| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4765 Registered: 05-2005 |
Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman. The greatest album to emerge from the the 90s electronica/dance movement, in my opinion. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2486 Registered: 10-2004 |
Cocteau Twins - Treasure Dead Can Dance - The Serpent's Egg The Passage - Pindrop | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1941 Registered: 10-2008 |
Thats weird, I have played both Dubnobasswithmyheadman and Pindrop in the last few days. Padraig, while I agree Dubnobasswithmyheadman is a great album there are a mountain of albums released in the 90's from the US techno scene that match it and more. Its all out there!! Jeff, I love the sound that The Passage and other 80's synth bands achieved, no doubt using mostly clapped out antique analogue equipment. As the equipment got more sophisticated the creativity seemed to take a downwards spiral imo, most famous culprits being New Order and The Cure whose early forays into electronics were stunning. I like how Pindrop is quite a political album as well, with songs about British soldiers in Northern Ireland and also songs about controversial police men (Anderton's Hall and Mr Terror Chief of Police), very eerie,weird spooky soundscapes on many of the songs too. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1942 Registered: 10-2008 |
David Bowie - All Saints. Brilliant all instrumental comp that Bowie made up for some friends about 20 years ago. Got officially released about 10 years ago but I never ever bought it. Been on heavy rotation on Spotify for about a week now. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2487 Registered: 10-2004 |
Kevin, Pindrop is one of my favorite albums. You're right - there's something very eerie about it; kind of mysterious, bizarre, dark, and sometimes menacing. I love how druggy songs like "Watching You Dance" sound. Dick Witts was extremely political, witty, and super smart, so lyrics on all four Passage album are great. Witts actually played and recorded everything on Pindrop himself. I love the synth sounds he gets; pretty distinctive and original. I'd say Pindrop is my favorite Passage album, but Degenerates is quite good too. Hell, they're all good! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4772 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kevin, I have an emotional connection with Dubnobasswithmyheadman that I usually only get with rock or pop albums. (Though it's not connected with any one particular incident in my life). I also think it is absolutely stunning musically. Unlike most other 90s electronica albums that I've heard (even by bands I really like such as Chemical Brothers and Orbital) I think Dubnobasswithmyheadman is almost as much about melody as rhythm. Karl Hyde's voice is also great. It packs an emotional punch that separates them from almost every other similar act. And they were also terrific when I saw them live in a giant tent in Cork in 1995. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4773 Registered: 05-2005 |
Listening to The Passage's Pindrop album right now. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4774 Registered: 05-2005 |
Last night I played Stereolab's 2003 Instant 0 In the Universe EP, which is mostly great. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1943 Registered: 10-2008 |
I hear you Padraig, Underworld are probably more "human" than a lot of other electronica too. Second Toughest In The Infants is also a great record. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1944 Registered: 10-2008 |
Found this online bio of The Passage. Its a version of the sleevenotes from the LTM reissues. http://www.ltmrecordings.com/passbio.htm l Tells how Morrissey auditioned at one time and includes snippets from retrospective album reviews "Writing in NME, Paul Morley lavished praise on the album: 'With the disquieting Pindrop, The Passage can be accepted as major even by the cowardly, cautious and cynical: it's a work of disciplined intellectual aggression, frantic emotions and powerfully idiomatic musicality. Pindrop is densely shaded, erratically mixed (which often works in its favour), rough edged, heavy in an unloveable sense of the word... It's as shocking a beautiful nightmare, as stormy and aware a debut LP as Unknown Pleasures. Where you gasp a lot. Comparisons will harm. Their sound is their own. It's the shock of the new - new shades, textures, noises, pulses, atmospheres, energies, the opening up of new realms of feeling.' Terry Senai of Sounds was no less effusive. 'This is an astounding first LP by a band about whom I know nothing. Comparisons are futile and confusing, but the most appropriate parallels at the moment are early Joy Division and late Wire. No, there's no plagiarism. Pindrop is as innovative and individual as 154 or Unknown Pleasures were.'" | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 508 Registered: 05-2005 |
'powerfully idiomatic musicality' gold old Morley choking on a dictionary as usual | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2418 Registered: 01-2005 |
Kraftwerk - Computer Gsmes | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2490 Registered: 10-2004 |
Nice reviews, Kevin, I think both are actually spot on. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 395 Registered: 02-2007 |
There's No leaving Now - The Tallest Man On Earth | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1945 Registered: 10-2008 |
Yes Morley was a great advocate of "why use three words when you can use twenty". As for the Sounds reviewer, surely if The Passage are anything like Joy Division (which they aren't really)its later period JD, not early. Early JD were all about gtr,bass,drms, not keyboards/synths. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2491 Registered: 10-2004 |
I took the JD comparison to be more about the way Pindrop uses a kind of starkness and atmosphere to create a unique and distinctive vision, not that the music actually sounds just like JD. I suppose one could argue that Pindrop sounds a wee bit closer to 154 in some respects (more synths and disjointed rhythms than JD), but it's still very much its own particular beast. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4779 Registered: 05-2005 |
Mr David Viner - Mr David Viner. A great English blues album from 2004 that sounds like it was made by the Rolling Stones in 1964. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1947 Registered: 10-2008 |
Yes Jeff, I see what you mean about that Sounds review. Listening to Pindrop now on headphones and stark and eerie are definitely words that fit. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1950 Registered: 10-2008 |
Cabaret Voltaire - Code Gang of Four - Entertainment. Vinyl goodness!! | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1110 Registered: 08-2004 |
Michael B, is that Computer games as performed by Yellow Magic Orchestra? | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2501 Registered: 10-2004 |
Hunters and Collectors - a comp I made combining the best of the eponymous US debut and the original Australian one (both have drastically different tracks with little overlap). Such an amazing collection of songs. Their early work seems to be somewhat overlooked, even though it is every bit as brilliant as any of their Australian contemporaries. It's too bad they quickly devolved into a lousy blues bar band. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 741 Registered: 04-2005 |
Jeff, When I was in Australia in '86 "Throw Your Arms Around Me" was an enormous radio hit and I bought the single. But I pretty horrified to see them on the television not long after and they seemed to be a bad funk outfit! Mark Seymour's memoirs are apparently an entertaining read though. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4784 Registered: 05-2005 |
Consolidated - Brutal Equation 12" | ||
| andreas Member Username: Andreas Post Number: 1020 Registered: 04-2006 |
...no blood for oil... unbelievable this is also twenty years ago. loved their friendly fascism album back then. ...war is not the answer... |