angels and demons at play
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recommended rocking:
This page is hell of out of date. Where are the Hudson Brothers? What about Saggitarius, and Ronnie Lane? But I'd rather write songs than update this page... So anyway here's what we were into like 5 years ago... In no particular order:
  • The Boredoms: VISION CREATION NEWSUN: No, it's not just noise anymore – the Boredoms have embraced rhythm, breaking a lot of drumsticks in the process. In the words of the record store clerk selling it to me, "it sounds like 30 people all running like hell towards ... uh, something," but I would add "while playing drums surrounded by birds and harps and flutes." At first I couldn't decide if I hated it or loved it, but I knew right away that it was blowing my mind. It turns out, I love it – after the initial rush of mania, it becomes quite peaceful and transcendental.

  • Love: FOREVER CHANGES: An album that people either love or hate, this is the quintessetial 60s album for me. Not that it sounds like anything else at that time – churning acoustic guitars and a thundering rhythm section play against psychedelically sparse strings and fuzz guitars, leaving ample space for Arthur Lee's gently maniacal vocals. He is now out of prison and on tour again – the show in LA was incredible! Somehow his voice has gotten even better, although I'm not sure how that's possible.
  • Royal Trux: ACCELERATOR: I know, it's not the most obscure band around or anything, but MAN I've been digging this album, although it took me a while (their live shows were pretty discouraging). The chaotic production slowly starts to fall into place and the effect is hypnotizing and rockin' too. Royal Trux is like the Stones ... in space, on acid, in the center of the earth, all of the above. Listen and supply your own far-out adjective.

  • Dwight Twilley Band: SINCERELY: Amazing power pop that transcends its genre, like early Big Star crossed with T.Rex. All of the ingredients are there: gorgeous vocals, rambunctious guitars, shimmering production. Why aren't there more good straight-up rock'n'roll albums like this?

  • Fela Kuti: SHAKARA/FELA'S LONDON SCENE: An African James Brown-type character, with a touch of Sun Ra organ and some cool yelling and carrying on. He was the heart of the countercultural movement in Nigeria in the 70s, and he is remembered there as a hero of godlike stature, although in reality he was a confused and difficult man, once marrying 20 women at the same time, for example.
  • Can: EGE BAMYASI, FUTURE DAYS: Sometimes I think that this early 70s German band invented everything that the Beatles didn't. Propelled by deceptively simple bass lines, volcanic drumming, and swirling organs and guitars, Can explored minimalism and maximalism simultaneously, giving us groovy experimental music that is (usually) accessible. Really, a precursor to most of the electronic music of the last 20 years.
  • Jacques Dutronc: (his 60s mod stuff): French rocker who makes singing in his native tongue sound f-in' cool – "Ungh!! Ouai!!" Like a suave Dylan or something.

  • Caetano Veloso, Gil Gilberto: (60s stuff): These seminal Brazilian tropicalistos were buddies with Os Mutantes, and actually wrote a lot of their songs. All of their good albums are self-titled, but look for the Gil Gilberto album with a parchement with some writing on the cover, and the Caetano disc with the goofy red drawing of a mermaid.

  • Oval, Microstoria: SYSTEMISCH, INIT DING (respectively): Great ambient techno by guys related to Mouse on Mars. Can machine noises be soothing? They are when they're shrouded in fog. We once blasted this outdoors at an isolated cabin and it fused perfectly with the natural peace. Weird.
  • T.Rex: ELECTRIC WARRIOR, THE SLIDER: "People laughed at his long black hair, his animal grace" – that's what Bowie sang about Marc Bolan, and a lot of folks still can't take T.Rex too seriously. After all, all those silly high voices and platform shoes... yeah, but what about the heavy glamrock guitars, and the great string arrangements, and the amazing self-referential lyrics, and that cool out of focus photo of him in the top hat taken by Ringo?

  • The Impressions: KEEP ON PUSHING/PEOPLE GET READY: Curtis Mayfield's first band. The refined arrangements and production make Motown look stone-age.

  • Alice Coltrane: JOURNEY INTO SATCHINANDANA: John's wife creates sheets of sound on harp and piano against a backdrop of droning tamburas and Pharoah Sanders' crazy modal sax.