Jungle By Night = Afrobeat Goodness

November 20, 2011 at 9:56 pm

I stumbled on this LP a few weeks back at my local record shop in Long Beach, and was delightfully surprised!  These dudes are very young, all 22 and younger, based out of Amsterdam.  Check out this video, which pretty much sums them up better than I can.  If you love afrobeat music, this record, which is, in essence, a one-take studio session, will make you bug out.  I’ve been reccomending this to everyone I know.  Enjoy!

You can get the vinyl or digital version at the Kindred Spirits label shop.

The Straight Ahead, November 13th

November 8, 2011 at 12:04 am

We’re back in action!  Come through this Sunday from 7am-1pm for this free event dedicated to all things jazz.  Don’t sleep!

Tools of the Trade: The Pocket Chair

November 2, 2011 at 8:00 am

Although I’ve never made a purchase, I’m a sucker for informercials and “as seen on TV” stores, I finally could no longer resist.  Was at Walgreen’s the other day looking for Halloween stuff, and I found a certified tool of the trade for vinyl collectors and diggers who like to go to swap meets and flea markets:  The Pocket Chair!

Got this for 10 bucks.  It fits in a pretty small pouch, and while it COULD fit in your pocket, it probably wouldn’t be that comfortable.  But with the handle on the pouch, it’s extremely easy to carry around.

If you’re not familiar with the painful process of looking for records at flea markets, let me break it down.  Often, vendors will have crates or boxes of records on the ground instead of on tables.  So you have to kneel down, often for quite a long time.  There’s two options: Squat or actually get on your knees.  Either way, after about 5 minutes of holding the same position, you get tired.  You can switch back and forth, change weight to different feet/knees, but either way, it sucks.  You can try utilizing another crate or box to sit on, but then you’re sitting on records….not cool.  As you can see here, sometimes it’s not easy sifting through a stack of records.  You can spend hours going through one vendor’s piles of gems.  Enter the pocket chair.  Next time you’re at a swap meet and see something like this, pull out your pocket chair, and laugh at the other collectors cursing their knees for getting scraped on the cement.

Herbie Hancock “Maiden Voyage”

October 30, 2011 at 11:28 am

Played this for breakfast this morning…One of the first Blue Note LP’s I bought quite a while back.  Found this at Aron’s Records, an amazing used record store in Hollywood that ended up closing due to, in my opinion, Amoeba coming to town.  This was one of those spots where you could find some amazing gems in the dollar bins!

New Jazz Night in DTLA: Straight Ahead Sundays

September 26, 2011 at 1:17 am

Got a new night dedicated to all things jazz, at a very low key, dimly lit lounge off 6th and main. The perfect environment to vibe out to some jazz cuts every other Sunday night.

Opening night is October 2nd, and we have a treat for you!  Guest DJ Miles Perlich, who hosts, quite possibly, the best radio show on Los Angeles airwaves, United Groove.  Miles will be in the house playing some exquisite jazz vinyl from his collection, as well as other soul and funk treats you might hear on his weekly radio program.

Again, this is a low key night dedicated to the appreciation of good music, so dancing is optional.  Come through, have a drink, grab a french dip from Cole’s next door, and ease in to your work week.

Straight Ahead Sundays
Every Other Sunday, starting October 2nd
@ The Association
110 E. 6th Street in DTLA (cross street is MAIN)

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