John Cale "Paris 1919" (Reprise Records, 1973)

Artist: John Cale
Album: "Paris 1919"
Release Date: March 1973
Label: Reprise Records
Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Baroque-Pop, Chamber-Pop, Art-Rock
Mood: Nostalgic, Gloomy, Literate, Somber
Reminds Of: David Sylvian, Robert Wyatt, Nick Drake, Nico

What People Think: PitchforkMedia, TinyMixTapes, AllMusicGuide

Definitely Worth Buying: Amazon, CdUniverse

Tracklist
1. Child's Christmas In Wales
2. Hanky Panky Nohow
3. The Endless Plain Of Fortune
4. Andalucia
5. Macbeth
6. Paris 1919
7. Graham Greene
8. Half Past France
9. Antarctica Starts Here

Like Frank Zappa, John Cale is a fascinating, mercurial figure. Everything he has done over the years—from his electric viola work and his development of destructive sound effects for the Velvet Underground onward—bears witness to a formidable intelligence and a commitment to what remains viable in the avant-garde tradition. Last year, Cale released his first Reprise album (following two excellent albums for Columbia), The Academy in Peril, which Warners justly called their first "classical" album. Paris 1919, by contrast, is pop-oriented with strong classical underpinnings. Indeed, it comes far closer to being a finished work of art than any previous attempt to effect a rock-classical synthesis.
The subject of Paris 1919 is nothing less than the entirety of Western European high culture, viewed roughly from a post-World War I, Dada-Surrealist perspective. The album is an epic reassessment of history, geography and art itself. Much of its music is in the Pink Floyd-Procol Harum genre—densely textured and post-Romantic. (Paris was produced by Floyd-Harum wizard Chris Thomas.) The strings of the UCLA Symphony Orchestra are used to magnificent effect, enhanced with what sounds like a mellotron.
Cale's lyrics are something else entirely. He has scored a major coup by adapting, often brilliantly, the spirit of Dada-Surrealist poetry into the pop idiom. The contrast between the somewhat destructive playfulness of Dada and the Romantic thrust of the music sets up tensions that are never resolved, nor are they meant to be. At its most accessible, the poetry is highly allusory and multifaceted. The clearest example is in the album's most beautiful cut, "Andalucia," in which impressions of a woman, a place and history are woven inextricably into a moving and mysterious entity: "Andalucia, when can I see you/When it is snowing out again/Farmer John wants you/Louder and softer closer and nearer/Then again/Needing you taking you keeping you leaving you ..." The song and the arrangement are ravishing, and to top it all off, Cale sings with a plaintiveness reminiscent of Steve Winwood.
On other cuts that have a similarly heavy sound, the lyrics are more playful: "There's a law for everything/And for elephants that sing to keep/The cows that agriculture won't allow ..." is one of several hilarious pronouncements made in Cale's "Hanky Panky Nohow," a song that, paradoxically, has a mystical, sensuous musical setting. The central image of the title cut, whose arrangement is somewhat similar to Nilsson's wonderful "Mourning Glory," is that of a woman appearing as a ghost "from the clock across the hall." And a typically Surrealist fascination with time appears again in "Half Past France." The album's one all-out rocker is the screaming, tearing "Macbeth," which perfectly conjures up the ghostly violence of the play.
Though at first all of this might seem simply to be sublime nonsense, much of it improvised, Cale employs imagery that is fundamentally cohesive in an impressionistic way and further unified by its elegiac spirit. His cerebrations are as Romantic as they are anti-Romantic, perhaps more the former, since the music finally impells us to take him very seriously. Wit, humor and irony are here in abundance. So too are metaphysical contemplation and sadness.
Paris 1919 is one of the most ambitious albums ever released under the name of "pop." In spite of and because of its irreconcilable contradictions, it requires a great deal of listening in order for its full implications to be perceived. As usual, John Cale is several steps ahead of the times. It is up to us to catch up with him. Paris 1919 is a pop masterpiece. 

(source:TheRollingStone.com)

“I don’t care…People always bored me anyway…”

Kim Hiorthoy "Fantasin Finns I Varkligheten-Japan Selector" (P-Vine Japan, 2002)

Artist: Kim Hiorthoy
Album: "Fantasin Finns I Varkligheten-Japan Selector"
Release Date: 2002
Label: P-Vine Japan
Genre: Folktronica, IDM, Minimal-Techno
Mood: Fractured, Sophisticated, Enigmatic, Intimate
Reminds Of: Four Tet, To Rococo Rot, Lars Horntveth, Xela
Definitely Worth Buying: Amazon

Tracklist
1. Door Open Both Ways
2. Jeg Er Bare Her
3. Juli
4. Politiska Dikten Atervander
5. Det Var En Fridfull Och Mycket Spannande Dag
6. Giving And Taking Book
7. Nu Kommer Kathrine Inn, Hon Lutar Sig Mot Dorrposten
8. Ingen Vet Om Fremtiden Kommer
9. Forskjellige Gode Ting
10. Hip-Hop Is A Way Of Life
11. Institutt For Kritisk Praksis

On his records Kim Hiorthøy combine weird beats, lo-fi/leftfield electronics, field recordings, electro-acoustic sounds and samples, resulting in a sound all his own. His debut album "Hei" was released in 2000 to rave reviews around the world. His second record, "Melke", a collection of remixes, 7 inches, rejected tracks and tracks for compilations, was released in 2002. His live sets differ somewhat from the records; with faster speeds and louder beats they sometimes end up as tiny techno raves, if perhaps weird ones at that. Hiorthøy is also a graphic designer, mostly recognized for his work for the Rune Grammofon label and rock group Motorpsycho. A book, "Tree Weekend", was published by Die Gestalten Verlag in 2000.

(source: smalltownsupersound.com)

This Japanese-only release from Kim Hiorthøy combines tracks from his first two albums with some exclusives—is it worth tracking down? Well, depends on how much you like your electronics on the experimental side. Me, I love it, so it was worth it. “Jeg Er Bare Her,” for example, glides along on a lovely electronic melody, grounded by a mid-tempo kick drum, and augmented by samples of high-pitched squeals and low thrummings. Hiorthøy’s combination of techno rhythms with simple but effective melodic lines at once sounds unfamiliar and soothing (like the near-pastoral tones of “Ingen Vet Om Fremtiden Kommer”). In terms of the previously released tracks, “Politiska Dikten Återvänder” skitters along on its xylophone-enhanced drum ‘n’ bass beats, while “Nu Kommer Cathrine Inn, Hon Lutar Sig Mot Dörrposten” layers on an intercepted phone call. The short and quiet “Det Var En Fridfull Och Mycket Spännande Dag” is a mini-meditation on rhythm and repetition, while “Forskjellige Gode Ting” takes that idea through a nine-minute journey. Despite the inclusion of tracks that appear elsewhere (every trainspotter's nightmare), FANTASIN FINNS I VARKLIGHETEN - JAPAN SELECTOR is a completely worthwhile collection.

(source: discogs.com, user: scoundrel)

"Weird fun, Scandinavian style - clean, convival and utterly wonderful" (Mojo)

“I don't know if it is behind everything I do, but I definitely believe in working with an attitude of knowing as little as possible about what you are about to do in order to not be constrained by efforts to 'prove' anything and also to be as open as possible to whatever it is you are about to do. To approach things without the limitations of professionalism.”

Read the Milk Factory interview with Kim Hiorthoy…

For Against "December" (Chameleon, 1988)

Artist: For Against
Album: "December"
Release Date: 1988
Label: Chameleon
Genre: Indie-Pop, Dream-Pop, Shoegaze, Post-Punk
Mood: Intimate, Gloomy, Bitter, Wintry
Reminds Of: The Sound, REM, The Chameleons UK, Echo & The Bunnymen
What People Think: SplendidMagazine, PopMatters
Definitely Worth Buying: CdUniverse, RedSunRecords

Tracklist
1. Sabres
2. Stranded In Greenland
3. Svengali
4. They Said
5. The Effect
6. December
7. The Last Laugh
8. Paperwhites
9. Clandestine High Holy

Nebraska's lone entry into the dream pop world, For Against initially consisted of bassist and vocalist Jeffrey Runnings, guitarist Harry Dingman, and drummer Greg Hill. Dingman and Hill left after 1988's December to form the Millions, and they were replaced by Steven "Mave" Hinrichs and Paul Engelhard after a replacement lineup failed to work out. (Dingman later returned for 2008's Shade Side Sunny Side.) Since its inception, Runnings' band has consistently produced a drifting yet distinctly rhythmic sound, soldiering through the myriad alternative scenes of the '80s and '90s. With one foot in the British post-punk of Joy Division and the other in the gliding atmospherics of Kitchens of Distinction, For Against are treasured by shamefully few; geography and infrequent touring have not helped.

For Against's stark and chilling second album is their best, one of the most powerful dream pop releases of the late '80s. Harry Dingman's icicle shots of chiming guitars, Greg Hill and Jeffrey Runnings' agile rhythmic thrust, and Runnings' boyish (but every bit as forceful) vocals rarely combine for a less-than-riveting listen. With its fluid bass-and-drum punch and enveloping twists of guitars, December's most fitting reference point is the Chameleons' Script of the Bridge. Balancing the aggressive with the reserved just as well as its prime inspiration, December's nine songs float, skip, and roam with a level of immaculately-paced grace that can't be heard on most albums of the era. Runnings' anguished expressions of despair, resentment, and embittered bile hit with the same scythe-like precision of Bob Mould's best output -- in fact, given the atmospherics and complementary production at play (including the ideal amount of reverb), the songs are even more haunting than Mould's relatively pure-pop leanings. "The Last Laugh" is one of the first places to go for an example of the album at its best. After Runnings accuses a partner of giving him a nervous breakdown and pleads to get his life back, the song shifts into a dextrous tempo change that recalls the controlled jerkiness of post-punk's upper tier and spins catharsis back into fraught tension. At 36 minutes, December plays briefly but leaves the effect of an epic. Understated but full of ambition, it's a sticky trap. Though it was released on a respected label -- albeit one with limited distribution and exposure -- it's frustrating to think of how revered it would've been if it had instead featured a 4AD catalog number.

(source: AllMusicGuide)

“Deceptively boyish delivery…”

Television Personalities "And Don't The Kids Just Love It" (Rough Trade, 1980)

Artist: Television Personalities
Album: "And Don't The Kids Just Love It"
Release Date: January 1981
Label: Rough Trade
Genre: Post-Punk, New-Wave, Indie-Pop
Mood: Rousing, Witty, Boisterous, Freewheeling
Reminds Of: Robert Wyatt, Syd Barrett, Swell Maps
Definitely Worth Buying: Amazon, CdUniverse

Tracklist
1. This Angry Silence
2. The Glittering Prizes
3. World Of Pauline Lewis
4. A Family Affair
5. Silly Girl
6. Diary Of A Young Man
7. Geoffrey Ingram
8. I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives
9. Jackanory Stories
10. Parties In Chelsea
11. La Grande Illusion
12. A Picture Of Dorian Gray
13. The Crying Room
14. Look Back In Anger

The first full album by Television Personalities, recorded after a four-year series of often brilliant D.I.Y. singles recorded under a variety of names, including the O-Level and the Teenage Filmstars, is probably the purest expression of Daniel Treacy's sweet-and-sour worldview. The songs, performed by Treacy, Ed Ball, and Mark Sheppard, predict both the C-86 aesthetic of simple songs played with a minimum of elaboration but a maximum of enthusiasm and earnestness and the later lo-fi aesthetic. The echoey, hissy production makes the songs sound as if the band were playing at the bottom of an empty swimming pool, recorded by a single microphone located two houses away, yet somehow that adds to the homemade charm of the record. Treacy's vocals are tremulous and shy, and his lyrics run from the playful "Jackanory Stories" to several rather dark songs that foreshadow the depressive cast of many of his later albums. "Diary of a Young Man," which consists of several spoken diary entries over a haunting, moody twang-guitar melody, is downright scary in its aura of helplessness and inertia. The mood is lightened a bit by some of the peppier songs, like the smashing "World of Pauline Lewis" and the "David Watts" rewrite "Geoffrey Ingram," and the re-recorded version of the earlier single "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives," complete with deliberately intrusive prerecorded bird sounds, is one of the most charming things Television Personalities ever did. This album must have sounded hopelessly amateurish and cheaply ramshackle at the time of its 1981 release, but in retrospect, it's clearly a remarkably influential album that holds up extremely well.

(source: AllMusicGuide)

“Can you hear this angry silence…?”

"Eternity And A Day" [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (ECM Records, 1999)

Artist: Eleni Karaindrou
Album: "Eternity And A Day" [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
Release Date: 1 October 1999
Label: ECM Records
Genre: Soundtrack, Classical, Chamber-Jazz, Instrumental
Mood: Elegant, Sophisticated, Passionate, Spiritual
Reminds Of: George Russell, Henry Mancini, Don Ellis, Jan Garbarek
Definitely Worth Buying: Amazon

Tracklist
1. Hearing The Time
2. By The Sea
3. Eternity Theme
4. Parting A
5. Depart And Eternity Theme
6. Borders
7. Wedding Dance
8. Parting B
9. To A Dead Friend
10. Eternity Theme Variation I
11. Depart And Eternity Theme Variation I
12. Bus (Pt. 1)
13. Depart And Eternity Theme Variation II
14. Bus (Pt. 2)
15. Trio And Eternity Theme
16. The Poet
17. Depart And Eternity Theme Variation III
18. Depart

Film composer Eleni Karaindou was born in the Greek mountain village of Teichio and raised in Athens, going on to study piano and music theory at the Hellenikon Odion. Relocating to Paris in 1969, she studied ethnomusicology for five years before returning to Greece to found the Laboratory for Traditional Instruments at the ORA Cultural Centre. Karaindrou's most successful collaboration was with filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos, with whom she first teamed in 1982, going on to score features including 1991's The Suspended Step of the Stork, 1995's Ulysses' Gaze and 1998's Palme d'Or-winning Eternity and a Day. Although primarily aligned with the Greek film industry, Karaindrou also worked with noted European directors including Jules Dassin and the great Chris Marker.

Eternity and a Day is about an elderly writer, Bruno Ganz, who discovers he has only a short time to live and must decide what to do with his remaining time on earth. The album is both shorter and considerably more varied than its predecessor. Again the music is scored for string orchestra and soloists, this time oboe, bassoon, French horn, mandolin, accordion, piano and two clarinets. Over the course of 18 tracks Karaindrou weaves a series of melodies around a central "Eternity" theme, cues ranging from the eloquent piano solo (played by the composer) "By the Sea" to a traditional wedding dance, various ensemble pieces, a touching elegy for string orchestra and clarinet, "To a Dead Friend" to finally a wind trio against strings for the moving finale, "Depart". More varied and thus more accessible, it is perhaps the better choice for the newcomer to Karaindrou's music.

(source: AllMusicGuide)

“As you are writing…The ink grows less…The sea increases…”

Ornette Coleman Double Quartet "Free Jazz ( A Collective Improvisation) (Atlantic, 1961)

Artist: Ornette Coleman Double Quartet
Album: "Free Jazz (A Collective Improvisation)"
Release Date: 1961
Label: Atlantic
Genre: Free-Jazz, Improvisation, Avant-Garde
Mood: Passionate, Knotty, Sophisticated, Provocative
Reminds Of: Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Louis Jordan, Arnett Bobb
What People Think: Wikipedia
Definitely Worth Buying: Amazon, CdUniverse

Tracklist
1. Free Jazz
2. First Take

One of the most important (and controversial) innovators of the jazz avant-garde, Ornette Coleman gained both loyal followers and lifelong detractors when he seemed to burst on the scene in 1959 fully formed. Although he, and Don Cherry in his original quartet, played opening and closing melodies together, their solos dispensed altogether with chordal improvisation and harmony, instead playing quite freely off of the mood of the theme. Coleman's tone (which purposely wavered in pitch) rattled some listeners, and his solos were emotional and followed their own logic. In time, his approach would be quite influential, and the quartet's early records still sound advanced many decades later.

As jazz's first extended, continuous free improvisation LP, Free Jazz practically defies superlatives in its historical importance. Ornette Coleman's music had already been tagged "free," but this album took the term to a whole new level. Aside from a predetermined order of featured soloists and several brief transition signals cued by Coleman, the entire piece was created spontaneously, right on the spot. The lineup was expanded to a double-quartet format, split into one quartet for each stereo channel: Ornette, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Billy Higgins on the left; trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell on the right. The rhythm sections all play at once, anchoring the whole improvisation with a steady, driving pulse. The six spotlight sections feature each horn in turn, plus a bass duet and drum duet; the "soloists" are really leading dialogues, where the other instruments are free to support, push, or punctuate the featured player's lines. Since there was no road map for this kind of recording, each player simply brought his already established style to the table. That means there are still elements of convention and melody in the individual voices, which makes Free Jazz far more accessible than the efforts that followed once more of the jazz world caught up. Still, the album was enormously controversial in its bare-bones structure and lack of repeated themes. Despite resembling the abstract painting on the cover, it wasn't quite as radical as it seemed; the concept of collective improvisation actually had deep roots in jazz history, going all the way back to the freewheeling early Dixieland ensembles of New Orleans. Jazz had long prided itself on reflecting American freedom and democracy and, with Free Jazz, Coleman simply took those ideals to the next level. A staggering achievement.

“It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something...”

Arnold Dreyblatt "Animal Magnetism" (Tzadik, 1995)

Artist: Arnold Dreyblatt
Album: "Animal Magnetism"
Release Date: 23 May, 1995
Label: Tzadik
Genre: Avant-Garde, Microtonal, Minimalism, Sound-Collage
Mood: Playful, Manic, Cathartic, Quirky
Reminds Of: LaMonte Young, Alvin Lucier, Elliott Sharp
What People Think: AllMusicGuide
Definitely Worth Buying: CdUniverse, Amazon

Tracklist
1. Point Rotation
2. Next Slide
3. Animal Magnetism
4. Group Velocity
5. Side Band
6. Flashbulb History
7. Epilogue

Arnold Dreyblatt's compositions have been recorded for such leading avant-garde music labels as Hat Hut, Tzadik and Table of Elements. The New York native studied film and video at SUNY with Woody and Steina Vasulka, and earned his masters from the Institute for Media Studies. In the mid-'70s, he studied composition with Pauline Oliveros and LaMonte Young, then learned from Alvin Lucier until getting his masters in composition in 1982. By that time, Dreyblatt had already been directing his own music ensemble, the Orchestra of Excited Strings, for three years. In 1984, he moved to Europe where, in addition to composing, he began using texts and images in his installations and performances. He has received numerous grants and stipends including the Overbrook Foundation, and the Philip Morris Art Prize. Dreyblatt has been a guest composer at Amsterdam's STEIM, Berlin's Kunstlerhaus Bethanien and more. He has been commissioned by Ars Electronica, Podewil/US Arts Festival, as well as for his production 'Who's Who in Central & East Europe 1933' for Berlin's DAAD-Inventionen '91. He has also created two independent yet interrelated art works in collaboration with the University of Lüneburg's Kulturinformatik Department, entitled "Who's Who in Central & East Europe 1933" and "Memory Arena." As of the late 1990's, Dreyblatt still resided in Berlin.

"While I really like everything of Arnold's, especially the more "heroic" parts of Nodal Excitations and Propellors in Love, this is the record that really steps out as the first genuinely new sound in maybe 10 years. It's as if the Dirty Dozen Brass band got a hold of some of Arnold's records and decided to give it a go. I cannot overstate how unbelievably brilliant this record is. When played loud, I firmly stand by my declaration that it is one of the 4 or so best records ever made". - Jim O’Rourke

"The bright, punchy staccato nature of Dreyblatt’s compositons allude to some of Michael Nyman’s early ensemble works, a character further emphasized by the dynamic constraints of the instrumentation... ...Dreyblatt wants you to listen through the beats in order to connect with the overtone structures and resonant sound features bouncing off the rhythmic surfaces... ...I’ve certainly grown to love it.“ - David Illic, The Wire Magazine Soundcheck Winner October, 1995

"This particular release from 1995 is initially striking because of its pure energy. I guarantee that it's one of the few releases you'll find featuring "classical" instruments which encourages you to "listen at maximum volume!" Dreyblatt also uses a wider palette than most Minimalists, as his Orchestra of Excited Strings actually consists of strings, horns, percussion, and just-intonation guitar. Yet he holds the same concern with microtonal structure that Conrad does, just through more propulsive music. Some people back in the Seventies used to talk about how the music of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass was somehow related to "rock," but those charlatans don't have anything on Arnold Dreyblatt. - Pataphysics Research Journal

“If you REALLY wanted to scare somebody, wouldn't you find a new way to do it…?”

Jackie O-Motherfucker "Fig. 5" (Road Cone, 2000)

Artist: Jackie-O Motherfucker
Album: "Fig. 5"
Release Date: 2000
Label: Road Cone
Genre: Experimental-Rock, Post-Rock, Improvisation, Noise
Mood: Theatrical, Uncompromising, Searching, Confrontational
Reminds Of: Volcano The Bear, Vibracathedral Orchestra, White Rainbow
What People Think: TheBrokenFace, AllMusicGuide
Definitely Worth Buying: Amazon, Emusic

Tracklist
1. Analogue Skillet
2. Native Einstein
3. Your Cells Are In Motion
4. Go Down, Old Hannah
5. Amazing Grace
6. Beautiful September (We Are Going There)
7. Chiapas! I Must Go There!
8. Michigan Avenue Social Club
9. Madame Curie

In America, we have monuments instead of mythology: bright obelisks and classical statuary erected as perpetually new in the place of the perpetually old. This is, after all, the New World; we dedicate these talismans against ruin across the landscape almost as if to keep history itself at bay, to keep time from catching up with us. Underfoot are bones and detritus, though, the debris of the little nameless events that are excluded from American history. It's all a rather shallow grave when you think about it. Jackie-O Motherfucker's unprecedented Fig. 5, the group's first CD release, presents a dim and unsettling archaeology of American music. Released in the wake of the American century, it's the first unapologetically brilliant piece of experimental music I've heard this year. Somehow constructed bereft of any postmodern irony, Fig. 5 transforms a commanding grasp on the celebrated tributaries of American music-- jazz, Appalachian folk, soul, African-American spirituals, West coast surf-rock, Protestant hymns, Louisville post-rock, bluegrass, electronic noise-- into an autochthonous gospel. Jackie-O Motherfucker-- two multi-instrumentalists, Tom Greenwood and Jef Brown and the cadre of eclectic talents with whom they surround themselves-- abandoned the remix loop jazz-fusion of their first two albums (available only as LPs) and literally emerged from the basement and the soil with a masterpiece. The gust-blown digital hum of the first track, "Analogue Skillet," underpins plucked and scraping strings, like a bow on the nervous system itself. It's buzzing neon yielding to something like a screen-door creaking on its rusted hinges behind wind chimes in "Native Einstein," a kind of front porch minimalism. There's a faint chorus of young girls counting down in the recesses, playing Double Dutch in the road. The strings sound like saws; the lone sax whines like an animal. The scene is replaced by the solemn repetition of guitar twang; "Your Cells are in Motion" is the working man's Mogwai: a funereal procession of rising guitar and faint vocals coalescing steadily into shantytown post-rock, tarnished but true. Labradford will spend the entirety of their career trying to create this song and never get it right. The choral "Go Down, Old Hannah," performed here by the Amalgamated Everlasting Union Chorus Local #824, is a prison camp work song dating back to the turn of the century-- a plea for sunset to end the workday. "Amazing Grace," the slave trader John Newton's ubiquitous 1779 hymn to God, is barely recognizable as Appalachian free jazz: steely banjos and twittering horns that sound like bagpipes are equal parts mountain folk and Pharoah Sanders. The lilting "Beautiful September" provides an interlude of catchy No Depression dream-rock. But the album's centerpiece is clearly the tribal 24-minute "Michigan Avenue Social Club," a track that sounds at times like dismembered Gershwin, and at other times like Cul de Sac with horns. Fig 5. fades out on the brief, chirping "Madame Curie," dissolving into the earth from which the whole work arose. For all its disparate strands, Fig. 5 is surprisingly cohesive, constructing some ratcheted new sound with junk and memory rather than laundering old sounds with the irony and veiled contempt of other pastiche exercises. The disc itself is packaged in an oddly fascinating die-cut cardboard folio, complete with snippets of Alan Lomax's celebrated American ethnomusicology. Fig. 5 is slow and plodding like time itself. This work, again, simply has no precedents. Or rather, its precedents lie in the dusty anonymities of American musical history, instead of the proud and touted monuments of our cultural past. Listen to it once if you can. It is our secret national anthem.

(source: PitchforkMedia)

“Apocalyptic dirge, the monotony of life, light the whole world on fire and destroy it…”

Aesop Rock "Labor Days" (Def Jux, 2001)

Artist: Aesop Rock
Album: "Labor Days"
Release Date: 18 September, 2001
Label: Def Jux
Genre: Underground-Hip-Hop, East-Coast-Hip-Hop, Abstract-Hip-Hop
Mood: Thuggish, Hostile, Confrontatiotal, Menacing, Druggy
Reminds Of: Kool Keith, Mr. Lif, Atmosphere, Rjd2, MF Doom
What People Think: AllMusicGuide, SputnikMusic, Popmatters
Definitely Worth Buying: CdUniverse, Amazon

Tracklist
1. Labor
2. Daylight
3. Save Yourself
4. Flashflood
5. No Regrets
6. One Brick
7. The Tugboat Complex, pt. 3
8. Coma
9. Battery
10. Boombox
11. Bent Life
12. The Yes And The Y'All
13. 9-5ers Anthem
14. Shovel

Your humble reviewer is not hugely invested in the state or the fate of hip-hop. A lot of folks are, though, sometimes to an unfortunate extent-- hip-hop spends almost as much time drawing lines and fighting over its own image as the punk and hardcore zines do, albeit more entertainingly. One of the results of this is that a whole lot of hip-hop records are basically about hip-hop: the mainstream stuff (aka "real" hip-hop) offers up further meta-explorations of a few MC-persona archetypes, while the undie stuff (aka "real" hip-hop) dedicates itself to the Ancient Skillz of crate-digging, battle rhyming, and either picking on the mainstream or spitting abstract jumbles of wordplay. The former is how we get stuff like P. Diddy saying, "I don't write rhymes, I write checks"; the latter is how we get stuff like the Anti-Pop Consortium, who sound godlike in ten second snippets but prove mind-numbingly tedious by fifteen. Aesop Rock is one of those MCs who have stumbled upon a blindingly intelligent solution to this state of affairs: he's ignored all of that baggage and made a record that's mostly about something. That something is work. Labor-- effort in its broadest sense-- is a topic he treats sometimes pedantically but often more thought-provokingly than not only the bulk of hip-hop, but the bulk of any genre. It helps that Labor Days is as terrific a record as anyone could ask for, really, and you should buy it, and here's why. First: Aesop Rock is a terrific MC. His flow is rapid but clear; his interjections, double-time verses and sing-song bits are arranged with near-symphonic skill. He's also calm and confident, avoiding both the egomaniacal swagger of a lot of mainstream and the egomaniacal jerkiness of a lot of underground, while nicking their finer points as well. Better than that: Aesop Rock's flow is brilliant, a combination of mindbending wordplay ("Who am I?" he asks, then answers: "Jabberwocky Superfly!"), in-rhymed poetics ("You won't be laughing when the buzzards drag your brother's flags to rags"), and surgically sharp, eye-rolling dismissals of anyone he disapproves of: "If you had one more eye you'd be a cyclops," runs one, "which may explain your missing the premise." Aesop Rock says more astoundingly intelligent things per minute than the entire combined rosters of a lot of other labels. Second: Blockhead, who produces much of this record, does an equally terrific job. Labor Days is bound for constant comparisons to Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein, the other Def Jux Edgy Intelligent NYC MCs with Stark Progressive Beats record to crop up on 2001's year-end lists. And while the comparisons are valid ones, lyrically and often sonically, Labor Days differs by trading in The Cold Vein's minimalist grind for an equally minimal but remarkably lush, cinematic spread of subtly weaving beats and sinuous, somber, minor-key instrumental arrangements that sound as if someone has been doing his crate-digging in the klezmer, bouzouki, and koto piles of the "World Classical" section. "Daylight," the record's initial standout, works from a long, plush melodic loop with a wood flute sighing over it (there are a lot of woody flutes on this record-- enough to make you wonder if Blockhead wouldn't have done a better job than RZA on the Ghost Dog soundtrack). Meanwhile, "Save Yourself," the record's real standout, consists of a slow-motion lope constructed from staccato bass blips, an east-Mediterranean guitar pluck, and wispy female cooing. "Battery" stretches the limits of hip-hop pastoralism with a bass-and-cello figure and more of those fluttering coos with Ace intoning, "Brother sun, sister moon, mother beautiful," and, "I painted a sunny day on the insides of my eyelids." If most hip-hop chases a futuristic, brightly lit city vitality, Labor Days is laid out peacefully on a rainy plain somewhere. And if The Cold Vein sounds like the grind of inscrutable machinery, Labor Days waits a couple hundred years for those machines to be covered with moss and vines. When it all comes together, on "9-5ers Anthem"-- a track which pairs a sprightly bassline with handbells (handbells!) with Ace in top form, spitting out brilliant parallel metaphors for quotidian employment-- it seems so all-consumingly right: hip-hop bouncing confidently along, actually saying something about something, and saying it well and smartly. Aesop Rock does have a message here, which you'd expect to be a bad thing but isn't, really, insofar as the message is a pretty reasonable one. Ace's message is that life can be hard but that's all the more reason to shut your mouth and work on something that makes you happy. Essentially. Labor Days gets cartoonish only once, on "No Regrets," which is still a decent and sensitive track but which we won't really get into here because on the other hand, it's the inherent pragmatism of Ace's theme that allows for his wonderfully apologetic complaints about 9-5 employment. Not to mention all those glorious eye-rolling disses: "Keep me posted," he says, "as to when you grasp something mature to sit and soak about, Mister, and I'll consider picking up your record. "That last line's from "Save Yourself," which collects Ace's comments on the How We Do Hip-Hop question-- he's undie, of course, here with his sonically progressive Def Jux release, so clearly he's going to drop some invective on this Important Issue. His take, though? Forget it: "Maybe you ought to try saving something other than hip-hop," insightful advice no matter what genre you insert at the end. "Pistons pump perfect," he says, then, "what you're holding ain't really broken." And for the duration of Labor Days, it's pretty clear that in the hands of someone with something to use it for, it's not, not at all.

(source: PitchforkMedia)

"We the American working population hate the fact that eight hours a day is wasted spent chasing a dream of someone that isn't us. And we may not hate our jobs, but we hate jobs in general that don't have to do with fighting our own causes…"

Bat For Lashes "Fur And Gold" (Echo Records, 2006)

Artist: Bat For Lashes
Album: "Fur And Gold"
Release Date: 11 September 2006
Label: Echo Records
Genre: Indie-Electronic, Folktronica, Freak-Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Mood: Gloomy, Bittersweet, Austere, Intimate
Reminds Of: Cat Power, Bjork, Pj Harvey, Kate Bush
What People Think: FilterMagazine, LATimes, SlantMagazine
Definitely Worth Buying: Play, Amazon

Tracklist
1. Horse And I
2. Trophy
3. Tahiti
4. What's A Girl To Do
5. Sad Eyes
6. Wizard
7. Prescilla
8. Bat's Mouth
9. Seal Jubilee
10. Sarah
11. I Saw A Light

Bat For Lashes, the musical alter-ego of one Natasha Khan, has attracted much (inevitable) comparison to Björk and Kate Bush, and to some extent this holds water. There’s the same maverick female singer-songwriter thing going on, and Bat For Lashes has the same love of wrapping raw emotion in surprising sounds and arrangements so that the impact jumps out at you from several different angles at once. However, Fur and Gold is far from an influence-hugging act of mimicry: the sound couldn’t possibly be stolen goods when it’s so exactly sculpted to fit Khan’s voice. Her vocal, whether in soft/atmospheric or bold and striking mode, always fits perfectly into the fabric of the music, adding to and becoming part of the atmosphere rather than superimposing itself over it. Around and between the vocals, seemingly delicate instrumentation is woven together in such a way as to lend it a complex, layered strength. Fur and Gold doesn’t so much use hooks as suggest them: whispering hints of melody, shared out between the violin, harpsichord and oddly mechanical sounding handclaps, provide enough of a tune to let the song worm its way firmly into your mind without ever overwhelming the atmospheric complexity of the whole. And that coherent atmosphere is the root of Fur and Gold’s power. By welding the mysticism, dream imagery and fairytale* quality of the lyrical content to the ethereal yet powerful music, an emotional rawness is balanced by a sense of distance and mystery which persists through repeated listens without feeling tired or spent. Although occasional slips into a more conventional or less complex sound sometimes loosen the album’s grip on the listener, it’s never long before the spell re-establishes itself. An entrancing, wonderfully surprising record which manages to feel both refreshing new and strangely timeless.

(source: DrownedInSound)

“Fur and Gold announces Natasha Khan's Bat For Lashes as a talent impossible to ignore and beguiling to behold, an album that, time and again, plucks one away from the mundane and offers a bewitching alternative galaxy of delights.” [MUSICOHM.COM]

“Bat For Lashes' debut, Fur And Gold, is an album that delivers the listener from any form of humdrum existence into a deeper realm of dream and dementia.” [HOT PRESS]

“Fur and Gold is not the greatest album of the 2007, but it’s certainly the most breathtaking.” [POP MATTERS]

“But we do the dishes, we make the bread, we are powdered ashes in the light of the beauty…”

Curtis Mayfield "There's No Place Like America Today" (Curtom, 1975)

Artist: Curtis Mayfield
Album: "There's No Place Like America Today"
Release Date: 1975
Label: Curtom
Genre: Psychedelic-Soul, Blaxploitation, Rhythm & Blues, Funk
Mood: Soothing, Earnest, Passionate, Warm, Plaintive
Reminds Of: The Impressions, Sam Cooke, Bobby Womack, Aretha Franklin
Definitely Worth Buying: CdUniverse, Amazon

Tracklist
1. Billy Jack
2. When Seasons Change
3. So In Love
4. Jesus
5. Blue Monday People
6. Hard Times
7. Love To The People

The title is intended in an ironic way, as illustrated not only by the cover -- a grim parody of late-'40s/early-'50s advertising imagery depicting white versus black social reality -- but the grim yet utterly catchy and haunting opening number, "Billy Jack." A song about gun violence that was years ahead of its time, it's scored to an incisive horn arrangement by Richard Tufo. "When Seasons Change" is a beautifully wrought account of the miseries of urban life that contains elements of both gospel and contemporary soul. The album's one big song, "So in Love," which made number 67 on the pop charts but was a Top Ten soul hit, is only the prettiest of a string of exquisite tracks on the album, including "Blue Monday People" and "Jesus" and the soaring finale, "Love to the People," broken up by the harder-edged "Hard Times." The album doesn't really have as clearly delineated a body of songs as Mayfield's earlier topical releases, but it's in the same league with his other work of the period and represents him near his prime as a composer.

(source: AllMusicGuide)

“A million music, a million sound/There's neutral thoughts/For the underground…”

Lesbians On Ecstasy "Lesbians On Ecstasy" (Alien8 Recordings, 2004)

Artist: Lesbians On Ecstasy
Album: "Lesbians On Ecstasy"
Release Date: October 24, 2004
Label: Alien8 Recordings
Genre: Queercore, Electroclash, Punk-Revival, Indie-Electronic, Riot-Grrrl
Mood: Irreverent, Fiery, Playful, Rousing
Reminds Of: Le Tigre, Kids On TV, Peaches, Chicks On Speed
What People Think: PopMatters
Definitely Worth Buying: CdUniverse, Amazon

Tracklist
1. Intro
2. Parachute Clubbing
3. Tell Me Does She Love The Bass
4. Pleasure Principal
5. Kunstant Kroving
6. Bitchsy
7. Closer To The Dark
8. Queens On Noise (Bring Da Bunny)
9. Revolt
10. Summer Love
11. Manipulation
12. Superdyke! (Live)

The Lezzies On X are a plunder music project, taking inspiration from the lesbian back catalogue by referencing folk artists and punk bands alike, re-writing lesbian history for the dance floor. They use the source material in a musical collage that crosses a wide spectrum of musical styles, all within the dance genre. One of their obsessions has been to develop their own way of playing dance music live, using an electronic drum kit, bass guitar and an array of synths. The insistence on such a strong technological presence in their music serves to highlight the absence of technology in the majority of lesbian music, which privileges acoustic sound as authentic lesbian expression. Lately, L.O.E. are keeping the same concept, but diving deeper into the lesbian vaults. The new recordings are focused on womyn's music from the 70s, in both content and style. They are using this as an opportunity to explore the idealism and optimism present in early feminist theory and music and examine the ways in which these themes have disintegrated today. The Lesbians on Ecstasy are making electronic music of the lesbian variety. It's K.d. Lang, but it's different somehow... Lesbo folk songs, rebel songs and beats for the modern lesbian. Straights and dudes love it too.

It sounds like the sort of high concept joke that's funny once -- maybe. Lesbians on Ecstasy, as their name suggests, take feminist rock classics from the past and retool them for the modern-day dance floor. But their album doesn't just take the Olivia Records catalog in toto and put a house beat behind it; Lesbians on Ecstasy is more clever and subversive than that. Rather than actually covering these songs, the quartet takes elements from them and twists them in sly, suggestive new directions: K.d. Lang's torchy classic "Constant Craving" turns into the ironic Laibach-style industrial stomp of "Kundstant Kroving," for example, and the Parachute Club's cheerleading "Rise Up" becomes the suggestively throbbing "Parachute Clubbing." The best of the lot is the creepy-sexy S/M take on Rough Trade's sexual politics primer "High School Confidential." Provocative on a level somewhere between, say, Le Tigre and Peaches, Lesbians on Ecstasy have created a noisy, gleefully sloppy brand of dance-punk with brains and humour.

(Source: AllMusicGuide)

In 2005, The Advocate magazine chose Lesbians On Ecstasy as their 'Number One Album Of The Year'.

Booty shaking dance hits that maintain a politically infused edge...

Mercury Rev "Boces" (Columbia, 1993)

Artist: Mercury Rev
Album: "Boces"
Release Date: June 1, 1993
Label: Columbia
Genre: Noise-Pop, Dream-Pop, Neo-Psychedelia, Indie-Rock
Mood: Spacey, Trippy, Rousing, Dramatic
Reminds Of: Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Sparklehorse
What People Think: AllMusicGuide, IndiecateRecords
Definitely Worth Buying: CdUniverse, Amazon

Tracklist
1. Meth Of A Rockette's Kick
2. Trickle Down
3. Bronx Cheer
4. Boys Peel Out
5. Downs Are Feminine Balloons
6. Something For Joey
7. Snorry Mouth
8. Hi-Speed Boats
9. Continuous Drunks & Blunders
10. Girlfren

Mercury Rev are strange. Out of all the messy, out of control, and chaotic noise-rock albums to come out during the 90's Boces is pretty much the craziest. Not just because it’s overly filled with feedback and distortion, but because the band will go from playing light hearted dream pop to boisterous noise-fests. The mellow guitar lines and dreamy vocal melodies will lull you in and then the band will go crazy thrashing away at their instruments blasting hard hitting guitar riffs and thumping bass lines. Just take the first track Meth of a Rockette’s Kick for example. The group lulls you in with David Bakers hypnotic voice and the female la la la la backing vocals. The first part of the song resembles a demented Sesame Street theme song as it hypnotizes you with it’s whimsical beauty. However towards the end of the track Mercury Rev take you by surprise as they pump up the volume and ruthlessly pound out noisy guitar distortion. Blending dream-pop, psychadelica and shoegaze influences Mercury Rev create the ultimate stoner anthem with Meth of a Rockette’s Kick...and that’s only the first ten minutes of the album.Fortunately the opening track is not the only redeeming quality of Boces. The band continues to attack their instruments on tracks like Bronx Cheer and Snorry Mouth where Donahues raging guitar verses dominate the vocals and bass. You just can’t beat production like this, the double dueling guitars take over the music as the vocals are buried deep in the mix. Boces is both dreamy and out of control at the same time and that’s what gives it such a unique and interesting sound.But Mercury Rev can do more then turn up the volume on their guitar amplifiers. Boys Peel Out incorporates an xylophone into the music as it’s compelled by Bakers childish voice and whimsical lyrical imagery. While the tune is drastically different from anything else off of the album it does not sound out of place due Bakers trance inducing voice. The single, Something For Joey resembles a rusty Pavement song as its scratchy guitar riffs and dreamy, summertime atmosphere takes control of you. Mercury Rev even throw in a wiry flute solo during the instrumental chorus creating another strange yet satisfying effect. Possibly the eeriest song that the band has ever composed Girlfren takes away all the chaos and distortion that the album features and focuses on something entirely different. It showcases Baker mumbling indecipherable words over simple piano chords. Out of the ten tracks on Boces most of them have at least a few minutes of noise filled pop but Mercury Rev change things up occasionally and experiment with their already unique sound.If you combine the Flaming Lips, My Bloody Valentine, and the Melvins you have Mercury Rev in a nutshell. Boces is certainly not the most accessible album out there but it sure is one hell of a trip. The intricate blend of psychadelica, metal, shoegazer, and dream-pop creates such a trippy and chaotic atmosphere that it’s hard not to like. If you want something strange and experimental or if you just want to rock out then you cannot go wrong with Boces, the ultimate noise album.

(source: Sputnikmusic.com)

"Your fume, baby soon baby, kaboom kaboom kaboom...Tonight I'll dig tunnels to your nightmare room..."

Jim O' Rourke "Insignificance" (Drag City, 2001)

Artist: Jim O' Rourke
Album: "Insignificance"
Release Date: November 20, 2001
Label: Drag City
Genre: Indie-Rock, Post-Rock, Chamber-Pop
Mood: Refined, Gentle, Springlike, Laid-Back
Reminds Of: Gastr Del Sol, Smog, Mice Parade
What People Think: PitchforkMedia, SplendidMagazine
Definitely Worth Buying: InSound, Amazon

Tracklist
1. All Downhill From Here
2. Insignificance
3. Therefore, I Am
4. Memory Lame
5. Good Times
6. Get A Room
7. Life Goes Off

All pretensions of modesty -- and allusions to Nicholas Roeg films -- aside, Insignificance, Jim O'Rourke's third solo album for Drag City, reaffirms that he is not only a fine composer, arranger, and producer, but a gifted, creative songwriter as well. As with Eureka and the Halfway to a Threeway EP, O'Rourke continues to find as many possibilities in singing and songwriting as he does experimenting with pure sound. However, this time O'Rourke adds a few twists to the formula he pioneered on those two efforts. He sings on each of Insignificance's tracks, his frail voice providing a sharp contrast to the lush arrangements and sardonic lyrics of songs like the wryly titled opener, "All Downhill From Here," where he observes, "If I seem to you just a little bit remote/You'd feel better if you call me a misanthrope/Or whatever floats your boat/But as for me, I'd rather sink my own." On songs like "Get a Room" and the finale, "Life Goes Off," which, like "Halfway to a Threeway," are twisted yet poignant odes to the strange things we will do for intimacy, Insignificance recalls the sweet sonics and sour sentiments of O'Rourke's work with Smog. Beautifully arranged pop epics like the title track are clearly descended from Eureka's breezy brilliance, but the surprisingly insistent, crunchy rock guitars on the excellent "Therefore I Am" and "Memory Lame" add an extra bite and urgency that O'Rourke's pop-oriented work has lacked previously. Though each of the album's tracks is meticulously crafted, none of them feel overworked. That's probably because Insignificance was recorded in just under a month; it has the warm, immediate feel of an album that only took as long as necessary to make. Fans of O'Rourke's more avant-garde material may dismiss the album as too mainstream, but its endlessly listenable songs are just as significant as any of his more experimental work.

(source: AllMusicGuide)

So sharply tuned to the dark inner-workings of the human psyche; applause is due...

"Paris, Texas" [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Warner Bros, 1984)

Artist: Ry Cooder
Album: "Paris, Texas" [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
Release Date: November 9, 1984
Label: Warner Bros
Genre: Soundtrack, Instrumental, Slide-Guitar Blues
Mood: Eerie, Nocturnal, Enigmatic, Melancholy
Reminds Of: Robert Johnson, Albert Collins, Van Morrison
What People Think: RollingStone
Definitely Worth Buying: Amazon, CdUniverse

Tracklist
1. Paris, Texas
2. Brothers
3. Nothing Out There
4. A Cancion Mixteca
5. No Safety Zone
6. Houston In Two Seconds
7. She's Leaving The Bank
8. On The Couch
9. I Knew These People
10. Dark Was The Night

Suggestive of both the imagery of Win Wenders' movie Paris, Texas and the desert itself, Ry Cooder's score is a peaceful, poetic journey into the soul of an acoustic guitar. "Paris, Texas," "Brothers," and "Nothing Out There" open the album as meditative blends of guitar twang and scratching ambient effects. The songs move at a pretty, slow place, and the opening track sees Cooder plucking his guitar's strings and letting that sound vibrate into thin air; it's a motif that he returns to repeatedly throughout the score. There's a bit of both humor and mystery to the stillness and the echoing, edgy sound effects that crop up. "Cancion Mixteca" includes a memorable turn on vocals by Harry Dean Stanton, singing in Spanish. "No Safety Zone" is almost completely ambient in its ethics, with fleeting experimental guitar playing, as the song works more as a mood-setter than a traditional song. "I Knew These People" begins with an extended segment of dialogue from the film before Cooder's somber guitar creeps in. The effect of the dialogue makes the track a fine, artistic statement, but the moment works better in the context of the movie than as a track on an album. The dialogue comes from a scene where the characters played by Stanton and Nastassja Kinski have a particularly emotional meeting. The majority of the score is delicate and stunningly pretty. The overall sense is that Cooder was reaching for spare, emotional movements. The score is stark, quiet, and as uplifting as it is sad. Cooder makes the music sound as modern and stylish as acoustic music can sound. The album is at once alien and organic. Since "I Knew These People" includes dialogue from Paris, Texas, the score works best for people who have seen the movie, but it's still a powerful and immensely evocative journey for those whose experience with the material is the album alone.

(source: AllMusicGuide)

I'll give it a try, sounds interesting...

"Paris, Texas" on IMDB...
Watch "Paris, Texas" movie trailer...