Strange Brew

If you, like me, can't get enough of electric Miles, here's yet another piece of the puzzle. Recorded live in Rotterdam for a radio broadcast back in '69, The Lost Quintet precedes the release of the revolutionary Bitches Brew. Backing the man with the horn are Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette. And fun was clearly had by all. Run that voodoo down...

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (live '69)

Take My Fear

The second collaboration between Iron & Wine and Calexico sounds more like a Sam Beam solo record with the guys from Tucson in the role of backing band supreme. Impeccably played and all of course, but Years To Burn lacks that certain je ne sais quoi that characterizes Calexico's best stuff.

Calexico/Iron & Wine - What Heaven's Left

Got A New Rose

The ideal long hot summer soundtrack comes choogling in from Portland, Oregon in the form of the Rose City Band. Cosmic American with a whiff of kraut here and there, and a lovely spaced-out guitar sound with echoes of the one and only Jerry G. Splendid record, get it here.

Rose City Band - Me And Willie

Silent Way draft

Got a lovely mood piece by avant-pickers Alan Licht and Loren Mazzacane-Connors for you today. Because on the right day, their jazz-inspired Hoffman Estates project from '98, masterminded by Jim O'Rourke, can be all you need.

Alan Licht & Loren Mazzacane-Connors - Sad At Times

Bye Poppa

Just got the sad news that New Orleans funk legend Arthur Lanon 'Art' Neville passed away yesterday.  The keyboard player they called Poppa Funk, co-founder of both the Meters and the Neville Brothers, was 81. Miss him.

The Meters - Liar
The Neville Brothers - Fire On The Bayou

Treat Me This Way

Shame about that preposterous title, but there's no denying this is indeed a solid compilation of rare early country blues. If you've never enjoyed the mighty Two Poor Boys, the wonderfully named Papa Eggshell, or the razorsharp Mississippi Matilda, to name but a few obscure names presented here, you'd be a fool not to pick this one up pronto.

Mississippi Matilda - Hard Working Mama

Speak Slow

"In the distance we now hold on to you..." Fans of British freakfolkers supreme Tunng will love this cool collection of non-album ditties. I know I do.

Tunng - Clump

World Of Mystery

After quite a long absence due to marital bliss and parenthood, Mr. Deadpan strikes again. And although not as firmly focused as his 2013 tour de force Dream River, the twenty short and sweet stream of conciousness tracks collected here certainly don't disappoint. The track below has him at his most tender, crooning about the woman of his dreams. But being Bill C, he just can't help himself and has to add a wacky detail concerning Willie Nelson's guitar.

Bill Callahan - What Comes After Certainty

Holy Grace

Lovely story in last week's Guardian about a veteran ice-cream man from Eastbourne and the changing of the times. Made me think of this gruff beauty.

Kevin Coyne - Eastbourne Ladies

Bob's Yr Uncle

"Well uncle Pen played the fiddle, Lord, how it would ring? You could hear it talk, you could hear it sing..." Presenting a six pack to go about uncles, with extravagant art by the all-seeing Tinca.

Bill Monroe - Uncle Pen
Pearls Before Swine - Uncle John
Brian Eno - Third Uncle
Screaming Trees - Uncle Anesthesia
Bad Livers - Uncle Lucius
Drive-By Truckers - Uncle Frank

And let's go all out with a familiar trio of bonus tracks, just because we can...

Uncle Walt's Band - High Hill
Uncles - Settler's Song
Unkle - Bloodstain

So Uncanny

The Dead fronted by a female version of Damo Suzuki? Trippy SF spacerock collective Dire Wolves pulls it off on Spacetime Rider, the price track of their new Grow Towards The Light album. 3, 2, 1... and we have lift off.

Dire Wolves - Spacetime Rider

Without Her

Two delightful (and very different) modern takes on an old ballad from the Ozark mountains by way of Scotland. Find them on two brand new, high quality folk albums by kindred souls Jake Xerxes Fussell (Out Of Sight) and House and Land (Across The Field).

Jake Xerxes Fussell - The Rainbow Willow
House and Land - Rainbow 'Mid Life's Willows

Moody Sky

Hurrah once more for the good folk over at Light in the Attic, who recently saw fit to re-release Sachiko Kanenobu's only solo album Misora from 1972. A delicate Japfolk classic I can't get enough of at the moment.

Sachiko Kanenobu - Sora Wa Fukigen

Burning Hell

Floyd Batts didn't need no accompaniment to sing the blues. No sir. Recorded in '59 by songhunter Alan Lomax at the notorious Louisiana prison called Parchman Farm.

Floyd Batts - Dangerous Blues

Come On In

Nederbeat, always a treat. The charming Condors are in girl trouble, the Rodys stay optimistic, while the Zipps do a Dylan, complete with flute. "And remember, let bygones be bygones..."

The Condors - It Was A Lie
The Rodys - Looking For Something Better
Zipps - Hipsterism