Black Ivory - Time Is Love

The Sound of Young New York courtesy of Patrick Adams and Leroy Burgess

Mary Frierson AKA Wendy Rene (1947-12/16/2014)

Mary Frierson and her guitar playing brother Johnny formed the group The Drapels that caught the ear of Stax Records' Jim Stewart before she went solo as Wendy Rene. Here is their stellar "Young Man", featuring the Stax house rhythm section of Donald Dunn and Al Jackson, Jr. Sleep well, sleep well.

Wise Words from Yogi Horton

Horton was the seldom named, often heard drummer behind the Whatnauts, the Moments, and the rest of the Stang/ All Platinum family. This may be a little long for most people, but entirely worth it. If you're not into watching a great drummer stretch out, start at 2:07.

Sisters & Brothers

featuring Marlo Thomas and New York's finest AKA The Voices Of East Harlem. Not sure who any of those bugged out little kids in the intro were, though.

Blond - My Days Are Numbered

Not sure why this exists, really glad it does.

Duke & Leonard - Just Do The Best You Can

"...I got friends who quit before they've hardly begun, bruh. But baby, it's not right to quit until your work is done, yeah"

The Dramatics - Your Love Was Strange

The original version. That brids, tho...

Brenda Russell - Way Back When

Sometimes it's better to just listen to the original song instead of all that unnecessary editing and re-editing.

The Epsilons - The Echo

"As summer turns to fall, a young man's heart becomes introspective. Darkened by past loves, yet optimistic about opportunities that the changing seasons are sure to bring." -Livingston

Shango - The Time Has Come

Before Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, Tommy Reynolds had this percussion heavy group with actor Stuart Margolin. For some reason, this track never made any playlists from the Loft or the Gallery.

Lucio Battisti - Keep On Cruising

...and again you can get moving, though not exactly flying, at least cruising.

A Word or Two About Jazz Drumming from Bill Cosby

Listen to Cos drop the names of some of his Philadelphia contemporaries such as Philly Joe Jones, Lee Morgan, Reggie Workman, Mickey Roker, and Sonny Stitt.

Love - August (Live 1970)

From the files of "holy shit, this actually exists".

Patto - Government Man

Taken from their first LP, which was produced by Steve Winwood's older brother, Muff. Pay special attention to the outro, around 3:48. Makes all that antidisestablishmentarianist belly-aching worth while.

An-I - Kino-I

Mind bending techno from our old buddy Doug Lee AKA Lee Douglas, AKA An-I. Apparently this is a fan video, but it's almost too perfect a match.

Rik Mayall (3/7/58 - 6/9/14)

Richard Michael Mayall, better known as Rik, was a brilliant English comedian who had a long and storied career. We knew and loved him best as the self proclaimed anarchist Rick on The Young Ones, however. Here he is in our favorite scene.

Asha Puthli & Goblin - The Sound of Money

Holy Shit! That's been GOBLIN backing up Asha Puthli all this time?! How small is this weird world of ours?

Bob & Marcia - Young, Gifted, & Black

In many ways, the superior version (in our humble -- but correct-- opinion).

Nina Simone - Young, Gifted, & Black

Here's an interview from 1969 about the inspiration for the iconic song she wrote with her then musical director, one Weldon Irvine, followed by a live recording session done at Morehouse College that June.

Nina Simone - See Line Woman

This isn't necessarily the summery-est of songs, but come on! It's finally June!

Shamir - If It Wasn't True

We've been waiting for the video to post this, our favorite jam of the past few months.

Bo Hansson - Time For Great Achievements

Can't really be more direct than this.

Brother To Brother - Leavin' Me

If ever you're going through a tough break up, just listen to this on repeat. It'll be obvious that as soon as the chorus happens, you'll find somebody else, it'll be okay.

The Bar Kays - I've Been Trying

Beautiful version.

The Impressions - Isle of the Sirens

No matter what the curmudgeons say, this version, with Curtis Mayfield's mystical guitar work and that subtle rhumba beat, is far superior to Jerry Butler's. You must believe us.

Bo Hansson - Attic Thoughts

Even if they don't understand your poor pronunciation, everything about this rules, rules.

Jude - Morning Morgantown

Spring is almost here.

Wheedle's Groove - Babyback

hot stuff.

The Untouchables - Free Yourself

When I was 15, a friend of ours was going to the UK for the first time, and asked what he should bring back. I handed him a particularly detailed and extensive wish list of Ben Sherman's, Fred Perry's, a crombie and a donkey jacket, veritable impossibilities for the time. So I was more than a little bummed out when he showed up three weeks later with a solitary Untouchables t-shirt emblazoned with a silhouette of their guitarist, Clyde Grimes, and the slogan "Free Yourself". It was a one of a kind and I wore it with pride, but it wasn't gonna step up my fashion game the way a British Fred Perry or a fabled Ben Sherman would have. But all these years later, I'm about to ransack my mom's house for that shirt because I was just reminded not only of how great that song is, but what an anomaly that band was. They were the missing link between 2 Tone and the California scene, but more importantly, they were the soul revival way before the soul revival. Not only that, but so many people champion their contemporaries Fishbone when pound-for-pound, this was clearly the better band. And finally, I'd be remiss not to mention the (likely unintentional) Haring-esque video for this song.

Preacher - Life is a Gamble

Be prepared for one hell of an earworm.

Lalomie Washburn - What's Love

Usually we like to come up with an interesting way to introduce the songs we post, but this is just some hot shit, period.

Geoffrey Stoner - Check Out Your Mind

More listening, less reading.

Desireless - Voyage Voyage

Kati Kovácz - Wind Komm Bring Den Regen Her

Performing the German version of her smash hit Add Már Uram Az Esöt, here is Kati Kovacs in an odd TV performance.

Pete Yellin - Mebakush

Some great songs are fleeting and complicated, such that you have to think through them, imagining where they're going to be before they get there. Pete Yellin's Mainstream debut Mebakush is a perfect example. This nine minute workout, produced by Bob Shad, is psychedelic jazz at it's finest. The subtle interplay between Kenny Barron's spaced out electric piano, bassist Stanley Clarke, and drummer Billy Hart --ably assisted by Shad's weirdo mud-soup production-- conspires to imply a totally different song from the one you're actually listening to.

Amason - Margins

Dungen, Little Children, The Amazing, Amason. It's like some kind of weird free association poem.

The Life and Times of Tommy Vann

This is some weird synchronicity that started with Donnie & Joe Emerson. Tommy Vann is a blue-eyed soul singer from Baltimore who had several regional hits from the early 60s to the 70s. Here is a fan made, brief retrospective of his career. The first six minutes are pretty interesting, and if you can make it that far, pay special attention to 5:08. Peculiar indeed.

Little Beaver - Let The Good Time Roll

hello, old friend.

EK Bunch - Banana

Before they had a hit with their 1969 Skinhead Moonstomp album and tried their name on backwards, Symarip were The Pyramids and cut this one-off single under yet another name, The EK Bunch. Here's looking at a good 2014.