Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 18:43:24 -0600 From: "(a) clockwork chicken" Reply-To: pure-impure list To: IMPURE-L@WEBNT.CKS.COM Subject: Re: top five of year? (longish) hi all...since we're doing the "Top X" thing, thought i'd pass along a list already made up...also includes a bunch of other useless lists for yr (potential) viewing pleasure. apologies to the BiZ, he's been subjected to this atrocity alreddy. -------- Top 10 albums n' stuff fr 1997 --------- 1. Famous Boyfriend - s/t (Orgasm) Beautiful melancholy pop done by a few members of Hood - my favorite album of the year, hands down. Mysterious four-trackery with an 80's flair shoved up head-to-head with the occasional noisy outburst so well it brings a salty tear or two to your eye...hopefully 1998 will see this pressed on CD? 2. Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister (Enclave) The second outing from this ever growing and pulsating twee-pop outfit is wonderfully melancholic...the melodies here run rings around most of the Smiths', and you don't have to worry about hearing that annoying Morrisey character either. 9/10. 3. Farmers Manual - fsck (Tray) Kinda like Autechre stuck in a sandstorm with a canteen full of crack handy. Shuffle swing, drum n' bass, noisy soundscapes - they're all here, and mixed with enough panache to make you stay up late just to find out what happens next...just don't touch the volume controls. 4. Various Artistes - 0161 (Skam/VVM/Public) Compilation-of-the-year in a year chock full of the damn things. Enough variety here to peel paint, we get to hear Gescom sit next to the Fall sitting next to the goofy Renegades on a bus traveling headlong into the land called "Eclectica". Get this beauty to hear some of tomorrow's Aphex Twins sport their stuff...okay? 5. Arab Strap - The Week Never Starts Round Here (Chemikal Underground) Low-fi bedroom pop hijinks from this Glasgowenian (?) crew. The hit single, "First Big Weekend", sports a badass drumbox breakdown that'll send you into orbit when you hear it. The rest of the album is rhythmically subtler, but the 'Strappers still have a barrelful of hooks to lay on your funny-lookin' ears. 8/10. 6. Matmos - s/t (Vague Terrain) Mysterious electronic project out of California with apparent ties to Midwestern bands like Rodan & Rachels somehow...but this is completely different. The mix never stands still long enough to grasp, and extra added Asshat points for using an amplified crayfish synapse as the basis for "Verber". Impossible toe-tappin' fun. 7. Squarepusher - Big Loada (Warp) A concentrated dose of the Pusherman's high-velocity drum programming. Less bass heavy than previous and moving in the same directions as "Hard Normal Daddy" did, it'll raise yr blood pressure a few notches even when you're asleep....try dancing to it and you'll keel right over with giddy exhaustion. Boss! 8. Hab - maPOd (Dot) You know the old story - Swedish expatriate living in New York comes up with the "electronica" (yikes) rekkid of the year to have it released on a fantastic Swedish label. No noisy skree here, mostly deft rhythmic bliss in a Warp-esque vein...you know, I'll bet your mom would even like this. 9. Twisted Science - Blown (Lo Recordings) There are plenty of drumbeats on this rekkid by the prolific Jon Tye (MLO/2 Player), but very few of them actually register to the human ear as "catchy", which is really damn cool...leaves you feeling like you missed something and you probably did. Oodles of neat noisy bits, too. 10. Main - Deliquescence (Beggars Banquet) A lot of Main fans don't seem to like this record much, and I can't understand why. The entirety recorded live in France in June, Hampson runs through a few of his "oldies" and comes up with more of the bone-chilling bass n' sample antics he's know for. Less "guitar" here than "usual", but that ain't such "a" horrible thing...jeez! Honorable Mentions: Laika - Sounds of the Satellites (Too Pure) Fennesz - Hotel Paral.lel (Mego) Various - Further Mutations (Lo Recordings) To Rococo Rot - Veiculo (City Slang) Various - Priveleged Frames For Reference (V/VM) He Said Omala - Catch Supposes (WMO) Baby Bird - Dying Happy (BabyBird) General Magic - "Frantz" (Mego) Steward - Get Me A Seat Next To Someone Nice (555) Various - Disco Moonlight, Alt.Frequencies Vol.2 (Worm Interface) tops in the reissues & collections dept. -------------------------------------------------------- 1.Tony Conrad - Early Minimalism 4CD (Table Of The Elements) 2.Hood - Structured Disasters (Happy Go Lucky) 3.Baby Bird - Greatest Hits (BabyBird US) 4.Ganger - Fore (Domino) 5.Various - Natures Mortes/Still Lives (4AD) 6.Pram - Gash (World Domination) 7.Graham Lewis - Pre>He (WMO) 8.Foetus - Deaf & Ache (Thirsty Ear) 9.Christian Marclay - Records (Atavistic) 10.Various - If You Can't Please Yourself.... (Thirsty Ear) 11 things that might have been on the topten lists if we'd heard them, but we haven't yet ----------------------------------------------- 1. Long Fin Killie - Amelia (Too Pure) 2. Bruce Gilbert - In Esse (Blast First/Mute) 3. RLW - Tulpas 5CD (Selektion) 4. Mick Harvey - Pink Elephants (Mute) 5. Various - Missingtoe & Whine 7" (V/VM) 6. Ganger - Trilogy 3X12" (Soul Static Sound) 7. Richard Thomas - debut (Lo Recordings) 8. Third Eye Foundation - Sound Of Violence EP (Merge) 9. Boards Of Canada - Xmas 7" (Skam) 10. Various - The Day My Insect Died (Kollaps) 11. Kreidler - "Weekend" (Yo Kitty?) top 11 thingies we would really like to see (re)issued in '98 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Scritti Politti - compilation of early Rough Trade singles 2. Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk 3. The The - Pornography Of Despair + early B-sides 4. Famous Boyfriend and Steward albums on CD, durnit. 5. Gilbert/Lewis/Mills - MZUI 6. Wolfgang Press - Burden Of Mules 7. uns - life sentense 8. 23 Skidoo - everything they ever put down on wax (boxset maybe?) 9. Birthday Party - Drunk On The Pope's Blood 10.Disco Inferno - collection of those damn rare-ass singles 11.Rema Rema/Mass singles & EP's on one glorious digital compact disc. 6 things that were supposed to be released in 1997 but never were...maybe next year ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. P'O - Whilst Climbing Thieves Vie For Attention (WMO) 2. Moonshake - Remix EP's 1 & 2 (World Domination) 3. Ui - compilation of first EP + singles 4. new Coil album (yeah, i can wait forever) 5. Fact 22's second CD compilation 6. Hood - Rustic Houses, Forlorn Valleys remix 12" (Domino) 11 things 1998 should be good fer ----------------------------------------------- 1. various - Endlessnessism (Dot remix 2CD) 2. P'O - Whilst Climbing Thieves Vie For Attention (WMO) 3. New Order boxset 4. various - Dugga Dugga Dugga (WMO remix comp) 5. Mark Hollis (Talk Talk) solo LP 6. Hood - Filmed Initiatives 7" (Happy Go Lucky) 7. Jega - LP (Planet Mu) 8. more Swans reissues (starting with the Live 2CD) (Young God) 9. Tony Conrad - Early Minimalism Vol. 2 4CD (Table of the Elements) 10.Farmers Manual - new full-length (Mego?) 11.Stereolab remix EP (autechre, etc.) (Duophonic?) 11 rekkid labels to investigate further in 1998 ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Mego (Vienna) 2. Low Voltage (USA) 3. Or (U.K.) 4. Happy Go Lucky (Ohio) 5. Carpet Bomb (NYC) 6. Suction (Canada) 7. Schematic (Florida) 8. Drop Beat (California) 9. V/VM (U.K.) 10.Elefant (Spain) 11.Soul Static Sound (U.K.) Date: Sat, 13 Dec 1997 14:50:36 -0500 From: DELENTUK@OPAL.TUFTS.EDU Reply-To: pure-impure list To: IMPURE-L@WEBNT.CKS.COM Subject: top X from '97 Without being overly concerned about (ir)relevance of some of this stuff to "pure-impure" list -- especially since EVERY album on my list has at least one element of "pure-impure music" (outlined by Jens in the FAQ section of the web site) -- here is my top 15-20... 1. Isotope 217 "The Unstable Molecule" I would never guess earlier this year that an album like this , unbelievable marriage between Tortoise, "Bitches' Brew"- era Miles Davis, and funk would make the top of my list. It is brilliant and I highly recommend it to everyone. The musicians involved in this project are two drummers(Bitney and Hendron) and guitar player (Parker) from Tortoise plus some trombone/clarinet playing folks from Chicago Underground Orchestra (a jazz collective). "La Jetee" is a track of the year. 2.Mogwai "Young Team" --- generously discussed on this list previously. 3.Various "The Corners of the Mouth" (Bubblecore). Compilation of the year. Every track is excellent but the most notable ones are by Mice Parade (side project of a half of The Dylan Group), Scanner, Oval, Our Concern Is... and Philistines Jr. 3.Aerial M "s/t" -- solo project of David Pajo from Tortoise 5.Labradford "Mi Media Naranja" 6.Kreidler "Weekend" (actually released in '96) 7.Autechre "Chiastic Slide"/"Cichli Suite" 8.Third Eye Foundation "Ghost" 9.Portishead "Portishead" 10.Bjork "Homogenic" 11.Stereolab "Dots And Loops" 12.Mick Harvey "Pink Elephants" 13.Laika "sounds of Satellites" 14.Trans Am "Surrender to the Night"( selected tracks are brilliant -- "Cologne", "Illegalize It", etc., the rest is boring ) 15.Arto Lindsay "Mundo Civilizado" 16.Tipsy "Trip Tease" 17.Stina Nordenstam "Dynamite"(again, released in '96 but hell, I bought in January of '97 and it IS beautiful) 18.Him "Interpretive Belief System" 19.Peter Scherer "Cronologia"(Tzadik) --- excellent album of treated/sampled guitar semi-noise. 20.Piano Magic "Popular Mechanics" --- haven't received it yet from Darla but what I heard (earlier singles on Che ) was brilliant. 21. Squarepusher "Big Normal Daddy" 22.Mistle Thrush "Super Refraction" --- all those who are nuts about Seely (I am not one of them) should check out this Cd by this Boston quintet, produced btw by Kurt Ralske (Ultra Vivid Scene) plus 2 pop gems: 23. Belle and Sebastian "If You are feeling sinister" 24.Future Bible Heroes "Memories of Love " (Magnetic Fields folks doing 90s version of the 80s synth/techno -pop) oh yeah, Locust "Morning Light" --- #25. Worth mentioning are Salaryman, mu-ziq "Lunatic Harness", Harmonia 76 (Eno/moebius/rodelius/rother), Windsor for the Derby, Bark Psychosis "Game Over"(!Murder City!),A Small Good Thing "Block", Invisible Soundtracks compilation on Leaf Records,Directions "Echoes"12", Philosopher's Stone "Preparation"(kranky), Movietone "Day and Night". Sorry for overabundance of the B word (brilliant) --- choose your own epithetes while I retire to bed. Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 09:23:22 -0800 From: Enrique Jimenez Subject: My darling top 5 Alpha - ComeFromHeaven Has anyone heard this one?. It is absolutley beautiful. Probably not so thislisty, but this album contains elements that should appeal to some members of this list. Floaty, trencey electronics with lush atmospheres, sad strings and distrubing samples. Not overly trip hop, as I expected (as this is the first album on Massive Attack's Melankolik label). The female voice sounds a lot like Billie Holiday or some jazz torch singer. The male singer's voice sounds very painful. A real gem!!! Biosphere - Substrata This year's ambient disc of the year. Geir Jenssen return to those Eno/Budd-esque sounds of the past. Very organic and noirish. Squarepusher - Hard Normal Daddy This year's drum and bass albums almost all sounded the same, except this one. Jazz fussion drum n abusurde from beathead Tom Jenkinson. Rapoon - Easterly 6 or 7 Scary trip into the next world. Full of ambient ghosts and sad truths of the inner self. Etnoethereal dark matter for the soul. To Rococo Rot - Vehiculo I cant get enough of those vintage and warm electronics. I love this album. happy xmas, enrique Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 13:32:21 -0500 From: Dez <100702.123@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Top 20 LPs of 97 Everybody else is doing it, so here's my contribution In reverse order: 20 Daft Punk - Homework About as good as minimal house/techno will ever get 19 Mogwai - Young Team Glasgow's lo-fi experimentalists come up trumps with an album tha= t is a little restrained, but none the worse for that 18 Luke Slater - Freek Funk Eclectic techno from Croydon out of Detroit, including 'Love', on= e of the tracks of the year 17 Chicane - Far From The Maddening Crowds Proving that 'Offshore' was no one-off, there are several tracks here to match it 16 Labradford - Mi Media Naranja No great leap forward from their last effort, but as treading wat= er exercises go, it'll do nicely 15 Spring Heel Jack - Busy Curious Thirsty Harder than previous outings, but much more experimental - dippin= g into free jazz on Galapagos 3 14 Carl Craig - More Songs About Food And Revolutionary Art Eclecticism seemed to be the word in '97, as the techno-meister dabbled in many different pies, some more succesfully than overs 13 Tanya Donelly - Lovesongs For Underdogs Good tunes, if a little trad - better than Belly's last, and with= a few songs to really cherish 12 As One - In With Their Arps, Moogs, Jazz and Things One of three albums from Kirk Di Georgio this year, and the most consistent. Herbie Hancock goes to Detroit (via High Wycombe) 11 Etienne De Crecy - Super Discount House at its zenith, including a few chill out tunes to die for -= notably Air's Soldissimo. Their debut album is due soon 10 Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole Familiarity has taken the shine off some of this record, but a lo= t of it still excites 9 Bjork - Homogenic The difficult third album, that really repays repeated listening 8 Pavement - Brighten The Corners The most 'pop' album to date, and one that I initially didn't lik= e at all, but it's improved over time 7 Photek - Modus Operandi This should have been the album of the year, but there are too ma= ny old tracks, and also a couple of fillers. But the rest is supreme cutting= edge drum and bass 6 Way Out West Surprised at how much I like this. Deep house and trance covering= familiar themes, but insistent and memorable 5 Biosphere - Substrata Six months ago I'd never heard of Geir Jenssen, but an MTV report= filmed in Spitsbergen changed all that. This is a blast of chilled arctic= ambient heaven 4 Gus Gus - Polydistortion I really thought that they were going to take over the planet. Th= at it hasn't happened has nothing to do with the quality of this album. Mayb= e they're just too eclectic for their own good 3 BT - ESCM In which BT throws everything but the kitchen sink into 75 minute= s - techno, trance, punk rock, jungle - it's all here 2 Portishead - Portishead More of the same only better 1 Roni Size/Reprazent - New Forms Jazz-funk jungle for the 21st century. Deservedly winning the Mercury prize, and a whole host of magazine front covers. Awesome - Dez