Day 0888 - The Contino Sessions

Death in Vegas “The Contino Sessions” (1999)

The band were originally called ‘Dead Elvis’, but as it tunred out this was the name of an existing record label.  They changed their name to the thematically similar ‘Death in Vegas’ and used the Dead Elvis moniker for their first album instead.

The Contino Sessions (named for their recording space) is their second album.  The blurb in the book mentioned DJing and electronica and I’d thought that I’d be getting something very much in that musical arena.   I was quite surprised then to hear the opening track “Dirge” that starts with a sparse guitar line and vocals, then eventually builds to a Shoe-gazey wall of guitar noise.  

There are definitely electronic elements here (electronic beats, loops) but the sound veers between the aforementioned shoegazey sound and triphop, with shoe-gaze/wall-of-guitar band Jesus and Mary Chain’s vocalist Jim Reid featuring on one track “Broken Little Sister”.  Actually, that one sounded a bit familiar to me.

The second track “Soul Auctioneer” features a sinister, subdued groove that would not feel out of place on an early Massive Attack album.   Iggy Pop features spoken word vocals on “Aisha”, meanwhile the track “Aladdin’s Story” is a rare burst of upbeat melody amongst the gloom… though even there, it’s deceptive.  The few lyrics are hardly uplifting “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen/Nobody knows my sorrow”.

Day 0753 - Bubble & Scrape

 Sebadoh “Bubble & Scrape” (1993)

 

Sebadoh was formed by Eric Gaffney and Dinosaur Jr. bassist/vocalist Lou Barlow.  Originally it acted as a creative outlet and side project for Barlow, who was being somewhat shut out of the songwriting process of Dinosaur Jr by his bandmate J Mascis.  Eventually Barlow was fired from Dinosaur Jr and made Sebadoh his full-time priority.

Possibly due to Mascis’ overbearing nature, some of Barlow’s songs ruminated on the subject of control.  In contrast to that band, Sebadoh seems much more democratic, with all three band members contributing songs to the album.

The band had built itself up on lo-fi indie recordings, but this was the first album that they recorded entirely in a professional studio, and the last album with founding member Gaffney, who went on to pursue a prodigious DIY solo career.

'Bubble and Scrape' benefits from the mix of writers with a range of sounds, from noisy fuzzed out lo-fi punk, to washy alt-rock and some almost 1960s pop moments (but sifted through a grimy 90s filter).

Day 0610 - Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby "Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby" (1987)

Over the first couple of tracks I was a little put off by the staid, sterile 80s production sound on this one, but TTD's amazing voice and strong songwriting turned my opinion right around.

There's the minimalist funk and catchy synth line of "Wishing well", the souful doowop of "Who's Lovin' You", the beautiful acapella "As yet untitled" and plenty of other gems.

Day 0160 - Stand!

Sly and the Family Stone "Stand!" (1969) - got it

This has got to be one of the first serious 'funk' albums.  Those beats.  Dat bass.  Those horns. Sly and the family are one of those bands that have always been on my radar but I've never quite got around to checking them out properly.

A mixture of races and genders coming together to make great music, and one of the earliest bands to mix upbeat funky 'party' music with serious political commentary.  Great stuff, and as the "got it" at the top implies, I ended up picking up a copy of the album as a result of listening to it.