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...

Desert Heat- Cat Mask at Huggie Temple [MIE Records, 2013] With a new Gunn- Truscinski Duo album on the horizon, I figured it would be fitting to explore one of Gunn-Truscinski's other projects called Desert Heat that was released in 2013. Admittedly, this post would have made more sense earlier in the summer when the blistering heat in Portland was almost akin to a desert heat. While most of Gunn's output of late has been of the laid-back variety, this record really kicks up the dust with two side-long epic jams filled with vitriolic guitar solos cranked to eleven and tempo changes that turn on a dime. Also along for the ride on this one is the equally talented guitar virtuoso Cian Nugent, who combines with Gunn for a dynamic one-two punch that never quits. The first track "Cat Mask at Huggie Temple" starts out with a transcendent guitar melody that slowly but surely kicks into a frenzy with Truscinski's drums serving as a sturdy backbeat...

The last Choice Cuts was posted over four years ago, so I figured that it was high time for a new entry in this series. 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. Blo- Chant to Mother Earth From: Chapter One [1973, EMI] Last week I was in my car listening to the Nigeria 70 compilation from Strut Records when this song by Blo instantly captured my attention. It starts out with a shimmering cymbal splash that segues into a slow groove featuring b...

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...

On July 1st of this year, Google had decided to suspend it's Google Reader service after 8 years due to a ongoing decline in usage, and most likely because they wanted to focus their energy on new services like Google Plus.  Even though I knew that Google Reader was slowly coming to its demise, I still neglected to let my readers know to transfer to another service before this happened. While I didn't notice a drop in subscribers until two weeks after the official shut-down date, it was fairly clear that most of my subscribers used Google Reader as the number of subscribers had dropped from 890 to 180. The reason I bring this up is that the future of Feedburner is clearly hanging in the balance, and it is difficult to ascertain how long it will remain active.  For those of you who would like to know when the blog has been updated, I suggest that you do one of the following things: 1) Follow my blog by clicking on the "Join this Site" button at the top left corner o...

This past June for my birthday, I received a fantastic book from my girlfriend entitled Turn On your Mind by Jim De Rogatis. Within the confines of the book, the author ambitiously strives to effectively present an  overview of the last four decades of psychedelic rock according to his tastes and sensibilities, and he is largely successful at doing so. At roughly over 600 pages, it is a thoroughly researched, painstakingly detailed and thoughtfully constructed opus consisting of lists, further listening recommendations and numerous quotes taken from musicians, producers, writers and other scholars who either experienced psychedelic music firsthand or have taken a specific interest in it over the years. When DeRogatis is firing on all cylinders, it shows in his writing. There is an incredibly insightful introductory chapter that outlines the history of LSD, an in-depth analysis of Syd Barrett and Pink F...

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...