Soft Sounds For Gentle People Vol.1 (1967-70)

Sometimes you got to get back to the basics and relax. Soft is the new hard, anyway. If you need a porous overdose of soft psych, this comp is the first step. There are four or five more volumes, with one specializing in he-she duos and the other in solo 'mystic' males. Vol. 4 definitely wins the new-age award for questionable taste in cover-art. The first one is below to get you started, we don't want to be redundant so take a trip in the Tyme-Machine to get more. If you have problems getting more, and need a fix, comment, and we'll see what we can do.

Jerry Solomon - Past the 20th Century (1971)

Here it is. For all of you waiting for some Big Jerry, here he comes. This album was distributed while Jerry was living on the streets of LA. This is his masterpiece, eight tracks of the most real alienation ever muttered and belted. He was always paranoid of "collector scum" so it's kind of unfortunate that only a select few have been able to hear this album in its entirety. There are murmurs of a reissue, so grab this below while it lasts (not very long).

Mayor of Rocky Ripple's First Demos (2010)

Of the many hidden treasures of the Midwest, it does not get better than Bloomington, IN-based Elephant Micah. This time it is a collaboration with Pete Schreiner, EM hinted at the existence of Rocky Ripple on the recent Equine Emblem 7". Now the Mayor has arrived with an EP of utterly tasteful folk nuggets. Release yourself from whatever and head over here to download and donate.

Tommy Jay - "Memories"

If there was a VH1 countdown of 80's DIY ultra jams, this track would be on it. Absolute pop gem, total top 40 material. They used to say the Taft family was Rust Belt elite, I beg to differ, between Cincy and Harrisburg, this man is a Godz.

Hear.

Ruth White - Flowers of Evil (1969)

The only way to be truly weird in 1969 was to be so self-serious and lonely that you were not weird at all, just amazing.

Ruth White is a golden goddess, is she alive? I don't know, but I hope she somehow knows how much simple joy she brought into the world with a moog, some tape loops, and hammy translations of poems by Baudelaire.