I did the work, you reap the benefit. These guys can funk with the best of 'em, better than most actually. And they're Japanese.
"While 2008's eponymous debut strove to tear up dance floors, "Uhuru Peak" is all about playing it cool. Boasting a more predominately lounge vibe than its predecessor, tight, well-crafted grooves such as "Theme of Kilimanjaro" and "Super Jock Strut" are heavily accented with jazz in addition to the excellent 1970s throwback funk and soul that is the cornerstone of the band's sound."


Uhuru Peak

Mickey and The Soul Generation - Iron Leg (The Complete Mickey and The Soul Generation)

Late sixties, early seventies funk from San Antonio, TX., an area which birthed a pretty swarthy funk scene in those days. Many consider M and the SG to be the swarthiest among them. Why am I using the word swarthy? Some consider them to be not only the best from that particular scene, but of any. I contend with that opinion, but it serves to show ya that these guys knew what they were about. Title track "Iron Leg" is definitely a classic of the genre.

Swarth!

Indispensable Summer

Sinatra-Jobim Sessions - Recorded '67 & '69, released '79



Sinatra-Jobim














Published only in Brazil and up until recently unavailable elsewhere, this is one of those musical pairings you wished existed, yet in this case  somehow actually does. Simply beautiful. Sinatra and Jobim are absolutely amazing together and I can't imagine what reason was touted for keeping this gem hidden from international publication for so long.

Jackie Mittoo & The Soul Vendors - Evening Time (1968)




Evening Time

Rocksteady regal herald of the keys, founding member of The Skatalites and irreplaceable writer/bandleader for the Studio One label. Sweet, breezy tropical bliss that truly deserves a much wider swath of recognition. Unsung classic.

"There are very few musicians of any style or era whose appeal is such that it is safe to recommend them to anyone for enjoyment in personal performance or on record. Jackie Mittoo is such a musician."

Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics - Inspiration Information (2009)

"Mulatu Astatke (also written Astatqé on French releases) is arguably one of the most influential and legendary musicians from Ethiopia. During the 1960’s, he studied music abroad in London, Boston, and New York. He then returned home to Ethiopia armed with a love for jazz and Latin music. There he blended Ethiopian traditional music with the Latin-jazz he was so fond of to create a unique hybrid he called “Ethio-jazz”.
Mulatu Astatke is first and foremost a composer but also a multi-instrumentalist, playing the vibraphone, keyboards and organs. He is further credited as having established congas and bongos, instruments normally central to Latin styles, in Ethiopian music. However, as Ethiopian songs traditionally focused on vocals his greatest contribution to the music of his country was introducing a new focus on instrumentation.
Three of his LPs were recorded in New York City – his first two, Afro-Latin Soul Volumes 1 & 2 in 1966, plus laterMulatu of Ethiopia in 1972. The bulk of his output was on Amha Records (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) on which he released several 7” singles as well as one LP in 1974 entitled Yekatit Ethio-Jazz."

This is his first album to be released in over twenty years, with the help of stellar instrumentalists The Heliocentrics. This is really jaw-dropping stuff, requisite fodder for your ear cannon. And if the sound of Middle Eastern singing isn't entirely inviting to you, please don't let the first track turn you off.

Inspiration Information

Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - Pleasure Dub (1974)




Pleasure Dub











Dub via Rocksteady. Coincidentally, McCook is another of the founding members of The Skatalites and a saxophonist par excellence. Errol Brown produced three albums which gave a dub treatment to rocksteady classics. This, Pleasure Dub, is arguably the best of the three. Consider as well that dub was a genre in utero at the time, making this cut all the more impressive.

Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical - Ranil's Jungle Party (60's-70's)




Jungle Party












Top-notch Peruvian cumbia straight outta the Amazon. Perfect for sweltering days and balmy nights. Deeply funky psychedelic surf-guitar jams these is. The record label Masstropicas compiled these tracks and put together this beautiful vinyl release, limited to 1,000 copies

Miles Corbin - Sounds From The Tiki Hut (2000)





Tiki Hut












Couldn't really put it better than this guy did: "The laziest sound possible. A very interesting production mix: stripped down, retro soft synth beats entangled in classical Hawaiian/surf guitar melodies. All songs have thin basslines so the whole album is mostly in mid and high range (love those cheap, crisp snares) mostly sounding like some rare exotic vintage gem. A truly unpretentious record that takes you far, far away from the suffocating, confusing world of today's showy, charts aiming bands."