In the mid-60s, all around the world, there was an explosion of bands playing what came to be called garage rock. A few of them found a degree of success, with singles and even albums released...
» Read more1967: a year for flower children and fledgling bands to gather together, smoke a bag, and experiment with new musical ideas, albeit sometimes sappy, but fun. Tony Duhig and Jon Field were two of...
» Read moreFew other bands from the 60s have a legacy quite like the Yardbirds, maybe the Rolling Stones and Beatles and a few others, but in those heady four years from their early recordings in 1964 to...
» Read moreThe two disc package at hand contains two very different things: a CD of the live band in 1968, almost ten months before the release of their self-titled debut album, and a documentary DVD The...
» Read moreWinding the clock back to 1966 in Lexington, Kentucky, a group of friends at the University of Kentucky got together to form the garage-psych band One of Hours. They released their first 45,...
» Read moreIf you name your band “Ars Nova” you have to be: a) Serious Artists; b) Sarcastic reactionaries; c) Into psychedelic drugs; or d) Japanese. It’s Latin, for goodness sake, and...
» Read moreThe early exploits of Giles, Giles and Fripp have always been a footnote considering the impact of the first King Crimson album on unsuspecting English and US audiences. Their only album, The...
» Read moreThe legacy of the early Soft Machine has been chronicled by many bootlegs and re-releases of the band's first album demos by Giorgio Gomelsky. What so far have not surfaced are official...
» Read moreThe 60s were turbulent times, the decade where rock music grew up, going through a number of phases and reaching new extremes as time went forward. Within the span of just two years, from 1963 to...
» Read moreGuitarist Peter Banks continues to dig deep into his roots and comes up another winner with his latest disc. This one is of keen interest to collectors of the psychedelic era, since that’s...
» Read moreThere were three CDs floating around as imports of early Santana recordings entitled Persuasion, Latin Tropical, and Acapulco Sunrise which were roughly of the same...
» Read moreA most important reissue in that it contains both the original 1968 mix of Anthem of the Sun, the Grateful Dead’s most psychedelic and experimental album, as well as the 1971 remix,...
» Read moreA slice of the past, but certainly one that shouldn’t be overlooked. Pearls Before Swine was essentially the vehicle of guitarist / composer / poet / singer Tom Rapp, which over the course of...
» Read moreAfter Soft Machine’s first American tour both Kevin Ayers and Mike Ratledge hurried on back to Europe to lick their wounds while Robert Wyatt stayed on in the US with friends. Opening for the...
» Read moreGiven the limitations of the synthesizers available in 1968, the choice of Bach as a focus for Wendy Carlos’s pioneering recordings makes perfect sense: the instruments could play only one...
» Read moreAre You Experienced? and Axis: Bold as Love provided the lion's share of Hendrix's songbook while he was alive, although there was certainly material on both albums that...
» Read moreSgt Peppers opened the gates wide, and the creativity of the Fab Four wasn't even close to exhausted. An album such as this almost makes me want to type out the entire song list as...
» Read moreTransitional periods can be very interesting in music. The Hook falls in the transition between 60s garage-psych and 70s hard rock. Reliable information has it that this album dates from 1968 in...
» Read moreOne of the best parts of picking up modern reissues of obscurities from the 60s is that so many of them have interesting liner notes detailing the near-misses and might-have-beens of that distant...
» Read moreConsidering the first wave of 60s San Francisco bands as Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and of course the Grateful Dead, then...
» Read moreThe Collectors hailed from Vancouver, Canada, not exactly a hotbed of the worldwide psychedelic scene, which maybe helps explain why they didn’t make a bigger impact. Their two albums, though...
» Read moreHere we have the long-awaited reissue of Marc Bolan’s earliest recordings, back when Tyrannosaurus was spelled out in full and electric guitars were unusual coloring rather than the...
» Read moreLong before the British domination of all things progressive, progress was being made in the post-San Francisco underground scene in many US cities, among them Boston. The fact that producer Alan...
» Read moreLong before the British domination of all things progressive, progress was being made in the post-San Francisco underground scene in many US cities, among them Boston. The fact that producer Alan...
» Read moreAs a longtime fan of Fairport Convention and British folk rock, I had dismissed American folk as being either too cloying or too familiar. Not so with The Insect Trust, who do for American folk and...
» Read moreThis late-60s quintet from NYC epitomized the broad sense of musical experimentation of the era, pulling incongruent forms together, and through a combination of optimism and naiveté,...
» Read moreHere's another one of those "I never thought they'd release that on CD" reissues. San Francisco's late 60s legacy left behind a volume of obscure bands, many with...
» Read moreBaby Grandmothers were a legendary underground Swedish psych trio from the late 60s who performed extensively throughout Scandinavia but only released a single in Finland. The band consisted of...
» Read moreOne of the very best of the late 60s San Francisco bands (if not the best), Moby Grape's recordings as well as the band's name itself has long been tied up in endless cycles of litigation thanks to...
» Read moreOne of the very best of the late 60s San Francisco bands (if not the best), Moby Grape's recordings as well as the band's name itself has long been tied up in endless cycles of litigation thanks to...
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2021-02-14
SoundQuest Fest 2021 –
SoundQuest Fest, first experienced as a live festival in Tucson Arizona in 2010 was created by ambient music pioneer Steve Roach. This 2021 event will unite a worldwide gathering of artists and audience members together for a 3-day online event unique in the realm of ambient music. From March 26-28th a continuous flow of streamed performances, audio-video wonder worlds and deep immersion zones will burn bright on Roach’s YouTube channel. »
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2021-02-10
Chick Corea RIP –
The sad news has reached us that Chick Corea has Returned to Forever, so to speak. The innovative keyboardist and composer died on February 9 at the age of 79. With a career that spanned from the 60s until shortly before his death, Corea touched many listeners with the incredible variety of music he produced in his lifetime. »
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2021-01-18
Asia Minor Third Album on the Way –
On January 29, AMS records will be releasing the long-awaited third album by classic Turkish-French band Asia Minor. Released last year in Japan, this will be the widespread debut of Points of Libration. The album features original members Setrak Bakirel (vocals, guitar) and Eril Tekeli (flute, guitar). »
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2020-12-09
Harold Budd RIP –
Harold Budd, one of pre-eminent American composers of avant-garde and minimalism, has died of complications from the coronavirus. Budd came to prominence in the 70s, championed by Brian Eno on his Obscure Records label, with music that blended academic minimalism with electric jazz and electronic music. Much of Budd's best known work was done in collaboration with other artists, including Eno, Daniel Lanois, Robin Guthrie, Andy Partridge, John Foxx, Jah Wobble, and many others. »
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2020-11-20
25 Views of Worthing Finally Gets Released –
A while ago, we wrote about the discovery of a "long lost" Canterbury-style gem by a band called 25 Views of Worthing. And now we're pleased to find out that Wind Waker Records has released their music on an LP. »
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Contrarian - Minor Complexities – While one can't fault this for its flawless execution, outstanding vocals or the excellent and thoughtful lyrics, it certainly doesn't cover any new ground stylistically beyond that well worn path... (2008) » Read more
Emily Bezar - Grandmother's Tea Leaves, Moon in Grenadine & Four Walls Bending – I read a review of Moon in Grenadine some time ago which described it as what you might get if Sarah McLachlan’s band indulged itself in a King Crimson fetish, so of course I had to have it. While... (2000) » Read more
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO - Interstellar Guru and Zero – I find it extremely challenging to keep up with this prolific band with their myriad lineups and bazillions of releases. This time around, the band is Tsuyama Atsushi (monster bass, tortoiseshell... (2010) » Read more
Oats - Sons of the Sonic Solution – Sons of the Sonic Solution is 70 minutes of off-the-wall bizarre and eclectic alternative-styled music. There is a definite element of the low- budget grungy alternative ethos; wailing feedback... (1996) » Read more
Norma Tanega & Mike Henderson - HybridVigor – Despite the presence of guitarist Mike Henderson, this disc sounds nothing like Djam Karet. Rather it is a pleasant if unspectacular acoustic excursion combining the talents of Henderson with master... (1999) » Read more