vinyl Archive

The groups associated with the Athens, Georgia-based Elephant 6 Collective are a mixed bag. While all share a certain musical sensibility, Neutral Milk Hotel and Of Montreal each appeal to a slightly different subset of listeners than does Olivia Tremor Control (my personal favorite). And what is and is not an Elephant 6 band is

A central component of some of the best hip-hop is the repurposing of tasty licks, breaks or other snippets from previously-record music, creating something new out of the old. Los Angeles-based Breakestra takes things a step farther (or backwards, depending on your point of view). However you describe it, it’s inspired. Breakestra’s debut album The

Polyrhythmics are an eight-piece band from the Pacific Northwest. If your tastes run toward ‘70s fuk and soul, the current-day funk-soul revival of (primarily but not always instrumental) bands like New Mastersounds, you’ll luxuriate in the deep groove sounds of this outfit. But don’t go thinking that Polyrhythmics are also-rand traveling in the wake of

Twenty-two years after its initial release, it’s worth considering just how remarkable an album Pink Floyd’s Delicate Sound of Thunder was in 1988. Though Pink Floyd had released 13 albums, their catalog consisted almost completely of studio material. Only half of 1969’s double-LP Ummagumma showcased the band live in concert. So for fans who wanted

Some of the most innovative and creative recording artists — Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis and Brian Wilson chief among them — have used the recording studio as an instrument. But in the case of Bay Area band Terry Gross, the studio can be said to have created the band. Multi-instrumentalist Phil Manley is a member