essential

ROVO – Mon

/ David James / 4 Comments

ROVO.  Get familiar. Featuring electric violinist Yuji Katsui and guitarist Seiichi Yamamoto (of Boredoms), this group has built a rock solid career releasing consistently vibrant, energetic, forward-looking, impeccably arranged tribal/jazz/electronic/noise/funk/dance-fueled records.  Yes, I just made a reductive chain of genre names.  Read on to know why…

mon

Mon is an unequivocal masterpiece.  Currently in the center of ROVO‘s ever-expanding discography, this is, to me, their most representative album – an absolute highlight of effortlessly addictive yet experimentally-tinged instrumental groovy goodness.  I truly hope you give it a listen.  For your own sake.

For many people (like myself), discovering this band is that *aha!* moment when they realize there is, in fact, a group making the kind of music that resembles what they’d subconsciously love to hear.  This is dream music in the most literal sense; it’s a perfect combination of previously-unrealized elements brought together in a cohesive, ambiguously, strikingly original sound.  Still, there’s a warm familiarity bred of the intuitively catchy, effortlessly hypnotic beats.  Even if it’s not horizon-expanding for you, this album has my guarantee as an invigorating wave of narcotic bliss.  Jump in, the water’s warm.  You’ll be back for more.

[this is a reasonably difficult album to track down, but I’ve found copies on amazon.jp (don’t worry, it can be read in english) and ROVO’s myspace has more info]

Disco Inferno – D.I. Go Pop

/ David James / 5 Comments

This is not your mother’s disco. It’s one of the most innovative yet short lived bands in the last 20 years!

digopop

Disco Inferno are pretty much the definition of “post rock” – though certainly not in the mould of nearly any band currently saddled with the oft-abused label.  DI made records truly beyond the rock idiom in nearly every way, and paid the price of an untimely death with slim recognition and anemic sales.  Of course now, in the internet age, they’ve been somewhat resurrected… for another generation to ignore.  I’m trying to rectify such a musical travesty.

D.I. Go Pop was the band’s second LP, issued after a string of increasingly brilliant singles and EPs which took them from the humble roots of post-punk also-rans to the heights of rock experimentatation.  Although the title begs otherwise, this is probably the most ‘challenging’ DI release.  However, it’s not a reaction against pop forms.  These 8 songs feel like someone broke the model for modern rock and, after forgetting how it originally went together,  decided to assemble the pieces into something new and different.  They don’t simply de- or reconstruct it, but fashion something more ambiguous, personal and interesting.  I won’t try to describe the sounds other than, generally speaking, they were far ahead of their time in the use of sampling, presaging everything from Matmos to The Books to Animal Collective‘s later albums.

[grab this truly worthy yet well-hidden gem at amazon]

Billie Holiday – Lady In Satin

/ David James / 2 Comments

billie-holiday-lady-in-satin

Billie Holiday is a true-blue goddess. This is not debatable opinion; it is straight fact. Her interpretations and originals are some of the most enduring recordings in modern popular music. Her voice lacerates soul and body alike and has been known, on occasion, to reduce grown men to tears. Her spirit is defiantly eternal.

Her final recorded work is Lady in Satin.

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Seefeel – Quique

/ David James / 6 Comments

Seefeel Quique

Seefeel are an extraordinary, epoch-defining band, a group which one often finds name-checked in the write-ups of other essential music. Their debut album is a groundbreaking masterwork that exists far outside of time.

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Terry Riley – A Rainbow In Curved Air

/ David James / Leave a comment

I’ve previously referred to this compositional wizard.  Finally, an elucidation:  Terry Riley is one of the founding fathers of modern minimalism and, more subtly, inspiration to myriad genres and generations of popular music since his first groundbreaking compositions.  I’m here to share my love for A Rainbow In Curved Air

So I’m sharing this landmark recording.  The title cut is an unequivocal masterpiece.  Anyone speaking otherwise is obviously ‘out of their element’ and should, by all means, give it a listen.  There isn’t much to write in the way of a description, other than noting that this recording is analogous to a profound dream:  deeply affecting, nuanced, beautiful, yet devoid of concrete meaning.  The feelings evoked are an end unto themselves.  These sounds are subconscious and natural.  This composition is eternal.

Just listen.

[purchase at amazon and rejoice.  thank me later]

Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna

/ David James / 11 Comments

gang-gang-dance-saint-dymphna

Saint Dymphna is the patron saint of those who suffer from mental illness. You can find all manner of pop-pyschology diagnoses relating the unique title choice to this indisputable masterpiece of an album, from the lowliest myspace blog to the glossiest of mainstream magazines; I feel that talking about the music itself is probably more relevant.

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Tom Waits – Bone Machine

/ David James / 6 Comments

tomwaits-bonemachine

Well I know karate, and voodoo too!

Everyone knows Tom Waits is one of those totally essential artists. You know, the ones your older brother or your first serious boyfriend or girlfriend constantly sung the praises of, reminding you that you *have to* listen. Often these artists slip by without due attention in a mixture of defiance and incredulity – how could anything be truly essential?

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