The Bakerton Group - El Rojo [2009]

First up, I'd like to say hello everyone! It sure has been a while. All the well-known file hosts seemed to lock down on music uploads at roughly the same time I went to university, so I kinda crapped out and stopped uploading stuff for a while. But fear not! I'm back and starting off with an album that came out three years ago.

"Who are The Bakerton Group?" I hear you ask. Well, they may be better known for some of their other albums, including Blast Tyrant, the bluesy From Beale Street to Oblivion and of course the dark and brooding Ghost Reveries.

Wait, what? Yep, that's right. The Bakerton Group is essentially the US stoner rock band Clutch, with the help of former Opeth keyboard player Per Wiberg on the ivories. This, their second full-length, is a psychedelic blues-influenced instrumental album. In terms of a description of the album, I've said about all there is to say in that there last sentence. What I can add though is that this album has a pretty damn cool feel to it. It just feels like a bunch of dudes jamming in the spare room of their house, with a bit tighter production. So kick back like the constellation on the cover and give it a listen.

10 tracks, 47:15, 68.55MiB

Zippyshare (Mp3, 195kbps)

Jeff Beck - Wired [1976]

Jeff Beck is perhaps the least-known of the famous three Yardbirds guitarists (not without reason; the other two are Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton), but in my opinion the music he made after leaving that band blows Page and Clapton out of the water.

Here then is "Wired", my favourite. Brilliantly blending his intricate solos with jazz influences, "Wired" is a completely instrumental album that contains some of Beck's best tracks (including "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" and "Sophie"). For anyone interested in jazzy/bluesy rock, this is an essential.

M4a, ~320 kbps

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(n.b. Also, I'm not going to be uploading it here but give "Jeff Beck With The Jan Hammer Group Live" a listen. It has a very similar sound to this album.)

Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum [1968]

Blue Cheer are somewhat unconventional, perhaps, for this blog, but they were instrumental in the development of metal; their proto-metal interpretation of 'Summertime Blues' herein was probably the heaviest thing around for its time, aside, of course, for the rest of this album.

192 kbps

Similar artists: Black Sabbath, Jex Thoth, Black Widow

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Clutch - Blast Tyrant [2004]

I think the thing I like about Clutch is that they're a man's band, and acknowledge that in everything they do. Just listening to the hard, bluesy riffs of this album (full title: "Blast Tyrant's Atlas Of The Invisible World Including Illustrations of Strange Beasts and Phantoms") makes me feel like I could grow a humongous beard at any moment.

The stoned, bluesy, "I'M A MAN AND I EAT BEARS" sound of the album is perfectly complemented by frontman Neil Fallon's throaty singing on tracks like "Mercury" and "Cypress Grove". This album is simply great fun all the way through, and I definitely recommend it.

Mp3, 256 kbps

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