I find that as far as avant garde Jazz goes, Sun Ra and his Arkestra are relatively accessible. Although there are often crazy moments, there is often an easily identifiable melody or hook that keeps the song engaging without too much effort. Cosmos, released in 1977, has a couple of these songs with simpler melodies.…
19/08/2018: “Icct Hedral (Phillip Glass Orchestration) by Aphex Twin
Phillip Glass is a leftfield minimalist composer. Aphex Twin is an extremely leftfield electronic music producer. This song is a fusion of their enormous talents….
18/08/2018: “I Say A Little Prayer” by Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, sadly passed away on Thursday the 16th of August 2018. She had a fantastic voice, and a long career…
17/08/2018: “Thank You Lord” by Bob Marley & The Wailers
A lot of Bob Marley’s early stuff was recorded in the studios of early 70s Jamaica. As I said in the “Trench Town Rock” post,…
16/08/2018: “The Knife” by Genesis
If you listen to early Genesis, it’s all very light and feathery prog rock. “The Knife” is a sharp and angry pillar of protest amongst…
15/08/2018: “Friday On My Mind” by The Easybeats
“Friday On My Mind” has been covered many times by artists such as The Shadows, Gary Moore, Bruce Springsteen, Blue Oyster Cult, and David Bowie….
14/08/2018: “Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder wrote this song just before he was in a bad car crash. Coincidentally, the song deals with reincarnation; it’s just one of those…
13/08/2018: “Unite” by Burial
Burial, for a long time, was one of the most hyped underground electronic music producers in the U.K. Inspired by early Dubstep and the 2-Step…
12/08/2018: “Mother’s Little Helper” by The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones could get quite dark sometimes. I’ve already done the song “Play With Fire”, which isn’t particularly cheerful, and will probably do “Paint…
11/08/2018: “Midnight In A Perfect World” by DJ Shadow
Hip Hop music is often built around sampling. The producers find a cool drum pattern on one old record, a riff on another which they…