Digging Our Own Crates: BB – Brigitte Bardot
Digging Our Own Crates: BB – Brigitte Bardot // Phillips Records, 1964 “It was a photo of Brigitte Bardot, with her big blonde hair, wearing a simple A-line pink dress and nothing on her feet, that pretty much determined my fashion sense. It feels quite odd writing about fashion seeing as I hate shopping for […]
Digging Our Own Crates: Eden Ahbez – Eden’s Island
“I hit the road in ’68 with my friends. We drove a VW van down to Mexico, our surfboards strapped to the roof. I didn’t want any possessions at the time. I wanted the sun shining through the trees. Baggage can be good…but at that time I didn’t have any real interest in worldly possessions. […]
Digging Our Own Crates: Incognito – Parisienne Girl
“I also wrote to Bluey from Incognito asking him to do an interview with me at my own little pirate radio station. I’d set up my own station in the back garden of our house and my dad used to help me put the aerials up. Incognito had just put out their album Jazz Funk […]
Digging Our Own Crates: The Shangri-Las – Leader of the Pack
“You know, just because we’re talking about girl-pop doesn’t mean that the records are all sugar ‘n’ honey. The Shangri-Las were tough as hell, singing about death and devastation and topics way ahead of their time. There are a myriad of fine examples of some heavy soul and freakbeat female-vocal records that couldn’t be less […]
Digging Our Own Crates: Sonic Youth – NYC Ghosts & Flowers
“This is claimed to be a German, promo-only single from the NYC Ghosts and Flowers album by Sonic Youth. But it looks, feels and sounds like a bootleg. There’s next to no information about any legitimacy behind this. I got word to Steve Shelley (SY’s drummer) and he’d never even seen a copy and is […]
Digging Our Own Crates: Kraftwerk – Computer World
“One of the most important post-Beatles bands was Kraftwerk. The way they influenced music, the dance scene, that they didn’t touch instruments. At one performance, they just sent computers out on stage. Ralf and Florian kept refining it to the manikin look, the robot look, writing very early songs about things like computers. No one […]
Digging Our Own Crates: Black Flag – Damaged
Previous Dust & Grooves interviewee Steven Blush noted Black Flag as “the suburban American response to Punk,” and with the band's debut album, Damaged, it is easy to pick up on. Released in 1981, the album was the first effort to feature fan-turned-lead-singer Henry Rollins, whose vocals elevate the band to an unflinching rawness.
Digging Our Own Crates: Dusty Springfield – Dusty in Memphis
Dusty in Memphis is so much more than its iconic song “Son of a Preacher Man.” I wouldn’t have known so until I listened to its entirety for this series, but Dusty Springfield’s honey-soaked blue-eyed soul album has a lot to offer to willing listeners.
Digging Our Own Crates: Grace Jones – Slave to the Rhythm
The first thing you think of when you hear “Grace Jones” may not be music. It’s more likely to recall her androgynous look, distinct fashion, or maybe even her sporadic acting choices. But that is precisely what makes Grace Jones so iconic—she occupies so many spaces and does all of them without flaw.
Digging Our Own Crates: East of Underground – Self titled
Composed of seven musicians, East of Underground was an American army band formed in Germany during the Vietnam War. After winning second place in a special forces music competition, a limited run album was released by the Armed Forces Radio Network featuring covers of Curtis Mayfield tracks and a clever fusion of Funkadelic’s “I’ll Bet You” and “California Dreamin.”
