Author Archives: Little Danny

Chicago soul, part two

(Ed. note: more of my favorite late ‘60s Chicago soul this week and a continuation of a very early Office Naps post – back when I wouldn’t let minutiae like research or facts stand in the way of posting.) Like … Continue reading

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Office Naps returns after Christmas

Have a wonderful holiday – see you in a few days.   -Little Danny

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Outré refugees

Dig a little below the surface and you’ll find in our cumulative 45 rpm output a discography of the strangest musical impulses. Rare were the financial returns great for the independently pressed 45 record but rare was its overhead, either. … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Exotica/Space-Age, Miscellaneous Flotsam, Psychedelic/Pop | 4 Comments

Message from the ghetto

What ties this week’s selections together is not merely their spoken word component (though it’s significant, certainly). Nor is it just their cause of change and greater societal welfare. Awareness-raising ballads, agitprop invective, activist commentary, summons-to-action and subversive parody are … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Jazz Obscura, Miscellaneous Flotsam, Soul | 1 Comment

Continental European ‘90s Garage Punk

This week a special guest post from a friend and true radio hero of mine. Scholar and dancefloor dynamo Scott Gardner has hosted Stronger Than Dirt at Austin’s KOOP radio (my old radio alma mater) since the station’s inception in … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in '90s Punk/Indie | 8 Comments

Surf exotica

If it was the instrumental that kept rock ‘n’ roll simmering in the murky years between its ‘50s inception and arrival of the British Invasion in 1963, then surf music would be the instrumental’s final, most colorful efflorescence. Excited by … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Exotica/Space-Age, Instrumentals/Surf | 10 Comments

West Coast boogaloo, part two

(Ed. Note: More this week on West Coast versions of the quintessential ‘60s Spanish Harlem musical phenomenon, the boogaloo, that fusion of black R&B; aesthetic with Latin rhythms and orchestration. Broadly speaking, the boogaloo’s West Coast cousins tended to be … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Jazz Obscura, Latin | 6 Comments

Ed Bland

Ed Bland is an American composer, musical arranger and producer with a considerable catalog of contemporary classical compositions – “Art Music,” as Bland would note – to his name. Bland is, at least among a coterie of vintage soul fans, … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Jazz Obscura, Soul | 13 Comments