Deep Puddle Dynamics - The Taste of Rain...Why Kneel?

Clouddead (or cLOUDDEAD, more accurately) is one of the few hip-hop groups that would show up among my favorite artists. A brief collaboration between Why?, Doseone, and Odd Nosdam, only produced one album and one compilation of singles. And other than exploring Why?'s fantastic 'solo' career, I haven't explored other albums related to Clouddead or the left-field hip-hop label Anticon.

Deep Puddle Dynamics is Doseone and three other Anticon artists, Sole, Alias, and Slug. This album, named after one of Jack Kerouac's "western" haiku, came out in 1999, predating Clouddead's work. The first half was recorded in a week in 1998, and the last four tracks recorded in one day a year later, June 26th.

I suppose it's interesting and there are some memorable moments (beyond the sometimes annoying ping-ponging nasal delivery of Dose) but ultimately it's not as cohesive as I was looking for. It's essentially an Anticon sampler, so perhaps it wasn't a bad place to start. I'm still going to try to find some other related acts, though.

on deck

Atmosphere - Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs
John Foxx - Metamatic
Spiritualized - Lazer Guided Melodies
St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro

And my computer died so it will be a while before I have anything else to listen to.

Japan - Tin Drum

Japan's Tin Drum is nothing like the glam swagger of their debut, Adolescent Sex. Their trajectory across albums seems to run parallel to that of Talking Heads. Around 1980, when the Heads turned to Africa for rhythmic ideas, Japan turned to, well, Japan. Really, this is the only thing I've heard outside of the Eno-related sphere that comes close to what the Talking Heads were going for at the height of their arty new-wave, taking-funk-seriously success. But in the decades since, Remain in Light has achieved mythical status while Tin Drum is lucky to get an honorable mention among the best albums of the '80s. Granted, there's no "Once in a Lifetime" here, but "Ghosts" is pretty phenomenal.

Part of the eastern influence here is credited to lead singer David Sylvian's connection to Yellow Magic Orchestra's Ryuichi Sakamoto; I expect I will seek out some YMO and Sakamoto solo work later on.

Suburban Lawns - Suburban Lawns

Hey, this one's fun! Their sound is a bit like Devo, but with Mad TV's Ms. Swan on vocals. The hype was strong with them early on, with Jonathan Demme directing the video for their debut song "Gidget Goes to Hell," which was premiered on SNL, back in the pre-MTV era. This is their sole album, but the lead singer Su Tissue later came out with a solo album which I acquired a while ago but have not gotten around to checking out.

The best song here is "Janitor" which plays on a mis-heard response to the question "What do you do for a living?"

Gruff Rhys - Shampoo Hotel

Gruff Rhys is better known as the lead singer of Super Furry Animals, but I came to know him through his first solo album, 2005's Yr Atal Genhedlaeth, which is still one of my favorite albums of the 2000s. I love singing along, even though, perhaps especially because, it's sung in his native Welsh. A few years ago he had Candylion, an English-sung album which I thought was a bit too pink candy, too sweet and saccharine, too junior-high mixtape. He sticks with English for Shampoo Hotel but I'm liking the songs a bit more this time around.

The opening track samples Cyrkle's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," penned by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, which reminds me I need to explore some B. B.

Let's trace the song...

Emitt Rhodes - Emitt Rhodes

I came across this one in a search for other classics of baroque pop and sunshine pop. No doubt this is among the best in the genre, but I don't think it's one I'll be returning to much. His sound borrows heavily from Paul-penned Beatles songs. I imagine for those lamenting the left-turn the Beatles made in the late-60s, this 1970 debut album was a welcome return to the familiar.

So what was the turn-off here? The music is straightforward and takes no risks, so there's that--perfect for Wes Anderson. And the lyrics are even more bland. You must live 'till you die? Huh, cool. (And if "Fresh as a Daisy" hasn't been used in a feminine product commercial, that's a missed opportunity.)

Still, there are a few nice songs on here, and I always have respect for multi-instrumentalists who record their own stuff. Ultimately, I hope this guy paid McCartney royalties, even as Sir Paul was making his own sub-par one-man-band albums along the same time.

on deck

I'm a bit behind on assessing what I've been listening to, but here's more to that pile:

Boom Bip and Doseone - Circle
Harmonia - Musik von Harmonia
Japan - Tin Drum
Jens Lekman - An Argument with Myself
Nilsson - Aerial Ballet

Ultravox - Systems of Romance

This was Ultravox's last chance, having previously struck out (in my mind) with their debut, which I think is called David Bowie's Players, and their Vienna which, other than the phenomenal title track, didn't seem like the New Wave statement I was searching for.

Systems of Romance was produced by German Conny Plank, who is better associated with Krautrock and early electronica.  Here, Plank grafts Ultravox's guitar lines onto a more synthetic backdrop.  Indeed, take out the vocals and some of these tracks might as well be a Neu! outtakes.  Basically this is a sound that others would put to better use on some of the best albums of the coming decade.  (Gary Numan in particular credits this album as his Polaris for Pleasure Principle; Julian Cope hints that Numan's 'inspiration' was closer to 'duplication'.) 

So Ultravox finally delivered on the kind of album I was looking for.  It's unlikely to displace anything in my list of favorite New Wave albums, but Systems of Romance works as a bridge between two genres I severely enjoy: German motor-tik Krautrock and New Wave/Romantic.

on deck

Deep Puddle Dynamics - The Taste of Rain...Why Kneel?
Gastr del Sol - The Serpentine Similar
Moebius - Tonspuren
Emitt Rhodes - Emitt Rhodes
Suburban Lawns - Suburban Lawns

dead ends

Adam Ant - Dirk Wears White Sox

This one didn't do much for me. A bit awkward and all over the place. I'm probably done with Adam Ant.

Cluster - Cluster '71

This is beatless, distorted ambient. I need the beats. I'll move on to other Cluster-related albums.

Peter Hammill - The Future Now

This one didn't immediately strike me but I may give it a few more listens. Also, I'll probably check out Hammill's group, the Van der Graaf Generator.

Public Image Ltd. - The Flowers of Romance

Like Metal Box but without the good parts.

David Axelrod - Earth Rot

No, not that David Axelrod. The one who produced and composed some pretty fantastic music in the '60s and '70s, working with Lou Rawls, Cannonball Adderley, the Electric Prunes, and many more. His first two solo albums, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, still sound fresh. The break-beat rhythm style he favored became staples for crate-diggers like DJ Shadow; listen to "Holy Thursday" and you'll hear the foundation of the future of hip-hop.

So his third album, Earth Rot, is a bit of a weird turn. Labeled as "a musical statement on the state of the environment," it's basically an album about environmental destruction--the first side is about warnings, the second about the signs themselves. The music here is amazing. It's jazzy, it's funky, the arrangements are amazing, it's all very fluid; parts of it I like even better than his first two albums.

But there's a catch, and that happens to be a choir that delivers the vocals. Lordy, they are annoying. Just when you start to enjoy the music, the choir comes in, singing about the decaying environment: "There! Is! A! Grow! Ing! Rahhh! Tennnnn! Nesssssss!"

I so wish there was an instrumental version of this album; it would be really phenomenal. As it is, the vocals are just too distracting and I can't get past them.



Allmusic characterizes this as 'obscuro'--a label they also applied to Bill Holt's Dreamies. I imagine I'll be checking out a few more obscuro albums in the near future.

on deck

Cluster - Cluster '71
Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo
Nilsson - Pandemonium Shadow Show
Public Image Ltd. - The Flowers of Romance
Ultravox - Systems of Romance

The Mighty Sparrow - Hot & Sweet

I came across the Mighty Sparrow, also known as the King of Calypso, through Van Dyke Parks; the Sparrow sang the first song on Parks' 1972 album Discover America, "Jack Palance." VDP also produced this album (also in 1972) for the Mighty Sparrow, and recently Parks has re-released it on his very own Bananastan label.

Apparently if there's one calypso album to own, this one is a top recommendation. It's not just straight calypso all the way through, as the styles are more diverse than one label can convey. And there's quite a mythology to this album as well; allegedly it was recorded during the middle of a hurricane. At times the studio was running on a backup generator while recording. VDP worked with those sessions and added his own flourishes, resulting in a really fun listening experience--perfect for being stuck inside until the hurricane blows over.

The Wedding Present - Seamonsters / Watusi

I've had The Wedding Present on my computer for years; I probably came to them from a thread on albums produced by Steve Albini, and maybe I found the cover art enticing. I'm relatively sure I had tried these albums before but nothing really stuck. So upon revisiting these and giving them dedicated, relatively focused listens, well, I arrived at the same conclusion: nothing really sticks here.

Seamonsters is the one produced by Albini, and I don't think he did the band any favors. Sure, by placing the guitars and drums at the front of the mix, you get a pretty amazing sound, but since there's not really much range to their sound, the songs tend to get samey. The vocals are mumbled anyway, so Albini relegating them to the background doesn't help. The opening track is impressive for it's slow build; don't expect this much action on the rest of the album, though.



Watusi is a bit more varied and the production is a bit more balanced, bringing some definition to the vocals. Still, I don't expect to really return to this band. It's not that their sound is bad--I just don't find interesting enough for multiple listens.

Toro Y Moi - Causers of This / Underneath the Pines

The hype is strong with this one. Instead of starting with his most recent release, I went to his 2010 debut, Causers of This. On the first few listens, it sounded pleasurable enough--very relaxed, fuzzy. With repeated listens, though, it seemed nothing really emerged from the muck. The initial track, "Blessa" is representative enough.

So I approached his 2011 follow-up expecting more back-up music. Underneath the Pines, though, is a step in a slightly different direction. Most of it sounds reminiscent of indie-electronic bands from prior decades, like Stereolab, Air, and Broadcast. That sound wasn't exactly new when those bands were doing it, so it's not like Toro Y Moi has conjured up a distinctive, new sound. But still, this album is well-produced and at least offers some memorable moments.

The penultimate track, "Good Hold," offers the best example of a memorable moment. It's a short track; in its two and a half minutes, it builds a hazy melody from a dissonant piano loop. Just when things get nice and breezy, the sound becomes muddled, as if you've been plunged underwater and your ears are adjusting to the pressure. There's no drowning here, so you're allowed to surface just in time to catch the coda. The submerged effect doesn't translate too well through speakers, but the effect through headphones will leave you wringing out your ears.