Daily Eclectoid

  Soundmusication (1980) - Fitz Gore I first heard Fitz Gore on Jazzman's Spiritual Jazz 5: Worldwide (2014) , a crucial compilation of rare gems from popular scenes across the globe. It contains not only Gore's ultra rare 7-inch, "Gisela (Lion Rock)", but also London Experimental Jazz Quartet's "Destroy the Nihilist Picnic." What a stellar name, and what a stellar track. Both are worth the price of admission alone. Everything else is a bonus. Gore put out three records in his lifetime, all reissued on Sonorama, a label which, like Jazzman, pulls gorgeous lost music seemingly out of the ether. Soundmusication representative of their mission. It's one of the best spiritual jazz records you've never heard. What's most striking is that nothing here sounds spiritual exactly--at least not at first. The first track, "Musication (The Talisman) (2)"  is a funky cut with a dance-able groove. "Revival Time (Nella's Farewell)" ...

Domestic: I Went to Heaven (2011) - Used Condo It's been raining for a week straight, so I've adjusted my listening accordingly. Hence the past couple album choices. At this point, though, the dour skies are getting to everyone. Talking about the weather is a cliche, but people I've never known to talk about the weather are now talking about how the sun came out for 30 seconds yesterday and it was blissful. Now a hurricane is making its way up the coast, and it is still raining. So it's time for some breakdown. It's time to get fucking weird. This reissue came out today on Bumpy. Used Condo is a Larry Wish project, and if you don't know who that is, you're not one of the 32 (at the time of writing this) people who watched this live performance of "Astral Projection" off his April 2024 release, The Mind is the Builder . But you should be. Watch that video, then listen to this album. I dare you. Or better yet, toss Wish some change and buy the Dome...

September 2024 a short playlist for two reasons: I started the blog in September and my consistency fell at the end. This blog on this antiquated platform is, after all, an exercise in habitual listening and writing. Can I slow it down and really concentrate on albums rather than playing everything as furniture music ? Can I dedicate just a little bit of time each day to foster a chronically elusive writing habit and get away from the fits and bursts I'm used to? Maybe. Time will tell. When you're trying to cleave away the hold a two-hour commute has on you, maybe not. But let's not give up the fight so easily. So here you go--a playlist I'm not going to assemble and link for you. Part of the fun is doing that yourself. Nothing should be difficult to find on popular streaming platforms, save for Andi Koyama--look for him on Froh & Munter's Bandcamp .  No judgement but purchase tracks when possible. "Sense" - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard from P...

War Ina Babylon (1976) - Max Romeo & The Upsetters I'm pretty sure what I'm about to describe is something most people have at least tried. I hope so. If not, I'll sound like a lunatic. Have you ever gotten in your car on a blistering hot day and driven around with the windows up and possibly even the heat on until you either couldn't stand it anymore or reached the highway and quickly rolled the windows down and punched the max AC? The aural equivalent experience is listening to Max Romeo's debut 1969 album A Dream then immediately playing 1976's Lee "Scratch" Perry-produced War Ina Babylon. If you've never heard War Ina Babylon --and especially if you have heard it--you really should listen to the truly stupid A Dream first. Invest the 30 minutes. War Ina Babylon will blow your doors off without this challenge, but listening to it after A Dream will burn your fucking house down. We'll get to War Ina Babylon , but we really need to di...

Chick Habit (1995) - April March I used to think I had a good memory, especially for music, but I've seen Death Proof (albeit shortly after it's 2007 release) and But I'm a Cheerleader (last year!) and have no recollection of hearing Chick Habit on either occasion. I only recall hearing it crossing my ears via an episode of Maximumrocknroll Radio ( episode 1908 ) earlier this year. It's not that the song isn't memorable--I instantly threw it on the road trip playlist and subjected the family on vacation this summer. I must be getting old. The song bookends the EP, first in French then in English. The English version of "Chick Habit" is the only song in English, and it's as delightfully anachronistic as the rest of the tunes. The surf pop screams 60s kitsch in a variety of styles. "Deux Garcons Pour Une Fille " blends horn and guitar into a hip merry-go-round. "Tu Mens" is a booming affair, throwing in a sax solo for good measure...

Horizon Unlimited (1979) - The Lijadu Sisters It's been overcast and rainy for days, and that forecast continues through the rest of the week. The moisture can settle into the bones and dampen every movement if you let it. Or you could kick the day off with the permanent blast of sunshine that is the Lijadu Sisters' final EP, recently re-released by Romero Group. "Not Any Longer" is the perfect remedy for the moment. It kicks off with a talking drum (every track does), holds a funky guitar lick throughout, slaps down a bass line that demands attention, and includes a spaced out synthesizer bridge for good measure. It's a song you can sing along to on the first listen (lah-lah-lah-lah-lah-lah-lah-lah zoopy zoopy zey). The sisters demand you to push forward, to overcome. Pushing forward is what this whole album is all about. As vibrant as each track is, the opening track ("Orere-Elejigbo") commences with some brief English lyrics: "Get out. Fight. Tr...

Monk's Music (1957) - Thelonius Monk I'm not much of in the way of an audiophile collector type--that path leads to death and madness, especially with an interest in recording madmen like Sun Ra. If I were the type, I'd track down the mono and stereo vinyls of Monk's Music . Released in 1957, the studio where Monk's legendary septet performed hadn't converted to a stereo recording space, so the musicians found themselves overburdened with microphones. Mono mics stood on the floor and stereo mics were suspended from the ceiling. Let that sync in--the mono and stereo versions used different sets of mics, creating entirely different sounds. Different sounds of a Septet including Monk, John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, and Art Blakey. While not featured on each track, they all feature prominently on "Well, You Needn't" where every solo begs you to stop whatever the fuck you're doing and listen . If you want to turn someone on to jazz, this could ve...

Half Fidelity, 2nd Edition (2022) - Andi Koyama Treasure the times you stumble upon the record that perfectly matches the mood of the moment. Not the mood of yourself, but the mood of your surroundings--though I suppose the two are intertwined. We're on the cusp of fall. The leaves are changing. Outside, it's not warm, yet it's not cold. Today was completely overcast: a deep gray with an occasional mist to the air. And this album was, and is currently, on repeat. Half Fidelity is consistently upbeat and melancholic, just the thing for the time of year where I'm getting ready to settle in for the winter but realizing once again that life ain't gonna slow down with me. Koyama sings "Everything's gonna be alright" at this exact moment of writing this. It's the end of track 4, 例えば僕が売れたら, and the rare English lyric for this release. Track 7, 山のあなた, is my favorite. It includes a spare electric guitar lick in the chorus, an out-of-place (and laughter-in...

  Jazz Ska Attack (1999) - Don Drummond I learned all of this in seconds: A track from Jazz Ska Attack pops up on my Apple radio station. The track is great, and name Don Drummond sounds familiar, so I head to Wikipedia. Ah, he's a founding member of The Skatalites--I love The Skatalites! And he stabbed his girlfriend four times in the chest, killing her. This was 1965. He's found guilty, ruled criminally insane, and imprisoned in a Jamaican asylum where he died four years later. His death may have been due to improper medication or a poor diet, but it could also have been a revenge killing at the hand of gangsters. Or it was the Jamaican government. Oh, and there's a ballet depicting his life. And Delfeayo Marsalis wrote the foreword to his biography, Don Drummond: The Genius and Tragedy of the World's Greatest Trombonist (2013), a book that now sits in my wish-list next to People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee 'Scratch' Perry (2009). Hard not to constantly t...

Paper Mâché Dream Balloon (2015) - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Work is a 50-60 minute commute. No carpool. It's been this way for years, and I generally don't mind it. It's time for consuming coffee and content--podcasts, audiobooks, plenty of music. This whole time, I've considered burning through someone's intimidating discography--an album a day, in order. Dylan was on the docket, but I never made it very far. Sun Ra is an impossibility. It's got to be something to keep me awake. Something that will serve the vehicular ADHD that worsens every aching year. Enter Australia's King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. After two weeks of jams, I've arrived at today's album: 2015's Paper Mâché Dream Balloon , their seventh studio album in a four-year time frame. (They'd come to frequently outdo themselves, 2017 and 2023 would both see five albums. And let's not forget the "Gizztober" where they released three albums in one mont...