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From '50s NYC clubland, a Yma Sumac-inspired version of "Babalu" by jazz/calypso singer Phyllis Branch.
Category Archives: Garage Bands
The desert, part three
Another variation this week on an all-time favorite Office Naps theme. Its mystery and romance has provoked more than its share of paeans over the ages, but musical impressions of the desert’s expanse and mysterious beauty reached some sort of … Continue reading
Party!
A point I like to make endlessly around here – and I’m far from the first to do so – is that rock ‘n’ roll didn’t cease to exist in the few years between its first explosion in the ‘50s … Continue reading
’60s Jangle pop
One of the reliable axioms of commercial music is that every chart success will inspire a legion of derivatives. In no way is this meant as criticism. The pattern tends to get a lot of appreciation around here, the cycles … Continue reading
Journey into Mellow
A shorter post this week, owing not to lack of enthusiasm but rather to the scarcity of specifics about the subjects, as well as to their somewhat unclassifiable nature. In the late ’60s there seemed to briefly prevail a commercial … Continue reading
Office Naps Summer 2010 Psychedelic Pop mix
The fifth installment of the Office Naps psychedelic pop mix. Sunshine dreams, bad trips, and modern astrology for Today’s Teen. Office Naps Summer 2010 Psychedelic Pop mix Pinnochio & the Puppets, Fusion (7″ 45, Mercury) Jackie & Gayle, Remember (7″ … Continue reading
The War of the Roses
Boys and girls singing duets: not a new thing. You can probably trace an unbroken line from show tunes like “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm” (1937’s On the Avenue) and “Do I Hear You Saying” (1928’s Present … Continue reading
Office Naps Winter 2008 Psychedelic Pop mix
The latest version of the psychedelic pop mix, streamlined and scratchier than ever. If anything, people tend to remember the decade for the sitars and sunshine harmonies and fuzzed-out guitars. The reputation is not entirely undeserved. But I am here … Continue reading
12-Strung
When we think about the 12-string guitar – if we think about it at all – we associate it with the ‘60s. More precisely, we associate it with the Byrds, whose dense California jangle was such a tonic amidst the … Continue reading
