Vashon Island is in the Puget Sound next to Seattle. No bridges to the island, just a ferry that takes you there. If you want the closeness and convenience of Seattle, but you don’t like the high pace nature of Seattle, then Vashon Island is the place to be. It’s more slow paced, and plenty […] Continue reading →

For decades, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy had been well loved by book readers everywhere. Now, New Zealand-born director Peter Jackson is transforming the epic on to the big screen, the first installment, The Fellowship of the Ring had already hit the theaters at the end of 2001. In 1978, there was a […] Continue reading →

What a totally strange and unusual group Älgarnas Trädgård is. This Swedish group, consisting of young, long haired hippies, released this album entitled Framtiden Är Ett Svävande Skepp, Förankrat i Forntiden in 1972, on a small Swedish label called Silence (the same label that brought you Bo Hansson). What would happen if the Krautrock scene […] Continue reading →

1985 couldn’t be a worst year when it comes for excellent, quality music. If all you’ve been hearing was Top 40 in those days, chances are you’d be hearing the likes of “Broken Wings” (Mr. Mister), “Would I Lie To You” (Eurythmics), “Material Girl” (Madonna), and tons of similar generic synthesized pop music. It doesn’t […] Continue reading →

When you hear the name of Tangerine Dream, you might just write them off as generic New Age. That might hold true to most of their 1980s and 1990s works, but what they did in the early 1970s was totally different and WAY more interesting. To say this album is creepy is putting it very […] Continue reading →

If you’re looking for yet another great and obscure gem to add to your collection, let me suggest you this self-entitled 1977 offering from this Norwegian band Akasha. This is the epitome of underground. The production was rather home made, the album was actually recorded in a bomb cellar in a hotel in their home […] Continue reading →

Just when you think you know what Can was up to, they give us Future Days. This was the final album to feature Damo Suzuki, before becoming a Jehovah’s Witness and getting married. This is a much more mellow and low-key offering than what they gave us before. Damo Suzuki’s singing is, unsurprisingly more low […] Continue reading →

When you talk about the Bay Area scene, the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane are obviously the most talked about bands. Here’s another Bay Area band worth trying, It’s a Beautiful Day. They were a bit of a latecomer in the psychedelic scene, as their debut album was released in 1969, an era where the […] Continue reading →

Brainticket often gets classified as Krautrock, and while their music is squarely in that genre, their national origin is a bit obscure. Band leader Joël Vandroogenbroeck was apparently Belgian born, and residing in Switzerland. They included Swiss, Italian, and even American musicians in their lineup. But they did record for a short time for a […] Continue reading →

For those who grew up in the 1960s, or even those that didn’t but lived where there was a decent rock station that played plenty of music from that era (that is, not an oldies station), you probably have heard “I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night”. That band was from a Los Angeles-based […] Continue reading →