SemiConscious Dot Org

Just call it “Progressive Music List Bloat:” my first Best Of list, covering the 1960’s, contained all of ten albums. The 70’s list was 20 items long. By the time the 80’s rolled around, I had expanded to 25 titles. Wellsir, for the 1990’s, we’ve blown it all the way out to thirty five.

It’s the curse of familiarity. After all, I wasn’t alive in the 60’s; I was a preteen in the 70’s; and I went to high school in the 80’s. By the dawn of the 90’s, I was Officially An Adult, a college student with a job and disposable income to spend…which I did, on music, music, and more music (a debilitating habit that continues to the present day.)

More music means more trouble narrowing down. Throw in the 90’s alt-rock explosion, which irrevocably split popular music into zillions of new genres, sub-genres, sub-sub-genres, and micro-genres, and winnowing the damn thing down becomes well nigh impossible.

Yadda, yadda, yadda. Here’s the list. As always, positioning is in no way indicative of rank.

Nirvana – In Utero
The Beastie Boys – Check Your Head
Radiohead – OK Computer
Kyuss – Welcome to Sky Valley
Dr. Dre – The Chronic
The Beta Band – The 3 EP’s
Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger
Uncle Tupelo – Anodyne
Fishbone – The Reality of My Surroundings
Slayer – Seasons in the Abyss
Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Ragged Glory
The Roots – Things Fall Apart
Sugar – Copper Blue
Alice In Chains – Dirt
The Black Crowes – The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
Dr. Octagon – Dr. Octagonecologyst
Radiohead – The Bends
Sigur Rós – Ágætis Byrjun
PJ Harvey – Rid of Me
Pearl Jam – Vitalogy
A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
Opeth – Still Life
Masters of Reality – Sunrise on the Sufferbus
Grant Lee Buffalo – Mighty Joe Moon
Johnny Cash – Unchained
Tool – Undertow
Faith No More – Angel Dust
The Melvins – Stoner Witch
Wilco – Being There
Beck – Mellow Gold
Portishead – Dummy
Rage Against The Machine – S/T
Sleater-Kinney – Dig Me Out
Ol’ Dirty Bastard – N***a Please
Lo-Fidelity Allstars – How to Operate With a Blown Mind

UPDATE: I have no idea why this post published with comments closed. Consider it fixed.

In the midst of the unfolding horror that the Most Foul Year of Our Lord 2008, there are a few rays of light. It has occurred to us that several things are, in fact, Not Quite Dead Yet, and would like to go for a walk. For instance:

The New England Patriots are Not Quite Dead Yet. After losing the NFL’s best player to a season-ending injury last week, many (including yours truly) fretted over their future, but the sight of them shutting up an entire stadium of 78,000 knuckle-dragging troglodytes Jets fans was beautiful beyond measure. The whining and carping in the NYC sporting press this morning was even sweeter. Still Enjoying those t-shirts you shelled out $18.99 for? Boy, that shirt sure had a long shelf-life, didn’t it? You fucking pathetic losers.

Metallica is Not Quite Dead Yet. The band that revolutionized heavy metal and released the greatest album of the entire 80’s decade had since launched into a death spiral so long and uninterrupted that I wrote them off completely years ago. Ditching their distinctive style to dabble (badly) in pop-metal, grunge, alternative, and Southern rock…the lawsuit against Napster…the rehab stints…the haircuts...all culminating in one of the worst albums any band in any genre has ever released…yeah, I thought they were done.

But then they hired Rick Rubin, who basically told them “You had the perfect sound in 1986. What the fuck have you been doing for the past 22 years???” And against all odds, they’ve recorded what should have been the logical followup to the impeccable triumvirate of Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice For All. Is Death Magnetic as good as those classics? No, not really. But it’s easily the best thing they’ve done in more than two decades. They may not be all the way back, but they’re finally headed in the right direction, which, considering how far they fell, is a miracle in itself. It’s certainly far more than I ever expected at this late date.

New Orleans is Not Quite Dead Yet, despite the best efforts of our government to kill it. The City That George Bush Forgot miraculously dodged not one, but two potentially fatal hurricanes in the past two weeks.

This Friday, the Special Lady Friend and I will be flying down to N’awlins for a few days of vacation. It will be my first time visiting since 2002, long before Katrina hit. If there’s post-Ike cleanup that needs to be done, we’ll volunteer to pitch in where we can. The post-Katrina cleanup, I fear, may take decades… but it will get done.

Ok, so here’s where I expect things will get testy. I’m guessing that most of the readership of this blog hadn’t been born yet in the 60’s, so it was hard to get too worked up about that list. And while many (or most) of us may have been alive during the 70’s, we hadn’t yet reached that age when obsessive music listening grips one.

But most of us passed through our formative rock and roll years in the 80’s (or possibly 90’s.) Those choices stay with one longer and often shape the rest of one’s music-listening life. It’s harder to be neutral and objective about those years.

Take me, for instance. I hated most of the popular music during the 1980’s, the decade in which I spent my teens. With the notable exceptions of REM, The Police, and U2, none of the acts listed below were multi-platinum. (Several bands on the list did go on to huge sales during the following decade, but during the 80’s, they were cult favorites at best.)

You will also note the total absence of any music from Prince. Since absolutely everyone I know worships and adores Prince and thinks the sun shines out of his ass, I expect this will elicit some anger. Look, people, I get it: he’s a genius. He must be, because everybody says so, and everybody is never, ever wrong. His shit just never clicked for me, ok? It’s not a crime, you know.

There is, however, another Neil Young album, just like there were Neil Young albums in the 60’s and 70’s lists, and just like there will be at least one in the 90’s list. Why? Because Neil Young has been around for a very, very long time, and he’s fucking awesome. That’s why.

Anyhooo….

Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking
Husker Du – Zen Arcade
Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back
Metallica – Master of Puppets
The Police – Synchronicity
Celtic Frost – Into the Pandemonium
U2 – War
Guns N’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction
REM – Document
The Pixies – Doolittle
Motorhead – Ace of Spades
The Pretenders – Learning to Crawl
Run-D.M.C. – Raising Hell
Slayer – Reign in Blood
The Replacements – Let it Be
Neil Young – Freedom
Faith No More – The Real Thing
Ministry – The Land of Rape and Honey
Living Colour – Vivid
The Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
Camper Van Beethoven – Key Lime Pie
The Dead Milkmen – Beelzebubba
AC/DC – Back in Black
Ultramagnetic MC’s – Critical Beatdown
Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine

A few months ago, I averred that this is The Greatest Music Video in the History of Mankind.

For the first time in my entire life, I was wrong about something.

(link via Raul Duke)

You’re welcome.

It’s a red letter day here at Semiconscious Dot Org. Regular readers know that your humble author loves him some metal and some punk. Wellsir, not only is there a Dropkick Murphys/Mighty Mighty Bosstones concert tonight at the Civic Center, but last night I found out that the new Melvins album is out! I took the day off from work (cough, cough) and once Tannhauser arrives in a few hours, we’ll be heading downtown to purchase the Melvins, imbibe heavily on the patio at Novare Res, and head off to the show.

Anyhoo, here’s the new music roundup. You’re welcome.

Opeth – Watershed
For over a decade, they’ve been perfecting their unlikely mix of death metal and Pink Floyd-y prog rock. This album tilts the balance noticeably towards the latter. I can’t say it’s as magnificent as either of their two acknowledged masterpieces, 1999’s Still Life or 2005’s Ghost Reveries, because I do like the thrashin’. But it’s still damn good, more of a “headphones” album than a “point the speakers out the windows and terrify your neighbors” album.

Boris – Smile
As with Opeth, Boris is faced with the daunting task of following up their magnum opus (in their case, 2006’s Pink.) And like Opeth, they come pretty close. Much like Pink, Smile mixes the monolithic walls of guitar drone from their earlier albums with shorter tracks influenced by 70’s hard rock and punk. They sing entirely in Japanese, so I have no idea what they’re saying. But with music like this, vocals are just another instrument anyway.

The Roots – Rising Down
Am I sensing a trend here? Here’s yet another veteran band following up their career-defining album. 2006’s Game Theory might just be the best hip hop release of this entire decade. Wisely, they chose to not try and duplicate its sound on Rising Down, instead going for a harder, darker edge. But while the music may be different, the lyrical viewpoint is not: these guys are the natural heirs to Public Enemy, and their music is a call to arms.

Sigur Rós – Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Finally, a band not attempting to follow up their opus. Sigur’s best album, the awe-inspiring Ágætis Byrjun, was almost a full decade ago, and everything they’ve released since has unfortunately been boring, pretentious pablum. They obviously knew it was time to shake things up, because Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust represents the most immediate, catchy, and uptempo music they’ve ever recorded. Check out the video for “Gobbledigook” to see the new direction. (Warning: nekkid people. Lots of them.)

The Black Angels – Directions to See a Ghost
And after all the veteran bands, we conclude with a young group whose best days are presumable ahead of them. This is their second release, following 2006’s debut, Passover. Like its predecessor, it’s a mass of reverb-drenched, Velvet Underground-inspired psychedelia. Excellent stuff, and well worth picking up, but I get the feeling they’re capable of even more. There’s a masterpiece coming from this band, and soon. Maybe next time out.

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed in the nearly five years I’ve ranted here on the ol’ bloggy blog, it’s that hardly any topic generates less interest and commentary than “Aaron Plays Amateur Music Critic.” A smarter man would, perhaps, take this as a sign that nobody gives a crap about his benighted take on what constitutes quality music. Luckily for me, I’m either too dumb or arrogant to notice.

Anyhoo, a couple of weeks ago I posted my favorite albums of the 1960’s. The self-imposed limit of 10 albums, however, caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth, especially when I immediately thought of at least that many good or better albums approximately three seconds after I clicked “Publish.” Accordingly, for the 1970’s installment, I’ve expanded the list to 20. This way I feel free to include more than one release by an artist. Because let’s face facts, folks: Zep and Floyd were the most important white people of the 70’s, and Stevie and George were the most important black people. They all deserve to be represented more than once.

You’ll further notice that nary an appearance is made by such 70’s staples as Fleetwood Mac, Peter Frampton, Meatloaf, or anyone remotely connected to the Saturday Night Fever or Grease soundtracks. Fuck them. And as for the Eagles…well, why don’t we just let The Dude tackle that one.

So, yeah, here’s the list. As before, placement in no way indicates rank. Numbers are square, baby.

Led Zeppelin – IV
Iggy & The Stooges – Raw Power
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
Funkadelic – One Nation Under a Groove
The Clash – London Calling
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Stevie Wonder – Talking Book
Bob Marley and the Wailers – Live!
John Lennon- Plastic Ono Band
David Bowie – The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti
Curtis Mayfield – Superfly
The Who – Who’s Next
Funkadelic – Maggot Brain
The Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
Pink Floyd – Animals
Janis Joplin – Pearl
Stevie Wonder – Innervisions
AC/DC - Highway To Hell
Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Rust Never Sleeps

Being an inveterate music list maker, I’d already started putting together my “Favorite Albums of the Oughts” list. I was all set to publish it, but decided that doing so would be premature, given that this decade obviously isn’t over yet. So instead, why not satisfy my jones by making lists for all the rock n’ roll decades which are over?

We’ll start with the 60’s. Yes, rock and roll technically started in the mid 50’s, but “albums” as we currently think of them didn’t exist in the 50’s (they were just collections of previously released singles.) Also, much like Chuck D, I don’t give two shits about Elvis.

So, the 60’s it is. Granted, I wasn’t alive during the decade, but why should that stop me? Feel free to tell me how wrong my picks are, and/or offer alternate titles. I probably won’t agree, but what are Teh Interwebs for, if not a good argument?

Here’s the Top 10. The order of the list should in no way be construed as conferring rank. In true hippie fashion, everybody’s equal. Now, let’s all join hands and sing “Kumbaya…”

The Rolling Stones – Let it Bleed
The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat
Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland
Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
The Beatles – S/T (ie, “The White Album”)
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
The Band – S/T
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Trout Mask Replica
Led Zeppelin – S/T
Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited

“I’m old, and everything today is worse than it used to be. Even rock stars today are wimps! Look at this tour rider from something called the Foo Fighters.

“Veggie soups? Metal forks and spoons? A half case of local microbrew? VEGAN MEALS??!?!?

“Flibbedy gibbet! Back in my day, when the Led Zeppelins went on tour, Jimmy Page used to have it IN WRITING that his hotel room would contain no fewer than three naked underage girls cavorting in a hot tub filled with baked beans, a quadrophonic sound system loaded up with a 78 acetate of Aleister Crowley reading the Necronomicon backwards, and an incense brazier made from a hollowed-out goat skull pumping clouds of pure Lebanese hashish smoke through the suite!

“Great Googly Moogly! I remember the good old days, when rock stars used to pillage your town like a bunch of naked, crazed vikings! You’d hide your daughters, and they’d find ‘em anyway with their laser x-ray vision! Why, back in the winter of ‘47, I myself was pulled off the street in broad daylight and molested by Mick Jagger and David Bowie at the same time! That’s the way it was and we liked it! We loved it!

“Now git the hell offa my lawn! Gaaaaa!”

(Gets up to leave, trips over colostomy bag, falls down, chokes to death on own dentures)

Well, kids, it’s been a long time since I posted any music reviews. This is mostly due to a regrettable lack of funds; quite simply, fixing up an old house ain’t cheap. However, the arrival of my tax refund check, coupled with the onset of advanced New Music Withdrawal symptoms, led me to the record store for an orgy of wanton spending. And thus I can inform all of you what new tunes you need to own in order to be hep. You’re welcome.

The Black Keys – Attack & Release
After four albums of basic guitar-drums blues crunch, they expand their sound with everything from bass and keyboards to horns, banjos, strings, and the occasional backup singer. It all works. Early contender for Album of the Year.

Flogging Molly – Float
They’ve noticeably mixed down the punk in their Celtic-punk mix, sounding more like a traditional Irish band – albeit one on steroids. The songwriting is better, as is the singing. As a diehard Dropkick Murphys fan, it pains me to admit this, but this cd blows the Dropkicks’ latest out of the water.

The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely
Jack White’s other band releases its sophomore album. This one is significantly grittier and more raucous than their debut, Broken Boy Soldiers. In fact, parts of it sound suspiciously like the Stripes would sound if they had a second guitarist, bassist, and professional drummer.

Black Mountain – In the Future
Another band whose second album stomps their debut like a grape. Indie rock meets acid rock, gets injected with a healthy dose of Pink Floyd, and then is blown up stadium-size with lots of crunchy power chords.

The Sword - Gods of the Earth
And continuing the “what sophomore jinx?” trend, these guys transcend the unapologetic Black Sabbath worship of their debut by markedly upping the tempos and mixing a thrash element into the bongwater. (Bonus points awarded for “Fire Lances of the Hyperzephrians,” the year’s most awesome song title.) It’s crushingly heavy.

But not as heavy as:

Meshuggah – Obzen
This might be the heaviest band on planet Earth. All the tortured bellowing, bludgeoning riffage, and neck-snapping rhythmic shifts of their Swedish compatriots Opeth, with none of Opeth’s silly mellow acoustic prog rock interludes. Sheer brutality from end to end.

Drive-By Truckers – Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
It’s official: by replacing departed third guitarist Jason Isbell with a steel guitar player and noticeably raising the percentage of slow songs in the mix, the Drive-By Truckers have morphed from Southern Rock into Country. Not that this is necessarily bad – it’s a dark, grim, melancholy kind of country, light years away from the slick, overproduced shit churned out by Nashville – but it’s not really my thing. And, quite frankly, there’s too much of it. At 45 minutes, this would’ve been a masterpiece; at 75 minutes, it drags.

Rustic Overtones – Light at the End
If you live outside New England, you’ve probably never heard of these guys, which is entirely your loss. The pride of Portland, Maine hit hard luck when the major label that had just released what was to be their breakthrough album went belly-up. They broke up shortly thereafter. Now they’re back, sounding like they never left. You ain’t got shit if you ain’t funk…

(Direct link to clip nyah.)

And while we’re on the subject of the Drive-By Truckers: seems they’ve got a new album out. As usual, everybody loves it. Guess I know what I’ll be buying after work today. I wonder if the Special Lady Friend will appreciate a cd of hard-edged Southern rock as a Valentine’s Day present?

I know I would. Maybe it’s a Guy Thing.

Bonus clip: Outkast goes all P-Funk on your asses.