I Will Roam

A second helping of the Rose City Band, countryrock hobby horse of Ripley Johnson, the bearded one of Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo. Summerlong is a tad more country - with prominent pedal steel - than the selftitled debut, but plenty trippy and krauty nonetheless. Guess I'll really be spinning it summerlong. Pick this wildflower, folks.

Rose City Band - Wildflowers

Dim The Lights

Hang on, 'cause here's the cream of the cosmic crop of 2018, a fine fine year in music. Tough call then so, but now the die is shaken, now the die must fall... Collect 'em all why don't you. Fingerpointing cover art by the one and only Tinca.

1. Garcia Peoples - Cosmic Cash
2. Minami Deutsch - With Dim Light
3. Howlin Rain - The Alligator Bride
4. Kikagaku Moyo - Masana Temples
5. Yo La Tengo - There's A Riot Going On
6. Mythic Sunship - Another Shape Of Psychedelic Music
7. Wooden Shjips - V
8. The Other Years - The Other Years
9. Calexico - The Thread That Keeps Us
10. Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood - With Animals

Garcia Peoples - Hangin' On

All Aboard

V for vibes? Most definitely. The Shjips never sounded so warm as on their new fifth record, a modern California trip full of hypnotic guitar riffs and sizzling synths. "Sitting alone, staring at the sun..." V for victory.

Wooden Shjips - Staring At The Sun

In Your Pipe

"Smoke rings fill the air, blues is a-comin' my way..." Sick and tired of smoking guns, so how about a smoking six pack? Sooty sugar lump artwork - as usual - by Tinca. Bafflin' indeed, folks.

Joe Maphis - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)
David Wiffen - Smoke Rings
Lee Perry - Bafflin' Smoke Signal
Voice Of The Seven Thunders - Out Of The Smoke
Wooden Shjips - Black Smoke Rise
Kikagaku Moyo - Smoke And Mirrors

Inevitable smoky bonus tracks:

The Smoke - My Friend Jack
Lazy Smoke - There Was A Time

Shjip Comes In

The Shjips may have moved away from their safe Golden Gate Bridge environs to the wilds of Portland in Oregon, but the song remains the same. Psychedelica the now way, and that's exactly how we like it. Their brand new Back To Land will end up on many end-of-year-lists for sure. Get on board, people.

Wooden Shjips - In The Roses

Colour Me Blue

How blue can you get? Presenting a bluer than blue, hand picked six pack. B.B. plays his Lucille live at the Regal, British punkpoppers MC4 reach for the sky, and Lloyd Charmers mourns racial injustice, Jamaican style. Bobby Bland proves once more he was up there with the true soul greats, while the Wooden Shjips go Krautrock, and sixties Japrockers the Jaguars simply feel blue... Like what you hear? Then buy a featured album or two.

B.B. King - How Blue Can You Get MP3

Mega City Four - Clear Blue Sky MP3

Lloyd Charmers - Darker Than Blue MP3

Bobby "Blue" Bland - Little Boy Blue MP3

Wooden Shjips - Blue Sky Bends MP3

The Jaguars - Blue Feeling MP3

With Gratitude

Time to pay some dues here. Or: presenting some artists I discovered through the enthusiastic posts of fellow music bloggers over the past couple of years.

So here´s a ten pack of pure gratitude, featuring soul from Terry Callier, Rodriguez, Shuggie Otis and Syl Johnson, folk from the Incredible String Band, country by Willis Alan Ramsey and Tom T. Hall (cheers Paul!), afrofunk by Segun Bucknor and more modern sounds by Wooden Shjips and Sunburned Hand Of The Man.

And yup, I actually bought all the albums these tracks were on, after sampling the odd mp3 on the internets. Just goes to show that music blogging actually works, the man...

Terry Callier - What Color Is Love MP3

The Incredible String Band - My Name Is Death MP3

Rodriguez - Sugar Man MP3

Tom T. Hall - Spokane Motel Blues MP3

Segun Bucknor - Sorrow, Sorrow, Sorrow MP3

Shuggie Otis - Sparkle City MP3

Wooden Shjips - For So Long MP3

Syl Johnson - Is It Because I´m Black? MP3

Willis Alan Ramsey - Geraldine & The Honeybee MP3

Sunburned Hand Of The Man - Yer Own Eyes & The Number None MP3