orgasm wargasm snoregasm choregasm
No idea, maybe that title will shoot me up the google chart for 3/10 second. I posted only–9 CD experiences in February? Can that possibly be right? Oh dear, I suppose it is… I feel I have reached a juncture, shall I continue listening to every (store-bought) CD I own, one at a time, writing briefly about each one, or shall I instead devote my life to helping the less fortunate? Ok, false distinction. Listen to all my CDs or…. don’t. This is an attractive proposition, I have many I WOULD LIKE TO LISTEN TO but cannot because of the order, the rules, the facets of the gemstone, the law of the genome. Nah. I’ll keep going, and besides, I’ve acquired around 1900 more hours of music the last few months, and they are ORDER FREE! I can listen to, for example, the Decemberists or Charlie Louvin or Funkadelic whenever I want to, which I’m sure has some bearing on why I’ve only logged 9 CDs in February… and the fact that it’s February, of course.
125) sade: love deluxe
Sade makes me want to become a financier and put product in my hair while also setting up a company that provides micro loans to the destitute of the third world. And, I could do all of these things whilst living in a tent on her forehead, which is quite impressive, and is the universal corrective for Lyle Lovett’s head. When they develop stereo equipment that also plays scent, she should be the first artist offered such an option, so listening to her music smells like lilacs and cloves cooked in unsalted butter. (bonus: I have a recipe for lilacs in butter, if anyone wants it.)
126) The Residents: Mark of the Mole
The second artist who should receive access to smell-recording. This CD is the story of the Moles and the Chubs, and Penn Jillette, who I think one of the most talentless blowhards this side of Stan Zemanek, is on it, and, yes, it is weird and conceptual but not as interesting as some of their other recordings of the same stripe, like Eskimo. (bonus: Stan Zemanek is dead.)
127) Tanya Stephens: Gangsta Blues
Good songwriting on this rootsy reggae take on the sassy female singer/songwriter CD filled with sassy songs and little hip-hop inspired skits in between… a bit like a Jamaican Mary J. Blige, I guess, or a Beyonce who actually had soul and even concern for the downtrodden. Great production, too, marrying boombastic and early 70’s sounds seamlessly. (bonus: her real name is Vivienne, which I think she should go back to…)
128) Yaz: Upstairs at Eric’s
Yeah! It’s 1980 something! Goodbye ’70’s! Hello Alison Moyet, still one of my favorite pop voices. We listened to this one on a car trip and my wife said “Oh! That’s the song I’ve been trying to remember for weeks!” It’s that kind of CD. (bonus: the best song, “Only You,” didn’t get much club play ’cause it was a ballad. Someone should cover that one… oh yeah, maybe I will.)
129) Gotan Project: La Revancha del Tango
Kind of a tango trip hop thing (as the title suggests), good to dance to, good to sip wine to while looking at etchings, and hard to judge in terms of songwriting, since whenever I start really focusing on the listening to it, the music shoves my focus out of the way somehow and makes me want to dance and sip wine and look at etchings. But, it also make me want to listen again, so it must be good. (bonus: a cover of Zappa’s “Chunga’s Revenge.”).
130) Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson and Sigur Ros: Angels of the Universe
Hilmarsson is a legendary Icelandic avant-pop dude, he’s made a bazillion soundtrack recordings and worked with everyone from Bjork to Psychic TV. Being an Icelander, he also appears to believe in magic, including orgone therapy. Oh well, can’t have it all. Sigur Ros plays along with his compositions here, making some pleasant, not especially consequential sonic wallpaper. (bonus: he practices Ásatrú, a kind of Norse pagan religion, so surely he will make an album with Julian Cope sometime soon….)
131) Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine
Yeah! It’s 1990 something! Goodbye ’80’s! I wanna fuck you like an animal! Boy, would my Mom be pissed if she heard what I was playing on my Walkman! I dig Reznor’s production, and the songs are catchy, but his lyrics have stayed firmly in the junior high math workbook cover desicration genre. I usually pretend he’s singing in a different language, and then I like it more. (bonus: you just know the dude spends an hour or so each day tinkering with his own wikipedia entry.)
132) Pixies: Doolittle
Yeah! It’s 1990 something! Ok, the next CD on the list fits this opening as well, so I’ll stop. I think I like Surfer Rosa better as a whole, but “Debaser,” man, doesn’t get much better than that. (bonus: love Frank Black, he knows a hook for sure, but without Joey Santiago, the Pixies go nowhere.)
133) Eric B. and Rakim: The Millenium Collection
Yeah! Ok, it’s the 70’s, the 80’s and the 90’s, it’s easy to forget how many hits these guys cranked out. Eric B. changed what you were allowed to do with rap lyrics, breaking and doubling the meter, running rhymes all over the lines… still eminently listenable and danceable, which you can’t say about a lot of early hip-hop artists. I mean, “Microphone Fiend” or “Rock Box”? No contest. (bonus: contains one of my favorite songs, the 7 minute Coldcut remix of “Paid in Full” with Ofra Haza on it… yeah, boy.)
134) Annie Lennox: Diva
Oh Annie, so cold yet so warm, like when your flesh is exposed to sub-zero temps and feels like it’s burning. And these songs mine the same juxtapository mode: “Walking on Broken Glass,” depressing as hell, could be a baroque jaunt through the clover, “Why” is plaintive as hell and makes me cry, and is THE FIRST SONG, the whole thing is really quite brilliant. (bonus: can it really be she’s only put out 4 solo recordings? Wow.)