SEVEN TIMES. That’s how many times my name appeared in the fabled pages of The New Yorker!
All in Music journalism
Classic Lowriders: Low, Slow & Soulful - UTNE Reader - May/June 2012
For decades, Chicano culture has been built on a legacy of soul music, doo wop, zoot suits, and classic lowriders.
A Home Away From Home, Vol 1: Brazilian Covers of International Pop & Rock Hits
There’s something really comforting about a cover song — familiar while still feeling fresh, soothing and confounding at the same time. As a collector and lover of Brazilian music and music inspired by Brazilian sounds, I pulled together a (nearly) two-hour mix of some of my favorite Brazilian covers of international pop and rock hits . . .
R.I.P. Malcom "Molly" Duncan of Average White Band Fame
R.I.P. Malcom “Molly” Duncan
Blue Collared Soul: Working-class Scots Average White Band found R&B magic stateside with soul-music maestro Jerry Wexler
Check out my SUPER LONG feature on Scottish funkateers The Average White Band in an extended online version of the story that originally appeared in issue #56 of Wax Poetics
Tim Maia Racional Vols. 1 & 2 Book Talk @ Live Convention '19
Talking about my book with Arcee at Live Convention ‘19 on September 22, 2019 (40 minutes)
Top 10 Brazilian "Compactos" on the Discogs Blog
Crate Diggers Portland: Allen “The Ambassador” Thayer’s Top 10 Brazilian “Compactos”
The Zombies Interview for Aquarium Drunkard
It’s common knowledge amongst armchair pop music historians that he Beatles album Rubber Soul inspired the Beach Boys’ creative genius Brian Wilson to raise the bar for the group’s seminal sleeper album Pet Sounds and that album, in turn, galvanized the Beatles to respond with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. That’s usually where the factoid ends, but there’s another iconic album that emerged from this friendly transatlantic competition that perfectly encapsulates the zeitgeist of late-sixties pop-psychedelia and continues to inspire musicians around the world: the Zombies’ Odessey & Oracle. Now at AD, creative principles Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent dive in.
RBM Mix #3 - Tim Maia & Friends: Alma Doce (Sweet Soul) by Allen "The Ambassador" Thayer
“Alma Doce” means “Sweet Soul” en Portugues. Check out this sixty-minute mix of early Brazilian Soul related to Tim Maia and his friends done for Records By Mail (aka Craig Moerer) a Portland, OR -based institution
Allen "The Ambassador" Thayer Guests on Lowrider Sundays
That time I guested on Lil’ Smiley’s radio show playing souldies from the U.S. and Brazil, Sunday, December 6th , 2016
Big Ups with Allen Thayer @ Flea Market Funk
Check out my guest spot over at Fleamarketfunk.com for Big Ups!
JUST ANNOUNCED: Tim Maia Racional coming to Live Convention '19
I’ll be out in Toronto in a few weeks to talk about my book Tim Maia Racional Vols. 1 & 2 out on Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 Global/Brazil imprint - more information on this “festival for record heads” event coming soon!
Tim Maia's "Seroma Years" for Aquarium Drunkard
I wrote a little something for Aquarium Drunkard about Tim Maia’s “Seroma Years” including a lengthy Spotify mix compiling my favorite tunes of his from 1972-77
Khruangbin Interview for Aquarium Drunkard
Check out the review I wrote of the new Khruangbin dub album and the lengthy interview I did with the trio back in the Spring of 2018
REVOLUTIONS: The Ambassador DJ set and Book Reading @ Amoeba Records in SF (5-15-2019)
Allen “The Ambassador” Thayer @ Amoeba 5-15-19
The Ambassador Mixes @ Mixcloud
Check out a bunch of The Ambassador’s mixes and radio shows on Mixloud
The Brazilian Beat on KMHD every Saturday 9 - 11 AM
Tune-in weekly to “The Brazilian Beat” at 89.1 FM or KMHD.org every Saturday 9-11 AM PST
Joao Gilberto's Self-titled 1973 album on Heat Rocks!
I sat down with Oliver Wang a couple weeks ago to talk about one of my favorite albums of all-time, Joao Gilberto’s self-titled 1973 album aka his “white album.”
Allen Thayer for Wax Poetics Magazine
Check out a sampling of some of the stories I’ve contributed to the legendary music publication, Wax Poetics!
Tim Maia Racional Vols. 1 & 2
My first book, about Brazilian soul music legend, Tim Maia and his bizarre and entertaining musical phase from the mid-seventies when he joined an extraterrestrial-obsessed cult.