― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Saturday, 1 November 2003 04:46 (twenty years ago) link
Yer welcome. The list -- which was composed a year before the start of ILX, to give it some context -- was very much a combination of whim and opportunity, but it seems to have lasted as an interesting enough personal document. But yeah, actually talking about every record -- which I did while listening to each specific one as I went -- is I think its best feature in the end.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 1 November 2003 05:38 (twenty years ago) link
― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Saturday, 1 November 2003 05:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Saturday, 1 November 2003 07:01 (twenty years ago) link
― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Saturday, 1 November 2003 07:38 (twenty years ago) link
Oh man.
― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Saturday, 1 November 2003 07:41 (twenty years ago) link
Weird..."Show Business" is a weak track!? Frankly, I think hip hop hit a peak in the early 90s of flat-out PERFECTION that it has been unable to attain since...I'm not sure how you can dismiss albums like "Hard to Earn," "Illmatic," "Ready to Die," or "The Sun Rises..." as having filler tracks. Sounds sorta crazy to me...that was the peak of the Q-Tip-Large Pro-DJ Premier-Pete Rock production explosion, where the creativity and progressive production of the hip hop albums were achievements unsurpassed today...frankly, I find myself more bored listening to a lot of rock albums from the early 90s - Pearl Jam, RHCP, etc. etc. etc. than I do listening to hip hop. And indie rock, as a general rule, bores me SENSELESS. I do love My Bloody Valentine though.
― ddrake, Saturday, 1 November 2003 09:11 (twenty years ago) link
― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Saturday, 1 November 2003 16:57 (twenty years ago) link
?
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 1 November 2003 17:00 (twenty years ago) link
― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Saturday, 1 November 2003 17:21 (twenty years ago) link
― scott seward, Saturday, 1 November 2003 17:31 (twenty years ago) link
This is quite possibly the most insane thing I've ever read.
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 1 November 2003 17:37 (twenty years ago) link
― scott seward, Saturday, 1 November 2003 17:42 (twenty years ago) link
― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 1 November 2003 18:02 (twenty years ago) link
― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 1 November 2003 18:10 (twenty years ago) link
― Sonny A. (Keiko), Saturday, 1 November 2003 18:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 1 November 2003 18:26 (twenty years ago) link
― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 1 November 2003 18:27 (twenty years ago) link
― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 1 November 2003 18:28 (twenty years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 1 November 2003 18:31 (twenty years ago) link
I didn't call him a name, I called him wrong-thinking. But if you think that Mascis is kidding, or trying to somehow give us the opposite of what we expect, please elaborate. I think he's a truly sad guy who likes his 70's rock served warm.
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Saturday, 1 November 2003 21:29 (twenty years ago) link
Not an either/or question, I think! To me Mascis at his best is commenting on the nature of what Mark S once called "the dangerous and pernicious notion of INFLUENCE" or something along those lines - my Latin professor liked to compare it to INCEST, with the "son" or "daughter" (the "influenced") cannibalizing/"incesting" the "parent" i.e. the source material. What Mascis does/did with his influences is to my ears a really interesting act of reading-out-loud, and often a very sloppy one, which is where some of the irony lies. Not ha-ha irony: I think irony's a much more complex (and, lately, wrongly-derided) trope than just "I said one thing, but I meant another!" For this I blame Alanis Morissette.
(obligatory theory-check: no I don't think Mascis sat down and said "this is what I intend to do, and the world shall marvel at my wit!" rather I think that reading his stuff in ways that take off from the above-outlined possibility are the most interesting readings to give)
― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Saturday, 1 November 2003 21:42 (twenty years ago) link
In the Sonic Youth sampler album from the mid-1990s (Screaming Fields of Sonic Love?), there's a flyer for a Sonic Youth/BHs/fIREHOSE show that says it's part of the "Sonic Butt Fire Tour".
― Victor P., Saturday, 1 November 2003 22:30 (twenty years ago) link
But her definition of "ironic" was completely different to this!
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 2 November 2003 00:28 (twenty years ago) link
― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Sunday, 2 November 2003 00:45 (twenty years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 2 November 2003 00:58 (twenty years ago) link
Sloppier than Neil Young?
This is interesting, but I've never heard irony defined any way other than the dictionary way and the wrong way (facetiousness, coincidence). What exactly makes this cannibalism ironic?
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 2 November 2003 01:35 (twenty years ago) link
― scott seward, Sunday, 2 November 2003 01:51 (twenty years ago) link
Mind, I am not a giant Mascis fan or anything - I'm not one of those people whose lives were changed by You're Living All Over Me - but I do think he and his body of work are interesting, and not easily dismissable.
― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Sunday, 2 November 2003 02:04 (twenty years ago) link
― scott seward, Sunday, 2 November 2003 02:07 (twenty years ago) link
― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Sunday, 2 November 2003 04:42 (twenty years ago) link
It occurs to me I still haven't answered Chris's original question. Hm.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 2 November 2003 04:53 (twenty years ago) link
― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Sunday, 2 November 2003 05:05 (twenty years ago) link
Technically. But did they really?
― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Sunday, 2 November 2003 19:21 (twenty years ago) link
― Reginald Mantle III (reggie), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:19 (twenty years ago) link
― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:30 (twenty years ago) link
1 Diamanda Galas – Vena Cava
2 Sonny Sharrock – Ask the Ages
3 Gyorgy Ligeti/Par Norgard – Violin Concertos etc (perf Christina Astrand/Danish NRSO) [mostly for the Ligeti]
4 Fred Frith Guitar Quartet – Ayaya Moses
5 Morton Feldman – Neither (perf Sarah Leonard/Radio Sinfonie Orchester Frankfurt)
6 La Monte Young & the Theatre of Eternal Music Brass Band – The Second Dream of the High-Tension Stepdown Transformer from the Four Dreams of China
7 Evan Parker/Sainkho Namtchylak – Mars Song
8 CCMC – Decisive Moments
9 George Crumb – Makrokosmos Vols I & II (perf Jo Boatright)
10 John Cage – The Seasons (perf Margaret Leng Tan/American Composers Orchestra)
11 Pole – CD1
12 Pan Sonic – A
13 Derek Bailey/Pat Metheny/Gregg Bendian/Paul Wertico – The Sign of 4
14 Ryoji Ikeda - +/-
15 Massive Attack - Mezzanine [largely because of what it soundtracked]
16 Jim O’ Rourke - Scend
17 Pulp – Different Class
18 Lalgudi Jayraman - Violin
19 Ground Zero – Revolutionary Pekinese Opera
20 Goodie Mob – Still Standing
21 Eugene Chadbourne/Paul Lovens – Patrizio: A Suite to the Waters of the World
22 Iancu Dumitrescu – ED MN 1005
23 Kadri Gopalnath - Saxophone
24 Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children
25 Terry Riley – Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band “All Night Flight”
26 Hariprasad Chaurasiya – Ragas Durgawati and Mishra Shivaranjani
27 Eliot Fisk – Sequenza! [pretty much only for the Berio sequenza, which is earth-shattering enough to justify including this. Otherwise I have no need to hear Fisk play traditional classical music. He's kind of brittle and dry, if technically flawless.]
28 Iva Bittova
29 Pat Metheny – Zero Tolerance for Silence
30 Ikue Mori – Garden
31 Diamanda Galas – Malediction and Prayer
32 LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out
33 Missy Elliot – Supa Dupa Fly
34 I. S. O.
35 Aube - Cardiac Strain
36 Dr Chitti Babu - Veena
37 Fushitsusha – Allegorical Misunderstanding
38 Voivod – Angel Rat
39 Fushitsusha – Withdrawe, This Sable Disclosure Ere Devot’d
40 Henry Kaiser/Jim O’Rourke – Tomorrow Knows Where You Live
41 Fred Frith – Quartets
42 Dr Balamuralikrishnan – Carnatic Vocal
43 DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
44 Maryanne Amacher – Sound Characters
45 Tony Conrad w/ Faust – Outside the Dream Syndicate
46 Phill Niblock – Music by Phill Niblock
47 Ryoji Ikeda - 0 [degrees] C
48 My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
49 Main – Motion Pool
50 Arto Lindsay Trio – Aggregates 1-26
51 Magic Hour – No Excess Is Absurd
52 Pixies – Trompe le Monde
53 Portishead - Dummy
54 De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising
55 Jane’s Addiction – Ritual de lo Habitual
56 Iannis Xenakis – Electronic Music
57 Nirvana – In Utero
58 Almighty Trigger Happy - Disturbo
59 Beautifuzz
60 Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
61 Sonic Youth – Dirty
62 Radiohead – OK Computer
63 Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
64 Endwar – ENON: One Thirsty Afternoon
65 Sonic Youth – Goo
66 The Dismemberment Plan – Emergency and I
67 Shudder to Think – Funeral at the Movies
68 V/A – The Best of Acid Jazz, Vol 2
69 REM – Monster
70 Sonic Youth – Washing Machine [mostly for "The Diamond Sea"]
71 Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger
72 Nirvana – Nevermind
73 Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Return to the 36 Chambers
74 V/A - Downtown Does the Beatles [mostly for the Lydia Lunch, King Missile, Eugene Chadbourne, and Buddha Pest. All the brass band type stuff sucks.]
75 Okara – Months Like Years
76 Smashing Pumpkins - Pisces Iscariot
77 Shotmaker – Mouse Ear Forget Me Not
78 Nirvana – Unplugged In New York
79 Tactile – Inscape
80 Jack Vorvis/Michael Snow – Black and White: Incredible Drums and Piano Duets
81 Sonic Youth – Goodbye 20th Century
82 Sonic Youth/Jim O’Rourke – SYR 3
83 The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs
84 Gorguts – Obscura
85 Superchunk – No Pocky for Kitty
86 Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet [at this point, we get into albums I don't actually listen to much now]
87 Public Enemy – Apocalypse ‘91
88 Kubelka - We're Gonna Do It Like This Now
89 The Magnetic Fields – Get Lost
90 Tori Amos – Under the Pink
91 Fugazi – Steady Diet of Nothing
92 Fugazi – Red Medicine
93 V/A - Firestarter (Century Black compilation)
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 3 November 2003 02:58 (twenty years ago) link
Dr N Ramani - Fascinating Flute between Magic Hour and Pixies
Henry Threadgill - Makin' a Move andMarc Ribot - Shoe String Symphonettes between Goo and Dismemberment Plan
Goodie Mob - World Party between Nevermind and ODB
Television's s/t between Unplugged in New York and Tactile [based entirely on pleasant memories from like 5 years ago when I had it]
The Ex - Mudbird Shivers between SYR3 and 69 Love Songs
Susie Ibarra/Assif Tsahar - Home Cookin' between Get Lost and Tori Amos
Anyway, yeah I know I should start another thread or something.
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 3 November 2003 04:12 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 3 November 2003 04:27 (twenty years ago) link
Ned, any chance we'll ever get a 136 Albums of the 80s?
― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 06:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 06:33 (twenty years ago) link
(btw - CDs should be finished burning today)
― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 06:37 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 06:55 (twenty years ago) link
― Girolamo Savonarola, Thursday, 4 December 2003 07:28 (twenty years ago) link
Anything you'd add or remove? or rank higher/lower than it appears?
Very curious yet -
― Stephen Bush (Stephen B.), Saturday, 18 November 2006 09:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 18 November 2006 15:15 (seventeen years ago) link
I was deep down kinda hoping you'd do a Top 136 of the 00's.
― Sir Echo (Sir Echo), Saturday, 18 November 2006 15:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― Sir Echo (Sir Echo), Saturday, 18 November 2006 16:04 (seventeen years ago) link
Red House Painters, Boo Radleys, The Church, Bark Psychosis!! A Tribe Called Quest and ODB!! Thats so great!! And The motherfucking VELDT!! I loved Superchunk and Polvo and Archers and all but it was great to have a band like that come outta Chapel Hill too. Man what a bad ass list.
Though I always look more and more closely every time I peep the list cause I know I'm only overlooking the SEAM albums.
― Sir Echo (Sir Echo), Saturday, 18 November 2006 16:42 (seventeen years ago) link
Alternately, it baffles me that you said (a few years ago, upthread) that a Top xxx Albums of the '80s would likely have about 500 records on it, and thus be too much work to present.
Now, as far as my own collection goes, I have a ton of '90s stuff, but my '80s collection is sorely lacking (hey, i was born in '85!) except for the basics -
. . . Bowie, Eno, Cure, Joy Division, Bunnymen, Bauhaus, Love and Rockets, Psych Furs, Tom Waits, Talking Heads, XTC, Birthday Party/Nick Cave, Siouxsie, Cocteau Twins, Burma, Talk Talk, Chameleons, New Order, Depeche Mode, Smiths, REM, Fall, Dinosaur Jr, Mary Chain, MBV, Replacements, Spacemen 3, Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Galaxie 500 . . .
- and Ned, I know there's a bunch in there that you really love (except Talking Heads, of course; maybe a couple others). Anyway, I feel like I've done my basic homework on the '80s and have a pretty good collection of the well-known 'classics' that I mentioned above - but I often find myself wishing I had a jumping-off point (such as a Ned's 136) for the '80s, because I don't know where to dig deeper at this point.
I discovered a bunch of albums that I now really love through your '90s list - but what am I missing in the '80s??
:-(
― Stephen Bush (Stephen B.), Saturday, 18 November 2006 18:45 (seventeen years ago) link