I am usually just a silent reader of this list, but the best of 2000 is an
easy one to get in on without looking too stupid, so here goes...
Some of these may have come out in 1999 but I only got them this year.. so
there!
Radiohead - Kid A
Masada - Sevilla(I think it's the best live one yet)
Not Breathing - Itchy Tingles
Glassjaw - Everything you wanted to know about silence
Dead Voices on Air - Frankie Pett Presents...
Mr Bungle - California
Phylr - Half Life
Zorn - Godard Spillane
Runners up:
Einsturzende Neubauten - Silence is Sexy (not their best, but pretty decent
anyway... and a good live show)
Noisex - Serious Killer (only an ep)
my 2 cents.
- -db
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Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 10:00:47 -0800
From: William Crump <william@steno.com>
Subject: Re: best of 2000
Velaires@aol.com wrote:
> stuff I enjoyed most in 2000:
>
For me the Yo La Tengo record took the cake (surprising me, since I've all but
turned my back on the pop song form) as well as "Nixon" by Lambchop, especially
the song "Up With People." The two sets I saw of Lambchop opening for YLT in San
Francisco were amazing, only to be surpassed by the Brotzmann 10tet + 2 in July
(chillin' with Fearless Leader Rizzi). So the year was not the biggest and best
in music I've ever experienced, but the highlights were the highest.
Keep those lists coming; I have a long-planned trip to Amoeba coming up next
month, where I will, as the kids say these days, "drop a load." All lists will
be reviewed for possible incorporation into the Master List.
William Crump
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Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 18:42:14 +0000
From: dan hill <dan@state51.co.uk>
Subject: mike ladd
At 9:21 -0800 20/12/00, Patrice L. Roussel wrote:
> > Mike Ladd - Welcome to the Afterfuture (Ozone)
>
>Second time that this one is listed. What is it?
it's a hip-hop album ... mike ladd's the rapper and producer. he grew
up in boston, now based in new jersey, i think ... the album's great
progressive hip-hop (not quite as brilliantly 'out there' and
scabrous as the anti pop consortium, but pretty close), but it's
worth it for the last track alone, which is an alice
coltrane-inspired epic regarding the diallo affair ...
at the time, i wrote this:
Mike Ladd
Welcome to the Afterfuture
Ozone
Those in the vanguard of hip hop are looking further and wider for
inspiration, stepping outside of the conventions of rapping to draw
new lyrical flow from poetry and soul, drawing sounds from
increasingly interesting vernacular and avant-garde sources. And
nothing epitomises this better than this hand-grenade of a release,
lobbed into the mix by Mike Ladd, with the utterly serious intent of
pushing beat-driven, creative music forward. It's bloody great.
Though completely unique, it reminds me of last year's great D=E4lek,
Co Flow and Mos Def albums - the same intensity, similarly rich sound
palette, the same probing mind seeking out new forms to work with.
Lyrically, Ladd is phenomenal. His sharp ear enables him to cut his
rhymes directly into the grooves, shaping the sound as much as his
smart samples and loops, and he's not averse to drifting his complex
poetry across the beat (he featured on the "Eargasms" hip hop poetry
compilation, and though he has a different style, he's ploughing the
same articulate furrow as the awesome Saul Williams). The lyrics are
passionate, informed, well-turned, and hit home hard. There's a
seductive futurity about the content, which matches Ladd's sci-fi
soundscapes perfectly. Assisted by Bruce Grant (tape loops), Jeff
Cordero (guitar), Eric M.O. (bass), Charles Calello (keys), Fired
Ones (all cuts, except Co Flow's Mr. Len on "Bladerunners"), Ladd
himself is credited with pretty much everything else: various synths,
writing, programming, production etc. Company Flow collaborate on
"Bladerunners" - one of the angrier cuts on the album - a storm of
sexual politics, drawled basslines, and string samples cut adrift
from their moorings.
Other standout moments include the irresistibly funky keyboard riff
and soulful singing on "The Animist", and the breakbeat-driven
whirlwind of polemic and electronic sparks of "Red Eye To Jupiter
(Starship Nigga)". Some tracks are completely beautiful: "Airwave
Hysteria's" Bollywood string samples; "Planet 10's" time-stretched
vocals and ambient drift; and particularly the final, stunning track
"Feb.4 '99 (For All Those Killed By Cops)" which indicates just how
free-thinking and far-seeing Ladd is. It's nothing short of early-70s
Alice Coltrane in feel: gently throbbing, droning, swirling strings;
Indian flutes; and rolling drums emerge as Ladd recites lovingly
sketched reminisces before building slowly to a thunderous crescendo
and inspirationally fierce, almost preacher-like delivery. Ladd
states that he's "just trying to stretch the parameters of Soul music
=2E.. trying to create a practical fusion - trying to work in mixed
media without making mixed mediocre. My mission is to disappoint
everyone who has preconceived notions of what black people or music
should be like, and that includes black people as well." This has all
the hallmarks of a classic, and I've no doubt people will be digging
Mike Ladd like mad.
and there's a couple of sound samples at motion too:
http://motion.state51.co.uk/reviews/543.html
we also interview him for the site, too :
http://motion.state51.co.uk/features/ladd/
hope this helps,
dan.
- --
|||| dan hill [state51]
|||| new reviews on motion [20.12.2000]:
|||| mark springer | microstoria | jonathan coleclough | techno
animal vs dalek | koch-sch=FCtz-studer plus dj m. singe & dj i-sound |
fingathing | dan senn
|||| http://motion.state51.co.uk/
- -
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Date: 20 Dec 2000 11:06:31 -0800
From: Dan Given <dlgiven@altavista.com>
Subject: Re: BEST OF 2000
I'm sure this list will change as soon as I send it, or when I look on my CD shelves, but here's a shot at one (in no particular order, just how I remember them):
Gunter Muller/Taku Sugimoto -- I Am Happy If You Are Happy (For4Ears)
Parker/Edwards/Sanders -- The Two Seasons (Emanem)
Dominic Duval/Hans Tammen -- The Road Bends Here (Leo)
