I

Jim O'rourke
Insignificance
2001

Look at that cover. Just fucking LOOK at it. Its just sooo cute. And totally sick, creepy, perverted, small, and detailed. That just perfectly describes this album and Jim O'rourke in general. Obsessed with pop music, meticulously detailed, and lyrically twisted. Take a gander:

from "Memory Lame"

"These things I say, may seem kinda cruel
So here’s something from my heart to you
Looking at you, reminds me of looking at the sun
And how the blind are so damn lucky
Those holes on your face could be used better ways
Breathing’s a distraction when you chatter away"


Mimiyo Tomozawa (album art)

H

Helium
The Magic City
1997

I first caught wind of Helium back in '97, when a quaint little idea called MTV2 played a video from this album. The song was "Leon's Space Song" and while the video was quite cheesy, the song itself somehow transcended it. The music felt subversive, too. Singer Mary Timony seemingly culled her lyrics from a teenage girl's diary, yet there was obviously something nasty bubbling up from within. I ended up purchasing their first full-length, Dirt of Luck, after seeing the video. Confirmed. This chick is dirty. Well, the act is given a spit shine on this, their final platter, and its a masterpiece to me.

Mary Timony (site)

G

Ghostface Killah
Supreme Clientele
2000

The Wally Champ. The Vivid LASER-eye Guy. Dennis. This is the Finnegans Wake of HipHop LPs, written by one Mr. Coles. Surreal. His beast slayed. A treasure trove of one-liners and none-liners.
"We at the opera. Queen Elizabeth rubbin' my leg. Had ketchup on her dress from a Whopper."
Perfect.
These are some Poughkeepsie crispy chicken verbs from the one and only Tony Starks (lol).

You've been rated top shelf:
Apollo Kids, Nutmeg, The Grain, etc....

GFK

F

Fushitsusha
Double Live (P.S.F. 3/4)
1989


Keiji Haino: The Prince of Darkness They Called Him
...
In the immortal words of Tim Dog: "No One Can Do It Better".
I've been convinced of Haino-san's (competent, aren't we?) immortal nature from word one. The formulaic covers to his albums (all black), the unheard of vocal stylings (kinda like a reverse Nina Simone?), the transcendent nature of his voice, guitar, percussion, hurdy gurdy, or any gosh darn material object he wishes to create with.
This is Fushitsusha, Haino's blues rock trio (quartet, duo, whaaaatever strike the master's fancy). Keiji's been known to shout out San Fran's pre-heavy metal trio Blue Cheer as a bona fide influence to Fushitsusha. Blue Cheer's Legend: known for playing so heavy in concert that a dog once died on stage from the band's volume (hippies brought dogs to shows way back when. Longhairs... ) Fushitsusha's Legend: The power to resurrect that life.
This double live album (from Japanese wet dream rock 'n' roll fantasy camp label P.S.F.), is straight manna bananas!

Elevate'r Music:
Each and every f#cking song!

THEE Keiji Haino website
P.S.F. Records

E

ESG
Come Away With ESG
1983

Emerald
Sapphire
Gold

It's the femme Jackson 5-1! The Funky 4+0!!! Sure, MJ and Bros. were beloved by gazillions of folks world wide, buuuut, ESG were lauded by approximately 5 sleazy assholes in the seminal NYC No Wave scene. That's a push. We'd all catch up to what the Scroggins Clan were up to soon enough. The girls created groovy records and eventually Hip Hop and House producers dropped needles on the vinyl and built so many tasty tracks that its pretty obvious we owe ESG a little TLC. Shake your ass, y'all!

The rumpSHAKERS!!!:
Dance, Parking Lot Blues, Chistelle

D

The Dead C
Trapdoor Fucking Exit
1995

I'd venture to say that New Zealand's Dead C is the greatest rock and roll band of all time. Blasphemy? Perhaps. But this is what I always dreamed my own basement tapes would sound like; smears of vocals (completely unintelligible), noodle-y guitar wankery, a haze of feedback, lumbering drums playing the lead. Many entries in the Dead C discography are like blind luck, accidentally stumbling into the middle of an improvisation that gels perfectly on contact. This album ain't it. This is the tightest, "pop-noisiest" title in the Dead C universe, fully formed rock songs and a perfect point for newbies to jump from. Worth downloading simply for the bonus track, "Helen Said This". See you there. Released back in the day by Philly's pride and joy, Siltbreeze.

Siltbreeze Records
Aquarius Records

Bangers 'n' Smash:
Helen She Said, Power, Sky

C

Crooklyn Dodgers
"Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers 95"
1995

DJ Premier: greatest rap producer ever.
Chubb Rock, O.C., Jeru the Damaja: greatest of the Crooklyn Dodgers incarnations
Soundtrack to a Spike Lee Joint: who cares?
This is one of my favorite tracks from my favorite producer of the favored genre of Hip Hop.
Snares, cellos, triangles, 1995 BOOM BAP!
'Nuff Said!

DJ Premier (Blog)

B

Bardo Pond
Lapsed
1997

The story goes that Clint Takeda, bassist of Bardo Pond, christened the band after a Tibetan Buddhist idea about some interstitial realm where, upon death, people just mull about like some kind of sedated doctor's office waiting room (I'm pretty sure I gathered that information at Wikipedia). And, for a while there, Bardo Pond fit the description. Prior albums, like "Bufo Alvarius" and "Amanita," rested on that idea of stasis. Each session became successively better; however "Lapsed" is EXCESSIVELY better. Every single instrument is amped up to levels even Spinal Tap couldn't conjure. Yet "Lapsed" isn't an album to make one's ears bleed. It is an album where the louder the volume, the more open the sound gets. Oppressive squelches of feedback, plodding rhythms, and incoherent vocals reveal themselves to be expressive members of an open dialogue. At loud volumes this album is transcendent. Track 3, "Flux", gives me "goose flesh" to this very day.
As a side note, I once moseyed up to "B.P." CEO Isobel Sollenberger at Terrastock 5 in Boston, MA before Tom Rapp hit the stage. I tried to strike up a conversation but she was on another plain.

Nevermind all that! "Lapsed" is an honest description of what this record IS. To take a step back to see the bigger picture.

Choice selections:
Tommy Gun Angel, Flux, Aldrin


Bardo Pond (site)
Matador Records