Staff Picks for October 2015
October 31, 2015
Did Blue Cheer invent heavy metal? Fans are still arguing that 45 years after the San Francisco noise merchants dropped their first album, but if Vincebus Eruptum isn't necessarily metal, it's clearly heavy, and righteously so. The raw, fuzzy tone of this music (especially the buzzy, overdriven guitar work of Leigh Stephens) birthed a sound that was borrowed by everyone from Black Sabbath to Sleep, and the liberating crudity of Blue Cheer's attack is still a lo-fi blast in the 21st Century.
October 30, 2015
Pedals fulfills the immense promise of the group's previous recordings, largely dispensing of the derivative synth-pop detours which hampered the preceding Plano to concentrate instead on the lush, darkly romantic, orchestral arrangements distinguishing the band's finest work.
October 29, 2015
In an age where the EDM moniker is how we're whitewashing anything vaguely electronic (can we bring back some jungle and drum'n'bass?), this classic from the "electronica" era provides a nice antidote to the watered-down house and build-drop dynamics that even Skrillex is trying to escape. Home to Liam Howlett's massive beats -- almost violently heavy metal in their aggression -- and the exciting back-and-forth between growl-rasper Maxim and smarmy firestarter Keith Flint, Fat brings the hooks and the hits.
October 28, 2015
This San Diego supergroup released only a handful of records sporadically during the 2000s that flew completely under the radar. In Dark Love shows off Beehive & The Barracuda's brand of snotty garage rock that you would expect from its members, including John Reis of Rocket from the Crypt and Kerry Davis of Red Aunts.
October 27, 2015
Few humorists made bad taste seem as thoroughly charming as Tom Lehrer. While Lehrer was one of the innovators in what came to be known as "sick humor," the jaunty grace of his melodies and piano work and the playful elan of his vocals made numbers like "The Hunting Song" and "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" sharper and funnier at once. This collection of Lehrer's two studio albums is a superb overview of his work and an essential for anyone interested in American humor of the '50s and '60s.
October 26, 2015
The second LP by Scottish pop renaissance man Colin McIntyre is a beguiling mix of crafty, understated songwriting and inventive orchestrations stitched together in a pastiche of evocative Hebridean soundscapes.
October 25, 2015
Dismissed as a Jeff Buckley ripoff, Jimmy Gnecco could never catch a break, even with four albums, a solo effort, and a small but devoted fan base. This debut -- no denying it is Buckley-esque -- stands on its own. Heart-wrenching and overly dramatic, it's the sound of one man's unending pain and suffering. Under Steve Lillywhite's production, the ugliness of Gnecco's emotions receive an expensive polish, turning the nightmares into something enjoyably listenable and, at times, utterly gorgeous.
October 24, 2015
A mostly instrumental set from the engaging experimental guitarist, this study of patterns -- via looping and a bank of tone effects -- rarely abandons melody or, certainly, rhythm, and has complexity and edge to anchor it firmly in indie rock territory. From the bouncy "Imaginelectric" to the gradually built wall of timbres and rhythms on "Helix Sky," it offers over an hour of focused artistry. Not just for guitar nerds.
October 23, 2015
Deep in the "fourth world" trumpeter's discography is this early gem, packaged in striking Mati Klarwein artwork. Its expansive, twisting grooves -- most of which involve some combination of Miroslav Vitous, Naná Vasconcelos, Badal Roy, and Dom Um Romao -- are often as stimulating as any of Hassell's later work with Brian Eno or more known works like Power Spot.
October 22, 2015
He was once the most feared musician in town, but as the nation grew more extreme, his tenure as America's music bogeyman effectively ended. On this final chapter of his essential triptych, he rails against God, guns and the government in the wake of a near-career-ending scapegoat campaign following the horrific Columbine high school massacre. Fifteen years later, not much has changed and the societal critiques made on this album are sadly still part of the national conversation. Just listen to it while reading through your social media feed. He couldn't have known that his last truly great work would be as relevant then as it is now.
October 21, 2015
Released on Steve Shelley's short-lived Smells Like Records, Fiction, Romance, Fast Machines came out when the band was barely out of high school, and it shows -- not that there is anything wrong with that. The amateurish nature of the recordings work in the band's favor; the music is brash, sloppy and to the point, while frontwoman Juliet Swango tackles the usual teenage topics of crushes and heartbreak.
October 20, 2015
In anticipation of Garden of Delete, it's worth revisiting Replica, a pivotal album in Oneohtrix Point Never's discography. In addition to the sensuous, Kosmische-inspired drift of OPN's earlier work, Daniel Lopatin brings more structure and texture to these tracks. Whether he incorporates straightforward percussion or finely chopped samples (some of which were gathered from '80s and '90s TV commercials) a la Herbert or Akufen, on Replica he laid the foundation for the bolder experiments of his later work.
October 19, 2015
Whether with the Czars or on his own, there has always been an unsettlingly confessional streak to John Grant's music, and never more so on Pale Green Ghosts, where the icy electronics -- courtesy of GusGus' Birgir Þórarinsson -- make him sound all the more human.
![Diva [Original Soundtrack]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0000826122/front/400/dDCuXI62SclureNbtna1lJhUoDg0hsvx4F4sL4oO-nA=.jpg)
October 18, 2015
The first feature directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix took three César Awards in 1982, including one that acknowledged Vladimir Cosma's soundtrack. Though the film is classified as a thriller, it's the wistful solo piano instrumentals and, of course, the pieces that feature the voice of Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, that stand out most (unless you can't shake the tune clearly inspired by Peter Gabriel's "Intruder").
October 17, 2015
Now in his thirties and several albums into his career, Sondre Lerche's stellar debut was released when the singer/songwriter and soon-to-be underrated guitarist was still a teenager. It features "Modern Nature," which reappeared on his soundtrack for Dan in Real Life (he performs the song on screen), and, on the recommended U.S. version, "Rosebud," a seductive, experimental bedroom recording that, like the rest, is far removed from teen pop -- though much of the album was written in his mid-teens, and release was postponed so Lerche could finish high school.
October 16, 2015
Escovedo had been making music for nearly 15 years when he recorded his first solo album, and it was the most ambitious project he'd attempted to date, and one of the most satisfying. On Gravity, Escovedo bared his soul and poured out everything from bracing rock & roll to twilight acoustic ballads, and at every turn he sounded like a man unashamed and unafraid to give this music his all. Gravity remains a towering achievement from an artist who has gone on to become one of America's finest and most eclectic songwriters.
October 15, 2015
Ryoji Ikeda's audio-visual performances and installations are immersive and overwhelming, but even in audio form only, his hyper-precise glitch art is extremely stimulating. This is definitely the place to start with his discography, as it captures your attention with snatches of jungle breaks, then dices up orchestral recordings, builds tension with long passages of humming bass tones, and locks into hypnotic minimalist sinewave clicks'n'cuts.
October 14, 2015
He just released the great album 90059, named after his hometown of Watt's zip code, but check this 2011 debut from Black Hippy crew member Jay Rock. This slept on banger barely made it into Billboard's Top 200 chart, and it features guest shots from stars like Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, plus plenty of production from the JUSTICE League gang. This NWA-inspired effort also comes from the short-lived pairing of Tech N9ne's Strange Music label and Rock and Lamar's usual imprint, Top Dawg Entertainment.
October 13, 2015
Alice Cooper was never one to miss out on a good trend and as his syrupy AOR began to run out of steam in the late '70s, he jumped on the New Wave bandwagon with both feet. Cutting his hair, hiring a slick producer and trading in guitars for synths, the resulting album is a weird and fun little hidden gem. The best song is the very Gary Numan-sounding "Clones (We're All)," but the rest is pretty good too. Not as vital as his early '70s work, but an interesting detour all the same.
October 12, 2015
A heady blend of folk, blues, and psych-tinged-pop, U.F.O., the first and only studio album from the Californian singer/songwriter, achieved near mythic status after Sullivan vanished in 1975 while road tripping through New Mexico. Speculations of a possible alien abduction aside, U.F.O. is a late 60's singer/songwriter obscuro gem that should please fans of Fred Neil, Tim Hardin, and lizard people.
October 11, 2015
From the relentless pummeling of the title track to the downright bouncy "Guardians of Asgaard," the Swedish metal veterans created another quality set of tunes on their seventh album. They somehow hit new levels of heaviness with "Where Is Your God?" and deliver a characteristically epic closer with "Embrace the Endless Ocean," and although Amon Amarth has never been accused of revinventing the melodic death metal wheel, few bands are as confident with their exact place in the world.
October 10, 2015
Ever passionate, wry, and quirky, Bob Geldolf's punky new wave combo from the '70s and '80s reunited in 2013 (without early guitarist Gerry Cott or Johnnie Fingers) and has been touring in Europe, though without releasing new material. Sounds like an excuse to revisit or discover the idiosyncratic band at their best; their third LP features the Rats' sole U.S.-charting song, "I Don't Like Mondays," and the enthusiastic "Having My Picture Taken."
October 9, 2015
Parker's 1979 breakthrough album was not-so-coincidentally the most straightforward album he'd cut to date -- no horns, spare production, simplified arrangements, and the emphasis placed squarely on Parker's songs. And those songs were more than enough to carry an album; between the paranoia of "Discovering Japan," the steely heartbreak of "Love Gets You Twisted," the moral quandaries of "You Can't Be Too Strong," and the barely contained rage of "Protection," this may be the best batch of tunes Parker ever wrote, and the Rumor's precise attack serves them brilliantly.
October 8, 2015
Though she'd released two albums before this, it was on her third album that the iconic singer-songwriter found her mature voice. Tempering folk with country and newgrass, she delivered 13 perfect, bittersweet, poetic tunes in a signature lonesome Texas alto. Her stellar cast of players and singers included Pat Alger, Bela Fleck, Lyle Lovett and Mark O'Connor.
October 7, 2015
Nowhere is British Sea Power's grand design better achieved than on their epic third LP. An intelligent, icy masterstroke of expeditionary indie rock, Do You Like Rock Music? harnesses all the best aspects of the band's eccentric Shackleton spirit.
October 6, 2015
You can't beat Redd Kross for writing a catchy rock & roll song, especially on this their best album. Bubblegum, hard rock, jangle pop, alt-rock, punk, metal—they all get filtered through the McDonald brothers' '70s-loving filter and turned into pure gold.
October 5, 2015
Fans haven't heard from Poe in 15 years, yet her second album, Haunted, remains a fresh mix of alt-rock, spooky atmospherics, and hip-hop-style sampling. Serving as both a companion soundtrack to her brother's terrifying debut novel, House of Leaves, as well as a goodbye to their late father, Haunted is a sprawling journey that is simultaneously sexy, scary, and sad. Bridging the gap between Chrissie Hynde and Lana Del Rey, Poe needs a comeback. Until that time comes, Haunted is a perfect reminder of why fans still ravenously await her return.
October 4, 2015
Canadian producer Billy Pollard was responsible for dozens of tracks during the late '90s and early '00s which mashed up ragga, hip-hop, and pop a capellas with gabber, jungle, and electro beats, resulting in some of the most fun music of that era. Along with the CD Bling the Noize on Irritant Records (also released in 2003), this album collects many of his best tracks, ranging from the emo-electro of "Transition Emotion" to the ragga-gabber of "Bounty Killer Killer (Meccaknifehandchop Remix)." He hasn't released anything in a decade and the world hasn't been the same.
October 3, 2015
Though it will never stand in the pantheon of Ozzy's greatest solo albums, there's plenty on Ozzmosis to justify giving it a chance. "Perry Mason" offers one of Zakk Wylde's most delightfully belligerent and pinch harmonic-happy guitar performances, and Ozzy is rejoined by his old Sabbath pal Geezer Butler on bass and gets extra help from Steve Vai and Lemmy for his final pre-reality show era record. It's not perfect, but probably a bit better than it's been cracked up to be.
October 2, 2015
A silly name for sure, Howdy! did not appear in the US until a full year after its initial release due to label issues. However, the wait was well worth it for fans as the album revealed a layered, '60s baroque pop and folk rock vibe that expanded upon the sound of Songs From Northern Britain. A sophisticated, nuanced album, rife with endless harmonies and unforgettable lyricism, Howdy! spoke to the band's growing journeyman pop aesthetic.
October 1, 2015
This debut LP captures the then teenage sisters laying down some good old-fashioned, warm vocal harmonies over sparse, folky accompaniment. Add slowly unfolding, wistful melodies, and it has all the makings of a great rainy-day record. Its persistent yearning is zapped with a sweet naiveté, both in their youthful vocal quality and teen-penned lyrics, yet not to the album's detriment—there's nothing silly here, and they entrance even when singing in unison.