I've heard many a psychedelic/ambient epic in my day, but none of them come close to this seminal 40-some minute release, blending Pink Floyd circa Meddle and fusion-era Miles Davis into a real crackin' slice of drift...and all before Brian Eno's Another Green World would hit shelves!
Jade Warrior are one of progressive rock's unsung heroes, but in this record they became the forefathers to a lot of ambient and post-rock material that would emerge in later decades too. It's a personal favorite, so treat it well!
Scary-as-fuck ambient/cinematic black metal that will blow any preconceptions you have about this kind of music to amputated smithereens. Side I 'Hin' is a glorious hour that will drown you in death, noise and darkness while Side 2 is made up of seven shorter pieces that will tear at your nerves and weaken your teeth...even if there's sunshine in your skull.
Hearken close dear children - its hard to keep smiling when the lights go out...because then you cannot see what might be smiling back.
Criminally underrated throughout the 70's, Leon Ware has worked with everyone from Michael Jackson to Minnie Riperton as a producer, but on numerous occasions has established himself as one helluva vocalist and solo artist too, such as this 1981 space-age soul masterpiece Rockin' You Eternally.
There are only eight tracks across slightly over half an hour, but its a ride with some gorgeous replay value every step of the way. The vocoder funk of 'A Little Boogie (Never Hurt No One)' is a pretty nice start to this, but the record only gets better as time goes on - swirling orchestras mark songs that would do Smokey Robinson proud in his prime, such as 'Sure Do Want You Know' and the soaring title track, while my personal favorite 'Don't Stay Away' is one of the smoothest keyboard-led cuts of soul you'll ever have the pleasure of knowing. Leon's voice echoes out into the void and does a little jig on a big black dancefloor of infinity beyond. 'Tis a wonder it hasn't been sampled yet!
Looking for that long-lost soul classic you haven't heard...? Wah-lah!
Everyone's favorite British female pop eccentric did some mighty fine work a few years ago on this final (so far) studio release: a whopping 16 songs divided between two sides: seven interesting pop songs and a suite of vaguely orchestral deeps brought into recorded resonance. Lyrically things are quite wry as well - washing machines are likened to a romantic coupling in one instance ['Mrs. Bartolozzi'] and in another we see a jazzy, synth-laden Peter Gabriel-esque delving into the mathematical meaning..or perhaps merely love ['Pi']. Impressive...and that's only two great songs in a whole damn set of them.
In my opinion, this may not be another Hounds Of Love, but this shit will move your soul like the rest of Bush's catalog. Lets hope this isn't her last musical outing!
I don't know what it is about Norway, but a lot of quality releases seem to consistently and constantly emerge from their woodwork from every angle you can imagine. In regards to that, 2010 has brought us a damn fine acid blues-rock album from Lonely Kamel, who dwell in Oslo and hammer down some fine blistering guitar brawls on Blues For The Dead, which came out earlier this year.
Sure, there's nothing groundbreaking here in terms of musical palette - everyone from Led Zeppelin to Leaf Hound have done the early 70's blues-rock thing to death before the former had ever played a single stadium. Still, when the rhythms are compelling and the vocalist has the drawl to go with the swagger, who really gives a shit what's new and past due? If tracks like 'Lady Mushroom' and 'A Tale Of A Madman' don't give you even the slightest bit of nostalgia for that good ol' psychedelia, then you should get your ears dewaxed.
Hang loose, rock out, and take Lonely Kamel for what they are - a kickass 70's stoner ensemble who have warped to the modern era in order to crack a few skulls...and stir your blood to life.
Undoubtedly the coolest instrumental group on the planet, the Ozric Tentacles are among the founding fathers of neo-psychedelia, Psytrance, and numerous other electronic-related subgenres that people take for granted today. Or perhaps they're merely the missing link between the strange, experimental 70's and the rave culture of the 90's (and beyond). To think of it another way, who else has been blending psychedelic rock, prog., acid house, reggae and New Age since the mid 80's? Nobody, that's who!
Although technically not a debut recording, 1990's Erpland is where the Ozrics transitioned from a primarily cassette-selling, live-based underground entity into a full fledged band that could produce some mighty fine studio recordings as well. It's also nearly a decade ahead of it's time in terms of what you'll hear here - Ed Wynne's psychedelic soundwalling guitar and flute shpangling is dressed up by percussion and sprightly synthesizer refrains that recalls everything from Enigma to Burning Spear. In particular, 'Eternal Wheel' lays down hell of a groove from its opening twinkle and only gets sharper as the minutes parade forward, while the deep space Jamaican feel of 'Iscence' is a real wonder in and of itself, as well as being a personal favorite.
Albums like this are the reason people listen to music in the first place. Along with pretty much everything else they have done since their formation nearly three decades ago, the records these guys cut never seem to lose their luster in the face of changing tastes and demographics.
As the great Robert Ripley was known to say - "Believe it...or not!"
Jazzy 90's alt-rock from the land of ice, snow and people who fart a lot (starts with a Can and ends with a DUH). Although this respectably cool debut resulted in a rather nifty single alongside whatever was popular at the time ['Charms'], it's bass drillin' toe tappers like 'Turn My Head Around' that make this something special for any day of the week. It also helps that nobody quite sounds like these blighters, which is a really great thing in retrospect.
I can't sell an album's finer points any better than I can throw one, but these Kings definitely deserve a spin from you and everyone else.
