From: Brian MacDonald <brianm AT kuci.org>
Subject: guilty pleasures released in '97 (or late '96 or something)
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 1997 18:41:57 -0800 (PST)


Quickly though... reissues..

Sun City Girls, Yoko Ono, and Stereolab EPs, baby....

Anyway, on with my personal Top 10 '97 releases.

1.Gorky's Zygotic Mynci  "Barafundle"
  
  Gorgeous pastoral album from young 'uns from the backwoods of Wales.
  Think Incredible String Band, Captain Beefheart, XTC/Dukes of
  Stratosphear, Beach Boys, Beatles, John Cale, Kim Fahy/Mabuses,
  Pavement, lots of mushrooms, and some folky traditional sensibilities.
  Not as crazy as their last two records, but their most fulfilling and
  heart-jerking album, certainly.

2.Super Furry Animals  "Radiator"
 
  Definitely more of an "MTV" band, but they know the right bells and
  whistles to add to their rich BowieBarrettBeatlesBeachBoys rock
  songs.  "Radiator" proves that they aren't the drugged up interchangable
  Britpop mooks that "Fuzzy Logic" may have implied.  Sure they are
  still quite drugged up.  But in a very "NOW" sounding rock pop way.
  ...Well, they're buttloads better than Blur or Oasis anyway. 

3.Mogwai "Young Team"

  The best Slint inspired band nowadays.  Probably because these
  guys know how to incorporate the right atomsphere and texture.
  "Mogwai Fear Satan" would be a suiting musical epitaph.

4.Charlie McAlister "Mississippi Luau"

  I don't think anyone saturates the four tracks of an audio
  cassette better than South Carolinian Charlie.  The man is insane.
  Hypnotic, folky, catchy and many-a-time moving songs using toy
  instruments and other strange electronic sources played abrasively.
  That's just an example of one song.  Charlie takes some of the sound
  ideas that folks like Doo Rag and the like do and take it eons further,
  whereas the latter seems content being a one-trick pony.   The lyrics
  are bizarre.  The most fun record I've listened to since The Frogs'
  "It's Only Right And Natural"... I still feel I haven't described
  my joy upon listening to this record properly.

5.Built To Spill "Perfect From Now On"

  Easily their best yet.  The 6-8 minute songs on this album each seem
  like 3-4 minute songs... which is always a good sign.   Fuck Robert
  Hilburn for implying that bands like Built To Spill are a waste of
  financial resources for Warner Bros.

6.Negativland "Ipsdesip"

  Long awaited excursion on the saturation of advertising, e.g. Coca Cola
  and Pepsi.  Some of Negativland's best songs to date... I enjoy the
  "commercial" sound many accuse this album of having.

7.Prolapse "The Italian Flag"

  More polished, fluid, and catchy,  and less gutteral than
  "Backsaturday".  The wall of motorik guitar noise persists, and sounds
  even better than ever. Still Prolapse are pissed off at... something.
  Usually each other.  

8.Pell Mell "Star City"

  More moist and mid-temp than "Interstate" and "Flow", and takes a bit
  longer to grow on you, but every inch of their brand of instrumental
  roadtrip soundtrack rock is just as good.

9.Spiritualized "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space"
 
  This is their best album yet, so shoot me.  (Ok ok ok "Lazer" comes
  very close).  Sure, the production is over-the-top at times, but
  always at the best times.  Don't care much for "Electricity" and
  the stuff before it, but from "Home Of The Brave" and on, the album
  soars.

10.Karp "Self Titled LP"
  Ding dong fucking with your head.  I'm fucking with your head.

Honorable mentions:

* Primal Scream "Echo Dek"

It's great enough that "Vanishing Point" their best album since
"Screamadelica".  Having that all remixed by Adrian Sherwood is
just too good.

* Prodigy "The Fat Of The Land"

Smack me up.  This album rules.  Corny at times, but better than
anything they've done before.  Certainly better than the boring
boring "Dig Your Own Hole" by the Chemical Brothers. ("Exit Planet
Dust" was easily my fave of 1995).  Mostly a dreadful year for
electronic dance music.  

* Polvo "Shapes"

Their lest coherent but most complete record to date.  

* Refrigerator "Refrigerator"

Their shows and their albums get better and better.  Refrigerator
is like your home town.  Gives you goosebumps.

* Long Hind Legs "Long Hind Legs"

The Joy Division and Echo in me gets down with this.

* Banyan "Banyan"

Very hard to describe, but it's all about groove.  VERY dense wall of
random sounds environmental and electronic, backed by Stephen Perkins's
amazing master of the drum beat.  Watt, Nels, Money Mark, and Dust Bros.
back him up.  Too bad Stephen Perkins is all hung up in some certain
"relapse" of some certain L.A. band that, while I loved 'em when they
were around, should have stayed broken up when they broke up that fateful
Lollapalooza in 1991.

* The VSS "Nervous Circuits"

More bands associated with the term "emo" should try to cull more
influences from bands like Bauhaus and Killing Joke as the VSS did.



==================================================================
     Brian MacDonald <brianm AT kuci.org>, listserv guy for
          KUCI 88.9 fM in Irvine, CA -- Orange County
==================================================================