Pere Ubu - The Story of My Life (1993)

By request, here's another Pere Ubu album from the nineties. Features one of my favorite Ubu songs, "Wasted". This album was released two years after the horrible Worlds In Collision (which AMG for some reason seems to love), and sees David Thomas return to his more creative and playful side. It's still all pretty slick, and especially the annoying echoed drums remind more of stadium rock than art rock. The guitar work by Jim Jones is amazing however, and is stylistically very much in line with early Ubu records.

Overall this is a fairly mediocre Ubu album, which is still too slick for its own good, but it's an important step in the right direction, eventually leading to the return to their roots with 1995's Ray Gun Suitcase. Highlights of this album are the opening track, "Wasted", which starts off like...

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illuminaut Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:27:37 GMT

The Thermals - Fuckin' A (2004)

The Thermals hail from Portland, and are easily one of my favorite newer bands. Simple and intense punk rock paired with smart, politically charged lyrics, that's just enough in-your-face to keep you dancing wildly, and subtle enough to keep you coming back for repeat listens. Fuckin' A was their second album, and the first to be professionally recorded, without being over-produced. The immediacy of their sound is their biggest strength, and similar to the Pixies they manage to provide a full sound where you can still easily make out all instruments (of which there only are three, plus vocals). Also similar to the Pixies, they have a hot female bass player in Kathy Foster. We'll see if the rest of their career takes a similar path.

Stereo Total - Oh! Ah! (1996)

The first full-length album by German-French electro-mod-chanson band Stereo Total, originally released on cassette in '95, but soon followed by a proper CD release, and again re-released with bonus tracks. Features strange glam-pop covers of 80s disco (Push It!), French chansons, and creative originals (Dactylo Rock being my favorite), mostly sung in German (with a lovely French accent). The title of the album is more of an accident; originally supposed to be untitled, the graphic designer of the cover included some pop-art call-outs, "Oh!" "Ah!", to liven up the design, leading to the eventual adoption as the official album name.

The Dirtbombs - Ultraglide in Black (2001)

Soulpunk from hell! The Dirtbombs cover various lesser known tracks by a bunch of well-known soul shouters (such as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, and Sly and the Family Stone), and infuse them with as much passion as any of the originals. Detroit garage punk legend Mick Collins of the Gories brought together two drummers and two bass players to accompany him in this project. This is their best album, a raucous fusion of Mo-Town and Garage Rock with an incredible intensity. Their live shows are not to be missed, but if they're not playing in your town soon, this album will do.

Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980)

Not only their first but their signature record.. Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is a classic in the Punk world. Filled with political and left-wing sound, this record has a lesser production quality then the later albums. Filled with 14 tracks of enjoyable, fun songs...

The Pop Group - We Are All Prostitutes (1998)

This release collects singles and scarce tracks from the Mark Stewart-fronted punk-funk unit, titled after its defining Rough Trade single. At ten tracks and around 36 minutes running time, this certainly leaves you wanting more of the band's agitated post-punk sound, which was the seed of Mark Stewart & the Maffia and Rip Rig & Panic. "We Are All Prostitutes" is one of the vital non-expendable singles from the early-'80s era of neo-dub, punk, and funk as propagated by the Slits, A Certain Ratio, and African Head Charge. The Pop Group remain one of the most looked and underrated and politically charged bands of the era. This is an utterly inspired release, and fans of Public Image Ltd., the Ex, Gang of Four, and Crass should give close attention to the innovations of the Pop Group. (AMG)

Jad Fair Roundup: 8(!) albums inside

Jad Fair is America's anti-music poster child, the personification of DIY. Both as a member of Half Japanese and with his countless solo albums, he continues to baffle listeners with his unwillingness to conform to any conventions, be they as universal as being able to play an instrument or sing in tune. If you do this once or twice you are simply being ignored, but Fair's tenacity made it impossible to overlook him. Similar to his friend Daniel Johnston, with whom he collaborated on two albums, he's achieved a cult status because his passion for music is simply inspiring.

That is not to say he hasn't progressed - his later albums are far more accessible than his early releases - but that's often due to the fact that he's been collaborating more and more with serious musicians. These collaborations often lack the immediacy of Jad's strictly solo work, and sometimes end up being distinctively average or uninspired, such as the concept album he released with Yo La Tengo where he babbles strange newspaper headlines over canned sound collages sent to him by YLT.

I'm posting 8 of his albums here in one post, because chances are if you're not already a fan you probably find this all very annoying. Instead of chronologically, I'll present them to you in order of accessibility: from the barely listenable to the almost slick:


Jad Fair - The Zombies of Mora-Tau (1980)
Jad's solo debut, the 7-track, 11-minute EP continues in the tradition of very early Half Japanese albums like Half Gentleman/Not Beast, but it's even more noisy and a lot more in-your-face. If it were a bit more structured I'd call this industrial. Play this record the next time your grandmother visits or to annoy your neighbours. It has some great moments on it, and all the songs are short enough to use them as fillers in your next mix-tape.


Jad & David Fair - 26 Monster Songs for Children (1998)
This collaboration with brother David is a concept album featuring pretty much what the title says. There is a monster song for every letter in the alphabet and each song is preceded by a short introduction from a little kid explaining in his own words what the particular monster is about. The songs are rather tedious at times and about as mature as the target audience, but it has its charming moments, especially for people who like monsters (and who doesn't?).


Jad Fair & Daniel Johnston - It's Spooky (1989)
Maybe his most popular album, and it's a cute one. Beautiful songs and stories, delivered in a charmingly inept manner. The rhythms are all over the place, the guitars out of tune, and the vocal duets grate, but in typical Fair and Johnston fashion, this doesn't matter much and instead forces you to pay more attention to the stories and harmonies than the presentation.


Jad Fair & Kramer - Roll Out The Barrel (1988)
A collaboration with Shimmy Disc's Kramer that I have mixed feelings about. It's one of those records that is jam-packed with great ideas, but it somehow doesn't fit all that well together. Kramer is sometimes getting carried away and Jad babbles more than he's singing. There are a bunch of tracks that make up for this because they are downright psychedelic and eerily beautiful.


Jad Fair & R. Stevie Moore - FairMoore (2002)
This collaboration works better than some of the others, probably because both R. Stevie Moore and Jad Fair are so much more similar in their approaches. There's a lot of variety here, samples from all over the place, and no lack of creativity. Musically, this is all over the place, which makes it all the more interesting, but it can be difficult to digest in a single setting.


Jad Fair & Yo La Tengo - Strange But True (1998)
The aforementioned album, that left me as both a Jad Fair and Yo La Tengo fan wondering what could have been. It sounds like a YLT jam session in 22 parts and Jad Fair tells us the stories he thinks should go along with the actual newspaper headlines used in the title. Very random stuff.


Jad Fair - I Like It When You Smile (1992)
So this is what Jad Fair sounds like when too many serious musicians are involved. Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis, Shimmy alumni and member of the Velvet Monkeys Don Fleming, and NRBQ's Terry Adams all lend more than one helping hand, and the result is borderlining radio-friendliness. Of course, it wouldn't be a Jad Fair album if he wouldn't throw in some really messy songs, and he doesn't disappoint with the very weird cover of "Sunny Side of the Street" and the avant-gardish "Roadrunner".


Jad Fair & Teenage Fanclub - Words of Wisdom and Hope (2002)
The album that's musically the furthest detached from his early records, this collaboration with Teenage Fanclub is downright smooth. It's basically a Teenage Fanclub album with Jad singing, and even that he does unusually melodic. That being said, it's a nice album with the added bonus effect that you can play this to your indierock friends without them freaking out.

DM & Jemini - Ghetto Pop Life (2003)

Underground Hip Hop fans will enjoy this classic. A collaboration between Jemini (aka Jemini the Gifted One) and DJ/producer, Danger Mouse. This was before the time that many people even knew who Danger Mouse was. Some of his best work to date..

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wre Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:10:33 GMT

Aesop Rock - Labor Days (2001)

After finding an eager online audience for his dense soundscapes and even more complex rhymes, New York MC Aesop Rock released his most potent combination of words and music on his Def Jux debut. Crammed with references to history and mythology, as well as the usual pop-culture name checks, Aesop's lyrics remain unusually verbose and intelligent here, but he's also able to spin them into compelling stories. The best example is the bittersweet, follow-your-dreams saga of "No Regrets," which chronicles a woman's sacrifices for art from childhood to old age. Besides the wealth of detail, the song doesn't sugarcoat the loneliness of its subject, even as it shows her at ease with her choices. And on "9-5ers Anthem," Aesop -- who still works a day job himself -- allays any concerns about him being a hip-hop elitist, offering a shout out to the blue-collar masses. There are still instances where he gives his listeners simply too much information to process for a pop song ("The Tugboat Complex, Pt. 3"), but, overall, he does his best job yet at balancing smarts and accessibility. Of course, with such a focus on lyrics, it's easy to ignore the beats behind them -- but while the sampled backing is sometimes on the plain side, Labor Days contains some inventive bites from classical music, and more than a few tunes will grow on you, if given the chance. (AMG)

The Rudy Schwartz Project - Salmon Dave (1993) & Günther packs a stiffy (1995)

Two albums compiling early tape-only releases by Joe Newman, the wacky brain behind the Rudy Schwartz Project, who keeps mentioning Frank Zappa as often as he can in an apparent attempt to gain exposure by association. Of course, the only thing he has in common with Zappa is questionable mental health, but he's managed to receive respect from Jello Biafra and Zoogz Rift, so he's doing something right.

If you've never listened to the RSP, these albums are probably not the best place to start. In fact, some of these songs are outright horrible. And if you hate college humor, don't even bother - this is as immature as it gets. His other two albums, Bowling for Appliances (which has gr...

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illuminaut Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:12:59 GMT