Laurie Anderson- Homeland (2010)

http://www.mediafire.com/?o81psbwqdxsozvd

As an artist and a violinist, I am unabashedly infatuated with Laurie Anderson. And if you are reading this, I don't need to talk about how awesome she is.

"Homeland" is interesting in that it is a document of a performance that she performed on tour for awhile. I love that idea--the "tour" first with the album later. And Homeland is also interesting because it's just weirdly dark, but also really accessible. It's clearly about the entire 9/11 paranoia.

Musically, it has songs that could allllmost end up on the radio, though most of it is pretty atmospheric. At times it feels like an "Americana" soundtrack, with lots of lonesome fiddles playing together and against each other. And the awesome voicebox is back, which makes at least one song in particular feel wonderfully creepy.

"In America, we like solutions. We like solutions to problems. Companies with experts ready to solve these problems. Only an expert can solve these problems."


Can you comprehend that she's married to Lou Reed? That still seems so strange to me. Also kind of funny that Art21 just featured her. Hey Laurie, thanks for being an amazing artist for 30 years. It's cool if we throw you a bone now, right?

The Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders (1968)

http://www.mediafire.com/?koe1rj053pabwi8

From the linear notes:

"There was an article in the LA hippie paper about a confrontation between two local guru types in MacArthur Park. Their followers--by this time, there were tens of thousands of young and not-so-young people following hundreds of self-styled gurs du jour, from Mei Lyman to Charles Manson--were looking for a peace and love-style version of the old west shoutout on Main Street. Both would-be avatars were about thirty. One was swaddled head to toe in robes, diffraction gradings, body paint, beads and peacock feathers. The other one was completely naked, except for an incense-on-a-stick-thingie that he had stuck up his asshole and lit. It had gone out.
The two avatars faced each other, smiling.

'You're beautiful, man,' said one.
'No, man,' said the other. 'You're beautiful.'
'No, I'm not,' came the reply. 'You're beautiful.'
'No, brother. You're the one who's beautiful.'
'I think I'm going to throw up,' said one of the cops.

Doomed as doomed can be."
-Peter Stampfel

Laurie Anderson- Big Science (1980)

http://www.mediafire.com/?gnb19beaxav3v91

I am starting to prefer artists who straddle different genres, ideas, or modes of expression. Sometimes, the result is a very fabulous aesthetic that leaves all parties feeling a little bit awkward. And that is fantastic.

It's hard to describe what Laurie Anderson does, exactly. One of her earliest musical performances was her playing violin on a street corner wearing ice skates embedded in giant blocks of ice. When the ice had completely melted, she stopped playing violin (see an amazing continuation of that here).

She might be the only artist/violinist you have ever experienced. You might say her main language is performance, but when she started putting out albums, it demolished that idea. Big Science is a strange collection that mashes together violin parts, vocoder, pop hooks, spoken word, singing, poetry, sound... they're not really "songs" per se, perhaps not even music, really... but what to call them?

Big Science--surprisingly--had a massive radio hit, "O Superman (For Massanet)." That has to be the strangest "song" that ever landed in the top 5 (and a surreal-beautiful video). Yet more evidence that the 80s were a far superior decade for music.

tune yards: Bird Brains (2009)

http://www.mediafire.com/?z16ee0eeu42mwvn

When you have a woman singing really well, playing ukulele, and looping things like nobody's business and recording the entire cd into a one-track digital player... well, what's not to love?

Since signing onto 4AD, she is poised to be the next quirky-female-singer-songwriter-producer, to tour the world with St. Vincent and Dirty Projectors.

You know, in typing all this, i realize how much people rely heavily on myth that surrounds records. You know what? It sounds really bizarre and fresh and the homemade quality really hits the spot after reading about Beyonce and Lady Gaga. I love to hear someone make music that actually sounds like they were making music live. And when people only make music with loops (aka Juana Molina, Imogene Heap, Andrew Bird) i get really excited because of the limitations as well as the possibilities.

So there! I like it.

Broadcast and the Focus Group- Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age

http://www.mediafire.com/?gzgejyzbx4z

This starts off sounding like Os Mutantes in the 1960s, but by the time you reach the end of this cd, you'll feel like you're listening to Cut Chemist's paranoid doppleganger on acid. 

This entire cd was probably made without touching a musical instrument, and as always, sounds best through a pair of headphones. The first track will make your mom happy, and the last track will make your mom want to send you to a therapist.

Clogs- The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walden (2009)

http://www.mediafire.com/?7q0am23d6v78wdd

Clogs is a "new classical" group that takes a very weird approach to making music. They are a little like Rachel's, where you feel that you could show the cd to the sweet metalhead who lives down the lane, your traffic cop, or your grandma, and all would be equally enthused.

I just realized that this is actually members of The National (Bryce Dressner, at least), who tend to dip in a lot of chamber music. Also featuring Sharon Worden of My Brightest Diamond, who sounds much better here than on her own music. Sorry, Sharon.

This cd has really grown on me-- haunting, minimal, strange, quiet, and beautiful.

Especially recommended if you've ever been interested in acoustic instruments, vocal harmonies, choral music, jazz, weird pop stuff (like St. Vincent or Deerhoof), and feeling as if you're very cultured.

Definitely recommended for fans of Colleen, Bjork, your local Byzantine choir, and renaissance music.

Dirty Projectors & Bjork- Mt. Wittenburg Orca

http://www.mediafire.com/?4qo24epevcb4x2g

I grew up with this guy who ended up wearing polyester suits to school every day his Junior year of high school, right around when he started sporting some bleached hair and very angular sideburns. Part of this new persona consisted of listening to music that his sister handed down to him, which he tried to like, but then became disinterested in. He passed them along to me. I wish i could say that i had a revelation, but it was years until i fully appreciated The Beach Boys- "Pet Sounds" and Bjork- "Debut," which were two of the cds he gave me.

Fast forward a few years, and a friend played Bjork's "Homogenic" at her house. That WAS a revelation, and Bjork was the bee's knees for a few solid years. I loved how she destroyed her voice on every song and sounded ready to fall apart. I enjoyed her a bit less as Drawing Restraint came out, and it was downhill from there.

BUT! A few years later, I discover the amazing and incredibly weird Dirty Projectors, who somehow cradle chamber music, art rock, and 80s R&B. Oh yeah, they're weird. Then, they make a cd with Bjork about whale sighting off a mountain in California, and luckily for us all, it's absolutely beautiful. Weird, wobbly, perfectly delivered, and full of idiosyncratic sounds. To me, it sounds like whales swimming, which is about perfect.

I feel a little guilty for putting it up here, since the proceeds from the album go to support National Geographic. It's like robbing from Ghandi. Eh. What are you gonna do...?

A rather shoddy live recording:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFdZH9R1n-4


*As a side note, my two year old son LOVES this cd. Take that, all you lame-ass library folk singers.