Daily Driver Summer 2019

Daily Driver: Summer 2019

This mix is exactly what it says it is. This has been the soundtrack to most of my commutes for most of Summer 2019. I hope you enjoy. There may be more installments in the Daily Driver series. We’ll see. For now, let’s just enjoy what we’ve got, alright? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Download the jewel case art as a PDF file.

Stream and/or download the mix below.

1. “I Heard It Through The Grapevine by CCR

2. “Soul Makossa” by Manu Dibango

3. “Sunflower” by Post Malone

4. “Funky Kingston” by Toots & The Maytals

5. “Rosa Parks” by Outkast

6. “Emampondweni” by Batsumi

7. “Truckin’” by Grateful Dead

8. “Rosalee” by Chris Robinson Brotherhood

9. “Roots Train” by Junior Murvin

10. “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” by Rolling Stones

11. “Thank You for Talkin' to Me Africa” by Sly Stone

Rainer Radio 1983 and 1986

If you’re not familiar with the music and life of Arizona (by way of Germany)’s Rainer Ptacek, then let’s rectify that (though for a much better and fuller account, please read the piece by Fred Mills at the official Rainer website).

Born in East Berlin to parents of Czech and German descent, Rainer’s family fled East Germany for the United States when he was only five years old. Young Rainer was exposed to the Blues while the family lived in Chicago before landing West in Tucson in the 1970s.

Later that decade, Ptacek helped found the Giant Sandworms with Howe Gelb, a band which would later more into Giant Sand, also launching the Calexico story. Ptacek also played solo and with his own band Das Combo.

According to the Wikipedias,

“Although he never became well known in the United States, he became more and more recognized in Europe. ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons was so impressed with the singer-guitarist that he arranged to have Kurt Loder review Ptacek's "Mush Mind Blues" cassette in Rolling Stone. Ptacek later traveled to Houston at the invitation of Billy Gibbons to record at Gibbons' Gold Star Sound Services studio which saw release as "The Texas Tapes" meeting international attention and approval. Robert Plant, similarly impressed, flew Ptacek to England for the sessions for B-sides to supplement the singles from Fate of Nations.”

The article continues:

“After suffering a seizure while riding his bike to work in February 1996, Ptacek was diagnosed with a brain tumor in February 1996. He was uninsured and was overwhelmed by his mounting medical expenses. Howe Gelb and Robert Plant organized recording sessions for a fund-raising tribute album. The resulting record, The Inner Flame - A Tribute to Rainer Ptacek, featured Ptacek-penned songs performed by Gelb (with Giant Sand), Plant, Jimmy Page, Emmylou Harris, John Wesley Harding, Evan Dando, Victoria Williams, Mark Olson, Tina Chesnutt, Vic Chesnutt, PJ Harvey, John Parish, The Drovers, Madeleine Peyroux, Kris McKay, Chuck Prophet, Jonathan Richman, Lucinda Williams and Bill Janovitz. Ptacek is a participant on most of the tracks.

Intense chemotherapy sessions put his tumor into remission, and Ptacek's musical skills and creativity both returned. He resumed his concert activity vigorously, beginning with a guest performance at Greg Brown's show in November 1996. By this time, media attention was more focused on him than ever before. On December 17, 1996, he performed a show for 300 doctors, nurses, and patients at the hospital where he was being treated. Just when it seemed as though he had beaten his disease, it recurred in October 1997, and he died three weeks later at age 46.

What the Wikipedia blurb fails to mention is that Rainer re-taught himself to play guitar. Imagine that.

Anyway, today we feature two live performances from the 1980’s. Each is made available by the amazing Jim Blackwood. Visit the Live Music Archive page for each show for specific notes, to stream or download for yourself (1983 // 1986)

Rainer Live at KXCI-FM Studios on 1983-12-05

Rainer Live at The Sound Factory on 1986-04-08

• Visit Rainer Ptacek’s official website.

• Purchase Rainer’s music at Bandcamp.

• Purchase Rainer’s music at Amazon.

Sunwatchers: February 22, 2019 The Glove by NYC Taper

Sunwatchers: February 22, 2019 The Glove by NYC Taper

Sunwatchers’ Facebook page describes the band as “Punk Jazz Drone” and really wants you to know what they’re all about in all caps:

SUNWATCHERS STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE DISPOSSESSED, IMPOVERISHED AND EMBATTLED PEOPLE OF THE WORLD.

That’s a sentiment we will stand with. Especially when the music is as vibrant as this. Who knew instrumental music could be political? We all did, son. NYC Taper, to whom we are all indebted for this show says:

Sunwatchers make no secret of their politics — heck, they’re written right on the cover of their previous album, II. They’re far from the only “rock” band (if you can even call them that) to use a saxophone, of course, but in Jeff Tobias’ hands, the instrument itself becomes political, recalling elements of spiritual and free jazz. Peter Kerlin, Jason Robira and Jim McHugh make a hell of an avant-rock trio, but it’s the defiant tone of that sax, the holy cry, that seals the band’s sound.

The band’s most recent album Illegal Moves is one of my favorite albums of 2019. I’ve been jammin this 2019 February set at The Glove and I think you will too.

• Visit the Sunwatchers Facebook page.

• Follow Sunwatchers at Twitter.

• Visit the show’s page at the NYC Taper site.

• Download the show from its page on the Live Music Archive.

• Purchase the group’s music at Bandcamp.

• Purchase the group’s music at Amazon.

Sunwatchers2019-02-22The GloveBrooklyn, NY USARecorded and produced by acidjackSchoeps MK4V (FOB, ROC, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices MixPre 6>24/48 WAV>Adobe Audition CC>Izotope Ozone 5>Audacity 2.2.2>FLAC ( level 8 )

Drew Grow and the Pastors' Wives, Doe Bay Sessions 2010

Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives Doe Bay Sessions 2010

When you search “Doe Bay Festival” on the Googles, this is what comes up:

“Doe Bay Fest is a four day grassroots festivalfeaturing music, food, drink, camping and activities in the unique setting of the Doe Bay Resort and Retreat. ... (Doe Bay is not responsible for 3rd party content on these sites).”

When you Googles Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives, one of the first things that comes up is a 2011 NPR profile beginning:

“In recent years, gospel music has found some unlikely adherents: David Bazan, Sufjan Stevens, Damien Jurado and Rosie Thomas have all melded faith with underground folk and rock, while bands like The Head and the Heart have taken homespun choral backgrounds back to the campfire. Drew Grow and his band The Pastors Wives also have their roots in that stomp-and-clap, post-fireside-church-camp circle, but — as with predecessors like Stevens — you don't have to be a Believer to be a believer.”

In 2010, the band played the Doe Bay Festival and recorded a couple of intimate performances in the woods with a ladder. As one does.

The band later changed their name to Modern Kin and put out one LP, and a live release, both available at Bandcamp and highly recommended.

After Modern Kin disbanded, Grow started playing in Slang, which you may have heard of as one of Janet Weiss’ bands, along with Quasi. Grow and Weiss were recently in a fairly serious car accident which postponed a joint tour and our prayers are with them both.

• Visit the Doe Bay Festival website.

• Follow Modern Kin at Twitter.

• Follow Modern Kin at Facebook.

• Support Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives at Bandcamp.

• Support Modern Kin at Bandcamp.

Doug Burr Could Use Our Help (Weekend Sale)

Around 12-14 years ago, when we were living in TX, we drove to the DFW area to see Bill Mallonee and Muriah Rose play at a yoga studio. After paying the “corking fee” on our bottle of gas-station wine, we settled in to our seats only to realize that there was an opening act. We rustled through the expected disappointment and figured we’d enjoy some wine and just make it through the opening set.

And then Doug Burr and Glen Farris started playing. I had never heard of them but I would never forget them. I don’t know if you’ve ever been blown away by an opening act, but I was that night. Bill’s set was great but I will always remember that as the night I was introduced to the music of Doug Burr.

Burr has been a mainstay of the Dallas music scene for years. He has put out five LPs of solid roots/Americana/folk/rock/pop, each one building on the others without ever losing Burr’s craftsmanship and regularly plays around the area to much-deserved acclaim.

But Burr, like many musicians, has held a day job during all of this. Until recently. On August 11, Burr posted a video to Facebook that he had been unexpectedly laid off and is looking for ways to supplement that much-needed lost income with house shows. The Dallas Observer reports:

Longtime fans of Burr may think he’s above small house shows, that his talent stretches far beyond someone’s living room, and maybe they’re right. But times are tough, and Burr says: “Why wouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t I?” He cites artists like Wil Johnson (Centro-matic, South San Gabriel) and John Vanderslice (The Mountain Goats, Spoon) as a couple of examples of larger acts who still play house shows.

If you’re in the DFW area, we would ask you to consider hosting a house show. If you are not in the area, you can still help. Burr’s long-time record label Velvet Blue recently posted this deal to Facebook:

"For this weekend we're offering :

2 of his cds 
'Pale White Dove' or 'On Promenade' for $7.50 each w/ FREE Shipping

or

2 of his 7" singles 
'White Night, Black Light' or 'Trembling Lips' for $6 each w/ FREE Shipping

> > > > > > >100% OF THE SALES WILL GO TO MR. BURR > > > > > > >

email me Jeff at Velvet Blue your order and he'll send you a link to pay : jeff@velvetbluemusic.com"

Please consider helping if you can. This is great music helping out a great person.

This sale is this weekend only so e-mail Jeff to pick up some great music at a great price and help a great person. If you’re in the DFW area, please consider hosting a house show. You can contact Doug through his artist page at Facebook. Or head over to Bandcamp and purchase, purchase, purchase!

Watch Doug Burr perform “A Black Wave Is Coming” from the album "O Ye Devastator” for {Automatic Buzz}™ Sessions.

Here’s “Red, Red” (Live at SXSW)

“3356 Romeo" - KXT Live Sessions

• Visit Doug Burr’s official site.

• Visit Burr at Facebook.

• Follow Doug Burr at Twitter.

• Purchase Doug Burr’s music at Bandcamp.

• Purchase Doug Burr’s music at Amazon.

Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad Live at Coke Studios Pakistan (2011)

Speaking of Qawwali music, according to Asia Society New York:

Qawwali is a Sufi devotional form known as the “path of the heart”. Popularized by the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, qawwali songs are based on the mystical poetry of Sufism. The traditional music works its way to ecstatic peaks with strong voices and percussive handclaps, seeking to transport musicians and audience closer to the divine.

Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal and Brothers are masters of Qawwali Sufi music as well as classical genres such as tarana, thumri, and khayal. They belong to the Qawwal Bachon ka Gharana of Delhi, a music school founded in the 14th century that remains the best-known gharana today. Weaving together devotional and secular traditions, Ayaz and company have been bringing South Asian music to international audiences for over 30 years.

Here, Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal and Brothers perform a mesmerizing set of Qawwali music at Coke Studios Pakistan. This set was produced by Rohail Hyatt.

First up is “Khabaram Raseeda:”

“Mori Bangri”

“Rung”

“Kangna”

• Follow Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal & Brothers at Facebook.

• Follow Coke Studio Pakistan at Facebook.

• Listen to "Kangna" by Fareed Ayaz & Abu Muhammad on Episode 13 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Songhoy Blues at the Tiny Desk

Songhoy Blues at the NPR Tiny Desk

NPR’s Bob Boilen says:

“The music I feel most connected to beyond rock is from Mali. The melodies are so fluid, so elegant and most of all so trance-inducing. It often sits on one chord and notes played revolve around that chord. It can feel like a drone at times, and in the case of Songhoy Blues it rocks, lulls and the percussion grooves are not only trance-inducing but dance-inducing.”

• Visit Songhoy Blues’ official website.

• Listen to Songhoy Blues on Episode 05 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

• Purchase Songhoy Music at Bandcamp.

• Follow Songhoy Blues at Facebook.

• Follow the group at Twitter.

• Purchase Songhoy Blues music at Amazon.

Josh Rouse Radio 1998 and 2000

I used to do a lot of live concert trading. I got rid of quite a bit of my collective over the years, but I did keep a few personal favorites for the treasure box.

Here we have three different radio appearances by Nebraska’s Josh Rouse. Two from 1998 and one from 2000, which also includes a couple of interview segments.

Originally from Nebraska, Rouse mined that heritage for his 1998 debut Dressed Up Like Nebraska, of which Allmusic says:

“Josh Rouse plays it straight like the roads and byways which criss-cross the Great Plains. This music is the no-frills variety that takes a bit of getting used to, but once acclimated, listeners start to feel like they've come across something real. The songs which comprise Dressed Up Like Nebraska sound like they've really happened, if not to the artist, then to those near and dear to him.”

21 years and 13 albums later, Rouse has left Nebraska but continues to play earnest Americana Folk Rock Pop(™).

Josh Rouse Live at Mountain Stage (The Culture Theatre, Charleston, WV, 08/22/98)

1. Introduction

2. Dressed Up Like Nebraska

3. Late Night Conversation

4. Suburban Sweetheart

The introduction has some static and unfortunately, there is what sounds like a CD skip during the first few seconds of “Suburban Sweetheart.” I have had this disc since approximately 2001 and have just never tried to fix it. Sorry about that, but hey, otherwise this is a fantastic early acoustic set. Enjoy.

Josh Rouse Live at E-Town (Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO, 11/22/98)

1. Introduction

2. Everybody Knows What’s Going On

3. Interview

4. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

5. Little Know It All

6. Interview

7. Dressed Up Like Nebraska

8. White Freightliner

Josh Rouse Live at NPR’s World Cafe (Cafe Studios, Philadelphia, PA, 08/14/00)

1. Introduction

2. Marvin Gaye

3. Interview

4. Laughter

5. Interview

6. Direction

7. Interview

8. 100M Backstroke

9. Interview/Closing

• Visit Josh Rouse’s official website.

• Follow Josh Rouse on Twitter.

• Follow Josh Rouse on Twitter.

• Purchase Rouse’s music at Amazon.

Chris Forsyth and the Broken Mirrors Motel Band 7​​.​​11​​.​​19

Celebrating his latest double LP “All Time Present,” guitarist Chris Forsyth did a little mini-tour with “The Broken Mirrors Motel Band.” From Forsyth’s Facebook page announcing the run of three shows, Forsyth says:

Minneapolis/Milwaukee/Chicago dates in July. The band on this little run will be Doug McCombs (Tortoise, etc) on bass, Areif Sless-Kitain (Brokeback, The Eternals) on drums, and Jaime Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors) on keys aka the Broken Mirrors Motel Band.

We are lucky enough to live in a day and age when we can get high quality live concert recordings within days. Ofter for free. Think about that. What a time to be alive. With that in mind, let’s all give a warm thanks to the people over at Southern Jukebox Music for not only recording 07/11/19’s show and sharing it, but making it a “name your price” release on Bandcamp with all proceeds going to the artist. That is cool. Really, if you can, throw a couple of bucks Forsyth’s way. The more we can do to support great music the better.

Southern Jukebox Music says:

In early July 2019, Chris Forsyth pulled three lauded Chicago musicians together to rehearse for a single day before they set out on a short three-night tour—Doug McCombs of Tortoise on bass, Jaime Fennelly of Mind Over Mirrors on synth, and Areif Sless-Kitain of the Regulator Watts on drums.

Before hitting Acme Records in Milwaukee and finishing at the Hideout in Chicago, they made their first live appearance together at the Fraternal Order of Eagles #34 in Powderhorn, Minneapolis, the fabled meeting place of young punks and irritated townies confused at the noise coming from one of the ballrooms that’s drowning out Karaoke at the bar.

This was recorded direct to reel. Enjoy and thanks to all involved!

Chris Forsyth 7​.​11​.​19 by Chris Forsyth, released 16 August 2019 1. Tomorrow Might As Well Be Today → Mystic Mountain 2. Dream Song 3. Dreaming in the Non-Dream 4. Techno Top 5. The Past Ain't Passed Live from Eagles 34 in Minneapolis. Any proceeds will go to the artist.

• Stream or download the 07/13/19 Hideout Inn set at the Live Music Archive.

• Visit Chris Forsyth’s official website.

• Support Forsyth at Bandcamp.

• Follow Chris Forsyth at Facebook.

• Follow Forsyth at Twitter.

• Purchase Forsyth’s music at Amazon.

Sarathy Korwar Says There Are More Arriving

Born in the US but raised in India, Sarathy Korwar has made a career out of blending the horizons. On 2016’s Day to Day, Korwar released what NPR called a “a knockout album.” “With his own field recordings of the Sidi Troupe of Ratanpur, which consists of five drummers who also vocalize, Korwar sought to illuminate patterns of human migration and drift, and the small-scale but profound ways in which cultures can meld.”

Where Day to Day was often meditative, More Arriving is urgent. Visceral even. And timely. More Arriving is still steeped in Jazz but this time speaks in the voice of Hip Hop. Korwar says in the album’s “mini documentary”:

“This album serves as a snapshot of a plethora of Brown voices in 2019. All unique, proud, vulnerable, and defiant. The diverse languages that people are rapping in brings with it some really interesting variation of cadence, meter, and flow that makes the music and its combination with jazz and electronic music really, really exciting.

Watch Korwar’s “mini documentary” for the new album More Arriving.

Listen to Bol (feat. Zia Ahmed & Aditya Prakash)

Taken from More Arriving (2019): https://sarathykorwar.ffm.to/morearriving.pbt

Watch the official video for “Mumbay” (feat. MC Mawali)

Watch Sarathy Korwar Play A Nighttime Meditation On Tablas And Computer for NPR in 2017 on a balcony.

• Visit Sarathy Korwar's official website

• Purchase the album at Bandcamp

• Visit Korwar's Facebook page

• Visit Korwar's Twitter

• Purchase the album from Amazon
  Listen to "Bismillah" by Sarathy Korwar on Episode 08 of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow

Hear 3 Songs from Hiss Golden Messenger's Upcoming album "Terms of Surrender"

North Carolina’s Hiss Golden Messenger is one of my favorite current acts. M.C. Taylor writes of love, loss, longing and anger. Things aren’t the way they should be and there’s something deep in each of us that knows it. But there is power in love. Of course there is darkness in the world, but it never drowns out the Light. This is the protest music we need. There is power in community. Hiss Golden Messenger waves this flag with what you might call “Southern (By way of Topenga Canyon) Folk Roots Americana With A Possibility of Jamband”(™).

Hiss Golde Messenger’s newest album “Terms of Surrender” is due out September 20 on Merge Records. But we are lucky enough to be able to preview three songs from the album now.

Watch the official video for “I Need A Teacher"

Preview the track “Cat's Eye Blue”

Preview the track “Happy Birthday, Baby”

• Visit Hiss Golden Messenger’s official website.

• Follow Hiss Golden Messenger at Facebook.

• Follow Hiss Golden Messenger at Twitter.

• Support Hiss Golden Messenger at Bandcamp.

• Purchase Hiss Golden Messenger’s music at Amazon.

Weeping Bong Band (7.8.18 The Root Cellar Greenfield, MA)

Weeping Bong Band (7.8.18 The Root Cellar Greenfield, MA)

If you are the type to hazard a guess that a band called Weeping Bong Band would send forth cosmicy simmering shimmers of drone folk goodness into the universe, then your hazardous guess would be correct. The group’s page at the Feeding Tube Records site says:

Sub-underground super-groups are not common. This is less a function of the concept’s oxymoronic nature than of the fiercely independent stance of musicians toiling in this area. By definition, they are doing what they do simply because they love it. It can be quite difficult to distract them from their main focus long enough to get them to do anything else. Weeping Bong Band is a lovely exception that proves this rule.

Three members — Clark Griffin, Wednesday Knudsen and PG Six — are in the current line-up of Pigeons. One, Anthony Pasquarosa, has his own host of solo projects (Crystaline Roses, Gluebag, Burnt Envelope, etc.). And a final “ghost member,” Beverly Ketch, is half of the duo Viewer. Together, however, theirs is a rural psych engine that weeps as gently as a spring rain.

This is high-provenance instrumental hippie spew from the apex of the Pioneer Valley. There’s plenty of burbling psych guitar, laced with overtones that will make you conjure up visions of dark stoned nights. It is definitely music made in the day when marijuana had passed its medical-use-only status in the Commonwealth. Which is not to infer this music is unimbued with its own mystical curing properties, especially when played at mind-bending volume.

The band’s 2018 self-titled release is highly recommended.

Watch a live 2018 set from The Root Cellar Greenfield, MA and experience for yourself.

• Purchase the album from Feeding Tube Records.

• Purchase the album at Amazon.

Artist Spotlight: Letta Mbulu

This artist spotlight originally posted January 18, 2019 on the dearly missed Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow site.

One of the joys of doing a project like the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow is discovering new artists we didn’t yet know we loved.

We featured Letta’ Mbulu’s track “Kukuchi” on Episode 32 of our very own podcast. We were so smitten with Mbulu’s music that we wanted to give you, the fine people of the Internet, more Mbulu. So we put together an hour-long mix of some of our current favorite tracks.

If you don’t yet know Mbulu, allow us to introduce you.

Letta Mbulu (pronounced "let-ah" "em-boo-loo") was born in Soweto, South Africa in 1942 and remains a towering figure in South African music. Doug Payne says in his online biography of Mbulu:

Still in her teens, Letta began touring outside of Africa with the musical "King Kong," which ran for a year in England following a highly successful two-year run in South Africa. When the tour ended, she returned to South Africa but soon the policies of Apartheid were to force her to leave her native land for the U.S.A.

She arrived in the United States in 1965 and quickly befriended such fellow South African exiles in New York City as Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Jonas Gwangwa - all alumni of the "King Kong" musical. Performances at New York's famed Village Gate club began to attract attention to her talents, particularly from jazz legend Cannonball Adderley, who invited her to tour with him (which she did throughout the remainder of the decade). 

To put Mbulu’s career and influence into perspective, Strange Sounds From Beyond says:

the South African vocalist released her first LP in the same year The Beatles released The White Album. She is the towering figure of South African singing – the proud matriarch of a strange, soulful, synth-powered hybrid of US and South-African influences. Along with the 12 LPs carrying her own name, she’s worked with jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, calypso icon Harry Belafonte, and even Michael Jackson on “Liberian Girl”.

According to South African History, Mbulu was also an accomplished actress who appeared “in the film Roots for which she received an Emmy award. Her other screen appearances include A Warm December with Sidney Pottier and The Colour Purple. She is also a founding member of the South African Artists United (SAAU) an organisation which was established in 1986.”

Allmusic quotes Quincy Jones as saying: "Mbulu is the roots lady, projecting a sophistication and warmth which stirs hope for attaining pure love, beauty, and unity in the world."

If you don’t know her yet, it is our pleasure to introduce you to the music of Letta Mbulu. If you already know her, please enjoy this mix and we’d love to hear your favorite tracks.

---

Tracklisting:

1. Hareje *

2. Kukuchi #

3. Noma Themba *

4. Jigijela (Don't Throw Stones) @

5. Zimkile *

6. I Need Your Love @

7. Mamami #

8. Aredze ^

9. Afro Texas *

10. Ade #

11. Qonqoza (Knock) @

12. Kube *

13. Gumba-Gumba #

14. Macongo @

15. Olu Ati Ayo #

16. Melodi (Sounds of Home) @

17. Never Leave You *

Though there are many terrific albums by Letta Mbulu, for this mix, I focused on the following four albums (use the symbols to see which song is found on each album):

@ Letta (Chisa, 1970)

* Naturally (Fantasy, 1972)

^ I’ll Never Be The Same (1973)

# Letta Mbulu Sings/Free Soul (2005)

Dire Wolves: July 27, 2019 Market Hotel (NYCTaper Presents)

NYCTaper continues to be one of the most valuable “free” resources on the Internets. Seriously, if you can, please donate to what they do.

This time, they’ve captured Dire Wolves Exactly Perfect Sisters Band. Led by Jeffrey Alexander out of San Francisco. The band is best described as:

Freak-folk?

Free Jazz?

Folk Jazz?

Drone rock?

“the higher dimensions of cosmic free-rock”?

Liquidy-musical space auras?

All of the above?

Whatever you call it, Dire Wolves find the intersection of so many musics that I love: folk, jazz, rock, drone, repeat-o-rock, psych, etc. Building guitar swirls with vocals transcending language, this is transcendent music from the gut.

The group’s new album Grow Towards the Light opens with the sinewy “I Control the Weather,” which lets you slide just so into the musical world of Dire Wolves Exactly Perfect Sisters Band. Pulsating grooves and swirling vocals with hints of Ethiopian jazz, the music is both mesmerizing and cathartic. Somehow both transcendent and immediate.

According to NYCTaper: “On this night Market Hotel, presented by this site, Dire Wolves came bearing a special guest, Sunwatchers saxophonist Jeff Tobias, and a new album to jam, courtesy of our friends at Beyond Beyond is Beyond.”

Here’s the first track, ““Archons at the Gates of BSHWCK”:

Dire Wolves 2019-07-27 Market Hotel Brooklyn, NY USA Presented by NYCTaper Recorded and produced by acidjack Neumann KM150 + Soundboard (Engineer: RL)>Zoom F8>2x24bit WAV>Adobe Audition CC>Izotope Ozone 5>Audacity 2.3.1>FLAC ( level 8 ) Tracks [Total Time 53:40] 01 Archons at the Gates of BSHWCK 02 I Control The Weather>Love Everybody (For Moses)>Vibrational North Star

Here’s the first track (sort of) off of the band’s fantastic new release Grow Towards The Light, “I Control The Weather” // “I Control the Weather>Love Everybody (For Moses)>Vibrational North Star”:

Dire Wolves 2019-07-27 Market Hotel Brooklyn, NY USA Presented by NYCTaper Recorded and produced by acidjack Neumann KM150 + Soundboard (Engineer: RL)>Zoom F8>2x24bit WAV>Adobe Audition CC>Izotope Ozone 5>Audacity 2.3.1>FLAC ( level 8 ) Tracks [Total Time 53:40] 01 Archons at the Gates of BSHWCK 02 I Control The Weather>Love Everybody (For Moses)>Vibrational North Star

Watch the “Water Bearing One” video by Sheila Bosco from “Grow Towards The Light” LP by Dire Wolves Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band:

Watch the official “Spacetime Rider” video:

• Visit the band’s official site

• Visit the show’s page at the NYCTaper site

• Download the show from its Live Music Archive Page

• Support the band at Bandcamp

• Follow the band on Facebook

• Read a terrific interview with the band at It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine.

'97 Phish is Good Phish

You need more '97 Phish in your life.

12/06/97 The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI: Set Two: Tweezer -> Izabella -> Twist -> Piper, Sleeping Monkey > Tweezer Reprise

• Visit Phish’s official website

• Download the show from LivePhish.com

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Live at WOMAD 1985

In honor of Real World Records releasing the monumental Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Live at WOMAD 1985, here is video of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan performing the first track from the release, “Allah Hoo Allah Hoo”:

• Read some further thoughts on the album:

• Visit Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s site at the Real World Records website.

• Stream the album at NPR.

• Purchase the album at Amazon.