International disco-funk group Heatwave was founded by Johnnie Wilder, an American serviceman who was stationed in West Germany and sang in nightclubs and taverns. After being discharged from […]
1977
An essential album from the great Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Bridges is the first from the duo to feature production assistance and synthesizer programming from Malcolm Cecil […]
The followup to Ryo Fukui’s widely popular and now thoroughly revived classic Scenery, Mellow Dream pushes forward with even more of that rich modal, bop, and cool jazz […]
Featured in the “Mellow” section of Chee Shimizu’s Obscure Sound disc guide, Harbor is a surprisingly dark album from the George Martin-produced British soft rock band. While the […]
RAMP aka Roy Ayers Music Productions was a soul/jazz group led by the great vibes player widely known for his composition “Everybody Loves the Sunshine.” The group’s lone […]
One of the co-founders of internationally known Dutch band Focus, guitarist Jan Akkerman would head into a more jazz-rock / fusion direction after leaving the baroque inspired prog […]
An early pioneer of “world music,” Henri Texier takes his double bass to uncharted territory on Varech, blending avant-garde jazz with Celtic, African, Indian, and Middle Eastern elements […]
Part of New York’s underground punk scene in the late 70’s alongside Blondie, Velvet Underground, The Ramones, etc. Tom Verlaine and Television managed to both fit within and […]
One of the great Black Ark Studios recordings, Heart of the Congos is widely considered one of the best roots reggae albums of all time. Heart… was originally […]
One of the giants of Japanese pop music, Taeko Ohnuki began her career as a founding member of Japanese pop band Sugar Babe alongside Tatsuro Yamashita. Though the […]
This oft sampled record by drummer Idris Muhammed is a cinematic jazz funk classic. Opener “Could Heaven Ever Be Like this” is as joyous as its name sounds […]
One of the great holy grails of the 70s, Body, Mind, And Spirit by Harry Whitaker’s Black Renaissance is a soul-jazz masterpiece with plenty of myth and magic […]
Akiko Yano’s wild vocal style, adventurous compositions on the synthesizer, and integration of global music traditions set her apart from her contemporaries. Her third album, Iroha Ni Nonperitou, […]
Richard Schneider Jr.’s Dreamlike Land is a German rarity that has a distinct sound within the web of krautrock and Can offshoots during the 70’s. It may be […]
It’s hard to pick a favorite out of the many classic albums by the “king of city pop” Tatsuro Yamashita, but if we absolutely had to, we’d probably […]
Few records in our collection could instantly silence the room at In Sheep’s Clothing quite like Emmanuelle Parrenin’s Maison Rose. Recorded in 1977 with the golden era of folk […]
Eno’s 1975 precursor-to-ambient albums Another Green World and Discreet Music entered Bowie’s ears and infiltrated his psyche at a very interesting point in the rock star’s career: when the damaging repercussions of […]
One of the finest Brazilian jazz funk fusion albums ever recorded, the exquisite music found on São Paulo • Brasil is well deserving of its cult status. Cesar […]
A highly eclectic and pleasant mix of samba, flamenco, European folk, chanson and dreamy space pop that plays like the soundtrack to an obscure 70’s movie. Paradia is […]
Shoes were formed in the early 70s by longtime friends John Murphy and Gary Klebe in Zion, Illinois before the two even owned their first instruments. The duo […]
Italian multi-instrumentalist and composer Pepe Maina describes his music as “ambient & prog rock music for dreams and illusion.” His debut album Il Canto Dell’Arpa e Del Flauto […]
When Pharoah Sanders’ Love in Us All was released in 1974, it was already becoming clear that the artist was shifting away from the wilder experimentations of his earlier […]
