I can't sleep. That is all.
Omissions:
# Elliott Smith - XO
# Arto Lindsay * Noon Chill (Bar/None)
# PJ Harvey * Is This Desire? (Island)
# Asian Dub Foundation * Rafi's Revenge (London)
# Tom Ze * Fabrication Defect (Luaka Bop)
# Cornelius * Fantasma (Matador)
# Beck * Mutations (Geffen)
# The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion * Acme (Matador/Capitol)
# Pram * North Pole Radio Station (Merge)
# Lucinda Williams * Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Mercury)
# Cat Power * Moon Pix (Matador)
# Queens Of the Stone Age (Loosegroove)
# Amon Tobin * Permutation (Ninja Tune)
# Otto * Samba Pra Burro (Trama)
# Schneider TM * Moist (City Slang/Mute)
# Leila * Like Weather (Rephlex)
# Tied + Tickled Trio (Bingo)
# Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos * The Prosthetic Cubans (Atlantic)
# Sunny Day Real Estate * How It Feels To Be Something On (Sub Pop)
# The Black Heart Procession * 1 (Cargo)
# Mundo Livre S.A. * Carnaval Na Obra (Abril)
# Black Star * Mos Def & Talib Kweli (Rawkus)
# Afghan Whigs * 1965 (Columbia)
# Tortoise * TNT (Thrill Jockey)
# Eleni Mandell * Wishbone (Mr. Charles)
# The Notwist * Shrink (Zero Hour)
# Cheb Mami * Meli Meli (Ark 21/Virgin)
# Gastr Del Sol * Camoufleur (Drag City)
# Jets To Brazil * Orange Rhyming Dictionary (Jade Tree)
# The Grassy Knoll * III (Antilles)
# Lhasa * La Llorona (Atlantic)
# Ernest Ranglin * In Search Of The Lost Riddim (Palm Pictures-Rykodisc)
# Godspeed You Black Emperor! * f#a# (Kranky)
# Billy Bragg & Wilco * Mermaid Avenue (Elektra)
# David Grubbs * The Thicket (Drag City)
# Maryam Mursal * The Journey (Real World)
# At The Drive-In * in/CASINO/OUT (Fearless)
# Yungchen Lhamo * Coming Home (Real World)
# Lenine * O dia em que faremos contato (BMG Brasil)
# Long Fin Killie * Amelia (Too Pure)
# Radio Tarifa * Temporal (World Circuit)
# Transglobal Underground * Rejoice Rejoice (MCA)
# Talvin Singh * OK (Island)
# The Eels * Electro-Shock Blues (Dreamworks)
# Sierra Maestra * Tibiri Tabera (World Circuit)
# Conjunto Cespedes * Flores (Xenophile)
# Rocket From the Crypt * RFTC (Interscope)
# Beastie Boys * Hello Nasty (Grand Royal/Capitol)
# Stereolab * Aluminum Tunes (Switched On Vol. 3) (Drag City)
# Swervedriver * 99th Dream (Zero Hour)
# Rufus Wainright (Dreamworks)
# Blind Guardian * Nightfall In Middle-Earth (Import)
# Manu Chao * Clandestino (Ark 21)
# Electric Company * Studio City (Polygram)
# Walt Mink * Goodnite (Deep Elm)
# Opeth * My Arms, Your Hearse (Century Media)
# Death * Sound Of Perseverence (Nuclear Blast)
# Cadallaca * Introducing Cadallaca (K)
# Rhythm & Sound with Tikiman * Showcase (Burial Mix)
# Chico Science & Nacao Zumbi (Sony International)
# Fugazi * End Hits (Dischord)
# Pinetop Seven * Rigging The Toplights (Truckstop/Atavistic)
# Calexico * The Black Light (Quarterstick)
# Mark Lanegan * Scraps At Midnight (Sub Pop)
# R.E.M. * Up (WB)
# Death Cab For Cutie * Something About Airplanes (Barsuk)
# Quasi * Featuring "Birds" (Up)
# Cinerama * Va Va Voom (SpinArt)
# Nile * Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka (Relapse)
# The Delgados * Peloton (Mantra/Chemical Underground)
# Willard Grant Conspiracy * Flying Low (Slow River)
# Meshuggah * Chaosphere (Nuclear Blast)
# Tricky * Angels With Dirty Faces (Island)
# The Spinanes * Arches And Aisles (Sub Pop)
# Jessamine * Don't Stay Too Long (Kranky)
# Richard Davies * Telegraph (Flydaddy)
# Plush * More You Becomes You (Drag City)
# The Cows * Sorry In Pig Minor (Amphetamine Reptile)
# Sloan * Navy Blues (murderrecords)
# Pulp * This Is Hardcore (Island)
# Lo-Fidelity Allstars * How To Operate With A Blown Mind (Skint/Columbia)
# Lambchop * What Another Man Spills (Merge)
# Belle & Sebastion * The Boy With the Arab Strap (Matador)
# Busta Rhymes * Extinction Level Event (Elektra)
# Money Mark * Push The Button (Mo Wax)
# Lee Fields * Let's Get A Groove On (Desco)
# Sonic Youth * A Thousand Leaves (Geffen)
# Rancid * Life Won't Wait (Epitaph)
# African Head Charge VS. Professor Stretch * Drums Of Defiance (On-U Sound)
# Sue Garner * To Run More Smoothly (Thrill Jockey)
# Pere Ubu * Pennsylvania (Cooking Vinyl)
# Fun-Da-Mental * Erotic Terrorism (Beggars Banquet)
# Mary Lou Lord * Got No Shadow (Sony Work Group)
# Kahimi Karie (Minty Fresh)
# Pernice Brothers * Overcome By Happiness (Sub Pop)
# Ozomatli (Almo Sounds)
# Clutch * The Elephant Riders (Columbia)
# Bloque (Luaka Bop)
# Pole * CD1 (Kiff/Matador)
# moodyMANN * silentintroduction (planet e)
# Fatboy Slim * You've Come A Long Way, Baby (Astralw%rks)
# P.W. Long * Push Me Again (Touch & Go)
# Ani DiFranco * Little Plastic Castle (Righteous Babe)
# Firewater * The Ponzi Scheme (Jetset)
# Rachid Taha * Diwan (Island)
# Baaba Maal * Nomad Soul (Island)
# Seam * The Pace Is Glacial (Touch & Go)
# Gang Starr * Moment of Truth (Noo Trybe/Virgin)
# Goodie Mob * Still Standing (Laface/Arista)
# Royal Trux * Accelerator (Drag City)
# Barry Adamson * As Above So Below (Mute)
# Monster Magnet * Powertrip (A&M)
# Los De Abajo (Luaka Bop)
# Bobby Conn * Rise Up! (Truckstop/Atavistic)
# Freakwater * Springtime (Thrill Jockey)
# The Aluminum Group * Plano (Minty Fresh)
# Chicago Underground Duo * 12 Degrees Of Freedom (Thrill Jockey)
# Diamanda Galas * Malediction And Prayer (Mute)
# Saint Etienne * Good Humor (Sub Pop)
# Bharat Shah * Dil Se (Venus)
# Alabama Thunder Pussy * Rise Again (Man's Ruin)
# Souled American * Frozen (Checkered Past)
# Ui * Lifelike (Southern)
# Various * Great Jewish Music: Marc Bolan (Tzadik)
# Trans Am * The Surveillance (Thrill Jockey)
# Boukman Eksperyans * Revolution (Tuff Gong)
# DeeJay Punk-Roc * ChickenEye (Independente/Epic)
# Richard Buckner * Since (MCA)
# June of 44 * Four Great Points (Quarterstick)
# Silkworm * Blueblood (Touch & Go)
# King Sunny Ade * Odu (Mesa)
# Dirty Three * Ocean Songs (Touch & Go)
# Grooverider * Mysteries Of Funk (Columbia)
# Uilab * Fires EP (Bingo/Duophonic)
# Jonathon Richman * I'm So Confused (WB)
# Canibus * Can-I-Bus (Universal)
# Orange Goblin * Time Travellign Blues (Rise Above)
# Shellac * Terraform (Touch & Go)
# Nebula * Let It Burn (Relapse)
# Hole * Celebrity Skin (Geffen)
# Min Xiao-Fen * Spring River Flower Moon Night (Asphodel)
# Hector Zazou & Katie McMahon * Lights in the Dark (Erato/Detour/Atlantic)
# Sam Mangwana * Galo Negro (Putumayo)
# Mike Nicolai * The Balloon Race EP (Tramp Art)
# The Black Crowes * By Your Side (American/Columbia)
# Gaunt * Bricks And Blackouts (WB)
# Aterciopelados * Caribe Atomico (BMG Latin)
# Plastilina Mosh * Aquamosh (Capitol)
# Propellerheads * Decksanddrumsandrockandroll (Wall)
# Dub Pistols * Point Blank (Concrete)
# Boxhead Ensemble * Dutch Harbor: Where The Sea Breaks Its Back (Atavistic)
# Anoushka Shankar * Anoushka (Angel
# The Adjusters * The Politics Of Style (Jump Up Soul)
# Boxhead Ensemble * The Last Place To Go: Recordings form the Dutch Harbor European Film Screening Tour (Atavistic)
# Unwound * Challenge For A Civilized Society (Kill Rock Stars)
# Son Volt * Wide Swing Tremolo (WB)
# System Of A Down (American)
# Public Enemy * He Got Game (Def Jam)
# Don Caballero * What Burns Never Returns (Touch & Go)
# Daniel Taubkin * Brazsil (Blue Jackel)
# High Llamas * Cold And Bouncy (V2/Alpaca)
# Six Finger Satellite * Law Of Ruins (Sub Pop)
# Smashing Pumpkins * Adore (Virgin)
# Snowpony * The Slow-Motion World (Radioactive)
# Starball * Holstein Park (Pussy Cat)
# Soilent Green * Sewn Mouth Secrets (Relapse)
# Girls Against Boys * Freak*On*Ica (Geffen)
# Spiritualized * Live At Albert Hall (BMG)
# Garbage * Version 2.0 (Almo Sounds)
# Buffalo Tom * Smitten (Polydor)
# Add N To X * On The Wires Of Our Nerves (Mute)
# Versus * Two Cents Plus Tax (Caroline)
# Tori Amos * From The Choirgirl Hotel (Atlantic)
# Heather Nova * Siren (Big Cat/Work)
# Stereo Total (Bobsled)
# U.N.K.L.E. * Psyence Fiction (PGD)
# Howe Gelb * Hisser (V2)
# Gomez * Bring It On (Virgin)
# Don Byron * An Existential Dred: Nu Blaxploitation (Blue Note)
# Cash Money * Halos Of Smoke And Fire (Touch & Go)
# Maxwell * Embrya (Columbia)
# Los Amigos Invisibles * The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera (Luaka Bop)
# Chocolate Genius * Black Music (V2)
# The Jesus Lizard * Blue (Capitol)
# Madonna * Ray Of Light (Maverick)
# Bad Religion * No Substance (Elektra)
# Goldie * Saturnz Return (ffrr)
# Soul Coughing * El Oso (WEA)
# Manic Street Preachers * This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours (Epic)
# Catatonia * International Velvet (Blanco Y Negro)
# Marilyn Manson * Mechanical Animals (Nothing/Interscope)
# Liz Phair * whitechocolatespaceegg (Matador/Capitol)
# Bob Mould * The Last Dog and Pony Show (Rykodisc)
# Fernanda Abreu * Raio X (EMI Brazil)
# Acid Mothers Temple And The Melting Paraiso UFO (PSF)
# Aerial M (Drag City)
# The Aislers Set * Terrible Things Happen (Slumberland)
# Tori Amos * From The Choirgirl Hotel (Atlantic)
# Anouk * Together Alone (Sony)
# Archers Of Loaf * White Trash Heroes (Alias)
# Arnold * Hillside (Sony Music)
# Ascension * Abomination (Toybox/Victoy)
# Ash * Nu-Clear Sounds (Reprise)
# Babe The Blue Ox * Way We Were (BMG)
# Bad Livers * Industry and Thrift (Sugar Hill)
# Derek Bailey & Min Xiao-Fen * Viper (Avant)
# Bang On A Can * Music For Airports (Point)
# Waldemar Bastos - Pretaluz [Blackligh] (Luaka Bop)
# Bedhead * Transaction De Novo (Touch & Go)
# Justin Bennett * The Mosques Of Tanger (Stallplaat)
# Bis * Intendo EP (Grand Royal)
# Black Eyed Peas * Behind The Front (Interscope)
# Johnny Blas * Mambo 2000 (Cubop Records)
# Boredoms * Super ae (WEA Japan)
# Jimmy Bosch * Soneando Trombon (Ryko Latino)
# BR5-49 * Big Backyard Beat Show (Arista)
# Califone (Flydaddy)
# Eliza Carthy * Red/Rice
# Neal Casal * Basement Dreams (Glitterhouse)
# Vic Chestnutt * The Salesman and Bernadette (Capricorn)
# Chocoalte Weasel * Spaghettification (Ninja Tune)
# Clem Snide * You Were a Diamond (Tractor Beam)
# Adam Cohen (Columbia)
# Coil * Time Machiens (Eskaton)
# Steve Coleman * Genesis & The Opening Of The Way (RCA)
# Come * Gently Down the Stream (Matador)
# Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach * Painted From Memory (Polygram)
# The Coup * Steal This Album (Dogday)
# Creeper Lagoon * I Become Small & Go (Nickelbag)
# Crucial Conflict * Good Side Bad Side (Universal)
# Cowboy Junkies * Miles From Our Home
# Crimpshrine * Sound of a New World Being Born (Lookout)
# Cubante * Interference (Wax Trax!/TVT)
# Cypress Hill IV (Ruffhouse/Columbia)
# Olu Dara * In The World: From Natchez to New York (Atlantic)
# Death In June * Take Care and Control (World Serpent)
# Digital Underground * Who's Got the Gravy (Interscope)
# Divine Comedy * Fin De Siecle (V2)
# DJ Quik * Rhythm-Al-Ism (Profile/Arista)
# DJ Spooky * Synthetic Fury (Asphodel)
# DJ Spooky * Riddim Warfare (Outpost)
# Dmitri From Paris * Sacrebleu (Atlantic)
# Dr. Israel - Inna City Pressure (Mutant Sound System)
# Donnas * American Teenage Rock 'N' Roll Machine (Lookout!)
# Dave Douglas * Magic Triangle (Arabesque)
# Johnny Dowd * Wrong Side Of Memphis (Checkered Past)
# Arnold Dreyblatt * The Sound Of One String (Table of the Elements)
# Drums Of Death (Avant)
# The Dylan Group * It's All About (Rims Shots & Faulty Wiring) (Bubble Core)
# Echobelly * Lustra (Epic)
# E Dancer * Heavenly (Planet E)
# Embrace * The Good Will Out (DGC)
# Ester * Hotel Hypercube (Thirsty Ear)
# Experimental Audio Research * Millenium Music (Atavistic)
# Jad Fair & Yo La Tengo * Strange But True (Matador)
# Kali Fasteau * Camraderie (Flying Note)
# Flaming Lips * 1984-1990: A Collection Of Songs Representing An Enthusiasm For Recording...By Amateurs (Restless)
# John Forte * Poly Sci
# Frontier * 4 (Emperor Jones)
# Fushitsusha * Withdrawe, This SableDisclosure Ere Devot'd (Victo)
# Fushitsusha * The Wisdom Prepared (Tokuma)
# Alastair Galbraith * Mirrorwork (Emperor Jones)
# Ganger * Hammock Style (Merge)
# Gas * Zauberberg (Mille Plateaux)
# Gilberto Gil * O Sol De Oslo (Blue Jackel)
# God Is My Co-Piolot * Get Busy (Atavistic)
# God Lives Underwater * Life in teh So-Called Space Age (1500)
# High Llamas, Lollo Rosso, (V2)
# Robyn Hitchcock * Storefront Hitchcock (WB)
# Mark Hollis (Polydor)
# Hasidic New Wave * Psycho-Semitic (Knitting Factory)
# The Hellacopters * All (White Jazz)
# Kristin Hersh * Strange Angels (Rykodisc)
# High Rise * Desperado (PSF)
# Robyn Hitchcock * The Storefront Hitchcock (WB)
# Home * Netherregions (Jetset)
# Hooverphonic * Blue Wonder Power Milk (Epic)
# Tom House * This White Man's Burden (Checkered Past)
# Hum * Downward Is Heavenward (RCA)
# Linda Husik * Faith In Space (Alias)
# Ice * Bad Blood (WB)
# Imperial Teen * What Is Not to Love (London)
# Jack * The Jazz Age (Too Pure)
# Peter Jeffries * Substatic, (Emperor Jones)
# The Jesus & Mary Chain * Munki (Elektra)
# Juneau (Ba Da Bing!)
# Karnak (Tinder Production)
# Kreidler * Appearance And The Park (Kiff SM)
# Ladybug (Shock)
# Bill Laswell * Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-1974 (Columbia)
# Julian Lennon * Photograph Smile (Music From Another Room)
# Legendary Pink Dots * Nemesis On-Line (Soleilmoon)
# Alan Licht & Loren MazzaCane Connors * Hoffman Estates (Drag City)
# Local H * Pack Up The Cats (Island)
# The Loud Family * Days For Days (Alias)
# Joe Lovano * Trio Fascination: Edition One (Blue Note)
# Love And Rockets * Lift (Red Ant)
# Lyle Lovett * Step Inside This House (UNI/MCA)
# Magnog * More Weather (Kranky)
# Cheb Mami * Let Me Cry (Blue Silver)
# Man...Or Astro-Man? * Deux Ex Machina (Touch & Go)
# Medeski, Martin and Wood * Combustication (Blue Note)
# Metallica * Garage, Inc. (Elektra)
# Method Man * Tical 2000
# Merzbow * Aqua Necromancer (Alien8)
# Mimi * Soak (Luaka Bop)
# Mr. Quintron * These Hands Of Mine (Skin Graaft)
# Joni Mitchell * Taming The Tiger (Reprise)
# Mix Master Mike * Anti-Theft Device (Asphodel)
# Molotov * Donde Jugaran Las Ninas (UNI/Universal)
# Roy Montgomery * Eulogy For Nick Drake (Drunken Fish)
# Roy Montgomery * True (Kranky)
# Thurston Moore * Root (Lo)
# Morcheeba * Big Calm (Sony)
# Mouse On Mars * Glam (Sonig)
# Mount Shasta * Watch Out (Skin Graft)
# Movietone * Day & Night (Drag City)
# Jeff Muldaur * The Secret Handshake (Hightone)
# Nada Surf * The Proximity Effect (Elektra)
# Nashville Pussy * Let Them Eat Pussy (Amphetamine Reptile)
# No Means No * Dance of the Headless Bourgeoisie (Alternative Tentacles)
# NRG Ensemble * Dejazzo Gets A Facelift (Atavistic)
# Sally Nyolo * Multiculti (Trop M)
# Olu Dara * In The World: From Natchez To New York (Atlantic)
# Oval/Christophe Charles * Dok (Thrill Jockey)
# Ozmatli (Uni/Almo Sounds)
# Pan-American (Kranky)
# Pedro The Lion * It's Hard to Find A Friend (Made in Mexico)
# Pine Valley Cosmonauts * Salute the Majesty of Bob Wills, the King of Western Swing: Traditionalist, Avant-Gardist, Pioneer, Magician (Bloodshot)
# Plaid * Not For Threes (Nothing)
# Plastikman * Consumed (NovaMute)
# Pluramon * Render Bandits (Mille Plateaux)
# Pras * Ghetto Supastar (Sony)
# Primus * Rhinoplasty (Interscope)
# PhonosycographDISK * Ancient Termites (Bomp Hip-Hop)
# The Push Kings * Far Places (Sealed Fate)
# Q-Burns Abstract Message * Feng Shui (Astralwerks)
# Rachid * Prototype (Universal)
# Redman * Doc's the Name Def (Jam/Mercury)
# Refused * The Shape Of Punk To Come (Epitaph)
# Amy Rigby * Middlescence (Koch)
# Rialto (China Records)
# Dom Um Romao * Rhythm Traveller (Mr. Bongo)
# Rudimentary Peni * Echoes Of Anguish (Outer Himalayan)
# Ruins * Refusal Fossil (Skin Graft)
# RZA * Bobby Digital In Stereo (Gee Street/V2)
# Sarge * The Glass Intact (Mud)
# Scrawl * Nature Film (Elektra)
# Seal * Human Being (Warner Brothers)
# Semisonic * Feeling Strangely Fine (MCA)
# Jules Shear * Between Us (High Street)
# Shudder To Think * First Love Last Rites (Epic)
# Silver Jews * American Water (Drag City)
# Sister Soleil * Solarium (Universal)
# Sly & Robbie * Strip to the Bone (Palm Pictures)
# Solex * Solex Vs The Hitmeister (Matador)
# Soul Coughing * El Oso (WEA)
# Spring Heeled Jack * Songs from Suburbia (Ignition/Tommy Boy)
# Robert Stewart * The Force (Qwest/WB)
# Taraf De Haidouks * Dumbala Dumba (Crammed Discs)
# Tarwater * Silur (Kitty Yo)
# Techno Animal * Radio Hades (Caroline)
# Terre Thaemlitz * Means From An End (Mille Plateaux)
# Third Eye Foundation * You Guys Kill Me (Merge/Touch & Go)
# Ticklah * Polydemic (Razorfish Records)
# Timbaland * Tim's Bio
# Tomorrowland * Sequence of the Negative Space Changes (Kranky)
# A Tribe Called Quest * The Love Movement (Jive)
# Trumans Water * Fragments Of A Lucky Break (Emperor Jones)
# Trumystic Sound System * Product Three (Mutant Sound System)
# David Tudor * Rainforest (Mode)
# Two Dollar Guitar * Train Songs (Smells Like Records)
# Maldita Vecindad Y Los Hijos * Mostros (BMG Latin)
# Velvet Crush * Heavy Changes (Action Musik)
# Wagon Christ * Tally Ho! (Astralwerks)
# Don Walser * Down at the Sky-Vue Drive-In (Sire/Watermelon)
# David S. Ware * Go See The World (Columbia)
# Chris Watson * Outside The Circle Of Fire (Touch UK)
# Gillian Welch * Hell Among the Yearlings (Almo Sounds)
# Whale * All Disco Dancing Must End in Broken Bones (Virgin)
# William Grant Conspiracy * Flying Low (Slow River)
# Elmo Williams & Hezekiah Early * Takes One To Know One (Fat Possum)
# Windy & Carl * Depths (Kranky)
# Zeek Sheck * Good Luck Suckers (Skin Graft)
# John Zorn * The Circle Maker (Tzadik)
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Quote:
Perhaps best likened to a marching band on an acid trip, Neutral Milk Hotel's second album is another quixotic sonic parade; lo-fi yet lush, impenetrable yet wholly accessible, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is either the work of a genius or an utter crackpot, with the truth probably falling somewhere in between. Again teaming with producer Robert Schneider, Jeff Mangum invests the material here with new maturity and clarity; while the songs run continuously together, as they did on the previous On Avery Island, there is a much clearer sense of shifting dynamics from track to track, with a greater emphasis on structure and texture. Mangum's vocals are far more emotive as well; whether caught in the rush of spiritual epiphany ("The King of Carrot Flowers Pts. Two and Three") or in the grip of sexual anxiety ("Two-Headed Boy"), he sings with a new fervor, composed in equal measure of ecstasy and anguish. However, as his musical concepts continue to come into sharper focus, one hopes his stream-of-consciousness lyrical ideas soon begin to do the same; while Mangum spins his words with the rapid-fire intensity of a young Dylan, the songs are far too cryptic and abstract to fully sink in -- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is undoubtedly a major statement, but just what it's saying is anyone's guess.
Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to ChildrenQuote:
Although Boards of Canada's blueprint for electronic listening music -- aching electro-synth with mid-tempo hip-hop beats and occasional light scratching -- isn't quite a revolution in and of itself, Music Has the Right to Children is an amazing LP. Similar to the early work of Autechre and Aphex Twin, the duo is one of the few European artists who can match their American precursors with regard to a sense of spirit in otherwise electronic music. This is pure machine soul, reminiscent of some forgotten Japanese animation soundtrack or a rusting Commodore 64 just about to give up the ghost. Alternating broadly sketched works with minute-long vignettes (the latter of which comprise several of the best tracks on the album), Music Has the Right to Children is one of the best electronic releases of 1998.
Massive Attack - MezzanineQuote:
Increasingly ignored amidst the exploding trip-hop scene, Massive Attack finally returned in 1998 with Mezzanine, a record immediately announcing not only that the group was back, but that they'd recorded a set of songs just as singular and revelatory as on their debut, almost a decade back. It all begins with a stunning one-two-three-four punch: "Angel," "Risingson," "Teardrop," and "Inertia Creeps." Augmenting their samples and keyboards with a studio band, Massive Attack open with "Angel," a stark production featuring pointed beats and a distorted bassline that frames the vocal (by group regular Horace Andy) and a two-minute flame-out with raging guitars. "Risingson" is a dense, dark feature for Massive Attack themselves (on production as well as vocals), with a kitchen sink's worth of dubby effects and reverb. "Teardrop" introduces another genius collaboration -- with Elizabeth Fraser from Cocteau Twins -- from a production unit with a knack for recruiting gifted performers. The blend of earthy with ethereal shouldn't work at all, but Massive Attack pull it off in fine fashion. "Inertia Creeps" could well be the highlight, another feature for just the core threesome. With eerie atmospherics, fuzz-tone guitars, and a wealth of effects, the song could well be the best production from the best team of producers the electronic world had ever seen. Obviously, the rest of the album can't compete, but there's certainly no sign of the side-two slump heard on Protection, as both Andy and Fraser return for excellent, mid-tempo tracks ("Man Next Door" and "Black Milk," respectively).
Belle and Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab StrapQuote:
Belle & Sebastian quietly built a dedicated following after the release of their second album, If You're Feeling Sinister, as word of mouth spread from indie kids to record collectors to store clerks to critics. By the end of 1997, the Scottish septet had developed a following every bit as passionate as the Smiths did at their peak, which is only appropriate since leader Stuart Murdoch is as wittily literate as Morrissey. If You're Feeling Sinister proved this as did the three excellent EPs that followed, increasing expectations for The Boy With the Arab Strap. Even if the album doesn't match the peerless If You're Feeling Sinister or break new ground for Belle & Sebastian, it's not a sophomore slump. From the Motown stomp of "Dirty Dream Number Two" to the Paul Simon shuffle of the title track, there is more musical texture on Boy than Sinister, but much of this was already explored on the EPs, which means Arab Strap essentially consolidates the group's talents. Murdoch recedes from the spotlight on occasion, letting Steve Jackson deliver two music-biz spiels and giving Isobel Campbell space to shine with the lilting "Is It Wicked Not to Care?" All three songs are highlights, but Murdoch's songs still attract the most attention. His vicious wit, often overlooked in favor of his poetic narratives, surfaces on the title track, while "It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career" summarizes his effortless gift for elegant melancholia. Such small, precious gems are what Belle & Sebastian are all about, and The Boy With the Arab Strap offers another round of timeless, endlessly fascinating folk-pop treasures.
Mercury Rev - Deserter's SongsQuote:
Four albums in and Mercury Rev remain as surprising and daring as ever -- exchanging the volcanic noise and twisted sensibilities of earlier releases for ornate arrangements and ethereal strings, Deserter's Songs unlocks the beauty always hidden just below the band's surface, its lush harmonics and soothing textures bathing in an almost unearthly light. Standouts including the exquisitely waltz-like "Tonite It Shows" and the celestial "Endlessly" are like lullabies, their music-box melodies gentle and narcotic; even the most pop-oriented moments like "Opus 40" and "Hudson Line" share a symphonic, candy-colored majesty far removed from conventional rock idioms. Complete with its fractured instrumental interludes and odd effects, Deserter's Songs sounds like no other album -- for that matter, it doesn't even sound like Mercury Rev, yet there's no mistaking the record's brilliance for anyone else.
Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn HillQuote:
Though the Fugees had been wildly successful, and Lauryn Hill had been widely recognized as a key to their popularity, few were prepared for her stunning debut. The social heart of the group and its most talented performer, she tailored The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill not as a crossover record but as a collection of overtly personal and political statements; nevertheless, it rocketed to the top of the album charts and made her a superstar. Also, and most importantly, it introduced to the wider pop world an astonishingly broad talent. Hill's verses were intelligent and hardcore, with the talent to rank up there with Method Man. And for the choruses she could move from tough to smooth in a flash, with a vocal prowess that allowed her to be her own chanteuse (à la Mariah Carey). Hill, of Haitian heritage, rhymed in a tough Caribbean patois on the opener, "Lost Ones," wasting little time to excoriate her former bandmates and/or record-label executives for caving in to commercial success. She used a feature for Carlos Santana ("To Zion") to explain how her child comes before her career and found a hit single with "Doo Wop (That Thing)," an intelligent dissection of the sex game that saw it from both angles. "Superstar" took to task musicians with more emphasis on the bottom line than making great music (perhaps another Fugees nod), while her collaborations with a pair of sympathetic R&B superstars (D'Angelo and Mary J. Blige) also paid major dividends. And if her performing talents, vocal range, and songwriting smarts weren't enough, Hill also produced much of the record, ranging from stun-gun hip-hop to smoother R&B with little trouble. Though it certainly didn't sound like a crossover record, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill affected so many widely varying audiences that it's no surprise the record became a commercial hit as well as a musical epoch-maker.
Air - Moon SafariQuote:
A cavalcade of analog synthesizers, organs, electric pianos, and processed voices populate Moon Safari, a thoroughly appealing, otherworldly debut album from Air. Where most of their dance contemporaries push the boundaries of trip-hop or jungle, Air blends Euro-dance with new wave. Any futuristic element on their album feels strangely outdated, since they're borrowed from the early '80s, which gives their music an odd, out-of-time feeling. The waves of gurgling synths beneath the spacious, colorful chords and melodies give the impression that the music is floating in space. For all the atmospherics and layers of synths, there's a distinct pop sense to Moon Safari that makes it accessible and damn near irresistible.
Spoon - A Series of SneaksQuote:
With A Series of Sneaks, Spoon became one of the unsung heroes of the guitar-driven post-punk tradition inhabited by bands such as Wire, Gang of Four, Hüsker Dü, and the Pixies. These were the guitar wizards who could package a variety of taut, terse, and inventive guitar sounds and unpredictable melodies into short, tight bursts one could still consider pop songs. Lead singer and guitarist Britt Daniel acts as the overachieving honors student of this tradition, flushing the spaces in between with an expansive melodic vocabulary comparable to Robert Pollard's.
But Sneaks wouldn't work if it were merely a repository of all the right influences. Thanks to John Croslin and the band's detailed production, shards of jagged guitar lines chime in from every direction, creating a language that blends with Daniel's charismatic vocal licks to form something so tuneful and compelling that the majority of Sneaks sticks in the brain just when you've thought you'd heard it all before. Daniel's voice can range from a throaty rasp to a falsetto to a spoken growl, peppered with some "bop-bop-bops," "c'mon's," and hand clapping. It's as if Jonathan Richman had been on SST Records, or even the old Sub Pop. But it's the production -- the constantly shifting vocal mixture and placement of Daniel's guitar, Joshua Zarbo's bass, and Jim Eno's drums around bits of melody -- that binds Sneaks into more than the sum of its parts.
Amidst this kind of sonic engagement, it is the search for meaning in music amidst the open roads and open spaces of the American Southwest that form a central character in Daniel's fragmented and oblique lyrical universe. In a few brief lines, a drive to New York on the interstate becomes a meditation on rock and youth in "Car Radio," while "Metal School" seems to be a reassessment of the purpose of post-punk.
Outkast - AqueminiQuote:
Even compared to their already excellent and forward-looking catalog, OutKast's sprawling third album Aquemini was a stroke of brilliance. The chilled-out space-funk of ATLiens had already thrown some fans for a loop, and Aquemini made it clear that its predecessor was no detour, but a stepping stone for even greater ambitions. Some of ATLiens' ethereal futurism is still present, but more often Aquemini plants its feet on the ground for a surprisingly down-home flavor. The music draws from a vastly eclectic palette of sources, and the live instrumentation is fuller-sounding than ATLiens. Most importantly, producers Organized Noize imbue their tracks with a Southern earthiness and simultaneous spirituality that come across regardless of what Dre and Big Boi are rapping about. Not that they shy away from rougher subject matter, but their perspective is grounded and responsible, intentionally avoiding hardcore clichés. Their distinctive vocal deliveries are now fully mature, with a recognizably Southern rhythmic bounce but loads more technique than their territorial peers. Those flows grace some of the richest and most inventive hip-hop tracks of the decade. The airy lead single "Rosa Parks" juxtaposes porch-front acoustic guitar with DJ scratches and a stomping harmonica break that could have come from nowhere but the South. Unexpected touches like that are all over the record: the live orchestra on "Return of the 'G'," the electronic, George Clinton-guested "Synthesizer," the reggae horns and dub-style echo of "SpottieOttieDopaliscious," the hard-rocking wah-wah guitar of "Chonkyfire," and on and on. What's most impressive is the way everything comes together to justify the full-CD running time, something few hip-hop epics of this scope ever accomplish. After a few listens, not even the meditative jams on the second half of the album feel all that excessive. Aquemini fulfills all its ambitions, covering more than enough territory to qualify it as a virtuosic masterpiece, and a landmark hip-hop album of the late '90s.
