Music

1. 

   1. The Black Keys: Chulahoma

   Too many people dismissed this album, and it’s most undeserved. The Black Keys, the great blues-rock duo from Ohio, were under contractual obligation to make one last record for Fat Possum be...read more

2. 

   2. The Black Keys: Rubber Factory

   "Rubber Factory finds the duo expanding, stretching, and improving, coming into its own as a distinctive, original, thoroughly great rock & roll band. With 2003's Thickfreakness, guitarist/v...read more

3. 

   3. The Black Keys: Thickfreakness

   "While the vast majority of post-punk bands who have an obvious taste for the blues seem to enjoy taking the style apart and messing around with the bits and pieces, the Black Keys are the (relat...read more

4. 

   4. Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band: The Spotlight Kid/Clear Spot

   read more

5. 

   5. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: Safe As Milk

   read more

6. 

   6. The Black Keys: Magic Potion

   A full-on blazing blues-rock explosion with one foot in the swampy Mississipi Delta and the other in the British power-rock tradition, all from the duo (!) known as the Black Keys. Magic Potion is ...read more

7. 

   7. Fred Neil: Fred Neil

   read more

8. 

   8. Dan Auerbach: Keep It Hid

   We aim to be useful here, so first things first: Yes, if you are a Black Keys true believer, there’s no reason to read any further—Keep It Hid, the first solo effort from the Keys’...read more

9. 

   9. Jack Rose: Luck in the Valley

   This is our last earthly transmission from Jack Rose, a master of the guitar who’d been granted access to the instrument’s ancient book of secrets, only to be taken from us — all ...read more

10. 

    10. Rev. Johnny L. Jones: The Hurricane That Hit Atlanta

    This wild set is from the excellent Dust-to-Digital label — and in a just world, we shouldn't have to tell you anything more! Alas... The righteous Reverend Johnny L. Jones, who still hits his Atla...read more

11. 

    11. v/a: Baby, How Can It Be?

    Another instant classic from the Dust-to-Digital label, Baby, How Can It Be? neatly arranges three discs of old-time country-blues and hot jazz into romantically themed segments: love, lust and con...read more

12. 

    12. Tinariwen: Tassili

    Several albums into a remarkable career that has made them one of the most popular groups in the (sorry, hate this term) world-music scene, Tinariwen, the band of nomadic sub-Saharan former rebels,...read more

13. 

    13. v/a: This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel on 45rpm

    Oh my god! But that's only a part of the story here, and actually, not even that large a part. For while "gospel" is in the title -- and sure enough, every song here in one way or another exults th...read more

14. 

    14. Nina Simone: Emergency Ward!

    This unusual record from 1972 is Nina Simone's statement on the Vietnam War. The cover is a collage of news clippings from the conflict, and the song selection and arrangement, though dealing...read more

Tags: 60s , 70s , 78s , african , avant-garde , awesome , blues , compilation , country , exuberant , folk , gospel , groove , guitar , indie , jazz , reissue , rock , roots , singer-songwriter , soul