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My apologies for missing yesterday, but I’m going to make up for it by writing posts for two albums today.

In a year that I learned not to hate the Grateful Dead and moved to Brooklyn, it seems natural that I became enamored of Endless Boogie. Named after a John Lee Hooker song, these old fogies jam you straight to outer space. And the fact that they don’t even seem to be trying very hard makes it even better. This is just the natural state achieved by spending life loving and collecting music. (Guitarist/singer Paul Major apparently has one of the most impressive record collections in the world.) They do it all with a content, knowing grin.

Focus Level isn’t quite as transcendent as catching Endless Boogie live, but it’s still a hell of an album. Heavy riffs chug along like a primordial steam engine while wailing solos are like Blue Angels flying overhead, twisting out gravity-defying stunts. I don’t know if Julian Cope has heard this album, but I think if he did, he would approve.

Read a Fader article about Endless Boogie.