Author: ernopepper

731. Natural Snow Buildings

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(July 2026) Episode 731 is NATURAL SNOW BUILDNGS. Labeled as “avant-folk,” this French man-woman duo create expansive recordings that generally fall in the ambient and drone genres. But this is not music to meditate or space out to. There’s a darkness to it, but it is not menacing. There are occult themes, but they are not ominous. To me this music is the soundtrack of walking through a dark forest, uncertain but unafraid. There are other elements too, like peculiar psychedelic folk singing and distorted guitar freak-outs. This episode also covered albums each recorded solo under ISENGRIND (more drone) and TWINSISTERMOON (more folky).

Favorite album: Daughter of Darkness

Favorite song: Song for Laurie Bird

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Worth a try for those who like drone/ambient material, particularly because it does not invoke a customary emotional response. Some of their recordings are up to six hours, providing for extended listening.

730. Godflesh

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(July 2026) Episode 730 of the “opus project” is GODFLESH. Generally classified as industrial metal, theirs is an idiosyncratic approach that brings in electronic elements and sounds, including dub. Godflesh started out, and would return to, using a drum machine to propel the guitar noise to a machine-like quality. It’s a sound that influenced many experimental and extreme metal acts.

Favourite album: Songs of Love and Hate

Favourite song: Post Self

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: I like Songs of Love and Hate as their most traditional metal album, but each album has its own personality, and others prefer the earlier Streetcleaner or the electro-infused Us and Them.

729. Henry Purcell

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(July 7) Episode 729 is HENRY PURCELL. One of the most revered English composers of all time, he composed in the middle Baroque period, a generation before Handel and Bach. He was quite prolific (this was a slog), especially when you consider he died at age 36. A large portion of his compositions are vocal/choral, and if you enjoy late-17th century songs, Purcell is the guy for you. He also wrote a lot of incidental music for plays, including a couple based on versions of Shakespeare’s works. His most recognizable piece, at least to us Americans, may be the Queen Mary Funeral Music for its role in A Clockwork Orange.

Favourite piece: Funeral Sentences and Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary

Master work: Dido and Aeneas

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: It’s fine Baroque music, but my untrained ear has a hard time distinguishing one Baroque composer from another (except for J.S. Bach)

728. Rare Earth

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(June 2026) Episode 728 is RARE EARTH, a band formed in Detroit in the 1960s whose sounds reflected that city’s production lines for hard rock and soul. They were one of the first all-white acts in the Motown organization. Their first couple albums are a period-typical gritty rock sound, with lots of reinterpreted covers. Subsequent albums have more funk elements, like their biggest hit, “I Just Want to Celebrate.”

Favorite album: One World

Favorite song: I Just Want to Celebrate

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Not sure there is enough to fill a greatest hits album. Try One World or Ma.

727. Les Rallizes Dénudés

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(May 2026) Episode 727 is LES RALLIZES DĖNUDĖS, a psychedelic noise band from – and you would never guess this from their name – Japan. They got their start in the late 1960s under the influence of the Velvet Underground and Blue Cheer. Distorted, feedback-rich guitars, a drone rhythm line, echo-laden vocals in Japanese (a rarity then). Les Rallizes Dénudés members are shrouded in mystery, perhaps because of their radical politics. Most of their recordings are live sets and bootlegs. You can hear their legacy in later Japanese bands Acid Mothers Temple and Boris.

Favorite album: ’77 Live

Favorite song: Flame of Ice

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: ’77 Live is sufficient. Their various recordings tend to repeat material.

726. The Black Crowes

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(May 2026) Episode 726 is THE BLACK CROWES. Sometimes you need a little comfort food for your musical soul. For those up us who grew up on classic rock, the Black Crowes provide exactly that. They burst out in the early 90s with two excellent albums, full of radio hits, with just the right amount of boogie, swagger and ballads for quality rock recordings, without being openly derivative. Their next four albums got somewhat repetitive with the formula. After splitting the first time, they came back with a fresh sound on 2008’s Warpaint, followed by two surprisingly enjoyable “unplugged”-type double albums. Their second regrouping resulted in two recent albums, neither of which is memorable.  

Favorite album: The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion

Favorite song: Remedy

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The first two albums (Shake Your Money Maker and The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion) are the best, but I recommend a listen to the recorded-live Before the Frost/Until the Freeze.

725. Bill Haley and His Comets

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(May 2026) Episode 725 is BILL HALEY & HIS COMETS. It’s hard to overstate the impact of “Rock Around the Clock.” It wasn’t the first to use that phrase, the word “rock” or that rockabilly shuffle. But it was the song that brought this nascent genre into the mainstream, becoming a best-selling hit thanks to its inclusion in a movie soundtrack. It wasn’t Haley’s group’s first song either; they had been performing this stuff for a while. But his star was soon eclipsed by the suggestive sizzle of Elvis and Little Richard. Haley moved to Mexico and found a second career with the twist and Spanish language songs. This early rock ‘n’ roll isn’t my taste other than historical value.

Favorite song: Rock Around the Clock

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Any compilation that has “Rock Around the Clock,” “Rocket 88,” “Crazy Man, Crazy,” “Rip It Up,” etc.

724. Slim Harpo

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(May 2026) Episode 724 is SLIM HARPO. A guitar and harmonica player from Louisiana, he is characterized as “swamp blues.” Only a part-time musician, he had a limited set of recordings, but had an influence on both sides of the Atlantic with songs like ”I’m a King Bee,” “Baby Scratch My Back,” and “Rainin’ In My Heart.” . His voice was laid back and higher in pitch in contrast to contemporaries. His wife co-wrote his songs but never received credit.

Favorite song: Shake Your Hips

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The “Best of Slim Harpo” set gives you what you need.

723. Rufus and Chaka Khan

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(May 2026) Episode 723 is RUFUS and CHAKA KHAN. While largely remembered as the launching pad for Chaka Khan’s solo career, the multi-racial Rufus had commercial success in the mid-70s with funk/soul recordings, like “Tell Me Something Good.” This is not hard funk but rather a slicker, jazzier funk that doesn’t grab me the way some others do. Khan’s strong voice dominates anything she records. Her solo career features the disco/drag anthem “I’m Every Woman” and her 80s-licious cover of Prince’s “I Feel For You” with its iconic “ch-ka-khan” rap opening.  

Favorite album: Rags to Rufus

Favorite song: You Got the Love

Favorite Chaka song: Like Sugar

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The three albums from 1974-75 (Rags to Rufus, Rufusized, Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan)

722. KMRU

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(April 2026) Episode 722 is KMRU, a Kenya-born, Germany-based ambient artist. He came out of the DJ scene and started with beats-laden tracks, and also release field recordings. But he has received acclaim for his more recent electronic ambient material. I am not an expert in the genre so my vocabulary here is limited. But what KMRU does really appeals to me. It’s intelligent ambient, not straying into schlocky new age stuff as too often happens. Texture and mood with personality.

Favorite album: Dissolution Grip

Favorite song: Well

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: I like the newer releases, such as Epoch (2022), Dissolution Grip (2023) and Natur (2024)