Albums you believe are deserving of critical reappraisal

Let's talk about albums that haven't exactly been canonized or even have a cult following that you are aware of that you think are fuckin' rad. Don't be afraid of ridicule, just talk about music that you would like people to have a second thought about.

 

The first two Mars Volta albums got some praise from some critics, but were immediately banished from the hip cookout by major taste making publications. But they are SO fun, in my opinion. They are a love or hate kind of band, but their first two albums at least have quite a bit to love. Interesting unique sound and a great sense of melody. AWESOME drumming from Jon Theodore. Intense and convincingly weird lyrics that would sound stupid plain spoken but are strangely captivating and immersive when sung by Cedric Bixler Zavala. Many people see them as pretentious, but they are clearly no more pretentious than the recent Swans albums(which I do like). They even have more bang for your buck, honestly.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHGPt49owxg

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqWqedEaD0I

 

^^^ "Deloused in the Comatorium" is one of the best albums of the last whatever... since it came out.. beginning to end it's a masterpiece imo. it's like some weird psychedelic progpunk thing. so many layers and on that particular mars volta record the vocals are at full falsetto all the time. there's a softer range or something to the vocals. but it's a masterpiece. i think it's all i listened to for a couple months when it came out. and still when i put it on i have to listen to the entire record.

Never did listen to those Mars Volta albums, maybe I should give 'em a spin.

The first two albums are some of the best I have ever heard. Frances the Mute is near perfect. Unfortunately, each album got worse and worse.

Yeah, the first two are fucking excellent. They could collapse under the weight of the complexity like a lot of prog does, but the tunes are so strong that both albums soar. The last three minutes of Frances the Mute are absolutely unbeatable. Swiftly downhill from there, although I remember liking a couple of tracks on the third album.

That said, they have/had a pretty obsessive culty fanbase.

 

For me, I'd say any of the albums by Neotropic. Although her name pops up from time to time in "female electronic producers" discussions, I find she tends to be forgotten about otherwise. All five of her albums are incredibly different and brilliant in their own way.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KyGEmFCnxE

This is the start of so many things for me, and beats Oxygene by miles and miles and miles.

I've read so many terrible reviews of this album, and I haven't a fucking clue why. So many moments of perfection, "Dreams of Leaving" in itself is a total anthem:

I always thought Mars Volta were well respected and listened too.

I vote for The Soft Boys. Whenever I listen to them, I'm always amazed how good they were with so little buzz about them. Amusing lyrics about food, sex and death. Bluesy psychprog at times, amazingly great pop at others. One of my favorite bands for sure.

  On 4/18/2016 at 11:44 PM, paranerd said:

I always thought Mars Volta were well respected and listened too.

 

Pitchfork hates them, and they are/were taste dictators... they SLAMMED their first records

 

just checked and they slammed them all basically... a 2.0 for Frances The Mute... jeez

Edited April 19, 2016 by ThatSpanishGuy

  On 4/19/2016 at 12:15 AM, ThatSpanishGuy said:

 

  On 4/18/2016 at 11:44 PM, paranerd said:

I always thought Mars Volta were well respected and listened too.

 

Pitchfork hates them, and they are/were taste dictators... they SLAMMED their first records

 

just checked and they slammed them all basically... a 2.0 for Frances The Mute... jeez

 

 

Lol.

 

De-loused was/is amazing. I thought they lost a bit of the magic after the first album though. Saw them in a small club one tour with a couple of hundred people... was absolutely mental. Never seen someone hit the drums so hard.

Devin Townsend. He certainly has developed a pretty serious cult following over the years but has more or less been blacklisted by the music industry for whatever reason. RS and P4K want nothing to do with him for whatever reason. Anyways, great musician who has no fear of taking risks even if it means alienating his fan base, is an awesome producer, and apparently a pretty fucking good talent scout as well (listen to Ché Aimee Dorval's voice on the casualties of cool album, probably the best raspy female lead since Stevie Nicks).

 

Personal favorites:

 

Ocean Machine (1997)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USnPsfCYMVg

City (1997)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZAKk3kxI1o

Terria (2001)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3G-eDNnHw

Casualties of Cool (2014)

best cabaret voltaire lp by a long shot, imho, sounding better & moar strangely produced 2day than it did bak den.

so densely fractured & shifting, this albums' brazen rhyth-hyms of hard stabby synths & tuff, funky basslines haz both cray flow & post-industrial ambiance thru-out.

evn fts. charlie manson sampled btwn a cpl trax, spoutin' off about not being a hippy !

 

had hps bad reviews 2 boot lol:

 

  On 4/18/2016 at 7:13 AM, Candiru said:

Let's talk about albums that haven't exactly been canonized or even have a cult following that you are aware of that you think are fuckin' rad. Don't be afraid of ridicule, just talk about music that you would like people to have a second thought about.

 

The first two Mars Volta albums got some praise from some critics, but were immediately banished from the hip cookout by major taste making publications. But they are SO fun, in my opinion. They are a love or hate kind of band, but their first two albums at least have quite a bit to love. Interesting unique sound and a great sense of melody. AWESOME drumming from Jon Theodore. Intense and convincingly weird lyrics that would sound stupid plain spoken but are strangely captivating and immersive when sung by Cedric Bixler Zavala. Many people see them as pretentious, but they are clearly no more pretentious than the recent Swans albums(which I do like). They even have more bang for your buck, honestly.

I didnt know a god damn thing about them when I saw them OPEN (wtf) for The Anniversary at the bottom of the hill in SF. They blew the fukin ceiling off the venue and after their set I got to just chat with cedric and he handed me the Tremulant EP as a souvenir (wtf!!) Incredible band. I fell off the mars volta train after the first album though because the recordings were so polished it changed how the music created a space of sorts... i dont know... But the Tremulant EP.... get it.

 

This Robert Fripp album is so fun! crazy guitar playing, But layed back and dancy! I wish I had been around to see them play!

Also:

 

 

"Space Prophet Dogon" by the Sun City Girls and a cover of the same tune by Grails:

 

 

And this:

 

 

performed by Natalia Gutman and Sviotoslav Richter (probably well known and well regarded just not in my circles)

The Mars Volta went completely down the drain after the first album.

I fear being outcasted by the WATMM community for admission of the following recommendation,

SUN by Cat Power is my JAM, It's a fucking amazing album, and she played all the instruments herself, super impressive record.

 

I read an interview she did with Pitchfork in 2003 and she didn't get along with the journalist, made fun of him.

so I think they have a chip on their shoulder about her, sorta snubbed this record, they're bullshit though, we know that.

 

Anyways, it's a personal favorite, there's really not much like it out there, definitely along with blonde redhead's 'misery is a butterfly'

 

Seefeel's debut 'Quique' found its tacit position in musical history but their second album 'Succour' barely registered with the Warp-going populous and is scarcely mentioned at all today. Critics were beguiled as it clearly sounded, and sounds, like nothing else.

 

 

Their 2011 eponymous album has, thus far, met a similar fate.

 

DeepChord's Sommer should be venerated.

best thread. I'm liking that neotropic one, never heard about her before but it's sounding good. Much love for deloused btw, probably the only prog rock I like.

https://ekoplekz.bandcamp.com/album/reflekzionz

 

this is a gem start to finish

  On 4/19/2016 at 6:37 AM, Astro Tarot said:

I fear being outcasted by the WATMM community for admission of the following recommendation,

SUN by Cat Power is my JAM, It's a fucking amazing album, and she played all the instruments herself, super impressive record.

 

I read an interview she did with Pitchfork in 2003 and she didn't get along with the journalist, made fun of him.

so I think they have a chip on their shoulder about her, sorta snubbed this record, they're bullshit though, we know that.

 

Anyways, it's a personal favorite, there's really not much like it out there, definitely along with blonde redhead's 'misery is a butterfly'

 

 

I really liked Cat Power's 'What Would the Community Think' when it came out, but I haven't kept up with what she was doing since.

 

Blond Redhead too, they're great. Thanks for the reminder.

  On 4/19/2016 at 5:58 AM, dudenorth said:

Also:

 

 

"Space Prophet Dogon" by the Sun City Girls and a cover of the same tune by Grails:

 

 

 

Nice.

 

leafcutter john, the housebound spirit

got the album years ago, but recently been playing it and enjoying it more then ever

 

 

lots of underrated great albums on P-Mu

  On 4/19/2016 at 11:08 PM, Ivan Ooze said:

lots of underrated great albums on P-Mu

 

yea planet mu has such a backlog, it's kind of overwhelming. I bet some of my future-favorites-albums are planet mu albums I havent checked out yet

early 00's Mu is best Mu. Love that Leafcutter John album.