We have ears. You have ears. We're busy. You're busy. We probably missed some of your favorite records this year. Here are a few of our under-the-radar favorites. Tell us yours! The Paparazzi: Rococo [Serious Business] Sunny psychedelic Elephant 6-like folk-pop with cool vocal harmonies, hard-panned analog warmth, and a ...

Time to pay some dues here. Or: presenting some artists I discovered through the enthusiastic posts of fellow music bloggers over the past couple of years. So here´s a ten pack of pure gratitude, featuring soul from Terry Callier, Rodriguez, Shuggie Otis and Syl Johnson, folk from the Incredible String Band, country by Willis Alan Ramsey and Tom T. Hall (cheers Paul!), afrofunk by Segun Bucknor and more modern sounds by Wooden Shjips and Sunburned Hand Of The Man. And yup, I actually bought [...]

Super-obscure Afro-Funk? You got it! Like Mr. Burns, I'm a big fan of old-timey sayings and words. Like "ramshackle". What an awesome word that nobody ever uses. But it's a word that describes a quality of African Funk that I've decided is one of the reasons I'm so into it. Some of these recordings are pretty darn ramshackle. These people weren't glossy pros working in fancy studios with all sorts of high-falutin' doo-dads and thingamajigs. They didn't have the luxury of digital editing, mulitrack flim-flammery [...]