Stones Throw re-issue imprint Now-Again has gathered the work of this Don Cornelius lookalike and little-known auteur with notes that tell his story: starting as a teenager in Flint, Michigan, Garland played in groups that opened for James Brown and Ike & Tina until members left for Vietnam or beauty school.

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You’ll almost want to cry at the great indie-label talents that went fallow due to the shoddy distribution issues of the pre-digital world. But you’ll also revel in the funkiness and creativity on display—from the synth-sax growl of York Wilborn’s Psychedelic Six to the early party rap of Le’Chance. Most of all, though, you will shake your fucking tail-feather to these grooves, everything from JB-style sax jams to blaxploitation-score soul to utterly unique songs.

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This English duo has taken a genre called “Library Music,” a term used for the music that was licensed to British television shows like Benny Hill and Monty Python (and, later, “The Ren and Stimpy Show”), and brought it into the modern era … As the tracks progress, some become psychedelic jams, as with “Clocks,” which could easily demonstrate the plight of the experimenting teen in an after-school special. Perhaps to prove its Englishness, the album contains a slew of numbers called “Biscuit.”

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Triorganico’s debut effort Convivencia is—simply put—a work of remarkable beauty. The trio trades in highly emotive bossa-tinged instrumentals that are equally capable of taking listeners on a trip down the coasts of South America and invoking deep introspection. They manage to achieve that improbable balance between dark and light tones while still maintaining the vibrancy and looseness of their music.

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