Wuzzzup ya’ll?! Apologies for going dark without notice here. What can I say… it’s SUMMER! Anyway, I’m back with a li’l treat.

EPIC! TUESDAYS!

Here’s a little slice of moody 60’s garage psyche w/ lots of organ soloing and a great beat. A few back Jay-Z took this li’l un ‘round the block on his “Public Service Announcement” cut so you know it is nice. Hope ya dig!

Artist: The Little Boy Blues
Album: In The Woodland of Weir
Year: 1968
Label: Fontana

Amazon has the reissue CD.

P.S. Just a heads-up that things might get a little sporadic here what with the nice weather and such. Subscribe to our RSS feed and let yr reader do the work!

This is one of my favorite new bands.  Although this album only came out a year or two ago, they’ve created a nearly timeless sound that is reminiscent of Leonard Cohen, early Stones (think “She Smiled Sweetly”) and (i think) most similarly to Smokey and his Sister.  They’ve got great harmonies over steady,simple, and stripped down melodies AND hand claps!  Who doesn’t like hand claps?

You can find all the information, bio and buying information at Hardly Art.

“Recorded on an 8-track in a basement in Seattle” works as a description of the sound as much as a where and how.

Artist: The Duchess and the Duke
Album: “She’s The Duchess, He’s The Duke” 
Year: 2007?  Maybe 2008
Label: Hardly Art

Whoa!…..just picked this up today. It’s a fuzzed-out African psych/garage/pop toe-tapper from 1974. This track coulda been Africa’s answer to New Zealand’s The Clean had it not been recorded 4 years before the Clean’s formation. Maybe it’s the other way around…..maybe the Clean is New Zealand’s answer to Zambia’s Chrissy Zebby Tembo! In any case this track rips! The opening guitar almost reminds me of Smells Like Teen Spirit….you almost think he’s gonna bust into some broken, pre-realized cover of the Nirvana classic….but naw…Chrissy keeps it real. Throughout the song Chrissy and the family thankfully retain that naive proto-punk style….crunchy, repetitive and loose…..and make it their own thing.

“I’ve Been Loosing” is pulled from a re-issue of Tembo’s 1974 album My Ancestors. The whole album is a peach. Head-bopping, funny, sincere, fuzzed-out and just downright enjoyable from start to finish. This ‘aint your Dad’s Afro beat….In fact it’s not really Afro beat at all…it’s Afro garage pop…..and I want more!

ARTIST: Chrissy Zebby Tembo and Ngozi Family
TRACK: “Ive Been Loosing”
ALBUM: My Ancestors
YEAR: 1974