Townes Van Zandt - Live at the Old Quarter, Houston

Townes Van Zandt. Where do I start with this guy? As far as the traditional singer-songwriters go, there is no other American songwriter on his level. He's my Bob Dylan. Poet and troubadour extraordinaire, he was ravaged by alcoholism and manic depression that lent his songs a very rare quality - you feel like this is a guy who has lived each and every song he has written. He passed away due to heart failure on new year's day, 1997.  This is his famous live album from 1977, which has the benefit of having a more intimate sound with just Townes and his guitar (as opposed to his albums, which are all great but have the effect of extensive overdub work which drowns out Townes' from time to time).

A top tier sampler of Townes' work:

now i'm out of prison
i got me a friend at last
and he don't cheat or steal or drink or lie 
his name's codeine
and he's the nicest thing i've seen 
together we're gonna wait 'round and die

waitin' around to die

A.R. Rahman - Dil Se

One of the 'greatest' producers of our time, single-handedly responsible for reviving bollywood and putting their music on the world map. Though he was recognised for the lameness that was 'Slumdog Millionaire', this, imo, is his best work by a longshot, a soundtrack to a mostly forgotten movie that is more or less an utter classic. This combines many forms of popular music tradition in India (north Indian folk music, south indian pop) and merges it with disparate foreign influences to create something really colourful, melodramatic (in a good way) and just lots of fun. Every track is a stunner. Hope you dig it.

satrangi re

Dj Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues

Terre Thaemlitz (Dj Sprinkles) is a very well known figure in house and ambient circles, as well as being a producer, record label owner and a public speaker. He is especially known for his work that combines social critique and tackles the themes of gender politics, sexuality, class linguistics, race within the dynamic of his work. His album 'Midtown 120 Blues' stands as a firm and perfect statement to his art and his aesthetic.

"House isn't so much a sound as a situation.

There must be a hundred records with voice-overs asking, "What is house?" The answer is always some greeting card bullshit about "life, love, happiiness...." The House Nation likes to pretend clubs are an oasis from suffering, but suffering is in here with us.

Let's keep sight of the things you're trying to momentarily escape from. After all, it's that larger context that created the house movement and brought you here. House is not universal. House is hyper-specific: East Jersey, Loisaida, West Village, Brooklyn - places that conjure specific beats and sounds. As for the sounds of New York dance floors themselves, today's house classics might have gotten worked into a set once in a while, but the majority of music at every club was major label vocal shit. I don't care what anybody tells you. Besides, New York Deep House may have started out as minimal, mid-tempo instrumentals, but when distributors began demanding easy selling vocal tracks, even the label "Strictly Rhythm" betrayed the promise of it's own name by churning out strictly vocal after strictly vocal. Most Europeans still think "Deep House" means shitty, high energy vocal house.

So what was the New York house sound? House wasn't so much a sound as a situation. The majority of DJ's - DJ's like myself - were nobody's in nowhere clubs: unheard and unpaid. In the words of Sylvester: reality was less "everybody is a star," and more "I who have nothing."

Twenty years later, major distribution gives us Classic House, the same way soundtracks in Vietnam war films gave us Classic Rock. The contexts from which the Deep House sound emerged are forgotten: sexual and gender crises, transgendered sex work, black market hormones, drug and alcohol addiction, loneliness, racism, HIV, ACT-UP, Thompkins Sq. Park, police brutality, queer-bashing, underpayment, unemployment and censorship - all at 120 beats per minute."

--x--

" In 1986, at age 18, I left Missouri by train, pulling into Midtown Manhattan's Grand Central Station some 72 hours later. Until that point life had, quite frankly, been miserable, each and every day facing verbal and physical harassment as a queer-fag-pussy-AIDS bait. The climate in New York wasn't really so different. But from within my isolation I saw others isolated like myself. One of the places we met, in our self-containment, was on the dance floor. The nastiest and seediest clubs were located in Midtown. That's mostly where I DJ'ed, at tragic places like Sally's II and Club 59. In the early 1990's, Disney bought 42nd Street, closing the places around which transgendered life revolved for many of us. That "community of isolation" was scattered to other cities, other states, other countries. Isolated, still...."

--x--

This is the sound of house music staring at its own reflection in the water, breathing a heavy sigh, and taking the final plunge in, memories rushing while the body drowns. These are the Midtown 120 Blues.

sisters, i don't know what this world is coming to

This Heat - Made Available (Peel Sessions)

My This Heat obsession continues, I am convinced that they are, indeed, the greatest band of all time. These are the sessions they did for John Peel. Get lost in this world, for there is nothing as singular in nearly all of music as these guys. Plus, 'Not Waving' and 'Fall of Saigon' are just utterly compelling, timeless tunes that will  live on in the unchartered depths of your psyche.


Yes I will go out there
Out there where I know you cannot find me
I held on to the steel rail – too long now
I know I must let go
Here I am in the ocean
Not waving but drowning
Just a nervous reaction
Please don't rescue me

So cold I can't feel my toes
Oh let them go, who needs them?
Circulation stand-still
H2O can freeze you to the marrow
Learn to love the water
It will love you like there's no tomorrow

there is no tomorrow.

Swirlies - They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons

Swirlies were a noise pop band formed in Boston, MA, in 1990. Their 1995 album 'They Spend Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of Salons' is just one of the best albums of all time; definitely one of the most colourful, exuberant pop records ever conceived. It's a shame that they never received the kind of recognition that MBV, Slowdive, Ride etc did, least of which because they were fairly unique by noise pop standards in any case.

Thoughtful, brilliantly written pop music is definitely for the keepers. This Swirlies LP is downright magnificent. This bears all the hallmarks of every great noise pop record, layer upon layer of intertwining material, blissed out musical landscapes to wander and reminisce in, lyrics that cut into the heart of you, obscure samples and synthesizers that add to the whole swoon of the whole affair. Sometimes, the songs seem to mutate often halfway through themselves, becoming relentless drum/guitar riff rhythm assaults, and then come back to their melodic roots like it was no big deal. And then, there are some jaw droppingly good  songs on here that would be the highlight of anyone's careers - "Sounds of Sebring", "San Cristobal de las Casas", "Two Girls Kissing" and "Sunn", the latter of which is one of my favourite tunes of all time. For some reason, this album has been overlooked by tons of people. Swirlies were one of East Coast's best kept secrets, and everyone with a love for good noise pop and a twinkle in their eye, look into this. You will not be disappointed.

i see the sunn
wrapped around the strands of your red hair
i burn inside from my fear of telling you that i care
i wake up from the phone, its you
calling me to tell me of your dream
i believe your ways are true
unlike most others do

a latent calm that's half confused

Clint Mansell/Mogwai - The Fountain OST

Clint Mansell needs no introduction really. He's one of the most successful contemporary soundtrackers to all your favourite films (Aronofsky or otherwise). And Scottish post rock act Mogwai need no introduction either; while I'm not a fan of their LPs very much, I'm willing to forgive anything for their work here. This is my favourite work of Mansell's, the massively underrated soundtrack to The Fountain, which just might be my favourite Aronofsky movie too. (I'm a hopeless romantic, can't you tell). Actually, barring Koyaanisqatsi, I'm ready to call this my favourite soundtrack of all time. Blah blah hyperbole, i know.

It snowed heavily a couple of nights ago. I was out at a friend's place a bit out of town, halfway between civilisation and isolation in terms of population density. I was in good company, old friends and wine and warm fireplaces and rusty, slightly detuned guitars with familiar songs carrying us amidst drunken revelry. It was lovely, but I felt an urge to get out for a bit considering it was January and it was not that cold despite the snow, and lord knows how cold it usually gets in January here in Canada.

I had this burnt as a CD for my friend because she was getting into OST's in general and I had to burn her a copy or two of my favourite stuff. (I'm that guy in the group, still burning CDs, still ripping files) She hadn't listened to it yet and I asked her to come along for a walk because well, it's nice being alone but better being alone with company. I inadvertently slipped this into her discman and off we went, into frozen winter lakes and trees that have slipped into silent slumber. We talked, about our lives, loves, ups and downs, about nothing and everything, and eventually settled to rest against the bark of a gigantic oak overlooking her cottage. We shared earphones and rested, and smoked half a pack of Belmonts. It was a clear, clear night, amazing how much of a difference in perspective the skyscape presents when away from the perennial urban haze.

We eventually passed out there, in silence. I woke up to a warm hug from her, suggesting that we should head back because we'd been out for a good 3-4 hours. I realised that at this very moment, my heart was full but my mouth was empty. That, at the very best of moments, I had nothing to say, except apologise. (I say sorry a lot, a personal defect, if you must). It's an eerie kind of inner peace, one that I am still reluctant to accept. We walked back and we caught each other glancing back at the old oak, like it had heard all of our unfocused discussions, our laughter and our pseudo-romantic aspirations. It was like leaving something behind, but not in a way that was sad or threatening, or even disquietening. It was, simply, humbling.

Now, whenever I listen to 'Together we will live forever', I know there's a place where I can recede to where nothing can taint me. It's the light that never goes out, as Moz sung, it's the essence of the beating heart, it's the only place where you can 'draw a drop of blood from a sugarcube'. This is me, fucking batman, broken, happy, sad, completely detached and completely innocent. And there is nothing more that I can say that would justify the beauty within this album other than the fact that I sometimes find myself there when I'm listening to it.

together, we will live forever

Au Pairs - Playing with a Different Sex

Birmingham post punk band that was formed in 1979. Somehow they were mostly overlooked during their heyday. Playing With a Different Sex is definitely in my list of top 10 post punk albums, ever.

Feminist, leftist, funk-punk dance party with a strong dash of gender roles and sexual politics. Some of these songs are timeless, that jangly, jagged guitar is perfect and man, these are some of the grooviest basslines of all time. Sometimes, you just wanna dance, y'know?

equal, but different

Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas

There is a time in your life when you want to recede, want to hide from the world, but still wish to view and vicariously participate with all the colour and exuberance of the night, the wonder of the unknown and the joy of the formidable. This kind of thing is what I like to call a romantic's paradox. I probably suffer from this more often than not. In any case, Heaven or Las Vegas works as a soundtrack to my mindscapes and provides me with the company of someone magical. What is certain is that there's a very fine line between the glitz, glamour and brightness of Las Vegas and the ethereal beauty of what you perceive as heaven. And somehow this album captures that moment so well. Are these the comforts of madness people speak of? Sure, whatever floats your boat.

i wear your ring

Pram - Museum of Imaginary Animals

You guys have read Alice in Wonderland right? When I was a kid, I used to wonder what a real-life wonderland would be like. Mysterious, winding paths to new uncharted terrain, my imagination creating the scenery around me. A sense of childlike wonder, the innocence of bravery and brevity, spending time in a world that feels like it is underwater, slow, deep, blue and caressing you at every passing moment. Keyboards that play off each other in arabesque and jazzy overtones, melodica, harmonica and theremins notwithstanding. Rosie Cuckston's voice is your guardian angel, just fucking listen to her. Your head fills with colours, your dreams are more tangible than the surface you're sitting on. Put simply, this is just one of the finest albums ever, and almost no one seems to be aware of Pram's existence.

For what it's worth, I've stopped following the rabbit with the clock a long, long time ago. Here, I'm home.

play of the waves

Talking Heads - Remain in Light

They need no introduction, neither does this album I suppose. Unique, extremely idiosyncratic new wave/art funk gods, Talking Heads formed in NYC in 1975, released at least 4 albums that are stone cold classics and for me, stand as amongst the top 5 or 6 bands America has ever produced.

A band at the peak of their powers. Unparalleled songwriting, Brian Eno on production duties. I don't normally generalise but it's probably safe to say that white people never got funkier than this. One of the best albums ever.

all i want, is to breathe

The Congos - Heart of the Congos

Seminal reggae vocal group The Congos have been around since the early 70's. They are best known for their masterwork 'Heart of the Congos', which was produced by none other than the legendary Lee 'Scratch' Perry.

Completely indispensable and genre defining work here, Lee Scratch Perry's production and use of space adds layer upon layer of intertwining material. Also, these are some of the best reggae tunes ever, these vocal harmonies were forged in the heavens I'm sure. The falsetto and tenor are in perfect harmony, the 'backup' singers constitute names such as The Heptones, Gregory Isaacs and the Meditations to name a few. Hymns for the uninitiated, songs of longing and praise for the wary, and uplifting beyond measure for anyone with functioning ears.

row, fisherman row

Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers

Big Star, not much to be said about Alex Chilton's Big Star. One of the most influential bands of all time, Big Star served as the prime vehicle for Alex Chilton's music, combining british invasion and american sensibilities and adding a dark, nihilistic sense of despondency to create a very singular brand of pop music, one that predicted oncoming alternative culture by at least a decade or so. Whether it was big, shiny choruses or dirge like balladry, Alex Chilton was a master of it all. This is my favourite album of theirs, Third/Sister Lovers.

A band on the brink of disintegration after commercial failure. A genius and troubled songwriter bares his soul for the world to see. This is the sound of fragility, as honestly as was humanly possible from a pop record in 1974, though it wasn't released for another 4 years due to internal issues. Watch in wonder as the world cracks and falls apart at your feet.

this sounds a bit like goodbye
in a way it is, i guess
as i leave your side
i've taken the air, 
take care, please
take care


you're a wasted face, you're a sad-eyed lie

Chico Buarque - Construção

Chico Buarque is a legend amongst men. He was born in 1944 in Brazil and was a leading figure in the MPB (musica popular brasileira, or brazilian popular music) movement and wrote a lot of stuff in opposition to the authoritarian regime that was present in Brazil at the time - he was jailed and subsequently exiled from Brazil in 1970, only returning after this album was made. His music features many influences, from western popular music to samba, choro, bossa nova, beat poetry and singer songwriter flourishes. He also worked as a playwright, a screenwriter, a novelist and a poet amongst other things. 

Let me take some time off and write to you guys, the grand total of 10 or 11 people that read this blog. It usually isn't easy writing objective reviews for records you like. What the heck does that even mean anyway? When you listen to something, it affects you subjectively. Trying to objectify said feeling as a stimulus/response situation calls upon describing things from an almost outsider point of view, and then I usually sound jumbled and incoherent, and at worst, scramble for the nearest thesaurus so I'm not repeating the same 4 adjectives in my arsenal over and over again.

So what does a good piece of art in the form of an album mean to me? I don't know. I can't quantify it. It captures certain moments in time and crystallises them as memories and feverish daydreams in my head. There are so many moments in music where for a couple of seconds or so, time just fucking stops. Music at this point transcends the limitations of its definition and goes on to more wonderful things. Let's call it magic.

Kind of an odd example that an album should be both immediately accessible yet at the same time distant, and a huge grower. I attribute most of the distance in this record to my incredibly poor understanding of Portuguese. What is he singing about? I'm not sure I can tell after a couple of listens. Does it matter? I'll get to explaining this in a bit. *

The album is hard because it offers us no hooks, no discernible standout choruses, no instrument that is so ahead of everything else in the mix that it can be separated and dissected. It only offers you a glimpse, which for an idealist like me, is drinking from the chalice of life itself. A world where everything coalesces, where unison of sound is more important than the distinction of it, and a moment where beauty steers your helm to wherever you wish to drive it. And it is an eerie, almost spectral kind of beauty hanging over the bookends of the songs like the best of your memories. They evoke the summery lit of bossa nova, the mellowness and lightheaded feeling of tropicalia, the giddiness of samba, the poetry of a man who has everything to lose and everything to live for, the feeling of a breeze, warm summer air, wine, food, literature, dancing all night. There is something inherently cool with Construcao, how it is arranged, how it's performed. These sounds, they're bustling with excitement and grandeur and yet diffusing within themselves, like a quiet withdrawal and an invoked memory that takes you away for a couple of moments. Frienship, solitude, panic, euphoria, love, despair. These are things we deal with daily, these are things that make us human. This is what Construcao attempts to signify, in my opinion. The human condition, the beauty of it.

So I suppose the grand sensation I am trying to elicit is pleasure. Good music gives us pleasure. Well, Construcao transcends that by just a little bit, it also gives you a peace of mind, when it finally settles in. And whilst the search for pleasure is endless and knows no bounds, I take great comfort in knowing that in my endless search for music that sounds good to my ears, I can always come home. It would not be a stretch to call this the greatest album of the 70's.

*I am not usually a lyrics person, in the sense that where good lyrics usually elevate a song and make it more relevant or visceral (and that's always a good thing); a song with bad lyrics don't necessarily detract from its quality, where I'm concerned. (After all, a lot of good music has really bad lyrics, but whatever, right?). But if you stumble upon this post and happen to be enjoying this album, I implore you to seek out the lyrics and their translations on google. To call Chico a poet is an understatement, the way he plays with words, the way he enunciates, just brilliance on every level imaginable.

deus lhe pague

New Order - Substance

New Order formed in 1980 after Ian Curtis' suicide which effectively ended Joy Division. Over the years, they would solidify themselves as one of the most successful and influential bands of all time, marrying their post punk beginnings with the upcoming synthpop and alternative dance cultures. This is their singles collection titled Substance; probably the best singles collection I have in my near exhaustive library.

Life affirming euphoric pop music. Just timeless by all means, has about 5 of the best songs of the 80's here.

it's never enough until your HEART STOPS BEATING

Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You

Unwound were an alternative act active from 1991-2002. They were more or less a unique singularity amongst their peers, utitlising angular guitar lines, complex drumming patterns and shifted toward more atmospheric production aesthetics for their masterpiece and swansong (one of the best swansongs of all time).

At this point, I have to mention that I was introduced to this album by a good friend called spiritof77, on RYM. His real name was Mike and he was a writer and a poet with very little parallel, even amongst professionals. He passed away earlier this week. This is his entry on 'Leaves Turn Inside You'.

the smell of ash-spewing 18-wheelers passing you in late fall when the branches sound like glass as you cross over them and your neighbourhood is so cold that you can hear the sewage beneath your feet slow to a crawl with the approach of december. dead animals keep from rotting like sarcophagi of hair and teeth littered around the city in a first wave of eternal greying. sickness creeps. sickness is that halo of cigarette smoke that always seems to appear from nameless mouths in red that never quite speak in your direction. you go home and drink because it's all you can do to keep your blood from idling and turning your whole body to stone. words and impermanent shit you say to people in an ambiguous tone to keep from really letting the heart out of your cage and wishing you weren't such a coward later. wheat and tulips slipping into decay because fewer things are more final than another year of your life. it's touching hands in an endless crowd and wondering when the last time it wasn't one more stranger. it's realizing that the greatest affliction isn't cancer or AIDS but rather loneliness. it's when a ghost disturbs the veins of a tree and the leaves turn inside you.      


Terminus

Lush - Split

Lush were a britpop/dream pop act that was active from 1988 to 1998. My favourite Lush era was their shoegazer era, their early EPs and their 1994 full length, Split.

Sweet, sweet, wistful dreampop full on yearning, longing and daydreaming. Berenyi/Anderson's vocal harmonies + beautiful melodies. Essential listening.

let me try to pull you free

Wipers - Youth of America

Wipers were undoubtedly one of the most influential bands for the American alt rock scene. Led by Greg Sage, they crafted what was essentially a mixture of hardcore punk's demolishing ferocity with prog rock's vernacular and a penchant for longer tunes. This is exemplified on 1981's 'Youth of America', which is just about one of the best albums ever.

Like injecting a raging bull with a barrel of coke. And then sitting on it. No other record would match this level of creativty and ferocity until Refused would release The Shape of Punk To Come, imo.

living in the jungle

Boris - Pink

One of the best rock bands out there at the moment. Japanese act Boris have been around since 1992 and have explored nearly every facet of the noise rock and sludge aspect of the genre. This is one of my favourite album entries into the noise canon, and in fact you'd be hard pressed to find much music in the 00's that rocks as hard as this.

Pink light, from the mouth of infinity. Let your senses be destroyed. Also, title track lasts 4 minutes and 20 seconds. You know what I'm getting at.

afterburner

The Verve - The Verve EP + Voyager 1 EP

The Verve, fairly well known act. What's not that well known is that before they broke the mainstream with Bittersweet symphony et al they were a purely shoegazer, space rock act in their formative years. They literally made some of the best guitar music of all time with their debut EP and this live document, titled Voyager 1, is an amazing document of this fact. Props go to Nick Mccabe, one of the most underappreciated guitarists ever. So yeah, here you have it, one of my favourite EPs plus its live counterpart. They would never be this good again. 

feel

she's a superstar

Electrelane - The Power Out

Electrelane were an all girl quartet from the UK, Brighton specifically. They formed in 1998 and disbanded in 2007, but have reunited recently. I'm hoping for a a couple of records from their side soon. Here's my favourite of theirs, 2004's The Power Out.

Power pop? Post punk? Experimental Pop? Jazz? Choral Music? Nietzsche? Singing in 4 languages? Perfect krautpop that would make Stereolab jealous? Ladies and gentlemen, this is quite possibly the greatest album put out by an all girl band, ever. I'm actually surprised Arcade Fire was the big deal in 2004, because hey, as good as Funeral was, as far as pop music went in 2004; very, very few people were worthy of comparison to Electrelane.

you make me weak at the knees