Eclectic Grooves

I apologize for the radio silence during the past couple weeks, but the flu hit my body like a ton of bricks that didn't let up until the last couple days. I never get flu shots, because I rarely get the full-blown flu. This year, however, was a much different story. I came home from work last Tuesday, ate my dinner and settled into watching a little television. Around 8:00 pm, my legs started feeling weak, I was experiencing muscle and joint pain and the temperature of my body was fluctuating from hot to cold with the same unpredictability as daily weather patterns.  I missed a couple days of work, and then proceeded to spend a three-day weekend resting, drinking so many fluids that I thought I was going to burst and binging Netflix while laying on my futon. Thankfully, I think I'm on the other side of this, but it really did do a number on me. Over three years ago, I posted that I had multiple eclectic mixes that were completed and ready to post. I  went back to my playlis...

It is once again time for me to reach back in the refrigerator for some "choice cuts". Each time, I will be featuring sizzling and succulent morsels that are grabbing my ear right now that range from funk to country, from afro-beat to garage rock, etc. Sometimes there will be a theme to these songs that ties them all together in a nice bow, but other times the songs featured will just be a musical hodgepodge of eclectic delights. Without further ado, lets see what "choice cuts" the vinyl butcher has prepared for us today. Jimi Hendrix- World Traveler From: Freak Out Jam [Ubik, 1994] Several years ago I was listening to some music on a clunky old laptop that was about to give up the ghost when I stumbled upon this amazing funk jam from Jimi Hendrix called "World Traveler". While the guitars definitely had that patented Hendrix sound, the rhythm section sounded more like the Meters or JB's.  Taken from a bootle...

While the title of this post sounds like one of my own mix-tape creations, it's actually the title of the latest encyclopedic, music-reference tome from the prolific author Vernon Joynson. Over the past several years, I've been intrigued with the plethora of music reference books available which highlight the most obscure artists in the pantheon of music.  The first books I heard about that were written by Vernon Joynson were Fuzz, Acid and Flowers and The Tapestry of Delights, but the price of these has always been so exorbitant that I could only hold the vision that there would be a new pressing that was more affordable. Recently, I discovered that he had released a revision of one of his earlier books Dreams, Fantasies and Nightmares from Far Away Lands Revisited that would showcase music coming out of Turkey, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia and the Middle East. After doing some research about the cost of landing a copy of the aforementioned A Melange of Musical Pip...

Unknown Mortal Orchestra- Multi Love The trajectory of Ruban Nielsen's career has never been predictable. After becoming completely disenchanted with the record industry when he was playing in the punk band The Mint Chicks, Ruban was really close to leaving music in his rearview mirror. While working as an illustrator for Jacob Portrait's brother, he was working on a self-recorded project that would eventually turn into UMO's self-titled debut record, despite his feelings that no one would be interested in hearing a bunch of guitar solos. Then, after a year of touring left him feeling alienated and desperate, he poured these feelings into the band's second record II, and toured the globe for another world tour.   Within the past year, his polyamorous relationship with his wife and another woman has provided the lyrical inspiration for the band's soon to be released third record entitled Multi-Love.  Even though the official street date for Multi...

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings: Got To Be the Way It Is and Make It Good to Me From: Dap Dippin' With Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings [Daptone, 2002] Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings: Stranded In Your Love and My Man Is a Mean Man From: Naturally [Daptone, 2005] Sharon Jones: When the Other Foot Drops Uncle and Humble Me From: 100 Days, 100 Nights [Daptone, 2007] For those of you who are perplexed about the title of this post, the "#52" refers to the age of the talented lead vocalist Sharon Jones from Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are a ten-piece soul-funk band from Brooklyn who released a small pressing of their first album Dap Dippin' With Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings on Daptone Records in 2002. The band consists of Sharon Jones on vocals, Daptone label-head Gabriel Roth on bass, Neil Sugarman (formerly of the Sugarman Three) on sax, along with core members of The Mighty Imperials and the Soul Providers. Sharon Jones and the ...

I've received a couple requests to have the Howard Tate "Get It While You Can" re-upped, so I hope you enjoy this soul classic originally released on Verve in 1966. Here is a link to the original post on Howard Tate from May. In other news, I plan on posting a Best Music of 2007 list soon. Hopefully, I can get it to you in time to purchase some great music for the holidays. My hope was to have this list completed by early December, but you know how life can get busy. I'm heading home to Peoria, IL for the holidays, so I'm trying to get everything wrapped up here before I leave for my trip. I will try to re-upload some Christmas blues and soul gems that I had on here last year, as well as a few more new ones. You're probably thinking that this blog is turning into a funk and soul blog, but I have plenty of free jazz and discordant improvisation stuff to fill the experimental music enthusiast's stocking too. Also, after the holidays, I plan on starting a new...