Greetings From Laurel Canyon!
It’s been two weeks since I sat in my garage office and cut an episode of the Idelic Hour. Between a short trip to NYC and Thanksgiving week off, I had a lot to think about as I sat between the “1’s and 2’s” up here in the now-crispy cold canyon.
The two major influences of this week’s playlist: a couple of hours spent with old friends at WFMU’s record fair and this month’s delightful 20th anniversary issue of Mojo magazine.
First off, thank you, Phil Alexander, and congratulations to Mojo for inspiring and entertaining record freaks for these last 20 years. If there is one concept that Mojo consistently plays up and hits home, it’s what I call “the obscure gem.” The term “gem” goes back to the ancient Greeks and begins with the distinction of being precious. As record collectors, our instincts make the more obscure and harder-to-find records closer to our hearts.
This hour of music has those of us in mind who love to search for songs that we’ve never heard. Songs and songwriters that feel “virgin” to the masses. I’m calling this week’s playlist “Obscuro Fan Clubo.” Ha ha! If you’re a Mojo-reading, crate-thumbing music worm nutty enough to be reading this, you know what I mean.
So here is my “hour” of artists… If you never heard anything of these bands…. Well, all the better. I hope you will fall in love with one or two. In my case, in the course of the last week, I’ve fallen in love with three artists:
I finally spent time with a new album by Waxahatchee. My trusted music fanatic friends Mark Bowen and Justin Polokoff have been telling me about her. But that name! I finally sat down with the album and even made her brilliant set last night. She’s the type of writer who strips a song down to poetry of the soul.
Old pal and avant-garde drummer Tom Surgal and the gang at WFMU told me about that one Chad Mitchell solo LP. As Tom put it, all his albums sucked except for this one impossible-to-find release. The album’s from ’68, when everyone thought he’d taken drugs and lost his mind.
Lastly, the songs of Arthurs Ahbez. An entire LP recorded in New Zealand that literally appeared. A gift from my old friend Thom Dalton from New Zealand. OMFG! Gorgeous!
This week’s Idelic Hit (like the obscure artist of the year):
Waxahatchee – Blue Pt. II
