I started writing this before all the hell of November began, so I decided to finish it. I’ll write the 2016 year-end stuff next month and then that’s it until I find some sort of joy or purpose. When I discussed Skip Spence’s exquisite and underappreciated OAR, I mentioned a fondness for the broken and lost geniuses … More Soundtrack of my Life: “War In Peace” by Skip Spence
Sly Stone was a genius. Is a genius. A one time drug addled platinum mohawked genius. But a genius none the less. A funkified, soulful genius with the ability to make me dance in a spontaneous way. I wanna take you higher, and all that jazz. Sly came to me late in life after Arrested Development … More The Album List: # 191 Sly and the Family Stone “Stand!”
Ah, Saint Jimi. The master of the guitar, the king of the riff, hero to many. He is much beloved by the masses, and the art of the rock and roll guitar was propelled forward by him into an unknown stratosphere. As previously stated in my other Hendrix album recap, God is taken on blind … More The Album List: # 190 Jimi Hendrix Experience “Axis: Bold As Love”
The idea that electronic music is a recent invention of celebrity DJs or as an off-shoot of hip hop is false. Electronic music pre-dates the second world war, and thrived in post-war Europe, where artists like Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Schaeffer created the blueprint of modern avant-garde music. It’s no accident countries like France, Germany, … More The Album List: # 192 The Avalanches “Since I Left You”
There are albums that evoke such a time and place that you tend to forget them. It’s a shame that happens, as music is eternal and if you love something you should listen to it, regardless of the shame factor (hello, NKOTB). Dummy is so linked in my head to 1995 that I put it … More The Album List: # 193 Portishead “Dummy”
For all my love of jazz, 80s pop, English story telling, obscure Scottish bands, and middle eastern melodic thievery, I love me some dirty desert rock and roll. Particularly when there is one hell of a guitarist. And especially when Dave Grohl shows up on drums. Dave. I love you.
We have come back to the man himself. Coltrane.
Neko Case’s voice is an earthy, bluesy alto with broad range, tinged with a southern accent long fed through a Northwestern upbringing. It’s one of the greatest voices in modern music, adept at so many genres that she can make your head spin. When I hear her on those great New Pornographer albums like … More The Album List: # 197 Neko Case “Blacklisted”
One of the many, many legends of rock and roll is about how Dexys stole the master tapes of their classic début album away from EMI and hid them in frontman Kevin Rowland’s parent’s house while holding out for more cash. It’s true, confirmed by many people, including the band and people who worked at … More The Album List: # 198 Dexys Midnight Runners “Searching For the Young Soul Rebels”
My slavish devotion to the English Folk revival has had me waxing poetic about other albums like this and this and even this . I’m a sucker for strumming and picking and songs about going all around hats, Greensleeves, Lord Randall and stuff. Pentangle had an ace up its sleeve, though, in guitarist Bert Jansch. An amazing guitarist, … More The Album List: # 199 Pentangle “Basket of Light”
If my list tends to skew 1980s pop at moments, it’s because I grew up in the 1980s with little more than a boom box where I ripped hundreds of hours of radio, plus several episodes of Video Hits (my boom box had a built-in mic. Yes, I did pretend to be a DJ like … More The Album List: # 200 Simple Minds “New Gold Dream 81-82-83-84”
