Alexander Tucker

Tucker takes his penchant for the detuned acoustic on another fingerpicked ride through tape loops and drone-scrawled alleyways. The English songwriter has played with JOMF and Papa M. and their influence seems to have done the old boy some good. A much more consistent effort than his previous foray into the acoustic kingdom, "Furrowed Brow" is a scraggly-faced testimony, weary with a days travel; seasoned and aware enough to be bitter in the right places and content in the rest. For the most part the acoustic takes its center stage, but there's a wail in the vocals that's weighted with hurt. Bursts of fuzz and drone anchor some moments to the floor; barely able to stand the anguish, but Furrowed Brow breaks through with a weary quietude that's seasoned far beyond Tucker's years. The record lands again in the able hands of ATP recordings who put out his last record Old Fog, which though a step forward from his post-hardcore past was spotty and raw. Maturity has been a great asset to tucker and he's allowed the wounds to heal on tape.

Download:
[MP3] Alexander Tucker -You Are Many
[MP3] Alexander Tucker -Rotten Shade

A double stuffed lo-fi classic from a few years back. As effortless today as it was then.

	Little Wings - What Wonder 2x7" In true Kyle Field fashion this is an off the cuff recording that captures his spirit of performance perfectly. Reportedly recorded in the front seat of a truck, the first track "Joy" is an unrehearsed piece inspired by the driver of said truck. It flows nicely into "Hanta
Yo", both backed with a new rendition of the title track that is even more raw and natural than the original (as if that was hardly possible). The second 7" is even less rehearsed and has a bit more of a throwaway quality to it. Not a bad little package nonetheless and one I'm glad I picked up at the time. Download: [MP3] Little Wings -What Wonder (7" version) Also there's a new mix tape up over there on the right. Some old, some new this time. Stuff from Excepter, Es, Alexander Tucker, Black Dice, DJ Shadow and OOIOO. A live track from John Fahey and some great covers by Four Tet (Black Sabbath) and Six Organs of Admittance (Jandek).

Ponytail

As Baltimore takes its place as the premiere center for the exportation of spazz, the warehouse scene is seeing its artists eagerly picked up by labels. Monitor has gabbed a few of the frontrunners of the scene but best of all has to be Ponytail. The band, which might pass for a spazzier version of Parts & Labor has distinguished itself by its erratic if completely unbelievable vocals. Singer Molly Siegal shrieks, squeaks and produces any other number of indecipherable sounds over the band's own seemingly tireless brand of punk. The end result being an aural ride in the dryer that leaves your head fuzzy and confused but ultimately giddy as a 5 year old. The bands album Kamehameha was released earlier this year via Creative Capitalism and will I'm sure have more explosive tidbits to come in the next year.

Download:
[MP3] Ponytail -Dear God Plz Make My2eyes N2 One
[MP3] Ponytail -Lion Down

Racoo-oo-oon

Acid-skronk warriors Racoo-oo-oon have a penchant for dark and noisy walls of chaos. In most cases their nocturnal moniker captures the spirit accurately as they tear at your ears and scurry off into the surrounding darkness. However, on Behold Secret Kingdom there are some brief moments of "lighter" tone but nothing resembling bliss or a foray into sunshiny days. Mostly they follow their sinister impulses down a ragged path to the secret hollow namesake of the album and proceed to clear-cut jagged rhythms and torrents of sound into your brain. Pure dark fires that burn with a welcome disorienting smoke, drums skitter and shake while howls and moans lurk in every corner breaking out of a haphazard guitar chug. Honestly, this band has only made itself better and more pungent with every album. The band is selling CD-r versions of the album on tour and it looks like it will see a proper dual release on Release the Bats and Not Not Fun sometime in the future.

Download:
[MP3] Racoo-oo-oon-Mirror Blanket
[MP3] Racoo-oo-oon-Invisible Sun

Fridge

Before they had ridiculously recognizable solo projects (Four Tet, Adem) the members of fridge were just three guys creating an incredibly rhythmic jerky brand of post-(insert genre here); that sizzled with life and ingenuity. Some six odd years later the band has picked up where they left off and then some. The Sun is and exercise in terse edge of the mind jams that spiral from eternity to limbo and pave the road as they go. Like putting together pieces from six puzzles and still managing to make a coherent picture, Fridge play seamstress with folk, rock and electronica perfectly. The results are a memorable swirl through the last few years of instrumental rock that is aware with out being nostalgic. The album is being released on their former home of Temporary Residence, Ltd and will be out real soon. Keep an eye out.

Download:
[MP3] Fridge-Eyelids

Hell yes, back to an eclectic Jukebox this week. Filled with delights that skew towards the garage, to the glam and on a short trip through scraggly skronk. Every once in a while I remember that I started this feature to shake out the musical skeletons from my collection.

[MP3] Be-Bop Deluxe -Third Floor Heaven
Quite possibly the best glam homage to prostitution and one of the better forgotten songs of the genre. Be-Bop Deluxe had the style, the swagger and the makeup, but what really helped their sound was Bill Nelson's string work. A completely trashy, fun track that sweats flamboyance.

[MP3] Clear Light-She's Ready To Be Free
Somehow pegged as a Second Tier Doors, this L.A. band featured Dallas Taylor, who would later turn in work for CSN&Y on drums. This bonus track from the recording sessions of their self-titled album doesn't really paint the comparison well, but its a great slice of jangly 60's pop with a slight run of darkness waiting in the corners. Sinister and euphoric, this didn't fit the album but stands as a great single anyway.

[MP3] The Blues Magoos -She's Coming Home
The soul of R&B takes itself to the garage, where the boys Magoo snarl this classic into a twisted sense of loyalty. With a surf-blues stomp on the bass and an organ roll that holds onto you tighter each time, this is one of my favorite girl done wrong tales.

[MP3] Ides Of March-L.A. Goodbye
The poor-man's Blood, Sweat and Tears change their tune a bit and do their best CSN isnstead, complete with sweet harmonized chorus and a breezy attitude. Playing down their penchant for horns and theatrics and hitting that California vibe pretty spot on; it may be a pretty apparent derivation, but at least the outcome is a pretty sweet homage that puts the wind in your hair and eases down with the sun.


[MP3] Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band-Moonlight On Vermont
One of the first bands to get me to the weirder side of the fence. Too much has been said about the genius/ maddness that spouted from Don Van V and Co. and those testimonies will probably serve you well. This is a steaming slice of acid blues that rocks and rasps from the Captain's pipes and marches down your ear canal with the authority of a Baptist preacher gone sideways.

Gang Gang Dance

In preparation for a new album coming out later this year, the inimitable Gang Gang Dance has released a DVD that is one part psych-stoner art film and one part tour retrospective (of sorts). Never fear in true GGD style this isn't full of drawn out interviews and shaky van shots. The first part of the DVD is a 24+ minute mash of nature imagery, band members and miscellaneous ephemera cut and spliced to a new untitled GGD track by band member Brian Degraw. This is a psychic paramount of mindflaying audio and visual that matches their musical style in perfect fashion. The second part of the DVD is a film shot on the road by friend and fan Oliver Payne that captures some of the greatest moments of their last tour. The package also includes a CD with music cut and pasted from the band's catalog into a sound collage that was created by Degraw for the DVD. I've included an excerpt of both the audio and visual below. Retina Riddim is out May 22nd on The Social Registry.

Download:
[MP3] Gang Gang Dance -Untitled Number 3 (excerpt from Retina Riddim)

Video:

Digging back into the nineties hey day when band's released 7"s no matter how big they thought they were. It's nice to see a resurgence as of late, but the bins just don't flow over like they used to.

	Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You/ Hells Bells" Always straddling the line between the fuzzy disaffected sounds of the Velvet Underground and the more jangly presence of the era they lived in, The Dandy Warhols were a staple of the College Rock charts for years.
Embracing a bit of love for some more distinct classic rock, the band issued this single that, well loved the Stones a bit too much. They were accused of taking a little too liberally from the "Gimme Shelter palette." Nonetheless it stands as a memorable single of the era and is backed by an admirably hazy rendition of the AC/DC classic Hells Bells. Download: [MP3] The Dandy Warhols -Hells Bells

Meg Baird

Espers member and full time Baird Sister, Meg has crafted a solo album of sweet pastoral folk songs that blow with a cool plaintive wind of sadness and hope. Meg has been a pivotal member of the folk collective Espers and has long since been a collaborator with her sister Kathleen but this album focuses completely on her own voice and the spare strum of guitar. Sounding a bit more British than her American heritage would let on, her voice is strong and unwavering without a single shred of uncertainty. Baird sings in the sweet countryside tradition, as if the songs weren't written to be heard by the world but by those she's loved and those that happen luckily by as she sings. Cool stream songs delivered with candor and honesty; folk in the most traditional of senses. The first single from the album "The Waltze of the Tennis Players" has been released on 7" by Tequila Sunrise and Drag City has picked up the album Dear Companion.

Download:
[MP3] Meg Baird -Dear Companion
[MP3] Meg Baird -The Waltze of the Tennis Players

Wooden Wand

I know, it seems like all we do around here is cover wooden wand albums these days. Well for as prolific an artist as Toth is this, his debut for Ecstatic Peace, he considers to be the third proper Wooden Wand album in succession with Harem of the Sundrum and Second Attention and it's probably the biggest deviation of form yet. When he approached label owner Thurston Moore he claimed that he wanted to make an "un-weird" album and as best as he can, Toth has accomplished this feat. Using the touchstones of Waylon Jennings and Leonard Cohen he's made an album haunted by the road and touched with specks of digestible pop. However, though the album does not contain any moments that dissolve into fuzz or psychedelic milieu, Toth's lyrics will always set him apart from his influences and contemporaries. Littered with oblique religious visions and brilliant non-sequetors, no matter how much sheen is underneath him, they will always be marked with a weirdness that is much more of an asset than any instrumentation could ever provide. A bevy of musicians round out the album Jarvis Taveniere (Vanishing Voice, Meneguar), DM Seidel (Vanishing Voice), Jeremy Earl (Woods, Meneguar), Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Jessica Toth (who also co-arranged all the vocal parts)and Lee Ranaldo who plays as well as steps in to produce James and the Quiet. This album does stand alone with his previous three "albums" as the kind of finished works that will be as highly regarded down the road as they will be today. When his wonderfully experimental side calms down it becomes apparent that James Toth is probably one of the strongest songwriters of this generation.

Download:
[MP3] Wooden Wand-Delia
[MP3] Wooden Wand-Spitting at the Camera

Amiina

There's something in Icelandic music that always seems to match perfectly the feelings associated with precipitation. It's not fair to always plead that the music is associated with icy weather but be it a slow dust of flakes or the incessant drizzle of rain, the fragility of falling water and the wonderfully bittersweet sadness of the music seem intertwined. Amiina infuse this delicate sadness into every second of their debut album Kurr, following up on a template they've built their last two EPs around. The album isn't so much cinematic as it is rotoscopic in effect. It's not a huge sweeping production, just a careful retracing of a beautiful moment frozen in time. Simple colors dance wildly but shimmer at the edges with unimaginable light. Amiina have really emerged from their place in the background as a string ensemble and aid to other's music and taken their place as one of neo-classical's new breed of artisans. Kurr is out now via the band's own Bláskjár records.

Download:
[MP3] Amiina-Glámur
[MP3] Amiina-Hilli

A couple of garage classics that took the format into outer territories. As the garage scene blossomed the sound moved from pop and harsh pre-punk classics to embrace the blues, psychedelia and soul. Over time the whole genre began burst at the seams with promise.

	The Blues Project - Projections This band made a name for themselves playing the Cafe Au Go Go and subsequently with their albums, packed with a hard garage tinged take on the blues. This album probably sees the band at their best and most focused. A few covers and
some early Al Kooper originals incorporate a heavy dose of the blues and a taste of psychedelia yet to come. The whole affair was produced by Tom Wilson who had his hand in a few of the decade's classics. Some of the longer blues numbers can meander a bit but Kooper's jazz tinged originals shine in amongst the seamless garage fodder, and overall the album smolders with a youthful tension and ravaging explosions of pent up energy. Download: [MP3] The Blues Project -I Can't Keep From Cryin' [MP3] The Blues Project - Wake Me, Shake Me
	The Heads- Heads Up Recorded in a freezing New York Studio, The Heads took bits of soul and a swagger of pop and blues and cranked them through a garage sensibility. Featuring mostly originals and a few unnecessary Beatles covers, the album hits its
stride when the band really focuses on the soul angle, downtrodden lamentations that pine with the impatience of youth. They do hit s bit of gold in the psych inflected "Land of the Stoned Soul," but despite the more psychedelic look of the cover these moments are few and far between. They mostly keep it straight and narrow and it looks like this may have been all the boys ever produced. A nice collection with some standout singles though. Download: [MP3] The Heads - I Found A Love (With You) [MP3] The Heads - The Land of the Stoned Soul

Black Moth Super Rainbow

Pittsburgh based electro-psych juggernauts Black Moth Super Rainbow have been creating a homegrown brand of hazy electronica for years now. Sort of like the blue collar, DIY Boards of Canada but without all the Satanic rumors. The band has taken their androgynous vocodor wielding sound and injected it with everything from funk to back shed beats and its come out as one of the most beautifully ramshackle sounds around. Often focusing on childhoods both lost and found the members all seem to tap into another plane that is extremely far removed from the steel capitol of the U.S. Like a a road trip with your imaginary friend through the recesses of your memory, their vision is both refreshing and harrowing but completely worth the price of admission. Fresh off their collaboration with The Octopus Project, the band have crafted yet another gem, Dandelion Gum and released it through Graveface records on May 15th.

Download:
[MP3] Black Moth Super Rainbow-Melt Me
[MP3] Black Moth Super Rainbow-When The Sun Grows On Your Tongue

Also as an added bonus the band has posted remixes of their work on their website. Here are a few remixes of Drippy Eye which has appeared on previous EPs and on the new album.

Download:
[MP3] Black Moth Super Rainbow-Drippy Eye (Brian Ellis Remix)
[MP3] Black Moth Super Rainbow-Drippy Eye (Octopus Project Remix)

Another single from this year and probably one of my favorites both musically and aesthetically. Someone please tell me why all artists don't embrace colored vinyl?

	Pop Levi - Sugar Assault Me Now 10" Pop Levi has taken this year by force, a pop cannon that screams to be recognized. His full length The Return to Form Black Majick Party was a full speed slip n' slide through pop, glam and rock influences that,
though some put off as derivative is simply too much damn fun to dismiss. The album was bookended by two 10" singles both on marbled vinyl and both containing some pretty great remixes of songs from the album. The B-side to "Sugar Assault Me Now" contains a reworking of the album track "Blue Honey." The remix features a much greater focus on rhythmic intensity, punctuated by a persistant hip shaking drum punch and corresponding grunt from Levi. A party shaker from start to collapse. Download: [MP3] Pop Levi -Blue Honey (Hollywood Version)

LSD March

This rare gem of the Japanese psychedelic underground has been reissued for the second time. Empty Rubious Red was released in a limited run on vinyl in early 2006 and in an expanded form on CD later in the year. The album was gone before it was barely on the shelves. Tequila Sunrise, the label responible for classics by Jack Rose, Meg Baird and a few other nuggets of the psych-folk variety has graciouly reissued this on 180g vinyl in heavy beautiful packaging. The record itself is a kind of deep midnight stoner folk; like a calm smoke filled couch session that breaks into a manic hysteria. The record rides the nighttime living room jam for a little over the first side before finding a sudden surge of fire in the form of the title track; a disjointed tension that builds into a squall of fuzz. A masterful offering from two of the leaders of the scene, shinsuke michishita is joined by the subtle rumble of ikuro takahashi's(fushitsusha/ nagisa ni te) sticks on a couple of tracks. A sick dark tumble down the drainpipe that can only lead to good things. Empty Rubious Red is out now in a limited run of 1000 copies, 800 of which are in the U.S. so if you see a copy pick it up.

Download:
[MP3] LSD March-The Present Is A Storm
[MP3] LSD March-Nude and Bizarre

Blues Control

Finally emerging from their cassette only past, scuzz-drone afficionados Blues Control drop their first LP on Woodsist Records. Puff is a grime and smoke look at the blues through crushed glass. The album anchors itself to the idiom only in its repetitive guitar structure but floats into krautrock, heavy guitar fuzz freakouts, and moments that sparkle with shimmering drone. Actually from hearing bits and pieces of their earlier works I'm surprised how much of this record focuses on the lighter material; pieces that have an overtly serene and otherworldly quality. Perhaps the bands side work as the electro-drone outfit Watersports has been seeping into their recordings, and if so its much to their credit. The band shares much in common with contemporaries and fellow fuzz grinders Wooden Shjips, consequently it's easy to see why both bands have been picked up by Holy Mountain to release records in the near future. Puff can be purchased through Fusetron and check out Revolver/Midheaven for news on the upcoming CD.

Download:
[MP3] Blues Control -End Zone

Dan Fröberg

Swedish Born Dan Fröberg creates meticulous sound collages that evoke a wild convoluted dream. A dream in which faces come barely into focus before they are whisked away by street noise or the laughing of children, a dream that is as full of space as it is full of clatter. Fröberg constructed most of the pieces from field recordings made in and around Kunming, China, Göttenborg, Sweden and Newcastle upon Tyne in England. The field recordings are left unprocessed but are layered on top of each other and interspersed with bits of electronic nuance. Fröberg's visions come off like a less sinister David Lynch, equally as disorienting and hallucinatory but never quite as dark and full of fear. His pieces are full of wonder, albeit a disorienting wonder that may ebb at your senses at play with the coattails of your sanity. 15 Songs (Down At Jinxey's) is out on Fylkingen Records.

Download:
[MP3] Dan Fröberg-Song Eleven
[MP3] Dan Fröberg-Song Seven (we’ve been here and we’ve been there, so we’ve been here all of the time)

While The Who ruled the Mod and subsequent Freakbeat scene, many bands made the sound their own. The tributaries of the sound flowed over and every garage band took its day in the sun, but of course some had the kind of musical ingenuity to make something that shone just a bit brighter than the rest.

	The Smoke - The Smoke Taking the Mod template and injecting it thoroughly with a wide streak of psychedelia, The Smoke made a sweet druggy brand of pop that has continued to influence for decades. Their inescapable ode to LSD, "My Friend Jack" will remain
one of my favorite singles of the decade, but they more than escaped the one-hit wonder status, crafting bright sunny melodies and wavering psych harmonies. They also had an incredible ability to lay a subtle swing into the back of a song, subverting blues roots into a pop targeted cannonball that wound up splintering as was the way that bands seemed to end in those days. Still this album and the few collections that have wrangled the rest of their b-sides and other odds and ends together remain as a reminder of what they were. Download: [MP3] The Smoke -High In A Room [MP3] The Smoke - Wake Up Cherylina
	The Action - Rolled Gold Produced by George Martin but taking cues from the Small Faces and the Zombies and the Who, The Action created a masterwork that has fallen sorely short of the mark in terms of recognition. Their songs had a melodic touchstone that broke
free of mod's chugging rhythms and, though their album showed an unnatural maturity EMI, their label's parent company took a pass on their album at the time it was recorded. Subsequently the band fractured, and over time evolved into the slightly less impressive Mighty Baby. EMI's mistake has long since been rectified and the album is available in its entirety, showcasing the talents that could have been much more than they were allowed. Download: [MP3] The Action - Brain [MP3] The Action - Strange Roads

Wooden Wand & The Omen Bones Band

Another foray into fuzz caked talking blues by RSTB fave Wooden Wand. This time bringing along the twin assets of Satya Sai and Keith Wood, this disc acts as an extension of the tour only EP the three produced a while back. Horus of the Horizon sees release through Three Lobed's Modern Containment CD series. The EP features Toth in true dusty bard fashion with cautionary tales aplenty and sitting sidearm is Keith Wood, his guitar heavy with a fuzz interlude or two to churn up the dust. A much less polished affair than anything that turned up on Second Attention but somehow this is how Toth comes off at his best. The performance is off the cuff, road songs laid to tape for a weeks pay and off to the next back room show. Talking blues melt into an inky night psychedelic resurrection into murky rings of wah pedal smoke and right back again; further proof that these are two of this generation's leading songwriters doing exactly what they were born to do. The CD is available from Three Lobed as part of the mail order series featuring Kinski, Mothus, Sunburned Hand of the Man, MV + EE and more or you can pick it up at Fusetron.


Download:
[MP3] Wooden Wand and the Omen Bones Band -Black Hanna

Ok digging back a couple of years here for a classic Psych-pop single.

	All Night Radio - All Night Radio/ Flying Bat Factory 12" Following the demise of Beachwood Sparks, Dave Scher teamed up with friend Jimi Hey for a near perfect slice of psych-pop under the alias All Night Radio. The name referred to their meeting as DJ and listener of
Scher's college radio show. They disbanded after one album and one tour. This 12" preceded the album and was hand screened by the band members. The a-side would go on to close out the album in a longer format but the b-side scrapes together seemingly every influence they could find. It's a trip through sweet psych, hip-hop beats and sound collage all rolled into a swirly entertaining mess. I have to admit I was a little heartbroken when this duo called it quits. They were definitely my favorite of the Beachwood offshoots. Download: [MP3] All Night Radio -All Night Radio (Flying Bat Factory Mix)

Jana Hunter

Jana Hunter piles on the charm and the production for her follow up to the bleak and affecting home recording that was Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom. Still infusing the recordings with her unique spirit and tar and honey vocals, Hunter has crafted a sweet shamble of an album that is at home with her lo-fi past but equally comfortable in line with some of indie folk's front runners. By production, I'm simply implying the addition of more than her voice and a guitar, but this isn't exactly bursting the 24-Track Studer or anything. It's still a private invitation affair as if those supporting her are there because they received a nod into her small world. Hunter captures the shady tree moments, a respite from the sun but still in sight of the warmth and brightness that lies all around. Songs make a brisk with carefree but always leave some element to trepidation and like a change in the wind she can turn the ease to insular pins and needles. Perhaps her ability to find the thin line between harmony and disquiet is her most intriguing quality. There's No Home is out April 10th on Gnomonsong.

Download:
[MP3] Jana Hunter-Valkyries
[MP3] Jana Hunter-Recess

Circle

As soon as I popped this into the CD player I had to double check myself to make sure I had put in the right disc. Miljard holds on to very little of Circle's past. The band, whose sound had previously been marked by Hawkwind style swirling keyboards, krautraockesque repetition and a singer with a Metal screech that could raise hairs, seemed to have gone remarkably soft. This was the band that held the NWOFHM (New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal) banner high. So, slate clean and forgetting all of that, this is a record of immense beauty and tenuous fragility. It teeters on the edge of tranquility and touches on themes of uncertainty. Long pieces are mired in slow drones and hesitant piano; unraveling into dark chasms of subtle fear. It seems that the boys in Circle have found a new way to express darkness. There is an overtly, uneasy nighttime feel to the album but it in no way touches on the evil impulses that were scattered in their vocal oriented work. Still, it seems that they have not gone soft at all, rather they've gone foreboding. Perhaps Circle just found greater unease in simplicity.

Download:
[MP3] Circle -Salenius
[MP3] Circle -Manni

Deerhunter

Deerhunter quickly follow up their Cryptograms album with an EP that skews in the more pop oriented direction the band have taken to. Still a hazy couple of songs but not as droney and washed out as the first half of the album. The release of the EP will coincide with Kranky's release of the Cryptograms album on vinyl (finally) and the Fluorescent Grey EP will be included as bonus tracks. Both the EP and LP + EP will be out April 16th in the U.S.

Download:
[MP3] Deerhunter -Wash Off

Big A little a (Aa)

Brooklyn based rhythm mongers and purveyors of electro-skronk, Big A little a finally see a release on a big(er) label. Gigantic has wrangled together a snapshot of the fury they unleash on a live audience. Pulsating with inner demons that threaten to reach out and tear your eardrums from you, gAame is an intense delusion of sticks and fists and flashes of heat that leave you soaked in tension. This record... this band is all about drums, and lots of them. Each member wields sticks like a tribal rite and if not beating the senses out of skins or a keyboard members are given to fits of howling. With all this catastrophic action, its hard to believe that moments of beauty still find their way to peak out at the edges but peek they do. Big A little a finally make the record that captures their bumper car aesthetic perfectly. To sweeten the deal even further the band has packaged the record with a DVD full of live footage and videos that utilize the primal imagery that has always adorned their concert flyers.

Download:
[MP3] Big A little a-Thirteen
[MP3] Big A little a-Manshake

Video for "Thumper" from accompanying DVD:

The Jukebox is taking a trip in another direction this week. This time its a huge helping of some classic Funk. From down home U.S. Motown to the impact that the sound had once it hit foreign shores.


[MP3] Spider Harrison -Beautiful Day
Hitting the middle ground between soul's vocal stylings and a heavy dose of funk instrumentality, Harrison and Co. find absolute magic. One of my favorite Funk/Soul tracks: it just beams with a laid back honest delivery that carries Harrison's ineffable personality through the speakers and into a room. Try not to enjoy this song.

[MP3] Michael Liggins & The Supersouls -Loaded To The Gills
British born Liggins found inspiration in the current wave of psychedelic music that was preeminent at the time. He translated some of the style and merged it with a dirty shuffling beat that is as raw as it is perfect. Liggins & the Supersouls pulled no punches and played funk straight from the gut; hard and loose with an ever-present ear on the rhythm.

[MP3] Moussa Doumbia -Keleya
Both Funk and Psychedelic music hit the African shores late but when they hit, they hit hard and meshed with an already brilliant musical culture. Lending African rhythms to a funky horn laden track complete with some James Brown grunts thrown in for good measure, Doumbia keeps a cool bubble under the surface and rips it apart with a tortured sax line. An excellent swirl of cultures.

[MP3] Soul Seven-Southside Funk
Huge stabs of R&B horns over a tumultuous hopper of an instrumental funk track. This is the kind of funk that made a name for the sound. Bass lines roll and thump and the guitars stab in sweet short jangles. This if funk for dancin', funk for Saturday nights, hell this is funk for life.

[MP3] Di Melo-A Vida Em Seus Metodos Diz Calma
Funk also hit the South American shore a little late but with equally impressive results. Rolling funk lines mixed with an already vibrant samba culture to create a hybrid of Samba Soul dance music that was as smooth it was danceable. The congas slide right in along the ride of the cymbal and move feet like it was strictly a matter of principle.

[MP3] Lil' Lavair & The Fabulous Jades-Cold Heat
Yet another of my favorites from the period. Lavair and the aptly named Fabulous Jades were an unstoppable torrent of rock farfisa and huge R&B horns. The entire show was tied down by Lavair's heavy vocals and guitar lines that could make a bluesman blush. Hell this is what funk was, is and always will be.

Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan

Much of the early coverage surrounding this album focused on whether or not they were actually going to release the album in reverse and how disappointed those were that had heard the songs prior to their reversal. Well as pressed copies arrive and, yes they all seem to be backwards, it's time to step back and judge the album for what it is. Though the fundamental idea isn't exactly revolutionary, the reversed album does make for a rather interesting psych-pop listen. The hypnotic sound of reversed percussion creates a constant that laps at the pieces like ocean waves. The vocals are removed from their center stage position and relegated to instrumental elements and meaning dissolves from their delivery. Still the most effective pieces tend to be the instrumental ones; rhythmic and swirling like life flashing by in hasty reverse. The simple charm of the original tracks can still be felt underneath the guise of the novelty and honestly the tracks still hold that charm in their present form. The couple still seems to play off one another with ease, maybe this is just one way to let you closer into their own inside joke. I suppose the test time will serve to see if the experiment falls by the wayside.

Download:
[MP3] Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan-Palenka
[MP3] Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan-Was Onaip