As a former drummer and fan of contrasting genres, “Abacus” is a song that was tailor made for my ears. From its calming loops to extremely low end, it’s a song that goes perfect with long drives in the desert or along the sea.
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Ed Harris, a former deathcore singer who goes by the name Edamame, has produced these wonderful, bliss filled, floating works of art for the last seven years, and his latest album Bask is out now on Gravitas Recordings. Don’t sleep on this guy. It’s not hard to hear the time, effort and craftspersonship in each of his creations.   ​

It’s hard to think of classic Cuban music, specifically mambo, without mentioning Dámaso “Pérez” Prado. His compositions are legendary and although he has become synonymous with lounge-revivalist hipsters, his contributions to Latin dance music shouldn’t be taken for granted.

 “Anabacoa” was recorded and released in 1952 on RCA. It features the deep and dramatic lead vocals from Beny Moré, and the zipper tight musicianship that Prado & His Orchestra were world renowned for. The song was actually written by Puerto Rican trumpeter Juanchín Ramírez, and it isn’t even mambo, but a guaracha.   
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I adore this song and its hard driving, in your face tempo. You can hear the musicians sweat with each forceful phrase, and it rocks as hard as hardcore punk.  

Over the years, people have asked me what my favorite genre of music is, which for me isn’t an easy question to answer. I usually tell them music that is honest and from the heart, unmanufactured by financiers. For some artists, their reality is so distorted, isolated or trampled on by money that we rightfully question that honesty, while for others it’s clearly felt.

One of my all-time favorite musicians who produced some of the rawest, most transparently honest music ever is Rainford “Lee” Perry. He was uncompromising in the creative process, and for over sixty years, he refused to play nice in a system that held his brilliance back. 

“Come Along” was recorded in 1976 at Perry’s legendary Black Ark Studios, a backyard shed of a space that Bob Marley, The Upsetters, The Clash and even Paul McCartney would record in, and one that Perry would allegedly burn down in  a bizarre fit of eccentricity.
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I adore this song and this version. It lulls you in while that infamous saturated tape echo Perry would nearly trademark sweeps Hector Wright’s vocals away.

In 1975, after the Gainesville Florida band Mudcrutch toiled in obscurity and dissolved, lead vocalist Thomas Earl Petty reluctantly decided to strike out on his own. Eventually, he would find his way back to his Mudcrutch bandmates and form Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

“Listen to Her Heart” is the second single from their second album You're Gonna Get It!.  It’s a garage-rock-esque number that Petty wrote after Ike Turner made sexual advances towards his wife. I love the straight ahead simplicity of this track- its Link Wray like growling guitars juxtaposed against the shimmery solos.
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Two years ago this month, we lost Petty and much has been said about his music, music that at the time, we often took for granted. Let’s face it, he never was that pretty of a front man, and like his friend Bob Dylan, didn’t have that velvet voice, but man he wrote some fantastic songs and sold millions of albums, confirming that “even the ‘losers’ get lucky sometime.”