VANILLA FUDGE “VANILLA FUDGE” ATCO (1967)
“This is Vanilla Fudge’s first album from the late ’60s. It’s kinda psychedelic, but that’s why I like it. They have a [TKTK] drummer on there who makes it even better when they do their version of ‘Ticket to Ride’ by the Beatles. It’s so trippy because they totally psychedelic [...]

THE AGGROLITES “REGGAE HIT L.A.” HELLCAT
“I used to do stuff for these guys when they were first starting out playing bars like five or six years ago. This is their third album and it sounds like they finally got the sound they wanted—the perfect blend of reggae, punk and soul. It’s neat to see a [...]

BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB “BABY 81” RED INK
“Pretty groovealicious. If you’ve never heard BRMC, it’s drone-y rock and roll. Sort of garage-y, but a little slicker than your average grunge band so it’s still fun and loud. This album is more interesting—more catchy—but not glossy and commercial. Came in last week and we have an [...]

ROBIN TROWER “BRIDGE OF SIGHS” CAT
“Robin Trower is a three-piece blues band named after the band’s guitar player. If your band is named after you, you better be good, right? This album is straight-ahead blues-rock, but when it came out it was amazing because he’s a virtuoso blues guitar guy. Trower was the closest thing [...]

SPADE COOLEY “SWINGIN’ THE DEVIL’S DREAM” PROPER PAIRS (2003)
“Big Ed’s Records would like to recommend Spade Cooley. He is the king of western swing. He was famous from the mid-’40s to the late ’50s. Western swing has fiddles and steel guitars in it, even though back then steel guitars were considered a hillbilly instrument. Swingin’ [...]

VARIOUS ARTISTS “THE HARDER THEY COME: ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK” ISLAND (1972)
“As far as the movie goes, it’s just a ‘70s Jamaican movie about life in Kingston—typical reggae movie from 1972. But I’m into the music more than the movie because it has a lot of reggae classics like ‘Pressure Drop’ by Toots and the Maytals and [...]

TINARIWEN “AMEN IMAN: WATER IS LIFE” WORLD VILLAGE
“Tinariwen are a group of Tuareg nomads from Mali, and they play African blues. It doesn’t sound anything like American blues, but they call it ‘African blues,’ for some reason. They use traditional African rhythms but also electric guitars and sing in either their native Tuareg language or [...]

HANK WILLIAMS, SR. “THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION” MERCURY
“My friend gave me this box set for Christmas. My sister introduced me to Hank five or six years ago, and it’s been love ever since. The lyrics are so melancholy and horrible but great at the same time. I never bought any of the albums because—and I hate [...]

COMMON “FINDING FOREVER” G.O.O.D/GEFFEN
“Common is more of a conscious rapper and is into the political aspect of rapping. He’s for people that like Dead Prez or Kanye. There’s a lot of music out there like him because he just talks about stuff that goes on in the streets. He talks about everything he sees—like the [...]

SPIRIT “BEST OF SPIRIT” EPIC (1973)
“Spirit was around in the late ‘60s, when LA was the place to be. They had so much energy and their own freaking sound—which was good, since they were an American band. They had a jazzy rock influence at times, and if you put a Spirit record on, someone will [...]