Scotch Mist - “Breathe Underwater” - 2022, I found these guys on twitter. It’s a trio that plays a combo of rock, disco, and psych. Kinda dance-y but not EDM.

Funkadelic - “Can You Get to That” - 1971, From the godfather’s and mothers of the P-Funk. This band has had many iterations. It started as The Parliaments - a doo-wop band in the mid 60s helmed by none other than George Clinton. The record label owned that name, so when they broke away, the name was changed to Funkadelic, and they moved from doo-wop to the beginnings of what we know today as Funk. They used that name from ‘71- ‘75 until it changed to Parliament-Funkadelic from ‘76- ‘81. Parliament-Funkadelic was actually two bands with mostly the same personnel. Parliament performed more classic horn Funk, while Funkadelic experimented with more psychedelic guitar driven Funk. They toured all together under the name Parliament-Funkadelic.

Ramsey Lewis Trio - “The In Crowd” - 1965, This also appears in my favorite songs by year playlist. Ramsey Lewis was a monster in the 60s. This song reached number 5 on the pop charts, and the album number 2. By 1966 Ramsey was one of the most prolific jazz pianists in the US.

Stereolab - “Cybele’s Reverie” - 1996, Another one in my favorite songs by year playlist. Stereolab is an Anglo-French band from London. They are described as avant-pop or post-rock. They sing in both English and French, and it sounds like they would have killed it in the late 60’s, early 70’s psych scene.

Los Amigos Invisibles - “Cuchi-Cuchi” - 2000, Los Amigos is a Grammy winning, Venezuelan funk band. this album was produced under David Byrne’s record label after he discovered a CD that they had planted in a New York City record store.

Easy Star All-Stars - “Money” - 2003, Easy Star is a reggae band that famously covers classic albums. This is off of their cover of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the moon - Dub Side of the Moon. They have also covered The Beatles and Radiohead.

Mano Negra - “Guayaquil City” - 1989, Mano Negra was the original band of Manu Chao, formed with his brother. You can hear the beginnings of the ideas that form Manu’s more recent music. It is equally a melting pot of different cultures.

Bombino - “Iwaranagh (We Must)” - 2016, Bombino is a Nigerian Tuareg musician. He sings in the Tamasheq language. He is a Tuareg refugee that had to flee to Algeria at a young age. Film maker, Ron Wyman, discovered him through finding some cassette tapes that he had recorded, and decided to track him down to record him properly. This resulted in the album, Agadez, which was then heard by Dan Aurbach of the Black Keys. Dan produced his next album, Nomad, and Bombino began touring internationally and playing major festivals. His next album, Azel, which this song is featured on, was produced by David Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors.

Barrington Levy (feat. Bounty Killer) - “Living Dangerously” - 1998, Barrington has collaborated with a ton of famous musicians - Snoop Dogg, Slightly Stoopid, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Gorillaz to name a few. He is #119 on Rolling Stone 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Marvin Gaye - “Mercy Mercy Me” - 1971, Not much to explain here. Just a classic awesome song.

Mapache - “Me Voy Pa’l Pueblo” - 2020, I love these guys. Mapache means racoon in Spanish. Think Simon & Garfunkel if they lived in Tijuana.

Willie Wright - “Nantucket Island” - 1977, This is another classic A-Rice find. Willie Wright made his living as a resort performer up and down the east coast - Boston, Nantucket, Providence mainly. He recorded the album Telling the Truth, which this song is from, in New York in 1977 after being trapped on Nantucket Island for the winter. He stayed pretty obscure until this album was re-released in 2011, after which he achieved more fame than the previous 35 years combined.

William Onyeabor - “Fantastic Man” - 1978, This is an A-Rice find. William had a somewhat crazy life. He was born into a poor family in Nigeria, but worked his way to be successful enough to study record manufacturing in Europe. It is also said that he studied cinematography in Russia. In 1985 he became a born again Christian and totally disavowed his music career and refused to speak about it ever again.

Talking Heads - “(Nothing But) Flowers” - 1988, This song is such a David Byrne concept. Think of it as the opposite of that annoying Joni Mitchell song, “Big Yellow Taxi”. In this song all the concrete and buildings are being overtaken back by nature.

Valere - “Drive with You” - 2020, I found this guy at the same time as I found Khazali (November 2022 playlist). French electro pop.

Sturgill Simpson - “In Bloom” - 2016, Such a great cover of this Nirvana Song.

Portugal. The Man - “Sleep Forever” - 2011, You really haven’t heard this song until you have experienced the music video. ———->

Josh Ritter - “Girl in the War” - 2006, At one point, Josh Ritter was on top of the world as a song writer. This is one of those songs. I don’t pay attention to lyrics all that often, because I think most lyrics are dumb. But these stuck out to me.

Amy Winehouse - “Me & Mr. Jones” - 2006, Super talented and bat shit crazy. I think the opening line, “What kind of fuckery is this?” set to the R&B style music that she sang is just amazing.

Dr. Dog - “The Breeze” - 2008, I saw Dr. Dog open for the Black Keys before either band had really exploded. It was a room of about 300-400 people, and one of the members of Dr. Dog was not present (I later found out from the band that the member had a death in the family). Dan Aurbach filled in for them on the drums and overall Dr. Dog was very clearly having to wing a lot of stuff, which is really difficult in live performance, but they killed it. I didn’t even know who they were before this, as I was there to see the Black Keys. Scott, the guitar player and co-lead singer sang this song, The Breeze, for the first time live (according to his intro) and it wasn’t even complete from what I remember, but that specific performance of this song is why Dr. Dog remains one of my favorite bands to this day.