Eclectic Grooves

For those of you who don't know, I am located in Portland Oregon. Portland is one of the best places for a musician to get their feet off the ground. You could practically throw a rock anywhere within the confines of Portland and you'd most likely hit a musician. Of course, I'm not literally suggesting that you should throw a rock at a musician, but you get the picture. Every night there are at least 20-30 venues featuring all kinds of music from avant garde, electronic, folk, bluegrass, pop, indie-rock, blues, experimental. I have really been interested in finding out more about what's going on in the local scene, so this series will continue until I run out of bands to rave about. This is the first installment of the series, so I hope you enjoy it. Tu Fawning Tu Fawning are a duo from Portland Oregon who have both been fixtures in the local music scene for many years. Corinna Repp has two albums available on Hush Records that are in the confessional singer/songwriter ...

The Pop Group- Y The Pop Group ranks up there with the Ten Thousand Maniacs as one of the most ironic band names in the history of rock music. This gang of left-wing political radicals from Bristol, England sound more like the antithesis of pop music. "Y" was released on the Radar label in 1979 to little fanfare, but Rough Trade liked the record enough to sign them. "Y" is a cathartic and uncompromising avant garde record that mixed free jazz, art rock, funk, reggae and industrial music. There are very few hooks or decipherable vocals, but the impassioned delivery of lead singer Mark Stewart is undeniable. Highlights include the wildly eclectic "Snow Girl" where agit-funk shares sonic space with stinging guitars and intense piano hammering, "Savage Sea" with distorted vocals layered on top of a propulsive rhythm section with reverb and echo that sounds like lost sessions of Lee Scratch Perry and the caterwauling, free jazz funk of "Don't...

Chubby Checker- Chequered/New Revelation Chequered/New Revelation [Ariola, 1971] This is one of the many out-of print rarities that I've grabbed from the fabulous Mystery Poster blog. Sadly, the person who runs Mystery Poster has decided to call it quits. However, he has generously granted everyone permission to use his posts on their own blog. So, I am posting Chubby Checker's fabulous psychedelic relic from 1971- Chequered/New Revelation, that I grabbed from Mystery Poster months ago. His link for this is no longer up, so I have taken the time to upload it via DivShare Back in March, I posted a couple tracks and review for this album and Howlin Wolf's "This Is Howlin' Wolf's New Album" on Ear Fuzz . The complete Howlin' Wolf record was posted on Eclectic Grooves last July. Here is a link to that post, for those that have missed it, and the download link is still active. Here is the review posted on Ear Fuzz on March 9th, 2007: Chubby Checker became...

Usually, the type of stuff that floods my inbox is not even remotely related to the type of music I post on Eclectic Grooves. So, I was happily surprised when Yvette Perez of NYC's electro-jazz trio H.E.R. asked me to write a review for her band's stunning debut album on Persian Cardinal Recordings, "Songs About the Mysteries of Housework and Nature". H.E.R- Songs About the Mysteries of Housework and Nature You might be able to guess from the title, that this is a concept album about, well... housework and nature. But this album takes you on a mesmerizing trip into the psyche of a bored and disgruntled housewife who is tired of her mundane existence cleaning the house and tirelessly pushing paper at the office. She yearns to be close to nature again, but fears that going outside will destroy her perfect little existence in her head. H.E.R. is a trio from NYC consisting of Yvette Perez on vocals and synthesizer, Peter Zummo on trombone, trumpet and samba whistle and Da...

Phew! Besides typical flight delays and stomach-turning turbulence, I had a wonderful time visting my family during the holidays in Peoria IL. Temperatures were frigid and there was snow on the ground for most of the trip. Before my girlfriend and I left for the airport, we attempted to have a good-hearted snowball fight but the snow turned to powder before we could throw it. If we had more time, we probably would have indulged ourselves in a little sledding or cross-country skiing in Bradley Park. But, there's always next year. It's great to be back in the temperate landscape of Portland, OR. Wow, I never thought I would say those words in my human existence. Hope everyone has enjoyed the Best of 2007 list so far. I don't know if people are too shy to respond, or if they just don't like posting comments, but there have been no comments for the first two parts of the list. I try to respond to any requests, comments, and criticisms that any of you might have. I would lov...