• Rodion GA – (Rodion pictured far right) In Cluj, Romania, in the year 1975, a young man, Rodion Ladislau Roșca, in the throes of Nicolas Ceaușescu’s attempt to introduce a kind of North Korean-style communist cult control, whittled away DIY-style making some of the most unique grooves to come out of Europe. Defiant to his core,…

  • Anawa – 1973 Today, I’m just digging a bit deeper in Polish music. After Marek Grechuta and Anawa went their separate ways, Anawa decided to collobrate with infamous Polish jazz rock vocalist Andrzej Zauche, a gruff voiced chameleon of vast musical styles, to fashion some kind of concept album. This concept album based on the poetic…

  • Marek Grechuta (tallest dude) and Anawa There are times when I wish I knew a bit more of a language to completely comprehend the importance of a certain artist or musician. For sure, I can sense and feel the importance of an artist like Marek Grechuta (and Anawa) was to the Polish people. Creating his…

  • Erkin Koray – 1974 Humor me for a bit more. I’m digging through rare grooves. Mostly of musicians who charted their own course, creating genres not from the ether but through their own push to modernize older traditions. Another great artist in this vein is Istanbul-born Turk, Erkin Koray and his song “Hele Yar” from…

  • J. Walter Negro and Loose Jointz We all know rap rock. For the most part, its got to be one of the lamest genres out there. You combine the laziest part of hip-hop sampling and rapping with the laziest part of rock playing to get some of the most grating kind of music out there.…

  • Jon Lucien Here’s another rare groove. Its the groove of West Indian-born (Virgin Islands) Jon Lucien. He was quite an odd musical bird. His roots were in jazz, but he often trecked in the sounds of Brazil, funk, and his own native tropical folk sound. What he’s known for is his brilliant baritone vocalizations and…

  • Natacha Atlas – 2006 This here, is another rare groove track. For a time, Natacha Atlas, a Belgium-born artist from mixed Arabic and British descent, was mining some sorta, at times, dreadful Euro-influenced Mid-Eastern Cha’abi music. Cha’abi music is known for its heavy, almost drill-beat kind of sound, imagine the sounds of an automatic rifle…

  • Ali Hassan Kuban droppin’ rhymes. Yesterday’s Thai Mor Lam groove was gotten through guitar trance induction, today’s trance groove is drum induced. Can you tell I’m diggin’ the crates for some new kind of groove? If, you’ve never heard the insanely funky African music of Egypt’s Godfather of Nubian music Ali Hassan Kuban, consider yourself…

  • Thai Rockin’ If, anything, gets you in some sort of trance to ready yourself for a grueling day ahead its the insanely catchy droning music of Thailand. Vocals based on how many syllables you can say, rather than words you can stress, combine with a trademark descending bassline to create one of the most unstoppable…

  • Little Feat’s Lowell George I can’t believe I forgot to highlight Little Feat during my Southern rock review series! That theme is over but I can’t help but share with y’all one of the greatest odes to truck drivin’ or just driving in general. “Willin’” from 1971’s Little Feat album has perhaps one of the…

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