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.

I know that it has been awhile since I've updated this site, but I am still alive and kicking. I have received several requests for re-ups to links in the archives that have been deleted for various reasons. So, during the past two weeks, I have taken the liberty of re-upping the links from October 2006 and I am working my way up to the most current posts. Some of the file-sharing services receive complaints and take down links, and some of the links expire after a certain number of downloads or length of time. Due to these limitations, it is difficult to ensure that links are consistently active. Also, some of the files from posts in the archives are not on my external hard drive, and have not been updated at this time. Please feel free to ask me about anything that isn't updated at this time, and I will work on getting it updated as soon as I have a chance. Please enjoy visiting the archives, and let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions for making this blog better. A...

Ornette Coleman- Live at New Orleans Jazz Fest 2003 About five years ago, I ventured out to New Orleans to check out one of the most talented and innovative saxophone players in the annals of free jazz history. Ornette Coleman played a huge part in introducing the idea of " free jazz " to the general public in the 60's, after releasing his seminal 1960 album entitled Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation . He was also instrumental in formulating his own musical language called harmelodics. Harmelodic theory is essentially Ornette's theory that every instrument has its own pitches and that the same note on a music staff means different notes on different instruments. By exploring this idea, Ornette found a way to give everyone the same melody but with each person exploring various emotions within the context of the tune. If this sounds complex to you, you are not alone. Even though I can't get a handle on the harmelodics theory, I appreciate the intensely beautifu...

Victor Dimisich Band- My Name Is K Sorry I haven't ben posting much in the past couple weeks, but the good news is that I have finally landed a job with a biomedical company in Lake Oswego named Biotronik. It has been consuming my daytime hours, but I hope to be able to post a couple things throughout the week as well as on the weekend. Recently, I was reading about New Zealand lo-fi garage-punk group the Terminals in the Fall 2007 issue of Signal to Noise. The Terminals were formed from the ashes of previous groups such as the Vacuum,The Pin Group, The Victor Dimisich Band and Scorched Earth Policy. Today I want to focus on the Victor Dimisich Band and their My Name Is K compilation released in 1997 on lead singer Peter Stapleton's Medication imprint. This combines the Mekong Delta Blues cassete released on Xpressway in 1988 as well as the entire Native Waiter EP. As far as I know, this CD reissue is out-of-print, but please let me know if anyone objects to these files bein...

Johnny Jenkins- Ton Ton Macoute, 1970, Capricorn Johnny Jenkins recorded this legendary funk-inflected swamp blues album in 1970 at the ripe age of 31. Jenkins was a huge influence on the playing of Jimi Hendrix and on Ton Ton Macoute, Jenkins concocts a heady brew of Hendrix-flavored psychedelia mixed with gospel, delta blues and swamp rock. Beck liked the sound of his rendition of the Dr. John classic "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" so much that he sampled the infectious drum beat for his hit song "Loser". On "Sick and Tired" Johnny really funks it up with an infectious mix of wah wah guitar, tight beats and gutsy vocals that really make you believe in the power of soul. Other standouts include the psychedelic gospel soul of "Voodoo and You" and the wonderful organ and slide guitar driven "Leaving Trunk". Check out this underappreciated classic in all it's glory while the getting's good. Get it here Apryl Fool- S/T, 1969, Label ...