Day 0878 - Music has the Right to Children

Boards of Canada "Music has the Right to Children" (1998)

Boards of Canada: again I knew the band name but not what the music sounded like.   I'd kind of assumed it'd be indie stuff, but nope it's bleepy, soupy synthesizer tracks.  

The band consists of two brothers from Scotland who were playing music and experimenting with recording techniques from an early age.  They'd released an EP but this was their first full-length.

The book talks about how this album showed that electronic music could show emotion.   I'm not sure about that, certainly it can create atmospheres with some sort of mood to them, but emotion might be overstating it.   I mean come on.... it's not Moonlight Sonata!

There are some warm, analogue synth sounds that feel like they've come straight from the 70s, with a few short tracks that are just extended synth sound-beds.   "Telephasic Workshop" has some cool stuttery vocal sounds over a jittery beat.   "Sixtyten" mixes the aforementioned synth sounds and found sounds to create mood.

0873 - Queens of the Stoneage

 Queens of the Stoneage "Queens of the Stoneage" (1998)

Following the breakup of desert-rock/stoner-rock masters Kyuss, that band's guitarist Josh Homme got together with Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernández to form QOTSA (major collaborator and former Kyuss member Nick Oliveri would join the group following the album's completion).

Oddly I seem to remember not really enjoying this album when I listened to it a few years back.  Not sure why, as it seems to be the classic QOTSA sound: bashy-yet-tight drumming a la Mitch Mitchell or John Bonham, and Homme's muddy fuzzed out guitar and light, clear voice.  It also features the studio experimentation that Homme continued on the group's second album "Rated R" with instruments being hard-panned to either side of the stereo field in unconventional, yet cool ways.

"Walkin' on the Sidewalks" has a guttural, gutter twang, contrasted by Homme's melodic vocals.  "Regular John" has a pounding, unrelenting pulse to it.  The instrumental track "Hispanic Impressions" bears a suspicious resemblance to Jimi Hendrix's very phonetically-similarly titled "Manic Depression".

In some ways with Homme writing all of the songs and playing most of the instruments, this is the heart of QOTSA.  Though I prefer "Rated R" and "Songs for the Deaf" with their contributions from Oliveri, the Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan and (on the latter album) Dave Grohl on drums, the band has always been Homme's baby.

Day 0715 - Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine "Rage Against the Machine" (1992) - got it

Many bands are described as "exploding onto the music scene", but I'd say that RATM are actually deserving of that phrase.   Of all the bands branded with the often maligned label 'rap-metal', RATM managed to tap into the anger and aggression of both genres without really de-clawing either of them.

Rhythm section Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford lay down a funky and hardhitting base for vocalist Zack de la Rocha (once described, not inaccurately, by Tom Morello as the "punk-rock James Brown") to belt his raw-throated screams, raps and political protests over.  But the band-member name-checked most frequently is guitarist Tom Morello.  His guitar spits out thrash riffs, fiddly solos rhythmic grooves, and riffs... oh so many riffs.  Beyond that though, he engages in musical experimentation that sees him all but make his guitar moo like a cow.  His collection of squeals, stutters and scratches borrows from both metal and rap and elevates the band, giving them that point of difference.

The first song "Bombtrack" starts with a tantalising build-up before exploding all in your ears.  Single "Killing in the name" (whose riff Morello came up with while giving guitar lessons) is barely contained rock rage.   A little variety is provided by a guest spot by TOOL's Maynard James Keenan on "Know your enemy" and a moodier, more subdued approach to "Settle for Nothing" (though that also turns into a rager too on the choruses).

The band couldn't maintain this level of fire and originality, with their following two albums being a case of diminishing returns.  They rounded out their recorded career with the brilliant covers album "Renegades".  The band, freed from the requirement to come up with material, were able to just 'rage-ify' some existing songs.

Day 0594 - Floodland

Sisters of Mercy "Floodland" (1987)

The Sisters bring Gothic glower... and a choir.

After their first album, a couple of members left the band.  Remaining member Andrew Eldritch then enlisted the help of Patricia Morrison (from the Gun Club) on bass and vocals, producer Jim Steinman (of Meatloaf fame) and a drum machine called Doktor Avalanche.  Together they created a relatively cold, brooding, but surprisingly 'to the point' goth-rock album.

Day 0590 - Document

R.E.M. "Document" (1987)

Kind of a transitional album for R.E.M.   It was their last album for IRS records before moving onto a major label and their first with Scott Litt producing.

Musically, they were already starting to evolve into their more commercial 90s sound... to the extent that I was sure that catchy track "The One I Love" was on one of those later albums, rather than on one of the IRS releases.  I think part of the change is that Michael Stipe had really found his feet as a singer and frontman, so had set aside his mumbled obscure vocal delivery and moved to a more clear and outgoing style.

Musically, the album has a nice range of styles, from the jangly folk rock of "It's the End of the World..." (with the event of Covid 19, this one has actually had a resurgence), the slow dirge intensity of "Oddfellows Local 151" and the catchy, borderline-anthemic nature of "Finest Worksong".

Day 0445 - Entertainment

Gang of Four "Entertainment!" (1979)

 
A band from (my one-time home) Leeds named after a group of Chinese Communist Party officials... hinting at the band's left-wing sympathies.

Another one of those bands that mixes the attitude and melodic minimalism of punk with a bit of white-boy funk (though here the funk element seems to have been ramped up considerably). Another of those bands that most likely stylistically inspired some of the early 00 indie rock bands like Bloc Party or Gossip.

Listening to the angular funk sounds here, I wouldn't be surprised if the Gang were listened to by Les Claypool or his band Primus.  They were certainly an influence on the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who drafted the Gang's guitarist Andy Gill to produce their first (self titled) album on the basis of the "Entertainment!" album.

Day 0385 - Pacific Ocean Blue

Dennis Wilson "Pacific Ocean Blue" (1977)

 
I'm looking forward to the next run of 3 or 4 albums.  This album is one that I listened to and enjoyed when I checked out the book the first time around 2011.

Dennis was looked on as not being (according to one doco I saw) the greatest of drummers.  Some Beach Boys drum parts were completed by session musicians and other people who were not Dennis... so in some ways, it was kind of a ballsy move for him to go ahead and make a solo album.

This doesn't sound a like a "Drummer album".  This is a vocal-heavy album, but not the clean complex harmonies of a Brian Wilson production (I'm actually now listening to the Beach Boys' "Friends" album as I type this) it's more of a cathartic clamour.  That's interesting, as the music is certainly not a non-stop journey of joy.  Dennis himself struggled with alcoholism and cocaine addiction.

It was always that rather odd thing with the Beach Boys where they sang all about surfing but Dennis was the only one who surfed (It would be like if all of RHCP except the drummer were virgins, or if Motorhead were teetotallers) and he ended up drowning after a vodka binge.

The album was well received and Dennis was grateful for the recognition. He started recording a follow-up but died before he could complete it.