Y

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
It's Blitz
2009

I knew not of the YYYz pre-Its Blitz. A postmortem of the band allows me to see that this be the natural progression of the crew. My friend Kathy, a noted YYY fan, hated this album. I can see why. It is good, and electronic, and iconic; things she would like. But there may be a synth or a drum machine. She don't like that.

X

!!!XXX!!!

Various
Cold Waves and Minimal Electronics
2010

I know nothing about these bands, 'cept they have jive to them that feels like, uh, if Ian Curtis had a friend to play with.

W

William S. Burroughs
Call Me Burroughs
1995

"Fuck em all, squares on both sides. I'm the only complete man in the industry."

Bill Burroughs has THE voice. It IS music.

V

Bjork
Vespertine
2001

This album kept me safe on my XC-flight, JFK 2 LAX. The turbulence of the trans American flight was daunting, but the record, on my WALKMAN (lol), kept me cocooned and warm before I finally landed, on my way to ATP2001. I have a friend (lets call her L.Michael), who despises Bjork's voice. Why? You'll listen to Clasp Your Ears! Say No! (clap yr hands say yeah) and that loser's atrocious voice over normalized indie rock, but not listen to this exquisitely beautiful tome of abstracted, structure-ized beats, and tonally toned down vox? Fuck her!

Flight 101:
Hidden Place, It's Not Up To You, Pagan Poetry, Sun in my Mouth

U

Ashtray Navigations
Use Copenhagen 69 Guitars and Park Drive Circular Effects Pedals Exclusively
2001

Download this album, a Siltbreeze classic, for the title alone. Stay for the ambiance.

T

Talking Heads
Remain In Light
1980

I'll say it. White people make all black music better ('cept HipHop ,despite what Eminem says). This has to be the gosh darn funkiest album ever. And I'm tickled pink by the computerized solos. The wacky Byrne sermonizing. And the hands we're supposed to "TAKE A LOOK AT!!!!" The artwork. Fuck the Heads! Plus, take a gander at the live DVD "Stop Making Sense", cuz why the hell don't no one ever do shows like that no more?

The beat goes on (be with me)...
Born under punches, Crosseyed and painless, The Great Curve, Once in a lifetime

S

Suicide
Suicide
1977

Imagine NYC in the Seventies: the whores, the sons of Sam's, cocaine and heroin, punk rock. And THIS band was the one to alienate them all! This would have been my Michael Jackson, my Britney Spears. I would've bought the albums and the posters and jump ropes and the t-shirts (and been murdered on the subway). This band is visionary; I mean that this band causes visions. I see Alan Vega twirling a cinderblock above his head from a heavy duty chain in all denim cut-offs and new-wave sunglasses, croonin' Elvis-style while Martin Rev gets all slinky behind the synths, all the while looking like he's reading a Tolstoy novel. This is the end of music right here.

Seppuku:
Ghost Rider, Johnny, Cheree

R

Royal Trux
Royal Trux
1988

Fuck what they all say, this is raw, no foreplay. This the type a shit I could listen to, all day. I stole that line from MF DOOM, but RTX stole nothing from nobody. Hagerty's prior band, Pussy Galore, had nothing on this masterpiece. No pussyfooting here. Some will tell you the next album, "Twin Infinitives" is the one to cop, but that's a cop out from a bunch of losers who listen to record reviews and consensus figures. This is the album that the Trux re-re-remade throughout their entire career. Each album is some bastard child of this Father. Witness the conception.

Songs infinitive:
Andersonville, Jesse James, Zero Dok, Strawberry Soda Pop, et al.
(Walking Machine has that solo Neil Hagerty feel, dl that one too!)

ps: the tracks are all fugged up, yr gonna have to rename them, and allmusic.com doesn't have this album in the Trux discog; so its a HIDDEN classic.

Q

!!!WILD CARD!!! !!!WILD CARD!!! !!!WILD CARD!!!

Alastair Galbraith
Cry
2000

Australia is Great Britain's outcast-ed, rapist filled, poisonous everything land. New Zealand is its Paris. The Flying Nun scene, the Dead C scene, and of course good ol' AG! Honestly, you could pick up anything this guy does (A Handful of Dust, Plagal Grind, your mother) and unconditionally love it. I like how he uses that gimmick of the backwards taped guitar on every other track and transcends the joke. I like how every song is 1m45s. I like how he's Alastair Galbraith. He has a guitar, a violin, a 4 track and a lisp. Interested?

!!!WILD CARD!!! !!!WILD CARD!!! !!!WILD CARD!!!

P

Palace
Lost Blues and Other Songs
1997

Here's a lil story that must be told. Went with my bff Andy and his gff Kathy to Albany's Northern Lights to see M. Oldham and family play some post "I See a Darkness" shit and I remember about 1/3 thru the show Andy saying "We are TOTALLY gonna see Will's penis tonight." ??? Sure enough, encore, Will, Ned, Paul, whomever may be a relative, start stripping and then running about the crowd. Those hipsters ate it up (the show of penis, not the actual penis; surely?).
Here's another lil ditty. This comp, filled with Palace (Songs, Music, Brothers, etc) singles is the natural place to start rummaging 'round Oldham County. All I gotta say is "West Palm Beach b/w Gulf Shores". That 7" is like falling in love.

S

Sun Araw
On Patrol
2010

Sun Araw, which is some guy with the last name Stallones that pratically stole some guy's name from the planet Saturn, makes theee best psychedelic music in this here age. While Bardo Pond held that crown back in the day for me, M. Araw holds that title like Pacquiao! Each album he releases to the relatively few is like manna from some place, complete with a completely new vibe. This one, to me, has a HARD funk feel, for a white guy, not unlike some Talking Heads shit. In fact, that first track has some truncated Eno-esque Stax squeal that I'm enamored with to the utmost. ARAW POWER!!!!

N

Neu
Neu!
1972

To me, no sound most perfectly matches one's environment than Neu, BANGING in yr automobile, driving approximately 75 mph on the highway, with a rare sunny weekday off from work.

One of the record store recommendations that actually was spot-on: Other Music.

M

The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers
1976

Don't ever "buy" Jonathon Richman albums, they sure are FEY. I do give you to "buy" this album, on 180 gram mp3! This is the result of being a Mass-hole, bumming on Lou Reed's couch, and having one ejaculate-ful of genius. Simply put, a straight train to Awesomeville, which my be something J.Rich might say.

Well, some people try to pick up girls
and get called assholes
This never happened to
Pablo Picasso

Back to the kiddies, JR

L

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band
Lick My Decals Off, Baby
1970

From one weirdo to the other. I post this the day after Don Glen Vliet Van Vliet died. I'd been sippin' on the Captain again, thanks to an old Wire (magazine) primer of the Trouted One. "Trout Mask Replica" was great double album of ass-numbing tunes, buuuut, "Lick my decals off, BABY" was the distillation of that record. Tighter, more coherent-ish, Rock (dam)N Roll. I'm privy to "the Buggy Boogie Woogie"

Oh that buggy boogie woogie sweeps me off my feet
What this world needs is a good retreat
What this world needs is a good two dollar room
'n a good two dollar broom
One day I was sweepin' down by the wall
I bumped a mama spider 'n the babies begin' to fall
Off o' my broom
Now I gotta keep on sweepin' 'n sweepin'
'fore they fill the room
Now that buggy boogie woogie sweeps me off my feet
I gotta keep on sweepin' 'n sweepin'
Seems like I could keep on sweepin' 'n sweepin'
'n there's still too many feet.

All to the beat of a broom....

K

Keiji Haino
Affection
1992

What a wonderful stream to first get one's feet wet in the body of Keiji Haino solo, hour-long, single track sexiness. Totally subdued like 75% of the time, entirely tuneful, and even some Fushitsusha covers to boot. Nothing overtly skullfucking, just KH doing his to-do on solo guitar and voice. How doooooeeessss he do it?

J

Sleep
Jerusalem
1996

OK, we all know the "fuck you" story about this album, band, record label. Some may tell you that "Dopesmoker", the original incarnation of this record, is superior. They're full of lies. If yr parents told you to do the chores and you did, and they weren't satisfied and demanded you do it right this time, so you do the chores the way they wanted but you rearranged all the furniture so the Idiot Box is now BEHIND the couch, isn't that just a bigger "fuck you"? This is a bigger "fuck you".

I

Tame Impala
Innerspeaker
2010

One of those rare '10 releases that are not only NOT bogus, but down right REAL. These Australians are vocally on some Beetles shit. Its like Lenin and McCarthy took the L and cranked the psych up to 11 to drown out George and the Lama. I got my mind set on this.

H

Herbie Hancock
Head Hunters
1973

The 4H special! I like my jazz funky. I'll be like Herbie and hand you this cock. Fire.

G

Gastr del Sol
Camoufleur
1998

Gastr del Sol's prior album, "Upgrade and Afterlife", holds a quaint spot in my memories. I was so enamored by that record, its sweet cover of a man, turned to water, exploding out of a pair of rainboots. I brought the album to my friend Phill's house and popped it on the turntable so he could record its awesomeness. He was showing me some tricks on his skateboard, all the while skipping the record player and fucking up the dub, but it sounded like perfection. I wish I still had that tape. Forward to the next one, "Camoufleur", and the brothers Chicago enlisted M. Popp of "scratched CD is music" fame (Oval) to mold "beats". It adds to an atmosphere of shimmering songs that go all over the map, horns, guitars, nonsense lyrics, fireworks with French teens. It all sounds like you should listen to this.

F

Fennesz
Endless Summer
2001

Only occasionally does an abstract electronic musician make music that isn't just bullshit noise or technically fantastic but horrifically snooze-inducing junk. Christmas baby Christian Fennesz makes the kinda avant-Windows tune-age on a perfectly consistent basis. This is THE one though. This album had kids all over the world asking Santa for an Macbook and some impossibly priced software. Why? Well, inside the gorgeous sleeve is housed some catchy tunes, pummeled to abstraction by Intel processors. They want out, and you must find them and save them in the oasis of yr memories.

E

Electric Wizard
Dopethrone
2000

"There's only a couple of ways to get out. One: mental institutions. The other: death." With this snippet of dialogue, The WIZARD thrust theyselves into the turntables and cd players of a gaggle of impressionable chumps like myself. I never knew rock this damn heavy could also have the hooks that Cobain blew his face off for. I guess some call it sludge, or stoner, or doom. I can't hear them, my eardrums have been vaporized.

Hack up a lung to these:
Vinium Sabbathi, Funerapolis, I Witchfinder

D

Bob Dylan and The Band
The Basement Tapes
1975

This album tastes fresher and fresher everyday. Shoddily recorded for sure, just the way us folk have liked it since them lo-fi early Nineties. Not much to say here that you couldn't just pick up in some tiresome Dylan critical analysis book at Barnes and Borders.

Best-ment tapes:
Million Dollar Bash, Wheels on Fire, Goin' to Acapulo, Clothes Line Saga, etc...

C

Mayo Thompson
Corky's Debt To His Father
1970

The Seventies continue! So this wacko from Texas forms a divisive band o' hooligans called the Red Crayola (soon to be the Red Krayola, cuz that kinda ingenuity solve all sorts of lawsuits) and then says "hey, lets make the greatest folk album of all time". Definitely unlistenable for most. Part of that has to be due to the generally craptastic Krayola records. Mostly the voice. Also, no one wants to wade thru atonal nonsensical intros to get to the hits. No matter, this is the jam.

Very, very creamy...
The Lesson, Oyster Thins, To You, Horses

B

Syd Barrett
The Madcap Laughs
1970

Yeah, he was insane. We all get that. But do you get how good an album this is, his first? I used to play this LP when I worked third shift at a rather popular gas station in NY and the drunken customers would implore me: "What the FUCK are you listening to?" I always thought it was pop music.

I'm thiiiiiiiIIIIEEEeeeEEEEEEnnking of these songs:
No Good Trying, Long Gone, No Man's Land

A

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Before Today
2010

This is the gosh darn best album of 2010. I grew up with my Pop's pop. He went Beatles, ELO, Huey, and then nothing. Ariel Pink fills that void. This is pop, straight up Top 40. Except AP doesn't want a new drug, he's fucking happy with his current fix. This album may not have his greatest tracks (although it may), but it's his most concise, potent work. Before "Before Today" was an album titled "The Doldrums" and that's the jam. But damn this is the jam 2!

pop hits:
Round and Round, Can't Hear My Eyes, L'estat, Beverly Kills, etc...

#

13th Floor Elevators
The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators
1966

One of a handful of truly essential psych albums. The caterwauling vocals of Roky Erickson, the omnipresent electric jug, the LSD mixed in like so many teaspoons of sugar. Its all quite dense and truly hallucinogenic. Roky went crazy over this album; shouldn't you, too?

My mind's eyes:
You're Gonna Miss Me, Rollercoaster, Don't Fall Down

Z

The Zombies
Zombies Heaven MIX
1964-1967

These are beautiful pop songs that I find myself going back to more often then, lets say, The Beatles or some overplayed jazz like that. A lot of heartbreak in these here cuts, and all pre-psychedelic, none of that horseshit wankery and "cool" acidified accoutrements that were all the rage in Wee Britain.

A
She's Not There, Leave Me Be, Tell Her No, Summertime, Kind of Girl
B
Time of the Season, She's Coming Home, I Want You Back, Whenever You're Ready, Just Out of Reach

Y

Wipers
Youth of America
1981

Hated during their time and maybe ignored now, the Wipers were kinda like the Northwest's sloppy, damp version of Television. Extended jams and angry/noisy guitar playing. I love how this album starts, a slow burning intro that pauses briefly and launches skull first into "No Fair". "Taking Too Long" kinda sounds like a Byrds song. Pretty darn intense.

what you seek is what you find:
No Fair, Youth of America, Taking Too Long

X

X
Los Angeles
1980

That is one hella cover. And a helluva album. Not quite punk, not really hardcore, honestly pop. Oh so rock. I love the boy/girl vocals of those love birds: Christ-ene Cervenka and John Doe. I actually love this album more after seeing JD in "Roswell", that horrible teen alien drama on TV-ghetto CW or WB or something. Its like a miracle that he was involved in the making of this classic. Hooks and hooks, speedy, even some rockabilly-ish moments. The guitarist looks like Brian Seltzer (sp?). This is the reissue with some phat bonus cuts.

Now heard music:
Johny Hit and Run Paulene, Los Angeles, Nausea, Adult Books

W

Sonic Youth
Washing Machine
1995

1994: The Year I Broke. I was in an ER reading an EW "Year in Review" issue, and they named Sonic Youth's "Dirty" the album of the year. I remember terms like "noisy", "bratty", "NYC" bandied about the writeup. I got a distinct negativity from the positive critique and became instantly interested so, "Dirty" was quickly scooped up on cassette at the now defunct Media Play behemoth. I first popped the tape in my Walkman at the local laundromat and the blast of feedback that initiates lead off track "100%" startled me. Was my batteries running low? Were the washing machines exploding? Needless to say, I was picked up everything the record store had to offer from my first favorite band.
"Washing Machine" was the first SY album I purchased as a new release. I devoured the album. I paid ducats to see them open up for Beck. I purchased the iconic "Washing Machine" t-shirt. I still have the tee, having been cleaned in its namesake so many time that the shirt is falling apart. I think its better than "Daydream Nation".

Here's some quarters:
Junkie's Promise, Washing Machine, Diamond Sea

V

Vivian Girls
Vivian Girls
2008

Searching for album art, I misspelled "Vivian Girls". I guess I didn't have Google safe-search on cuz I got a bunch of chicks named "Vivien" getting it up the ass. A lot of people got realllly anal about this album, its lo-fi roots, its brashness. To me it is just pure pop, whether you can decipher the vocals or not. The album seems to be a story arch: girl's lonely, girl's infatuated, girl's in love, girl's confused, girl's betrayed, girl's alone. Get yr thumbs out yr butts.

In the realms of the unreal:
Tell the World, I Believe in Nothing, All the Time

U

U.S. Maple
Talker
1999

U.S. Maple would swear they're not 'deconstructionists'. In a way, I agree. They may have performed an implosion of the arena of Rock, but they used the rubble to construct the perfect stadium on top. This album was produced by Mike Gira of Swans fame after two albums helmed by Jim O'rourke of fame fame. This is a system rattling record, disparate ill-fitting pieces smashed together, seemingly at random, into a tight, cohesive whole. The first track, "Bumps and Guys" starts small, builds to this climax where you expect the band to just fucking EXPLODE. Instead, a wheezy, a fumble, a total letdown. Does it sound random? In a way. But its not. I've seen these guys perform "Talker" live, in its entirety; while I love extrapolation/interpretation at my rock shows, they kept so close to the vest that the songs sounded EXACTLY the same as on record. This is no glorious mess. It is simply glorious. Reunite ol' fellers: you are my Zeppelin.

an acre of thrills:
Bumps and Guys, Go To Bruises, Its Your High School

T

Television
Marquee Moon
1977

Can we supplant that little square in the upper-left of the American flag with the cover of this album? Were Television hated by punks and the CBGB crowd? Cuz those little talentless wankers couldn't have possibly respected this killer guitar rock masterpiece, let alone touch the damn thing.

Whats on my TV:
Marquee Moon, Friction, See No Evil

S

Spoon
A Series of Sneaks
1998

Spoon announced themselves with a beautiful blast of shimmering feedback on "Don't Buy the Realistic" on that killer Matador comp, "What's Up Matador?". This being my first Spoon purchase at some scumbag Pittsburgh used-CD store. They've never touched this album in terms of tight pop songs, loaded with crunchy riffs and scorching solos. Guitar heavy. I've always wanted to do one of those Beck-style cover records of this album.

a series of hits:
Utilitarian, Minor Tough, Metal Detektor

R

Real Estate
Real Estate
2009

These tunes are like slowly cruising down sunny suburban side streets. That is all.

sunny day Real Estate:
Beach Comber, Lets Rock the Beach

Q

!!!WILD CARD!!! !!!WILD CARD!!! !!!WILD CARD!!! !!!WILD CARD!!!

Ducktails
III

Yeah, worst band name ever. But, great tunes. I guess people call chillwave or glo-fi or tropical something sumthin'. Its definitely bedroom pop, vaguely psychedelic, and beachy. Peachy!


!!!WILD CARD!!! !!!WILD CARD!!! !!!WILD CARD!!! !!!WILD CARD!!!

P

Pavement
Slanted and Enchanted
1992

If you made a horizontal cut through my midsection you'd see a thick band dating my strict devotion to this album during my most formative music listening years. I estimate nearly 2000 spins between 1995-1996. This was the album I played while indulging my Bill Walsh College Football video game fetish, as well as my bedtime story, on repeat, repeat, repeat. I'd wake up every time "Our Singer" would come on the stereo. To this day I still have no clue why they compare these Stockton boys to those blokes in the Fall, cuz the Fall sucks balls... especially when stood up next to this full length.

Trigger cuts:
Zurich is Stained, Fame Throwa, In the Mouth a Desert

O

Raekwon
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
1994

We all agree... LEGENDARY.
Instead, my favorite non sequitors:
"Julio Eglasias: makin' C.R.E.A.M. like that nigga"
"Don't treat me like a got a flowerpot"
"Sniff yr brains out"
"Backside bangin' like a Benz"
"Throw my nine in yr meatloaf"

"Boom"

N

Neil Michael Hagerty
Neil Michael Hagerty
2001

A lot of poseurs like to cite how great Neil's legendary scumduo Royal Trux was, especially early unintelligible shitstorm "Twin Infinitives" era albums. That junk was diff-i-cult, but a rewarding listen and pretty much the tools that RTX would use from then on out. I'd contend that Neil's first solo joint, after severing ties with his ladyfriend Jen H., is as difficult an album to get a hold of, yet solve the riddles of his future sphinx. This is guitar rock, classic rock, axe-shredding, repetitive, and essential. Neil looks like Todd Rundgren on the cover. The cover-art sports a Cpt. America/guitar collage that pretty much nails how I'd envision a Hagerty superhero. Great live performer, too. He's rocks my rocks off on both coasts.

"You see a picture of your face
You say 'Who the hell is that?'"

Victory chimps:
Whiplash, Know That, I Found a Stranger

NMH's nu-crue: the Howling Hex

M

Miles Davis
On The Corner
1972
... and another one! Where Ra was the lover of the family, Miles was the uncontainable wild child. Known for releasing records consisting solely of audio footage of M. Davis bitch-slapping your wife and/or mother, "On The Corner" ain't no different. This is harrrrd funk, splintered and spliced by wingman (proto-HipHop) producer Teo Macero, mashed with elements of jazz and rock. This shit is like strutting down damp 1970's NYC streets in the most butter leathers, brought to you courtesy of "Fuck You!" Vote for Miles!

The Innermost thoughts of Miles! An autobiography that is OBVIOUSLY not ghost-written.

L

Sun Ra
Lanquidity
1978

I'm a backdoor man. Genres reveal themselves as completely bastardized before I usually settle down with a relatively stable family of like minded albums. Jazz is the proof to that hypothesis. I hit on jazz's slutty sister, Free (or Fire jazz as the Wire is wont to call it), meeting her thru Peter Brotzmann's stroke inducing disc "Machine Gun". On to the next one, Ayler's "Love Cry" turned me onto the soulful twin of America's one true music. After all that seriousness, I was pushed towards a more funky variant, introduced by Saturn's favorite son, Sun Ra. Sure, I owned a few glorified Ra classics (ex: Heliocentric World..., in the realm of free, that album blows); yet it was this album that turned the tide, allowing me to nestle close to a jauntier version of jazz. "Lanquidity" is one of those LPs that I also copped on CD, cuz the whip needs bangers like these.

Arkestral stars:
That's How I Feel, Where Pathways Meet

K

Kisses
Heart of the Nightlife
2010

This was my '10 summerjam! I'm pretty sure Leah and I listened to this everyday (sometimes more than once) for 3 months straight. Its got that tropical feel that seems to be the new crack that all these youngsters be fiendin'. Unlike the majority of those crap cassette bands, Kisses deals in clean production and tight, danceable beats. And the lyrics possess genius on the sly: "I would like to take you out/for a nice steak dinner/just me and you." That's simultaneously the stupidest and tightest line I've ever pressed ears against. Dip your toes.

Dinner for four:
Midnight Lover, People Do the Most Amazing Things, Kisses, Lovers


Kisses (site)

J

The Jacks
EP
1968

I scooped this little 4 song gem at one of the numerous tasty record shoppes in the Amherst/Northampton, MA area, Turn It Up! They have such an amazing import/psych section and this EP just screamed at me, "Pick me! Pick me!" Peep the dude's hair with the acoustic. That's gotta be Keiji Haino's dad. Again, this is a mere 4 ditties, 3 slow burners and 1 scorching psych pop tune. A splendid 18 minutes.


Turn It Up!
Garage Hangover: The Jacks