By Brandon Adamson
A folkish EP / mini album of organ-based, minimalist pop songs, with unassuming vocals and authentically retro style. These modest jams utilize a couple of vintage Bontempi organs from the 70s and 80s as well as a 1975 Cordovox combo organ. There is some 3/4 acoustic guitar in the title track, and some space theremin is peppered in here and there.
Available on Apple Music
By Brandon Adamson
Mondo Freudo(1966) is another great “fake” documentary from the Mondo series of the mid to late 60’s. Mondo Mod is of course my favorite, followed by Mondo Bizarro. I’ve been trying to get my hands on a copy of Mondo Teeno for years. Unfortunately I’ve only found one guy on the entire internet that claims to be selling a copy…and he doesn’t respond to emails and hasn’t updated his site for years.
Anyway, though Mondo Freudo and the others aren’t authentic documentaries, they do a fair job of portraying the 1960s Southern California youth culture in their own way, just through the footage and the entertaining narration which accompanies it.
Here’s a great sequence of a portion of the Sunset Strip as it was in 1966. Take me there.
By Brandon Adamson
Cool your jets and enjoy the afternoon with this swingin’ summertime, 60’s style pop jam. Turn up the dial on your Nobility pocket transistor radio and head to the beach just one last time before summer’s over, and it’s time to blow this popsicle stand. Fickle fadsters come and go, but a few of us stay until the bitter end.
By Brandon Adamson
Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” is probably one of the best songs of all time and epitomizes everything I love about the mid to late 60’s. What a great time to be alive, assuming you didn’t end up stepping on landmines in Vietnam. The slow buildup up of the song to its glorious revelation…”FEED YOUR HEAD!” Here they are on The Smothers Brothers show in 1967:
By Brandon Adamson
I stumbled across this album by a “Beach Boys” styled band called The Sunrays several years ago at an antique store. I purchased it mostly for the mod aesthetic of the cover, not really expecting much. I instantly fell in love with the first song, “I Live For the Sun.” It’s peppy vocals and bright melodies capture the essence of summertime style in the 1960’s. It’s strange that a someone like me, practically a vampire who doesn’t even really even like going outside, could identify with this sort of jam. Yet it’s amazing. The song promotes life, like the rays of the sun itself. The band actually toured with and opened for the Beach Boys, unsurprisingly.
By Brandon Adamson
For a band whose make included the wealthy sons of Dean Martin and Desi Arnaz, Dino, Desi and Billy made some incredible music. The fact that their parents paved them an easy road to fame didn’t make them any less worthy of success. They had some of the most beautiful and artistic songs of the 1960s. The band also made an appearance in the film “Murderer’s Row,” which featured an amusing interaction between Dino and real life father Dean Martin, “Now you’re swingin’ dad!” Sadly, Dino(Dean Paul Martin) later joined the Air National Guard and died when his plane crashed in 1987 at the age of 36.
By Brandon Adamson
“Pretty World” Sergio Mendes’ Brasil ’66… This is one of the loveliest songs of all time, and this video does it justice. Supposedly it is one of the best existing copies.
“Why don’t we take a little piece of summer sky and hang it on a tree” is a lyric that has stayed in my head for many years.
By Brandon Adamson
Here’s the trailer for “Mondo Mod.” It’s a classic 1960s fake documentary movie about mod culture. The film features and incredibly catchy title song by a “band” called The Gretschmen. There’s also a brief art segment where a couple of Ellsworth Kelly paintings are mentioned. One of my all time favorites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUMxggEkvO0
By Brandon Adamson
Minimalist psychedelic mod video by Brandon Adamson for the song, “Feeble Screams” in Fever Dreams” featuring Avi Taylor. Organ used is a 1975 Cordovox CDX.