Nick at Ghost Capital must have read my mind as he just shared Wendell Stuart & The Downbeaters, a Bahamian soul LP I’ve been searching for the past two months having caught a track on the recent Trans Air Records West Indies Funk compilation. Below is their obligatory, yet excellent, take on the Beatles, plus [...]
Certain strands of rockist kids grow up saying that their favorite music is “anything but rap or country.” For the teenager of the 1990s in Southern Louisiana, the silent addendum to that addendum was “or Cajun or zydeco”. The nasal-honked whine and chank-a-chank rhythms of our cultural forebears was anathema to us, as was anyone [...]
Around this time last year I took on my first full assignment as music supervisor for filmmaker Robbie Pickering’s Natural Selection. The film nabbed both the Grand Jury and Audience awards at SXSW Film in March. It also won best music. More on that later, as right now I want to share a song I’ve [...]
Cut in 1967, “7 Heures du Matin” follows Jacqueline Taieb’s morning as she fantasizes about Paul McCartney (though it’s The Who’s “My Generation” she riffs on) and spins Elvis records. While readily found on many a sixties Parisian girl-group and yé-yé compilations, might I recommend checking out Taieb’s own French Mademoiselle collection, which, as an [...]
Filmmaker Jennifer Maas dedicated the last half of the decade chronicling the Seattle soul scene of the 1970s. Her efforts culminate in the new documentary Wheedle’s Groove. A project that began following a meeting with Light In The Attic Records founder Matt Sullivan (whose 2004 Wheedle’s Groove comp inspired the project) we caught up with [...]
Shortly after the release of the million-selling Nancy & Lee, Lee Hazlewood exercised his newfound clout with Reprise and headed to Paris to record a new solo album. Along for the ride were rhythm guitarist extraordinaire Donnie Owens and Wrecking Crew members James Burton, Hal Blaine, Chuck Berghofer, and Don Randi. If Hazlewood’s stream of [...]
I’m a firm believer that sometimes you find songs and sometimes songs find you. This one in particular found me last week while in New Orleans—at about 10:30 am—in the midst of nursing a bloody mary. Comprised of the stuff that seems to exist in some sort of twilight netherworld (not unlike Santo & Johnny’s [...]
Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35, can now be heard twice, every Friday – Noon EST with an encore broadcast at Midnight EST. SIRIUS 193: Jean Michel Bernard – Generique Stephane ++ Deerhunter – Rainwater Cassette Exchange ++ Disappears – Gone Completely ++ Lower Dens – A Dog’s Dick ++ White Denim [...]
The reward of sticking with your favorite local acts as they find their voice is both thrilling and challenging. Being so, I’m happy to say Los Angeles’s So Many Wizards have continued to craft their sound, perfecting their enigmatic blend of pop, rock, ballads and zany nuggets into a cohesive whole. While the entirety of [...]
Our guest DJ series returns this week with a second installment from our compadre Turquoise Wisdom. Wisdom (Zach Cowie) helped kick off the mixtape series in March of last year (our third entry) which is still available for download, here. Currently based in Los Angeles, Cowie can be found DJing, collaborating with Rodarte and most [...]
