Rating System Best Albums Since 1965 Best Artists of 00s Best Artists of 90s Best of 20th Century Best Reggae Albums Best Kosmische Albums Other Lists 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1949-1964

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Rants Archive

Fast 'n' Bulbous' Ten Year Anniversary (Oct. 30, 2005)
Bands I ignored while they supposedly peaked in 89-92 (Sep. 29)
Dr. Fester's Retreats for Aeshetes (Burned Out Critics) (Sep. 20)
Reissues (Sep 19)
Anglophilic Summer (U.K. Postpunk) (Sep. 1)
We Jam Econo: The Story Of The Minutemen (Aug. 28)
Simon Reynolds, Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978-1984 (Faber and Faber, 2005) (Aug. 25)
What Were Your Most Anticipated Albums? (Aug. 7)
I'm In Love With Betty Davis (Feb. 1)
Bloc Party (Jan. 26)
Lee "Scratch" Perry: Now Well-Loaded (Jan. 12)
"I don't believe in Top Tens" (Jan. 7)
2004 Reissues (Dec. 30)
More year-end lists (Dec. 27)
TV On The Radio Win Shortlist Music Prize (Nov. 22)
The year-end lists have begun (Nov. 18)
Pixies Then and Now (Nov. 17)
"U2? Joy Division? Bunnymen? Interpol? They pale in this band's shadow." (Nov. 16)
Most underrated/underknown artists 1995-present (Nov. 9)
Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-84 To Be Released April 2005 (Nov. 7)
Robert Quine & Ray Charles, RIP (Jun. 10)
The Search For Lost Classics (Jun. 6)
PBS Documentary, "The Way The Music Died" (May 29)
Phish Covered Remain In Light In Its Entirety (May 27)
Scientology Infiltrates Rock (May 21)
Newsweek Article on Indie Rock (May 17)
Coxsone Dodd RIP (May 7)
FB-TIP, Dr. Fester's Bad Taste Intervention Program (Apr 24)
Johnny Cash RIP (Sep. 12, 2003)
Year-End Lists for Spin, NME, Uncut and MOJO (Dec. 23)
"Music Artists Not Made For This Economy" (Sep. 8)
Let It Blurt: The Life & Times Of Lester Bangs: America's Greatest Rock Critic by Jim DeRogatis (Apr. 9)
Live Shows Recap (Apr. 8)
We Got The Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story Of L.A. Punk by Marc Spitz and Brendan Mullen (Feb. 6)
"Have Our Tastes Become Narrow?" (Feb. 2)
"Lost 80's Bands" (Jan. 20)
"Black Jack Johnson Project Fails To Save Black Rock" (Jan. 10)
"The Wire Top 50" (Jan. 6)
"What Is Wimp Pop?" (Dec. 28)
"New Americana" (Dec. 28)
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981-1991, by Michael Azzerad (Dec. 28)
"Year-End Lists: Are Critics' Top 10s Useless?" (Dec. 28)
"Year-End Lists for Spin, Magnet, NME, Uncut and MOJO" Dec. 20
"Favorite Movies of 2001" (Dec. 20)
"The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Inductees for 2002 (What about Blowfly?)" (Dec. 15)
"Punk Saved Us from Sappy California Singer-Songwriters" (Dec. 15)
"Rating System" (Dec. 4)
"Discovering Oldies" (Dec. 2)
"More Post-Punk" (Nov. 16)
"Music Fiends Vs. Collector/Hoarders and the Future of Music Formats" (Nov. 15)
"Criticism is Irrelevant Because Everything is Subjective" (Nov. 14)
"Necessary Qualities for Reviewing Music: Knowledge and Passion" (Nov. 12)
"The Spirit of '79" (Nov. 12)
"The Strokes Backlash" (Nov. 8)
"In Defense of MP3s and CDRs" (Nov. 4)

October 30, 2005
Fast 'n' Bulbous' Ten Year Anniversary

Memory is a weird thing. Without anchors, it tends to drift away. Life-changing events that happen in high school and college stay more vividly in my memory than the years immediately after. For me, photographs, old emails, mix tapes and radio show tapes are good anchors. But the early '90s were kind of a black hole. I didn't have an email account or a radio show, but I did have writer's block, a boring job and a boring relationship. Oh yes, there were the lists. Since I was a kid, I kept lists of movies I watched and books I read, but only sporadically. Music, however, was different. Every year I somehow managed to hear more albums than the year before, and I couldn't stop adding to the list if I tried. It had it's own energy, compelling me to update it at least once a week, to shift the order of albums to keep them ranked in a rough order of preference. At least I'd always remember what I was listening to.

1995 was more memorable. After two years in a new city (I moved with a girlfriend from Minneapolis to Chicago in '92), I finally had a large-ish group of new friends I met after moving out into my own place the previous year. I started a new relationship and ended the boring job. Happily unemployed, I used my new free time to finally check out this World Wide Web I'd been hearing about. I got hooked up with a neighborhood ISP and entered a new world. Looking at the early, primitive sites, I got excited. I immediately knew just what I wanted to do -- make an online fanzine. I had barely flirted with "Xerox culture," making comics in grade school and writing music reviews in high school. But it was still expensive to photocopy, so I never had my own 'zine. In college I wrote for and edited the newspaper and contributed to various journals, and submitted a few reviews to indie publications such as Your Flesh, but I never had anything of my own. Now I could.It was certainly a more appealing alternative than writing for established magazines where incompetent editors might mangle my words, or clueless editors force me to write about things I could care less about. It would have a simple, rough cut-and-paste punk aesthetic. It would pay homage to Captain Beefheart and Dr. Fester, the muse/patron behind my old radio show, Uncle Fester's Bucket O' Nasties. And of course it would have lists. Up the wazoo.

With renewed energy, I bought a book on html, and within a week I created a site based on my lists and a new feature called "Funkadelic: The Afro-Alien Diaspora". I also tossed up "A History Of Punk" that I wrote in college for good measure. And voila, Fast 'n' Bulbous debuted just before Halloween, October 1995. There wasn't a ton of music-related content back then, so my humble site got a good amount of attention. I received emails from around the world, making me feel connected to a music community for the first time since college when I hosted an email newsgroup called "Underground." Soon, LiP Magazine would publish my Funkadelic tribute in print, and I would be meeting some of my new Web friends on my first trip to Europe.

Tricky, Maxinquaye (Island) 1995 It's easy to see why Tricky so despised the reductionist "Trip Hop" label. While it may have sufficiently defined the idea-deficient ambient wallpaper of misguided late-90s Tricky plagiarists, the shapeshifting Maxinquaye is an entirely different beast. During Tricky's tenure in Massive Attack, he helped pioneer a new fusion of hip-hop, soul and dub reggae. Yet it did little to prepare for the shocking sense of new in Maxinquaye. It's a complex dialogue between technological sensuality and human sexuality, one in which it's ambiguous which side possesses more soul. On one hand, the music starts out at ground zero in the politically cynical, burned/spliffed-out, stripped-down electro-funk of Sly Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On, layers in the astral dub of Augustus Pablo, and slows down Public Enemy's Bomb Squad into a stop-motion sci-fi animation and techno voodoo. It's difficult to immediately peg the meaning of Tricky and Martina's mumbo jumbo lyrics, and like Ishmael Reed, the improvised language forces the audience to reckon with the meaning on Tricky's terms. In "Aftermath," he samples both a replicant in Blade Runner and Japan's "Ghosts" for a pinnacle future-shockingly sexy moment. Here the human element, the sexuality, is blurry and ambiguous -- more My Bloody Valentine than Prince, more Kate Bush than hip-hop. "Hell Is Round The Corner" offers glimpses of Tricky's m.o. -- his narrative voice ebbing and flowing in time, space and multiple identities -- "Confused by different memories/Details of Asian remedies/Conversations, of what's become of enemies/My brain thinks bomb-like/So I listen he's a calm type/And as I grow, I grow collective" "Pumpkin" transcends any contextual meaning and simply floats ethereal more effectively than anything by the Cocteau Twins. Hallucinatory ("Abbaon Fat Tracks"), woozy ("Feed Me") and nearly exuberant ("Suffocated Love"), nearly every song is an original masterpiece. With his first solo album, Tricky has already earned himself a place in the pantheon of Afro-alien shaman alongside Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Exuma and George Clinton. And like the spells of any self-respecting trickster deity, no one has yet to crack and decipher Maxinquaye's mysterious secrets, let alone Tricky himself. Which is why it still continues to unfold its erotic, frightening spell to new listeners, and remains the best album of the 90s.

It was a pretty good year musically. 1995 continued to shake itself off from the early 90s alternative rock doldrums, when every mediochre band was signed in hopes of finding the next Nirvana (or Pearl Jam). Since the web was not yet a reliable place to find out about music yet (though allmusic.com was getting a good start), I was devouring The Wire every month. That's where I first read about Tricky, whose debut album Maxinquaye turned out to be my favorite album of the 90s (see sidebar). Unclassifiable, it was later wedged in with Massive Attack and Portishead as "trip hop," a subgenre that died a quick death and had its bones sucked dry by many bands of lesser talent. "Post-rock," coined famously by Simon Reynolds, was still going strong after 1994's peak with Disco Inferno's DI Go Pop. The Dirty Three, Labradford, Techno Animal, Pram, Flying Saucer Attack, Main and Ui all incorporated influences from beyond rock, while Oval and Mouse on Mars pushed the boundaries of electronica. I was especially excited about international artists that created vital work that was more distinct than normal new age hippie global mush -- Asian Dub Foundation (Brits using Asian classical), Cornelius (Japan), Chico Science & Nação Zumbi (Brazil), and Natacha Atlas (Egypt via Brussels and London). PJ Harvey, Bjork and Radiohead all released major career-defining albums.

Show highlights included Baaba Maal, Brice-Glase, U.S. Maple, Seam, Scissor Girls, Elastica, John Cale, Unwound, Toots & the Maytals, The Grifters, Jeff Buckley, PJ Harvey, Femi Kuti, Shellac, Massive Attack, Laika, The Skatalites, Stereolab, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Mercury Rev, Fugazi and NoMeansNo. I don't keep track of movies officially, but Living In Oblivion, Before Sunrise, Usual Suspects, Nadja, Crumb, Exotica, Tank Girl and Seven were standouts.

When the dot com bubble was inflating, many asked me if I'd consider making Fast 'n' Bulbous a more commercial, slicker venture with advertising, professional design, and a stable of writers. I never had much enthusiasm for the idea for several reasons. Although a few excellent writers have volunteered to write for me, no one would really follow through because promos but no pay is not enough incentive to meet deadlines. I feel my vision is personal and quirky enough that it would be difficult to fit other writers' tastes into my lists and rating system. And I didn't really see much commercial potential, figuring my tastes appealed to a relatively small audience. Ryan Schreiber, with whom I had corresponded with a few times in the early days, proved me wrong. He made the transition from a print fanzine to web with Turntable Magazine a short time later in 1996. It eventually became Pitchfork. Things really blew up for them, I think, at the peak of Napster -- suddenly the audience for a wider variety of music expanded like a supernova. Schreiber was driven enough to make Pitchfork the leading music webzine, and today exerts an amazing amount of influence. I don't regret not taking that path, however, because I'd rather not have my labor of love become a job. I have ideas for a more commercial magazine that may or may not come to fruition someday. While other great music zines have filled the need for instant-gratification reviews such as Stylus and Drowned In Sound, for now, I'm grateful to have had an outlet for my lists, reviews and rants that, in hindsight, are more like a glorified blog.

Which isn't to say it hasn't evolved some. I hope to continue to refine and evolve the site's character. An instrumental part of that are some very talented artist friends, who are helping me experiment with different logos and interpretations of Dr. Fester and friends. My friend and former associate at Alien Syndicate, Aaron Schmidt, did some great drawings of Dr. Fester, and helped me toy with ideas for a logo (see Gallery). As a talented animation artist and figurine sculptor, I may still talk him into doing more in those areas if he ever gets time before he gets too famous and too rich to be enticed with music mixes. Did I mention he's brilliant and his company Xen Interactive Media does amazing work? Yes, I'm buttering him up like a greased pig. Amy M. Ahlstrom is another up and coming artist who helped inspire me. A great drawing she did encouraged me to finally disclose the full, formerly secret history of Dr. Fester. Known for her Moist, Sticky Crawler and Skull Baby comics, she currently specializes in urban quilts (signs and graffitti creatively rendered in fabric), in addition to grad school. I'm honored that she's taken the mighty endeavor of reawakening her bitch goddess comic art muse to bring images of Dr. Fester, Baron Beefheart and Mr. Bulbous to life. As soon as her quilts are available online, I'll post a link. The logo that's currently being featured on the front page is by a young, talented artist named David A. Jensen. Other logos were contributed by Michelle Reyes and Amanda Jensen. I may showcase other logos on the front page until I decide which one to stay with, which will then end up on a T-shirt with Amy's drawing. This will hopefully happen by January.

Bands I ignored while they supposedly peaked in 89-92
September 29, 2005

At the time I was in college, I was more into Sonic Youth, Fugazi, The Pixies, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Jesus Lizard, Slint, My Bloody Valentine, The Breeders, Massive Attack, Talk Talk, Tom Waits and PJ Harvey, Bark Psychosis, Spiritualized, Seam... I suppose I subjectively associated the bands below as high school music that's meant to be outgrown, even though their early albums were favorites at one point. I didn't feel they spoke to me anymore. But I wonder if maybe my prejudices have kept me from enjoying some truly great albums. Anyone have convincing arguments for or against?

New Order * Technique (Qwest) 89
I picked up a used copy 12 years after the fact and was again intensely underwhelmed. Not quite a piece of shit, but nothing near the majesty of their singles, Power, Corruption and Lies and Low Life. Am I missing something?

The Cure * Disintegration (Elektra) 89
I taped it from a roommate a couple years later, but it never sunk in. I didn't dislike it, but it just felt totally redundant.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds * The Good Son (Mute) 90
Many believed he found his true songwriter voice here. Sounded to me like he lost his balls in Brazil. I don't mind Leonard Cohen, but that doesn't mean Cave should sound like him. I finally got this about 13 years later, and it sounds decent in the context of his other singer-songwriter type stuff, but still doesn't compare to Your Funeral…My Trial.

Depeche Mode * Violator (Sire) 90
I can't stand "Personal Jesus," so I haven't gotten around to a reappraisal yet. My mom liked them during that era, f'chrissakes.

Julian Cope * Peggy Suicide (Island) 91
I loved Teardrop Explodes and his first couple mad hatter solo albums, but I had long ago written him off as a delusional, smug acid casualty. Then suddenly he's making "genius" albums. Really? I don't hear it. I mean, I appreciate his self-reinvention as some sort of environmentalist scholar-shaman, but I just don't hear any great songs. Maybe I'm distracted by that brittle production from the 80s that had not yet been completely shed.

U2 * Achtung Baby (Island) 91
I was so over U2 after Joshua Tree, and their new decadent, ironic persona was even more ridiculous than their messianic phase. They paid homage (ripped off) KMFDM in a big way, and not long after that album, KMFDM performed a sneering cover of "Mysterious Ways" as the seven foot tall Sascha Konietzko tossed off his overcoat to reveal him wearing nothing but women's panties, as he proceeded to fondle himself. I like a few songs okay, but this album's stature grows every year seemingly, and I still think it's a crock of shit. I get that the ideas are supposed to be groundbreaking, but I just don't like it.

R.E.M. * Automatic For The People (WB) 92
I can understand the mainstream success – it's easy to understand the vocals and completely cloying. But how could old fans possibly like anything after Document?

XTC * Nonsuch (Geffen) 92
There are many split opinions of course. I like Skylarking which is often considered their best, but I prefer Drums And Wires. A significant number of people claim this is their best, which shocks me. Oranges and Lemons turned me off for good, and I didn't bother listening to this until last month. I didn't like it. The fussy arrangements might have some sort of intricacy and workmanship, but I don't hear any full blooded great songs anymore.

Remember when there was no such thing as shuffle, and we had to play one side at a time?

September 20, 2005
Dr. Fester's Retreats for Aesthetes (Burned-Out Critics)

When I saw the first installment of Stylus' new weekly column, "Soulseeking," I expected a forum to geek out about latest obsessions, triggered by downloaded discoveries. The problem is, if writer Nick Southall hasn't actually downloaded anything for over a year, what's he going to write about? Maybe the title is just metaphorical, despite Stylus copping their logo, and the rest will simply wax philosophical about general things. I could fill a few columns about recent longtime searches finally hitting the jackpot, like Haruomi Hosono's fascinating mid-70s forays into music of Polynesia and New Orleans.

Instead, this is just another all-too common case of the burned-out critic. While even mighty icons like Lester Bangs have fallen under this malaise, I have little sympathy. It looks to me like a case of a small child allowed to devour anything he wants in a candy store, only to be found hours later huddled in the corner, covered in vomit, crying and vowing he'll never eat candy again. That old cliche "too much of a good thing" really does apply, be it exercise, sun, ice cream, music or tequila (it's amazing how many people have had a "bad experience in college" with tequila and can't bear to touch it again).

So whatever happened to self control? You know, pacing yourself so you don't ruin your enjoyment? It seems pretty simple, but it looks like there needs to be some sort of group therapy sessions for burned out critics...

Feeling inadequate that you can't hear every good album? Can't get excited about your favorite band's new albums? Has mixing too many genres in one day turned everything to a gray blur? Come to Dr. Fester's Retreats for Aesthetes and wash that ennui away within our revolutionary patented aqueous bulbs. For the first day or two, they serve as traditional isolation tanks where you are cut off from all visual and aural stimulation. Thereafter, the bulbs can be transported to environments where people can be seen enjoying music, such as shows and festivals. But you won't be able to hear anything. Alternatively, select patients will be subjected to repeated listens to albums by the Dave Matthews Band or Hoobastank. Either way, after several days we guarantee you will be eager to be free to enjoy music of your choice once again.

I've listened to a lot of music. When I start to feel burned out on absorbing new stuff, I take a break. But rather than make an ass of myself and blabber in public that there's no good new music anymore (to be fair, this is not what Southall said, but I see this all the time), I just spend some time enjoying old favorites. Simon Reynolds responded in his blog that the problem isn't a glut of self-produced crap, but rather the massive amount of "pretty-good-to-almost-excellent" to wade through. It's true there's more of everything -- shit to almost great. Who cares? That only means that if you simply go with the flow and follow your "muse," e.g. dig deep into a current obsession with a certain band or sound or subgenre, you're more likely than ever to stumble upon pleasant surprises.

Recently I wrote an installment of "What Were Your Most Anticipated Albums?", an exercise to remember what it was about certain bands and albums that made me so excited and passionate about them. Perhaps another series should be pleasant surprises.

September 1, 2005
Anglophilic Summer: U.K. Post-Punk

In the hot peak of sweltering summer, what better way to spend days at the beach and nights with cold drinks in hand than a fresh batch of music from the U.K. As I noted in my anglophilic summer piece from last year, there's a lot of young bands coming out of Britain with pretty fun music. Most of it was derivative to some extent, and only a couple managed to sustain entire albums of engaging songs, but it made for a killer MP3 mix that was good for over a few hours. Again, this year a lot of the bands won't get a fair shake because of accusations of plagiarism and general backlash against the resurgence of postpunk. It's ironic that while every year it's more difficult to be completely original, people are less forgiving about boring elements from the past. Consider Led Zeppelin, often cited as one of the greatest rock bands ever. They were also widely panned by critics at first for being derivative. Yet they did more than borrow elements from the blues. They were downright plagiarists, who blatantly stole large sections of songs by contemporaries Moby Grape, Spirit, The Small Faces, The Chocolate Watchband and Bert Jansch. Yet that didn't stop them from being regarded as one of the best bands in the world by many more. The fans could care less. They love their Led Zeppelin.

The Beatles, Stones and Who were all cover bands when they started out. They seemed to have manage to accomplish something despite their being derivative of rockabilly, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Motown, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, etc. etc. The Jam began as a Who tribute band. Aside from the gaff of nicking the riff from The Beatles' "Taxman" for "Start," the band did very well for themselves by developing their own voice. Throughout the 70s, it was generally accepted that just about every band was in some way influenced by The Beatles, from Bowie to Os Mutantes to Big Star to XTC. The ones that weren't -- Suicide, Can, This Heat, The Residents (though they did do an entire album of Beatles covers...) didn't exactly make much of an impact on the world at large.

Here's a secret -- even if something is totally original, it can still be crap. Just like bands that have a noticeable set of influences can be great. There's a fine line between appreciating music on the fringe, and being an insufferable pretentious fuck. Let's not get too self important here -- as great as the groundbreaking stuff is, it's not all that listenable to most people. Which is why 99.9% of the world couldn't give a rat's ass about krautrock, pre-punk, post-punk, avant garde, yadda yadda. Meaning, just because a handful of artists are doing something really new and out there, doesn't mean that it renders all other music as shit.

A bunch of bands did expand the Beatles palate to include The Velvet Underground, Modern Lovers, Captain Beefheart, The Stooges, MC5 and even Krautrock. Some of them also were criticized at the time for lacking originality because you can hear bits of what they grew up listening to. And so it goes. Now there's a bunch of new bands who grew up on post-punk. Actually many are too young for that – most likely they listened to 90s Brit Pop until their older siblings turned them on to the older bands that influenced the likes of Blur and Elastica – The Buzzcocks, The Stranglers, Wire… Now XTC, Gang of Four, P.i.L., Talking Heads, Joy Division, Magazine et al. have eclipsed The Beatles, Beach Boys, Who and Stones' influence, as they fucking should.

Like Simon Reynolds boldly announced in his new, massive volume, Rip It Up And Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984, post-punk rivaled the sixties as a golden age for music. The main difference was that no one noticed the second golden age! This has much to do with the fact that unbridled ideas and innovation resulted in a departure from easy listening. The current crop of new bands are bringing more attention to this era by sweetening the medicine with more catchy riffs and melodies. It's pretty amusing to hear every single band compared mainly to Joy Division and Gang of Four. It's like if someone hears a trumpet and thinks its derivative of Miles Davis or Louis Armstrong, without recognizing the subtleties that might make a more apt comparison to Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie or any of the other hundreds of trumpet players with distinct voices. Perhaps this resurgence might prompt people to discover previously ignored artists like Orange Juice, Josef K, Comsat Angels, The Sound, The Passage, Crispy Ambulance, etc.

While this may not be another golden age (how many are we allotted in a lifetime, anyway?), but at least there's no real plagiarism happening to the extent of Led Zeppelin, and it's a hell of a lot more stimulating than the current chart toppers by Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas, Weezer, My Chemical Romance, etc. Not to say I don't continue to give top rank to bands that manage to create a startlingly fresh sound, like TV On The Radio. But there's no reason not to kick back and enjoy the best of the rest.

August 7, 2005
What Were Your Most Anticipated Albums? Part One

Have you ever been so excited by an upcoming release of a favorite artist that you mark the release date on your calendar, re-listen to their entire catalog in the preceding weeks to prepare yourself, even lie in bed wondering what it will sound like as you drift to sleep? When it finally comes out you?re willing to stand in line at midnight on a Monday to be one of the first to get it (if you have the money). If you happen to know enough people who care as much about the band as you do, you might even throw a listening party. I remember attending small ones in friends? dorm rooms as we listened intently to the new Butthole Surfers and Flaming Lips albums. Nothing quite matches the excitement of listening for the first time to an album you?ve anticipated for months, possibly even years. Whether or not the albums stand the test of time is irrelevant for the moment. It's one of your favorite bands, and you?re just happy to savor every new note of every song while you study the cover art and carefully read the lyrics if there are any.

Does this still happen? Most likely if you?re over the age of 25, not as often. Maybe albums just aren?t quite as life-changing for you now as they were as a teenager. But is it because you?re getting older and don?t get as excited over albums, just like you don?t get in quite the same frenzied state for birthdays and holidays? Is it because there just aren?t as many great "event? albums as there once was? Are there so many more good albums being released that It's difficult to sort out the great ones? Or is it because file-sharing has killed the buzz because everyone?s hears and absorbed the MP3s weeks or even months before an album?s release? This was certainly the case with the last albums by Wilco, Radiohead, TV On The Radio and Bloc Party. There is a small thrill that comes from hearing a leaked copy months before most people, but It's not quite the same. It's possible that the excitement over albums will never again match the anticipation that?s now reserved for the next Harry Potter book or epic sci fi/fantasy movies. The dilemma now is whether you want to exert the willpower to wait to hear the albums you?re most excited about until at least just before the release date.

As I recall some of my highly anticipated albums, think about your own. They may not currently be your favorite albums, and most likely there's at least a couple skeletons in the closet you'd rather keep out of daylight. But there were reasons why they mattered to you at that point in your life. At least they seemed like good reasons at the time. Right now there are probably thousands of stories gelling as kids experience their first big anticipated blockbuster in the form of, say, the latest Coldplay album. For many poor suckers, it will become a gateway album to many more bands like Radiohead, Mercury Rev, Echo & the Bunnymen as they become hooked and spend their allowances, drug money, and delay paying off college loans to feed their addiction. It's a beautiful thing. I'd hate to see a whole generation of little bastards miss out on the experience.

ELO * Time (Jet) 1981
In a case of accidental good taste, the first two albums I ever bought were Gary Numan?s The Pleasure Principle and Talking Heads? Fear Of Music, based on the singles "Cars? and "Life During Wartime.? However, the albums? coldness and paranoia were a little over my head as I was just turning ten, so my favorite bands were Queen and Electric Light Orchestra. While Discovery sounded a little too much like the Bee Gees for my taste, Out Of The Blue was by far my favorite album at the time. It was perfect for a kid my age, with cartoonish imagery of spaceships and jungles, a big sound that wasn?t too dissonant, with simple Beatlesque melodies. Even the dorky clerks at the record store/headshop The Asteroid were excited about the new ELO album.

As soon as I saw the cover, I was fluffed. The liquidy cover art resembled the science fiction books I?d been reading. I sensed it would be the most groundbreaking, futuristic album ever. Hearing the robot voice introduce the record (?I have a message from another time?) send a shiver of excitement down my spine as intense as anything I?d experience until getting deflowered in another seven years. The ringing synthesizer and drumroll that introduced "Twilight? got my heart pounding. It would be one of my favorite songs for months to come. The cool, burbling computer sounds that introduced "Yours Truly, 2095? were mindbending. It was about a love affair with a robot, which coincidentally parallels the theme of Rudy Rucker?s early cyberpunk classic Software that was also published in 1981. "She has an IQ of 1001/She has a jumpsuit on/She?s also a telephone.? Three tracks in I?d decided Time was the most awesome album ever. In fact I think I wrote my first ever review saying as much, in order to convince friends to check it out. While the rest of the album didn't really hold up and I quickly outgrew ELO, I remember attending a hipster party several years ago at Steve Albini's old house and discovering Time in the collection. I hadn't heard the album in over 15 years, and put it on. It sounded pretty great! Half the guys at the party ended up bonding over ELO. Hipster synchronicity alert: Pitchfork just gave an ELO collection a good review! What's happening here?

Rush * Grace Under Pressure (Mercury) 1984
The battle for my soul was being waged between corporate radio and "independent music,? as I called American post-punk back then. My musical diet still consisted of Journey, Styx and Queen, as they were easy to get through the Columbia Record Club. But ELO?s Secret Messages was a bitter disappointment, and along with getting into heavy metal, the college radio of KUNI was turning me on to songs by The Violent Femmes, The Replacements, Minutemen, H?sker D? and U2 that spoke to me and my burgeoning teenage hormones a lot more than Foreigner. Yet I was still really, really feeling Rush. Signals in particular seemed to pick up on the future-music vibe I was so blown away with Time. Rush was updating its aging prog rock with a new wave sheen, and I liked it. When I saw the video for "Distant Early Warning? with a kid riding a missile like Dr. Strangelove, my interest was piqued. I picked up Grace Under Pressure the week it was released and I wasn?t disappointed. Before I figured out that Neil Peart?s lyrics were a bunch of conservative Ayn Rand-inspired crap, they at least seemed more sophisticated than ELO?s. "The Enemy Within? (which featured a bizarre reggae beat), seemed sooo deep because it was the final installment in the Fear trilogy begun on the previous two albums. The music was much more dense and hard than ELO. Grace Under Pressure rocked hard enough that even the metal heads dug it. And there was another song about robots in "The Body Electric,? this one is running for its "life.? Who didn?t love robot songs? My mom hated it, so I figured I was on the right track. But something nagged me in the back of my mind that she might be onto something, that Rush?s music was empty.

Iron Maiden * Powerslave (Capitol) 1984
I had been catching up on the history of metal from a radio show coming out of Platteville, Wisconsin, from Deep Purple and Black Sabbath to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. My favorite was Iron Maiden. One of my best friends had The Number Of The Beast and Piece Of Mind, which he played constantly when we hung out. I loved the serpentine complexity of the twin lead guitars, and Bruce Dickinson?s quasi-literary lyrics. I couldn?t believe it when the radio actually played "2 Minutes To Midnight? prior to the release. The station rarely played metal, but it made an exception for Iron Maiden?s most focused, hookiest song yet. As soon as I saw the detail-rich Egyptian themed album art, I knew Powerslave would be great fun. While "Rime of the Ancient Mariner? would eventually grow tiresome, I was engrossed. I dabbled in some of the hair metal like Motley Crue and Ratt, but no metal band would hold my attention again like Iron Maiden until the harder-edged progeny of Metallica flourished, such as Slayer and Napalm Death.

U2 * The Unforgettable Fire (Island) 1984
Six months after War had been released, it quickly became my favorite album. An Irish band with postpunk roots and anthemic, political songs, my introduction to U2 was timed perfectly to coincide with my political awakening, as I began learning how truly fucked up the world was. While "Pride (In The Name Of Love)? would grate on me eventually, I found it really moving at the time, as Bono sang earnestly about Martin Luther King. The gauzy salmon colored cover art of the castle reflected Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois? soft-focus production within. The Unforgettable Fire ironically lacked fire in its belly compared to War, but cool-sounding cuts like "Wire," "Bad" and the title track were enough to keep U2 my favorite band for another year, even as I became blown away by far superior albums by The Replacements, The Minutemen and Hüsker Dü.

H?sker D? * Warehouse: Songs And Stories (WB) 1987
The Joshua Tree was generally the big anticipated event album my final spring of high school. While I was curious to hear it, U2 were already starting to sound a little too bombastic and overblown for my evolving tastes. I was drawn more to a couple mix tapes I dubbed from a friend?s older brother who was in college. One was a who?s who in indie rock at the time -- Big Black, Naked Raygun, Butthole Surfers, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, The Fall and Scratch Acid. The other was older stuff like Bauhaus, Joy Division, The Birthday Party, Gang of Four, P.i.L. and Killing Joke. I had been aware of punk since I read about the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned and The Buzzcocks in Creem magazine at the age of nine, but I was only just now getting my hands on much of it, and "getting? it. I also liked much of the typical high school fare of Psychedelic Furs, Echo & the Bunnymen, New Order, The Cure and The Smiths, all of whom released decent to great albums that year.

But after the incredible run of Zen Arcade, New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig, H?sker D? were top dog. Such was my confidence in them, I felt certain that their major label debut, 1986?s Candy Apple Grey, was just a brief misstep, not a decline. Indeed, another double album seemed to indicate another burst of creativity, with its blacklight-neon psychedelic cover, I was ready to be impressed. Song after great song, so far so good, it seemed like they nailed it. However, somehow the parts seemed better than the whole. There seemed to be a sameness to the brittle, crystalline production. Something was missing. The performances were tight but stiff. They didn't seem to be having any fun. That fall the band would be no more. What should have been a triumphant breakthrough turned out to be an end of an era, or at least a passing of a torch.

R.E.M. * Document (IRS) 1987
1985's dark, mysterious Fables of The Reconstruction was my favorite R.E.M. album so far. Lifes Rich Pageant seemed to be a practice run for their later mainstream dominance, with its bright production and upfront rhythm section. R.E.M. were more of a comfortable old pair of shoes rather than an exciting new thing. Yet the timing of Document destined it to be an era-defining record, at least personally. It came out the day I started college, which for many people, can be a very giddy time indeed. And how appropriate to have the soundtrack to that day be a giddy song called "It's The End of the World As We Know It.? And as my education and political activism became more intensified, I was glad to know R.E.M. were infiltrating the mainstream with songs like "Exhuming McCarthy,? "Welcome to the Occupation,? "Disturbance at the Heron House? and "King Of Birds.?

And it was the end of the world as I knew it, in every possible way -- socially, physically, intellectually. And while it might seem that amidst all the life changes, music might not seem so important as it did as a lonely kid stranded in a boring town, that didn?t happen. If anything, I got deeper into music, as I started my radio show and rampaged the stacks, guzzling down albums to fill the holes of bands I had read about in my trusty Trouser Press Record Guide but had not yet heard. I constantly had revelations like, "oh my god, how could I have never heard Funhouse before?!?!? I filled out my knowledge of pre-punk, punk and post-punk, while quickly absorbing new favorites like Bad Brains, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and the strange little EP by a new band called The Pixies. My college years were such a constant flow of new information and music that in a way, I was too busy to anticipate any one particular new album. There were a couple key exceptions, however.

Sonic Youth * Daydream Nation (Blast First) 1988
During my first week of college a friendly sophomore introduced me to Sonic Youth?s Sister. I never remember any snobbery amongst the students running the radio station. There were plenty of kids who knew more music than I did, who had the resources to already have huge record collections. But they were just happy to share the wealth and enthusiasm with other likeminded music geeks. I quickly devoured the rest of Sonic Youth?s discography, and by the time Daydream Nation was due, I was slavering. It was also just after I started buying CDs, so it was the first time I heard an anticipated new album that wasn?t on my mom?s beat-up cheap record player, or a crappy boombox. Well, the CD player was hooked up to a boombox with enough power for a dorm room. And I could also take it into the radio station?s studio and hear it on the wall-shaking monitors. And let me tell you, the buildup of the first cut, "Teen Age Riot? from It's first, quietly tentative notes and Kim Gordon?s whispers, to the explosive intro, was unforgettable. And the album simply sustained the energy and surprising sounds the whole way. After relative disappointments that year with Metallica and The Feelies, it was the most satisfying first listen I?d ever had, not counting unexpected surprises like the previous year?s Dinosaur Jr?s You?re Living All Over Me and The Pixies? Surfer Rosa.

The Pixies * Doolittle (Elektra) 1989
Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa had such explosive energy and unique, almost alien beauty, I was hooked. This was definitely an important band that was going to accomplish something big. In retrospect, it was all downhill after Surfer Rosa, but it was still a fun ride. I was immediately disappointed that Doolittle lacked the weird, hard edge of its predecessor, but my roommate who usually didn?t listen to my music loved it. I knew their popularity would only grow. I didn?t know I?d be paying fifty bones fifteen years later to see their reunion show and smile as I do it. From the stories I overheard, if as many people were actually listening to The Pixies in 1988 as they said they were, then The Pixies would have been multi-platinum, not Guns ?N? Roses or Poison. Ah, revisionist history. You can thank Kurt for that.

Fugazi * Repeater (Dischord) 1990
I was too young to experience the excitement of the exciting hardcore scene of the early 80s, with Black Flag, Minutemen, Bad Brains and Minor Threat. But Minor Threat's Ian MacKaye had a new band with a couple of astounding EPs that really seemed to be doing something new, mixing dub and impressionistic yet hard hitting arrangements that would anticipate post-rock. Seeing Fugazi play in some nondescript warehouse building in Minneapolis one hot, sweaty summer night was like going to indie rock church. It's like they took everything that was exciting about American hardcore and pushed things forward. Repeater may not have been as structurally ambitious as some later albums, but it was a powerful statement that felt just right at the time.

To be continued.

February 1, 2005
I'm In Love With Betty Davis

In past efforts to collect 70s soul and funk, I've come across a couple compilations with contributions from Betty Davis like "He Was A Big Freak" and "Anti Love Song." I always made a note to look into her, but her albums were out of print at the time. An article in the February 2005 MOJO reminded me to track her stuff down, and I found her albums at Dusty Groove.

I should have tried harder before, because I was really missing out. I just assumed Davis was just a minor figure, certainly no better than the sometimes lascivious, sometimes feminist funk of Laura Lee, Millie Jackson, or James Brown acolytes Vicki Anderson, Lyn Collins and Marva Whitney. But Betty Mabry Davis is in a class of her own. Her coolness transcends them all. When she met Miles Davis at the age of 22, she'd already cut a couple singles, worked as a model, club promoter (Step-Down Cellar on 90th Street), and written a song for The Chambers Brothers ("Uptown To Harlem" for their landmark 1967 album, Time Has Come Today). During her relationship and marriage to Miles Davis from '67 to '69, she introduced him to Jimi Hendrix (Miles was paranoid that she was sleeping with him -- perhaps she did but like a true pimp she?ll deny it to her grave), Sly Stone, and made a huge impact on his fashion sense, not to mention appearing on the cover of Filles De Kilimanjaro, which featured a tribute to her in "Mademoiselle Mabry." While Miles was working on Bitches Brew, Davis cut an album with a dream-team band consisting of Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams from Miles' band with Miles producing, and Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell. Afraid of Betty's success, Miles insisted the album be shelved. Now that the misogynist motherfucker is stone cold dead, it's high time this album is exhumed from the vaults and released.

Betty's career didn't really start until she divorced Miles, and her good friend Jimi was dead. In 1970 she recorded eight songs with the Commodores which were shelved, and moved to the UK in 1971. Marc Bolan (T. Rex) helped her out in seeking a recording contract, but she returned to the U.S. and hooked up with Michael Carabello of Santana in San Francisco. Assembling members of Santana (including future Journey member Neil Schon!), Sly & the Family Stone and Tower of Power, Davis recorded a monster of an album for the Just Sunshine label, and introduced the world to her alter ego that's part ass-kicking Cleopatra Jones, and part wise-cracking pottymouth influenced by Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. She turned the tables on jive-talking pimp characters with lyrics like, "If I'm in luck I might get picked up ... I'm fishin' and I'm trickin' and you can call it what you want." And in "Anti Love Song" she sings, "You know, I could make you crawl/And just as hard as I'd fall for you/You know you'd fall for me harder." More often her voice would jump between shrieks and feral growls that are truly frightening. The band played hard and tight, on an album that would rival anything by Funkadelic. 1974's They Say I'm Different was even better, with the cover featuring Betty rockin' an Amazonian space-Egyptian outfit. Every song was a highlight, from the catchy "Shoo-B-Doop And Cop Him" to "He Was A Big Freak," where Davis tackles S&M, beating her lover with a turquoise chain. On the title track she gives props to early influences, Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith and Chuck Berry. Nasty Gal (1975) was just as great, including the powerful kiss-off to the media, "Dedicated To The Press."

With big stars like MeShell NdegeOcello, Macy Gray, Kelis and Missy Elliot owing so much to Betty Davis' pioneering work, it's a shame she hasn't enjoyed more fame and fortune, though she certainly gets respect from her peers. It looks like things will change, with the MOJO article, a rumored documentary on women of funk focusing on Davis, and a reissue of her three albums in the 2CD Talkin' Trash: The Definitive Betty Davis on Aztec Music supposedly coming out soon.

January 26, 2005
Bloc Party

Bloc Party are playing March 31 at Metro in Chicago, and at a venue near you if you're lucky. They're the reason I got so far behind in finishing my 2004 year-end summary. I got a hold of an early copy of Silent Alarm in December and I couldn't stop listening to it. I've played the damn thing over 50 times and I'm still not sick of it. It's definitely the album to beat so far this year (though Mars Volta could be a contender).

No doubt you'll already start hearing backlash, about the band sounding too derivative, post-punk karaoke, Sonic Youth and Gang of Four meets The Strokes, yadda yadda. Tune out the mewling voices and just listen to the album. The band is young, and did start out touring with Franz Ferdinand, which did make some sort of sense. But they have quickly left their peers behind in the dust. After a handful of singles, Bloc Party has matured into a massively powerful band. The album hits much harder than some of the tinny-sounding singles. It's diverse, sinewy, and quite original.

The key is the drummer, Matt Tong. The band thought long and hard about what they wanted in a drummer, and auditioned dozens. Tong is their ninth drummer since Kele Okereke and Russell Lisack formed the band in 1999. Gordon Moakes joined early 2000 after answering an ad in the NME citing "Sonic Youth, Joy Division, Pixies and DJ Shadow." Tong's the secret weapon, not just keeping rhythm, but painting colors, accentuating melody, showering sparks. A talented drummer makes a good band great, and a great band a legend, like Pete de Freitas, Keith Moon, Elvin Jones. The opening song, "Like Eating Glass" hits you like a truck. Others might think the shimmering single "So Here We Are" too much like an ordinary ballad. But listen to those fucking drums!

Can you tell I'm excited? This will be one of the best rock shows of the year. Silent Alarm comes out on Valentine's Day, February 14, but only in the UK. Pre-order it for your sweetie, it doesn't come out 'til March in the U.S. Believe me, you shouldn't wait.

January 12, 2005
Lee "Scratch" Perry: Now Well-Loaded

On Sunday John Corbett gave the first public screening at the Gene Siskel Center of excerpts from his 1990 interview with Lee Perry in Zurich, Switzerland. Parts of the interview were used for articles in his 1994 book, Extended Play. Corbett originally intended to make a full-length documentary, but Perry's schizophrenia made it too difficult to get enough coherant interviews. Nevertheless it was amazing to see Perry at his home with his wife Mireille Campbell and new baby (who's now a teenager!). It's sad to see the extent of his condition of paranoid-schizophrenia, but comforting to know he's being well taken care of. He seemed happy and relaxed, as the footage took an extended lakefront walk as Perry showed off his unique fashion style, cluttered with found fetish objects such as rocks, crosses, cards of saints, and toys glued to his coat, boots and homemade crown. He also clutched a large iron cross, a mirror which he would use to reflect light into the camera, and a Batman doll the entire time. His nonstop wordplay was often nonsensical, but would occasionally stumble into brilliantly profound nuggets of wisdom, followed by hearty (or maniacal) laughter.

While Perry occasionally tours and records, he doesn't do a lot anymore. He hangs out at a state-of-the-art studio where they treat him like a king, but don't let him touch the boards. Corbett preceded the viewing with a brief lecture on Perry's history, and played a few tracks, including an early 1968 B-side that reversed the vocals, and the seminial Black Ark era "Bionic Rats." Corbett recommended focusing on Perry's Black Ark era as an introduction to his work.

Indeed, during Perry's Black Ark period, he was on fire, coaxing sounds into a little Teac four-track that others couldn't cram into sixteen tracks.

"It was only four tracks written on the machine, but I was picking up twenty from the extra terrestrial squad. I am the dub shepherd."

There are tons of collections of Perry's work, most notably the collected Black Ark studio works on the 3CD Arkology and the 2CD Open The Gate. But you don't get a full picture without some of the seminal albums.

Lee Perry productions (most highly recommended are in bold):

The Upsetters * The Upsetter (Trojan) 69
The Upsetters * Return Of Django (Trojan) 69
The Upsetters * Clint Eastwood (Trojan) 69
The Upsetters * Many Moods Of the Upsetters (Upsetter) 70
The Upsetters * Scratch The Upsetter Again (Trojan) 70
The Upsetters * Eastwood Rides Again (Trojan) 70
The Upsetters * The Good, The Bad And The Upsetters (Upsetter) 70
There seems to be no end to the tracks with early Upsetters instrumentals. The Upsetters became a mixture of the J.B.'s, the M.G.'s and the Skatalites as one of Jamaica's most versatile backing groups. Bob Marley would soon hijack some of them to become Wailers. On any given album you'll find excellent soul covers and recurring themes from American television and Italian westerns. For some, one album is enough, others must have it all.

Bob Marley & the Wailers * Soul Rebels (Trojan) 70
One of Perry's great achievements was taking Bob Marley under his wing, transforming him from an earnest soul crooner to a politically charged rastaman with a transformed voice, going on to become a worldwide cultural icon.

Dave Barker Meets the Upsetters * Prisoner Of Love (Trojan) 70
Dave Barker was a fairly minor figure in early reggae, styling himself after a number of American Southern soul-shouters, much like dozens of other reggae singers. The distinction here is that this singer gets the Lee Perry treatment, and though the peak, "Shocks Of Mighty" is available in many Perry collections, this album is a blast.

The Upsetters * Africa's Blood (Trojan) 71
This is a nice bridge between Perry's early Upsetter instrumental work, and his dub albums. It's a nice mix of eerie, moody, soul-influenced instrumentals, vocal tracks and versions with toasting by Dr. Alimantado on Junior Byles' "Place Called Africa." It's available in The Upsetter Compact Set, which nicely maps the evolution of pre-Black Ark Perry, including Rhythm Shower (1973) and Double Seven (1974).

Junior Byles * Beat Down Babylon (Trojan) 72
It's amazing that more artists didn't become superstars after getting the Lee Perry treatment. Giving voice to Perry's radical roots visions years before Max Romeo, Beat Down Babylon is an early classic vocal album, surpassing anything by Bob Marley & the Wailers.

Bob Marley & the Wailers * African Herbsman (Trojan) 72
Ironically one of Marley's greatest albums has gone largely unheard, though inferior (though slicker) versions of "Lively Up Yourself," "Trenchtown Rock," "400 Years," "Kaya," "Duppy Conquerer" and others were re-recorded for later albums. Perry's creativity is more subtle than usual, with a spare sound, paying loving detail to rhythms and harmonies. It's a testament to Perry's genius that one of Marley's best albums is not even close to Perry's greatest work.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Cloak & Dagger (Trojan) 72
Dub-Triptych (Trojan), a double CD set, consists of Cloak & Dagger (1972), Blackboard Jungle Dub (1973) and Revolution Dub (1975). Cloak & Dagger is a proto-dub album that was a very important step towards dub, featuring the brilliant saxophonist, The Skatalites' Tommy McCook. Check out "Caveman Skank," in which Perry introduces sampling by opening with a Native American Chief reading from the Bible in Cherokee on top of sounds of running water, crashing cars and voices from a sound effects LP. In Lloyd Bradley's Bass Culture, he wrote:

If your mum had been driving you to school in 1972 in the Port Antonio area on Jamaica's north-east coast, the chances are that JBC's breakfast show would have been on the car radio, an innocuous diet of country, calypso, R&B and a sprinkling of highly polished reggae. Or it would be until another signal cut in, jamming the frequency to replace such easy listening with Lee Perry's Cloak & Dagger album, an abrasively typical Scatch instrumental set. One side would play after the other, with not a word said over the airwaves. If you were a pupil at Tichfield High School, Port Antonio, then you'd be in on the joke, for it was two Tichfield pupils who, most mornings, would retune the school's licensed radio transmitter to illegally override the larger station within a five-mile radius of the town.

Apart from simply amusing their mates, and royally pissing off a great deal of upwardly mobile parents, this was a comment on the fact that official Jamaican radio (there were by now more than a few small-scale pirate operations) wasn't catering for a younger generation to whom sound systems and representative music had always been a part of their lives. And it wasn't by chance that Cloak & Dagger was the soundtrack chosen to make such a protest - the adolescent airwave hijackers had to play an album because it could be left to roll, and that was the most obnoxious, radical LP available on the island. Although this 1972 set cannot be accurately be termed a dub album, a full twelve months before Perry's Tubby-mixed Blackboard Jungle Dub it was the nearest thing to it. Making its musical statements through clever arrangements, instrumentation and elementary mixing technique, it attempted to create, at the recording stage, the vibe King Tubby would achieve on Scratch's B-sides after the event. It was the most tangible link between the instrumental style and the truly dubwise occurrences of a year or two later. But, most crucially, it formed a template for Scratch's later efforts, which would be some of the best dub music ever committed to disc.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Rhythm Shower (Trojan) 72
Like Cloak & Dagger, Rhythm Shower was recorded in 1972 and released in a limited Jamaican pressing the next year, and is an important document of Perry's evolution of his dub science. Notable tracks include a dub cut of George Faith's classic "To Be A Lover," and a trippy treatment of Augustus Pablo's melodica on "Kuchy Skank." Voices drop in and out on "Uncle Charlie," and Dillinger toasts on several cuts.

Lee Perry & Upsetters * Blackboard Jungle Dub (Upsetter/Trojan) 73
This groundbreaking album of early dub has a confusing release history. It was originally pressed in a blank sleeve with the label titled, Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle. Only 200 copies were pressed, and Perry brought 100 to the UK and sold them to those 'in the know' for about £20 each (a lot of money, equivalent to about $300 today). I've owned it since the 90s as part of Scratch Attack, with very poor sound quality and incorrect songtitles. Trojan finally set it right in 2004 in full sonic glory. No other album at the time could compare to Perry's wildly imaginative transformations of ordinary rhythm tracks into what's really crazy psychedelia.

The Silvertones * Silver Bullets (Trojan) 73
Showing that Perry's unhinged space madness on Blackboard Jungle Dub didn't leave him permanently floaing in space (at least not yet), Silver Bullets is an early example of how well Perry can work with a more traditional vocal group, heavy with harmonies and American soul and R&B covers. An important precurser to his productions of The Heptones and The Congos, Perry lends a restrained touch to originals ("Soul Sister," "Early in the Morning," Perry's "Rejoice Jah Jah Children") and covers (Drifters' "I'll Take You Home," Ben E. King's "That's When It Hurts," Jerry Butler's "He Will Break Your Heart").

Dr. Alimantado * Best Dressed Chicken In Town 1973-74 (Greensleeves)
I'm usually not too into the early Toaster/DJs. People like Yabby U and Jah Lion get on my nerves because after a while it's just tuneless babbling over perfectly good music. But Dr. Alimantado's won me over. Produced mainly by Lee Perry and King Tubby, this became a cult favorite among punkers in '77 when John Lydon played this on the BBC when he was a guest DJ. Horace Andy's haunting vocal adds resonance to "Poison Flour," "I Killed The Barber" is a rasta revenge fantasy, "I Am The Greatest Says Muhammed Ali" is pure Scratch mixology at its best.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Double Seven (Trojan) 74
The last pre-Black Art Upsetters album, it's a sort of fond farewell to overt soul & R&B influences, including a joyous cover of Sam & Dave's "Soul Man." Hints of creative madness enter the fray, including "Waap You Waa," which sounds like a skanking version of early Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band, and "Kentucky Skank."

Susan Cadogan * Hurt So Good (Trojan) 74
With an ear for vocal talent, Perry scooped up Alison Cadogan, renamed her Susan and produced a sublime series of singles, including a cover of Millie Jackson's soul classic "Hurt So Good" which became a huge hit in the UK. The success enabled Perry to complete Black Ark, and get a deal with Island Records. Ironically, Chris Blackwell is the "devil" who Perry believed stole Bob Marley away. The seductive and haunting delivery on "Feeling Is Right," "If You Need Me," "Nice And Easy" and "Fever" were a precurser to lover's rock.

Vin Gordon & the Upsetters* Musical Bones (DIP) 75
Raw, funky instrumentals cut at the Black Ark during the start of Perry's most creative period. Vin Gordon's trombone is featured prominently over basic dub tracks, leaving room for the heavy riddims to speak for themselves.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Kung Fu Meets The Dragon (DIP/Justice League) 75
One of the most sought after Upsetter sides, originally only issued in a small batch, and hopelessly hard to find for years. Moving on from outdated spaghetti western themes, Perry hones in on the newfound popularity of Kung Fu movies. Fittingly, he recruits Augustus Pablo to contribute melodica, to the vaguely Eastern-sounding strains of clavinets. This work is more spare, less crazed than Perry's typcial Black Ark productions.

The Upsetters * Return Of Wax (DIP/Justice League) 75
An excellent lost session from the Black Ark! Tracked by Perry with Upsetters in 1975, these stripped down dubs feature some of the dopest, funky rhythms Scratch ever cut, while others have a super spare, loping Jamaican groove. The sound is crisp and tight, without the giant thunderclaps and echo drops you'd here in a Tubby mix, but chirping guitars and sublimely funky bass ducking in and out of the mix. From the same sessions that gave us the Kung Fu Meets the Dragon set, you know it's right with titles like "Last Blood", "Deathly Hands", "Dragon Slayer", "One Armed Boxer", "Fists Of Vengeance", "Samurai Swordsman" and "Final Weapon",

Bunny Scott * To Love Somebody (Klik) 75
This obscure out-of-print album is well worth picking up if you spot it. I've done some research and have been able to find out next to nothing about Bunny Scott, other than To Love Somebody appears to be his only album under that name (there's another obscure album called Bunny Rugs & The Upsetters) with a few stray tracks appearing on some Black Ark compilations. The contents are great fun, basically some originals and covers of soft rock classics such as Tim Moore's "Second Avenue," no less than two Neil Diamond tunes ("I Am I Said," "Sweet Caroline") and Barry and Robin Gibb's title track. Backed by hot Upsetter riddims of course!

Max Romeo * Revelation Time/Open The Iron Gate (Trojan/Blood & Fire) 75
Reissued with bonus tracks on Blood & Fire as Open The Iron Gate, this is probably the first reggae concept album. Max Romeo said, "It came from 1972, when we had a revolutionary movement, with Mr. Micahel Manley trying to change society from capitalism to socialism. At the time I was socialist-minded - beca' it's the only form of poor people government."

Lee Perry & Upsetters * Revolution Dub (Cactus UK/Trojan) 75
While it's a groundbreaker, its innovations are more baby steps, which include samples of UK TV sitcom Doctor In The House. Perry also pretends he's Kojak and belches. Dubs of Junior Byles' "The Long Way" and Ricky & Bunny's "Bush Weed Corn Trash" pan wildly between channels with Perry's ad-libbed rantings on top. Sounds great, but not as mindblowing as Blackboard Jungle.

Prince Jazzbo * Natty Passing Thru/Ital Corner (Black Wax/Clocktower) 76
Like Dr. Alimantado, Jah Lion and Dillinger, Perry gives Prince Jazzbo's deejay deliveries a sympathetic backing to produce spliffed out career-defining tracks with consistently great backing by the Upsetters..

Jah Lion * Colombia Colly (Island) 76
Jah Lion (Jah Lloyd) is probably the least known of the deejays Perry worked with. This doesn't mean that this is a lesser effort, however. The dubs are tip-top -- in 1976, Lee Perry simply could do no wrong. These are virtually greatest-hits dubs for Perry, including Junior Byles' "Fever," cleverly titled "Hay Fever," Max Romeo's "War Ina Babylon" ("Dread Ina Jamdong"), Abyssinians' immortal "Satta Massagana" ("Sata"), George Faith's "To Be a Lover" ("Little Sally Dater"), and Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves" ("Soldier and Police War,") rightly included in the mammoth Arkology set.

Max Romeo * War Ina Babylon (Island/Hip-O Select) 76
A classic example of Perry's influence on artists, fine-tuning their songwriting and ideas. In this case, Max Romeo's apocalyptic Rasta rage is sharpened like a samurai sword. In addition to the famous title track, there's "One Step Forward" and "Smile Out a Style," "Chase the Devil," "Norman." It sounds like a greatest hits collection.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Super Ape (Island/Hip-O Select) 76
Super Ape surpasses Blackboard Jungle Dub as Perry's greatest dub achievement. It's mindblowing the sounds that Perry squeezed onto a four-track. When Chris Blackwell came into Black Ark, he was shocked to see tape hanging an inch off the reel. "The album is Super Ape, so it got to have a super tape" was Perry's reply. Giant spliff in one hand, tree in the other, roast fish, roots, cornbread and makka in its big belly, it's Perry's alter-ego come to stomp his competition into total awe and submission.

The Heptones * Party Time (Island) 77
After Max Romeo's War Ina Babylon, Party Time was to be Perry's next big crossover hit (at least in the UK). A venerable vocal group that had been kicking around over 15 years, The Heptones freshened up their sound with some lovely, slinky Black Ark rhythms. the result is a mammoth roots classic, with righteous lyrics hurled at corrupt politicians in "Mr. President" and "Storm Cloud," while "Now Generation" is an optimistic look at the potential power of youth. Perry contributes a powerful social critique in "Sufferer's Time," and they cover Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" with so much reverence you'd think it was a gospel hymn .

Seke Molenga And Kalo Kawongolo * From The Heart of the Congo (SAF/Runn) 77
Not to be confused with the similarly titled Congos album, also recorded that year by Lee Perry, Kawongolo & Molenga were Zaireans lured to Jamaica by a would-be French manager and abandoned. Penniless and with no knowledge of English, they wandered the ghetto streets of Kingston. A rasta brought them to Black Ark, where Perry believed Jah brought them to him for a reason, and proceeded to record this groundbreaking album with members of the Upsetters. Sung mostly in their native Lingala, this fusion of African rhythms and a dubwise sensibility predates and transcends all the world fusion music that would become popular over a decade later. The sound is rough and trebly and could benefit from a Blood & Fire caliber remastering job.

Junior Murvin * Police & Thieves (Island) 77
Nearly everything Perry recorded in 1976-77 was a contender for some of the greatest reggae albums ever. Police & Thieves is a particularly strong candidate due to Junior Murvin's Curtis Mayfield-like, unearthly falsetto which is well-suited to the dark, ethereal backing tracks. The tempos are slow, the vocals treated with just the right reverb and echo, the background horn charts haunting, lending all the more power to "Lucifer," "Roots Train" and of course "Police & Thieves," covered that same year by The Clash. Every song is perfect, the biblical dread surpassed perhaps only by The Congos.

George Faith * To Be A Lover (Black Swan/Hip-O Select) 77
This and The Congos represent Perry at his peak. His production work has its signature quirkiness, but the execution is both subtle and sublime. Here Perry transforms ordinary lovers rock covers of mainly ballads into some of the best psychedelic soul you'll ever hear in reggae. After being impossible to find for 25 years, Hip-O Select finally reissued it in a limited edition. Get it while you can.

The Congos * Heart Of The Congos (Black Art/Blood & Fire) 77
It's ironic that Perry's greatest achievement was the hardest to find for a while. Having fallen out with Chris Blackwell and Island, this was given an extremely limited release of about 500 copies. Over the years it was reissued half-assed with poor mixes. In 1996 Blood & Fire rescued it with a lovingly remastered and repackaged version, complete with bonus tracks. There's a newer reissue available now, but this is the one to get. It's simply the most intensely spiritual, hypnotic music Perry ever laid down on tape.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Roast Fish Collie Weed and Corn Bread (VP) 78
It's difficult to comprehend how, after such a brilliant run of albums, peaking with Heart Of The Congos, Lee Perry's reign would end so quickly. The reality is sad and complicated. Perry had most likely already been afflicted with paranoid-schizophrenia for years, and a set of external factors contributed to a breakdown that would culminate in Black Ark burning down. The paranoid rantings to "Evil Tongues" foreshadow these events all too clearly. Nontheless, Roast Fish Collie Weed & Cornbread was a fitting last hurrah, Perry's first official solo vocal album. Not considered a great vocalist, Perry nonetheless understood what made great vocals, having coached Bob Marley and countless others. Aside from the strangely painful off-key butchering of Junior Byles' "Curley Locks," Perry's vocals are indeed excellent. "Throw Some Water In" is a charming tutorial on good health via diet, exercise and hydration. "Big Neck Police" impressively enhances "Dreadlocks In Moonlight" with saxophones, percussion and choruses. "Free Up the Weed" matches Peter Tosh's "Legalize It" in making a well-reasoned, impassionate argument for legalization. The sounds are like a survey of Perry's entire career, with snippets of early rocksteady to soul, funk and, of course, moo cows and crying babies. The spooky, crawling title track is one of the darkest, dreadest anthems Perry has ever produced, and a spectacular cap to his last great album. It's slightly muddy sound deserves the same loving remastering treatment as his other classics.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Return of the Super Ape (VP) 78
With the exceptions of "Psyche and Trim," "Dyon-Anaswa," "Tell Me Something Good," this album would be more aptly titled Death of the Super Ape. While the production is often as densely detailed as his best work, the ideas are a cluttered mess resulting in a large part of the album sounding like meandering filler with nonsensical lyrics thrown in randomly here and there. For Perry completists only. While there are easily another twenty albums released after this album, it would be pointless to get any of them before checking out all of the above releases first.

January 7, 2005
"I don't believe in Top Tens"

I love the Holidays. In addition to family, parties, gifts and time off, I love the year-end music lists. Their value lies in last-minute opportunities to discover some of the best albums of the year that I might have missed. And although I sample nearly a thousand albums a year, I always miss stuff. A good year-end list always helps me discover a few great ones. This year, that included Annie, The Go! Team, Utada, Dungen, Ada, Skinnyman, Wiley, Cut Copy, On! Air! Library!, The Legends, Entrance, M.I.A. & Diplo, Devin the Dude, Hercules, Mosquitos, The Comas, Faun Fables and many more. If you ever think back at the year and thought there was some great music, but you can't help but wish there was more, fear not. There's always more. You just have to find it, and the right critics to help. It's all in the holiday spirit, you know. All that work sifting through the pabulum of crappy promos to find the gems should not go wasted. They must share the love.

But there's always gotta be some party poopers. The grinches who sneer at the idea that lists are meaningful beyond a random sampling of subjective tastes. Some are too lazy to sort through everything they heard in the past year and put any thought into their order of preference. Or perhaps for others it's pure snobbery. They secretly believe that neophytes simply don't deserve to have treasures that they toiled to dig up from amongst the year's 30,000 releases handed to them on a silver platter.

For others it may be humility. They know they didn't listen to very many albums, and they're simply not qualified to come up with a decent top ten. In a way I applaud these people. At least they're honest. I would guess that at least a third of the 600+ critics who participate in the Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll are newspaper writers who at some point were assigned music reviews, and they would dutifully review whatever promos are sent to them or the editor assigns them. They have little interest outside their job in actively seeking out better music. They are not driven, they have no real passion for it. In short, they're hacks. They should disqualify themselves, or at least the Voice should provide a disclaimer box, where they can check and write in, "I'm a hack." Or, "I have no real passion for music." "I only listened to eleven albums this year." "I don't believe in Top Tens, but my editor is making me submit this." Then readers could go to the site, click on a button to filter out the hacks, and suddenly where there was once was a boring top ten filled with Brian Wilson, Loretta Lynn, Kanye West and Franz Ferdinand, a more genuinely interesting list would emerge.

In today's Chicago Reader, Liz Armstrong wrote, "I could've ranked them according to how often they ended up on my stereo, but that would've been ridiculous." You go Liz, lord that over your inferior, ridiculous colleagues. Monica Kendrick wrote, "It should go without saying that I didn't hear every good record made in 2004. I don't believe in Top Tens, and I don't have any faith in consensus-based canons -- 'conventional wisdom' is an oxymoron, like 'free market...' Disclaimers dispensed with, here are ten records I enjoyed a lot in 2004 and managed to find again in my office on deadline, in alphabetical order." Gee Monica, you're too kind. You needn't have gone through the trouble of organizing them alphabetically, really. You make us feel so special, tossing out whatever you found laying around the office. I'm especially disappointed in Monica because she is no hack. She's a great writer who does have a real passion for music. Which is why I feel cheated that she didn't put more effort and thought into her recommendations.

Seriously people, even if it's just a job, and you'd rather be writing a novel or finishing grad school, shouldn't you take your job seriously? As a paid professional critic, you're obliged to use your supposed writing skills and knowledge to make recommendations. So listen to the goddamn albums already, and pick your favorites. It won't kill you. Or maybe it might. Pretend someone is holding a gun to your head, forcing you to pick a favorite. I know, I know, your moods are oh so complex and varied, and you can't pick just one. *click* So average it out and take a stab at which one satisfied more moods than others. I know you can do it, your life depends on it. There, that wasn't so hard, was it? Stop crying now, we have to repeat this exercise nine more times. Aren't you glad this isn't a top 50 list?

December 27, 2004
More Year-end lists

Q Albums Of 2004
1. The Streets - A Grand Don?t Come For Free
2. Keane - Hopes And Fears
3. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
4. U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
5. Razorlight - Up All Night
6. The Libertines - The Libertines
7. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
8. The Killers - Hot Fuss
9. Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll
10. Interpol - Antics
11. Snow Patrol - Final Straw
12. Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
13. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
14. Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
15. Danger Mouse - The Grey Album
16. Kasabain - Kasabain
17. Kings Of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
18. Prince - Musicology
19. Gwen Stefani - Love Angel Music Baby
20. The Zutons - Who Killed The Zutons
21. Green Day - American Idiot
22. Graham Coxon - Happiness In Magazines
23. Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill
24. The Blue Nile - High
25. Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell
26. Mark Lanegan - Bubblegum
27. Norah Jones - Feels Like Home
28. Usher - Confessions
29. Kanye West - The Collage Dropout
30. Eminem - Encore
31. The Walkman - Bows Arrows
32. Lost Prophets - Start Something
33. George Michael - Patience
34. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
35. The Futureheads - The Futureheads
36. Secret Machines - Now Here Is Nowhere
37. !!! [Chik Chik Chik] - Louden Up Now
38. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands
39. Estelle - The 18th Day?
40. Joss Stone - Mind Body And Soul
41. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
42. Brian Wilson - Smile
43. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
44. Jamelia - Than You
45. The Von Bondies - Pawn Shoppe Heart
46. My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
47. Goldie Lookin? Chain - Greatest Hits
48. Cee-Lo Green - Cee-Lo Green Is The Soul Machine
49. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Live In Hyde Park
50. The Bees - Free The Bees

NME Recordings of 2004

1. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
2. The Libertines - The Libertines
3. The Streets - A Grand Don?t Come For A Free
4. Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
5. The Futureheads - The Futureheads
6. Danger Mouse - The Grey Album
7. Kanye West - The College Dropout
8. Razorlight - Up All Night
9. The Radio Dept - Lesser Matters
10. The Dears - No Cities Left
11. Interpol - Antics
12. Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
13. The Killers - Hot Fuss
14. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
15. Dizzie Rascal - Showtime
16. Beastie Boys - To Thr 5 Boroughs
17. TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babies
18. U2 - Ho To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
19. The Concretes - The Concretes
20. Kasabain - Kasabain
21. Keane - Hope And Fears
22. Gwen Stefani - Love Angel Music Baby
23. Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell (Pt 1 & 2)
24. Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill
25. Kings Of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
26. Secret Machines - Now Here Is Nowhere
27. Mylo - Destroy Rock -N? Roll
28. The Ordinary Boys - Over The Counter Culture
29. Hope Of The States - The Lost Riots
30. Dios - Dios
31. Devendra Banheart - Rejoicing In The Hands
32. Kelis - Tasty
33. Brian Wilson - Smile
34. Amplifier - Amplifier
35. Graham Coxon - Happiness In Magazines
36. The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightening, Strike
37. The Zutons - Who Killed The Zutons
38. Goldie Lookin? Chain - Greatest Hits
39. Eminem - Encore
40. The Bees - Free The Bees
41. Mos Def - The New Danger
42. Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch
43. The Music - Welcome To The North
44. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
45. Green Day - American Idiot
46. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
47. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
48. Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
49. Selfish Cunt - No Wicked Heart Shall Prosper
50. 22-20?s - 22-20?s

MOJO Recordings of 2004

1. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
2. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
3. Brian Wilson - Smile
4. Devendra Banheart - Rejoicing In The Hands/Nino Rojo
5. Mark Lanegen Band - Bubblegum
6. Bjork - Medulla
7. The Shins - Chutes Too Marrow
8. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - The Delivery Man
9. Secret Machines - Now Here Is Nowhere
10. Patti Smith - Trampin?
11. Dizzie Rascal - Showtime
12. The Libertines - The Libertines
13. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
14. Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
15. Kings Of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
16. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
17. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
18. The Streets - A Grand Don?t Come For Free
19. Mavis Staples - Have A Little Faith
20. Adem - Homesonges
21. The Icarus Line - Penance Soiree
22. The Delgados - Universal Audio
23. Kanye West - The Collage Dropout
24. Kelly Stoltz - Antique Glow
25. Lhasa - The Living Road
26. Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill
27. Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
28. Tom Waits - Real Gone
29. The Zutons - Who Killed The Zutons
30. TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babies
31. Cee-Lo - Cee-Lo Green Is The Soul Machine
32. The Country Soul Review - Testifying
33. Tinariwen - Amassakoul
34. Nora Jones - Feels Like Home
35. The Bees - Free The Bees
36. The Futureheads - The Futureheads
37. Reigning Sound - Too Much Guitar
38. Paul Westerberg - Folker
39. Prince - Musicology
40. Kasabian - Kasabian

The Wire 50 Records of the Year

1. Albert Ayler - Holy Ghost: Rare & Unreleased Recordings 1962-70
2. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
3. Fennesz - Venice
4. Deathprod - Deathprod Box
5. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
6. Devendra Banhart - Rejoice in the Hands
7. Wolf Eyes - Burned Mind
8. Wilco - A Ghost is Born
9. PG Six - The Well of Memory
10. Einsturzende Neubauten - Perptuum Mobile
11. Arthur Russell - Calling Out of Context
12. Ellen Fullman & Konrad Sprenger - Ort
13. Brian Wilson - Presents Smile
14. Akira Rabelais - Spellewauernygesherde
15. Radian - Juxtaposition
16. Bark Psychosis - Codename: Dustsucker
17. Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
18. Kaiji Haino - Black Blues
19. Bjork - Medulla
20. Ghost - Hypnotic Underworld
21. Zeena Parkins & Ikue Mori - Phantom Orchard
22. cLOUDDEAD - Ten
23. Sunburned Hand of the Man - Rare Wood
24. Ramon Sender - Worldfood
25. Alvin Curran - Lost Marbles
26. Madvillain - Madvillainy
27. Steve Harris & Zum - Above Our Heads The Sky Splits Open
28. The Hafler Trio - How To Slice A Loaf Of Bread
29. Electrelane - The Power Out
30. Deerhoof - Milk Man
31. Antena - Camino Del Sol
32. MV EE - Lunar Blues
33. Kazuo Imai - Far & Wee
34. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
35. Kanye West - The College Dropout
36. Boredoms - Seadrum/House Of Sun
37. Sunn0))) - White 2
38. Arcade Fire - Funeral
39. Anthony Braxton Quartet - 23 Standards
40. Rammellzee - Bi-Conicals Of The Ramm:ell:zee
41. Jack Rose - Raag Manifestos
42. Stereolab - Margarine Eclipse
43. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
44. Comets On Fire - Blue Cathedral
45. Keiji Haino - 'Next' Let's Try Changing The Shape
46. Niobe - Voodooluba
47. Soft Pink Truth - Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want The Soft Pink Truth?
48. Thalia Zedek - Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch Of Madness
49. Tucker Martine - Broken Hearted Dragonflies: Insect Electronica From Southeast Asia
50. Black Dice - Creature Comforts

The Onion Best Albums of 2004 (compiled from individual lists)

1. Kanye West - The College Dropout
2. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
3. The Walkmen - Bows Arrows
4. Nellie McKay - Get Away From Me
5. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
6. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
7. Devendra Banhart - Nino Rojo
8. RJD2 - Since We Last Spoke
9. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
10. David Mead - Indiana
11. Ricardo Villalobos - Th? Au Harem d'Archim?de
12. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
13. Interpol - Antics
14. Madvillain - Madvillainy
15. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Shake The Sheets
16. !!! - Louden Up Now
17. Ghostface - The Pretty Toney Album
18. Some By Sea - Get Off The ground If You're Scared
19. The Velvet Teen - Elysium
20. Dizzee Rascal - Showtim
21. Dolorean - Violence In The Snowy Fields
22. Reigning Sound - Too Much Guitar
23. The Foreign Exchange - Connected
24. Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
25. MF Doom - Mm..Food?
26. Neko Case - The Tigers Have Spoken
27. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
28. U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
29. Brian Wilson - Smile
30. Murs - Murs 3:16-The 9th Edition

Magnet 20 Best Albums of 2004

1. Tom Waits - Real Gone
2. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
3. Comas - Conductor
4. A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder
5. Comets On Fire - Blue Cathedral
6. Guided By Voices - Half Smiles Of The Decomposed
7. Franz Ferdinand
8. Mark Lanegan Band - Bubblegum
9. Black Keys - Rubber Factory
10. Ambulance Ltd.
11. Iron And Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
12. Interpol - Antics
13. Earlimart - Treble & Tremble
14. Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - Oh, My Girl
15. TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
16. Magnetic Fields - I
17. Veils - The Runaway Found
18. Jolie Holland - Escondida
19. Ulysses - 010
20. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs

Spin Best Albums of the Year

1. Kanye West - The College Dropout
2. Green Day - American Idiot
3. Franz Ferdinand
4. Modest Mouse - Good News...
5. Danger Mouse - The Grey Album
6. Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill
7. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free
8. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
9. Interpol - Antics
10. Brian Wilson - Smile
11. Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
12. TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
13. The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives
14. Various - DFA Compilation .2
15. Courtney Love - America's Sweetheart
16. The Killers - Hot Fuss
17. Madvillain - Madvillainy
18. Prince - Musicology
19. Bjork - Medulla
20. Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Shake In the Streets
21. Jimmy Eat World - Futures
22. Le Tigre - This Island
23. Snow Patrol - Final Straw
24. Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
25. The Secret Machines - Now Here Is Nowhere
26. Eminem - Encore
27. Tom Waits - Real Gone
28. Various - Kompakt 100
29. U2 - How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
30. The Libertines
31. PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her
32. The Faint - Wet From Birth
33. Comets On Fire - Blue Cathedral
34. My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
35. Air - Talkie Walkie
36. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
37. RJD2 - Since We Last Spoke
38. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
39. Ghostface - The Pretty Toney Album
40. Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender

Pitchfork Top 50 Albums

1. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
2. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
3. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
4. The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
5. Brian Wilson - Smile
6. Madvillain - Madvillainy
7. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands
8. The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strikes
9. Ghostface - The Pretty Toney Album
10. Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
11. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
12. M.I.A./Diplo - Piracy Funds Terrorism, Vol. 1
13. Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt
14. Erland IIIye - DJ-Kicks
15. Annie - Annimal
16. Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
17. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
18. Kanye West - The College Dropout
19. Bjork - Medulla
20. Air - Talkie Walkie
21. Fennesz - Venice
22. The Foreign Exchange - Connected
23. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad Music
24. TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth
25. Various - DFA Compilation .2
26. Franz Ferdinand
27. Interpol - Antics
28. Junior Boys - Last Exit
29. A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder
30. William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops
31. De La Soul - The Grind Date
32. Califone - Heron King Blues
33. The Futureheads
34. Espers
35. Mirah - C'mon Miracle
36. Excepter - KA
37. J?hann J?hannsson - Vir?ulegu forsetar
38. Morrissey - You Are the Quarry
39. Cee-Lo - Cee-Lo Green Is a Soul Machine
40. The Walkmen - Bows and Arrows
41. Les Savy Fav - Inches
42. DJ/Rupture - Special Gunpowder
43. Scissor Sistors
44. Camera Obscura - Underachievers Please Try Harder
45. The Concretes
46. Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
47. Comets on Fire - Blue Cathedral
48. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
49. Max Richter - The Blue Notebooks
50. Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles

Stylus Top 40 Albums

1. The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
2. Madvillain - Madvillainy
3. Nellie McKay - Get Away From Me
4. Junior Boys - Last Exit
5. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
6. Ghostface - The Pretty Toney Album
7. Nick Cave - Abbatoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus
8. Bark Psychosis - ///codename: Dustsucker
9. Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles
10. Arcade Fire - Funeral
11. Annie - Anniemal
12. Kanye West - The College Dropout
13. Jens Lekman - When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog
14. Two Lone Swordsmen - From The Double Gone Chapel
15. William Basinksi - The Disentegration Loops
16. Embrace - Out Of Nothing
17. Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
18. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
19. Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
20. John Fusciante - Shadows Collide With People
21. The Necks - Drive By
22. Born Heller
23. Stina Nordenstam - The World Is Saved
24. Deathprod - Morals and Dogma
25. Franz Ferdinand
26. Panda Bear - Young Prayer
27. M.I.A. & Diplo * Piracy Funds Terrorism, Vol. 1
28. Ada - Blondie
29. Augie March - Strange Bird
30. Trillville and Lil Scrappy - BME Productions Presents
31. Wolf Eyes - Burned Mind
32. The Mountain Goats - We Shall Be Healed
33. Cut Copy - Bright Like Neon Love
34. Courtney Love - America's Sweetheart
35. Girls Aloud - What Will the Neighbours Say?
36. The Futureheads
37. Prurient - Shipwrecker's Diary
38. American Music Club - Love Songs for Patriots
39. Lucien-N-Luciano - Blind Behaviour
40. Cam'ron - Purple Haze

Drowned In Sound

1. Interpol - Antics
2. The Killers - Hot Fuss
3. Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill
4. The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart
5. The Futureheads - The Futureheads
6. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
7. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine
8. Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
9. Isis - Panopticon
10. The Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
11. Guided By Voices - Half Smiles Of The Decomposed
12. Reuben - Racecar Is Racecar Backwards
13. The Dears - No Cities Left
14. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
14. Hope Of The States - Lost Riots
15. The Blood Brothers - Crimes
16. Jimmy Eat World - Futures
17. The Icarus Line - Penance Soiree
18. The Streets - A Grand Don?t Come For Free
19. Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - The Royal Society
20. Mclusky - The Difference Between Me And You Is That I?m Not On Fire
22. Mylo - Destroy Rock 'n' Roll
23. Tom Waits - Real Gone
24. Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
25. Squarepusher - Ultravisitor
25. The Faint - Wet From Birth

Playlouder

1 Morrissey
2 Franz Ferdinand
3 The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
4 Danger Mouse
5 The Streets
6 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
7 Tom Waits
8 Interpol
9 Charlotte Hatherley
10 Scissor Sisters
11 Sonic Youth
12 The Go! Team
13 The Killers
14 The Libertines
15 Motorhead
16 Beastie Boys
17 Mothboy
18 Liars
19 Ghostface
20 Leonard Cohen
21 Pink Grease
22 cLOUDDEAD
23 The Beta Band
24 PJ Harvey
25 Weird War
26 Dizzee Rascal
27 Loretta Lynn
28 Von Bondies
29 Mclusky
30 !!!
31 Mark Lanegan
32 Bj?rk
33 Kanye West
34 The Dears
35 Green Day
36 Dogs Die In Hot Cars
37 Mastodon
38 Amplifier
39 Skinnyman
40 Biffy Clyro
41 The Broken Family Band
42 Chumbawumba
43 Evil Nine
44 Madvillain
45 Polysics
46 RTX
47 (The Real) Tuesday Weld
48 Todd Rundgren
49 Wolf Eyes
50 Auf Der Maur

November 22, 2004
TV On The Radio Win Shortlist Music Prize

MTV2 aired the Shortlist Music Prize show on Saturday, November 20 in a short, tidy half-hour time slot. The ceremony actually took place on November 15 at L.A.'s Avalon Theater. It's refreshing, compared to the bloated Grammys, with the grotesque spectacle of self-congratulatory music industry weasels that never seems to end. MTV featured an hour of the five hour show last year, but quickly remembered their role is not to introduce new music to the masses, but to pound the obvious chart hits into public consciousness relentlessly and far beyond the point of saturation. The Shortlist rules say the albums (released between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2004) must not have sold more than 500,000 copies at the time of nomination. Reward an artist for being commercial failures? Outrageous! No big name recognition to milk? What's the point? Where's the quick cash? The red carpets? The industry ring kissing and celebrity arse licking?

Recovering weasels Greg Spotts, CEO of a management and marketing company, and MCA VP of A&R Tom Sarig exhumed the forgotten concept of awarding artistic excellence rather than mainstream chart success. They created the Shortlist Music Prize with a mission statement "to create opportunities for left-of-center culture to cross over to the mainstream," with the long-term goal of building "the Shortlist brand into a powerful recommendation engine that will help grow the audience for adventurous creative works of all kinds." The "Listmakers" are made up of "respected members of the creative community," including musicians, record producers and music journalists. "Listmaker" has a bit of a secret-society ring to it, but not to the extent of, say, The Academy, which brings to mind a bunch of wizened old geezers who gather at dinner, toast with bejeweled goblets and discuss their nominations over a ghoulish feast of kittens and puppies. Instead, the Listmakers dinner consists of a much more humane, civilized ritual in which they drink the blood from a label executive who's outworn their usefulness, or perhaps a washed out pop diva. If Ashlee Simpson disappears completely from the media spotlight, you can guess who will feed the Listmakers at next year's dinner as they chew the silicone, er, fat over their selections.

A longlist of 49 albums is chosen, which is later whittled down to a shortlist of 10 albums. While it's been compared to the British Mercury Prize, the Shortlist Music Prize doesn't restrict by geography or genre. The winner of the inaugural prize in 2001 was Sigur Ros. N.E.R.D. beat out Bjork, DJ Shadow and The Flaming Lips in 2002, and in 2003 Damien Rice was the surprise winner over Interpol, The Black Keys, The Streets and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

This year's Listmakers included filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Will-I-Am (Black Eyed Peas), Serj (System of a Down), Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional), Robert Smith (The Cure), John Mayer, Norah Jones, Perry Farrell, Jack Black, Dixie Chicks, 3D of Massive Attack, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Josh Tyrangiel, Margeaux Watson, Neil Strauss, Nic Harcourt, Thor Christensen, Tom Moon and Toure.

The 2004 shortlist consisted of Air, Dizzee Rascal, Franz Ferdinand, Ghostface, The Killers, Loretta Lynn, Nellie McKay, The Streets, TV On The Radio, and Wilco. Left behind in the longlist were worthy contenders like Café Tacuba, Elbow, Fiery Furnaces, PJ Harvey and Snow Patrol. "What were they thinking" longlisters included David Bowie, Keane, Macy Gray, Peaches, Phoenix, Ryan Adams and Travis. Perhaps next year they ought print out a Fast ‘n' Bulbous list, so they don't miss out on the likes of Four Tet, Amon Tobin, Prefuse 73, Otto, Super Furry Animals, Tujiko Noriko, The Mars Volta, The Walkmen, The Earlies, Sketch Show, Mark Lanegan Band, Mission of Burma, Tom Waits and Arto Lindsay. The Shortlist site shows who Listmakers have nominated in the Shortlist's four year history. Aimee Mann nominated The Shins, Iggy Pop nominated And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead and The Flaming Lips, Beck nominated Clinic and Aphex Twin, both Lars Ulrich and Spike Jonze nominated N.E.R.D., Josh Homme nominated Wire, Tori Amos nominated Mogwai, Cameron Crowe nominated Interpol and Tom Waits nominated The Eels and Orchestra Baobob.

And the winner was TV On The Radio, who happened to have released the best album of 2004, Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes. Imagine that! Singer Tunde Adebimpe was shocked, "It's a little weird," he said. "We met ?uestlove and he said ‘I nominated you guys for the Shortlist Awards' and we're just like ‘Oh my god ?uestlove knows who we are." Indeed, interviews on the MTV2 special revealed that the hip hop artists had a keen awareness of the artists outside their genre, with the rock bands in turn acknowledging the still-growing influence of hip hop. The Listmakers recognized TV On the Radio's fascinating mix of thoughtfully poetic lyrics, electronic soundscapes and their demonstration of how doo wop informed hip hop's human beatboxing. Desperate Youth... truly deserves the prize for most creative and adventurous album. The band was also awarded $10,000 from sponsor XM radio. Having been on tour for 14 months, Adebimpe vowed to use his share to take his cats to the vet so they may "live into the next horrible part of the millennium."

Billboard.com, knowing which side their bread is buttered, dismissively reported the two and a half hours of performances as "lacklustre," and that the gleeful dual-drummer caveman rock of surprise guests Eagles Of Death Metal failed to rile up the crowd. The audience, which included Beck, Paz Lechantin, The Distillers' Brody Dalle and Andy Granelli, was more likely in pure shock that they were witnessing real, non-lip-synching artists at a music industry-sponsored event.

It goes to show that despite the continuing dumbing-down of celebrity-obsessed pop culture, young artists are still managing to step outside of their cultural comfort zones, absorb a broad spectrum of genres and innovate. Let's hope this fresh new blood bleeds outside of MTV2's 30 minute cell and exerts some real cultural influence.

November 18, 2004
The year-end lists have begun

Uncut Albums of the Year

1. Brian Wilson - Smile
2. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
3. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
4. Richmond Fontaine - Post To Wire
5. Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Live 1964 Concert At Philharmonic Hall
6. Mark Lanegan Band - Bubblegum
7. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
8. Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill
9. American Music Club - Love Songs For Patriots
10. Franz Ferdinand
11. Tom Waits - Real Gone
12. Kanye West - The College Dropout
13. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
14. Ray Lamontagne - Trouble
15. Junior Boys - Last Exit
16. R.E.M. - Around The Sun
17. Leonard Cohen - Dear Heather
18. N*E*R*D - Fly Or Die
19. Todd Rundgren - Liars
20. Lambchop - Aw Cmon/No You Cmon
21. Scissor Sistors
22. The Libertines
23. Drive-By Truckers - The Dirty South
24. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
25. Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
26. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands
27. The Blue Nile - High
28. Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier
29. Steve Earle - The Revolution Starts Now
30. Micah P. Hinson & The Gospel Of Progress
31. Jesse Malin - The Heat
32. The Dears - No Cities Left
33. Blanche - If We Can't Trust The Doctors...
34. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - The Delivery Man
35. U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
36. TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
37. Jim White - Drill A Hole In That Substrate And Tell Me What You See
38. The Czars - Goodbye
39. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
40. Interpol - Antics
41. Bjork - Medulla
42. Giant Sand - Is All Over...The Map
43. Bonnie "Princ" Billy - Greatest Palace Music
44. Jonathan Richman - Not So Much To be Loved As To Love
45. Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
46. Secret Machines - Now Here Is Nowhere
47. The Cure
48. Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll
49. Andrew Morgan - Misadventures In Radiology
50. Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue
51. Ella Guru - The First Album
52. Kevin Tihista's Red Terror - Wake Up Captain
53. Paul Westerberg - Folker
54. Marianne Faithful - Before The Poison
55. Ed Harcourt - Strangers
56. The Thrills - Let's Bottle Bohemia
57. Lewis Taylor - The Lost Album
58. Air - Talkie Walkie
59. The Killers - Hot Fuss
60. Polly Paulusma - Scissors in My Pocket
61. The Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour
62. Fennesz - Venice
63. Phoenix - Alphabetical
64. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
65. Iron & Wine - My Endless Numbered Days
66. David Byrne - Grown Backwards
67. Felix Da Housecat - Devin Dazzle And The Neon Fever
68. Ariel Pink - The Doldrums
69. The Concretes
70. A Girl Called Eddy

I downloaded a few of the more obscure choices to listen to. However, this year stands out in that 13 of my top 20 didn't make their top 70. While some of the releases came out last year in the U.S., bear in mind Uncut is a UK magazine.

November 17, 2004
Pixies then and now

With my first radio show at my college station in the fall of '87, I focused on new music -- Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Naked Raygun, Big Black, Yo La Tengo, Scratch Acid, Butthole Surfers, Swans, Squirrel Bait, Spacemen 3, Loop, Gun Club, Tragic Mulatto, Game Theory, Flaming Lips and much more. There was plenty of variety -- indie rock seemed to really be exploding. The new arrival that really blew me away was the EP with the intriguing cover art of hairy back torso of what looked like a baldheaded yeti. The Pixies? Come On Pilgrim wasn?t as strange as the Butthole Surfers, but certainly something entirely new. "Caribou? kicked it off with an eerily effeminate voice that soon built into a convulsive scream. The lyrics of songs like "The Holiday Song,? "Levitate Me? and "Nimrod?s Son? have seemingly no precedent -- surreal pastiches of violence, incest, biblical references, humor and beauty. I had recently immersed myself in the poetry of surrealist writer Andre Breton (?Beauty will be convulsive or it will not be at all? and I knew The Pixies were my new favorite band. Many others had gotten a handle of the pioneering nature of The Pixies? music just as quickly. Melody Maker critic Simon Reynolds called them a Dada garage band, and soon fanzines like You Can?t Hide Your Love Forever were declaring them "planet-shaking," describing their live performances of their perfect perversion as holy events. As my first real concert experience after moving to the Twin Cities for college, I would soon find out the extent of their power

A friend?s band scored an opening slot for The Pixies at the 7th St. Entry in Minneapolis, so I got in as a roadie (that night it was 21 , and I was only 18). I couldn?t have picked a better show to be introduced to my soon-to-be favorite venue. What a memory -- they played like whirling dervishes possessed with the spirit of the Tasmanian devil cartoon. The crowd (it was by no means sold out, but full enough for the perfect energy) just erupted into a giant moshpit. They were already performing their cover of "The Lady In The Elevator Song" from Eraserhead. It's a shame The Pixies never collaborated with David Lynch. I was so stoked that after the show, when I saw Mrs. John Murphy wandering around (I didn't know her real name yet, because it wasn't mentioned in the liner notes), I had the nerve to offer to buy her a beer.

She smirked and said sure, only to watch me suffer the humiliation of getting kicked out, as I looked more like 16 than 21. It was worth a shot, and I didn't mind. I was thoroughly rocked Surfer Rosa came out sometime after that show, and Kim Deal's minimal contributions were spine-chilling, from her howls in "Where Is My Mind" to the possessed "ri-ri-ri-ri's" of "River Euphrates" to the explosive "Gigantic," overflowing with "a big big love," that fans would overwhelmingly reciprocate to her over the years. Their choice of Steve Albini to engineer the album was genius. He brought the brittle glass-shard guitar sound of his recent project, Big Black's Songs About Fucking and really pushed the savage aspect of the band up front, to contrast more vividly the quiet and melodic moments. Black Francis, who at the time looked like an unassuming Beaver Cleaver, revealed in interviews his interesting family background, with hippie parents who were friends with Captain Beefheart, and became part of the Southern California modern charismatic Pentacostal religion. The seemingly Exorcist-like babblings were actually rooted in his experiences with religious speaking in tongues. At the same time early fans recognized the raw sexuality of it. It was hands down one of the top five albums of the eighties.

Unfortunately Gil Norton would defang the Pixies beast with his watery production, emasculating the once mighty band. I was so disappointed I sold the CD in disgust. Years later, the lesser Pixies material grew on me, as it was still a cut above the standard college rock. Understandably, few bands can make more than one world-changing album. As artists like Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Radiohead, Spoon and The Yeah Yeah Yeah absorbed their influence and carried the torch, The Pixies' legacy grew from cult to legend, deservedly so. Which is why I fully endorse their self-proclaimed "sell-out tour." It was fabulous to see them play with such good humor and energy with a show that far surpassed the listless, burned-out sham of a performance I witnessed in 1991 at First Avenue. Even their encore was refreshing rather than disappearing for ten minutes to snort some coke like they might have (at least certain members of the band might have) in the old days, they stayed on stage, waving at the audience. Despite a few grumblings from clueless critics who complained about them mostly ignoring material from Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde, The Pixies understand where their value lies -- in their initial supernova flash of spastic brilliance. Everything else is just embers fading in its trail.

November 16, 2004
"U2? Joy Division? Bunnymen? Interpol? They pale in this band's shadow."

The thread title is a quote from Uncut's review of The Sound * The BBC Recordings (Renascent) 1980-85, and audaciously featured prominently on the cover sticker. Actually, I added the Interpol in there, because it seems that nearly everyone on Myspace lists them as a favorite. Which is great, I think they're an excellent band, with incredible taste in influences. However, because of the band's reluctance to be straightforward about acknowledging those influences, they're missing an opportunity to turn their audience on to some great music. Lazy journalists and critics always trot out the same old lazy comparisons to Joy Division and Echo & The Bunnymen, and maybe fleeting references to The Cure and The Smiths in reviews of their first album. Yet there's so much more, including Mission Of Burma, Josef K, Magazine, early Simple Minds, Wah!, The Names, Blue Orchids, Psychedelic Furs, Teardrop Explodes, The Chameleons, Comsat Angels, and most significantly, The Sound.

While it's possible the band were not originally aware of The Sound, their similarities in dynamics, song structures and vocal stylings are uncanny. They were an incredible band that fans of any of the above mentioned bands simply should not go another day without checking out. Despite being fairly unknown, theyre ingrained into the history of punk and post-punk. As The Outsiders, Adrian Borland and band released the first independent full-length London punk album, Calling On Youth in June 1977 on their own Raw Edge label. The band wrote and performed the material the previous year, prior to their exposure to the Sex Pistols, and it reflected their obsession with the Velvet Underground and The Stooges (whose Iggy Pop joined them onstage at the Roxy during a performance of Raw Power). The bands lack of popular success had more to do with the length of their hair and their education than the quality of their music. After releasing another lost-to-the world album, Close Up in 1978, the band broke up.

Taking Graham (Bailey) Greene with him, Borland immediately formed The Sound, recording Progaganda in 1979, which wasnt released until 2002 by Rensascent. Bits of Patti Smith Band and Roxy Music has seeped in, and Greenes aggressive bass pre-dates Peter Hooks similar work in Joy Divisions debut, Unknown Pleasure released several months later. Borland admits, however, that the album was a huge influence on his later work with The Sound.

In addition to Interpol, traces of The Sound can be heard in The Stills, Longwave and Elbow, should definitely check them out. Additionally, Borland recorded under the name Second Layer, a more synth-based album, World Of Rubber (Cherry Red UK) in 1981.

Click here for my reviews of their other albums.

Jeopardy (Korova/Renascent) 80
From The Lions Mouth (Korova/Renascent) 81
All Fall Down (Korova/Renascent) 82
Heads And Hearts (Statik/Renascent) 85

November 9, 2004
Most underrated/underknown artists 1995-present

I'm not talking some obscure, struggling local yokels who are dime a dozen, but rather artists with several accomplished albums under their belts and have played all around the world. I figure when an artist only has one album, it's too damn soon to tell if they're underrated until they show they've got staying power.

The Flaming Stars
They've released several excellent albums, yet I still get blank looks at the record stores when I ask for their latest. Formed by ex-Gallon Drunk drummer Max Decharne, I consider them the epitome of Garage Noir. Think 60s garage rock mixed with sinister rockabilly of Nick Cave's Bad Seeds and cinematic aspects of Tindersticks. Their new album Named And Shamed sees domestic release on Nov 16.

Sunset & Void (Alternative Tentacles) 02
A Walk On The Wired Side (Vinyl Japan) 01
Ginmill Perfume: The Story So Far 1995-2000 (Alternative Tentacles)
Sell Your Soul To The Flaming Stars (Vinyl Japan) 97
Bring Me The Rest Of Alfredo Garcia Singles 1995-1996 (Vinyl Japan) 96

Asian Dub Foundation
Before it was fashionable, they mixed early Gang Of Four, Public Image Ltd., dancehall 'n' dub reggae, rap, metal, techno, drum 'n' bass, classical Indian and Bengali folk. ADF's songs are political, angry and spiritual, and their awesome live shows are something to behold -- something between Public Enemy and a heavy dancehall-dub soundsystem.

Enemy of the Enemy (Virgin) 03
Community Music (London) 00
Rafi's Revenge (London) 98
Facts And Fictions (Nation) 95

Chico Science & Na?ao Zumbi
Founder Chico Science originally architected their sound (which he called "mangue" in reference to crabs that live in the mud flats of Recife, Brazil), based on ancient folkloric Northeastern musics, but sounded hyper-modern, adding afro bloco, maracatu, reggae, funk, hip-hop, rock and electronic music. Science was tragically killed in a car accident in 1996, and the band has carried on with percussionist Jorge du Peixe at the vocals.

Nação Zumbi (Trama) 02
Rádio S.AMB.A. (Stern's Brasil) 00
Afrociberdelia (Chaos) 96
De Lama Ao Caos (Chaos) 95

Arto Lindsay
Early in Arto Lindsay's career, he was known for his impatience with convention and tradition, his spastic guitar-playing in the no-wave band DNA being the epitome of unpredictability. His style morphed quickly, and remained ever-changing and dissonant throughout his stints with the Lounge Lizards and Ambitious Lovers. Which is surprising how single minded he's been for an amazing six album stretch in studying a particular form, albeit in a somewhat fractured, deconstructed form. He loves his bossa nova, and lovingly sprinkles in a touch of skronk and electronica. But experimentalism takes a back seat now to aesthetic beauty, with consistently amazing results.

Salt (Righteous Babe) 04
Invoke (Righteous Babe) 02
Prize (Righteous Babe) 99
Noon Chill</