Episodes

Welcome to Episode 139 of The Magic Organ, the 6 dimensions of funk. I've been wanting to collect a small sample of some of my favorite funk tracks whether they lie directly inside the definition of funk or not. African music, techno music, a lot of Latin music, it's all an extension of funk music, well techno is and African and Latin music are the godfathers of funk music. No need to get to deeply into this topic, it's all about the listening. Secondly, I forgot to bring a microphone back home...

Hey, hey just a quick welcome to Episode 138 of The Magic Organ. This episode's title is inspired by the first two tracks here, a funky stew out of Uganda from Serokolo 7 and a large ensemble out of Colombia called Nuevos Rios. Both these records slap, they're full of creativity and energy and all the good shit. Americans listen to barely any world music, world music has a very low profile in America cuz it's not made by white people, but the music is so so good (not all of it, but a lot). And T...

There's really not a ton of new music listening left for the year 2026. There will be a big spurt of back to school new music in September and October and then November kicks off the extended best of year lists starting as early as the first week of November. The Magic Organ usually rocks 5-6 best of year episodes, don't sleep on that, we have the best best of year list of all. There are two (most likely) best of year list records featured in this episode, the opening track from Olof Dreijer an...

In this time when the American Gestapo is rounding up anybody in order to make their deportation quotas, The Magic Organ pumps out the jams by those these fascist white people call the undersirables. I love me some undesirable. A Brazilian big band, hip hop (oh lord the shithead white people hate the hip hop) and dancefloor music which has heavy non white history and continues that way. I'm no Rodney King kinda fella (google him), these fascists gotta go they suck ass, they're boring they're vi...

That is my advice to you, peep it if you feel it. The Magic Organ is much like the tv sitcom Seinfeld, except we are vehemently opposed to the genocide in Gaza. Every episode is different tunes but the theme is the same - we got bangers from all over, the middle part of this episode goes from Italy to Mali to Venezuela to Cuba, worldwide I tell ya. And we are uninterested in issues of class and race, we want all classes and races up in here, the issue is quality something that can be argued over...

We always put the most likely year end best of list bangers up front, we know folks be busy and you gotta hit 'em with your best shot right out of the gate as Pat Benatar used to say. We pop off with some abstract dancefloor techno out of the UK from Batu & Donato Dozzy -- great arrangements, interesting sounds and a big shout out to the hand drumming or the programmed hand drumming. The second tune is from the collaboration between the Mexican Institute of Sound & Meridian Brothers (check out t...

Underneath the shiny, suffocating blanket of pop music/mainstream culture all manner of shit is going on, that's the flavor of this episode. Only a long time from now people will have some idea of what is happening, but from where this ghetto music philosopher sits we are witnessing the blenderization of all genres -- chunks of this go with this, why? Because someone put them together to create an effect; whether that's to create an over the top spectacle or to break something pretty into tiny d...

Happy birthday 'Merka, you sad ass corrupt garbage can of a country turned into a shithole by the current Orange Turdmaster. As I scan the excerpts from this episode, almost all of this music is made by people targeted to be deported or put in jail, black folks and immigrants or potential immigrants. So yes, I believe that a lot of cultures mixing together is a good thing for all those cultures, keeps 'em fresh and aware, and it is essential to having music evolve and expand. There's a reason wh...

Random episote title, but not random song picks! I was going to go with Early Summer bangers as a title and then meh, that's boring, so we switch it up. A combination of straight up party jams at slot 1 and slot 3 with more abstract and quality electronic business at slots 2 and 5. All slots filled with creativity. Ya know music is both just music and it's much more than music, it's a non spoken language humans use to communicate with each other. And it's our culture, and while most Americans l...

I'm listening to the beginning part of Drake's new record Iceman while I write the blurb for this episode and Lord it must be hard being Drake, he still seems shook in the wake of being cooked by Kendrick Lamar. The sounds are all right but the lyrics, oy. And that cover image has to be a Michael Jackson reference which I don't get at all. I wholeheartedly recommend the first three records featured at the front of this episode and the rest of the tracks are no slouch either. Once again showing t...

First off apologies for any band names or song titles that get mangled in this episode and in past episodes and well out into the future. Maybe folks don't listen to world music and from places with funny letters cuz the words is hard to pronounce? That would be ironical, cuz music is a nonverbal language (with words and shit sometimes) that humans use to communicate with each other. I love the second track SAME SHIT, I need to check the rest of the new Isaiah Rashad record, I'm excited about t...

Heating Up is Right! The first three tracks of this episode all on the candidate list of my nerd ass best of year tracking spreadsheet. Funky electronic, sick expertly arranged metal, and some world dancefloor banging, you can't beat that shit with a stick. Thus far we've seen a bump in flavorous electronic music, some good metal from that genre that keeps defying the rest of society, thank God for that. On the practical side I lost my hookup for African and world music; I used to get the weekl...

Man oh man, I'm busy af with real world activities. And even though I'm just one dude with a pitch shifter and exquisite taste I must squeeze in the Magic Organ, a lot depends on it jfc. As has been mentioned '25 was an insane year for great new music, it was everywhere, and while we can't know if Trump's fascism and/or shit economy is effecting the general culture-mood, there have been bangers thus far in '26 but not as many and in this episode I've had to draw a coupla tunes from the Magic Or...

Just because the formula never changes doesn't mean it's not exciting. I pick the freshest of the fresh, music with impact, value and heart, I try to get you to listen to the fresh shit when it's super fresh, hopefully folks get out there and mouth their friends about the fresh shit they heard first on The Magic Organ, boom that's how culture works. The fresh shit wins maybe, let's hope. We influence each other. Speaking of which send me an email, tell me what you think, what you don't think, t...

Hey, I don't do a ton of research before I rock an episode so I wanted to say the female singer featured as the fifth excerpt in this episode, Rima Khcheich, is Lebanese so yeah she's in the war zone. May the bombs stop dropping soon. It seems a bit weird to be spinning tracks during a shooting war, something even worse more widespread than the genocide in Gaza. But if some of the music here can be an outlet for what people are feeling and work its nonverbal magic on the human brain, well then ...

As I make a Herculean effort to gather my favorite records from my personal music collection all in one place (personal vinyl, out of print archived vinyl, net releases, cd favorites) to put onto a digital music player (DAP) I came upon a bunch of records that I was super into from 10-15 years ago and they all still hold up as great music. And I thought maybe listeners would enjoy The Magic Organ with less of me and more of other shit. I spliced in some tasty non sequitur bits from an school sl...

Oh we got a 7 banger for this episode, 13 minutes with 7 chunks of hot fire and a healthy dose of heavy music, punk hard rock, metal etc. My defense of heavy meta/heavy music is simple: Everybody feels bad, it's okay to feel bad, listening to other people talk about how bad they feel can make you feel less alone, it gets you moving from the overwhelmed state towards action. When I hear a great metal record I wanna go burn somebody's house down, the art in it is picking the right house (the White...

Welcome to the first fresh Magic Organ episode of 2026!! New music is a bit slow in January, not completely nothing but less than usual, and new music listeners like me will be scraping the best of last year's lists in search of great records that slipped through the cracks. Everyone has different cracks, everyone has different times where they discover new music, you can't catch all the bangers as they are released. So this episode is the result of late December post best of year Magic Organ b...

Hey, don't think of this episode as any sort of leftover 2025 nugget, it's a certified set of bangers. It contains an excerpt of what might be my favorite record of the year by Aia Mon Amour. Not that any of the other excerpts aren't total bangers because that's what The Magic Organ does, we set 'em up and knock 'em down for our listeners. And we look stylish doing it! Here's to a great year for music in 2026, thanks for listening, if you have any friends who claim to love music that aren't tot...

The avalanche of great new music continues, Best of 2025 Part 5!! I feature 5 tunes in each best of episode and there will be six total (maybe a 7th in the New Year) with my best of year list topping out at 35 records which is quite modest. No fluff, no filler just straight bangers of all genres. Rankings within the top 35 are non existent, music listeners can love different records for different reasons, one's desires and preferences are not rational, duh. Comparing a great heavy metal record ...

The Magic Organ Best of 2025 avalanche of musical goodness continues. How do my picks differ from those of the NY Times, PItchfork, and the New Yorker? Way less white boy and girl indie, more non white musicians from all over the world and from here. Just sayin'. Because I'm mostly opposed to pop music and the concepts of pop music and pop culture that currently rule the empire, the Magic Organ's best of year music picks require listeners to do what they are, to listen and pay attention. So if ...

Oh my, the party continues! When you listen to all the musics and you don't just reside in the indie rock ghetto or the tiny ass village of jazz then there's a lot of insanely great shit to listen to out there. And that right there is the mission of The Magic Organ. There are no favorites nor weak links in the best of year episodes, it's straight up bangers from beginning to end, thanks for listening and have a great holiday season whichever way you roll. Excerpts from this episode: Abul Moga...

You know what time it is! It's the best of year series, we gotta a spreadsheet of all the genres that we're distilling down to the Magic Organ favorites of 2025. Plus I just caught a couple records on The Quietus' best metal of 2025, the new Sex Germs record and these other gents from the UK, Human Leather. Never fear, The Magic Organ is way more than heavy metal and punk rock, we love all the musics, they're all God's children. Jeebus too. Thanks for listening, shoot your favorites this way i...

Here we go! The best time of the year to be a music lover and I don't mean a music lover that just sits there and eats whatever is served up by Big Music. Take your time, savor it, cuz there will probably be at least 6 best of episodes this year, there is so much great shit to listen to, it's just a podcast and a click of the mouse away. Excerpts from this episode: Noura Mint Seymali: Guereh Hieroglyphic Being: The Secret Teachings of the Ages Frente Cumbiero: Paratebueno (feat. Theon Cross...