thing is both of the first two ambient techno albums were really quite good
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 16:46 (fourteen years ago) link
so maybe this is really quite good too
jeepers I am 14% British, 7% Scottish, 3% Canadian, 3% Swedish, and the rest good old US of A. And mostly guitar.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 16:48 (fourteen years ago) link
I am 100% don't-give-a-fuck-which-countries-the-albums-I-voted-for-are-from.
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:03 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah me too
― the sound of a norwegian guy being wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:05 (fourteen years ago) link
66 Palace Music - Lost Blues And Other Songs (1997)40 points2 votes0 first-place votesGreatest contributors: seandalai, M4tt H3lg3s0n
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/Lost_Blues.jpg
weird, gulf shores popped up on my ipod yesterday and i was struck by how gorgeous it was.
― Brolotov Cocktail (n/h) (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 19 May 2009 15:22 (11 months ago)
I've long been familiar with the early Palace/Oldham albums, but was never really a fan... never heard any of the singles... recently, I bought Lost Blues because I enjoy the Bonnie "Prince" Billy Sings Greatest Palace Music CD, and wanted to hear the original versions of the songs I didn't know... and, my god, what an incredible CD that Lost Blues is. I'm almost embarrassed at how perfectly it hits my early/mid-'90s Drag City sweet spot. "Gulf Shores" is currently my favorite song by anyone.
― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 9 August 2004 20:15 (5 years ago)
Lost Blues and Other Songs - the perfect introduction to Palace era Oldham, contains nearly all of his classic singles. Essential.
- paid in cigarettes (paid in cigarettes), Friday, 14 July 2006 23:41 (3 years ago)
Gulf Shores - Palace Music
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:06 (fourteen years ago) link
many xposts. My intro to Built to Spill was that live album with the 20 minute "Cortez The Killer" cover. None of the studio albums I heard after lived up to it.
― sofatruck, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:09 (fourteen years ago) link
that Lost Blues comp is an amazing collection, I think there's like one song on it I don't like. Gulf Shores is all time classic
― the sound of a norwegian guy being wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:14 (fourteen years ago) link
awesome palace music!
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:22 (fourteen years ago) link
I've kinda grown out of Palace Music/Bonnie Prince Billy as the decade's grown on. I definitely think he rises above the whole "lol indie guy w/ beard" phenomenon; just don't have a desire to put on his records anymore.
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:29 (fourteen years ago) link
last one for now coming up
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:29 (fourteen years ago) link
I gotta say having this weird rainstorms-alternating-with-sunshine-spring weather totally makes me feel like listenin to some Palace.
― the sound of a norwegian guy being wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:32 (fourteen years ago) link
65 Sonny Sharrock - Ask The Ages (1991)40 points3 votes0 first-place votesGreatest contributor: contenderizer
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p238/michaeldustdevil/g3xXon.jpg
It is a great album, however for me this pales into insignificance compared with:
Alex in NYC in "I went to jazz gig and enjoyed it" shockah!!!
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Sunday, 25 May 2003 03:58 (6 years ago)
Yeah, everyone kills it on this record, but it especially made me appreciate Charnett Moffett (I think at the time I only knew him as a Wynton-alum). I think I'll have to go dig it out as well.
― Jordan (Jordan), Sunday, 25 May 2003 12:17 (6 years ago)
That moment in the first song when Pharoah is going ape at the end of his solo and Sharrock comes screaming in out of nowhere is one of my favorites in all of free jazz.
― Dave M. (rotten03), Sunday, 25 May 2003 18:50 (6 years ago)
Beautiful, jaw-agape album. I love the part in the title track during the theme restatement when Sharrock plays the straight melody and Pharaoh wails underneath of it -- vicious. The themes on the entire record are incredibly strong and catchy, and the musical sigh of the second track is unbelievably gorgeous. Sundar, I'm interested to know why you love this particular record so much.
― Clarke B., Tuesday, 8 July 2003 04:30 (6 years ago)
(Needless to say), 'Ask the Ages' is so gorgeous. He was in talks with Chrysalis when I interviewed him in September '93 (the Voice reported RCA interest in its obit the next April) and enthusiatic about his chances in the post-Nirvana climate. It might've been doomed to fail, but the music would've been great, and at the very least it would've been interesting to watch the attempted crossover.
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Monday, 21 February 2005 12:28 (5 years ago)
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Ace!
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:33 (fourteen years ago) link
It's all Americans with guitars
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:34 (fourteen years ago) link
lol this list is so random. full of surprises!
― the sound of a norwegian guy being wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:37 (fourteen years ago) link
full of stuff I really want to hear
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:39 (fourteen years ago) link
It hasn't been the usual suspects so far, so I guess the free-form point allocation scheme was a success in that regard. So far most interesting discovery for me from this list has been the UGK.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:44 (fourteen years ago) link
This is a totally a triumph.
I think I have heard maybe 3 of the albums so far.
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Pete Namlook is quite different from Burger/Ink and Biosphere though, even though he's collaborated with the latter (alongside numerous other electronic artists); like I said upthread, the two albums Namlook and Biosphere made as The Fires of Ork are well worth checking out. But Namlook's sound is "trancier", closer to original ambient house, than the pure ambient of Substrata. Air is not among my personal favourites, but I'm happy that it placed. I guess here's where LJ's points system pays off, as something like Air would never have placed in a more traditional poll.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:49 (fourteen years ago) link
The thing about Namlook is that from 1993 to 1996 or so he committed to release one record every week on his Fax label. Not infrequently, the amount of time invested is very audible.
It really comes down to the collaborators. The Tetsu Inoue collaborations were highly regarded upon release, the Bill Laswell joints, not so much. I love a few albums he released, in particular the collaborations with Turkish percussionist Burhan Öçal (Sultan, Osman, Orhan). But Fax is a completist's nightmare.
― nori dusted (Sanpaku), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:04 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldA9RJHLnj8
― abanana, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:18 (fourteen years ago) link
shit.....i forgot about torch of the mystics, might have included that
― nakhchivan, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Likewise!
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:36 (fourteen years ago) link
I've still not heard Ask The Ages. Gotta rectify that cos I love Last Exit.
Lost Blues is a great album.
― Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Farting in Space (NickB), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 20:50 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm glad I helped get Lost Blues in there - I do feel a lot of Will Oldham's albums are kind of redundant, but Lost Blues is necessary.
― seandalai, Thursday, 29 April 2010 01:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Interrupting this thread to thank everyone who voted for Burger/Ink. Never heard of this album before, but HFS it's bloody fantastic!
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 29 April 2010 07:39 (fourteen years ago) link
63= Lush - Spooky (1992)41 points2 votes0 first-place votesGreatest contributor: kingkongvsgodzilla
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OZt-sGuDqmo/SQi3eRyrNvI/AAAAAAAAAFo/o_n-sBKWmPw/s400/Lush-Spooky.jpg
I'd say Lush up to 1992 has aged fine: it sounds timeless, or it sounds like late-80s-early-90s, which are the same thing to me.
After that the sound veers some there are fine tracks on split and even on lovelife, but I could never love them as much as I adore the early records, which remain frosted december heaths.
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (7 years ago)
I was never a huge Lush fan, but good grief I heard 'For Love' for the first time in years last night and now it sounds like the best song in the world.
― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 8 May 2005 15:47 (4 years ago)
If I ever got really stressed out from work or whatever, this was my solution: queue up Spooky (followed by MBV's Loveless), run a bubble bath, pour a glass of wine and light a spliff, read New Yorker in bath, always worked a charm.
― teeny (teeny), Monday, 9 May 2005 13:23 (4 years ago)
Teeny truly has great insight!
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 9 May 2005 13:24 (4 years ago)
An extraordinarily good looking band. Part of their legacy problem right there. Too good looking. Too female/feminine. Too chipper looking.
It's been really good listening to Lush again this weekend.
― Doran, Tuesday, 6 April 2010 14:05 (3 weeks ago)
I've reintroduced Spooky into my rotation in the last month or so. Somehow, before, my attention had always drifted off by the time the album reached "Monochrome." So I was listening on shuffle the other day and that song came up and absolutely wiped me out; the choruses in particular and the bridge at about 2:15 are Lush at their melancholy best.
I'm really happy about my poor listening habits way back when, because now I get a new favorite song without having to buy another record. It's the small victories.
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, 25 January 2008 01:33 (2 years ago)
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:06 (fourteen years ago) link
alright, let's get it started!
― Thug Motivation 102: The Weinspiration (some dude), Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:13 (fourteen years ago) link
63= Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return To The 36 Chambers41 points2 votes1 first-place voteGreatest contributor: Noodle Vague
http://danjlovesthe90s.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/dirty-version.jpg
This album is a timeless classic for the ages!!! I'm not joking...i think this is one of the better albums of the last 15 years.
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 20 October 2005 17:09 (4 years ago)
OTM. A lot of people sleep on this one, thinking ODB is just some crackhead Step'n Fetchit. There's some deep + deeply fucked stuff going on in this record. It's sprawling and always entertaining, even at it's most messed-up and experimental. If this came out of some white kid's garage they'd be calling it avant-garde.
Might be my favorite Wu record after Liquid Swords.
― Edward III (edward iii), Thursday, 20 October 2005 17:19 (4 years ago)
Among my fifty or so fave albums.
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Friday, 21 October 2005 19:26 (4 years ago)
Possibly my favourite straight-up hip hop record.
― wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 10 November 2006 15:25 (3 years ago)
best opening track ever
― latebloomer and his 'Cyborg Companion', Hacker (latebloomer), Friday, 10 November 2006 21:10 (3 years ago)
i had no idea this album was so slept on
― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 20 October 2005 17:38 (4 years ago)
SHAME ON YOUWHEN YOU STEPPED UP TOTHE OL' DIRTY BASTARD
BROOOOOOKLYN
ZUH
― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 18:47 (2 years ago)
Everyone SO OTM on this one. This thread makes me so happy. Rest in peace, brother, dude, Jesus.
― A Radio Picture (Rrrickey), Friday, 10 November 2006 11:50 (3 years ago)
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:32 (fourteen years ago) link
by the looks of it, if just a few more people had voted, this'd be quite a lot higher
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:33 (fourteen years ago) link
FOR SHAME YOU FUCKERS
― Daily Sport Stunna Yasmin Alibhai Brown (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:37 (fourteen years ago) link
am totally needing to listen to this now, given those descriptions
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:38 (fourteen years ago) link
but yeah a one-point return from people other than NV seems disappointing
This is one of the most interesting lists I've seen on here. Lush and ODB next to each other is just wonderful to see, both great albums.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:39 (fourteen years ago) link
One of the endless joys of Return to the 36 Chambers is the way it deploys its density and inventiveness in the service of something that's as playful and ridiculous as it is mean-faced and funky. Sometimes I think people underrate the ODB because they think he's taking the piss but the important thing here is that Great Art Always Takes the Piss.
― Daily Sport Stunna Yasmin Alibhai Brown (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:43 (fourteen years ago) link
luis bunuel -> ODB -> damien hirst
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:44 (fourteen years ago) link
(1995 btw)
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:46 (fourteen years ago) link
I honestly thought this could've gone top 10. that might be my last pick to chart then, lol
― Daily Sport Stunna Yasmin Alibhai Brown (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:47 (fourteen years ago) link
*scratches chin*
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:49 (fourteen years ago) link
the important thing here is that Great Art Always Takes the Piss.
That's an interesting thought, I'm usually drawn to the parodic or at least ironic elements in Great Art but there probably are exceptions. Hou Hsaio-Hsien? Rilke? Titian? The last Raekwon album? I dunno.
I'm not sure if I ever heard that ODB album during my Wu Tang fan phase as a 15 yr old, it was cool that they were so prolific but there just wasn't enough time in the day I guess. Shall get a copy though, along with about a dozen of the other albums here.
― nakhchivan, Thursday, 29 April 2010 13:02 (fourteen years ago) link
62 Aphex Twin - I Care Because You Do (1995)42 points4 votes0 first-place votesGreatest contributors: another Al3x, dog latin
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EcSfGla5Kr8/SMnzA7AiEbI/AAAAAAAAATs/5gDTQVFar4g/s400/i_care_because_you_do.jpg
The only Aphex Twin that I liked was "I care because you do". That had soul. The rest are just experimentation for experimentation's sake.
― Snow Dog, Monday, 15 January 2001 01:00 (9 years ago)
This thread's right up my alley (right now I'm wearing a shirt with the Aphex logo). I Care Because You Do is my favorite, because it's got a good balance of pretty, soothing tracks with the noisy/chaotic/goofball ones.
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 8 December 2003 13:22 (6 years ago)
I can't really listen to "I Care Because You Do" by Aphex Twin anymore. At the time it was the most incredible thing ever but for now it's too harsh and purposefully obtruse. It'll bounce back one day soon I'm sure though.
― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 13 March 2005 21:03 (5 years ago)
icbyd possibly rdj's best album?
― ethan, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (8 years ago)
I am one of those dudes who thinks that everything after ICBYD has been pretty much downhill with a promising blip of an EP before his mind was eaten by MetaSynth running on a PowerBook
― LISTEN U TURBO CROUTON (TOMBOT), Friday, 10 November 2006 16:52 (3 years ago)
― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Thursday, 29 April 2010 13:12 (fourteen years ago) link
that's a great album, time was I would've voted for it in a flash. Nowadays tho I find I'm much more "Ventolin" than "Alberto Balsam".
― Daily Sport Stunna Yasmin Alibhai Brown (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 29 April 2010 13:14 (fourteen years ago) link
I never really got all the Aphex Twin love. Some of his early 90s material was pretty good, but later on he pretty much exemplified everything that went wrong with non-dancey electronic music during the latter half of the 90s.
― Tuomas, Thursday, 29 April 2010 13:15 (fourteen years ago) link
I mean, I guess he didn't invent drill'n'bass and IDM wankery, but his success made them all the more prevalent, and this ended up tainting other, previously brilliant acts such as Mouse on Mars.
― Tuomas, Thursday, 29 April 2010 13:17 (fourteen years ago) link
I mean, I guess he didn't invent drill'n'bass and IDM wankery
No he probably did, along with a couple of others.
― nakhchivan, Thursday, 29 April 2010 13:19 (fourteen years ago) link
As a valued customer of ilxor.com your opinion is very important to us. Please don't answer the following questions honestly to help us improve the quality of our awful horrible music appreciation.
― Daily Sport Stunna Yasmin Alibhai Brown (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 29 April 2010 13:20 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm pretty sure drill'n'bass was invented by µ-ziq... Or are there earlier examples of that than his first albums?
― Tuomas, Thursday, 29 April 2010 13:21 (fourteen years ago) link
AAAAAPPPHHHEXXXX!!!
YES!!!!!
I loved this album at the time. These days the schonkiness has dated it, but back then it's what made it great. Alberto Balsam has to be one of the best IDM tracks ever.
― village idiot (dog latin), Thursday, 29 April 2010 13:30 (fourteen years ago) link
drill'n'bass is credited to Plug (aka Luke Vibert)