Blogarrhea: The Best Music You've Never Heard, Snaggle, Earprint, Marvin Gardens, John Weeks & a Guy Named Bing

The Long Slog (Browntasauras Records) by Snaggle is a hoot! Like their American counterparts in Snarky Puppy, Snaggle challenges with differing tempi, alt-jazz solos, funny song titles, inspired group chemistry and groovy experimentation. Randy Brecker loves them and that’s good enough for me. Keyboardist Nick Maclean, trumpeter Max Forster, tenor saxophonist Graeme Wallace, guitarist Michael Murray, bassist Doug Moore and drummer Tom Grosset have been produced on this, their sophomore effort, by trumpeter Brownman Ali. The result is a wild ride. Buckle your seat belts, baby. This is some totally original way-out-there stuff, surprising in its dexterity, alluring in its alternative stance. Funky as all hell, and pushed forward by Grosset (who is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “World’s Fastest Drummer”), Snaggle aims to confound, delight and blow you away. I’m partial to “Track 5,” which is the fourth track on the CD. See? There’s no concrete reasoning here. Art is ephemeral. “Snaggle #7” is, inexplicably, the first track and right away you know this ain’t any Kenny G oatmeal for folks with no teeth. Just go with it.

Bing Futch is the Taj Mahal of his generation. Like Taj, he’s a multi-instrumentalist who uses the blues as a base for his organic Americana. His instruments of choice include mountain dulcimer, ukulele and Native American flute. He wrote, performed, produced, recorded and released the 12 tracks of Unresolved Blues all by himself playing dulcimer and singing before using “Band-In-A-Box” to provide some drum’n’bass. Like Taj, he does a masterful version of Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago,” the traditional “Cluck Old Hen” and “John Henry.” He also interprets Tampa Red’s “It’s Tight Like That.” Mostly, though, it's his originals that shine with delight like his closing mash note to his “Red Headed Lover” wife. He’s the author of the highly successful Blues Method For Mountain Dulcimer 101 and regularly teaches his “Blues In The Schools” course at various educational institutions. In my book, Bing Futch is a modern American hero.