Aural Autism - Music Diaries - Forums : Best Ever Albums

zdwyatt

Gender: Male
Age: 45
Location: Madison WI

Applerill wrote:

From The Choirgirl Hotel by Tori Amos

Love this album. What made it stand out for me when it came out was that it sounded so different from her previous albums. She ditched the girl-at-the-piano thing and really embraced a band sound (that tour actually featured a full band for the first time). The overall effect is a more lush sound.

Applerill
Autistic Princess <3

Gender: Female
Age: 30
Location: Chicago

So this morning I listened to

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Breathe In, Breathe Out by Hilary Duff
I know you guys are looking forward to the new "Bugatti Biebs" this Friday, but from the singles it sounds like a more bro-friendly version of this, right down to the trendy chipmunk samples (do they have the same producer?)

Though I'm now listening to a new favorite of mine

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Philosophy Of The World by The Shaggs

Many people see this as being simply earnest and cute, but there's something so terrifying about this album's lyrics. As Susan Orlean explains in her profile on her, this band was forced to spend hours practicing every day, and performing in public every month, by their dad. Many of these lyrics were meant to brainwash the kids into trusting them, and you can feel that pain in their playing. Of course, the album also has a trance-inducing way to the playing, where all the notes meld together into a sort of raga. It really is one of the most interesting albums of the sixties, and is much more than an outsider oddity.

Norman Bates

Gender: Male
Age: 51
Location: Paris, France

Applerill wrote:

It really is one of the most interesting albums of the sixties,

Granted.

Applerill wrote:

and is much more than an outsider oddity.

No. One statement derives from the other. It IS an outsider oddity first and foremost, which is why it's so freaky and, to some, interesting.

Applerill
Autistic Princess <3

Gender: Female
Age: 30
Location: Chicago

Norman Bates wrote:

Granted.

No. One statement derives from the other. It IS an outsider oddity first and foremost, which is why it's so freaky and, to some, interesting.

Maybe, but I think that it's more than just "so bad it's good". It really stands on its own as a piece of experimental rock music, and the girls had been practicing for three years before recording this.

Norman Bates

Gender: Male
Age: 51
Location: Paris, France

Applerill wrote:

Maybe, but I think that it's more than just "so bad it's good".

Which is totally not how I would define an "outsider oddity". You still need to state how to you "outsider" music and "interesting" are so inherently antithetic that you are surprised you find an "outsider music" album "interesting".

Applerill
Autistic Princess <3

Gender: Female
Age: 30
Location: Chicago

Norman Bates wrote:

Applerill wrote:

Maybe, but I think that it's more than just "so bad it's good".

Which is totally not how I would define an "outsider oddity". You still need to state how to you "outsider" music and "interesting" are so inherently antithetic that you are surprised you find an "outsider music" album "interesting".

I guess that's the thing. I don't just find this interesting; the way the instrumentation combines rock and raga seems only slightly less revolutionary than Trout Mask Replica the same year. I know that sounds like gross hyperbole, but I really don't see a huge difference.

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Gender: Female
Age: 38

I think what Applerill is getting at is that it's not a surprise that it's interesting, because that sort of thing happens with these sorts of curios due to their contrast with traditional expectations and musical values, but rather that it should be appreciated for the specific musical achievements contained within, and that there is a genuine unironic goodness to it that can be measured against other more insider achievements. Correct me if I'm wrong tho. edit: oh I guess you were kinda already saying that.

Applerill
Autistic Princess <3

Gender: Female
Age: 30
Location: Chicago

Tap wrote:

I think what Applerill is getting at is that it's not a surprise that it's interesting, because that sort of thing happens with these sorts of curios due to their contrast with traditional expectations and musical values, but rather that it should be appreciated for the specific musical achievements contained within, and that there is a genuine unironic goodness to it that can be measured against other more insider achievements. Correct me if I'm wrong tho. edit: oh I guess you were kinda already saying that.

You are correct Smile

Anyway, as I'm waiting to head home and try out my NEW HEADPHONES, I listened to

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Volúmenes 1 Y 2 (1927-1930) by Celia Gámez

This is genuinely one of the best pre-1930 recordings I've ever heard. It's like a bulldozer of fun flying everywhere in your speakers she dances.

And now I'm listening to a Mari Boine album that isn't in the database, called Idjagieđas: In the Hand of the Night. It's the highest-ranked joik album on RYM, and is really playing to my musical fetishes so far. Do you know anything about joik, Satie?

Satie

Applerill wrote:

Do you know anything about joik, Satie?

I feel bad that you've addressed at least two questions to me that I haven't answered so far. Re: Your Roland Kirk question, no, I haven't heard that one. I plan to have my next genre focus be revisiting jazz and digging through more obscurities in the subgenres I most enjoy since it's overdue for some fresh listening. That'll be on the list.

As for joik, what a topical question! I'm writing a paper currently on the Thule people of the Canadian Arctic, and I'm about to get to a discussion about their interactions with the Norse, who called them skraelings. I have not heard (of) joik before today and chose to sample just a quick YouTube link to get an idea of the flavor, and my immediate reaction was that it sounds a lot like the non-verbal singing styles of many Native American groups. Could Norse interaction in the Americas have influenced modern Inuit throat-singing styles or perhaps vice versa? A question for the ethnomusicologists, surely, and I am but an armchair lumper in that field who might be a bit too eager to see cultural similarities. Razz

I also agree completely with your Shaggs assessment and have argued much the same for some time. The Shaggs used to be my pet example of artist intent/background being in many if not most cases irrelevant, but I've increasingly encountered grumps who don't like their music (the same type who rejects the exuberance and ecstatic fun of Captain Beefheart, as well, as you note) and had to find a different approach that people will take more seriously. I agree with Norman that your phrasing could have been better, though I agree with the sentiment in general that there seems to be an outsider canon containing things like "Tunak Tunak Tun" that is fun and probably enjoyed with a touch of schadenfreude (as well as Orientalism in the case of that song) and condescension and one that has unexpected strokes of genius, even (particularly, in most instances) in comparison to normative musical standards, like the Shaggs' little gem here or Sensational's Loaded with Power.

Applerill
Autistic Princess <3

Gender: Female
Age: 30
Location: Chicago

Okay, I just found out that the headphones I wanted were open-backed, so I might exchange them for another AKG that's closed. So on my MacBook speakers tonight during the republican debate, I heard two amazing world albums.

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Speed Brass Of The Gypsies by Fanfare Savale is just a super-high-energy parade of horns that may go on my overall. Does this count as jazz? If so, it's definitely going in the top half of my jazz chart, too.

I also heard

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Super Mama Djombo by Super Mama Djombo which is described as "gumbe" music (which, in turn, has nothing to do with gumbo or any other sort of New Orleans music). According to RYM, it's a Portugese folk style that meshes a lot of things together.