There are many great picks thus far. Hard for me to choose a favorite. This thread has been great for discoveries and rediscoveries. Brian Eno, Talk Talk, Steve Hiett, The Congos, Fela Kuti, Postiljonen, TALsounds, Poor Righteous Teachers, James Ulmer… all phenomenal choices IMO. I will say that Fela Kuti’s discography has been my go-to long distance running soundtrack since hearing the Live with Ginger Baker album. Truly a game-changer with putting me in the zone.
There have been at least 12 albums from here that I've thrown into a playlist, as well as songs off of others. Doing discog runs on a bunch of artists. Not including records I already knew like Brian Eno and Fever Ray.
Listened to this this evening, still loved it. Candi doesn't have much to it but Spinal Meningitis evokes the most discomfort from me. What Deaner Was Talkin' About, Voodoo Lady, Roses Are Free, Baby Bitch, Freedom of 76 are all 10/10 songs to me. Nothing feels quite as aggressively authentic to me as this band, in the sense of you are dropped into their minds with all the chaos and beauty that's in there. A friend has been telling me to listen to Live in Chicago forever so I probably will do that soon. Feels like I'm about a year too late to be really getting into them lol, but hopefully they will be able to play shows again eventually. Hope Deaner stays healthy and sober and enjoys his (allegedly unlicensed?) charter fishing boat business.
I was only vaguely familiar with Ween. I saw them live once at a festival and it was trippy as hell, but I’ve never really gave them a chance. I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. The opener took me by surprise with how much I liked it. Then Spinal Meningitis comes around and just completely unsettled me with the verse, but still manages to have a groovy, catchy chorus. The good vibes continued through A Tear For Eddie. Then it starts to get more hit and miss with me. There’s several songs on here that strike me as weird faintly for the sake of being weird or for shock like Candi or HIV. Those are almost like the sketches on albums that I always skip. Pony is weird, but I do find it amusing. Others I still enjoy like Deaner and Drifter in the Dark. Over the course of the album there’s not a ton that I hate, but after the beginning of the album, there’s not a ton I’m jumping to revisit either. Overall, it’s a very interesting listen though. I do enjoy the juxtaposition of weird and dark lyrics with these upbeat cheery instrumentals but I think it outstays it’s welcome for me by the end.
Ween is a band I've always been vaguely familiar with and I have many friends that love them but what little I heard never really stuck with me (minus going "man, this is weird"). Getting to sit down with one of their records, I feel like I get it a little more, maybe not enough to make me a fan but definitely enough for me to respect it and check out more of their catalog. "man, this is weird" does still apply though
Clarification question on the "it must be available on streaming services" rule. If an album is no longer available on the Spotify/Tidal/Apple-type DSPs but is, in fact, still on YouTube, would that be acceptable? Totally fine if the answer is "no please do not do that."
I'm fine with YouTube-only albums. The Steve Hiett one is that and it's a stunner. A lot of rarer albums aren't on streaming. It's obviously less convenient, sure, but it's not going to kill me to open up a different app and intentionally listen through a video.
Releases available on DSPs are certainly preferred but I would say YouTube is fine, it may just get less discussion than something that is more easily accessible
Totally fair, I've got a while before my next pick but one that I have in mind got pulled from DSPs a little bit ago so I wanted to double check!
The Ween album rules. So fun and erratic. Every song is so distinct. One of my favorite listens from the club for sure
Listened to this this morning and it’s so good. Starts out reggae and ends sounding something like a Jon Hassell/Steve Roach fourth-world ambient-jazz type thing. Thanks for the rec!
The guitar solos on this are so weird and inventive. A couple times I really wasn't feeling a song then the guitar did something wild that immediately pulled me back in. Not a lot to add otherwise that hasn't been said by other folks in here. The back half really hits a wall at "Candi," but "What Deaner Was Talking About" is such a gem. Also loved "Drifter In the Dark" and will absolutely be checking out the country record they made after this.
I'm not gonna lie, I spent most of this hoping someone at work wouldn't walk into my office while I was listening, particularly during "Candi" or "The HIV Song." Otherwise, I didn't have strong feelings about this one either way. I did really like "Baby Bitch," "Drifter in the Dark," and "What Deaner Was Talkin' About," so I'll probably give The Mollusk a listen next. I do feel like it has the energy of a child being random to get laughs and attention in middle school, though
First two songs stink. Freedom of 76 rocks EDIT: I guess the first one doesn't "stink", just kinda rolled over me.