1. The Symbolick Jews | I Sold You The Letter
When I heard these guys and gals a few years ago, I was like, Oh, my!... That genuine article of Rock N Roll Weirdness and Rawness and Sincerity and Personality was all there... Everybody claims that, but almost no one has it, for real, especially circa 2011 when this was released. Each member contributes something Unique that adds to this great Sound. The whole Slave To Love album is great, and it can start you off and running into the thick discography of everyone involved! If you start a mix off with this song, it's funtime.
2. Koenjihyakkei | Rattims Friezz
My favorite Musicians are Drummers, and Tatsuya Yoshida is probably my favorite drummer. I became aware of him through Ruins about a decade ago, which is also amazing, Ruins was like my fav band for years... This song has all of this Mindblowing Polyrhythm, Operatic Vocals, a really well-constructed Arrangement, it just swells into this Ecstatically cracking Climactic section. It's a True Joyride, if you're into things that sound like Martian Opera, full of Joie De Vivre.
3. Os Mutantes | I Feel A Little Spaced Out (Ando Meio Desligado)
Two things I have an affinity for are Genre-Less-Ness and South American Feels and Percussion. Seemed like Os Mutantes could do anything and it would still sound like them - a Reverse Tape section here, a Sample of Church Bells there, a Bossa Nova tune over there, singing about Don Quixote and Lucifer and dune buggies. I've heard effects that were Popular in England and the US weren't commercially available in Brazil, so they just improvised things like putting fans in front of the Amp or seriously altering amps just to get sounds that were similar, and they ended up sounding like a whole 'nother thing.
4. Biosexual | Silent Cuts
It's been a long while since I heard a recording on which I liked every single song. Biosexual's EP from this year is only four songs deep, but every song is totally great. It's Dark and Glassy and has Teeth, but it's un-cluttered and just very well done. I choose this track because it's driven by this almost Black Sabbath-esque Riff, but done in this totally Modern Heavy Synth way, with some great Vocal stuff and Lyrics too.
5. My Barbarian | Morgan La Fey
My sister turned me on to this LA Art Performance group around 2008 that also makes Fantastic Music. Their sense of Humor, combined with their Fantasy-themed, Groovy, and even sometimes Political style is Very Refreshingly Original to me. They have this very Arty Background, but are still Mega Fun and Accessible. Their Short Films, Dance pieces, amazing Costuming, all up my alley.
6. Henryk Mikołaj Górecki | Symphony No. 3 - Movement 2: Lento E largo—Tranquillissimo (Performed by London Sinfonietta, soprano: Dawn Upshaw, conductor: David Zinman)
I worked at a Bookstore and lived in a Studio Apartment by myself for a year or so, all of the sudden all of this Compositional Music just started coming into my life and I understood it and it was able to get through to me - Xenakis, Varèse, Messiaen, a bunch more. A co-worker gave me a copy of Górecki's Third and I just stretched out on the couch and listened to the entire thing, it gave me such a difficult to describe feeling, but it touched me. I choose the Second Movement for that Soprano soaring in there like some Otherworldly Bird about halfway through!
7. BABES | Babes All United Under One Song
If the Cosmic Matriarchal Shift that our Planet is currently undergoing had a Soundtrack, it would be BABES (at least, I hope it would be) and all of it's members Art in various forms, which covers everything from Music to Photography to rad Fashion to Internet Healing. Super Fun, Super Transcendent in this Spiritual way, Ultra Priestess Glamorous Alien Magic. When people use terms like Noise to describe Music they usually mean something that in my opinion ends up being an Angry or Disillusioned Anal Retentive reaction to Societal Issues or Disenfranchisement. This particular pocket of Modern LA Culture seems to be the Antidote to that, I'm all for it.
8. Crass | Where Next Columbus?
Forget labels like Punk or whatever, when I first heard this song and album, I was a teenager and it lyrically leveled everything else, in front of this Ferocious almost White Noise backdrop of Sound. It has more of that kind of Power than 50 Bob Dylan-esque Protesty Coffee Shop songs played in unison, to me. I still think to this day the whole album Penis Envy is a very Strong and Effective Feminist, Individualist, and Humanist... Almost... Manifesto. It's one of those everyone should hear this at least once things.
9. Neil Young | A Man Needs A Maid
Harvest was one of the first CDs I bought, and I'm not even sure why, I had not been exposed to much Neil Young and wasn't fond of more Earthy stuff at the time, but for some reason I bought it. There's something underneath this song, like a lot of the better Neil Young songs, that's just so Simple and True. And yet, even though it's this Soft High Voice lightly accompanied by a few Piano chords, there's this Tempestious Larger Orchestration behind it, too. Beautiful song, dear to me.
10. Pharaoh Sanders | The Creator Has A Master Plan
Okay, this would probably take up a whole mix tape, yes. But it's a really Enveloping Soundscape to be in. I have a real soft spot for Jazzy Flutes and all of that Hand Percussion and Elegantly Voiced Sax, and how something so Beautiful could turn into something so Chaotic and still make Perfect Sense. I like Jazz, but very few Jazz albums captivate me from beginning to end, this one did when I heard it about a year ago.
