How do you go about discribing your musical taste? Not an easy task and as is often the case with music lovers, it usually ends in making a list. Let me quickly disappoint you and confirm that I too have resorted to making a list. But ask any music lover, there's nothing more difficult than making a list. Think of the hours you spent creating the perfect mixtape, or making a best of-list. So I decided to go back to the year in which I bought my first CD Player and choose ONE song/album from each year up to now. But then I thought that it would lead to obvious choices and/or discard many other great songs from that very same year.
I have always been a very curious person, which reflects iin my musical quest for the next great band. I spent hours in recordshops, browsing in magazines,... looking for familiar territory and then trying to expand from there. This resulted in a vast collection of hits, near misses, outright blunders and the obvious flukes. But all those records combined stand as a testament if you will, for the long and winding road to discover my musical taste. It also resulted in buying lots of albums that didn't make the usual end of year lists, records that would depend on my taste at the time, records that had an emotional value,... but some of those proved valuable in the length of time. These are a couple of songs you might have missed, songs that somehow got lost in the vast amount of music produced each year, songs that are still well worth your attention. So without further ado, let's get this thing started...
Ride, Vapour Trail (Year: 1990 - Album: Nowhere - Label: Creation)
1990 was an excellent year for Britpop: Del Amitri, Inspiral Carpets, Morrissey, Prefab Sprout, Blue Aeroplanes, House of Love, Sundays,... Ride somehow got stuck in the middle between the shoegazers and the more poppy sounds of their fellow Brits. They were also underestimated. Nowhere is kind of a landmark album to me from that era, combining the ethereal sounds of the shoegazers, but without losing sight of the song itself and therefore in lign with popmusic. It is still an album that I can listen to without it sounding too dated, because lots of things they did are still being done now. I wouldn't be surprised if Johnny Buckland has this album on his shelves.
The Blue Aeroplanes, Colour me (1991, Beatsongs, Ensign)
Does anybody still remember them? This band from Bristol gave us two masterpieces (Swagger and Beatsongs) and this track is one of my all-time favorites. Beautiful intertwining acoustic and electric guitars by Rodney Allen and Angelo Bruschini (check Massive Attack's Mezzanine), the poetic ramblings of Gerard Langley and the crazy dance moves of Wojtek Dmochowski (which unfortunately you can't see on the records). These guys from Bristol were probably only hip to students in English Literature or culture, not unlike me, but truth be told, this song still blows my mind.
Kitchens of Distinction, Smiling (1992, Death of cool, TP)
When I first heard NYC by Interpol, I thought Kitchens of Distinction had come out of retirement. I've read a lot of references in relation to Interpol, but I've never come across any resemblance to Kitchens of Distinction (especially to Julian's voice). Perhaps it's due to the fact that Kitchens of Distinction doesn't ring as many bells as Joy Division. Anyway, I just mentioned Interpol to get your attention. So now that I have it, if dreamy Britpop is your thing, you probably have this one already...
Paw, Jessie (1993, Dragline, A&M)
Yes, I also fell victim to the whole grunge-hype, what can I say... But if you listen past the screaming voice of Mark Hennesy, the big sounds and emotions, you can actually hear beautifully crafted rocksongs, sometimes too fuckin' poppy to be grunge. But it's still grunge because it's pop played grunge-like. Am I making any sense? Just listen to this album (and listen to it in it's entirety because there's some unexpected hooks and breaks) and you'll see what I mean.
Cell, Living Room (1994, Living Room, City Slang)
The Fort Apache-club gave us many great bands like Buffalo Tom, Throwing Muses, Come, and of course Cell. This Sonic Youth-endorsed outfit never really hit the big time. If you ever bought a record by any of the above mentioned bands, you should also purchase Living Room. And for the Belgian readers: Luc De Vos gaf in de Humo's eindejaarsvraagjes deze plaat op als favoriet voor 1994, als ik me nog goed herinner.
Steve Wynn, What we call love (1995, Melting in the dark, Offworld)
Ah, Mr Wynn. I wonder how many times I've seen this guy live. To me, he enbodies the true rock 'n' roll-spirit. First as a member of the seminal Dream Syndicate and then through his numurous solo efforts and collaborations (eg Gutterball). But his project with indierockers Come stands out as a true masterpiece. It's a unmistakably a Steve Wynn album, as well as a classic Come record. Sometimes 1+1 really equals 2!
Chavez, The Guard Attacks (1996, Ride the fader, Matador)
I just have to mention these guys because they've been grosely overlooked by the indiecommunity in my humble opinion. Their unique blend of Chapel Hill math rock (eg. Polvo) and Fort Apache rock (eg. Cell) only lasted for two short albums and one EP, unfortunately. And although the records sparkle with the fireworks of guitarists Matt Sweeny and Clay Tarver, full credits go the manic drumming by The James Lo. It's so all over the place and still in sync that it's damn near to perfection.
Fuck, Bestest friend (1997, Pardon my French, Matador)
No, I didn't just choose this band because I knew the name would improve my Google-hits... Imagine early Pavement in a lofi kind of a way and you've got a fair idea of what Fuck sounds like. They manage to sound so simple and laidback, you'ld hardly notice them if you were distracted. There's lots of distracted people around, apparently...
Seam, Intifada driving school (1998, The pace is glacial, Touch & Go)
I love mathrock, or postrock, or whatever you want to call it. Varying from Rachel's to Polvo to North of America and back to Mogwai. Or maybe my definition of the genre is too wide. Or maybe it's because I've got lots of records in that vein. Anyway, Sooyoung Park had a nice thing going for a while with Seam. They should've apealed to people who like Come, Slint or Sunny Day Real Estate. Somehow they got overlooked. Such a shame. Go with the flow...
Piano Magic, Not fair (1999, Low Birth Weight, Rocket Girl)
Piano Magic is the monniker for the group of artists that gather around Glen Johnson. They differ from album to album. There is one consistent factor though: quality. You can find a review of The troubled sleep of Piano Magic in our reviews section. Whenever I listen to one of their albums, it feels like I'm back in the UK (Hood also does that to me), and that's a place I like to be.
The Third Eye Foundation, I've lost that loving feline (2000, Little lost souls, Domino)
AKA Matt Elliot, who used to run around in Bristol with a pistol. Everybody knows Portishead, Massive Attack and Tricky. Matt Elliot is every bit as interesting to me. So why didn't he get noticed more? It was enough for him to chuck it in, but apparently just sitting around doesn't quite do it for him, so he's now releasing records under his own name. In other words, it's not too late...
Millionaire, Come with you (2001, Outside the Simian flock, PIAS)
A difficult year to choose from. But since I'm writing this one in English, I decided to take the opportunity to pick a Belgian band. Pretty big over here in our country of wafers, fries (yes, we put mayonaise on them) and beer. Millionaire is former Evil Superstars' (one of Belgium's best acts ever) Tim Vanhamel. Imagine Enon going on a sexy, psychic funktrip, that's what Millionaire sounds like on their debut. Their new album is about ready. Check it out when it hits the stores! (Belgian readers: you know Millionaire, check out Wio on K-RAA-K !!)
Cassetteboy, Joliver (2002, The Parker Tapes, Barry's Bootlegs)
Sampled music. I really got into it after first hearing DJ Shadow. It also rekindled my love for electronic music that I had somewhat forsaken. I somehow got the idea that synths and computers were too sterile to convey emotions and that real music featured real instruments. Stupid, I know. It's all about sound really and you can use anything you want to produce sound. Cassetteboy are a prime example of what you can do with samples and their plunderphonics is so witty and clever, you just have to hear it to believe it.
From monument to masses, Sharpshooter (2003, The impossible leap in one hundred simple steps, DimMak)
9/11. There's an historic moment in our lives. Not that Belgium was particularly affected by it, but I'll always remember the day. I used to work in an office very close to the national airport of Zaventem and I could see the planes taking off from the windows in my office. And at the same time I could see two of those things crashing into buildings somewhere over the ocean. Sharpshooter is probably the best reflection of what happened that day. Starting off as any regular day would, you can hear soundbits from a TV as it moves from channel to channel. A little later, hell breaks loose. FMTM provide a complex musical architecture to some very carefully chosen samples and the result is spellbinding. Imagine the revolutionary tactics of Rage against the machine, June of 44-like guitarwork and the creativity of Tortoise all in one strong blend. Cheers!
The Grails, Burden of Hope (2004, Burden of Hope, Conspiracy)
Canada has always brought us much musical delight. From the early bluesrock of The Tragically Hip to the sweet voice of Sarah McLachlan to the post-rock orchestrations of GYBE. Fans of the latter should defenitely check out The Grails, a 4-piece hailing from Vancouver, BC. Fans of The Dirty Three, Shipping News, Mogwai,... are also kindly invited. I had the chance to catch them live last year and it was fucking awesome! All hail to the Grails!
And thus we come to the end because there's still lots of time to discover new things this year. I hope I have given you a chance to get to know my musical tastes a bit better. So you'll be more able to define whether or not my musical tastes correspond with yours which might help you decide whether or not to trust any of my reviews. As always, if you have something to say or if you have some tips for us, feel free to drop us a line. Keep listenin'!
GeertA