Entry #27: Talk Talk - Laughing Stock

Prior to 'Laughing Stock', all I knew of Talk Talk was their synth-pop offerings that peppered the 80s, which of course I also liked, though not enough to compel me to pick up any of their albums.

'Laughing Stock' came to my awareness by way of an Under Byen interview in which they cited this and 'Spirit of Eden' as an influence.  This made me curious as owing to my obsession with Under Byen, I wanted to know more about any music that influenced their own.  At the time, 'Spirit...' didn't grab me too much (I'll give it another go at some point), but 'Laughing Stock' did, and after a few plays, became an instant favourite.

I have this ongoing fantasy of being a late-night radio DJ, playing moody, nocturnal music in the early hours to whoever might be listening, and this album fits right in with that, given the overall vibe of the record itself (I even read that they recorded at night by candlelight to get in the mood, which explains a lot...).  And yes, I can definitely hear how this influenced Under Byen.

Linked below is what I consider to be the standout track on the album.  It's the languid, but driven pace, the gliding drums and that chord change just before the chorus that gets me every single time I play this album.  Laughing Stock's six darkly evocative pieces have earned themselves that special place in my music collection.  A perfect nighttime record.

                                                              Talk Talk : After the Flood

Entry #26: Slint - Spiderland

And so another indie favourite makes my all time list.

There's not really much I can say about this album that hasn't already been espoused at length by pretty much everyone whose ever heard it, so I'm not going to bother repeating any of that.

For me, Spiderland's appeal lies in its slow, creeping menace, the oblique stories it tells through its six songs, and the way the entire album seems to build towards the cathartic indulgence of Good Morning Captain's closing minutes.

On first play, I thought GMS was decent, and heard a band whose sound clearly influenced many that followed.  However, it was not until some rainy day a week or so later that I really heard Spiderland, and it was then that the album really opened itself up to me.  At exactly one minute and twenty seconds into 'Breadcrumb Trail', at the brief segue just before the song burst open, spilling its innards into my headphones, I got goosebumps.  McMahan's almost pained vocal and the foreboding portent implied by the doom-like progression of the song's "chorus" matched the oppressive bleakness of that day, backing a cryptic tale of an encounter with a mysterious fortune teller.  And so, that otherwise ordinary, miserable and wet day, like so many on this cold rainy isle, was at that moment transformed, by music, into something poetic.  From that point, I knew this would be an album that would stay with me forever.

                                                               Slint : Breadcrumb Trail

Entry #25: Jan Jelinek - Loop Finding Jazz Records

What I love about minimal, glitch electronica is the way it functions as a near perfect decoction of the essence of music.  The reality is that when broken down, all music is just rhythm and noise, and glitch electronica understands this.

As the name suggests, the tunes on LFJR are made up of heavily manipulated Jazz samples and meticulously fused with glitchy, micro-House beats.  The beauty of this album for me is its reduction; the beats click, pop and fizz over minimal soundcapes all punctuated by percussive end tones.

I have lots of music very similar to this, but to me, this particular albums is one of the best examples of the genre.

                                                     Jan Jelinek : Rock in the Video Age

Entry #24: Cocteau Twins - Garlands

I was introduced to Cocteau Twins years ago through an ex-bandmate who used to play me a lot of their stuff.  I was introduced to Garlands in particular through a DJ friend who put the song below on a mixtape he made for me.  (And by mixtape, I do mean an actual cassette.)  I was instantly a fan.

What struck my about 'Shallow than Halo' (and, in turn the entire 'Garlands' album) on first listen was the cold, dark atmosphere.  It was a particularly bitter October, the nights were fast drawing in and I was entangled in a messy and utterly fruitless "relationship" that was going absolutely nowhere.  I suppose all of these factors culminated in 'Garlands' having the effect it had on me, but either way, I was hooked, and once again, music proved to be a timely saviour.

As much as I enjoy Cocteau Twins' work, for me, nothing they have done has surpassed this debut or sounded anywhere near as dark.  The word 'gothic' has been tossed around so much that it is now a cliche bereft of meaning, but this truly is a gothic album, and a stone cold classic to boot.

                                                     Cocteau Twins : Shallow then Halo

Entry #23: A Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory

When you compare the sound and feel of this album to modern Hip-Hop, it doesn't even sound like  the same genre.  I could go on at length about the nadir of present day Hip-Hop but it's a topic that has been beaten to death multiple times.

What makes this album so special for me is its unaffected simplicity.  The beats (mostly Jazz samples) are well realised, the lyrics are spot on and the overall vibe is uplifting and fun.  It's everything you could ever want from a Hip-Hop record and almost impossible to dislike.  It's also important as it serves as a snapshot of what the genre used to be before money men took over and ran it into the ground.

I contend than anyone (young or old) who considers themselves a fan of Hip-Hop, needs to have, at the very least heard this album.  At most, you should own it.

                                           A Tribe Called Quest : Verses from the Abstract

Entry #22: Soundgarden - Louder than Love

Of the so-called "Seattle Four", this is the band that has always struck a chord with me the most.  Nirvana are a given (who doesn't like them?),  Pearl Jam have their moments, but I completely lost interest after their 3rd album and don't listen to them now at all.  As for Alice in Chains, despite enjoying their music during my teen years, I now associate it with that embarrassing phase of mopey, teenage angst so many of us traverse, so cannot hear their songs now without cringing at the person I was back then.

All of the above makes Soundgarden the exception.  I always considered them the most sonically diverse and interesting of the aforementioned "grunge" heavyweights, and I suspect that's been a big part of their appeal to me.   And who could fuck with Chris Cornell's voice?  With regard to their albums, all have something to offer, but 'Louder Than Love' is the one that resonates the strongest for me.

The production, the songwriting, the lyrics... everything is just spot on with this.  The alternative metal formula is present and correct, but there's still plenty of experimentation to be had, and the band also shows that it doesn't take itself too seriously on occasion too, which is nice.  Regarding the production again, I once read the band weren't too happy with the end result, thinking it overproduced, but I don't agree with this assessment at all.  I love LTL's clear, spacious production (somewhat reminiscent of Sonic Youth's 'Evol').  If anything, it was 'Badmotorfinger', that was overproduced; so much so in my opinion, that it took a while for me to really get past that and enjoy it for what it was.

Nevertheless, 'Louder Than Love' is a perfect rock record and an all time favourite for me.

                                                              Soundgarden : Ugly Truth

Entry #21: Arcade Fire - Funeral

 
I had absolutely no doubt this would feature here at some point.

Arcade Fire was another band that grew on me.  The first Arcade Fire track I ever heard (namely 'Neighbourhood #3') didn't click with me straight away.  I found Win Butler's voice in it to be annoying and I immediately dismissed the band as a silly fad.  Some months later, I revisited 'Funeral' and found myself enjoying what I heard, including the very same song I wasn't feeling the first time around.  So, I bought the album.

And yes, this is actually a good example of a first album being the best, IMO.  The releases that followed have seen their sound develop and evolve, and I've enjoyed everything they've put out (including the eponymous EP that preceded this), but this to me will always be their best work.

Sometime in 2005 not long after I'd bought this album, I was off sick from work for about a week (as I recall, I'd caught a nasty bug from a friend's kid).  Naturally, I spent most of the week in bed, and played 'Funeral' album pretty much every day.  That album helped keep me entertained that week and made the drudgery of sickness all the more bearable.

Interestingly, at some point that week,  I casually glanced through the liner notes of the CD and found the lyrics to the song 'Haiti'.  For some reason I still don't quite understand, when I first read the lyrics to the song, they gave me shivers and it  felt as though someone had walked on my grave.  It's the first time I'd ever felt that way about a song.  That said, its lyrics are quite eerie, so perhaps that's all it is, but it has stuck with me ever since.

                                                       Aracde Fire : Neighbourhood #1

Entry #20: Ladytron - Light and Magic

I discovered Ladytron around 1999-ish through their first album '604'.  It was decent enough, but it left me feeling a little underwhelmed as it wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped.  Fortunately, 'Light and Magic' (which followed about 3 years later) surpassed those expectations and became an immediate favourite.  IMO, its suite of songs are stronger, more memorable and just plain better.

I played the album a lot when I first got it, and hearing it just reminds me of everything that was going on in my life at the time.  A guy I was in a band with then (who had a good idea of my musical proclivities) described Ladytron as "a band after my own heart", and you know what? He was absolutely right.

To this day, Light and Magic is still one of my all-time favourite albums, and was one of the soundtracks to a some very personal battles that raged as cognitive dissonance came closing in, long before I understood what that would mean.  'Light and Magic' will always remind me of the best and worst of those times, and musically speaking, it was one of the albums that helped keep me sane.

                                                               Ladytron : Cracked LCD