jackhammer

I have been wanting to do a top 100 for sometime and I am just finding it an almost impossible task. Finding 100 albums is hard enough but then to order them is driving me nuts. What I am aiming for with this thread is list my favourite five albums in 20 genres, thus equating to an alternative top 100. I have used MusicBanter's forums as a guide and while 20 genres sounds excessive, I feel they do warrant a section of their own. Here is the genre list:


I have diverse tastes and should'nt really struggle with any of the genres (except Jazz and maybe Folk).

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jackhammer

The album opens with Cotton Wool and the twisted Jazz influenced drum sequences subvert your ear drums with a non linear time signature. You know that this is no by-the-numbers band. A duo that specialised in an Electronic sound that dragged in Drum n Bass, Jazz, Trip Hop and Acoustic ambience to create one of the most original bands of the 1990's. Andy Barlow was the man behind the machines. Creative, wild and always looking for that beat that did'nt quite fit the music. Lou Rhodes was the woman who shaped Andy's ever escalating musical experimentation. A sinewy, gentle yet quietly powerful voice juxtaposed against sharp jagged electronica. Yet it worked.

This seemingly diametrically opposed musical style create confusion and abrasion and yet also syncopated in some of the finest acoustic tinged electronica you will hear. Gabriel is hauntingly beautiful with lyrics that tear at your heart while Gorecki lulls you into aural serenity before building a crescendo like a tidal wave battering the beach that you only glimpsed at earlier.

Just when you think that emotions are the byword and the band have slipped into a comfort zone, B Line and Bonfire trash that notion. B Line peddles a Jazz rythmn before exploding with energy, whilst Bonfire sets a sedate pace before slowly morphing into a dark beast with a simple keyboard note creating a sense of foreboding.

A band that unfairly got lumped into a Trip Hop bracket in the 90's which was just a lazy excuse to pigeonhole any band that relied on emotive vocals and Electronica. Lamb were always more than that. A reverence to Jazz and in Barlow, Classical themes and motifs (Lullaby) were more of a hindrance to them and a refusal for hooks and conventional melodies cost them artistic success but gained them cult status.

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sleepy jack

I remember Lamb from the compilation you sent, if I remember right it was solid. I look forward to the rest of this thread.

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swim

Somehow I knew this wasn't going to be about the Car Vs. Driver song

Anyway really cool concept. I'll get to listening to some of this stuff when I get to it...

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mr. goth glam

Nice idea, man.

I look forward to seeing this go further.

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Urban Hat€monger ?

This looks like a great idea

Good luck with it.

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jackhammer

4. KRUDER & DORFMEISTER-THE K & D SESSIONS

Remixing other artist's songs can be seen as lazy and effortless, or it can be seen as a waste of time that equates to nothing more than a monetary exercise. Happily K&D fit neither of these criteria. This Austrian duo are one of the very few remixers out there willing to take a track, rip it to shreds and then assemble it back to an almost unrecognisable state, yet still having enough reverence to tip it's hat to the source material. A quick look at the artists on this superlative double album suggests a deep knowledge of Electronica to begin with. Roni Size, Count Basic, Bomb The Bass, Depeche Mode, David Holmes and Bone Thugs n Harmony are just some of the artists they have tackled.

The one disappointing aspect of the majority of remix albums is the fact that although they appear to be a different take on the particular artist. They are also; on closer inspection, a mere stripping down of the production or an addition of a musical motif such as a guitar riff or linear drum pattern. K & D essentially create an album that is seemingly an original work. Complete rhythms or riffs are omitted from their mixes and replaced with Jazz, Trip-Hop, dub and unique samples.

It does not matter who the original artist are. K & D rip them apart and ask the question: if they are that inventive with other peoples tunes, what would their own original compositions sound like? Sadly they have not answered that for us over a complete album.

Many may question the inclusion of a remix album . My answer is that it is a excellent work in it's own right and an example of inventive enterprise and subversive ambitions.


Here is an example of what they can do. The original Depeche Mode Track (youtube is quite light on K & D originals):


..and this is the K & D interpretation:


Kruder & Dorfmeister

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jackhammer

3.UNDERWORLD-OBLIVION WITH BELLS

Underworld will always be known as the band that gave the world Born Slippy, with it's infamous drone of Lager Lager Lager....

Fortunately Underworld decided to not copy that singles success and become another 90's dance music casualty. Their musical aspirations can be seen in the 1993 release Dubnobasswithmyheadman, which was a major contributor to the mindset of one Danny Boyle-director of Trainspotting, who insisted on the album being played everyday through shooting the film. If only others followed his lead of admiring the band.

Underworld have always stuck to an Electronic template yet the occasional use of acoustic guitar and the poetry of vocalist Karl Hyde has given the band a different dimension to the usual dance/techno by the numbers acts.

Every single Underworld release has left me utterly frustrated. For every great track (Dirty Epic, Banstyle/Sappy's Curry, Push Downstairs) there was an album filler ( or two): Jumbo, Spoonman and Dinosaur Adventure 3D. This latest album is no exception. Cuddle Bunny vs The Celtic Villages and Good Morning cockerel are two fillers yet the remainder of the album is so good , I can forgive a lapse in quality.

To Heal and Glam Bucket would not be out of place on any recent fan boy Post-Rock release. Their minimalistic qualities should appease their own fan base, whilst album opener Crocodile and vocal heavy Boy, Boy, Boy keeps the old guard happy.

Beautiful Burnout and Best Mamgu Ever are really where Underworld are at. Simple electronic motifs that build with the compositional quality of many progressive rock bands and hold their attention through consistent songwriting.

This is maybe not one of the finest Electronica albums you will hear. It could be one the most cohesive and enjoyable that you will enjoy. Take the plunge and listen to an album that is musically layered and entertaining at the same time. No mean feat.

The albums opener:


The Last track on the album (stay with it):


MySpace.com - Underworld - UK - Electronica / Ambient / Experimental - www.myspace.com/underworld

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Dr_Rez

Good choice with Underworld. I got that the day it came out, and have loved it ever since.

Keep going with your list, i like it very much so far.

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jackhammer

2. TANGERINE DREAM-POLAND

Tangerine Dream. Maybe a name you have heard but that's about as far as your knowledge goes. Maybe you know of them through their film soundtrack work (over 50 to their name). Maybe you have heard them and they bore you rigid. Maybe; just maybe, one of the last truly great TD albums will inform and enthrall you.

Long meandering electronic soundscapes are definitely not everyones idea of good music and with only four tracks and a huge running time of 77 minutes, this will not appeal to everyone. However setting your music sensors to neutral and by listening to the rhythmns, the pulse and the seemingly simple ideas, you may yet add a band to your listening habits that you never thought possible.

I can definitely understand people becoming bored with electronic instrumental music. There are no lyrics to guide you. The lack of "real" instruments can be seen as emotionally cold. Can you really appreciate what the artist is trying to say, when it is just a bunch of machines? I say you can. It's just a different mindset and reaps rewards if you concentrate on the ambience and let the music drift over you instead of actively searching for a certain riff or musical moment.

Opening track Poland is split into three sections. The opening third always reminds me of entering a huge neon lit city late at night. Big, epic yet beat driven. Like the pulse of a city. The middle section up's the tempo. You have left the city and are hurtling down the motorway. The repetitive beats suggest perpetual motion until you reach the open road, where it is only you and nature. The last third reflects this and is intoxicating in it's simplicity.

Track two Tangent is the weak link. Although the album was released in 1984 and has a timeless quality, Tangent lets the side down with it's drum patterns that were so indicative of the 80's. The last five minutes redress the balance a little with a sublime simple chillout vibe.

Barbakane is another multi layered track that has a definte riff of sci-fi about it. There is a motif that appears and that is repeated early on that in my mind, leaves no doubt as to where The X-files theme comes from! Unfortunately there is also a cut off point around the nine minute mark on this track and the next section of music shifts in tone slightly. There was a 2disc version of this album brought out in 1984 (which is very hard to find) that had the complete 19 minute version of Barbakane on it but as I have never heard it, I can only surmise that the change in tone is a result of poor editing somewhere along the line.

The album finishes on the glorious track Horizons. There is no build up. It is a series of peaks and troughs, although it is probably the most ambient track on the album. The simple notes echoed around the ten minute mark evocate a whole new place to me and that is why I adore ambient electronica. Sure I want to use music to express my anger or I want to hear about someones passions, their dreams, their hopes, their aspirations, their blind oblivion to it all, but sometimes I just want to be taken somewhere else. Where music is the only thing that matters and I can just feel peace and be at ease with myself. This album does that for me. It will never be recognised as a classic but that is not what I listen to TD for. I listen to TD because they speak to me on whatever level I demand from them.

It is terrible quality but this is the opening track from the album:


Tangerine Dream | www.tangerinedream-music.com

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