1978
In 1980, the British label Rough Trade opened a Stateside satellite office in San Francisco and, as a way of introduction, curated a 14-song collection of the label’s […]
The first ever reissue of Dorothy Carter’s folk/psych/drone masterpiece is one of those records that fills a hole in your listening psyche you didn’t realize you had. A […]
Avant-garde jazz composer and pianist Wolfgang Dauner was known for introducing provocative musical and cultural concepts through his work in jazz music, opera, and theater. His 1970 album […]
The debut solo album by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Thousand Knives was released just shortly after the composer earned his M.A. in music from Tokyo University and before he formed […]
Formed in 1976 by the great drummer Norman Connors, Aquarian Dream brought together a collective of talented musicians who effortlessly blended soul, funk, jazz, and disco to create […]
An ECM classic from the great Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist Egberto Gismonti, Sol do Meio Dia is Portuguese for “Noon Sun.” From Egberto Gismonti: “The music on […]
Liliental was a krautrock supergroup that included Dieter Moebius from Cluster, top engineer Conny Plank, Kraan musicians: Johannes Pappert and Helmut Hattler, and a couple of free radicals: […]
Fibonacci ambient from Los Angeles based engineer and synthesizer player Dan Morehouse. “Patterns of Music and Nature: Artists seek to reproduce the spatial forms of nature that most […]
Delayed guitar magic from the great Manuel Göttsching! Ashra’s Blackouts is an essential Berlin-school electronic album with Göttsching’s layered guitars and synthesizers building wonderfully hypnotic soundscapes that feel […]
Full Moon is a nine track soul album featuring the “ultimate morning song” A3 “Changin’” that was played at legendary NYC parties like the Loft and Paradise Garage. […]
By some strange circumstance, Kate Bush has made it back to the top of the charts, and we’re here for it! Hounds of Love is an absolute classic, […]
Recorded, produced, and finished in just two weeks, The Modern Dance by Cleveland-based band Pere Ubu is a pioneering post-punk classic that “pushed music into the 80’s” alongside […]
The first of three Talking Heads albums produced by Brian Eno, More Songs About Buildings And Food expanded on the group’s rhythmic sensibilities with more danceable grooves. The […]
Featured on NPR Classical 50, a weekly series from NPR recommending “50 essential recordings for everyone from first-timers to fanatics,” Paul Jacobs’ performance of Preludes For Piano sounds […]
The full explanation of how this seminal interactive record was made is printed on the original LP cover, but to shorten it: Behrman paired live instruments and players […]
Yukihiro Takahashi may not have had as prolific a solo career as the other two members of Yellow Magic Orchestra, but that’s a hard comparison to make as […]
A reggae holiday classic from Inner Circle’s Jacob Miller and deejay Ray I, Natty Christmas is the perfect soundtrack to ringing in an “irie Christmas and dancehall new […]
An underrated dollar bin soul-jazz find, Formerly Of The Harlettes is the lone album by former Bette Midler backup singers Sharon Redd, Ula Hedwig, and Charlotte Crossley. The […]
Here’s an interesting one… Two young musical brothers meet the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and create, possibly the first of its kind, Hare Krishna soul / soft […]
One of the unsung heroes of the Laurel Canyon scene, Laura Allan has appeared on albums by Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Carmen, Crosby-Nash, as well as Crosby’s […]
Included on the excellent Aloha Got Soul (Soul, AOR & Disco in Hawai’i 1979-1985) compilation, Lemuria was a jazz-funk and soul group formed by Kirk Thompson, an influential […]
A roller disco classic from one of the founding members of the great SoCal jam band War, Lee Oskar’s Before the Rain is a pleasant harmonica funk album with […]
A classic obscurity from the legendary Lovefingers blog, What a Night is carefree, disco-rock from Austrian keyboardist Richard Schoenherz’s of the iconic Supermax. The Moog synthesizers, Rhodes, and […]
An undisputed masterpiece from Lovely Music’s “Blue” Gene Tyranny, here are some words by NY label Unseen Worlds, which recently reissued it for the first time ever last […]
French Composer and piano virtuoso Benoit Widemann began his obsession with harmony as a child and quickly found his place in the 70s prog rock scene in Paris. […]
Featured in the psychedelic section of Chee Shimizu’s Obscure Sound disc guide, Photo Musik is an underrated gem from French guitarist Christian Boulé. Boulé was a peripheral member […]
J.O.B Orquestra’s Open the Doors to Your Heart is a highly underrated album from the 1970’s New York afro-spiritualist movement that would later become a favorite amongst hip-hop […]
Heard about this one on Japanese record collector Yozo Kumitake’s excellent Originals Volume 9 compilation CD. Savanna Silver Band were a mostly unknown latin jazz rock group that […]
When Prince entered the studio to lay down the tracks on For You, the stakes were high. He would be the youngest artist in Warner Bros. history to […]
Most listeners seem to discover the highly regarded avant-garde trumpeter Jon Hassell via his Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics collaboration with Brian Eno which was not just […]
By 1970, composer Harold Budd’s work had become increasingly minimalist and after releasing a long-form solo gong piece, Budd decided to minimalize even further and stopped composing completely. […]
This surreal and transcendental work by the American avant-garde giant was the first iteration of what would be Robert Ashley’s televised 1983 opera Private Lives. A theatrical work […]
What started as a “just for fun” side project from a little known guitarist has since become a rare and quite sought after 70’s private press, breezy psychedelic […]
Steve Reich’s organic minimalist tour de force is a ground breaking record that would become an influence for much of the electronic records we hear today. Reich creates […]
