Steven Rubio's Online Life (Free subscription) | 01/12/2010
One of the most common trends in television over the past few years is the end-of-episode montage, with some sappy pop song in the background, where the characters stare into space, or some issue is resolved, or whatever. It’s easy...
the central shaft (Free subscription) | 01/08/2010
Not released until 1996, this was an unusual gig for the band, which was breaking in a new rhythm section (this may have been this lineup's first show) without much or any rehearsal. You can't tell from this 77-minute disc, which offers a typically amorphous, free-floating set of black rock -- which is to say, judged by most standards, it's not typical music at all. Seguing from spaced-out jams to...
Notes From The UndergroundBastard (Free subscription) | 01/01/2010
A nice way to start the new year aka hangover helper: Per the wik: According to legend, George Clinton, under the influence of LSD, told Eddie Hazel to play the first half of the song like his mother had just died and to play the second half as if he had found out she was alive[2]; other variants of the story suggest that he was simply told to play as if he had found his mother dead.[5] The result...
The "D" Spot (Free subscription) | 12/05/2009
Hell yes I miss Michael, but that is just too quick and easy. Not to diss anyone who made that choice, please understand. Not at all. But there are others, too… Hiram Bullock was one of the finest jazz fusion/funk/pop whatever else guitarists around and for years one of the most in demand. He passed away [...]
Bearded Magazine (Free subscription) | 11/25/2009
Matt Valentina and Erika Elder mark their return to Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label with Barn Nova , the latest long-player in their considerable discography really tugs at the flowing locks of classic rock. Crafting an unholy combination of folk, blues, prog and psychedelic rock, the duo are joined by a host of bandmates and special guests which includes Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis.
STEVENHARTSITE (Free subscription) | 09/28/2009
No discussion of great guitar solos is complete without “Maggot Brain,” the title track off Funkadelic’s third album, released in 1971. George Clinton is remembered as the mastermind of P-Funk, but those first three Funkadelic records are heavily influenced by guitarist Eddie Hazel, and “Maggot Brain” was the capper to that early burst of creativity. [...]
The "D" Spot (Free subscription) | 09/25/2009
As some of you folks may have figured out by now, I am a huge fan of both funk and black rock. Funk gets quite a bit of attention and credit, but not nearly enough attention is given to black rock. Consider this my small, but heartfelt contribution to the cause of black rock and [...]
Maru's Kitsch Vinyl (Free subscription) | 07/23/2009
One Nation Under A Groove Part 1 (Clinton, Shider, Morrison) - Funkadelic c/w One Nation Under A Groove Part 2 1978 Probably Funkadelic's best known single, written by George Clinton, Walter Morrison and Garry Shider. Funkadelic as a band included at any given time: George Clinton William "Bootsy" Collins Mickey Atkins Harold Beane Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey Ron Bykowski Catfish Collins...
Digital Meltd0wn (Free subscription) | 07/15/2009
Liner Notes: Funk emerged in the 1960s, a scorching sound that amped up the spirit of R&B and became the precursor to hip-hop. While major artists topped the charts with funk hits throughout the '60s and '70s, What It Is! celebrates the smaller ones—the heady, groove-monstrous strain of gutbucket funk that remains a major force in American music. A four-CD, 91-track compendium that would...
Free lyrics (Free subscription) | 07/02/2009
Shaky Ground by Jeffrey Bowen, Eddie Hazel, Al Boyd Recorded by Delbert McClinton
Last Blog On Earth (Free subscription) | 06/23/2009
PLAN A: Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin & Buddy Miller @ Humphrey’s Concerts By The Bay–Nearly three years ago, when I couldn’t score an interview with Emmylou Harris, I ended up writing a rather rushed and inane article about how Harris is beloved in the straight-male alt-country scene (you can check it out here [...]
KoreAudio (Free subscription) | 06/17/2009
Without doubt the worlds greatest guitar track is Maggot Brain by Funkadelic, a garage rock inflected acid funk band who sounded like a cross between the Stooges and James Brown. Maggot Brain is the classic solo even outdoing Hendrix because: Guitarist Eddie Hazel had the biggest "fro this side of The Chi-Lites Band Leader George Clinton fed Eddie loads of acid before hand and then when he was...
Wild Mercury Sound (Free subscription) | 05/15/2009
The arrival this week of a new live album from Mark Kozelek , “Lost Verses – Live”, has prompted me to go on something of a Red House Painters / Sun Kil Moon binge (a contrast, for sure, to that concurrent Funkadelic trip ; thanks, incidentally, for the recommendations – must check that Eddie Hazel solo album out). Read more...
The KEXP Blog (Free subscription) | 04/15/2009
When you put the needle on the record, George Clinton’s baritone voice speaks through an echo machine. He is all authority: Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time Cause y’all have knocked her up I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe I was not offended For I knew I had to rise above it [...]
The KEXP Blog (Free subscription) | 04/02/2009
The Posies — Jon Auer, Ken Stringfellow, et al. — have been an important part of the Seattle (and national) indie-pop scene for over 20 years now. While never as huge as some of the other bands that came out of the Northwest onto major labels in the early 90s, they have certainly left [...]
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