Here are some great artists and some great times to listen to them.
On A Quiet, Rainy Day:
SYD BARRETT:
Ahh, the sound of someone mentally breaking down. That's either his two solo albums or the gentle sobbing that comes from my bathroom each night around 1am.Originally the leader of the first (and in my approximation, best) incarnation of Pink Floyd, Syd had a bit of a breakdown; staring blankly ahead during a lip sync performance on American Bandstand, strumming his detuned guitar at random intervals during live shows, and writing a song called "Have You Got It Yet", which he introduced to his band mates by never playing any chords in sequence, asking the rest of the Floyd to follow along, and shouting "have you got it yet?" every few seconds.
In any case, they stopped picking him up for gigs at some point in 1968; his managers, thinking he was the star of Floyd, got some solo albums together.
The two records, "The Madcap Laughs" and "Barrett" consist of strange, almost rambling songs. Some are melodically captivating, some emotionally evocative, all pretty fucking weird.
His voice has an odd ethereal quality; he's almost not there. I would liken it to someone who is really, really exhausted; it's the last karaoke song of the night and all the wine is putting him to sleep. Yet, it's somehow special.
He strums his acoustic guitar wildly, changing time signatures willy-nilly, occasionally playing chords that he probably shouldn't be playing. His backup band seem to be playing catch up, confused as to where he might be going next (they haven't got it yet).
The more rambling songs are something to behold; they really feel like he just sat down, started playing his guitar and sang whatever strange things that came into his head. Take the lyrics of the track "Rats" off his 1970 album "Barrett":
Blam, splattered, tactile, engine heaving,
quacky, squeaky, dormy, roofy, wham
I`ll have them mind blown broken
jardy, cardy, smoocho, poocho, paki, puffi
splosh eat moxy, very smelly, cable, gable,
splinter, shaddle top the seam he`s taken off
Half poetic, half "Huh"?...all pretty interesting. If you're going to give him a shot, be prepared to be full of sadly fun whimsy.
No Good Trying off 1969's "The Madcap Laughs"
Great song, odd lyrics, listen to his backing band (the superb Soft Machine) attempting to play "catch up"...
Gigolo Aunt off 1970's "Barrett":
One of his most "pop oriented" songs, which tells you something:
Barrett moved back in with his mom after some unproductive sessions in 1974 (financed by David Bowie). He died in 2006.
Taking a Nap On a Beach:
SCOTT WALKER:
If I was to say "An industrial Josh Grobian singing over barren, yet complex musical landscapes" would you want to listen? Probably not. So I won't say it.Scott Walker was a huge pop star in the 1960s, reemerged in the mid-1970s with an album that continues to "inspire" David Bowie (IE, he continues to "rip it off") and now releases a record every 10 or so years.
He is so unclassifiable as an artist, that I am simply unable to come up with words to describe his music.
My favorite album of his is 1995's universally praised Tilt, something that will lull you into a sense of false security with a minute or two of ambient rattling, then blow your mind with abrupt dissonant percussion, orchestral bursts and operatic wailing. Oh, and lyrics about everything from the trial of Adolf Eichmann to the endangerment of the buffalo.
Bowie, again, used that album as the blueprint for everything from his 1995 album "Outside" to his 2002 album "Heathen".
If Tilt sounds like too much of a drag to you, a good starting point might be his four tracks on The Walker Brothers' 1978 album "Nite Flights"; Can meets Genesis meets Roxy Music hybrid which is worth the price of several admissions. Hey, Bowie even covered the title track. Enough Bowie for you? Only one more reference, I promise...
If you're interested in pushing your musical horizons into bleak, dark, insanely intellectual territory, than this is the man for you. If "ten piece orchestra, wailing guitars, loud organ, lyrics about Europe in the summertime" turn you off, don't bother.
Oh, and there's apparently an amazing documentary on him which actually was just in theaters (produced by none other than David Bowie!). I missed it, but it'll be in my Netflix queue...if I had a Netflix queue...
Tilt off 1995's Tilt
The poppiest song off the album...it's about leather, Buffalo mothers and the enviroment. That makes it sound waaaay worse than it is...
Night Flights off 1978's Night Flights
It's poppy, but also a little mysterious...gotta love it...and the processed violins...
Taking A Shower After The Museum Of Modern Art:
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART:
Yeah, it's totally cliché to use the words "cult", "captain", and "beefheart" in the same blog post, but what the hell.I really appreciate (almost) everything this guy's done. From his early bluesy cuts to his last album, 1982's Ice Cream For Crow. His music is cosmic, jagged, fucking strange and wonderful.
Famed BBC DJ John Peel did a pretty good job of defining him. In discussing his 1968 masterwerk, Trout Mask Replica, he wrote:
If there has been anything in the history of popular music which could be described as a work of art in a way that people who are involved in other areas of art would understand, then Trout Mask Replica is probably that work.
Beefheart's beat-poetry-meets-proto-punk-riffs-sung-in-a-blues-howl always appealed to me in a way that most music doesn't; artistically. His music sounds like a Pollock painting, without the vomit stains. It's music that belongs in the MOMA; the wine and cheese set say they like it, but it's just because they don't understand it; the rest of us enjoy it on a visceral level; it's poetry we can bob our heads to.
Not everything has to make sense. Things can be beautiful without being beautiful.
He's inspired everyone; from Sonic Youth to Bloc Party. He even inspired ME. I think this was the first song I wrote the music AND lyrics for at 23...why not post it here? I was listening to a lot of Beefheart at the time. Don't judge...
Anyway, pick up Trout Mask Replica, which lands on everyone's top albums of all time (Rolling Stone said #58...I would say about #25).
Sweet Bulbs off 1968's Trout Mask Replica:
A great track about...what I'm assuming is the vagina...but I'm not sure. Not sexual, it's evocative, dense, and jagged with poetic lyrics that will have you grabbing your "pocket guide to explaining poetry"
Zig-Zag Wanderer off 1967's Safe As Milk
I hear this blaring often in Hipster Bars' Jukeboxes. It's easily digestible, but full of enough cache to fit into a hobbledehoy's 2009 "songs I tell people I like" playlist.
Anyways, if you don't like any of these people it's probably because you don't like any of these people. Profound, I know.
Give 'em a listen, maybe it will open up your musical horizons.
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