Radio Playlist 5/9/2012

Here is an oldie but a goodie.

Originally aired: 6/7/2012

Straight Outta Compton
ARTIST : NWA
ALBUM : STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON

With a Girl Like You
ARTIST : THE TROGGS
ALBUM : PIRATE RADIO MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

Concrete and Barbed Wire
ARTIST : LUCINDA WILLIAMS
ALBUM : CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD

12000 Miles from Palm Springs to Texas
ARTIST : DEAN MARTIN
ALBUM : THE CAPITOL YEARS

Speed King
ARTIST : DEEP PURPLE
ALBUM : DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK

I Can’t Stay Mad At You
ARTIST : SKEETER DAVIS
ALBUM : THE BEST OF THE GIRL GROUPS. VOLUME 1

Relief
ARTIST : COLD WAR KIDS
ALBUM : LOYALTY TO LOYALTY

Barzel (Iron fist)
ARTIST : JOHN ZORN
ALBUM : KRISTALLNACHT

Naked, If I Want To
ARTIST : MOBY GRAPE
ALBUM : MOBY GRAPE

Yes, I’m ready (if I don’t get to go)
ARTIST : CHI-LITES
ALBUM : (FOR GOD’S SAKE) GIVE MORE POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Colors
ARTIST : PHAROAH SANDERS
ALBUM : KARMA

Fire Spirit
ARTIST : GUN CLUB
ALBUM : FIRE OF LOVE

Turtle Dance
ARTIST : PETER GARCIA
ALBUM : SONGS OF MY PEOPLE

Institutionalized
ARTIST : SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
ALBUM : LEFT OF THE DIAL DISPATCHES FROM THE 80′S UNDERGROUND

Pick Along
ARTIST : EARL SCRUGGS
ALBUM : THE THREE PICKERS

Running Up the Hill
ARTIST : KATE BUSH
ALBUM : LEFT OF THE DIAL DISPATCHES FROM THE 80′S UNDERGROUND

Sunglasses After Dark
ARTIST : DWIGHT PULLEN
ALBUM : ROCKIN’ BONES

Gutes Land
ARTIST : POPOL VUH
ALBUM : EINJÄGER & SIEBENJÄGER

Playlist 5/7/13

Hi Dave,

Thank you for requesting a personalized playlist! Based on your musical preferences, here is a selection of titles you might enjoy. All of the albums listed are available for checkout from the library’s collection.

The Mountain Goats .
The life of the world to come.
4AD.
2009.

Find The life of the world to come at your library

“The Mountain Goats are, for all practical purposes, the endlessly clever and prolific John Darnielle and whatever musicians he surrounds himself with, which means that while the soundscape may change from project to project, the overall tone and feel of Darnielle’s work remains remarkably consistent, an impressive achievement, really, since The Life of the World to Come is his umpteenth album (his 16th, actually, and his sixth for 4AD), and if an album where every track is named after a Bible verse looks like it’s going to be a radical departure for Darnielle, rest assured, it isn’t. This isn’t some praise & worship affair, but is instead a considered treatise on the use and meaning of faith in our lives, and it’s a theme Darnielle has visited frequently in his past work, and it isn’t the first time he’s used Bible verses to provide narrative structure to a song, either. ” -allmusic.com

Keywords: Pop/Rock

**

Rogue Wave.
Descended Like Vultures .
Subpop.
2005.

Find Descended Like Vultures at your library

“Rogue Wave’s second album is at its heart no great departure from their first. Like Out of the Shadow, Descended Like Vultures is indie rock through and through. There isn’t a moment that doesn’t feel influenced, borrowed, or previously released by Death Cab, Elliott Smith, Yo La Tengo, Lou Barlow, and so on. Luckily there also isn’t a moment that’s not tuneful, exciting, or ingratiating; it’s second-hand but runs just like new. Indeed, sweet vocal harmonies, melodies that hook you instantly, and arrangements that envelop you in their gooey goodness are still the backbone of the Rogue Wave sound.” -allmusic.com

Keywords: Pop/Rock

**

Kenny Baker .
Frost on the Pumpkin.
County Records.
1994.

Find Frost on the Pumpkin at your library

“Originally recorded in 1976, this is one of the 12 great fiddle albums recorded for the COUNTY label by a man in who Bill Monroe called “The finest fiddler in Bluegrass music”. Re-issued onto CD format after many years off the market, it presents 7 Baker originals along with such standards as BACK UP & PUSH, PASS ME NOT and SILVER THREADS AMONG THE GOLD. Baker is backed by Bob Black (banjo), Joe Stuart (guitar) and Sam Bush (mandolin) with Blaine Sprouse adding 2nd fiddle on a few tracks. Some of the superb pieces are K & B POLKA, BLUEGRASS IN THE BACKWOODS, MAKE A LITTLE BOAT, CHEYENNE BREAKDOWN and the title tune.” -countysongs.com

Keywords: Bluegrass

**

Mike Seeger.
Fresh Oldtime String Band Music .
Rounder.
1988.

Find Fresh Oldtime String Band Music at your library

“Mike Seeger assembled Fresh Oldtime String Band as a way of updating and revitalizing old timey string band music to bring it to a new audience. Throughout the collection, he and his collaborators — which include Kirk Sutphin, Norman and Nancy Blake, the Horseflies, and James Bryan — develop, new inventive arrangements, mostly consisting of unsual instrumentation and the revival of old, 19th century instruments such as a fretless banjo. It’s an exciting take on some classic songs that afficianados will adore; neophytes, however, won’t hear the differences between these versions and more traditional versions of these standards.” -allmusic.com

Keywords: Folk, Old Timey

**

Various Artists .
Classic Railroad Songs.
Smithsonian Folkways .
2006 .

Find Classic Railroad Songs at your library

“Smithsonian Folkways ninth installment of its popular Classic Series chronicles the golden age of the American railroad. Classic Railroad Songs from Smithsonian Folkways picks up where 2004′s Classic Maritime Music collection left off, unearthing previously unheard of gems from their archives along with classics from some of the genre’s finest practitioners. Twenty-one of these remarkable folk songs, field recordings, tall tales, and work songs appear on CD for the first time, from the crisp a cappella “F.F.V.,” performed by Annie Watson (mother of Doc Watson), to Cisco Houston’s rousing “Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill” from his 1968 Sings American Folk Songs anthology. Compiled by Grammy Winner Jeff Place, Classic Railroad Songs is enriched by rare photos from the Library of Congress and there are detailed liner notes for each and every one of the 29 cuts which provide a glimpse into the hobo lifestyle of legendary characters like Harry McClintock, Leadbelly, and Furry Lewis — the latter lost a leg in 1917 in a railway accident.” -allmusic.com

Keywords: Folk, Blues, Country

**

Bruce Springsteen .
Nebraska .
Columbia .
1982 .

Find Nebraska at your library

“There is an adage in the record business that a recording artist’s demos of new songs often come off better than the more polished versions later worked up in a studio. But Bruce Springsteen was the first person to act on that theory, when he opted to release the demo versions of his latest songs, recorded with only acoustic or electric guitar, harmonica, and vocals, as his sixth album, Nebraska. It was really the content that dictated the approach, however. Nebraska’s ten songs marked a departure for Springsteen, even as they took him farther down a road he had been traveling previously. Gradually, his songs had become darker and more pessimistic, and those on Nebraska marked a new low.” -allmusic.com

Keywords: Rock, Folk

**

Bon Iver.
Bon Iver .
Jagjaguar.
2011.

Find Bon Iver at your library

“Part of the beauty of Bon Iver’s debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, was the intimate, backwoods feel of the recording and the simplicity of Justin Vernon’s soaring, open wound of a voice with only minimal musical backing to distract from its impact. Even though Vernon had a few other people playing on the album, it was easy to imagine a solitary broken soul spilling his guts onto tape for hours at a time while the world went on without him. It was a truly aching, somewhat claustrophobic sound that was beautiful and unique. After a couple years in which his life was basically turned upside down thanks to the success of For Emma, Vernon’s second album is quite different. Where For Emma was stripped down and intimate, Bon Iver is packed with guest musicians, horn sections, strings, and extra vocalists. Every inch of sonic space is filled with sound, each one fighting for space and distracting from Bon Iver’s strength, namely Vernon’s vocals.” -allmusic.com

Keywords: Folk, Rock

Playlist 5/6/2013

Hi Claire,

Thank you for requesting a personalized playlist! Based on your musical preferences, here is a selection of titles you might enjoy. All of the albums listed are available for checkout from the library’s collection.

**

Terakaft.
Akh Issudar.
World Vision.
2008.

Find Akh Issudar at your library

“If Touareg band Terakaft mine the same territory as Tinariwen, there are several very good reasons, not least of which is that guitarist Diara is the younger brother of Tinariwen’s leader, and, as well as similar backgrounds, the two ensembles have shared stages. With just three core members plus two guests, Terakaft is leaner and meaner, but still based in desert blues, and, at times, desert rock (listen to “Intidgagen,” which rocks the way the Rolling Stones did in the early ’70s). There are acres of space in the music, guitars winding sinuously around the melody, as on the title cut. ” — allmusic.com

Keywords: World, Blues

**

Karen Dalton.
It’s So Hard to Tell Who’s Going to Love You the Best.
Koch.
1969.

Find It’s So Hard to Tell Who’s Going to Love You the Best at your library

“Some find Karen Dalton’s voice difficult to listen to, and despite the Billie Holiday comparisons, it is rougher going than Lady Day. But Dalton’s vocals aren’t that hard to take, and they are expressive; like Buffy Sainte-Marie, it just does take some getting used to because of their unconventional timbre. Her debut album has a muted folk-rock feel reminiscent of Fred Neil’s arrangements in the mid-’60s, unsurprising since Neil’s Capitol-era producer, Nick Venet, produced this disc too, and since Dalton, a friend of Neil, covered a couple of Neil songs here (“Little Bit of Rain,” “Blues on the Ceiling”). Although clocking in at a mere ten songs, it covers a lot of ground, from Tim Hardin, Jelly Roll Morton, and Leadbelly to the traditional folk song “Ribbon Bow” and the Eddie Floyd/Booker T. Jones-penned soul tune “I Love You More Than Words Can Say.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Folk, Blues

**

Tennis.
Young & Old.
Fat Possum.
2012.

Find Young & Old at your library

“After their first album and the story behind it, Tennis weren’t going to have an easy time with the follow-up. How do you compete with a record that came out of nowhere and knocked people out with its lovely, lo-fi-sounding ’50s pop and the romantic back-story of how all the songs were written on a months-long boat excursion at sea? The easy answer is that you don’t. The duo of Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley decided to keep the core sound intact on Young & Old but expand it a bit, adding drummer James Barone to the band full-time and hitting the studio with Black Key Patrick Carney behind the board. The result is a record that sounds a whole bunch like Cape Dory but with a crisper, less bedroom sound that strips away most the gauzy reverb and lets the instruments breathe a little more, especially the piano and drums.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Alt. Rock

**

Junior Kimbrough.
You better run: the essential Junior Kimbrough.
Fat Possum.
2002.

Find You better run: the essential Junior Kimbrough at your library

“Gathering the best of his all-too-brief recording career, You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough includes most of his best-known songs, including “Done Got Old,” “Meet Me in the City,” “You Better Run,” and “All Night Long.” The collection does a good job of representing each of Kimbrough’s albums, ranging from the rough-and-ready sound of All Night Long; Sad Days, Lonely Nights’ dark, swampy feel (exemplified here by the title track and “Old Black Mattie”); the dense sonics of Most Things Haven’t Worked Out’s title track; and the gritty, uncompromising edge to God Knows I Tried’s “Tramp.” For anyone unsure where to dive into Kimbrough’s catalog, You Better Run offers the ideal starting point.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Blues

**

Linda Perhacs.
Parallelograms.
Sunbeam.
2008.

Find Parallelograms at your library

“The history of rock music is filled with one-hit wonders and debut albums left without a follow-up. Most of those just had the fate they deserved, some were the results of early disbanding or mismanagement. Linda Perhacs’ Parallelograms belongs to none of those categories. The singer/songwriter spent all her inspiration on this gem, simple as that. It sits there on the shelf, a life’s compendium, stunning in its beauty and the fact that no later albums can frame it in a historical context, or diminish its impact. ” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Folk, Blues, Singer/Songwriter

**

Mirah.
(a)spera.
K Records.
2009.

Find (a)spera at your library

“Calling an album “mature” can be damning it with faint praise, but Mirah’s luminous (A)spera embodies the best qualities of that word. While it might be subtler and gentler than most of her previous work, it also feels like a summation of everything that came before it. Advisory Committee was a gloriously audacious sprawl that showed exactly what Mirah was capable of — which was a lot — and C’mon Miracle was a reassuring shoulder to cry on, but (A)spera finds a delicate, sometimes tense balance between adventurousness and empathy. Above all, the album emphasizes just how remarkable Mirah’s voice and words are: after more than a decade of recording, her voice is still light and girlish but with a knowing delivery; likewise, her lyrics are passionate yet clear-eyed.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Indie Folk, Singer/Songwriter

**

No Joy.
Ghost Blonde.
Mexican Summer.
2010.

Find Ghost Blonde at your library

“In late 2010 a lot of bands were working to conjure up the ghosts of Kevin Shields and Miki Berenyi as the indie rock subculture of shoegaze only continued to gain more and more traction. Not many did it as well as Montreal’s No Joy. Fronted by the guitar/vocal duo of Laura Lloyd and Jasamine White, the band convincingly captures the gloriously fuzzy, effects-covered sound of the shoegaze era, but escapes being mere copycats by adding a wonderfully spooky atmosphere and by writing hooky, easy to swallow melodies.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Alt. Rock, Shoegaze

**

Gilberto Gil & Jorge Ben.
Gil, Jorge.
Verve.
1992.

Find Gil, Jorge at your library

“Recorded with little rehearsal and only two acoustic guitars (plus a percussionist) for accompaniment, Gil e Jorge focuses squarely on the individual talents of Gilberto Gil and Jorge Ben as musicians, vocalists, performers, and improvisers. Of course, they prove up to the task. The nine lengthy tracks on the album (it was originally configured as a double LP) feature Gil and Ben interacting to a high degree, trading lines and often repeating them several times.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: World, Pop

 

Radio Playlist 5/2/2013

We kicked off the show with two George Jones tracks as a remembrance of the man with the coolest hairstyle in country music. Now don’t you wish you had listened?

World’s Worst Loser
ARTIST : GEORGE JONES
ALBUM : THE RACE IS ON

Threes a Crowd
ARTIST : GEORGE JONES
ALBUM : THE RACE IS ON

Your Love is a Deserter
ARTIST : THE KILLS
ALBUM : NO WOW

I don’t want to be a loser
ARTIST : LESLIE GORE
ALBUM : LESLIE GORE

Tanguedia III
ARTIST : ASTOR PIAZOLLA
ALBUM : TANGO ZERO HOUR

I do love you
ARTIST : BILLY STEWART
ALBUM : BILLY STEWART

Should Have Taken Acid With You
ARTIST : NEON INDIAN
ALBUM : PSYCHIC CHASMS

Blue Boy
ARTIST : ORANGE JUICE
ALBUM : THE GLASGOW SCHOOL

Harlem Susie-Kue
ARTIST : VICTORIA SPIVEY
ALBUM : COMPLETE RECORDED WORKS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. VOL. 4, 30 AUGUST 1936-21 JULY 1937

Suddenly
ARTIST : BEE GEES
ALBUM : ODESSA

Discoman
ARTIST : THE DAMNED
ALBUM : THE BEST OF THE DAMNED TOTAL DAMNATION

Neat Neat Neat
ARTIST : THE DAMNED
ALBUM : THE BEST OF THE DAMNED TOTAL DAMNATION

Inner Knowing
ARTIST : MYKA 9
ALBUM : 1969

station break

Discreet Music
ARTIST : BRIAN ENO
ALBUM : DISCREET MUSIC

At Giza
ARTIST : OM
ALBUM : CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS

Playlist 4/29/2013

Hi Sarah,

Thank you for requesting a personalized playlist! Based on your musical preferences, here is a selection of titles you might enjoy. All of the albums listed are available for checkout from the library’s collection.

**

Jazmine Sullivan.
Fearless.
J Records.
2008.

Find Fearless at your library

“….Within the span of 45 minutes, Sullivan switches between a number of tacks, both stylistically and emotionally, each one flush with conviction, and not just for the sake of variety. Amidst the orchestral backdrop of “Bust Your Windows” and the rushing breakbeat of “Call Me Guilty,” she’s clear about not being one to cross without expecting payback, whether it results in property damage or self-defense bloodshed. “Dream Big,” a swallow-you-whole four-four thumper, is an ambitious motivational anthem — Missy Elliott nicks nearly all of its drive and dramatics from Daft Punk’s “Veridis Quo” — while “Fear” looks inward with a disarming level of sincerity (Salaam Remi connects the hook from Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her” to Anne Dudley’s piano outro from the Art of Noise’s “Beatbox,” the album’s most clever production trick). Some tracks are throwbacks through and through, like the peppy “One Night Stand” (where she fronts a girl group) and the aching “In Love with Another Man” (a tear-the-house-down ballad). There’s a lot of range on display here, and there is just as much depth.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: R&B, Hip Hop

**

LCD Soundsystem.
LCD Soundsystem.
Capitol.
2005.

Find LCD Soundsystem at your library

“…Murphy’s songs cough up references from his subconscious or are put together as if he’s thinking more like a DJ, finding ways to combine elements from disparate sources. “Movement” careens into high-energy guitar squall after a pounding beat and cranky synths; “On Repeat” happily replicates the scratches and jabs of guitar heard from A Certain Ratio, PiL, and Gang of Four, but its mechanical pulse and curveball synth effects couldn’t be any more distanced from those three groups. Nothing here exceeds the brilliance of “Beat Connection” or “Yeah.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Dance, Electronic

**

Joan Armatrading.
Love and Affection: Joan Armatrading classics (1975-1983).
A&M.
2003.

Find Love and affection Joan Armatrading classics (1975-1983) at your library

“This is the way a Joan Armatrading best-of collection should be assembled in the first place. The numerous single-disc compilations never came close to being representative of her achievement as a recording artist. Culling 43 tracks over eight years and 11 albums is even better in many ways than issuing an Armatrading box set.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Folk, Rock, Soul

**

Stereolab.
Oscillons from the anti-sun.
Too Pure Records.
2005.

Find Oscillons from the anti-sun at your library

“The three-disc, one-DVD mini-box set Oscillons From the Anti-Sun is not part of Stereolab’s ongoing Switched On series, which rounds up the stray singles, EPs, and B-sides, but it’s easy to see how the casual observer might think it’s the fourth installment in the series. Instead, this 35-track box set contains material previously released on British and European CD singles and EPs between 1993 and 2000. Oscillons is not limited to featuring only the B-sides: such familiar A-sides as “Jenny Ondioline,” “The Noise of Carpet,” “Ping Pong,” and “Cybele’s Reverie” are here next to such non-LP cuts as “Fluorescences,” as well as a host of B-sides, some of which were featured on the 1998 Switched On comp, Aluminum Tunes.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Indie Pop, Electronic

**

MGMT.
Congratulations.
Columbia.
2010.

Find Congratulations at your library

After the smashing success of Oracular Spectacular, it was clear that MGMT were going to be at a bit of a crossroads when it came time to follow up. Would they try to simply re-create their single-rich debut and pray that they avoided the sophomore slump, or would they continue to evolve? Fortunately for the listening public at large, they opted for the latter, delivering a follow-up album that matches, if not triumphs over, their earlier work. Always moving forward, the band has stepped out from the shadow of sonic auteur Dave Fridmann, producing the album themselves with the help of Spacemen 3’s Sonic Boom. The end product is a sound that owes more to Phil Spector than the Flaming Lips, managing to be atmospheric without necessarily being spacious. — allmusic.com

Keywords: Rock, Pop

**

Janelle Monae.
The ArchAndroid.
Bad Boy.
2010.

Find The ArchAndroid at your library

“Any misgivings about Janelle Monáe’s Bad Boy deal are nullified by the briefest contact with this, an extravagant 70-minute album involving more imagination, conceptual detail, and stylistic turnabouts than most gatefold prog rock epics. Credit Bad Boy’s Diddy for allowing Monáe to fully explore the singularity on display through Metropolis, Suite I: The Chase, and work with her Wondaland crew on a bigger budget. The ArchAndroid not only picks up where The Chase let off, but contains both the second and third Metropolis suites in one shot with no discernible “let’s make some hits now” intervention. ” – allmusic.com

keywords: Hip Hop, Dance, R&B

**

Gram Parsons.
GP: Grievous angel.
Reprise.
1990.

Find GP: Grievous angel at your library

In the year before his death in the fall of 1973, Gram Parsons recorded two superb solo albums, and Warner Brothers has conveniently reissued them in their entirety on a single compact disc. Since many of the same musicians played on both G.P. (released in January of 1973) and Grievous Angel (which appeared in stores almost exactly a year later), the two albums flow together quite well as a single set. — allmusic.com

Keywords: Alt. Country, Rock, Bluegrass

Playlist 4/12/2013

Hi Amber,

Thank you for requesting a personalized playlist! Based on your musical preferences, here is a selection of titles you might enjoy. All of the albums listed are available for checkout from the library’s collection.

**

Xiu Xiu.
Fabulous muscles.
5 Rue Christine.
2004.

Find Fabulous muscles at your library

“Xiu Xiu continue to push the envelope with their third album in two years, Fabulous Muscles. While their mix of low-res electronics, flamboyant synth pop, and experimental rock sounds slightly more accessible than it has before, that just makes it easier for Jamie Stewart’s confrontational vocals and lyrics to sink in that much deeper. As always, Xiu Xiu juxtapose their heroic doses of misery with lovely, if rough-edged, music: the drooping synth lines and chunky beats on “Crank Heart” and “Brian Vampire” sound like the music from some unspeakably sad video game, while “Little Panda McElroy”‘s acoustic guitars have a hesitant prettiness that makes lyrics like “I can stop hating my own heart/I can do it because of you” even more intimate.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Indie Rock

**

Atlas Sound.
Logos.
Kranky/4AD.
2009.

Find Logos at your library

Bradford Cox was a virtual song machine during the time between Deerhunter’s Cryptograms and the Atlas Sound’s Logos, churning out officially released material as well as plenty of songs only available on his blog. Over that span of time, he became a finer and more fluid songwriter, and his music emerged from the experimental fog of his earlier work just enough to give listeners tantalizing glimpses of almost ridiculously catchy songs. Logos keeps this push-pull between challenging and charming, yet Cox’s second solo album still feels more experimental than Deerhunter, if only because he seems completely unfettered by any kind of rules or concerns about consistency. — allmusic.com

Keywords: Experimental, Post-rock

**

Prefuse 73.
One Word Extinguisher.
Warp Records.
2003.

Find One Word Extinguisher at your library

“Prefuse 73′s second album for Warp should be the one that catapults Scott Herren into the programming firmament occupied by Warp mainstays like Autechre and Aphex Twin. A fascinating collection of glitchy breakbeats and inventive, melodic experimental techno, One Word Extinguisher is a set of electronica that’s nearly as challenging as Autechre’s relentlessly academic beat manipulation but just as funky and instantly gratifying as a Fatboy Slim flag-waver.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Electronic

**

Tricky.
Pre-millenium Tension.
Island Records.
1996.

Find Pre-millenium Tension at your library

“Maxinquaye was an unexpected hit in England, launching a wave of similar-sounding artists, who incorporated Tricky’s innovations into safer pop territory. Tricky responded by travelling to Jamaica to record Pre-Millennium Tension, a nervy, claustrophobic record that thrives in its own paranoia. Scaling back the clattering hooks of Maxinquaye and slowing the beat down, Tricky has created a hallucinatory soundscape, where the rhythms, samples, and guitars intertwine into a crawling procession of menacing sounds and disembodied lyrical threats.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Alternative

**

Nitzer Ebb.
Body Of Work.
Mute.
2006.

Find Body Of Work at your library

“Before the majority of industrial acts added guitars and became the heavy metal of the 1990s, Nitzer Ebb produced hard-hitting electronic music with the Teutonic bent and abrasive edge of early industrial music, plus the vocal chanting and beat-heavy flavor of the late-’80s alternative and Balearic dance scene.” – allmusic.com

Keywords: Electronic, Alternative, Dance

**

Spectrum.
Refractions: Through The Rhythm Of Time: 1989-1997.
Space Age.
2004.

Find Refractions: Through The Rhythm Of Time: 1989-1997 at your library

“Spectrum was the most high-profile and straightforward of the projects undertaken by Pete “Sonic Boom” Kember after the demise of the trance-rock avatars Spacemen 3. As his work as a member of the Experimental Audio Research coterie allowed Kember the opportunity to explore ambient textures and tonal constructs, Spectrum satisfied the singer/guitarist’s more conventional pop leanings, while never losing sight of the hypnotic otherworldliness which became his music’s trademark and legacy.” – allmusic.com

Keywords: Electronic, Psychedelic, Alternative, Punk

**

Young Marble Giants.
Colossal Youth.
Domino.
2007. Originally 1980..

FindColossal Youth at your library

“Young Marble Giants’ Colossal Youth is a collection of sparse, evocative tunes emphasizing Alison Statton’s floating vocals and minimal guitar/organ/bass/drum machine arrangements. Comparable to little else from its time or since, this is rock music at its most austere.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Alt. Rock, Indie Pop

Playlist 4/11/2013

Hi Shannon,

Thank you for requesting a personalized playlist! Based on your musical preferences, here is a selection of titles you might enjoy. All of the albums listed are available for checkout from the library’s collection.

**

Cold Cave.
Love Comes Close.
Matador Records.
2009.

Find Love Comes Close at your library

“Among the frostiest and darkest groups re-imagining and subverting electronic pop, Philadelphia’s Cold Cave are perfectly named, and their debut album even more so. Love Comes Close could mean love falls tantalizingly short, or that it’s too close for comfort; in Cold Cave’s world, it does both. Wes Eisold, Caralee McElroy (formerly of Xiu Xiu, whose fascination with heart-on-sleeve lyrics and rudimentary electronics is an unspoken influence on, or at least a kindred spirit to this group) and Prurient’s Dominick Fenrow hone in on the bleakest and most romantic aspects of synth pop and industrial music, crafting something equally robotic and emotive.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: Dark wave, Synth pop

**

Japan.
Tin Drum.
Virgin.
2003. Originally 1981.

Find Tin Drum at your library

“Partially growing out of their success in the country they were named after, as well as growing friendship and affiliation with such bands as Yellow Magic Orchestra, Japan, on Tin Drum, made its most unique, challenging, and striking album. It was also the final full studio effort from the group, and what a way to bow out — there was practically no resemblance to the trash glam flailers on Adolescent Sex anymore. Rather than repeat the sheer restraint on Gentlemen Take Polaroids, Tin Drum is an album of energy, Sylvian’s singing still the decadently joyful thing it is, but the arrangements and performances tight, full, and active. The fusion of exquisite funk courtesy of Karn and Jansen’s joined-at-the-hip rhythm section and a range of Asian music influences, from instrumentation to subject matter, combined with an even wider use of technological approaches to create the dramatic, sly songs on offer.” allmusic.com

Keywords: New Wave

**

Killing Joke.
Killing Joke.
Zuma.
2003.

Find Killing Joke at your library

Since 1980, there have been a hundred bands who sound like this; but before Steve Albini and Al Jourgensen made it hip, the cold metallic throb of Killing Joke was exciting and fresh. The harshly sung vocals riding over the pulsating synth lines of the opener “Requiem” have a vigor and passion that few imitators have managed to match. The precise riffs and tight rhythms found in songs like “Wardance” would influence a generation of hardcore musicians; yet “The Wait,” with its thrashing guitars and angry vocals, would find itself covered on a Metallica album only six years later. That such a bleak and furious album could have such a widespread influence is a testament to its importance. Certain parts of the album have not dated well; the vocals and drums are mixed in such a way that they lose some of their effectiveness, and the fact that so many other bands have used this same formula does take some of the visceral feeling away. But this is an underground classic and deserves better than its relative unknown status. Fans of most kinds of heavy music will probably find something they like about this band, and this is a good a place as any to start the collection. — allmusic.com

Keywords: Alternative, Heavy Metal

**

M83.
Saturdays = youth.
M83 Productions.
2008.

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Like fellow Frenchmen Air and Daft Punk, M83′s Anthony Gonzalez has the knack for making sounds others might think of as outdated, or even tacky, into music that feels stylish and fresh. Saturdays=Youth lives up to its evocative title, but the youth it captures is filtered through nostalgia for the unrepentantly fake sounds of the ’80s, transforming them into delicate fantasy pop. Synths whoosh like wind tunnels and ping like lasers, guitars are whipped into ethereal froth, the drums are robotic and proud of it, and the production reproduces the cleaner-than-clean, almost brittle style of the era almost too perfectly. — allmusic.com

Keywords: Indie Pop

**

Josef K.
Entomology.
Domino.
2006.

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“Josef K’s complete studio recordings can be had on two discs. Young and Stupid and The Only Fun in Town/Sorry for Laughing, both of which were reissued in 2002, tell the whole story, yet they were deleted by the time of Entomology’s late 2006 release. The disc marks the first time anything Josef K-related has been released Stateside, and it passably packs the highlights.” — allmusic.com

Keywords: New Wave

**

Jesus And Mary Chain.
Darklands.
WEA.
1987.

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“Feeling no doubt burdened by the various claims of being the new Sex Pistols, and likely fed up with accusations that the walls of feedback were their own trick, the Reid brothers underwent a bit of a rethink with Darklands. The end result must have fallen squarely between two camps — hardly eligible for sunny commercial airplay, not quite as flailing as the earliest efforts — but, from a distance, this is an appealing, enjoyable record. Songs were often longer while the album itself was shorter than Psychocandy, walls of sound were often stripped away in favor of calmer classic rock twang and groove, while William Reid took the lead vocal at points, showing he had a slightly sweeter, wistful tone in comparison to his brother.” – allmusic.com

Keywords: Alternative, Gothic

**

Felt.
Stains On A Decade .
Cherry Red .
2003.

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“The wry, confrontational, occasionally morbid and meticulously arranged Stains on a Decade collects 15 of Felt’s most immediate singles from both their Creation and Cherry Red releases. The perpetually below the radar post-punk/jangle pop pioneers were unashamed to wear their eccentricities on their sleeves, a notion that permeates each and every cut on this long overdue compilation. From the thin and chilly landscapes of their 1982 debut Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty to the melodic, evocative and intimate Me and a Monkey on the Moon, Felt always managed take the road you didn’t even know existed, a tactic that fuses each one of these tracks together, despite the ten-year span in which they were created”. -allmusic.com

**

The Go-Betweens.
16 lovers lane.
Beggars Banquet.
1988.

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Arguably Australia’s greatest pop group ever, The Go-Betweens seemed to save the best for last when they split in 1989. (They reunited in 1999, and have issued two more studio recordings since that time). 16 Lovers Lane is simply breathtaking; it is a deeply moving, aurally sensual collection of songs about relationships and the broken side of love that never lapses into cheap sentimentality or cynicism. Songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan had always been visionary when it came to charting personal and relational melancholy and heartbreak, but here, their resolve focused on charting the depths of the romantic’s soul when it has been disillusioned or crestfallen, is simply and convincingly taut. — allmusic.com

Keywords: Alt. Rock