360 records from the year 2000: 120 - 116

120. North Mississippi all-stars: Shake hands with shorty

I want this to be better than it is, cause I really want to hear a modern blues album that surprises me and rocks and kicks the whole thing back into the game.

The North Mississippi All-stars (sons of Jim Dickinson, if I’m not mistaken) have a lot of positive points, but it’s not the shitkicking album I wanted to hear. I wouldn’t hesitate to see ‘em live. And they’ve got the potential to make that album, but, you know, they’re not there yet.

Edit: The turning point was hearing this loud on good speakers on a hot day. Yeah, it’s all it should be.

At its best: Shake em on down, KC Jones (On the road again)

119. Seafood: Surviving the quiet

You know that any British band so clearly in thrall to Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and Sebadoh must be pretty fucking good to get recorded at all. And Seafood, young pups hungry for the prize, have what it takes. No, don’t expect anything innovative yet. Yes, they suffer from the dreaded small label = ugly cover art syndrome. But what a powerful performance, what songs (obviously sweated over during countless rehearsals after school). It gives me hope that rock’s not dead yet, still.

What I most recall from some of the contemporary reviews of this record, is the term ‘stunt guitar’. Yep, the key to this record is the guitar tandem of David Line and Charles Macleod. They’re weaving tangled lines, they’re toying with noise and fuzz, they come at each other in different tunings, they do these solos where they’re each doing their own thing and then suddenly come together in doubled or harmonized melody lines. Like a teenage, bone-headed Thurston and Lee. Thrilling.

The last gasp for real good mid-90s American rock?

At its best: Guntrip, Easy path, Belt, Led by bison (like a forgotten Sebadoh single – with Sonic Youth on guitars and J. Mascis on mellotron)

118. Susana Baca: Eco de sombras

Somewhere along the way I picked up the annoying habit of respecting ‘world’ music musicians more than I care to listen to their music. It’s that damn leftie in me. [I have no such qualms about ‘world’ music fans though – bunch of politically correct dullards (just like me!)] It’s ridiculous of course, they’re people just like you and me, and they deserve my cheap armchair criticism just as much as David Byrne does.

So with that in mind: Susana Baca’s got a wonderful voice, just terrific. I mean, put that against any female rock singer of the late 20th century and it’s just not funny (eat dust, Patti Smith). The band have got their credentials down – it’s all so very tasteful and understated and ripe with centuries of tradition and exploitation. And sometimes it all falls into place, and it actually speaks to me. I won’t hear a word against the four highlights below. I would absolutely qualify them as transcendental performances. But for the rest of the duration I remain a stoic observer, taking note of the subtleties of traditions I know very little about, nor do I intend to remedy that. It’s all so very interesting, so interestingly boring. Is it me?

Edit: what was I missing? Four great songs and performances, wonderful singing throughout. It’s good stuff.

At its best: De los amores, Poema, Los amantes, Pan alivio/Zancudito

117. Blonde redhead: Melody of certain damaged lemons

Sometimes you get these bands where it all starts well and then the singer opens his/her mouth and you think ‘Please God, can’t they let one of the other people sing?’ Unfortunately, in the case of Blonde Redhead, the next song is sung by one of the two other members, and you’re running out of potential vocalists. It’s a rare occurrence when by sheer chance two singers of such modest natural gifts find each other in the same band.

Are we missing out on a lot this way? I don’t think so. It’s indie rock, isn’t it, exactly as we know it. (And I say that while American 90s indie rock has been/is pivotal in my musical appreciation). None of the songs carry much if any emotional pull, it all sort of exists. (And as a small bonus point of information I’ll inform you that the 2 minutes of senseless repetitious howling of ‘Mother’ amount to one of the worst musical moments of the year. Try it and tell me I’m wrong.)

Edit: I’m slowly turning in favor of these guys. Not the vocals, but there are some well thought out songs here sung almost effectively.

At its best: Hated because of great qualities, For the damaged, Untitled 11th track
At its worst: Mother

116. Pram: Museum of imaginary animals

Same reference points as Broadcast and Stereolab: repetition, soundtrack noir, a certain tension between cold alienation and human frailty. They even share a drummer with Broadcast. But Pram take a different tack, entirely their own. Pram is a computer overgrown with weeds, nature claiming back synthesized machinery and eating up the binary code from the inside out. Instead of the metronomic pulse of Stereolab and Broadcast, Pram offer an organic orchestra, like a salvation army band playing plastic instruments to the beat of a dying rhythm box. I know this sounds made up, but you try to describe it. Halfway through the record the weirdest thing happens (on tracks like ‘Narwhal’ and ‘A history of ice’). It’s like this salvation army band with their plastic instruments weaving in and out of the beat stand up and march into a swimming pool and keep on playing under water. 

Anyway, it’s not a record for every day, but damn it’s something at least a little different, and for that I appreciate it a lot. And maybe I didn’t mention it yet, but a lot of it sounds really good as well.

At its best: The owl service, Mother of pearl, Narwhal, A history of ice, Play of the waves