Plain Brown Wrappers #1

Well... I know it's been awhile. I had to regroup and get back to why I started this blog in the first place: to share amazing tunes with as many people as possible. I kind of got lost in a popularity contest, and wasn't doing it for the right reasons. E-mile helped turn my attitude around for the better, by prompting me to quit doing the blog if my heart wasn't in it anymore.

I have to admit that I was a little pissed off about not receiving many comments, and I was contemplating the demise of Eclectic Grooves, but sometimes inspiration strikes when we least expect it. Last Friday I was chatting with an old friend at a concert. She was telling me about an experience she had where she was listening to a record, but she had no idea what it was. It reminded her of an old spiritual free-jazz album from the 60's such as Archie Shepp or John Coltrane. She said that she listened to the record impulsively that night, until the artist's identity was finally revealed to her by a friend. The idea of not knowing was exciting and interesting to her.

She had a creative idea to start a record store that featured all blank album covers so the listeners would have no idea who it was they were listening to. They would just pick albums randomly and go to a listening booth to decide if they wanted to purchase it. After they decided to purchase the record, the original album cover would be revealed to them.

While I was listening to her story about the record store, the idea popped in my head to create a new feature on Eclectic Grooves called Plain Brown Wrappers that would feature a new mystery album every other week. I will write a short description about the music and then feature a link to download the album. I will be looking for the readers to guess what the mystery album is each week. Once I receive ten comments, I will reveal the artist to you. After twenty comments, I will reveal the name of the album featured that week.

Most of these will be extremely rare and out-of print records, so I won't be feeling like I'm taking profits out of the artists' pockets.

Let's get this party started with an extremely rare slice of funky dissonance from this gang of rabble rousers from the other side. It reminds me of what music would sound like if the rulebook was tossed out the window and run over by a steamroller. Each song is an extended improvisation that switches up when you least expect it. It sounds both familiar and other-worldly, like the kind of record that you would put on to impress your record-junkie friends who are constantly searching the bins for dusty grooves. This is groove-based hippie music for the now generation: Fuzzy funk that would make Roy Ayers blush.

Here is the link to this week's mystery album.

Please let me know what you think about this week's selection. I also encourage you to guess what album was featured during this segment of Plain Brown Wrappers. See you next time.