Ben Funkhouser’s recommendation: “Alemayehu Eshete is an artist that moves me. He is an Ethiopian singer and musician who began his career in the ’60s, and has recently played shows again in the US and Europe. His music is powerful and groovy at the same time, taking hints from Mulatu Astake’s ethio-jazz, James Brown’s funky swagger, and traditional Ethiopian sounds as well. The music is beautifully arranged, skilfully executed and totally dance-able.”
New to Alemayehu Eshete? Ben suggests you start here: “The album that I would recommend is Ethiopiques 22: More Vintage. It comes from the Ethiopiques series, of which there has never been a bad release and is distributed by Buda Musique Records.”
About our guest author, Ben Funkhouser and Herr Jazz: Ben is one half of Herr Jazz (the other half being Jake Goltiani) and hails from Olympia, Washington. At only 15, Ben began booking bands and formed Herr Jazz before he was out of high school. The music is a wonderful mix of punked up skate/surf music with splashes of world music thrown in for good measure. It sounds young, fresh and fun (I’ve been thinking of them as Vampire Weekend Jr.) and their music can be purchased through Masa Records.
The Quote from Rivers Cuomo, singer and guitarist for Weezer: “Well, certainly the Beach Boys and the early Beatles records were a huge influence on me lyrically. I had been coming from a background of listening to heavy metal, and my way out of metal was through the Pixies, Jane’s Addiction, and Sonic Youth. A lot of those lyrics were intentionally abstract and artsy. They didn’t necessarily make a lot of sense. They aren’t pop lyrics. Then I heard lyrics like in “Don’t Worry Baby,” where Brian Wilson—in very simple terms, like what a 16-year old would write—is writing about a girl, or bragging about his car to his friends. It sounded so refreshing to me. I think you can hear that feeling of innocence and youthfulness in the lyrics I wrote at that time, like on “Buddy Holly” or “Holiday” or “Surf Wax America.” That is very much influenced by The Beatles and the Beach Boys.”
New to Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys? Start Here: Starting with The Beach Boys’ masterwork, Pet Sounds (the album that sent Brian Wilson into an unwinnable arms race with The Beatles), makes sense except for the fact that you will miss out on the evolution of Wilson’s production genius. The Spectorish Wouldn’t It Be Nice and God Only Knows from Pet Sounds are represented on Sounds Of Summer – The Very Best Of The Beach Boys, but so are the early brilliant works Help Me, Rhonda and Don’t Worry Baby. We can leave Kokomo, but we’ll take the cover of the Del Vikings’ Come Go With Me.
About our guest author, Ben Funkhouser and Herr Jazz: Ben is one half of Herr Jazz (the other half being Jake Goltiani) and hails from Olympia, Washington. At only 15, Ben began booking bands and formed Herr Jazz before he was out of high school. The music is a wonderful mix of punked up skate/surf music with splashes of world music thrown in for good measure. It sounds young, fresh and fun (I’ve been thinking of them as Vampire Weekend Jr.) and their music can be purchased through Masa Records. 
