Eclectic Grooves

I hope you all had a great holiday this year. Since I haven't really been hearing a lot of new music this year, my list will be a combination of new discoveries along with reissues and new releases from 2006. Here's my "Best of 2006" list just in time for the new year. Have a safe and happy new year, and I'll see you next year! 1) Comets on Fire- Avatar - This time around the boys from Santa Cruz tone down the cacophonous swirl of saxophones, psych garage guitars and echo-drenched vocals for a more laid back classic rock sound. Don't get me wrong though, the opening track Dogwood Rust still pummels you with a mind-melting hard rockin' listening experience. Think Jefferson Airplane mixed with MC5. Comets on Fire - Dogwood Rust and Lucifer's Memory 2)Fred Lane- From the One That Cut You- I discovered this album on the fantastically diverse blog Palestinian Light Orchestra. The record is a mix of skronking big-band free-jazz ...

Blue Yule This is the second installment of Christmas goodies for your stocking. I hope you enjoyed the Where Will You Be Christmas Day album that was posted yesterday. I decided to give you a double dose of Christmas goodness today. Blue Yule , which was released by Rhino Records in 1991, is an essential compilation of Blues greats such as Lightnin' Hopkins , Sonny Boy Williamson , John Lee Hooker and Big Jack Johnson belting out their Christmas favorites. Blue Yule is one of my favorite Cd's to spin during the Christmas season. It is the Christmas sound spiked with raw, soulful performances from some of the greatest artists in Blues. If you like a little bit more whiskey in your eggnog, then you'll love Blue Yule. Please go here or to your local record store and pick up a copy of this CD. Christmas Cookin' The second part of this post is dedicated to "The Incredible Jimmy Smith" and his astonishing Hammond B3 organ playing. Jimmy Smith first released Chr...

Where Will You Be Christmas Day? After working at a record store for four years, you can imagine that I was inundated with non-stop Christmas music during the Christmas season. I really began to despise Christmas for becoming such an over-commercialized event, a "Hallmark Holiday" if you will. That was, until my ears came across this fantastic overview of old-timey blues, jazz, bluegrass and cajun recordings called "Where Will You Be Christmas Day?". This recording was released by the good folks over at Dust to Digital , who are also well known for releasing the definitive gospel box set called "Goodbye Babylon". "Where Will You Be Christmas Day" is comprised of rare recordings from 1917-1959 that have been digitally remastered from the original 78's. I have been cracking this one out every Christmas since it was released in 2004, and I hear something new and exciting every time. It includes accapella gospel singing, old-timey bluegrass picki...

I know I said that the Evan Parker show would be up in a couple days, but the Christmas season has been kickin' my arse so far. In the meantime, I have been listening to loads of Free Jazz gems that I discovered on Pharaohs Dance , Reality Unit Concepts and Church Number Nine . They have live shows and out-of print records from artists such as Sun Ra, Pharaoh Sanders, Frank Foster and Milford Graves that are free to download for your listening enjoyment. Be sure to check them out as well as Destination Out , which featured a link to an article from the New York Times on the state of Jazz music in the blogosphere. This article was inspired by a posting made by the pioneering composer and trumpeter Dave Douglas on his label's website, Greenleafmusic . Douglas was essentially challenging writers or lovers of jazz music to create an unbiased overview of jazz music from 1973-1990. Eventually, Ethan Iverson, the pianist from the Bad Plus, responded to this challenge by making a ...

One of my loyal visitors asked me if I could post some Chico Magnetic Band sometime. Your time has come my friend. If I had to throw in my two cents on this one, I would say that it is a wild excursion through a drug-hazed psychedelic nightmare that features unintelligible multilingual lyrics, acid-rock guitar freakouts, metronomic space-rock and a dead-on cover of "Crosstown Traffic". I first heard of Chico Magnetic Band about a month ago when I visited the incredibly informative Lost in Tyme blog. This blog features an endless selection of psych-rock, blues, folk and garage rock albums that are all available to download via Rapidshare. It seems like the link is still working for the Chico Magnetic Band, so go check it out! Addendum: This link for Chico Magnetic Band was no longer active on Lost In Tyme, so I have re-upped it here . Here is an excerpt from the Lost In Tyme description of the Chico Magnetic Band. EVEN THOUGH THIS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT...

Well as promised here is the second part of the Sonic Youth show at the Crystal Ballroom. Crystal Ballroom is a hit-or-miss venue for sound, but I recorded this one pretty close to the front at the left side of the stage. Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did. Sonic Youth- Crystal Ballroom Part 2 On to other things: In my endless search for new music, I have encountered some of the most amazing blogs that deserve some mention here. Some of them are on my Blogroll and others will be on there when I get a chance to add them. I will give you a brief description of what they feature, so you have a pretty decent idea whether or not you'll be into them. Palestinian Light Orchestra - This eclectic blog features full album downloads of mainly rare or out-of-print records such as 60's Psych Rock, Free Jazz, offbeat novelty records and whatever else they deem as interesting. They have recently featured Sun City Girls , Fred Lane , Patty Waters , The Godz and Wild Man Fischer . Check i...

First, I have been retooling the blog to be easier on the eyes, so let me know what you think. Yesterday I couldn't publish this post due to Blogger having issues again. This service has really been pissing me off lately, but I guess you get what you pay for. Second, I really would appreciate it if you guys would leave a comment, instead of doing the download-and-run routine. I spend a lot of time making this a blog that everyone will hopefully enjoy and appreciate, and all I ask for in return is a little bit of feedback. Tell me what you like, what you don't like, what you think would make it better, etc. Well enough of that, let's get onto the music. About 4 years ago, I waited in line for an hour-and-a-half to see one of my favorite indie-rock bands play an in-store at Music Millennium. They were touring in support of their new album called Murray Street for approximately 350 ecastatic hardcore fans frothing at the mouth. The band did not disappoint at al...