Staff Picks for September 2018
September 30, 2018
Richard Branson co-founded the Virgin Records label 40 years ago, and Henry Cow was the most outré band of the imprint's pre-Sex Pistols years. The band-label relationship became fraught and ultimately dissolved, but not before the release of three "sock cover" albums, including this 1974 sophomore outing, an avant-prog landmark that added the late visionary bassoonist Lindsay Cooper to the lineup.
September 29, 2018
Laughing Stock operates outside of the accepted sphere of rock to create music which is both delicate and intense; recorded with a large classical ensemble, it defies easy categorization, conforming to very few structural precedents. A work of staggering complexity and immense beauty, Laughing Stock remains an under-recognized masterpiece, and its echoes can be heard throughout much of the finest experimental music issued in its wake.
September 28, 2018
The Marble Index is the musical embodiment of practically the entire goth aesthetic, from its stark monochromatic album cover to the beguiling and oppressively bleak music created by Nico and her harmonium. The song title "Frozen Warnings" aptly describes the record and where Nico was headed from then on.
September 27, 2018
"How much is enough? And who makes that call?" On their second full length album, 2017's Cost of Living, activist dance-punk band Downtown Boys doubled down on the ferocity of their debut and came up with a set of powerfully passionate music powered by sax and guitars and suitable for parties, marches, rallies, and confronting fascism in all its forms. Could someone get these folks and the Coup to do a tour together?
September 26, 2018
Full Moon Fever might have been meant as an off-the-cuff detour, but it turned into a minor clean and glossy masterpiece, lovingly layered with shimmering vocal harmonies, keyboards, and acoustic guitars.
September 25, 2018
On their sophomore outing, the Massachusetts quartet doubles-down on grand, Killers-esque synth rock, infusing their angular anthems with passion and intensity while adding deeper grooves a la Bloc Party and White Lies. Standout tracks include "Skin Deep" and "Different Animals." A hidden gem for anyone missing the Hot Fuss era.
September 24, 2018
Drum'n'bass label No U-Turn's first compilation is the definitive techstep album. Characterized by hard breakbeats, industrial buzzsaw bass, and dystopian themes, this is harsh, direct, commanding music which hasn't lost an ounce of power since it came out two decades ago. As the sample on "Amtrack" says, "Here is a group trying to accomplish one thing. That is, to get to the future."
![Throwing Muses [1986]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0001517285/front/400/a2ZFdUvmF8AsctLbvV_Sij6KsMttLlyBmmVTZ6_CLs0=.jpg)
September 23, 2018
A startling collision of punk energy, folky melodicism, and Kristin Hersh's mercurial voice and lyrics, Throwing Muses' self-titled 1986 debut takes twists and turns guided purely by the emotions within its songs and held together by the band's elastic playing. The album's effortless shifts and boundless intensity make it as thrilling now as it was then.
September 22, 2018
This was the age of prime fusion but there is nothing pandering or pumped-up about these cuts. On the contrary, the ambitious Creed Taylor production on Red Clay and First Light gave Hubbard a chance to leave the Blue Note-era hard bop for good and experiment with some new sounds in a commercially rewarding context.
September 21, 2018
While the title is A Night at the Opera, this release compiles four soundtracks, also including Animal Crackers, At the Circus, and Room Service. The mastering job is a bit dodgy, but this is the only place to get all this music in one place. Note: These scores do not include dialogue from the films.
September 20, 2018
More than ever, Nicolay's mellow but moving productions have that lingering, memory-triggering effect mastered by the late J Dilla, while Phonte puts his sensitive singing voice to full use, providing a gently bittersweet tint. This is not just a unique and exceptional R&B album but also a soundtrack or means of communication -- when heat-of-the-moment resentment, a lump in the throat, or anxious longing get in the way -- for a real-life adult relationship.
September 19, 2018
Of the original Seattle grunge bands, Tad were far and away the gnarliest, heavy as a bulldozer and just as destructive. Their 1989 debut, God's Balls, wasn't their best album, but for sheer sonic firepower, they never topped it. Tad Doyle and Gary Thorstensen were a guitar team who melted hard rock, punk, and noise rock influences into a hammer of the filthy gods, and every song drips with the best sort of bad karma.
September 18, 2018
The Brooklyn duo's 1986 debut was a delightfully strange anomaly in its time bearing a bountiful 19-song tracklist fused quirky new wave pop and arty post-punk experiments borrowed from the New York underground.
September 17, 2018
Recently reissued on vinyl by Craft Records, Ted Hawkins's 1982 debut still seems wondrously out of time. Back in the '80s, it sounded like a throwback to any number of '60s traditions: folk, blues, Sam Cooke soul, even the last remnants of doo wop. Listening to it now, it feels distinctly of its time, not just because Hawkins was cobbling together elements of the past, but it's an indie '80s album: Rounder took a flier on a street singer, had him do a few songs alone, some songs with a band, and wound up with a ragged patchwork that achieves its own rough-hewn grace.
September 16, 2018
Among the experimental, noisy bands of the late '80s and early '90s, Thinking Fellers Union Local #282 were special. They were as capable of poignant meditations on the human condition as ear-shredding freakouts, and they deliver some of each on 1994's Strangers from the Universe. The album's final track "Noble Experiment" could soundtrack humanity's closing credits and sounds even more relevant than it did two and a half decades ago.
September 15, 2018
Let the Pope of Trash help you make that evening with your special someone all the more memorable! Cult filmmaker and all-around pop culture junkie Waters compiled this 14-song set whose selections run the gamut from sweet ("Tonight You Belong To Me") to sour ("Johnny Are You Queer?") to unapologetically horny ("Jet Boy Jet Girl"). Normal people can't make out to most of it, but what have they done for us lately?
September 14, 2018
Melissa Manchester goes synth pop. That is all.
September 13, 2018
After a self-titled debut in 1970 that showcased this British outfit as a hard rocking blues and boogie outfit, this set began to establish their reputation as a constantly evolving unit whose could deliver everything from prog rock to moody, guitar-based pop. This moody set includes beautiful, slower melodies, brief instrumentals and an unexpectedly wide range of songwriting. Next to Argus this is album to judge their catalogue by.
September 12, 2018
Only Dickerson would have Billy Barty introduce his album and have Jerry Scoggins, the guy who sang the theme from the Beverly Hillbillies TV show, close it out. Once the novelty wears off, you realize that he's pulled it off, that somehow Dickerson makes it all work -- the nuttiness bookended in between rockers, torchy twangers, honky-tonk stompers, and guitar workouts of all stripes.
September 11, 2018
The Dillards' second album with rock-influenced arrangements was not as barrier-busting as 1968's Wheatstraw Suite, and further removed from their bluegrass roots. However, it was a similarly eclectic and, for the most part, joyous romp through a fusion of bluegrass, rock, folk, and country, with a bit of pop and orchestration along the ride, and the group's superb vocal harmonies being the main constant.
September 10, 2018
If you want to make sense of Grand Funk Railroad's pre-"We're An American Band" era as the Midwest Power Trio of the People, this documents their circa 1970 live attack in suitably loud and muscular fashion. Kicking off with the manic "Are You Ready" and closing with heroic, epic scale versions of "Inside Looking Out" and "Into The Sun," this is proudly unsubtle high energy rock that stays in the red zone from first note to last.
September 9, 2018
Stormblåst, Dimmu Borgir's second full-length album, has all the makings of a future first-tier black metal outfit finding its footing in the misty, cragged mountains of Norway. While it may be an inordinately rocky peak with few handholds, it's still a worthy climb for black metal historians, if only to compare and contrast Dimmu Borgir's embryonic state prior to the sonic overhaul that came with its benchmark album, the grand, irrepressible Enthrone Darkness Triumphant.
September 8, 2018
Seemingly predestined for cult-fandom, eccentric Minneapolis quartet, Trip Shakespeare, hit their stride on 1988's Are You Shakespearienced?, dishing up a finely-tuned mix of jangling power pop, rich vocal harmonies, '70s-inspired soft rock, and arty psychedelic flourishes, all caped in an eccentric Upper Midwestern mysticism.
September 7, 2018
Having built a considerable and passionate fanbase, the Nephilim approached their second album with confidence and a clutch of stunning new songs. The resulting, semi-self-titled release blows away the first by a mile (the art design alone, depicting an ancient, worn book with strange symbols, is a winner), being an elegantly produced and played monster of dark, powerful Old West-inspired gothic rock.
September 6, 2018
Intervention Records launched their deluxe, all analog vinyl reissue Matthew Sweet series with his 1995 album 100% Fun. Girlfriend is the acknowledged masterpiece but 100% Fun was the hit, containing his only Top 100 single ("Sick of Myself"). In many ways, it's the rival of Girlfriend: not as melancholy but it still roils with angst, plus the craft—both Sweet's songwriting and Brendan O'Brien's production—is slicker and more assured, making for a rich, accomplished record that feels alternative as it does power pop.
September 5, 2018
For those who weren't familiar with his standup act when John Mulaney hosted Men in April, his second comedy album is a good place to dig in. It hit number one on the Billboard comedy chart with his particular brand of self-deprecating humor spun through stories involving prior alcohol abuse, being raised by two lawyers, and his fascination with The New York Post and TV show Law & Order.
September 4, 2018
This 70s jazz power trio includes Steve Grossman on tenor, Gene Perla on bass and Don Alias on percussion delivering a a loose, sonic hurricane of a set. The white-flame burn on "Vaya Mulatto" and "Samba De Negro," are matched by "Sweetie Pie" with its nasty funk (it was sampled by Original Flavor for "Blowin Up the Spot"). Album highlight, "King Tut," is a smoldering march with Alias and Grossman in a frenzy as Perla delivers in the cut like a jazzy Bootsy Collins.
September 3, 2018
On their fifth set, the once metalcore outfit finally shed their grindcore and death metal tendencies, producing a perfect mix of heavy and melodic with That's The Spirit. It's one of those albums where every track could be a hit single -- and many were -- carrying the group to headline stages with thrilling anthems "Happy Song," "Throne," and "True Friends." With an even more pop-leaning sixth LP incoming, this is a good introduction to their second act.
September 2, 2018
Various Artists
Unquestionably one of the best drum'n'bass albums ever made, this compilation of early tracks from Goldie's Metalheadz label is full of classics, ranging from oppressively dark tracks by Dillinja and Doc Scott to jazzy sophistication from Alex Reece. None of these tracks have aged a minute since they first came out.
September 1, 2018
Even compared to their already excellent and forward-looking catalog, OutKast's sprawling third album was a stroke of brilliance. The chilled-out space-funk of ATLiens had already thrown some fans for a loop, and this made it clear that its predecessor was no detour, but a stepping stone for even greater ambitions. Aquemini fulfills all of them, covering more than enough territory to qualify it as a virtuosic masterpiece, and a landmark hip-hop album of the late '90s.