After every 20 posts I’ll be taking a quick look back at the artists and albums I’ve encountered and hand out some imaginary awards for the best, worst and weirdest of the bunch.
First up, the award for weirdest album has been hotly contested in this initial run, with some very strong contributions from Alvaro, Anal Magic, Aksak Maboul, Pekka Airaksinen, AMM and Anima Sound (to name but a few!), but the combination of wobbly free jazz, atonal vocal improv and the ritual abuse of a cornucopia of obscure folk instruments from around the world all combine to make Alan Sondheim/Ritual All-7-70’s The Songs an album of unabashed and enduring oddness.
Worst album? The tedious minimalist improv of Albrecht/d. takes the biscuit here, I think. It’s a pity, as I have a lot of time for Fluxus and performance art in general, but as a sustained listening experience Abstract Energy falls utterly flat. Intriguing for five minutes, interminable for ten.
Best discovery is a close-run thing between Alvaro and Archaia, as both surpassed expectations and are likely to be firm fixtures on my mp3 player for months. However, delightful as Archaia is, that I should dig a highly regarded Zeuhl “classic” isn’t much of a surprise, whilst Alvaro’s Drinkin My Own Sperm came out of nowhere for me, and delivered something charming, disquieting and utterly unique.
And finally, my Top 5 albums from this initial batch:
5. Anal Magic & Reverend Dwight Frizzel – Beyond the Black Crack
4. (Ritual) All-7-70 – The Songs
3. Archaia – Archaia
2. Alvaro – Drinkin My Own Sperm
1. Aksak Maboul – Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine
Honorable mention: AMMmusic
So, that’s 20 down, only 272 to go!
Wound With List 