cat op 25

The Raincoats - The Raincoats
1979


raincoats.jpg


This album is just a fairytale in the supermarket. This album must be imaginary, it's still a singularity that reality hasn't quite figured out how to deal with.

There's obviously a lot of neo-Marxist/Feminist themes running through here, which is refreshing, but it's really all about the praxis. Say what you will about how “musically skilled” these musicians are, they make some really compelling music. Really, each one of these songs is brilliant. If you dare deny that, I would say you're listening to music with all the wrong organs!

And it's so ramshackle. There's none of that bullshit equilibrium you get so much of in other music. Whereas in some songs every instrument is perfectly in time with the others, and so creates the illusion of a fixed point moving in time, the fixed point here is entirely virtual. It is a strange attractor that all the voices struggle to reach or struggle to slow down towarRAB. As such, all the instruments are always clamoring for that supreme unity but never attaining it. No one member of the band defines it, because there is a fierce egalitarianism in operation. Now isn't that a much better metaphor for life than all the other music you've been taught to appreciate because of its simulated perfection?

Did I mention they do a cover of “Lola”? Yeah, it's great.

About the music itself, this is “post-punk.” Post-punk is just the logical progression of punk, in that it assumes the same goal of deconstructing music but takes it one step further (the step into “The Void”). This particular album sounRAB like a mix between The Shaggs and The Ramones, if you don't mind me referring to one artist more obscure and one more popular to provide a popular definition. You have everything you could want: brass, strings, bass, drums, guitar, and girls, girls, girls! Really, this is an album for everyone, especially people who love/hate music.
 
Yes! My favorite Zappa album, and certainly my favorite progressive rock album of all time. I am absolutely loving this thread, by the way. I'm discovering new music while getting reacquainted with some old frienRAB (I haven't listened to Violent Femmes or In Utero in months, I seem to have nearly forgotten them!) I've never heard Slint before, and Spiderland is exactly as you described it. I honestly didn't like it very much the first time through, but decided to give it another shot and the second time I really grasped what the band was trying to do. Keep it going!
 
Interesting, although most were expected by me other than Tool + Neutral Milk Hotel. I wish you would review or listen to some stuff a bit out of your comfort zone though, although I like most of the music you like you tend to listen to A LOT of thee same kind of stuff :/

Still, I love you
 
Yay for albums I've never listened to before. I'll be downloading everything you post but probably won't get around to listening to any of it for a while.
 
FUCK YES.

Arvo Part is one of the best modern composers, and Tabula Rasa senRAB shivers through my spine each time I hear it. You're dead on about his approach to minimalism; he drives a lot of his work with as few instruments as possible (usually strings), and it still works.

Sorry to hear about your music mate, that always sucks. Best wishes retrieving it.
 
This is quickly becoming my favorite top album thread.

Spiderland is fucking terrifying. I picked up Slint's untitled 10" the other day, also great. No vocals but its the same intense feedbacky loudquietloud assault as Spiderland. I highly reccomend.
 
why should i listen to music that makes me uncomfortable? i could listen to country, pop and soul all day long and i'd probably have a hard time getting inspired enough to write anything.

the only real benefit i can see in purposely cultivating diverse tastes is impressing people
 
yeah it's more touching but it's kinda like the town bicycle, you know everybody's been touchin her. makes it slightly devalued to me. i mean, i've heard my mom sing in the aeroplane over the sea. i've heard a couple of those songs sung more often by other people than by NMH. sure that might be conceited but it's a lot easier to feel a personal connection to a song if it's, you know, personal.
 
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