I Got the Good Stuff

I don't blog about music, normally (well, I often meta-blog on music, but rarely on actual albums) because there are much more qualified and enlightened individuals than I already doing so. To that end, I recommend earfuzz.com and soul-sides.com, both of which break_it_down for all of you jazz, funk, soul and 'world'-heads.

I had to share today, though, because I just received the soul compilation from soul-sides.com, and it's that rare compilation that continuously widens your eyes as yet another killer track comes on...you know, that rare comp with no filler tracks. Just the most beautiful soul sliding straight from your speakers to your ear, leaving a lingering 'ah' on your lips.

It makes me sad that the bigger outfits pushing out comp after comp do not share the discerning tastes of the master craftsman for this album, Mr. Oliver Wang.

Two more comps which have really flipped me lately are Brown Sugar and Freakoff--both are latin boogaloo compilations, a genre which has somehow mysteriously slipped into obscurity. It's a combination/infusion of soul and funk into the pulsing rhythms from Latin America, and mixed in the streets of Harlem circa 1970-1980. Gorgeous stuff.