For a time, it seemed as if Sly Stone would change the world, and it's only because his music was so ambitious that we forget, sometimes, that he did just that. His integrated band played funk-based jams, but always with touches of soul, blues, rock, and lots and lots of pop, a synthesis that spoke to its time even as it predicted the future. Comprising some of the most accomplished and

Here's a great funk/soul classics mix by Soul Jazz records Pete Reilly , thanks to Testpressing.org Can You Get To That mix - Pete Reilly (Soul Jazz) 1. Cyrille Neville: Gossip 2. Al Green: You Say It 3. Marilyn Barbarin: Reborn 4. James Brown: The Boss [...]

Funk brothers separated at birth? Or just Ike Turner being a cheeky liberator of one of Sly Stone's grooviest riffs? Sly 's Sing a Simple Song came out in 1969 on the Stand! album. One year later Ike & Tina Turner released The Hunter , a downright gutteral blues/soul/ r'n' b stomper of a record. The cover of the album sets the tone - Ike is wearing his best Beatles wig and Tina is dressed as some sort of Amazonian warrior princess. It's even better between the grooves - it wails, moans, bleeds and sounds [...]

This is my favorite picture of Falcon Heene, mainly because it's one of the few where he looks like he has an idea of what a freakin' creep his father is. Anyway, amid the sheriff's press conferences implying the family's too poor to fine, youtube spoofs and the Halloween costumes , Huffington Post columnist David Wild has come up with something NHT can sink its teeth into: a balloon boy playlist . If & when NHT has the track we'll slip it in there. Suggestions welcome! In a week we'll revisit and maybe get the whole thing in [...]
the new om record has arrived. much like every other om record i hear you mutter. but no! this bugger positively explodes with technicolour mayhem. ahh not really, but there is a creeping expansion of their distinctly repeato-minimal hypnopsyche sound. variations on a theme? kindof almost for sure. their whole career seemed to be building inexorably towards pilgrimage and it's perfectly pitched tectonic balance of the ludicrous and sagacious, power and poise . they sounded eons old yet utterly modern. then hakius jumped the transcendental ship last year and i figured that it'd [...]

At the end of the month my sister will take part in the 2009 Cork City Women's Mini-Marathon , a mini-marathon for women that will take place this year in Cork city. I believe this is her first mini-marathon, though she did complete a lenghty bike trip a few years ago. I don't know where she finds all the time as she also has to take care of one big fellow and two small fellas every day. She's also going to college and, I think, is doing a night course. It's hard to keep up with her. Her are [...]
Via Jim Williams on the FaceBook.
If the politicos occupying Chocolate City ever get around to building a monument on the mall to good ol' American rhythm 'n' blues funk rock, Dawn Silva's name needs to be etched in bold print. We talked about lots of funky stuff… from the plot against the funk, true funk, better living through funk and a grip of her music that should be put out now but for some senseless reason isn't. Interview by Kurt Midness.
Os Mutantes decided everything was possible and tried to prove it. Low End Theory resident and Blank Blue guitarist Nobody (Elvin Estela) speaks with Mutantes co-founder Sérgio Baptista about helicopters, honesty and the brand-new Mutantes album Haih .

As promised, here's motown/soul throwback playlist number 2. MP3 :: James Brown - Get Up Offa That Thing MP3 :: Aretha Franklin - Respect MP3 :: Bill Withers - Lean On Me MP3 :: Sly & The Family Stone - Everyday People MP3 :: Smokey Robinson - You've Really Got A Hold On Me MP3 :: The Platters - Great Pretender MP3 :: Aretha Franklin [...]

On Sunday, September 27th Bon Iver is set to play a special sunrise concert at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California - the final resting to place to a who's who of Hollywood elite like Cecil B. DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino and Jayne Mansfield. The gates will open at midnight on Saturday and will include a variety of entertainment throughout the late night hours leading up to the band's 6am set. Tickets are on-sale now for $25 and include a coffee and pastry breakfast. [...]

I've seen Ozomatli perform a few times. I saw them play the Warped Tour in '97 or '98, back when their ascension to the near-top of the Los Angeles scene seemed a laughable idea. They were decent but nowhere near the machine they are today; they had a guest rapper (it wasn't the guy from Jurassic 5 like on the album) but no real vocal presence that I can remember. [...]
Santana: Soul Sacrifice Carlos tames the beast. Sly & The Family Stone: I Want to Take You Higher New heights. Janis Joplin: Work Me Lord Epic
Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Video The wonders of modern technology let music lovers relive Woodstock by the dull gleam of a computer monitor, even if we (or even our parents) weren't able to experience the fabled festival first hand. It isn't the same on video, of course, but concerts haven't been the same since the 1969 event, either. So while we can't transport you back in time (The sights! The smells! The mind-altering substances!), we can collect some video highlights of Woodstock to celebrate this 40th anniversary of [...]
Sly & The Family Stone - The Woodstock Experience It's pretty safe to say that just about everyone at Woodstock was high, but I don't think anyone was higher than Sly Stone on Sunday August 17, 1969. That includes Jimi and Jerry "Captain Trips" Garcia. Sly was riding high on the charts with the incredible Stand! album and was starting to get really carried away with cocaine and his ego. Listening to the full performance of Sly & The Family Stone's full set from Woodstock, it's easy to see [...]

Johnny Winter When I worked at a small Southeast Texas daily newspaper, we used to try to find "local" angles in pretty much everything in order to have something special for the readers. Once I thought about writing a column for the 10th anniversary of Woodstock (that would be in 1979) about all of the people from the Golden Triangle area of Texas (Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange) who played at Woodstock. It was a pretty lame idea back then to put into print, but today this is the internet - and it's the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, so [...]

Though it's still summer in the Northern Hemisphere, we're heading for the homestretch as colleges and university students return, Back To School sales start and vacations end. Here are some tunes that have no particular relevance to the season, outside of helping set the mood for some last minute fun in the sun. Hope it's been a good one so far for one and all. Stetsasonic: Talkin' All That Jazz Hugh Masekela: Grazing In The Grass B&T Express: Express Sly & [...]

In advance of their appearance at The Big Chill Festival this weekend here a lovely promotional mix from In Flagranti. In Flagranti - Big Chill Mix Tracklist: 1. Africa Talks to You - Sly & the Family Stone - edit 2. Lost In The City - Plastique De Reve 3. Some Disco edit by In Flagranti 4. Tanya Hyde - Herr Wunderbar - edit 5. Space Art - Welcome To [...]
#169 - What's The Story Morning Glory? - Oasis With grunge puttering out after the suicide of Nirvana lead man Kurt Cobain, Metal long since past it's glory days & punk still not having gotten it's second wind Oasis introduced the second British invasion. With the constant storyline of the ever-bickering Gallagher brothers it would seem music would suffer (it eventually did), but it was just the opposite. What's the Story Morning Glory? was one of the best selling albums of the 90s with 20 million records sold. The influence of the [...]