Country: US Artist: Duo Career: recording since 1988 Language: English Genre: Subversive pop
Who made one of the greatest blue-eyed soul records ever in ‘Freedom of ‘76’? Who followed with a country record that stiffed? Who made a masterpiece ‘White pepper’ when no one listened? Ween did.
Who’s got the studio nous of Steely Dan? Who writes better songs than anyone can? Which band has two very twisted men? Ween do.
Who writes soft rock classics about bodily harm? Who follows tropical bongo pop with a hardcore jam? Who has three backwards guitar solos in the first three songs, man? Ween do.
Who sang ‘Bananas and blow’ out loud on the train? Who thinks this record is a drug from which he can’t abstain? Who just got 11 more of their records and has only one complaint? Why so few?
That’s me.
At its best: Exactly where I’m at, Flutes of Chi, Even if you don’t, Pandy Fackler
Country: France Artist: Male solo artist Career: recording since 1994, 2nd album Language: Instrumental Genre: Jazz / House
The recipe is straightforward: loop a good backbeat to infinity and let an array of great soloists on different instruments loose on them. Who needs a theme or a melody, let’s groove. And so we get, in sequence, ‘Rose rouge’ (sampled voice and trumpet), ‘Montego bay spleen’ (Ernest Ranglin on guitar), ‘So flute’ (flute and piano), ‘Land of…’ (organ), ‘Latin note’ (percussion), ‘Sure thing’ (John Lee Hooker), and so on. Each track is a different shade of the same formula, an upgrade of ‘70s soul jazz in its most smoothly danceable form.
Make no mistake, for the first 6 tracks and 40 minutes, it works to perfection. Yeah, it’s unthreatening, it’s kinda glossy, you could put it on a coffee table, but it’s so good. There’s a reason ‘Sure thing’ (built up out of samples of Miles Davis and John Lee Hooker) was inescapable that year on the continent. Why is it great? The soloists. With nothing in the way of ‘song’ to restrain them, they let go on a deep groove, building ever longer, unwinding lines, carving out a way through the jungle. I’d guess Ludovic Navarre (who is St. Germain) edited the solos out of longer/multiple takes, building something with more direction and intent than your average one take solo would guarantee, always accentuating melody in the improvisations, melody the players didn’t always know was there, I bet.
The last third of the record drifts out of the window. He runs out of new instruments, and needs to fall back on variations and combinations (flute and saxophone,…). He also runs out of memorable backbeats, and it sort of meanders on – some nice flute on ‘La goutte d’or’ though. Quality control isn’t all that, but so what, he got the sequencing right – I’m grading this on the first 40 minutes.
At its best: Montego bay spleen, So flute, Sure thing
Country: US Artist: Band Career: recording since 1998, 2nd album Language: English Genre: Hard rock
The story of how I missed my appointment with the QotSA.
It was that historical breeze, the flowery summer of 2000. The world was filled with college students and young people – just cause I happened to be both. The Gulf war was over if we wanted it. We were the future of the world and we didn’t even care about the future. There would be IT programming jobs for all of us. I think I’d just gotten on the internet in the last year!
Late june, finals over, I lost my equilibrium. Basically, I couldn’t stand up for falling down. Overworked, said the doctor. Lock yourself up in a darkened room with no noise for three days. (I hadn’t been without noise since I discovered Sonic Youth 7 years earlier!)
It wasn’t a major shock – I was just set to see Beck that night. Close call.
Anyway, my good friend visited me and brought along this new record, blue cover. ‘You’ve GOT to hear this!’ He put it on…
‘Nicotine valium…’
It hurt something awful. I told him it sounded fine and I’d definitely look into it.
And here we are…
It’s an undeniable record, rocks with precision and vision, these people are so focused on their simultaneously primal and fiercely intellectual goal, it can get scary.
Yeah.
At its best: The lost art of keeping a secret, Leg of lamb, Better living through chemistry
Country: UK Artist: Band Career: recording since 1992 Language: English Genre: Classic rock
I’d expected something pointy and hermetic, but Porcupine Tree is the return of classic rock. No genre is more popularly loved but critically reviled. I might not be as objective as I could be – finding myself submerged in the music of 2000 for months, no classic rock in sight – but I welcome it with open arms.
Though the reference points are all familiar (topics: waste of human souls, depletion of natural resources, resignation to living in a rainy climate – musical touchtones: DSOTM-Floyd, Quadrophenia-Who, probably some more bands I’ve only ever read about in Mojo like Marillion or Blue Oyster Cult – solos: I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I heard a wah-wah’ed guitar solo!) in the end there’s something uniquely their own in there. It’s so subtle I can’t tell you what it is.
More importantly it’s really good. Slightly doom-laden, but resigned melodies, mid-tempo meandering until they open up magically into thrilling, head-above the clouds, defiant climaxes. Lots of guitar solos, a keyboard player obviously at home in the sort of wall-of-keyboards arena setup so familiar in the ‘70s… Anyway, nothing you didn’t immediately think of when you read those two words ‘classic rock’.
I haven’t been selling this as well as I wanted to. It’s hard to find the right words for something so good, but seemingly so without reason to exist. Do we need more classic rock? So I’ll end with a little hyperbole: these days I probably prefer to play this record than any Floyd or Quadrophenia.
No, forget hyperbole, that much is true.
At its best: Lightbulb sun, Hatesong, Russia on ice, Feel so low
Country: US Artist: Male solo artist Career: recording since 1958 Language: English / Instrumental Genre: Rock&Roll
How do we deal with veteran records as listeners? The grizzled old folks who started it all are out there releasing record after record, in an approximation of their original sound. Some get back into the public eye or never leave it (Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan), many more keep going, somewhere under the radar, and twice yearly in a town near where you live. Are we supposed to listen to their records? Have they done enough for us, that they deserve this reprieve while we ignore their new work? Is it even possible for them to create anything worthwhile inside the tradition they helped create once?
There’s two opinions, I’ve found. One is that an artist at some point creates the perfect embodiment of his ideas (‘Like a rolling stone’, ‘I walk the line’, ‘Rumble’, ‘Rudolph the red-nosed reggae’) and everything after is an uninteresting pale retreat. The other is that if we like an artist at one stop in his journey, we might enjoy seeing where inspiration takes him, even if the path leads through valleys and meadows. There’s no need to compare ‘Like a rolling stone’ to ‘Cold irons bound’ (to name just one track from ‘Time out of mind’), they can exist side by side very well. Philosophically, it’s either option A (talent gets used up) or option B (talent gets used/abused). You’ve probably guessed that I’m in the second group, and so old people are generously represented in this list.
Which brings us to Link Wray and this record. The tag line ‘newly recorded cd’ on the back cover is relative, none of this music is less than 3 years old, most is from 1995. Five years more or less, what does it matter in the life of a veteran? It’s a mess basically, roughly half of it from a session with his Danish rock quartet, five songs from an acoustic session with a bass player, two live tracks tacked at the end. Not the conditions to find greatness. And for the first nine songs, that’s where it stays. It veers back and forth between the rocking tracks and the acoustic songs – versions of riffs he’s done before and covers (‘Barbed wire’, ‘Tiger man’, ‘Jailhouse rock’, ‘Young and beautiful’…). (Side note: Link is not a great singer, he never was, he isn’t in 2000. I kinda like his singing, and you sort of listen around it. If you can’t, fair do). The more I listen to these first nine songs, the more I find to like in them. I enjoy it a lot, but there’s no way around it’s a nice stop through one of the valleys for Link Wray.
But the tables turn on the last 20 minutes and four tracks (all of the high points below). Nothing, and I mean nothing, from 2000 rocks as hard as these 20 minutes. ‘Spider Man’ is just the most groovy introduction to the rocking, but even here the instrumental part starting at about 1’45” is noise and madness and rockin’ groove. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always wanted to hear what would happen if a ‘50s rocker embraced ‘80s guitar noise, or if a recent guitar attack band could rock with the authority of a ‘50s master. I’ve found my answer. It doesn’t let up – and it doesn’t matter these are the umpteenth versions of these songs that Link or anyone has done. He’s blazing through them, rewiring them from the inside out, spitting out the verses to get them out of the way and get into the instrumental sections. There’s nothing like ‘Born to be wild’ on any other record from 2000 or most other years. This ain’t no valley. It’s either high up on a mountain range, or subterranean – and either way it’s a sight to hear. He’s using it like he’s trying to use it up.
At its best: Spider man, Rumble (Live ’97), Born to be wild, Fire (Live ’97)
Country: Japan Artist: Trio Career: recording since 1996 Language: Unknown Genre: Heavy rock
Reviews tell me this is Boris’s most ambient album (at least up until that point). Maybe that’s why I like it so much. When I hear the word ‘Flood’ I always think of Bob Dylan’s Basement Tape-song ‘Down in the flood’: ‘It’s gonna be the meanest flood anybody ever saw’. This one isn’t mean though. In fact listening to it I can easily place myself in that picture on the cover, submerged, at one with the tide of the water. So very different from how I’d imagined Boris: I thought it would be ragged and uncompromising and that it would sound more amateur (thin production, unsubtle artistic choices) than fans would care to admit.
It’s not. I love that this is a carefully considered, expertly shaped, beautifully sounding experience, crafted with all the attention and knowhow it deserves. Lo-fi purity can be a good thing, but not for this music. It’s really one 70 minute musical moment, no shortcuts, no songs. Only parts of it can really be described as performance (parts 2 and 3 and those are some awesome performances), it’s all about the experience of the listener. It fits in neatly with a lot of other records in this list in that way. A very ‘00s thing. And Boris are up there with the best, based on this record.
What does it sound like, you ask? You’re going to be sorry you asked that, as words will do a very bad job at describing how it feels. Part one is basically two guitars playing the same 3 second melody line moving slowly out of sync. That’s the first 10 minutes plus of the experience. 7 minutes in there’s a distorted sound like somebody dragging a bag of metal objects across the room. That turns into a wild tribal tom tom percussion segue. I admit the first time I heard it I thought I’d never listen to it again, but I’ve come to like it a lot, partly because of the way it sets up the second section, but partly also just as itself. It worms its way into your consciousness. Part two is a two chord (two beautiful chords) dirge with lyrical guitar solos, also about 15 minutes. The control of tone is stunning, long feedback notes that sound just like flutes. It’s mesmerizing, epic and thrilling for the duration. It makes me feel as many conflicting emotions as ‘Maggot brain’.
There has to come a climax after that, and what a fulfilling, proud, uplifting moment it is. Part three starts with lovely singing (usually the downfall of such groups, but not here, harmonies and everything) and goes through the heavy stuff that you’ve been building up to for the last half hour. It’s crushing, it’s loud, it’s celebratory. Part four zooms out for 20 minutes on the last two notes of the climax, repeating endlessly and sinking into oblivion subtly and engagingly.
There you go. You can bemoan the state of rock-as-it-was in the ‘00s or you can ride along with the new wave. The second option is looking better all the time.
Country: US / Brazil Artist: Female solo artist Career: debut of 2nd career Language: Portuguese / English Genre: Bossa nova
I gotta tell you, I’m writing this from a position of great stress. F*cking work!
You might think ‘Oh, I know where this review is going’. All wound up. Let’s settle down with some coffee and the lovely daughter of Joao. In fact bring me a table for that coffee. Where was I? Lovely…
None of that – I want to bust this fucking cd. Fuck these spindle. Fuck these tiny bits on the front part connecting the cover with the spine – they break so easily. Yeah, I’ll bust that Spanish guitar too, mister. And the sampler!
I’m not feeling it right now, but this is a great record. Not just the best bossa nova album of the year, but the best since a whole lot of years. A classic.
Now where’s that Boris album?
At its best: Samba da Bencao, August day song, No return
Country: US Artist: Male solo artist Career: recording since ca. 1989 Language: Instrumental Genre: Improvisation electronica
If you know me well, I may have shown you my Jim O’Rourke shrine. Jim is my God. Even his beard is divinely different from other people’s beards, a grizzled American primitive rather than a tonsured ‘amusement park USA’ weave.
He may be grumpy God – retreating from view for extended periods, making me wonder if he exists. A jealous God – guarding his gifts. A vengeful God – scrapping entire records because my offerings aren’t enough to pay for that orchestra he wanted. A capricious God – spending more time on perverse, chaotic work that’s probably improvised, than on considered, beautiful creations. But hey, what else is new?
So you know, I’m not going to let the fact that he didn’t really release any records in 2000 stop me from including one. This is a limited limited edition record which was part of a New York art exhibition and afterwards sold for charity (or something like that).
Yeah, I got it from the internet.
2001 would see O’Rourke unleash two great records – the monumental song exploration ‘Insignificance’ and its dark, electronic sibling ‘I’m happy and I’m singing and a 1, 2, 3, 4’. That second record was a compilation of diverse live solo electronica improvisations, further adapted and bent into shape for the record. ‘Jim: computer: hotel’ – the title says it – is O’Rourke in a hotel room one day running through the basic material he used for those live improvisations. It’s a preliminary study for ‘I’m happy…’ – and I’m happy it exists. It’s a guide to the heart of the difficult but rewarding music it ended up as. But apart from that I’ve come to like it better than the finished music. It’s my chanced to hear his musical thoughts in real time.
The heart is the 25 minute 3rd track (no titles, but it ended up as ‘1, 2, 3, 4’), a piece of music like dark stormclouds passing overhead, unsettling and imposing, a force of nature, the work of God.
Country: US Artist: Male solo artist Career: debut (released several times between 1996 and 2000) Language: English Genre: Weird roots rock
You’re looking into the keyhole of a weird man.
You probably know all about this record, and are saying ‘Wait, isn’t that from 1996?’ Yeah, I guess, but it got shuttled between labels a couple of times, and my copy came out on Proper in 2000, and anyway, by the time I found out, it had found its place high up in the list, and I didn’t want to take it out.
This is Weird Roots RockTM, which is an established genre since ‘80s Tom Waits – but don’t run now. You know Tepper is Jeff Moris Tepper from the final incarnations of the Magic Band, and he’s got the Captain’s sense for word play and offhand philosophical wisdom. This walks the tightrope between mad dashes in the meadows of Eastern European country funk with tuba for bass and someone on hammers and spoons, and warm ‘Her eyes are a blue million miles’ – country cousins. I’m pretty devoted to it all.
Strike one for the original originals.
No Youtube.
At its best: Can’t stop cryin’, Bankshot, (If you really want to) Hurt somebody
Country: US Artist: Band Career: recording since 1988 Language: English Genre: Heavy rock
1988 was a little before my time, but I do wonder, when these guy appeared they must’ve blown away every other band in the country. Sure, those SST bands rocked, but none of them (not Husker Du, not the Minutemen, not Sonic Youth, not Meat Puppets) rocked like this. The keyword is sick, and from their monolithic early work (which stills sounds dauntingly primitive) to their surprisingly diverse and effective later work (I should check that stuff out!), it’s all here. Well, except for that one song from ‘Five dollar Bob’s mock cooter stew’ – what the hell is that all about?
You might say, how could any band from 2000 compete with 13 years of Mudhoney sickness? And – you’d be right. I’ve chosen some highlights but it’s futile. This is one uppercut after another, so precise and unerring in their dumb thrills – such conceptual concentration. I’d almost think there’s more sophistication there than perception betrays, except they’re so good at it, it can’t be, or is that part of the sophistication? Who knows? And when you can cue up ‘Into your shtik’, with its super swinging riff and demented second half which goes right off the rails, who cares? Not I.
At its best: Suck you dry, I have to laugh, Who you driving now?, Judgement rage retribution and thyme, Touch me I’m sick, Blinding sun, Into your shtik, Beneath the valley of the underdog
He’s got the songs, they just roll over each other on this album, one after another like an endless supply of genre exercises, playful ditties, heartbreaking ballads, it feels like it’s never going to end. He’s got the band: I mean, you’ve got to hand it to Gillian Welch, David Rawlings and Ethan Johns – they’ve got all the right moves, take on all the shades that the songs require and stay out of the way when the songs require nothing. And they made a great sounding record out of it. All the instruments sound really nice, and that’s no mean feat. I had listener friends who got turned off by how high the vocals are in the mix, but I think it’s just right. And the sequencing is excellent – like I said, the songs are just rolling by, one after another and when he hits on a really excellent one, say the reverie of ‘Amy’, or the almost mythical feeling of home in ‘Oh my sweet Carolina’, the 5am pensiveness of ‘Sweet lil gal’, it gets me, it really does. This record kicked Americana into a new gear at the beginning of the century, for better and worse. That’s the influence these kind of powerful records always have.
At its best: My winding wheel, Amy, Oh my sweet Carolina, In my time of need, Sweet lil gal (23rd/1st)
Country: Iceland Artist: Female solo artist Career: debut Language: English Genre: Pop
What Portishead should have done after their second album, or even first. Modern pop record expertly realized (slow and brooding pop anyway, torch songs perhaps). Craft and inspiration combined. Modern pop means there’s an immaculate shine to the recordings, everything about the performances and arrangements is so perfectly balanced and right, that it’s not natural. You can’t believe any of these recordings are performances captured that ever really happened, not like a ‘60s pop album (or even ‘70s) with people standing next to each other in a cramped studio space bringing a track to life. All of that happens in the head of the producer/artist now. That’s modern pop for you. And this record at least does it right. The songs are all there, the artist arrives fully formed and sings them to life, the arrangements support the songs, it’s very 2000 but so well done it could become timeless. Yes, I think it could.
At its best: To be free, Wednesday’s child, Baby blue, Easy, Summerbreeze
Country: UK Artist: Duo Career: recording since 1995 Language: English Genre: Electronic pop
There’s no doubt ‘Pure pleasure seeker’, the opening track here, is one of the monster records of the year. A wild, exhausting, exhilarating ride, that’s completely mad and completely believable. It just feels awesome, the louder you turn it up the better it becomes. And the two other singles, ‘Indigo’ and ‘The time has come’ aren’t far behind in bringing you a mad rush. This is what Prince should’ve been doing in 2000 (and that’s high praise).
So, I’m putting this in on the strength of those 15 minutes, even though the record as it stands is not without problems. On some songs (‘Remain the same’, ‘Dumb inc’) they take the ‘in your face’ attitude a little too far, to the point of annoyance. Some songs are good but scattershot. The whole record is scattershot (or a mess). But listening to records is not an exact science. They’ve earned their place.
Edit: Still the same as before, except not annoyed anymore. Loving it.
At its best: Pure pleasure seeker, Indigo, The time has come, If you have a cross to bear you might as well use it as a crutch
Country: Canada Artist: Male solo artist Career: recording since 1945 Language: Instrumental Genre: Jazz / Easy listening
When John Irving was confronted with the statement that in contemporary fiction plot was dead, he responded along the lines of ‘Just cause they can’t think of a story anymore…’ Quality of John Irving’s recent novels aside, that must be how Oscar Peterson feels about melody. Tacky but lovely cover and song titles aside, I don’t have a clue what this has to do with Canada or any country. It’s evocative of romance, of old Hollywood movies, of great old Disney soundtracks. In fact, if you can stomach the most gorgeously sentimental light orchestral (with strings!) mood music this side of the century, step right this way. There’s nothing better than this in 2000. There’s nothing else like this in 2000 either, but don’t let that stop you. Alright, I admit, it’s muzak. All this does is sit there and be absolutely beautiful. Ain’t that enough? I thought I could resist, but I just love the warm and sentimental feelings it gives me. Still can’t figure out what it has to do with Canada though.
At its best: Open places, Morning in Newfoundland, The Okanagan valley, Dancetron, Banff the beautiful, Harcourt nights
Country: Brazil Artist: Female solo artist Career: recording since 1997, 2nd album Language: Portuguese Genre: Brazilian folk
A ballad disc that slowly creeps under your skin. Don’t be fooled by the introduction in which Rodrigues attempts some kind of musical invocation of the gods over a dry, unmelodic percussion track – that’s not where this is headed. From the first song on though, it’s flawless. A couple of songs have those killer chord changes that make the hairs on your neck stand up. What a singer. And these songs sound like they’re carved out of rock. I want to especially mention the gorgeous arrangements – a Caetana Veloso production if I’m not mistaken.
At its best: Uma historia de Ifa, Salvador nao Inerte, Oju oba, Mimar voce
Country: US Artist: Trio Career: recording since 1985 Language: English Genre: Inside out Country rock
Wayward talent, that’s Howe Gelb. Gelb and his men have been setting fire with their chaotic desert rock’n’roll since the early ‘80s. Gelb – the beatnik orator at full speed, never managing to fit his lines into metre or reason. His men, with casual disregard for notes and bars. The pulpit of absurdist theory.
Prior to ‘Chore of enchantment’ there was a long silence. They lost one of their men to cancer. Maybe that’s what accounts for the record’s concentration. They’re uncharacteristically sharp and on the ball. Granted, the ball is still chaos, but they’re on it. It might account also for the tone of reflection and strength. It takes time to decipher, or to get a grip on its absurd logic, but it’s a powerful statement. After this the long lasting configuration of the band, reduced here to Gelb and Calexico’s rhythm section (great!), fell apart. Gelb has been recording with/under various band names. But there was something special about these guys.
Wayward – I saw Gelb play solo a couple of months ago. He’d gotten himself a new old guitar effect, and he seemingly smitten with it. In short, when he hit it, the note he played would change to a random note by way of slides/slurs/whooshes of sound. He used it on every song, and told us the story of how he came by it. My girlfriend couldn’t take it. Wayward.
At its best: (well) Dusted (for the millennium), Raw, Shiver, Astonished (in Memphis), Satellite
Country: Finland Artist: Male solo artist Career: recording since 1994 Language: English Genre: Psychedelic electronica
Tenor went out of his way to make what may be the ultimate freak record of the year. He hired the Polish Orchestra of the Great Theatre Lodz to fill in the colours of his nightmarish noir/lounge/’70s symphonic soul vision, which they do like rabid volunteers on a suicide mission. The record’s almost evenly divided between abstract, instrumental sound collages (that do work!) and great trips of songs called ‘Hypnotic drugstore’ and ‘Blood on Borscht’, which manage to sound exactly as mad as their titles make you hope. Not easy listening. ‘Nowhere’ sounds like a dangerous place to visit if these are the souvenirs.
At its best: Hypnotic drugstore, Blood on Borscht, Spell
Country: US Artist: Male solo artist Career: recording since 1992 Language: English Genre: Electric Blues
Awesome Burnside-ness. A voice that cuts through bullshit, telling his truth over righteous blues grooves. Some reviewers complained about the ‘modern’ production (sure, a little bit of scratching, a loop here or there, nothing that hasn’t been done for a couple of decades). I like it. Yeah, R.L. sounds as old as the hills, that doesn’t mean nothing can grow there anymore. The man sounds like he’s having a lot of fun in these grooves. (My copy has three bonus tracks showing the singer in a more natural, ‘live in studio’ setting, and well, they’re kinda boring. Stick with the original album.)
Burnside is not an evil blues singer, but he’s most definitely wicked and intent on getting it his way. A wicked old man having fun in a modern world, haven’t we learned from Dylan’s last couple of albums, that it’s a hell of a sound? In fact, a couple of these grooves (say, ‘Miss Maybelle’, ‘Too many ups’, ‘Bad luck city’) sound like they could easily have ended up on Dylan’s ‘Love & Theft’ the following year (without the scratching of course). In case you’re wondering, that’s a compliment. How a record with a truly unsettling story on it about the death of what sounds like most of R.L.’s relatives, can also end up one of the most irrepressibly fun albums of the year, I don’t know. That’s the blues for you. It sets you free.
At its best: Hard time killing floor, Got messed up, Miss Maybelle, Too many ups, Nothin’ man, R.L.’s story
Country: US Artist: Trio Career: recording since 1994 Language: Instrumental Genre: Ambient / Post-rock
Maybe it’s a frequency thing. Labraford get into the top 100 on the strength of 20 minute opener ‘Twenty’, which fills half of this record. It fits neatly into the post-rock template – the 90s template that is, there’s no histrionic louder section here like Explosions in the sky or Mogwai would work up to. In its calm and focused, restrained instrumental noodling it puts me in mind of ‘DJed’ from Tortoise’s ‘Millions now living…’ – still my high point of the genre. In all honesty, not much happens in 20 minutes, but maybe it’s the chords, maybe it’s the amp settings. I love immersing myself in it. There’s literally not much to it, but I never tire of it. It’s mood music, and it always picks me up and leaves me refreshed at the end. It must be pitched exactly at the frequencies that work for me. I have no other explanation than that the sound vibrations feel physically good. In fact, after ‘Millions…’ I can’t name another post-rock album I enjoy this much. Side two is shorter snippets of the same – sounds unremarkable, but at that point I’m not in the mood for anything else. So, frequency scientists, it is.
Country: UK Artist: Band Career: recording since 1994 Language: English Genre: Gentle psych-folk pop
No slur, but this is nothing more than an extended single for ‘Face like summer’ to me. ‘Face like summer’ is a perfect song. I have played it, without exaggeration, on repeat for half an hour at a stretch. And even with tears in my eyes, it’s still a perfect song. No matter that it’s four verses and one endless chorus (they couldn’t quite find a way back from the chorus and I can’t blame ‘em). Love the clumsy piano at the start, the way the second keyboard adds support on verse two, the breakdown, verse three with acoustic guitar and backings, verse four with bass and then ‘I know that’s where it begins’ repeated endlessly without any musical changes or build up, just repeated like a mantra for all the fallible human beings for whom happiness is so hard to find and whose dreams so easily fade away.
(The other seven tracks, including three instrumentals, set you up for that song in the best possible way. Also check out the VU-esque ‘Fresher than the sweetness in water’.)
At its best: Face like summer, also: Fresher than the sweetness in water, The blue trees, Wrong turnings
Country: Japan Artist: Male solo artist Career: recording solo since 1978 Language: Instrumental / English Genre: Orchestral soundtrack
It’s not easy to determine the release year of records in Sakamoto’s vast body of work. Some of them are released in Asia earlier than in the rest of the world, or only released in certain parts of the world… Like this one, which AllMusic claims for 2000 and which I found reviewed in the European press in that year, but the copyright date is 1999. I’ll claim it for the year I’m covering here, just because Sakamoto is one of my best discoveries of this project. Sure, I knew ‘Forbidden colours’, his wonderful song with David Sylvian – which is on this record in a beautiful piano, singer and orchestra version -, and I’d heard bits and pieces here and there. I knew his name cropped up in a lot of places But now I find he could be one of the great polymath composer / producer / guest musician / artists in the line of John Cale and Van Dyke Parks and Jim O’Rourke (or O’Rourke would be in line with him, as he showed up later). My new hero.
This record came out on Sony Classical, if you want to put a label on it. It contains 4 soundtrack pieces (one vocal, ‘Forbidden colours’ with Sylvian singing, and three instrumentals from the movies ‘The last emperor’, ‘Little Buddha’ and ‘Wuthering heights’ - I’m not sure if they’re existing sections or newly composed combinations of melodies from those movies) and 2 other compositions (‘Replica’, the oldest and most ‘modern’ –meaning, repetitive - music here, and ‘El Mar Mediterrani’, written for the Olympics in Barcelona).
On the first two tracks the orchestra is guided by Sakamoto’s piano, and it’s a good decision to put these tracks first – his piano is also a great guide for the listener. In his playing you hear the most concise yet complete blueprint for his compositions, the way he builds up melody and develops his themes. The clear lines and structure in his work are just beautiful – Sakamoto is a very economical writer, no endless mazes of compositional knot, you can be damn sure he’s going somewhere in a straight line. Of course the structure wouldn’t mean anything without the base material, the melodies. And man, he’s great at those too. From ‘Forbidden colours’ which you probably all know, into the drama of ‘The last emperor’ and the contemplative, elongated notes of ‘Little Buddha’ and onwards into the longing, pastoral ‘Wuthering heights’ (which, by the way, opens up into a breathtaking passage at around 4’30”), the abstract repetition of ‘Replica’, and finally the 15 minute voyage of ‘El Mar Mediterrani’.
The liner notes can’t resist the temptation of comparing this to a score of classical composers: Debussy and Satie, Stravinsky and Messiaen (all mentioned – I wouldn’t want to be caught in the crossfires between the four, but it’s apparently a good thing). The adjective that keeps popping up in my mind to describe this album (and the final epic most of all) is ‘evocative’. But not evocative of things we can see, either in reality or in the mind’s eye. I’ve never seen any of these movies, and frankly I don’t want to anymore, the chance I’d like it as much as the music is very small, and I don’t want to constrain the way the music ignites my imagination with visual cues of any kind. It’s not evocative of rolling grasslands, or mountain scales, or submarine adventures. But it is evocative, of a country made entirely of music, a world that only exists by ear, where you can live inside the way the orchestra strikes up a chord.
At its best: Forbidden colours, Wuthering heights, El Mar Mediterrani
Country: US Artist: Duo Career: recording since 1972 Language: English Genre: Pop / Rock
This is one funny record about midlife crisis. As they put it in interviews at the time: ‘We discovered there wasn’t one midlife crisis, but an endless series of them.’ You could say that they came back even more cynical than before. Can one record contain so much cynicism? Well, things have changed, as even Dylan experienced, and in these times a record definitely can. This is that record. It’s not the Dan at peak performance, but it’s damn near close enough, and there is no one else to do it.
At its best: Janie runaway, Almost gothic, Cousin Dupree
Country: UK Artist: Band Career: recording since 1997, 2nd album Language: English Genre: Pop / Rock The harmonising brothers Wilson sound so filled with genuine emotion (‘welled up’ is almost accurate) that if they’d say they’re going to tell you what true love is, you’d believe them. These are expansive mid-tempo (or slower) songs about big feelings in ordinary men and women, arranged for some kind of British E Street Band raised on country rock.
It’s easy to get cynical about such an outburst of genuine human emotion, seemingly unfiltered by notions of cool or composure. It’s got to be a put-on. But I wouldn’t take that bet and sit next to them at a wedding or a funeral. I wouldn’t want to ruin my suit. On record though, it’s nearly perfect balladry. They slip up at the final hurdle when they drag in the fairground organ for the last track – I hate fairground music! Yes, that means you, Smokey, and you too, Stevie! – but I won’t tell ‘em. I wouldn’t want to ruin the suit.
At its best: Wheels, A ladder to the stars, Nobody’s song in particular
Country: Canada Artist: Male solo artist Career: debut Language: English Genre: Pop / Rock
Boy, this is some mess of an album, but in the best possible way. Almost completely played by the one guy, it’s intricate, ever-surprising, full of twists and turns. It’s also hookladen, confident, and communicative. And it hits a personal tone, all the influences combine into an original new artist. Certainly one of the best discoveries I made during this project.
At its best: No sissies, Sweet hallelujah, All of us kids, Safe and sound, No more named Johnny
Country: US Artist: Female solo artist Career: posthumously releasing records since 1997 Language: English Genre: Singer-songwriter
Eva Cassidy, you know the myth. The best voice in the world, neglected by the record industry until a small time label took a chance when it was too late. Yes, she had great talent, but it’s not so much that the record industry passed her by, it’s more that the people that could’ve developed her talent weren’t there anymore in the record industry. She needed a Jerry Wexler, a Norman Granz to steer her on the right path. What she got were professional musicians and small time engineers who shackled her talent to assembly line notion of what it could do, and she let them.
The compilers of this third posthumous collection don’t get that. They start this off with a beautiful solo version of Paul Simon’s ‘Kathy’s song’, but then they almost squander my goodwill with assembly line versions of ‘Ain’t no sunshine’ and ‘The letter’. The talent, an almost God-given gift, is here – it shines most brightly on a mid-record segment of folk songs with minimal accompaniment and a beautiful version of ‘Anniversary song’.
It’s a tragedy she didn’t get to conquer the world. It’s a crime the record industry that could’ve made it happen, doesn’t exist anymore.
What are we paying them for?
At its best: Kathy’s song, Time after time, I wandered by a brookside, Anniversary song
Country: US Artist: Male solo artist Career: recording since 1955 Language: English Genre: Country
Fuck Rick Rubin and the Buddhist monk he ate and whose hair is growing out of his chin. Fuck him when he prided himself on bringing out the punk in hip-hop (what for?) by making it sound like bad heavy metal. Fuck him and the long line of artists who queue up to get no help at all and they thank him for it. I mean, look at this list I got from Wikipedia: Tom Petty, Black Sabbath, Trouble, Slipknot, Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Mars Volta, Jay-Z, Danzig, Dixie Chicks, Metallica, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Weezer, Linkin Park, The Cult, Neil Diamond, Mick Jagger, System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Melanie C, Audioslave, Sheryl Crow, The Avett Brothers. Does that impress anyone? Rubin is very lucky Johnny Cash took pity on him and took him in.
Now let’s get back to this record. I wish I could say I hated it, as it’s so contrived and manipulative (look, it really is) that it offends me. The only way it could be more manipulative is if it contained a cover of the lone (terrible) ballad in Trent Reznor’s oeuvre. But as I can’t hate it, I’m a sucker for a good manipulative pitch (I always well up when Charlie Chaplin buys flowers for the blind girl too), I wish I could love it for its traditional ballads and not for its covers of X-generation cell phone waving in stadium zeitgeist landmarks. No such luck, I’m not coming back to compare Cash’s version of ‘Mary of the wild moor’ with the Stanley Brothers version on their seminal Songs of Satan for our dear departed mother set. I’m into it for ‘I won’t back down’, ‘One’, ‘I see a darkness’ and ‘The mercy seat’ (and ‘That lucky old sun’ – no one does a bad version of that one, possibly the best song ever written). Yeah, I’m a sucker.
At its best: I won’t back down, That lucky old sun, One, I see a darkness, The mercy seat, Wayfaring stranger
Country: UK Artist: Tribute to male solo artist Career: recording solo since 1971 Language: English Genre: Art rock
Further proof that you can hear any music from any period in 2000 if you look hard enough. A great concert from the 10th of October, 1999, recorded beautifully –you can hear every detail as played by the tentet-, and released on a double album in 2000. The presence of Robert Wyatt is everywhere on these tracks. His humour, his sentimental streak, his optimism and his great humanist spirit. Except he’s nowhere near the stage (technically he probably was in the audience not far from the stage, but you get the drift).
As I understand, Wyatt handpicked these players (Julie Tippetts and Ian Maidman on vocals, Phil Manzanera on guitar, Annie Whitehead, Didier Malherbe, George Khan and Harry Beckett on brass and woodwinds amongst others, the rhythm section and piano playing is also great, but I don’t recognize their names), organized the arrangements and let them take it to the stage. It’s pretty high up on my list, because I love it obviously, but I can’t quite put it into words. I love Wyatt’s own albums, because they radiate his personality, beyond the music and through the music you feel you’re getting to know him and he’s a very deep and wise and human person (I know, pretty vague, hm). And even though you can’t hear him on this album, it’s still there, but now I’m getting to know him through the recollections and stories of his friends. A different perspective that puts new light even on those other records he made himself. Just like knowing the old versions of these songs makes me appreciate these versions more, the reverse is also true. These interpretations by others, as guided by the artist, make me hear the old records in a richer way as well.
‘Ruth is stranger than Richard’ is the backbone of this album. All but one of its tracks are interpreted (Side Richard played in its entirety and back to back is particularly beautiful on the new version). There are four tracks from ‘Rock bottom’ (‘Alifib’ and ‘Alife’ in a medley) and four from his then latest album ‘Shleep’. Then there are eight more tracks from diverse sources, most of which I’m unfamiliar with. It’s a long program (generously over 2 hours). I dip into it at different places and it’s always wonderful. They know better than to try and recreate Robert Wyatt’s idiosyncratic approach to his own songs, so they focus on the melodies of his songs, bringing them to life like the standards they could be. Of course the hardest parts are the vocals. Both Julie Tippetts and Ian Maidman do a very good job, but they also know that the best way to get near the original vocals is to replicate them in four part brass. I never would have guessed that. Just one of the ways it has gotten me closer to the essence of Robert Wyatt.
I can't find anything from this record on YouTube.
At its best: Sonia, P.L.A., the whole ‘Richard’ suite from ‘Ruth is stranger than Richard’, Free will and testament, Vandalusia, Sight of the wind
Country: US Artist: Male solo artist Career: recording since 1976 Language: Instrumental Genre: Jazz
Pretty much what the title says: an octet (drums, bass, piano, flute and four horns) play John Coltrane classics (and one somewhat incongruent, but great original, ‘The crossing’). Eight players is a lot, but the first moment the music hits you’ll find out these guys easily sound like sixteen – a thick and wild mesh of energetic eruptions, all half-finished melodies landing on top of each other or just short blasts of sound from all over. It’s not free jazz (not at all actually, more like a swing band) but they’ve got some of that wild energy. But that’s not all they can do. The big band sound opens proceedings, and returns here and there, in its most pure form on exhausting closer ‘A love supreme Part 1’, soloing over that bassline for close to 15 minutes (exhausting, but also exhilarating for the listener, imagine how it must’ve felt for the musicians). It’s also there, in a more orderly fashion on ‘The crossing’, which simmers for the duration close to boiling over, but always staying on just the right side of messing up the groove. But they do other stuff too, exquisitely, on luminous ballad ‘Naima’ or on my favorite track, all seven minutes of the opulent ‘India’. AllMusic has it right comparing this performance to electric period Miles unplugged, it’s splendiferously other. I mean, it makes me dig out all these adjectives out of a hat, you know.
Anyway, none of this is played the way Coltrane did, and who needs that? Maybe the reason such a simple idea (a Coltrane themed disc) hasn’t been done more often (not that I know of anyway, examples?), is the imposing personality behind it. You don’t have to worry about that here, and what better tribute than that?
At its best: Naima, The crossing, India, A love supreme Part 1
Country: US Artist: Male solo artist Career: recording since 1985, 2nd solo album Language: English Genre: indierock
The JJ Cale of noise guitar, J. Mascis keeps making the same record, but more of them than you expect are just front to back filled with undeniable quality – if you’re into that noise/weedy tune package.
I’ve never been into Dinosaur Jr in a ‘waiting outside the record store on release day’ sort of way. They were always there in the background when I was high on indierock. That was the mid-90s, a little later than their perceived peak, but I still like all that ‘Green mind’ / ‘Feel the pain’ stuff better than the Lou Barlow years. Still, in the late ‘90s and early 00s (before the reformation of Dinosaur jr), no one was interested in J Mascis. I can’t recall reading any reviews of this record at the time – I didn’t find much now. We missed out. I’m really happy to find this record I would otherwise have missed. It’s the same, but it’s high on melodies, some great piano and mellotron arrangements, and some crunching guitar – J Mascis produced by Kevin Shields actually. They’ve got some new twists on the formula (including one at the end of the record, the title track, that blows my head off).
For sheer fun, great songs and quality control, it’s up there with my Mascis favorites.
At its best: Sameday, Waistin, Back before you go, Ammaring
Country: UK Artist: Band Career: recording since 1995 Language: Welsh Genre: psychedelic pop / rock
I never saw eye to eye with fellow SFA fans. The first album’s alright, though I can’t recall the title or any of the songs right now. Radiator was a boring let-down. But then it started: Guerrilla is exactly the dizzying thrill ride I expect from a pop record at century’s end. And with Mwng they made a satisfyingly weird detour. It’s not the fact that all the songs are in Welsh – though any record called Mwng starts off well in the weird department (no idea what it means, but I like to say it). It’s not that the primitive recording situation (after label bankruptcy etc., you may know the story better than me) makes for an enjoyably compact sound, all instruments bleeding into each other’s tracks, though that does give it a nice chaotic and disorienting atmosphere. It’s not that several of the tracks use warped folk-like melodies – though, you know I’ve never heard the Wicker Man soundtrack, but I imagine it’s filled with melodies like this, only sung by evil people and not the inscrutably jolly natured Gruff Rhys. It’s of course all those things together and the impression that all these things somehow come natural to these guys. SFA’s basement tapes.
At its best: Ymaelodi a’r ymylon, Pan Ddaw’r Wawr, Ysbeidiau Heulog, Sarn Helen, Mawrth oer ar y blaned neifion
Country: US Artist: Female solo artist Career: debut album Language: English Genre: Country / Singer-songwriter
For once I’ll let the music do the talking. ‘Two seconds’ may be the single most immaculately crafted song of the year.
Cantrell follows in the footsteps of people like Judy Collins or Emmylou Harris - performers who can illuminate the heart of a song, song curators, promoters of as yet unheralded songwriters. In Cantrell’s case, she find those through her country radio show, I assume. Whichever way she does, she’s brought together a collection of riches. The four self-written songs aren’t far behind either.
She won’t become a wizard anytime soon, no psychedelic master/mumblepieces to be expected here. Just some beautifully played, radiant country songs with melodies to warm the heart.
At its best: Not the tremblin’ kind, Little bit of you, Pile of woe, Two seconds, My heart goes out to you
Country: Australia Artist: Band Career: recording since 1997, debut album Language: English Genre: sample pop
The sound of the future, 2000-style? (Un)luckily I’m quite immune to that kind of talk, but this is just a really fun record. The continuous mix is a bit bewildering at first (well, it was to me – it’s not a medium I much appreciate, nothing wrong with some silence here and there), but pretty soon you can feel the outline of the different songs. Enchanting, breezy summer music which also manages to capture something of the nostalgic rush for youth and such things. (oh yeah, and it’s made out of 600.000 samples, yada yada).
At its best: Since I left you/Stay another season, Frontier psychiatrist
Country: UK Artist: Band Career: debut album Language: English Genre: 60s soft pop
Fey pop lusting after ‘60s sophisticated pop’s immaculate shine lives. But forget about Belle and Sebastian, whose 2000 album didn’t cut it. Here’s the real deal straight from the street where the hospital is where a teenage boy spends the prime of his life and his girlfriend (who’s destined for a great career as a war reporter) just broke up with him, over the phone. And there will be no visitors until tomorrow. This doesn’t get as raw and noisy as a Byrds jangle. Sterling Morrison playing melodies on a Velvet Underground ballad maybe, a teenage band copying Zombies and Left Banke licks in their garage. It’s a sacred art, only us, sensitive male music fans, can understand. All yearning boy growing into man singing, just enough echo to disguise the rudimentary settings (no matter, you can hear the strings in your head just as easily). The album collects a bunch of 7” singles and b-sides from 1997-2000 with a couple of new ones thrown in – just like albums were made in the mid-60s really. A lesson well-learned. In a fight with any of their peers they’d surely lose, and that’s why they’re the best.
At its best: I had to say this, Reflections after Jane, Saturday, Bicycles, As night is falling
Country: Canada Artist: Female solo artist Career: recording since 1968 Language: English Genre: Singer-songwriter / Jazz
The standards album – it was a good choice for Joni at this point. Her singing was still rich and evocative. The arrangements (by Larry Klein) are always worthwhile. Some great solos by Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, but it’s all about the rhythm section and the orchestra. Still, it’s no slight on the standards here to say that my favorites are the slowed down and re-imagined versions of 2 of her own songs on this. In 2000 you just couldn’t get this kind of stuff anywhere else, and she did it well.
Country: Iceland Artist: Band Career: recording since 1997, 2nd album Language: Unknown Genre: Post-rock
I don’t like talking about me. Hell, philosophically I’m not even sure I exists. But this record gives me no choice.
I used to think Sigur Ros was the enemy. Now they are my friend. They’ve got melodies so majestic that they sweep you up and they won’t set you down for minutes at a time. I’ve been working really hard these last five years. Not just job, but life, you know. I’ve been working for my family. But anguish has crept into my home (when your heart is caught in a vice). Maybe it’s been here all the time, but it’s gaining on us. It’s not pointed at me, but it lives with us. And these last few months, due to circumstances, it’s dawning on me that all my work isn’t winning against the anguish. In fact, it hardly seems to matter. Well, anyway, when I play this, I feel it knows and all is not lost. You know what, they’re putting it on the line. It may seem ridiculous, what they’re doing, but that’s part of laying it on the line. I don’t think it’s ridiculous anymore.
Hey, you think anyone is going to write all this stuff without having some issues to get distracted from? I promise, back to lame-o wisecracks for the next review…
At its best: Sven g-englar, Staralfur, Vidar vel til loftarasa, Olsen Olsen
Country: US Artist: Male solo artist Career: recording since 1995 Language: English Genre: Pop / Rock
It’s uncomfortable saying it in the knowledge of the tragic story and how it unfolded, but Mark Linkous –or his record company- often treated his talent somewhat mercenary. What’s this? An EP released as a stopgap two years after his second album, containing one re-recorded version of a song on that second album, the bonus track from the vinyl edition of his first album, three b-sides from various singles off his second album and one unreleased cover recorded in his home studio / shed. He did that sort of thing time and again. The low point was when a good third of his fourth (comeback) album had been available on singles and as bonus tracks from the third album, released half a decade earlier. I was a committed fan and I spent far too much money collecting the same bunch of songs over and over again.
But… for all that, I love all those songs. Marketing aside, this is a scattershot, stopgap six-track odds-and-ends EP (certainly not the first place to look, make that ‘Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot’ or ‘Good morning spider’), but I can’t fault it. The Memphis version of ‘Happy man’ (recorded at Easley with Eric Drew Feldman) replaces the crackle and hiss from the amazing original version (you can see why they couldn’t release a single of that version!) with… some more hiss, but also a solid rocking version, as close to the live Sparklehorse experience as you’d get in the studio. ‘Waiting for nothing’ and ‘Happy place’, two home recorded miniature pop songs, are alive with feeling, and over much too fast at just over two minutes each, but what four minutes. The live versions of ‘Gasoline horseys’, ‘Happy man’ and ‘Pig’ aren’t as transcendental as the best times I saw him live, but transform the songs to the stage effectively. ‘My yoke is heavy’, a Daniel Johnston cover, is the only one that’s a little weak to me – but still saved but some excellent production and arrangements.
He was truly gifted.
At its best: Waiting for nothing, Gasoline horseys (live)
Country: US Artist: Band Career: recording since 1982 Language: English Genre: Rock SY’s most difficult record? It’s definitely abstract for a pop-album. Then again, it’s very melodic for an abstract album. It took me a couple of years to get into it. To be honest, I had cast it aside for a couple of years, before listening to the records from 2000. But when I got around to playing it again, I enjoyed it a lot, and I kept it enjoying every spin since. I even came to look forward to it. And now I’ve come to a point where I pretty much like it without reservation. For sure, it’s a side-road in SY’s discography, but I love it. SY with the rocking side almost completely shut out, and the meandering jam pulled to the fore. Good thing I love meandering jams.
At its best: Free city rhymes, Nevermind (What was it anyway), Renegade princess
