I’ll pick a new one. I have a doozy.
After some thought, I’ve decided to throw in The Knife - Deep Cuts, the sophomore album of this Swedish brother-sister group. I first encountered them through the deeply disturbing video for We Share Our Mother’s Health (from their third album) and branched out from there. I was tempted to share that album, but on the whole I think I enjoy Deep Cuts more. The combination of rhythmic electronica and bizarre Swedish-accented lyrics just works for me.
Ok, since my first choice was region locked, I’m going to break the 1 record/month rule and remove the Kinks and add a new one.
To hear it told nowadays, the loud alternative rock music of the 1990’s was conceived by the Pixies and given full measure by Nirvana.
Grandpa Triggercut is here to tell you that’s a filthy lie. Particularly in the case of the Pixies, what they were doing was an extension of a sort of rust-belt postpunk movement in the mid-to-late 1980’s. Throughout the states of the Big 10 college football conference, bands like Big Black, Breaking Circus, The Poster Children, The Magnolias, Urge Overkill, and even early Soul Asylum and Husker Du played music that sounded equally informed by Cheap Trick, Kiss, The Fall, and The Clash.
In the late 1980’s one of my favorite bands in this subgenre put out an absolute monster of a record. The group was called Bitch Magnet, and the album was called Umber.
The Magnet had formerly been a 3-piece band, but for Umber they added former Squirrel Bait/Bastro guitarist David Grubbs. The result was an album full of Albini-like bemused anger and irony, set to some of the loudest guitars this side of Husker Du. At times fast and aggressive (“Motor”), at times churning and heavy (“Goat Legged Country God” and “Big Pining”), the best songs on Umber are where they screw with the loud/soft dynamic years before Kurt Cobain thought to. As a result, “Clay”, “Douglas Leader”, and the epic and elliptical “Americruiser” are some of the finest loud rock produced during the 1980’s.
Bitch Magnet relocated to North Carolina after this record and put out one more album. Then laconic lead singer Sooyoung Park left the band to form Seam with Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan while drummer Orestes Morfin moved back to the midwest to bring his skills to a variety of groups in the 1990’s.
Argh, I forgot to post or comment last month, but this month shall not pass me by.
This month I’m posting The Tear Garden’s 1992 album Last Man To Fly. The Tear Garden is a “supergroup” of sorts, comprising cEvin Key, the musical half of Skinny Puppy and Edward Ka-Spel, lead singer of The Legendary Pink Dots. This album doesn’t really sound much like either of their bands (besides Edward’s rather distinctive singing voice). This is occasionally poppy and lighter-than-air psychedelia more in the vein of “Saucerful of Secrets”-era Floyd. It’s a fantastic album, IMO, and I hope you enjoy it.
I’d like in on this. How do I join?
I’m glad the month reset as I didn’t have anything terribly exciting to share last month but do this month.
My contribution is Alice Coltrane’s 1971 album, Journey in Satchidananda. Alice Coltrane was John Coltrane’s wife and this album makes it abundantly clear that she was not just cashing in on his name but was an incredible artist in her own right. This album is holy shit good and I could listen to it all day.
I don’t think that it requires invites. You just subscribe to the collaborative playlist (link) and then put your chosen album in the playlist and come here and post about it.
Thanks, that did it.
Cheers to triggercut for putting The Kinks in there. That was actually what I was going to choose. Wye Oak did a very nice cover of Strangers, btw, if you haven’t heard it already.
I guess I’ll go with Ompa Til Du Dør by Kaizers Orchestra. I hope you guys don’t mind it’s in Norwegian. Somebody translated the lyrics into English, in case anyone’s interested.
I always like hearing new non-English music. Unfortunately, American music seems really culturally dominant even in places like Germany. And it’s not like American music is bad or anything, but I hear tons of it. Something a little more foreign is nice sometimes.
Yeah, American music gets played a lot on Danish radio, too. Quite a few of the local bands sing in English, as well, hoping to get noticed outside of Denmark, I suppose. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, really, although some of the best Danish music (in my opinion) is in Danish.
I imagine the same is true for many European (and other non-English speaking) countries.
The Breakers are Danish and sing in English and completely rule.
Really? I haven’t heard of them. What kind of music is it?
edit: Don’t get me wrong, there’s some good Danish music in English, but the really good stuff (again, in my opinion) is in Danish: CV Jørgensen, Gasolin, Sebastian, Røde Mor, off the top of my head.
I really like Kaizers Orchestra, btw.
Cool. Check out some of their later albums if you’re interested. The first one (Ompa Til Du Dør) is probably my favourite, but there’s some good stuff on the others, too.
If you can sing like the bastard love child of Rod Stewart and Van Morrison, you sing in English:
Cool, thanks. Yeah, I’m not sure that’d work in Danish. :)
Turns out this Bitch Magnet album is pretty damn great.
Good grief, I leave for a while and triggercut’s posting multiple albums per month. (Just started listening to the list).
The first album wasn’t region-locked for me, so I’ll enjoy both.
So, um, The Chap. I’ll explain them more when I’m less exhausted but what we’re looking at here is the final album (I think) by an experimental, groovy genre-spanning group from, well, all over the place. They’re nominally British and one of the few, if not only examples of what is essentially music with RP vocals.
Mr_PeaCH’s pick of the month: X - Los Angeles.
In my highschool days (80-85) I most closely identified with the punk music scene. I grew up in the LA surburbs (Torrance if you know it, fuck it if you don’t). My first love were the local boys done good, Black Flag. But as my taste expanded and I got a sense for what others were listening to the band that came up over and over was X.
It was at around this time they were getting some mainstream attention (at least locally) and their first album on the Slash label was Los Angeles. It was produced by the Doors’ keyboardist, Ray Manzarek. While sonically it was fast and loud (as all good punk rock should be) X were cut from a different cloth than most outfits. For one, they could play. Guitarist Billy Zoom in particular had (and has) real chops. The songs had structure and sprouted from a variety of musical seeds and not only this brave, new punk thing. Also they wrote some great lyrics and they sang and played with feeling and passion.
Anyways, I hope it is enjoyed. I go back and listen to old X often and I think they really hold up. There is a sort of ‘garage band’ feel to them more than a dated 80’s punk thing that stands the test of time.
YEAH it is! It’s like a long-lost Squirrel Bait album, with a little Jawbox thrown in for good measure. I can’t believe I never got into this band.