Viva La Pureza

I'll leave you to your own devices for a week or so, as I'm off in a southern direction in search of some much needed sunshine tomorrow. In the meantime, try some deep flamenco singing by Bernardo Silva Carrasco, better known as the Indian Gypsy. Great stuff, trust me. ¡Vamonos!

El Indio Gitano - Hasta La Luz Del Día
El Indio Gitano - Predicar En El Desierto

World To Want You

Enjoy a taste of the new Vetiver disc, which is called Complete Strangers and out as we speak. Not nearly as freaky as some of us may have hoped for, but definitely charming and oh so jingly jangly. Bonus points for the cool cover art.

Vetiver - Loose Ends

Tears Of Blood

Here's the eternal master of flamenco en vivo, with faithful sidekick Tomatito on guitar. A truly breathtaking performance, guaranteed to send shivers down your spine. "Gotas de sangre lloré..."

El Camarón De La Isla - Pasando El Puente

Search For A Sound

Let the sun shine in with the Calexico boys, as their new offering (recorded in Mexico City of all places) makes an excellent soundtrack for a spring that has finally sprung. Proposition: Joey Burns and John Convertino will never ever make a sub par record. It's just not in them.

Calexico - Beneath The City Of Dreams

Drop The Bomb

"Don't you ever give a man false hope..." That's Matthew E. White on fire, fresh out of his Spacebomb laboratory. Although I don't rate his new Fresh Blood album just as high as its near-perfect predecessor Outer Face, there's still plenty of groovin' gems to be had. Holy Moly indeed. And the bearded one's production and arrangement work on the self-titled debut by new kid on the block Natalie Prass are quite impeccable, too.

Matthew E. White - Holy Moly
Natalie Prass - Your Fool

Paying Homage

Picked up this beauty because of the album cover really, as they don't come more flamenco than this one. I was of course already familiar with the great Enrique Morente (1942-2010), a singer known both for his interpretations of flamenco puro as for his wild experimentalism. Did you know the maestro from Granada once played the fusion thang with Sonic Youth? But here he digs way into the past, paying homage to Don Antonio Chacon, one of the ancient godfathers of the genre. On guitar: the always passionate Pepe Habichuela.

Enrique Morente - Era Una Madruga
Enrique Morente - No Me Habias De Conocer

On A Monday

Jazz, the postrock Chicago way. From '95, but still sounding remarkably fresh as we speak. Which just happens to be on a Monday.

The Sea And Cake - Station In The Valley

Boss Hoss

In a bad mood? Just play this way over the top ska tune from '64, preferably at top volume. Works wonders. Saddle up!

Carlos Malcolm & His Jamaican Rhythms - Bonanza Ska

Too Late

Let's dig out some more female blues, ok? Cue Victoria Regina Spivey, from Houston, Texas. Known to sing a mean blues. "I'm like a prisoner, always wishing he was free..."

Victoria Spivey - T.B. Blues

Are You Willing?

As it sure is thrilling. Yes siree. And from your head down to your liver at that. Is the oh-so-aptly titled Sings The Blues the perfect Nina Simone album? Guess so.

Nina Simone - Do I Move You

A Pretty War

"That night all the drinking continued in my room, Linda said we could smoke if we took down the fire alarm, I did, we drank, I played Wilco's Summerteeth, she didn't seem to be interested in it, from what I could see..." Do not disturb this Easter weekend please, as I'm immersed in Karl Ove Knausgaard's impressive My Struggle epos at the moment. Only a couple thousand pages of soulsearching to go.

Wilco - She's A Jar

Monk Time

Monk's first trip across the Atlantic, to Paris in the hot summer of 1957, produced his first ever solo piano recording. Which is a prime example of being totally immersed in your own playing, oblivious to the world.

Thelonious Monk - Off Minor