Eclectic Grooves

The 17th episode of I Hear a New World is available for download at http://ihearanewworld.podomatic.com. This edition features many vinyl treasures that I picked up at local record stores over the last couple weeks. Artists that were featured on this podcast include Grass Widow, Neil Young, Ornette Coleman, Rev Louis Overstreet and Thee Oh Sees. It features an upbeat mixture of psychedelia, gospel blues, jazz, afro-groove and spanish flamenco. I would love to hear your thoughts about this week's podcast, so please drop me a line. Also, I would be happy to provide a tracklist for this show to anyone who is interested. Keep it tuned to Eclectic Grooves for more amazing sounds in the coming weeks.

Well, this one wasn't too popular with the readers, and even the faithful commenters weren't sure what they thought of this tasty platter. What can I say? I can't please everyone all of the time, but I would have hoped for a little more feedback on this one. It seems like the Plain Brown Wrappers series has run its course, at least as far as most of my visitors are concerned. Your silence speaks volumes. Maybe there is nothing that I can post on here that hasn't been said or done before. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I have decided to call it a day here at Eclectic Grooves. I just need to rethink the direction of this blog, as hits, comments and reader appreciation has been at an all time low. For the two commenters who were actually curious about the identitiy of last week's featured Plain Brown Wrappers, this post is for you. While some interesting band names were dropped, neither of the commenters were able to guess last week's artist an...

As I was wrapping up my last podcast, I honestly thought that a new Plain Brown Wrappers was within earshot. But the unpredictable nature of life stepped in to reveal that there are some things that need to take precedent over Eclectic Grooves. I'll be the first to admit that I wish I had more time to dedicate to the blog, but free time has been available in short doses during the past month. For those of you who are still stopping by, I wanted to extend my deepest gratitude to you for sticking by me through thick and thin (believe me I know it's been thin lately). Anyway, It took a little coaxing from one of the regulars to light a firecracker under my ass, but I am happy to say that I have something special for the latest episode of Plain Brown Wrappers. What begins with a subtle hum slowly builds into a cascading wave of noise fragments that finally explodes into a full-on frenzied freakout by the closing of the track. You would think that by the sound of this opening track,...

Since, my last post occurred before the New Year, I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year! Thanks to everyone who commented on the Best Albums of 2009 post. It was great to hear that I was able to turn people on to some new sounds. It's been quite awhile since I have posted a new podcast, but I had the energy and motivation to compile something today. The 16th episode of I Hear a New World is available for download at http://ihearanewworld.podomatic.com/ . This is the second installment of the Stacks of Wax podcast. For those of you who aren't familair with the Stacks of Wax concept, the idea behind it is simple: I rifle through my vinyl and compile a mix of songs that fit my current mood of the day. Today's mix features artists as diverse as Group Bombino. Flaming Lips, Evolutionary Jass Band, Gun Club and Vivian Girls. I hope you enjoy this episide of I Hear a New World , and I would love to hear what my listeners think of this episode. I feel that there could be a...

Events beyond my control have prevented me from posting this Best Albums of 2009 list sooner, including an unexpected snowstorm yesterday that practically paralyzed the city of Portland and the surrounding areas for a period of five hours. Aside from taking over five hours to get home, I feel very fortunate that I managed to escape the snowstorm unscathed. However, the main night that I planned on working on this post was last night, so that means that I will just get this one in just before the new year. Towards the end of October, I realized that I had barely listened to any music that was actually released in 2009. With this in mind, I began to compile a comprehensive list of albums that peaked my interest, as well as several albums that I purchased throughout the year. This list was largely assisted by the plethora of music blogs out there including Butter X Face , Terminal Boredom , Weekly Tape Deck , Better Than Sex and Swan Fungus . In addition, I mined the Pitchfork guest list...