Si Señor

Young kid from beautiful Cádiz bay sings two mean flamencos. Yes sir.

Joaquín De Sola - Amantes
Joaquín De Sola - En El Pórtico

That's How I Live

Stellar solo guitar in the American Primitive tradition. Out soon, and don't be a stranger please.

Chuck Johnson - Medicine Map

Version Galore

Two of my fave reggae compilations are credited to Rupie Edwards & Friends, and each one is based on a truckload of different versions of one particular riddim. Ire Feelings uses Everyday Wandering by Johnny Clarke as a basecamp of sorts, while Let There Be Version utilizes My Conversation by Slim Smith's Uniques to great effect. Dubs, instrumentals, deejay versions... When Rupie works his magic, it's all good. Six pack time!

Johnny Clarke - Everyday Wandering
Rupie Edwards - Ire Feelings
Rupie Edwards All Stars - Feeling Horn
The Uniques - My Conversation
El Cisco Delgado - Mi Nuh Matta
Joe White - President Rock

Learned From The Best

"Hanging on to a pot to piss in, is just about the best a man can do..." Wise words by Texas singer annex storyteller James McMurtry. His new album Complicated Game definitely deserves to be heard by the Americana faithful out there.

James McMurtry - Carlisle's Haul

Radio On

What's all this then? Hypnotic desert blues is what. From the first, the roughest, and maybe the best album by that wild bunch of Touareg rebels called Tinariwen. You're listening to Radio Tisdas, so don't touch that dial...

Tinariwen - Zin Es Gourmeden

Can't Go Back

"When I cut my hair and I rode away (...) with the sun in my eyes..." Sure thing that head Messenger MC Taylor had Dylan's Isis on the brain when he penned the lovely Mahogany Dread last year. Dude knows his classics well. Hell, the pic above even shows him toting that infamous Fender Dylan went electric with back in '65 at the Newport Folk Festival. A clear case of love and theft then so, which is cool in my book. And Bob's too, I guess.

Hiss Golden Messenger - Mahogany Dread
Bob Dylan - Isis (live Waterbury '75)
Bob Dylan - Isis (live Oklahoma City '76)

Run It Down

Just in case you missed it: there's a new volume of the Miles Davis Bootleg Series on the market. At Newport, as you've probably guessed already, focuses on the man with the horn's appearances at the Newport Folk Festival between 1955 and 1975. Great stuff all around, but my absolute fave's the heavy heavy voodoo fusion played by his Dark Magus formation, recorded in '73 in Berlin, as part of Newport in Europe.

Miles Davis - Turnaroundphrase (live Berlin '73)

Got It

On their new Stuff Like That There, Hoboken's finest mix obscure covers with originals and retakes. Same formula as their beloved Fakebook album, so what can go wrong? Nothing at all of course. Just listen to the dreamy Antietam cover below to hear what I mean.

Yo La Tengo - Naples

About Time

Good news for all aficionados who feared that Diego el Cigala was lost to the world of flamenco, busy as he was exploring the music of South America for the last ten years or so. On this live album, recorded in 2012 in Barcelona but only released last year, the longhaired singer from Madrid finally goes back to his roots, and with often breathtaking results at that. On guitar: the mighty Diego del Morao, son of the late great Moraíto Chico.

Diego el Cigala - El Reloj De Mi Existencia

Burned Like Hell

Free with the new issue of Uncut magazine: a thoroughly enjoyable effort to cobble together the great lost Dead album. In the three years following the 1970 Americana-avant-la-lettre highlights Workingman's Dead and American Beauty, Garcia & co didn't record any new material for some reason or other. The songs they wrote during this period often made appearances in concert however. Some outstanding ones are collected here: 9 prime live tracks from the early seventies and one outtake. Ramble on.

Grateful Dead - Brown-Eyed Women

Dig It

Here comes Donny! Mr. Hathaway's 1970 debut Everything Is Everything is an oft-overlooked soul masterpiece if ever there was one. Sure 'nuff now, sure 'nuff.

Donny Hathaway - The Ghetto

Take A Look

"What you see is for real... " The odd one out on Jello Biafra's legendary Alternative Tentacles imprint, mr. Johns didn't bother with punkrock or hardcore. He did play rather loud though.

Evan Johns & The H-Bombs - Madhouse

Only Chance

"Can I count on you, if I fall apart?" An angular classic.

Mission of Burma - That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate

Blow Your Mind

Back with a bang, as Lloyd Charmers and brethren go wild. "Feeling fine in my mind, baby..."

Hippy Boys - Cloudburst