A decade or so ago, I accidentally saw Calexico live. I had no idea who they were but they were opening for Wilco, who I was desperate to see after seeing them live on TV.
Category: Music
Consumed (1998) by Plastikman
I do not listen to a lot of electronic music though at this point in my life I am listening to far, far more than I ever have before. This recent experience is giving me at least some context when I listen to other stuff but I regularly find myself listening to a record released …
Shrink (1998) by The Notwist
I don’t know anything about this band but my understanding is that it’s a left turn from previous albums. That’s likely a good thing but, because I’ve never heard those previous albums, I’ve left with just this.
A Thousand Leaves (1998) by Sonic Youth
The first track makes me think of their early music, even though I haven’t heard anything earlier than their earlier than their fourth album, so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. But anyway the opening makes it sound like they’ve gone more experimental. (Actually a few tracks do.)
Version 2.0 (1998) by Garbage
Though I feel like Garbage songs were everywhere when I was in High School, I honestly don’t remember too many of them. (A couple here are sort of ringing some bells, I guess.) So I was genuinely surprised when I listened to the record and then I decided the title must have something to do …
Cruelty and the Beast (1998) by Cradle of Filth
I usually have no problem with weird voices. Sure, there’s the odd one that rubs me the wrong way but, more often than not, I can ignore or even enjoy a weird voice when I hear it if I like everything else about the music (and especially if that voice is talented).
From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998) by Tori Amos
I have only ever previously heard one Tori Amos album, her debut. So when I first listened to this there was just a little bit of shock that it didn’t sound like my expectations.
The Nightingale and Other Short Fables live at the Four Seasons Centre, May 13, 2018
Back in 2008 or 2009 or so, the Canadian Opera Company put on a radically different performance of Igor Stravinsky’s “3 act” opera The Nightingale, buttressed by additional pieces in order to actually make the runtime somewhat comparable to a normal opera. (The Nightingale runs less than an hour.) I don’t know who initially curated the selections …
A Bell Is a Cup Until It Is Struck (1988) by Wire
I am a long-time fan of both Pink Flag and especially Chairs Missing but have somehow never managed to get to any of their other material. Having not heard their first album after they reunited either, this is a surprise.
Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (1988) by Camper Van Beethoven
Perhaps for the first time they acknowledge their debt to Kaleidoscope by covering a song Kaleidoscope covered (“O Death”). If I didn’t think these guys were the ’80s College Rock Kaleidoscope before, I do now.
Lovesexy (1988) by Prince
To the extent that I know Prince, I know him as the dynamic performer who effortlessly combines aspects of R&B (funk, soul, etc.) with elements of rock (psychedelia, art rock, hard rock) and pop. Well, he’s dialed down the ambition at this point in his career and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
Vivid (1988) by Living Colour
This is a pretty great, albeit over-produced, fusion of funk and soul music with mainstream metal, with some extremely political lyrics.
Melissa Etheridge (1988)
I know virtually nothing about the history of queer/LGBT performers and especially singer-songwriters in popular music. Depending upon how you feel about the queerness of David Bowie or Freddie Mercury, I may know absolutely nothing. So I don’t truly know how much of a landmark this record is, by a woman who was out, if …
Mama Africa (1983) by Peter Tosh
Tosh has apparently switched up his guitar for a clavinet (though I guess this happened a while ago) and there seems to me a corresponding change in sound from his late ’70s record, but maybe just haven’t listened to enough.
Learning to Cope with Cowardice (1983) by Mark Stewart + Maffia
I have long meant to listen to The Pop Group but somehow it seems I’ve just never gotten around to doing it. Because of that I lack the knowledge of the connection between this music (made by its lead singer) and the earlier music. Maybe this would make more sense to me with that context.
Back to Mystery City (1983) by Hanoi Rocks
The term “hair metal” was thrown around a lot in the 1980s, often at bands that little or nothing to do with it – like the Gunners (too bluesy), Def Leppard (not metal enough once they were successful, too British, and not really of that scene at all), or Queensyrche (too proggy) and any number …
Holy Diver (1983) by Dio
I have only heard one Dio-era Sabbath album, and I can’t say I loved it. But it was a few years ago and I can’t really tell you specifically what it was that rubbed me the wrong way; maybe it just seemed out of step with the time.
Piece of Mind (1987) by Iron Maiden
Sometimes I’m listening to an album, and reading about that album, and wondering why I seem to be hearing something different than other people do.
Power, Corruption and Lies (1983) by New Order
I was pretty disappointed by New Order’s debut. If I can recall, I believe I was expecting something along the lines of the little I knew about New Order, and what I got was Joy Division minus Ian Curtis. Yes, that’s basically the band, but I was not expecting that. I was disappointed.
Eternally Yours (1978) by The Saints
The major innovation of The Saints’ second album is the presence of the horn section on some tracks. Basically we can trace the “punk with horns” thing back to this album.
Power in the Darkness (1978) by Tom Robinson Band
This is certainly more musically traditional punk than so many of the punk albums that came out in 1977 and especially in 1978. I guess that’s why some people consider it pub rock; it’s more musically competent than punk and, were it not for the lyrics and the vocals, it could be mistaken for pub …
Die Mensch-Maschine aka The Man-Machine (1978) by Kraftwerk
If I thought Trans Europa Express was the beginning of synth pop, that was because I had not heard The Man-Machine. The connections between Trans Europa Express and ’80s synthpop felt slightly tenuous; honestly it felt like I might have been exaggerating the connection just a little bit. Not that that record didn’t influence a …
The Pentangle (1968)
This is some pretty good folk jazz / jazz folk stuff, that is classified on RYM as “progressive folk” and “folk rock” for some reason. (Well, there is a reason: it’s possible they don’t recognize the existence of the folk jazz / jazz folk sub-genre, despite how much of it there is out there.) Anyway…
This Is Hardcore (1998) by Pulp
I think one of the things that distinguishes Pulp from their supposed contemporaries in Britpop is simply their experience – they’ve been making music so much longer than most of the other bands they’re lumped in with, they just know how to do things better. At least, that’s my theory as to why I like …
Suede (1993)
This is a more theatrical version of Brit Pop than I’m normally used to – that’s not to say it’s super theatrical but it is definitely glammier (for lack of a better word) than their contemporaries.
Are You Gonna Go My Way (1993) by Lenny Kravitz
I do not love nostalgia. Even when that nostalgia is for music I like, I have a hard time liking or sometimes even appreciating music that was made in awe of and devotion to another time. Sure, it might sound better than the original because it was recorded better or mixed better or mastered better …
Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993) by Depeche Mode
At this point I have heard enough synthpop (and enough Depeche Mode) to understand how this record breaks from that tradition (much like the previous record, Violator, also does), and so I feel like I might actually have something decent to say about it, unlike when I first listened to Violator.
Frank Black (1993)
At first, it might be tempting to write-off Frank Black’s debut album as ” softer Pixies plus keyboards” and I can sort of see that. But I think that such a view obscures what’s really going on, and that is the rather huge growth of Black’s songwriting.
Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka (1998) by Nile
One of the things that I worry about with Death Metal (or Black Metal, for that matter) is that I am going to be confronted by 35-60 minutes of the same style of music and that doesn’t really float my boat. I just don’t want to listen to so many tracks where the style of …
Before These Crowded Streets (1998) by Dave Matthews Band
I have always been the kind of person to go left when everyone else was going right, when it comes to cultural things. If a song is everywhere, it’s pretty much guaranteed I won’t like it. If a movie is getting celebrated a little too much, I want to not like it. What does this …