Public Image Limited – Metal Box
I was a punk rocker, working in a record shop when this came out. I was so excited to pry open the film container and shake out the vinyl to listen to new music from Johnny Rotten! The record totally confused me. I think it took me more than ten years to really begin to get my head around what was happening in this music. ‘Poptones’ and ‘Socialist’ are in frequent rotation at my house. The record continues to have a life of its own in my collection.
Pere Ubu – Dub Housing
I first heard this record when I was a homeless junkie. I stayed with a friend in his garage for a couple of nights. He let me into the house one evening when everyone who lived there was gone and we got really, really stoned and listened to side two of this record over and over. I remember laying there in the warm house listening to the music, staring at the ceiling thinking “Oh my god, there’s so much more to music than I realized.” I tried to verbalize what was happening and talk about it, but the wedge prevented me from making any sense at all. Still, I mark this record as the moment I realized there was an an etire universe of music and depth of texture and tone which I had previously ignored.
Roxy Music – Avalon
This is a record I play when I’m alone, or driving. I think that Roxy Music are equally overrated and under-appreciated in America. Bryan Ferry’s genius and campy emotionalism was in many way the precursor to the 80’s yuppie experience. But somehow he pulled it off, and came out smelling like a rose (soaked in an ashtray with half a bottle of wisky spilled into it spritzed with some expensive colgne.) There’s something completely timeless about everything Roxy Music produced once Brian Eno left the group, that hollow you’re too old for this disco sound seems to keep ringing in the air everywhere. Avalon is the best example of this I know.
The Timewriter – Soulstickers
I am really into what’s going on in Germany and Sweden right now. Truth be told I’ve found myself staring at the floor wondering how I ended up liking techno more than once lately. Personally, it’s all house music to me, but I am seriously feeling what the Timewriter, Lindstrøm, Prins Thomas and all the heady space-disco heads are up to right now. Serious.
Feist – The Reminder
Can’t help it. I love this band. I found out about them about the same time as a dear friend of mine, and I rushed to her web site to marvel in my discovery only to find she’d already posted a song of theirs for people to check out. Gutted, bored, deep, and casual. Perfect.
David Sylvian – Gone to earth
I have sex to this album. I have for the last 20 years. That may explain why it’s also a perfect record to put on and sit up in your window box and have a good lonesome cry to as well. This is a flawless and deeply brave piece of work. Timeless and intimate.
Caetano Veloso – Muito (Dentro da estrela azulada)
Caetano Veloso along with Gilberto Gil and all the best Brazillian singer songwriters have a way to taking almost nothing, a couple cords in a single key, a sea shell, a guitar and a hand clapping and create a landscape of music which make me dance, sing, think, and wonder why I have all this equipment plugged into my electrical outlets. To me this is music for the sunrise, when it’s quiet enough to really listen.
Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas – Reinterpretations
As I said, I am really into what’s going on with Lindstrøm and the weirdos in Scandinavia right now. They really have my attention. That said, I am not exactly sure what I make of this record. So it’s on this list because when you come back to mine, I’ll make coffee and put it on and watch carefully to check your response. I’m really interested in what you make of it.
Sunshine Jones ‘Seven Tracks In Seven Days’ album is out now on Nite Grooves/Ki
