Tangerine Dream: Phaedra

Artist: Tangerine Dream

Record: Phaedra

Label: Virgin

Year: 1973

Sounds Like: Krautrock, Ambient, Electronica, Prog 

Country: Germany

Tangerine Dream were/are a an Electronica/Progressive band from Berlin, Germany. They  have been releasing albums and music for more than 40 years with Edgar Froese as major figure in the band. Froese died in 2015 and with him a lot of the concept of the  group. Tangerine Dream had multiple line up changes and their sound was mostly focused on experimentation and argumentation of synthetic formulas to develop audible emotions and perceptions. Phaedra was their first release under Virgin Label departing from their previous experimental and cult label Ohr. Recorded in only six weeks, Phaedra received practically no Airplay, however it managed to reach number 15 in the UK and was a financial success for the band. John Peel regarded Phaedra as the best album of 1974.

                                                        

Regina:

This record is like that impulse you have had once or twice in your life but never managed to do anything with it. Progressive rock, loved and hated in the modern musical culture, is a decisive standard to assimilate what we hear today, it bases its existence on a sort of philosophic ideal  in which we all are capable to keep discovering sounds and wondering ''why?''. Why do we have to listen to the same stuff all the time and why we can't break the rules? Why should we break them, as well. Progressive rock goes and orbits towards that, but it could have been impossible to imagine it without Krautrock. You know, 'Kraut'' electronic music taken to a mainstream level or at least to a popular level. Krautrock is the essence of Germany; the Germany destroyed by war and sadly taken by American culture to a massive, and sometimes, annoying degree. Electronic music was loathed by the time Krautrock started, It was perceived as anti rock music and distant to all the things that Rock (American and Brit rock) represented. Yeah, rockers are sometimes the most closed minded creatures alive. But Germans, tireless as  they are, didn't give up and kept experimenting with their noises, with their synths and with their souls and brains. Providing their  machines with exquisite sensations and textures to be able to express their synesthetic random symptoms. This is Phaedra. Water always joins water and Germans, cold, androgynous, machine-like creatures found in Kraut music and electronica, their grial, the things that they could exhibit as theirs. Tangerine Dream, among many other samples of raging technological sounds (Kraftwerk, Neu, Can, Ash Ra Tempel or Cluster) were there to build the wall. Phaedra is the best album by TD, ominous but relaxing, easy to enjoy but also weird and disturbing, hypnotic but also unnerving. When you close your eyes and pay attention, you can feel like swimming in stars, and this happened in 1973, thinking that something could recreate such a tremendous experience so many years ago, is nothing but astonishing. That VSC3 so 70s yet so spectral and coming from shouts of Lost cosmonauts is the imprevisible amplification of the master minds behind this blatant shock wave. This artificial sound has more soul than many orchestras out there. The juxtaposition  of sequences with mellotrón to create a tribal sound and the wake of electronic music at early age. Become a new lost cosmonaut, and have nightmares of despair and menacing starry emissions. 

Gasoline Snap Your Neck Back

Artist: Gasoline
Record: Snap your Neck Back
Label: Pamplemousse
Year: 2005
Sounds Like: Hip Hop, Rap,Experimental Hip Hop
Country: France


French act ''Gasoline'' started making Hip Hop and sampling and creating dark  atmospheres extracted from black films, and b movies, in 1998. The main active member is the DJ and producer  Yoann who is also part of the collective of french producers ''L'agence''. 
''Snap your Neck Back'' is their second album that appeared in 2005 after their underground acclaimed first experiment ''A journey to the abstract Hip Hop'' which was way more committed to the exploration of Instrumental Hip Hop formulas rather than  common rap and rhymes.
In this second work the old school is more present and is more condensed. It also  features  the American composers ''The Dojo sound'' and DJ Troubl' and the multi instrumentalist Aerodrink.
Snap your Neck back is loosely based on the Water Hill's 1979 cult movie ''The Warriors''     A dense rendition to short loops, dreamy pianos, obscure scratching and so on. Lyrics in French, English and Spanish. Diverse and varied singers and voices offering an intense and certainly a vibrant street, but unusual imagery

                                         

Does it Work

Regina Says:I will start this by saying that Kendrick Lamar is an extremely repetitive lyricist and I show myself  amazed whenever I hear how lauded this aspect of his music is, while I enjoy his stuff and experimentation, I can't stand his lyrics. When they say that he reinvented Hip Hop and its perception, I shake my head and feel that he only reinforced all the Hip Hop stereotype thing.
And that is something that I experience with American Hip Hop quite often: the street code, the patrol picking niggas, the stash behind the bushes and all that business leave me actually tired at many points. Obviously HH is a cultural thing that often comes from all the marginal racism and choking social conditions that black people have experimented, but Hip Hop, like Punk needs new views, new experiments, new horizons. It is there when I run for other things. It is there where Euro-hip hop gets into the game.
 Gasoline SYNB is not the average Hip Hop album that you will find out there. it clearly is not gangsta album per se. I mean, you can easily deduce that the record and people behind it are  very distant from America altogether. Mostly because while it is a dense and political record, the canons  and most common aspects of American Hip Hop are not truly present. Yess, you guessed, just like happened with Punk rock when the Brits started to do their own Punkish stuff. And, to be honest, it is something that I value and appreciate.
Is this a reason  why  Gasoline SYNB is an album worth a listen? Why is it the most underrated Hip Hop album ever and why it should be widely recognized as a great concept album?
Fairly...Yes.   It is an old school album in a jazzy way in which everything is set perfectly: the rhymes, the beats, the background sounds, the contributions and specially the way everything feels like a cinematographic experience. From the beginning it is so catchy, so thrilling, so much like a vehicle of verses, different voices, transitions references to the cult movie ''The Warriors'', it gets dancey,  it gets very dark, the female voices are deliciously timed. The lyrics are extraordinary. The samples from the movie with loops emerging behind.
But ove it all: the variety. There is so much variety here, it tries to provide a different perspective in each song. SYNB is a total experience. One that will give you the chance to consider again your (purposely formed) hate toward the genre, perhaps?

Rate: Fantastic

Menanth says: Hip Hop is a very hazardous material to handle, even though it  is a genre that most of people seem to enjoy and be knee to embrace these days, there is also a very bleak atmosphere of extreme saturation that (like happens in most of cases) will end up breaking the back of the whole movement/genre/style. Nevertheless, this record is something different, the Hip Hop stuff is more like a tool and not the whole machinery itself.  I can say that this record is the album that I always wanted from Hip Hop, the record that I would try to pick as a youngster when I'd dig into Hip Hop stuff, I can say that it feel just too good, it goes trhough your blood stream and hickjack your whole attention almost immediately, and I agree with Regina on the fact that it truly sticks out as a very underrated album, it just has this vibe of perfect Hip Hop, cruedely yet ambiciously created.

Wire 154

 Artist: Wire

Record: 154

Label: Harvest

Year of Release: 1979

Sounds Like:  Post Punk,  Art Punk, Avant Pop

Country: England

British punk/new wave band ''Wire'' is an act active since 1976 and a big referent when it comes to underground music in England. Led by Collin Newman (vocals and guitar) Graham Lewis (vocals and bass) having released a couple of albums that are enlisted among the expression of punk as a vehicle for modern ideas and artistic visions and not just as a manner of protest.

Their sound is often linked to Punk in its rawest form, though most of fans, followers, critics and so on, consider that Wire is closer to the actual Post Punk transition , providing their sound with synthetic atmospheres, avant garde experimentation and a clear transgression towards something more pompous, majestic and produced in many levels. Some even dare to think that Wire's sound may be the missing link between Punk and Progressive rock, crazy as it sounds. 154 is their third record where they started to navigate in the seas of modern 80s noise and electronic diversion. 

Does it work?

Regina Says: I must say that Wire's 154 is a criminally overlooked record. This thing is pure damn fusion and something that should have been more studied and checked out over the years. I don't know how it hasn't happened. It truly is Pink Floyd going punkish or  The Clash going theatrical instead of Reggaeish. A big example of how punk is basic in the DNA of  pop music. It is something that has somehow existed and is a needed ideology and not precisely a sound. In previous entries we revised how ''Y'' by Pop Group is pure violence in an urban punk experimentation, but this time we must say that Wire's 154 is more like a claustrophobic Punk, these are the echoes from an afflicted punkish mind, a Punk mind that is suffering and enduring  an existential passage. 

I am not the biggest fan of ''Pink flag'' while I think of it as a very important album and I admire how distinctive it is (or tried to be), the music itself never clicked with me, there is an amazing song and some others that tend to lose me. 154 On the other hand is an album that keeps me up, awake, alert throughout the entire atmosphere, those ragged guitars and ominous bass, the voices that are so radiant and layered.

This record is very poppish but very oppressive and moving and noisy but also raw and also...damn moody. This thing is far from being inaccesible or discordant or hard to bite for any average music listener, and I think it is there where its success lies; its a record that anyone can enjoy and may find themselves shouting the chorus of the songs after a while, but it is also a record that   keeps you with an eye open, letting you feel that something is not precisely right.

It features  that asfixia of Goth music and the artistic schizophrenia of things like Genesis or King Crimson?, but efficiently  tempered with  wit stray dog  environment that any good raw rocker will enjoy (rocker...you know, real rocker, prog rockers aren't really rockers, are they?)

Arcade Fire Neon Bible

 Artist: Arcade Fire

Record: Neon Bible

Label: Merge

Release date: 2007

Sounds Like: Art Rock, Orchestral Rock, Chamber Rock

Country: Canada

Arcade Fire is a widely famous indie thing that started in the early 2000s introducing an original and refreshing sound to the decade when it was mostly about neo post punk and hybrid independent music. The main members are the couple formed by American singer/song writer Win Butler and his wife Regine Chassagne. Arcade Fire were ejected straight to fame with their first album Funeral, which is considered a cornerstone of the decade and, for many, the best album of the 2000s. Anyways, Neon Bible is their sophomore album that, in the eyes of some fans and critics equally, seems to have faded a little in the discography of this band.

Neon Bible was the album that many people expected to follow Funeral, it gained critical acclaim and had good sales, however, it is not as recognized these days in comparison to The Suburbs and Funeral or even their newest projects.

Neon Bible puts  a more mature Arcade Fire into the game, the synths become prominent as do the lyrics. 

                                                  

Regina Says: Let's face it, Arcade Fire is a very Hipster band. Yes, they are. It is one of the hipsterest things in this world and, in paper, they have all the ingredients to gain your hate. First: they are a bunch of dudes playing weird and pretentious instruments and dancing and suffering in stage. Second: their first album is named  Funeral...''FUNERAL'', damn (hipsters and emos, just imagine that combination).  Third: they are artsy looking fellas that complain about modernism and capitalism covered by an instrumental and lushy sound that makes them even more exasperating. Aaand on the top of that..., they're commies. Yeah, these descriptions set it all  for Xmas with the trolls. But, on the other hand, they make (or at least used to create) good music. Very good music. 

I have always said it, Funeral sounded like this: imagine that Karl Marx wasn't atheist and anti religion, imagine that, in fact,  there was a church funded after Marx existence, what kind of music would happen within that church? Yes, you guessed right: Funeral.  Then 3 years later the  followers of that church that  left, wander in the post modern American desert trying to find themselves in a corrupt world that broke their romantic hearts in tiny pieces.That is Neon Bible. This record is like the dark side of Funeral (remember that Funeral wasn't dark, just depressing). I have a thing with dark sides of famous albums. Funeral has this nostalgic, religious, near death sensation, the sensation of leaving your hometown and forgetting your family that has begun to disappear physically and emotionally. You are sailing to some other land of opportunities. Neon Bible is like landing there, the promised land, full of ominous pop culture, dust, violence  and abandon, some fame, some more money than  you ever had, but in the end, the same loneliness. 

Neon Bible is powerful, its highlights are not as clear as happens with Funeral or the Suburbs, but it is that why it's a more complete record. It is here where AF unleash all the anger, the fear the despair that in Funeral they could only suggest and that completely kidnapped them in Suburbs. 

The combo that involves ''Black Wave/Bad Vibrations, Ocean of Noise and The Well and the Lighthouse'' must be regarded as one of the greatest moments in music of the past decade ,  and more than enough to get the record bought now.

Rate: Highly Recommendable

Hugo says: I agree that this is a very neglected album. It somehow kept Arcade Fire up in the map and left clear that they weren't a band that hit the jackpot with just one  record. It is an statement of a band that came to break the ground and they broke it with energy, with no doubts. They did not need more than two records to carve a mark that will stay there forever. But why is Neon Bible a record to pay attention to? I think it is because of its passion and sincerity. In spite Arcade Fire being a pretentious and pompous band, their hearts, in the 2000s, were very clear and transparent. Their art didn't strike us as false, it was obvious that they loved what they were doing, there wasn't a touch of commercial ambition, their achievements were so real and deserved. This emotions and fun they had while recording this splashes all around. It is obvious that each song was made because they loved it, because they had ideas, many ideas and they put out something that they knew was original and gigantic. This is not Goth Rock or Goth Pop or anything like that, but it could rank as that, somehow Neon Bible evolves into a beast that is aware of the end of the times, the final best days of our species happened in the 2000s, after that the 2010s made us sterile and the 2020s will be the end of everything. And Arcade Fire knew it and if Neon Bible is the statement of that, I'd be glad. What a horrendous and beautiful statement it is

Rate: Exceptional

Les rallizes denudes-Live'77

Artist: Les Rallizes Denudes
Record: Live'77
Label: Rivista.Inc
Year of Release: 1991 (physical format)
Sounds like: Noise Rock, Psych Rock, Lo Fi,
Country:Japan

Japanese, Kyoto based, rock band Les Rallizes Denudes (Hadaka no Rallizes) are one of the most enigmatic and misfit groups in the history, not just of their country but in global music scenario ever. They had nearly no peers when they came out , the identities of the members are practically unknown led by the figure of  the ambiguous man in sunglasses and bangs, (presumably) named Takashi Mizutani,
They are known for having never released an studio album, only bootlegs of live recording being the somber titles ''Heavier than a Death in the Family'' and ''Baby is blind and has his Mother Eyes'' among the most recognized ones. The bassist code named Moriaki Wakabayashi was part of the Flight 351 Hijacking performed by the Red Army in 1970. The sound of Les Rallizes (The Razzies) is fuzzy, heavily distorted, apocalyptic and violent. Exploding the  art of noise rock like few bands of the era did.

Does it work:

Regina says:
I  honestly am not the biggest fan of extreme Lo Fi. Music made inside a bathroom,recorded with a potato, whatsoever.  I hardly worship people who use a can and an straw  to create their stuff. I know some people are so into that and it is even something that adds emotion to the sound for some fellas. But in my case, it exasperates me that I can't fully enjoy the experience due to a crappy interaction between  the noise and my ears.
With that said, I can confirm that this album is the exception of the rule. Though I still do not understand why. I mean, at some points this record is so blurry that most of people could runaway from it  or beat the player thinking that something is wrong with the audio. ''Stupid player, be way clearer!''
I can confirm after many listens, that for some reason, Les Rallizes Denudes' music is something that wouldn't work otherwise, other than with the crappy production, well..., lets cross out the word ''production'', here we are talking about a  total lack of polishness or arrangement.. And it is great.
Les Rallizes Denudes were a band made to sound as fucked up as this. That's it. Because they were not just a band, they were actual nihilist terrorists in acid making noise...do you expect it to sound like Floyd?
I love  all the mysterious aura that surrounds this band, the fact that one of the members hijacked a plane, ther links to the North Korean regime, the lyrics exclusively in Japanese, even the bizarre name and the fact that they only released bootlegs and never an actual studio album. The cover all in red and black.  I think all this creepy, hazardous weird atmosphere that I get from their music is what keeps me listening and not to burn it alive. I got this record when I was 19 and would feel  like the queen of rock and roll at my school, and used music as my platform to feel superior...which is not hard when you listen to someone  as cool as Mizutani.
Because Les Rallizes Denudes is the essence of pure, absolute and raw rock and roll  and this record immeasurably is the thesis of that. It actually makes you feel among the crowd feeling smashed by noisey guitars, terrific melancholia, far crying,traffic,  industrial psychedelia and all the intention to mess up your aural   system, whenever I listen to it I ve got the disturbing impression that I am losing limbs in the process ending up in one piece (literally, maybe just my head lefts) after the last song.

I have the theory that fear is firstly triggered by sadness to make us feel invalid and then let us be haunted,well, this album is just that. Do you wanna feel what being blue and then weirdly scared feels like? Check this thing out, because it instantaneously boosts that sensation given the unsetting vibe to it.
It is a pity that no version of White Waking (my fav song by them) is featured here
Perfectly imperfect.

Rate: Extraordinary

Menanth says:
In another episode of bands that were crudely ahead of their time, we have Les Rallizes Denudes, a band  that were a chaos and were doomed to disappear with no remorse, like kamikazes in a desert of abandoned engines and sunk buildings. They looked like Dark Wave killers many years before the term ''wave'' was a thing. Did we mention that these fellas began in the 60's? Well, though they're oldish, they still can easily fight for the prize as the most noisy band in the history. for real. Their artsy yet dirty pysch sound was relatively rare at their time. The term psych is extremely adequate for them, this is not garage rock, this is psychotic paranoia. This is close to mental illness.
However, I think the keyword when it comes to these Japs has nothing to do with the apartments of mind, I think ''Mystery'' is the right one to choose. Because (kinda like Regina said) this is the ghostly experience that one gets from their music and live albums, it is like an urban legend taken to musical context, if urban myths were music they would sound like this: impure, nostalgic and obscure.
Takashi Mizutani is the personification of the dense and isolated musician that survives as a rumor, did he die? Does he still remember these bombs that he dropped on us? Is he a God? Did he even exist?
This collection of nasty diseases began with Enter the mirror, a depressed 12.00 minutes long piece of loneliness and enchanted dementia with the fabulous limp orchestration that was so personal of these guys. Then it is followed by the masterpiece ''The Night of the Assassins'' classic of classics of the underground rock, a song that always makes me feel that a contagious mental disease has invaded the world during New Year's eve causing the most violent and the bloodiest riot ever...which is not far from reality if we consider that their ''67-’69 Studio Et'' Live album was recorded during the rampage at Kyoto University during one of their gigs,  in which we can hear police sirens in the background.
Les Rallizes Denudes are a rich and macabre experience, this record seems like the best of all the smuggling that they disguised as music.

Rate: Highly,highly,highly recommendable.

Durutti Column LC

Artist: Durutti Column
Record: LC 
Label: Factory
Year of Release: 1981
Sounds Like: Art Rock, Ambient, Instrumental Rock, Cold Wave, Post Punk,  New Wave
Country: England

British act Durutti Column is the alias of guitarist and pianist Vini Reilly, who created the project during the post punk era in Manchester. Circa 1978 Reilly experimented with guitar chords and layers of noise creating a sort of personal style that resulted into a sophisticated pop of guitars and some loops and synths. His major companion is the drummer Bruce Campbell who plays a key role in the band providing a perfect timing for Vini's sizzling sounds.
 To this Day Reilly is reluctant to offer many interviews and gigs, the project has released several compilations and singles but LC is considered by many his best work.
The title of the album comes from the Italian Term ''Lotta Continua'' ''The fight continues''
It features the track ''Missing boy'' that was dedicated to the late Ian Curtis who had just committed suicide 2 years earlier.

Regina Says
Look at this precious cover. I wanted this record only because of its cover, long time ago. And when I finally got it...I was happy because it turned out that it also had a lovely album with music inside. About the cover, I can't say many things, I just adore watercolor.
It is so ethereal, so vague, so emotional and so 80's. I love the 80's. These 80's. I love watercolor.

Oh, yeah!, the music...
Now, I wont state here that Viny Reilly is the most underrated guitarist of the 80's. That goes without saying, I am prone to state that he is the MOST underrated musician of the 80's altogether, if not the most underrated ever. His fingers are made of  delicate glass that work just to make us happy.

We, Hugo and I, listened again to this record while we were cleaning the house, just like it often happens to review this or that album. We don't speak and we rarely look at each other, we let the record spin around, and for some reason there are records that seem to fill  rooms like others can't, they actually make houses tinnier and cozier. There are records that spin away with the world, so you can forget about everything while they're playing, this isn't a virtue, it is more like a'' type of record''. However, once they end, they lack; the atmosphere and the air become heavy again.
LC is a record like that. Seriously. This is such a great ambient record, like I described it, it basically kidnaps the ambient around you and replace it with its sound, with its own environment, with its own oxygen; and what sound/oxygen do we find here?
Durutti column offer us here a very identifiable style that is   somehow  hard to explain, it can be tagged as new wave-dreampoppish-jazz. Mellow melodies full of sun  and snow, dreams and desolation. Dreams of desolation, maybe?
Have I told you about the dream I once had? I was in a bus and I was in a rush, everybody seemed to be in a rush even the busdriver, but suddenly all turned purple, the bus began to levitate, slowly and on the radio music started to play, the music sounded so much like Messidor or Missing Boy.
Now,  Messidor is (confirmed by me) music from dreams (my dreams).

That strum so of Reilly and the gentle percussions in the background. The subtle tones of synths that give these guitars more leadership. Reilly's voice, languid and simple as it is, goes very well with this orchestration of pianos and strings that never pretend to be  reinvention of instrumental music or something like that, it is new wave, and what a beautiful and witty new wave it is.

Rate: Perfect


Menanth Says:
In 2013, a laconic message appeared on the Facebook of Vini Reilly, founder and guitarist of The Durutti Column since 1978. Written by one of the musician's nephews, he said “My uncle is going through a bad economic streak, right now he is fighting for cover basic needs such as food, electricity and rent. ” In these complicated times, unfortunately he is not the first to have a very bad time. His restlessness would not have to be more striking than that of thousands of others, just because he was a "known" musician. Although the truth, it hurts to see how the love of art, the passion for the different and the thirst for virtuosity do not pay. John Frusciante, whom I adore at all but with whom I could agree this time, once declared: "Vini Reilly is the greatest of all."


The Greatest of what? Everyone gets tired of telling him, but he doesn't believe it, or doesn't care. Nor does he like his voice, which his fans love. He is absent from the rock'n’roll circus, gives few concerts, few interviews. He is an introverted guy, who likes to play and play and play. He has invented its own style, it is part of these absolutely untouchable artists, an ethereal mix of cold wave, new age, lo-fi, chill out and dream pop

LC is an album that you don't precisely ''listen to'', it is an album that you drink, that you breathe, that you consume like some mystical vapor trail made out of weird essences. The entire thing is colorful and cold and distant and haunted. It is an album that by no means fits Factory Records, it belongs to 4AD, all of its aesthetic is nothing but the dark and deep instrospection that the line of artists of that label had. It is an album that remains as nondescript no matter how much we  want to make it ours or how much we fight to provide it a certain place into our discography to feel it earthly, it is not from this land, it is a piece of dense crazyness that some fancy guru left out his jar. And we can only worship it.

Rate: Highly Recommendable almost Imprescindible

Los Saicos (Wild Teen Punk from Peru)

Artist: Los Saicos
Record: Los Saicos 
Label: Electro Harmonix
Year of Release: 1964-1965 (originally recorded) Released in 1999
Sounds Like: Proto-Punk, Punk, Garage, Rockabilly, Horror Punk
Peru

Los Saicos were a Peruvian band from Lince,  Lima in Peru. They became one of the biggest examples of Latin American Rock of the 60's and signified a big influence in basically all the indie rock and roll bands that later came out in the area. Not just that, they also are one of the very first American bands (in non English-speaking territories) that recorded and wrote their own material, taking into account that most of bands at the time used to make covers of famous songs by  British and US bands.
The original line up was composed by Erwin Flores (Voice, guitar and  the master mind behind the project), the unfortunately deceased Ronaldo Carpio, aka ''el Chino'' ( second guitar), César  Castrillón, aka ''El Papi'' (bass) and Francisco Guevara aka Pancho,  playing drums (also deceased).
''Wild Teen Punk from Peru'' Is nothing but a bootleg that features the most important  pieces by the group. Straight angry chords, three (or even two) string rock, lyrics about subversion or naive love (and naive subversion).

Does It Work?



Regina Says: Los Saicos are sometimes regarded as the inventors of punk, this may look wild and extreme for some listeners, some agree and other keep saying that Iggy Pop is the holder of that title. And, yeah, it is kinda hazardous ( though many of the ingredients of the genre are present in these recordings). Getting into that heated discussion rarely brings anything new. Peruvians and Latin American people in general can feel fine since there is a band from those places that can fight for the trophy reserved  ''for the inventors of Punk-whatever''
Does this really matter? Certainly not.
The most important thing that we should not neglect is that Los Saicos were true and real vanguard.
Los Saicos were almost Avant Garde musicians for their time! They refused to create more sugary pop songs and decided to go for something more destructive and clearly destroyed. The conception of Rock as something that we use to detach ourselves from the standard media and noise. Beyond that, Los Saicos did all this without any help, rock music was hardly reachable in Peru when they began, so the external influence was  null. They confess that James Dean was the main inspiration for their concept of teenage rebellion, but not very much in matters of sound. Where did this rhythm come from? We may never know. Los Saicos practiced the luxury of their visceral hatred without any gag and connected with the general public. They combined rage, arrogance, anarchy, with lyrics that went straight to the point and a primitive musical talent (there is no song by them that lasts more than 2:30 minutes) in the clearest punk attitude of the South American west coast. His wild roll had absolutely nothing to do with what was done at the same time in  Argentina (Sandro and Los De Fuego), Brazil (Renato e Seus Blue Caps), or Mexico (Enrique Guzmán and The Teen Tops) ... they were a social menace.
Flores' voice is one of the most unpleasant and great that I have ever heard in my life, it is coarse, full of energy and like no other at the time. If they were not the inventors of punk, they can be the inventors of an unkempt singing style that years after was freely exploited by Lydon.
I really love this thing.  I think it is essential to understand rock in general. Its effervescence  flows into you quickly as baking soda. Easy to assimilate, great to listen to and important to check out at least once in your life.

Rate: Imprescindible

Hugo Menanth Says: Alongside ''The Monks'', Los Saicos are the rawest, most efficient and plane music of the 60's. Hence, proto-punk. These two bands are in my opinion, the seeds of punk, the only two seeds that existed. Their original name was going to be ''Los Sadicos'' (''The Sadistic ones'', no other band at that time would have thought of  a name like that) Overlooking them would be a huge mistake.
Nor MC5 neither The Sonics were so lucid and discordant with whatever they made. Los Saicos were this kind of band: a band that didn't have to fight for rights, because they weren't punks yet, but also that didn't have to be aware of cops or bigger authorities given that they were just kids playing their guitars. Yes, they were basically good boys trying to be bad, and they were so good at being bad. You just need to pick ''Demolicion'' to get the full picture: the hoarse cry of Flores "ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ya-ya-ya" begins a kind of anarchist allegation (Let's demolish  the train station / Let's demolish  the train station / Demolish, Demolish, Demolish / Demolish, demolish the train station) that breaks any forecast. Unconscious vandalism, carefree and ... funny. A dangerous and irresistible cocktail.
Just like Regina says, Los Saicos have an enormous merit, specially because unlike other bands in the United States or Europe, rock and roll was basically non existent in their country, Peru. Producers had no idea of what they were trying to go,engineers considered them crazy, all this give the songs a lo fi, unpredictable experimentation that no one fully gets. Demolicion and El entierro de los Gatos are extremely anticipated songs, so ahead of their time. Love rock and roll and haven't heard this so far?
Not possible.

Rate: Imprescindible 

Beach House Bloom

Artist: Beach House
Record: Bloom
Label: SubPop
Year of Release: 2012
Sounds Like: Dream Pop, Ethereal Wave, Indie Pop
United States

Beach House are an American dream pop duo from Baltimore, Maryland. Victoria Legrand, vocalist and keyboardist, and Alex Scally, guitarist. They have been active since 2006 when they edited their eponymous album. Due to their mystical  sound and  consistence, they have been cited as a major act of the last 10 years and are frequently  among the ''best of''  in end of year lists.
Bloom was their fourth record which continued the legacy marked by their previous album, Teen Dream, This record gained attention and prestige for the band. In it we explore textures of dream pop, dream gaze, layers of sound, distant vocals and warm nostalgia.

Does It Work?

Regina Says: I roll my eyes hard, every time I hear somebody  say that Beach House is boring. How in earth is this band boring?? I would understand it if they say that they are hipster or overrated, but...,boring?
No, Beach House is not boring. They know what they do very well, they release very crafted, studied, sophisticated pop music. And usually pop is not boring. They have explored the textures of pop in a very delicate yet witty way with varied results. Yes, there are bunch of bands that are into ''dream pop'' stuff, but, let's be frank: no one like these guys. This duo really have this devotion (no pun intended) when it comes to their music, it seems that it does not work for them if it is not sticky and catchy, but also clever AND intense.  You only need to listen to Silver Soul or Space Song to notice this. They are perfect pop songs, but they are not conventional. They own so much power and vehemence.
This record is a perfect example of a great way to produce a continuation, after a very successful record. In this case Teen Dream. They proved that you don't have to turn the screw totally to show something different and captivating.
Teen Dream sounds,precisely, like a nostalgic Beach House during some idle summer. Bloom is like the dark side of that, it is filled with neon, wildness and passion. Myth shows you that the Midas touch isn't lost, the progression is great and the chorus fantastic, the best thing about this tune is the chorus that happens only once, and leaves you wanting more and repeating it. Lazuli has this techno noisy/ ballad style that  sprouts  through the ending, and again, the chorus just happens once, and that is enough. Wild embodies that sensation when you get out of a bar at 3 am and don't know where to go, or what to do. My favorite of all this record:  Wherever you go, such a simple song, but a bomb. So honest and sweet, and so secret within the record. I enjoy this kind of details.
This album deserves a listen and it is so melodious that I'm sure you'll give it more than one.

Rate: Very Good.

Hugo Menanth Says: Beach House is always an enjoyable experience, whether they are making limp, ethereal tunes or experimenting a little more  with electronica and glitches (which is the case of their most recent work, ''7''), they all the time put out something thoughtful and accesible. The thing that I love about Beach House the most, is that stormy feeling to some of their songs. Some of their melodies feel like a tornado that is wrapping  around you and killing you, but you are so in love and drowsy (in a good way) that you can't nor want to escape, some call this unneeded epicness, but  that's the part that I like of them. Bloom recycles the perfect  formula proved in Teen Dream, but it is far from being repetitive, actually it is a more polished version of the sound of that adorable record of 2010. Fancy guitars and strayed keyboards touched by the phantasmagoric voice of Legrand, who knows so well how to balance tenderness  and fierceness. I do agree on the fact that Beach House is a form of Heterodox pop, it sounds and seems like it, but it's not.
Not all the time you will want to listen to bizarre conceptual music, sometimes you may feel like giving  your ears a trance of sweetness, broken glass and ethereal darkness. Then get ready to submerge your head in this pond of celestial yeast,.

Rate: Very Good

Pop Group Y

Artist: The Pop Group
Record: Y
Label: Radar
Year of Release: 1979
Sounds Like: Punk, Post Punk, Funk, Experimental, No Wave
England

The Pop Group are an English Band from Bristol, they were formed by the vocalist Mark Stewart, Guitarist and Saxophonist Gareth Sager, Bassist Simon Underwood, guitarist John Waddington, and Bruce Smith playing the drums. They became prominent by the end of the 70's when they released the albums  ''Y'', and ''For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?'', they disbanded after that, just to come back nearly 35 years later with the album ''Citizen Zombie'' in 2015 and ''Honeymoon in Mars'' in 2016. Their rhythm has often been described as a raw mixture of Punk, Funk, Dub, even improvised Jazz. Their Imagery was shocking and their lyrics totally uncomfortable. ''Y'' is recognized as their major work and a big influence in the events to come in the plane of Post Punk era and the beginnings of New Wave age.

Does it Work?

Regina Says: There are few records whose covers warn me so much about the stuff I'm about to hear as happens with this one. The first impression that I got from this record ,just based on its cover, is that it was gonna be tribal, wild, dirty and pretty shocking, and it was all these things, and some more.
No, this is not an easy record. Like happens almost all the time here, in Discotropia, this record is far from being a treat to your ears, it is a road movie of European decadence and sounds of  violence, improvisation and even crudeness. I have heard this record like 30 times in my life. I first listened to it when I was 14 or something, and I found some of its beats truly catchy and the lyrics killed me. ''She is beyond good and evil'' was, for a while, the song that I used to introduce myself, whenever that was needed.
Maybe that's why it is easy for me to say that this record is really valuable, incredibly spontaneous and very brave.  But now, I will try to wear someone else's  shoes and assume it as a first experience.
The record, feels like the ultimate statement of Post Punk music. This thing features a lot of ideas and concepts that would have not fitted the Punk standards,but it is still so alienated and visceral that could not be any other thing but Punk. ''Avant Punk'', maybe?  it's closer to the things that DNA and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks were doing at the same time in other latitudes. It is not even close to ''The Clash'',for instance,  this feels like a bunch of Punk kids who got tired of Punk rules and decided to do something even ''punker'' by creating  a thing that is  a little more complex and bohemian, angry and artsy all at once.The funk stuff here is the key that opens a very rusty trunk.
Black, in the entire spectre of the word.
No, not all the record is great, some themes are better than others ( I invite you to decide which ones), but it is shockingly intense, and I, for one, appreciate that.
Rate: Highly Recommendable


Hugo Menanth says:A band whose name is ''pop group'' and a record that is named simply ''Y'', Google can find it with no problems, and I tell you why: because it is a classic.
This is another record that I had already listened to, before meeting Regina. I too checked it out when I was like 15 and I remember it blew my mind. This was my kind of stuff when I was younger. And now, as an adult, I can say that it has aged like the angels. The cover ,like the music, seem to question the vulnerability of our modern occidental  society, looking at us, the individuals, as the victims and propitiators of a disastrous ''free market''. In the same way, this environment reveals the true essence of its content: a desperate and rabid cry against the cultural hegemony of rock; in the end, another new form of colonialism. That's what this record turns out to be about.
At their time, the Pop Group were a celebration of conscience whether it is in an aesthetic or an ideological way, we only need to check out the spine chilling  lucidity of some of its verses ''I admit my crime /I'm a thief of fire /We do not have anything/ We have not learned anything/ We do not know anything/ Do not understand / We do not sell anything/ We do not help But we will betray And we will not forget/ I admit my crime I'm a thief of fire''
Impious, maniac, violent, paranoid, painful.  An exorcism in its own. Disturbing but necessary.
They didn't have the same links and influences as their contemporaries, they weren't fond of them either, their respect belonged to King Tubby, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, The Last Poets y George Clinton. This record sounds like a supermarket after a massacre, in which people are hiding from murderers that come from a new concept of liberty.
I once heard Viv Albertine of the Slits, saying that the Sex Pistols were inspiring, that they didn't make you afraid or like they were spitting on you. Well, The Pop Group in this record ,does make you feel like that, like they are bashing you and humiliating you.  Deliberately, and guess what...it is enjoyable.

Rate: Imprescindible. 

Anna Meredith Varmints

Artist: Anna Meredith
Record: Varmints
Label: Moshi Moshi
Year of Release: 2016
Sounds like: Art Pop,Progressive Pop, Experimental Electronica, Modern Classical
Scotland/England

Anna Meredith is an Scotish (English born)  multi instrumentalist and producer graduated at the Royal College of Music and awarded different prizes throughout her career. Varmints is her debut album, though not her first work in music; she has been linked to the BBC audio works for nearly a decade and had collaborated with people like Goldie or Shlomo, and made music for proms written by dudes such as Phillip Ridley, Varmints won the Scottish album of the year, something huge given that Scotland has an enormous history of amazing composers and long plays that they bring to this world, basically year by year. Varmints is an experimental album full of synths, orchestration, strings, wind instruments, beat boxes, and some vocals (not a lot) where Meredith give us a tiny glance of her broken, soft, contracted and very British voice

Does it work?                                                                                                                             

Regina Says: I listened to this record with a bunch of different preconceived perceptions,mostly 'cause I had heard different opinions on it , the two most frequent were certainly clear: it was very good and risky record, but also a very complicated one, which is great since I love challenges and be challenged  by music, I kinda hate it when people say things like ''i wanna hear something nice ´cause I do not have too much time'' or, when it comes to books, ''I don't have that much time so I wanna read something that I might find enjoyable'', it is awful, because...,you know,  that is pretty lazy, I mean, things aren't that easy, and sometimes you will need to unravel some stuff till you decide whether you enjoy it or not; and it is like,  a great thing to do. I mean, some of the albums that we have reviewed here go into that vein, they have taken me 3 or 4 times to find out magic or poorness in them.

Music works like that. Anna Meredith's Varmints is a pretentious album, a very pompous one, yes, it is. But it some how manages its pretentiousness to a solid state that doesn't feel forced nor annoying at all. There is nothing worse than something (or someone) pretentious that does not hold its pretensions/presumption. This album does it, and it does it very well. The sounds, the vocals, the most irritating things like the chords and all the orchestral stuff, they disarm you and give you a very elaborated and (maybe) overproduced album, yet a very emotional and thrilling one. Meredith didn't fail. She is a keeper. 

Rate: Highly Recommendable 

Hugo Menanth Says: Anna Meredith's music,  in this album, is nothing but avant pop, it is pop that you feel like something else. The ''themes'' that compose it, feel kinda plastic and obviously processed, but spiced with a tinge of humanism that xylophones, tubas  and celos provide. This clash between electronica and instrumental/neo classical music is not really new, some people, even from the new age era, have done it before. The good thing about Meredith is that her music is personal and private, it really captures the term ''avant garde'', it doesn't sound like a recycled formula, it sounds like an  electroencephalogram of her brain, in which we see all her ideas,bright spots of noise and color that float from one hemisphere to other, she seems to be kinda crazy, and I'm glad she is.   The way she put all those ideas into music is something really respectable and pretty, the energy of her sound puts you in a state of reverie that lasts for long. It's repetitive, dramatically programmed, and unable to be hated. 

If you can see her live, do it, so synchronized and perfect. 

Rate: Very Good

Mercury Rev Yerself Is Steam

Artist: Mercury Rev
Record: Yerself Is Steam
Label: Mint Films
Year of Release: 1991
Sounds like: Space Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Noise
United States

American noise/spatial and post rock band Mercury Rev, is a cult group from Buffalo New York, it has  suffered mutations and transformations from the beginning of it's career to the present. It was one of the acts that shared some interesting similitudes and scene with others alternative fellas like The Flaming Lips, Yo la Tengo, Guided By Voices, Grandaddy; even Stereolab or Pavement.
Yerself Steam was their first record and also a very ambitious one, because, even though it traded and shared ideas with some of the people mentioned above, it was also clear that their path to what later turned into albums such as Desrter Songs or Secret Migration was noticeable from the start.
This album has also an important fact around it and it is that it features David Barker on vocals, who left the band shortly after, leaving this task  on Jonathan Donahue.

Does it Work?

Regina Says:It is really thrilling to see how Mercury Rev started as a noisy, shoegazer band that tried with echoes, put some quirky stuff and noises here and there and later began to create more pompous and orchestrated  sounds in things like Deserter songs, Some people see this a a betrayal to their primal doctrine and and sound, which I think is kinda silly. To me Deserter Songs is more a cathartic experiment rather than a change of formula or recipe.  I think Deserter Songs was meant to be a deep exploration and sad conceptualization of the entire band's spectre, whereas Yerself Steam is something totally different, being their first record, they were  just trying to reach somewhere. Hence, the sort of changed imagery and sound.
I think this record is trippy, seriously trippy, yes, it shared soil with other trippy, druggy, stuff happening at the time, but I think the good point about this  record is that they put some surreal stuff in it, but the result is not dense extremely experimental or tiring,it is not ''neo prog'' or whatever.  It sounds even like complex college rock. Which makes me feel that Mercury rev was in the end a very clever pop band. If you check out songs like chasing a bee or black and blue, those things are huge intricate pop songs, space pop operas filled with amazing arrangements. It is not Layers of sound over sound, over  sound, noise on noise blah blah blah.
These themes are trying to get somewhere and wherever it goes, it's juicy and lushy and magical.
However, I do think this thing really needs to be remastered, I appreciate the lo fi aspect, but some parts sound extremely low (not in a good way), which affects the experience.
Rate: Very Good

Hugo Menanth Says: Just to take it to a metaphorical concept: this album is the psychedelia once all the hippies are dead. So the old speech of happiness and liberty turned into epicness  and chaos, songs that you hear and can't tell what the hell you're actually listening to. Some of them  last three minutes, some dangerously rub the 15 minutes. Some sound like you're going crazy.
There are different versions of Yerself is Steam with different tracklists. In any case this is a colorful and catchy record that can change your perception of music and musicians altogether.
Is it overly megalomaniac? Of course! Like any great record. Is there too much noise? More than too much. In fact, the last song is made of whistles, distorted voice, interference, phantasmagorical signals etc..
Can you get lost in it? For the good and the bad, yes. Like any good drug.
Stormy albums  for stormy brains. If your brain is a soft tissue, try to keep it away from this thing.
Rate: Extraordinary

The Go Betweens Spring Hill Fair

Artist: The Go Betweens
Record: Spring Hill Fair
Label: Sire
Year of Release: 1984
Sounds like: Pop,Rock, Jangle, New Wave
Australia

The Gobetweens are an Australian rock pop band from Brisbane, whose influence and talent has been cited by many bands and fellows (Nick Cave, belle and Sebastian,Sleater Kinney) throughout the years. However ,this band has stayed always in a sort of shade below the tree of popular music.
The line up changed in different ways all along the 80's, but the main partners and main motors were Grant Mclennan (RIP) and Robert Foster.
The Go Betweens' music is pop in the vastest meaning of that word. They produced crafted and arranged pieces and songs like only Australians and Swedish are capable to compose. Spring Hill Fair is their third record and often perceived as a minor word in their discography.

Does it work?


Regina : Well, what we have here is one of the most underrated albums ever. Most of reviews that I have read, keep saying that Before Hollywood, 16 Lovers Lane and even the compilations like The great 78 'til 79 the Lost Album, are superior to this work. I disagree totally. While I do think that Before Hollywood is the best album by these guys, I also  think that their entire discography deserves much more attention. This album as the biggest example
This record encapsulates all what the Go Betweens are: these explosive bass lines, the loosen and sometimes spoken  vocals, the charming and exciting guitars that rarely got into riffs, performing a playful atmosphere instead.
The album opens with my all time favorite song by them, ''Bachelor Kisses.'', Oh, Gosh,what a song. A powerful yet New Waveish ballad that exudes anti-popular music everywhere, it was part of these bunch of songs that didn't need layers and layers of synths to immediately evoke the 80's in us. Spring Hill Fair is in my opinion the best summary of the Go Betweens available out there. In here you will find all the places, flavors, rythms and formulas exploited by Stuart Murdoch, The Shins,Camera Obscura and so on , for years. Forget about The Smiths, the Go Betweens did start all the C86 thing they were the seminal band for a ton of clones that came after. This record will let you know all the hows and whys of those formulas, and also you will know how pop music will never be a wrong choice when it comes to picking a record and just letting it spin for 40 minutes with no complain
Rate: Beautiful

Hugo Menanth Says:I have always said the same: I prefer a short but concise record rather than a long record with filler. That's why I rarely like double albums. This piece by The Go Betweens is a perfect example. The 10 themes are just there, like a bright box of jewelry that you open every once in a while just to feel better by its appearance, like a jar of perfume that you sniff here and there as part of a therapy. Is this a round record? Yes it is, no theme feels detached  forced or unneeded. The 10 tracks happen in an open screen, they are precise, straight, pure juicy pop that never falls or lost the plot, like it is mentioned  at the beginning of this review, the go betweens are like someone below the shade of a tree, reading a book, stealing ideas, holding a guitar and writing notes for some bunch of songs that will explode eventually, though pompous, this descriptions seems like the most accurate to me. A perfect reason to pay tribute to the deceased and unfairly neglected Grant Mclennan, one of the brightest Aussies genius ever.
Rate: Highly Recommendable

Prefuse 73 One Word Extinguisher

Artist: Prefuse 73
Record: One Word Extinguisher 
Label: Warp
Year of Release: 2003
Sounds like: Hip Hop, Electronica, IDM, Plunderphonics, Percussionism 
United States

Scott Herren is a producer from Miami Florida who has, Catalan, Irish and Cuban blood in his veins. he was born in Miami but grew up in Atlanta Georgia. He started playing instruments and getting involved with music at a very young age, initially introduced and persuaded  by his family.

After his agile debut album (Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives, 2001).that mainly deals with hip hop production techniques, Prefuse launches in 2003 his second opus titled ''One Word Extinguisher'', which occurred during the time of the year that Herren went through a sentimental breakup,

This album featured  Scott Herren as a production visionary, an innovator of sampling; an individual obsessed with textures, details, collages. 

Herren managed to create with his extensive musical knowledge a great new whole full of unity and cohesion and congruence but, totally free to be aware of himself or his work or his importance as an artist

Regina says: I'd never really paid attention to Guillermo Scott Herren and Prefuse 73 until Hugo dragged me by hair and forced me to listen to it carefully on a rainy afternoon before going out for groceries.  By chance I've got a couple of his records that are  rarely touched, so we decided to unlock the monster.  I pressed play as he (Hugo) stood behind me checking the cover of the album which,( I must say) is pretty 
Prefuse 73's One word Extinguisher is smart  hip hop with very solid bases that feel very artistic, in fact, it feels extremely artistic at some points. The beats and the samples are not unnecessarily used; each one completes the previous one in a very efficient and studied way,which can be good and bad at once. The album opens in a furious yet precious way with "The Wrong Side of Reflection (Intro)" ''The End of Biters'' and ''Plastic'' which sound like a long song, but they ain't. This combo embodies to me what  Hip Hop should be, it's rough and sharp but it's not vulgar or obvious at all. I must say that I wish the Album followed that line instead of getting into the experimental glitch electronica leaving the street-rap aspect kinda aside, some tunes are so hypnotic and they are screaming hard  for a good MC to take them to a more energetic  level, unfortunately this doesn't happen which leaves me kinda disappointed and hungry for more rapped moments, (though, I understand that this is mostly, an experimental Hip Hop album rather than a rap one) which would have been mind blowing and astonishing. It is still a good record. It may get a little longuish , probably listen to it in two parts. 

Rate: Recommendable

Hugo Menanth Says:This was one of my favorite records of that mystical and marvelous 2003, I thought of it while listening to the latest Avalanches album, surprised at how this noisy and programmed genome has survived for more than a decade. Prefuse 73, alongside with the Avalanches' first record, were seminal for that deconstructive surreal, hip hop/ethereal style  that's been over exploited in the last 10 years by different people like Noah lennox or Animal Collective. I must recognize that it feels kinda drained out, maybe it sounds a little old right now, which doesn't affect its goodness, but makes it more vulnerable to criticism. I agree with Regina on the fact that it falls into the Polyphonic, colorful structures kinda neglecting the Rap/sung parts aside, and I agree that it would have been great to have been explored a little more in the record. However, I still think it's an amazing album of repercussions  and sound assemble and gets really beautiful in some passages, though some tracks are needless and sort of enlarge the idea too much. 
If you are into the electronic and experimental deconstruction of sound and its assemble, you will definitely love this record and other works by Scott Herren, if you like mostly ''Gangsta Hip Hop'', then step back.
Rate. Very Good

Los Angeles Negros Y Volvere

Artist: Los Angeles Negros
Record: Y Volvere
Label: EMI Odeon
Year of Release: 1969
Sounds like: Latin Rock, Romantic Ballad, Bolero, 
Chile

Los Angeles Negros ''The Black Angels'' are a Chilean romantic group that has been working and producing music since 1968 and whose line up has suffered diverse and drastic changes preventing the band from having an actual identity and also causing several fans of the different singers to argue on  which era has been the best for this group. Being Mario Gomez the only constant member of this nostalgic collective of voices and performers.

 ''Y Volvere''  was the record that launched them to an international and massive range, in fact, this group has been covered by artists around the world and also sampled (curiously) by Hip Hop Artists like the Beastie Boys and  JayZ. Anyways, Los Angeles Negros' sound has nothing to do with beats or samples, it is totally focused on  ominous ballads  devoted to romance, heartbreaks and love. 

The impact that they had in different Hispanic cultures was so strong that their music is still common at parties and celebrations in countries like Mexico, Argentina, Peru and obviously, Chile, even after all this time.

This record features Germain Fuentes as main vocalist and condensates the style of the band, which has been exposed to changes and dramatic break ups, but has never been really compromised. 

Regina Says: I was listening to this record with Hugo because we both enjoy the sound of this band and we concluded that Germain Fuentes was the best singer this group could ever have, it wasn't the same after his departure, never.  Germain had a powerful falsetto that was unmistakable Latin American and he had a lot of personality and style as singer as well . 

The reason why this band is still prominent is because it wasn't one more of those corny/romantic projects that flourished in the 60's (in different parts of the world), it was a  crafted sound in part provoked by the cheap keyboards and the cheap instruments in general with which they played. When you listen to Los Angeles Negros for the first time you notice that atmospheric magic in each of their songs, like a crude wall of sound or a kind of artificial Symphonic recreation, whatever it is, it's simply captivating. 

Rate: Highly Recommendable

Hugo Menanth Says: Los Angeles Negros are not a cult band, not at all, they are the type of band that you can hear on the radio in Mexico (well, not very much,since radio is dying) or anywhere else in Latin America. It is music that your mother would listen to and that you grew up hearing far in distant houses. Highly  popular. Unfortunately, the wrongly called ''Chilean Beatles'' deserved more attention, apart from the  attention  that inertia gives them, I mean, they deserve real attention. When you sit down and play this record, you feel caught in that vintage reverb that will be hard to find in any other record. It's a pity that the Junta made it impossible for the band to go back to their native Chile, in Mexico (sort of adoptive country) they are still constantly acclaimed
Rate: Highly Recommendable

The Red Krayola- Parable of Arable Land

Artist: Red Krayola
Record: The Parable of Arable Land
Label: International Artists
Year of Release: 1967
Sounds like: Art Rock, Space Rock, ProtoPunk, Psychedelic Rock, Noise.
United States

The Red Krayola is one of the most iconic acts gestated during the chaotic explosion of Psychedelia in the decade of six and zero,in  the United States. Its leader was the eccentric Mayo Thompson who also worked with Pere Ubu and who was responsible of the production of the early records of bands such as The Fall, The Raincoats and Cabaret Voltaire. 

Alongside with Silver Apples, The Velvet Underground and Rocky Erickson and his 13th Floor Elevators, The Krayola were part of a massive boom of uncomfortable experimentation and dizziness  in the contemporary rock scene. Parable of Arable Land was their debut album,.
When you listen to it, you wonder if Tom Verlaine of Televison ran into it at a drunk party or if David Byrne started covering the Crayola before getting  famous with his Talking Heads. The genealogy of  music few times is so visible and tangible like happens in this case, 

Regina Says: Parable of Arable Land is an extreme vision of music, from any point you want to look at it.  Its importance and legacy are unquestionable, however, in terms of enjoyment, Red Krayola (and maybe Captain Beefheart) were for music  what Thomas Pynchon was for the modern American fiction. It was music beyond any docile and average perception of rock. The common person who wants to listen to something nice and shareable, should stay far from this album, it is very solid and constant album but it's almost like reading about Greek mythology, it's part of the DNA of rock and its genes, and you must have the  heart of a hungry scientist (kind of) to understand and study that DNA.
Anyway, it is not a UFO, though,  it's the closest thing to it. It requires a good pair of headphones, some decent amount of patience, dedication and only there you will turn your headlights and you will see the highway of music evolution, clearly and simply like no other record has allowed you to do so.
Rate:Extraordinary 

Hugo Menanth Says:   
Krayola's sound in their debut record is far from the most gnarled performances witnessed in that Psychedelic explosion  mentioned lines above. Perhaps it could be defined with the aesthetic adjectives coined thirty years later. 
The album intercalates heterophonic episodes called ''free form freakouts'', composed of nonsense and accumulation of discordant sounds produced by a can of sardines or by a water whistle (What do I know?). Among these absurdities, there are lyrical and lax stories, in minor and crepuscular tones, seasoned with distortions, treacherous detunements, screams, blurred sonorities and mininalism; A nervous and dark voice, that of Thompson sings above all that unfathomable but fascinating mass.
What for many was the hysterical coolness of the No Wave from New York, the unhealthy depression of Goth Rock, the improvisational spirit of the post-rock and the saturation of noise, ever came from the same plunger called Red Crayola.
Rate: Imprescindible

Pippo Carusso Maladolescenza soundtrack

Artist: Pippo Carusso
Record: Maladolescenza Soundtrack
Label: Cinevox Records
Year of Release: 1977
Sounds like: Enrico Simonetti,Sina Azin, Ennio Morricone
Italy

Giuseppe Caruso is a composer and Orchestral Conductor from Italy. Throughout his life, he  has worked in the TV business as a sort of Televison Personality at RAI, and has also created songs and soundtracks that always are into the instrumental fields. He was responsible of the score of several films, usually eclipsed by more famous  and more mainstream people like Enio Morricone or Nino Rota.
Caruso is well known and respected in the independent film  industry in Italy and was behind the score of   productions such as  ''Kill Johnny Ringo'' and ''Maladolescenza'', which is the Soundtrack that we will gut and describe in this occasion.
Maladolescenza is an Italian film released in 1977, panned by the critics accusing it of deliberated pedophilia and banned in a wide range of   countries for the same reason. It depicts the   story of three underage rascals living a weird summerish love triangle. The film is kinda disturbing by itself, the people involved are actually young and can amaze you that their parents have given permission to produce such an awkward movie. However, the music featured in it must be cooked apart.
                  

The score follows the scheme of the European and, specifically, the Italian movies of the age: crystalline chords and violins, refined Piano arrangements and vocalizations to provide a human approach, 23 themes that rarely exceed the two minutes.

Regina says: In spite of the  controversy caused by the movie, Maladolescenza's soundtrack is a jewel, it reminds us of the best soundtracks from the 60's with that nostalgia and smell of broken heart that people like Luboš Fišer or  Evžen Illín were capable to make us feel around, no matter how much you can hate the film, the soundtrack will warm your soul and put you in the place of a naive teenager living a fast love that will end badly. The tenderness, the loveless, the tragedy, the obsession are kinda present through the full record, it won't disappoint you, unless you're a heartless guy who doesn't believe in love anymore 

Rate: Extraordinary

Hugo Menanth Says: I was introduced to this movie and its score by Regina who assumed that I would enjoy something like this, and I must say that I did, I have to say that it is not extremely different from other scores of the era that I've heard, but it somehow feels like that. Sweetly similar to things that came after like Durutti Column or the French duet Deux Filles. Ethereal, magic and sunny, ''L' Incubo e il Serpiente'' even have some trip-hop/Portishead tinge. Identificazione makes me think of Christmas season for some reason, red cheeks and nose with a cold sun above, ''Maladolescenza'' (the opening track) brought Loves of a Blond final scene to my mind.

If you have seen many love flicks you will be familiar to this, if you haven't then you will think that it's simply breathtaking. 

Rate:Highly Recommendable

XTC - Drums and Wires

Artist:XTC
Record: Drums and Wires
Label: Virgin 
Year of Release: 1979
Sounds like: Post Punk, Pop, New Wave, Britrock
England

XTC  was a band from Swindon England that started making noise in the early 70's (1972 to be more specific) and found their ''fame days''' during the post-punk/new wave scene, they are recognized for  their mutant and very eclectic sound that would go from simple guitar ballads to complex futuristic synth compositions, usually orbiting around the pop (British pop) sound, mostly.  Led  by the controversial Andy Partridge and the not so controversial Colin Moulding
Drums & Wires was their third production, it includes the famous ''Making Plans for Nigel'' which became one of the most famous hymns of  the band.

XTC, and this record in specific, are the perfect example of the transition between the rawest Punk rock and new wave horizons that were experimented  later,if you want to see a break point you will find it here.  The punk base is there, but there are also a lot of tinges that make it different and entirely part of a new eighties spectre. 

Regina says: This is absolutely one of those records that I can't stand to hear in the CD version, for some reason the ''polished'' plastic sound takes away some of the magic and charm and ruins the experience to me, if you have the chance to listen to  the vinyl version, please, do it. 

I'm totally sure that XTC was one of those bands that could not be fully appreciated at their time, no matter what, the bunch of bands that shared similar sounds must have overshadowed them a bit, 

I think it happens in all decades, though in the end, the important fishes reach the surface. 

Honestly, Drums and Wires can be a little repetitive, it's far from the best works by the band such as Skylarking or Oranges & Lemons and specially the underrated Nonsuch, I am not saying it is a bad record, it gives you an early perspective of the band and have memorable songs: ''Making Plans for Nigel, Helicopter, Day in and out,'' specially the A side is utterly brilliant, the whole record works fine and is really fun and carefree (something that I demand a little more from today's music) however,  the bass lines tend to give it a funkish sound that leaves me a little extenuated by the end of the record, but it is still a classic that you must check if you want to understand the British music altogether. 

Rate: Highly recommendable 

Hugo Menanth Says: I think this is one of the happiest and  most thrilling records ever, it is one of those records that you can't loathe, maybe at some point some shallow  or distracted ears can feel that their are hearing the same song over and over again, which is a risk when it comes to punk rock (and this record is still very punk rock) but if you value the architecture of each song, its lyrics and the perfect assemble of instruments, you will find it amazing, even more if you are into Blur, Pulp, Suede and the like, you can find many of the checkpoints here.  ''Making Plans for Nigel'' feels like taken from a SCI FI thriller, ''Complicated Game'' is Jarvis Cocker before Jarvis knew what he was going to be,  ''Helicopter'' ''Real by Reel'' ''Scissor's Man'' are authentic odes to the hugest pop in the world, no matter if you are American, English, Russian or Romanian, a very local product that works universally. 

Rate: Extraordinary

Joe Meek & The Blue Men: I Hear A New World

Artist: Joe Meek & The Blue Men
Record: I Hear A New World
Label: Triumph/RPM Records
Released: 1960/1991
Sounds like: Space Rock, Psychedelic, Electronic Music, Art Rock, Experimental
England

Joe Meek is with no doubt the best and most important music producer that the UK gave us in the XX Century, his procedures and techniques  are still applied by  engineers and  producers all around the world these days. His tragic figure and his amazing shadow behind several British bands during the 60's, make him an authentic ghost in the machine to this day.
The Blue Men were Meek's Fellas,they were also known as ''The West Five'', a skiffle [1] band led by Rod Freeman, those that few time later were known as Rodd, Ken and the Cavaliers (Whom were also produced by Meek) they work as ''the group'' that will perform Joe Meek's ideas and take them to a physical point, well...more or less.

The record reflects Meek's obsessions for the space age when it was at its peak, it's a bunch of retroactive sounds that float all around and try to submerge you into a Sputnik/Laika sensation, the ''interstellar cowboy'' imagery that Meek always used is present here also, as well as some other Joe's well known props: the sped up tape reel, delayed ratios between sequence and sequence and very distorted vocals in some themes. The album was originally conceived as a test recording that didn't see and official release until 1991, it turned into  one of the most coveted recordings/master tapes of the proto Electronic music, regarded as a cornerstone of the Genre.

Does it Work?
Hugo Menanth: It's Hard For  me to be objective being that this is one of my favorite records ever, it is so playful and you can feel its consequences to this day, I think it is one of the freer records in the history of modern music, nothing in it feels fake, totally the opposite, the more you get into its atmosphere, the more you understand how simple the idea is.  It can catch you off-guard, but, if you love sci fi or listening to soundtracks rather than a plain record, then you will definitely enjoy this gem of sound exploration and noise perversion... 
Rate: Imprescindible 

Regina:I first met this record when I purchased a boxset that included several of its tracks, it was a collection of rarities from British  projects in the 50/60's, and I must say that it didn't work for me back then, I felt like I was listening to Alvin and the chipmunks or something, I quit it and felt it wasn't my thing, then I revisited it again (older and wiser) and saw it as a museum of noise, truly, if you try it like that, you totally will love it, do not listen to it expecting something to happen like you usually would do with some other pop record, if you really wanna enjoy something like this, you should feel like you are in a  sort of haunted house and then you'll pay attention to each sound and will taste it and process it...and you may love it.
Rate: Imprescindible

[1] (in the US) a style of 1920s and 1930s jazz deriving from blues, ragtime, and folk music, using both improvised and conventional instruments. (source Wikipedia)