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Things are nice in the land scape these days. Gearing up for the new record to be released, and playing around town. I played between The Mars Volta and Saul Williams in both L.A. and San Francisco and it was a blast. I highly recommend The Mars Volta's new album Deloused In the Comatorium highly. It is strange when a record comes out that has nothing similar to my musical tastes, yet blows my mind every time. Maybe it's because they are going for it, really going for it, and get there too. There's a nice comment in the message board about the cover Dntel and I did of the West Coast pop Art Experimental Band's I Won't Hurt You... thanks much. I'll try and hit up the board once in a while and wax poetic about latest music findings. The trip to San Francisco yielded some nice rewards, a bit of Sun Ra, Syd Barrett, and Colin Blunstone. Yes, the soft-rock phase is not over yet. Down below is a chart of new stuff I've been digging as well as some new soft rock favorites, and a little list of other things I've been into, just because it's fun to make lists. Someone start a list section in the message board and lets go to town.

Click here to check out the message board.

Other things I've been digging besides music:

Movies: Dark Days, Spirited Away, Where the Green Ants Dream

Food: Ali Bab's in San Francisco, Native Foods in Westwood, this recipe for Ethiopian lentils I got online

Websites: soulstrut.com, marsvolta.com, borderlinebooks.com

Books: Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Badfinger Story, Caetano Veloso Biography

Latest 5:
1. The Clientele - The Violet Hour - Merge
2. The Mars Volta - De-loused in the Comatorium
3. Icebreaker and Manual - Into Forever - Morr
4. Languis - Four Walls - ?
5. Anything new and Neptunes produced (Roscoe P. Coldchain)

Soft Rock 5
1. Poppy Family - Which Way You Going Billy? - London
2. Robert Palmer - Clues - Columbia
3. Lazy Smoke - Corridor of Phases - Arf! Arf!
4. Thomas and Richard Frost - Visualize - Revola
5. VA - Soft Sounds for Gentle People - ?


5/9/03
Soft-rock is the new rare groove. I thought of this during a listen to the latest offering from Manitoba called Up In Flames on Domino records. So far, it's the record of the year for me. It reminds me of all the things I like musically: trashy drums, soaring vocals, chopped up key sounds and lots of cloudy bits throughout the whole thing, kind of like riding a hot air balloon through fog. Anyway, the reason why this popped into my head happened when I put on the next record, the Millennium's Begin LP on Columbia from 1968. When I'm With You started, a vocal kicked in that had to be the same one used on Manitoba's Bijoux. Could it be? Had Dan Snaith sampled the Millennium? I declared to a puzzled living room of friends that he had after further comparison and felt like I had friend out there. Someone who makes electronic based music and cut up the sounds of the Millennium. Right then, it hit me - soft-rock is the new rare groove. Why?

Today's sample based music is drastically different from the way it was ten years ago. You'd find a groovy loop, program your drums under it and away you go. Two years later a fellow beat digger finds the same record once flipped and gasps "That's the same shit so and so flipped on whatdoyacallit!". Thus rare groove culture began and a scramble went on for beats and breaks to play in clubs where kids play name that sample all night long. Now, it seems that things are so chopped and edited that the loop is a bit frowned upon. Soft-rock's open strings, tight harmonies and big production are perfect for the chop and edit style of music, as Mr. Dan Manitoba discovered. Whether or not kids will start digging for these sort of records with the same gusto as the Meters waits to be seen. I can't see kids bobbing their head to Sagittarius anytime soon, but there are things to look out for regardless.

Here is a small list of my favorite soft-rock records:

Millennium - Begin - Columbia (1968) Just like kids noticed key players and producers on their jazz records to find the elusive break, there seems to be a trend in producers and players of soft-rock, especially on the West Coast. The crew behind this LP were definitely running things, as they were responsible for contributions to many a soft-rock classic including Sagittarius, Tommy Roe, and the groups selected solo work. It's a wonder that no one has sampled the intro to this album, it sounds like a DJ Shadow doing a song called Harpsichord Donor. From then on its harmonies and lush production with a slightly psychedelic bent.

Sagittarius - Present Tense - Columbia (1968) A bit poppier than the Millennium but still tons of huge lushness to satisfy, mainly due to Gary Usher who produced many a West Coast group including the Beach Boys, The Byrds, and Chad and Jeremy.

The Free Design - Kites are Fun - Project 3 (1967) To be re-issued soon on Light in the Attic records, who are also re-releasing The Last Poets, this harmony pop group have the privilege of having a Stereolab song named after them, as well as being the premier NYC soft-rock combo. A cult following has grown in Japan and Europe and it seems like this will spread to the states soon. Look out for all of their records as they all have something beautiful to offer.

The Association - Insight Out - Warner Bros. (1967) Not a rather popular act in the psych scene, but looked at as the Beatles of soft-rock in some circles. They were the most successful soft-rock securing hits like Windy, Never My Love and Along Comes Mary. Slowly moving from dollar bin status to ten dollars a pop, so act quick. There is even a little sitar and drum break tucked away near the end of the record.

Philamore Lincoln - The North Wind Blew South - Epic (1970) Hot damn the English can do the West Coast thing well! This voice of an angel hipster did a few singles leading up to this album which is a bit patchy in some parts, but once the flutes and vibes start a ringing and his voice starts gently soaring it's hammock between two trees bliss.