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By Thomas Fraki. In his autobiography, Mark Twain said that there is no such thing as a new idea. “It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations.” When Twain wrote that… Read more: I, ChatBot

By Thomas Fraki. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins is insane and depraved. Not exactly. But, that’s the impression someone might get when first listening to him. He screams and howls. He rips apart blues ballads with a madman’s wail and leaves you stupefied. Jay Hawkins’ act was, at the time, something wildly original. A thing perhaps more… Read more: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – At Home With Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

By Thomas Fraki. Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn’t exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again. As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world you are writing science fiction. It… Read more: 2 8 1 4 – Birth of a New Day (And a Brief History of Vaporwave)

By Thomas Fraki. The Kinks are hardly an unknown band, and Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One isn’t an obscure release. In fact, the album has some of the most popular songs in the group’s catalog. However, aside from its hits, most of the tracks are fairly uncelebrated. And this is the real… Read more: The Kinks – Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One

By Thomas Fraki. Despite being tied to a couple of the biggest names in the Michigan rock/punk scene, it is likely that Destroy All Monsters is a band you’ve not encountered before. Their approach to music varied from bizarre avant-garde noise to raunchy, driving rock that hits like a speeding Cadillac. It is unfortunate that… Read more: Destroy All Monsters – Bored

By Thomas Fraki. There is something genuinely enchanting and indelible that happens when first listening to Fishmans. From the outset, the sound is unlike almost anything recorded, before or since. In terms of music, Fishmans presents the listener with a blend of reggae, dub, dream pop, and neo-psychedelia. All of these different pieces are woven… Read more: Fishmans – 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare

By Thomas Fraki. At a glance, Steely Dan seems like any other rock band to come out of the 1970s. But the reality is that, as a group, they produced some of the most unique and complex pop music to emerge during that time. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the band’s co-founders and songwriting duo,… Read more: Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic

Few musicians have been able to capture a place and time as well as the Beach Boys did with the idyllic America of the middle-1960s. But as the decade came to a close, so did the quixotic “peace and love” dream that drove that time.