Talk Talk Series, #15: Mark Hollis- S/T (1998) MP3 & FLAC

"Soar the bridges that I burnt before, one song among us all."

"Over the last couple of hours, it was a very loose, flexible affair [....] The whole point with the last albums was that, you know, it isn't this kind of band-thing where it's all like this tight thing that you're forced into. It was much looser; we could come together and play, but the thing with me and Tim [Friese-Greene], we had worked together over a long period and then we got to a point where we thought that there was really nowhere for us to go in terms of how we work and how we write." This is Mark Hollis' explanation for Talk Talk's demise shortly after the completion of their brilliant swan-song, Laughing Stock. Actually, there were plans for a sixth Talk Talk album, Mountains of the Moon, as their contract with Verve / Polydor required them to deliver a second album (the aforementioned Laughing Stock being the first) though there was no time-frame specified for doing so. It's unclear why Mountains of the Moon didn't materialize given the band had gone so far as to name the new project, but what is clear was Hollis' uncompromising refusal to repeat himself, which was the very thing that had driven Talk Talk's dramatic evolution over the course of its existence. Following the dissolution of the band, Hollis spent the better part of seven years expanding his musical knowledge by learning to read and write music notation and using these new skills to compose classical-style minimalist pieces for piano and woodwinds (one of which, "Piano," can be found on A V 1). This allowed him to explore the sonic minimalism that characterized the last two Talk Talk albums in ways even further afield of the pop tradition. So while it's tempting to think of Hollis' eponymous 1998 solo debut as the long delayed appearance of that aborted final Talk Talk album, in actuality, it represents a significant change in approach from the Laughing Stock sessions. As Hollis has revealed, "It was not intended to be different, but then it is totally obvious to me that it would be. Because given the things I wanted to do on this album, I didn't imagine it would have any relationship at all with modern music." For the recording of Mark Hollis, one key element of continuity with the final Talk Talk album was the continued presence of Phill Brown, who, this time out, served as sound engineer. Nevertheless, as Brown recalls, the approach to recording was quite different than what had been done for previous albums: "Unlike Spirit of Eden  or Laughing Stock, there were demos of almost all the songs; it was easy to know where we were heading and what was required. The previous albums had been recorded by chance, accident, and hours of trying every possible overdub idea [....] However on Mark's project, everything was scored and written down." While starting from a much more structured place than earlier recording sessions, Mark Hollis was still built, to a significant degree, on improvisation, but this time, a more Jazz-influenced approach was used for getting these performances on tape. Hollis: "The idea was to have carefully worked out structures, within which the musicians would have a lot of freedom. I'd just say to them, 'okay we're here, we want to get there- now let's play.'" Another departure from previous sessions was Hollis' insistence on exclusively employing both acoustic instrumentation and acoustic recording techniques, which helped lend Mark Hollis it's haunting sense of stillness: "I just love the sound of [acoustic] instruments hid that low down and the physical sounds that surround the instrument, whether it's creaking or whether it's the way air goes through or whatever. That is almost as important as the note. So just purely on a sound aspect, the reality of what an acoustic instrument is, is one reason for why the album is so quiet." In terms of the music itself, though certainly a sonic departure in some ways, it is a worthy follow-up to Talk Talk's inimitable mature work. On the opening track, "The Colour of Spring," with a title suggesting continuity with the past but a sound indicating anything but, Hollis goes it alone on piano and vocals, delivering a stark yet intensely gorgeous performance that uses the silences punctuating his minimalist piano melody to create a sense of space around his yearning vocals, which seem intent on pushing the impressionistic lyrics beyond their articulative limits. Alternatively, "The Gift" reveals a fuller arrangement with a bopping Jazz-influenced rhythm section beautifully running counterpoint to Hollis' wistful, very nearly insensible, though powerfully expressive vocals. Another minimalist gem is "Westward Bound," sounding more like a folk song, though without any sense of formal structure, it features some simple but lovely acoustic guitar parts and Hollis' voice barely needing to rise above a whisper to produce its devastating emotional impact. Mark Hollis is a work that manages to feel simultaneously profound and irretrievably distant, which means that one inevitable aspect of listening to it is to experience ambivalence, something Hollis would see as an opportunity to dig deeper: "It's like in a relationship. The more you focus on the music, the more you will hear from the music. The more that you give in terms of listening to what's happening on the album, the more things will reveal themselves within the album."

Talk Talk Series, #14: Allinson / Brown- A V I (1998) MP3 & FLAC

Before his legendary work on Talk Talk's two enduring masterpieces, Spirit of Eden  and Laughing Stock, as well as Mark Hollis' eponymous solo album, Phill Brown had enjoyed a long and storied career as a studio engineer and producer, working with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, Bob Marley, and Roxy Music, to name but a few. While Brown's background suggested a fine rock-music pedigree, the nature of his work with Hollis was quite different. By the time of their first collaboration on Spirit of Eden, Talk Talk had relinquished any interest in traditional song structure, and Hollis' focus in particular had evolved from complex yet conventional sound layering methods to attempting a free association technique, which he described as "sound collage," where organically recorded sound fragments are woven, during the editing process, into a sonic whole-cloth.  This approach would eventually inform Paul Webb and Lee Harris' .O.Rang project as well as Phill Brown's post-Talk Talk collaboration with visual artist Dave Allinson on a brilliant piece of ambient minimalism called A V I. Half of this album's four tracks are devoted to a two-part composition bearing the album's title that was originally conceived as an accompaniment to a video installation . "A V I- Pt. I" is a nearly twenty-minute sound scape, which bears no trace of song structure or any recognizable pop elements and manages to capture much of the same ambiance that made Brown's work with Talk Talk so distinctive. Combining eerie atmospherics with a diversity of organic ambient sounds, the piece is a stunningly elegant journey into the beauty of sounds untethered to formal structure yet somehow still suggesting movement through a composed space. Quite jarringly at first, "A V I- Pt. II" is built around a sumptuously bass-driven rhythmic pattern that, while offering a more structured feel than Pt. I, is just as evocative of the beauty inherent in individual sounds themselves. Another memorable contribution is "Piano" written and performed by Mark Hollis (credited here as John Cope). The best way to describe this lovely, elegiac composition for solo piano is to quote the man himself: "Before you play two notes, learn how to play one note- and don't play one note unless you've got a reason to play it." While many discuss A V I  in terms of the fine line it walks between musicality and fragmented atonality, part of what makes the album so singular and worth revisiting regularly is the way it does manage to be consistently engaging in a musical sense. Fragile, a tad ephemeral, but never less than profound, A V I  is an obscure gem to be sure.

Talk Talk Series, #11: .O.Rang- Herd of Instinct (1994) / Spoor EP (1994) MP3 & FLAC

What makes Talk Talk's final two albums, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, so distinctive is their formal experimentation with both organic instrumentation and diverse aural textures as well as an unconventional recording process based on mostly improvised fragments woven into whole cloth through the editing process. To a large extent, this approach is carried over into .O.Rang, Paul Webb and Lee Harris' often brilliant and always enjoyable post-Talk Talk venture that necessitated the construction of its own studio (called "The Slug"). For the largely impromptu sessions comprising both the Spoor EP and Herd of Instinct, a steady and diverse stream of musicians were brought in to record improvisational jam-sessions with the intention of capturing free-form performances that highlight both the individual instruments themselves, but also the way they seamlessly cohere into carefully constructed soundscapes. Despite the similarities in method between O.Rang and Talk Talk's later work, their results are quite distinct, as .O.Rang tends to delve much more deeply into World Beat textures. On Herd of Instinct, this approach pays off with some amazing Dub and Post-Rock-influenced tracks, such as "Orang," which opens the album. Here, Harris' insistent drumming drives the proceedings while a sea of guitar textures buzzing and ringing in the background carry the oblique melody; however, the song is punctuated by some dynamic moments of calm that keep things from lapsing into repetition. Another standout is "Loaded Values," a song that is slightly reminiscent of Dead Can Dance's later work. Comprised of some great guitar work, Afro-Beat vocals, and a host of other instruments all seemingly doing their own thing in the mix but somehow cohering into something larger, it is a truly engaging listening experience. While .O.Rang's second album, Field of Waves, is also an impressive work, Herd of Instinct retains a certain imprecise, improvisational tone that lends the songs a more organic feel than those on the later album. Highly recommended.

Bark Psychosis- ///Codename: Dustsucker (2004) / Game Over (1997) MP3 & FLAC -For Carlos-

"Blood disappears where deeds begin."

Saddled with one of the oddest album titles in recent memory, Bark Psychosis' ///Codename: Dustsucker, Graham Sutton's first non-comp release under the Bark Psychosis moniker in ten years, stands as a sometimes-worthy successor to the band's groundbreaking debut Hex, an album credited with creating the Post-Rock genre in name if not in style. Sutton began working on this follow-up after spending most of the post-Hex nineties focused on his Drum 'n' Bass project, Boymerang, and truth be told, //Codename: Dustsucker is a Bark Psychosis album in name only, as Sutton is the only connection to the band's earlier work, save for some "found drumming" contributed by the band's original drummer Mark Simnett. Despite the decade of silence, Sutton offers no radical deviations from the beautifully sculpted, dynamic sound of the earlier album, although it could be argued that ///Codename Dustsucker is slightly more conventional in approach, as it tends to rely far more on vocals and percussion than is generally the case within the Post-Rock genre.  On "The Black Meat," one of the more Hex-like tracks, Sutton offers layer upon layer of sonic detail, creating a lovely sense of aural space while using trumpet and harmonica to undermine its own Ambient undertow. Perhaps the best track, and one that seems to effectively build on Bark Psychosis' past, is lead track "From What Is Said to When It's Read"; with its hypnotic groove, whispered vocals, and strange electronic effects, it rides in on a wave of calm before descending into a well of eerie guitar hum. While the album is by no means as groundbreaking as the band's peerless early nineties work, Sutton is by no means simply paraphrasing his past, as he manages to explore some new and intriguing vistas within the genre he helped give birth to.

Talk Talk Series, #8: Bark Psychosis- Hex (1994) / Independency (1994) MP3 & FLAC

 "Incision carved out, no traces of doubt, I can't extract the truth."

While Talk Talk drummer Lee Harris worked with Bark Psychosis on both their 2004 comeback LP, Codename: Dustsucker and their brilliant and innovative debut, Hex, the true nature of the connection between Talk Talk and Bark Psychosis was one of influence, namely the influence of Talk Talk's masterpiece and swan-song Laughing Stock on the conception of and approach to recording Hex. As such, Bark Psychosis was one of the first bands (and perhaps the best) to integrate Talk Talk's later experimental work into their own aesthetic. However, Hex manages to incorporate this influence (among others) by pushing it into new contexts, and in doing so, accomplishes a rare feat among albums: it gives birth to its own genre, what critic Simon Reynolds dubbed "Post-Rock." Perhaps the defining elements of this approach are a move away from traditional pop song structure and an emphasis on texture and space over repetition and resolution. Genres and catch phrases aside, Hex is simply a singular and timeless album that is ultimately indefinable because it never coalesces into something solid or stable. A highlight among highlights is "A Street Scene"; with its seemingly looped bass part, moody guitar, horns and hushed vocals, the song, at first glance, seems to progress according to some kind of recognizable structure, but the melody is always slightly out of focus and the song ultimately refuses the confines of pop song convention. Moving even further outside the pretense of song structure is "Fingerspit," which simultaneously manages to touch on experimental Jazz and Noise-Rock. While it is a difficult track, it is also beautifully lush and intricate. Hex is something of an enigma: too experimental to be considered a pop album, but too melodic and song-oriented to be considered Ambient. Whatever it is, Bark Psychosis' debut is truly one of the essential albums of the nineties.

Talk Talk Series, #7: .O.Rang- Fields and Waves (1996) MP3 & FLAC

One of the most unsung aspects of Talk Talk's groundbreaking later work was the band's rhythm section comprised of bassist Paul Webb and drummer Lee Harris. While earlier albums such as It's My Life  and The Colour of Spring  were far more traditional in their use of bass and percussion, on the final two albums, Webb and Harris regularly traversed into Jazz territory with an emphasis on texture and space rather than beat. On the heels of Talk Talk's demise after recording Laughing Stock, Webb and Harris built their own studio and formed .O.Rang. While .O.Rang's sound bears little outward resemblance to Talk Talk, Webb and Harris do retain the experimental ethos of their previous band's best work. For example, before putting together their brilliant debut, Herd of Instinct, .O.Rang brought in a diverse range of musicians to improvise in the studio with acoustic-based instruments, thus providing the raw materials from which they built the tracks comprising the finished album. Fields and Waves, .O.Rang's second album, is a more formally produced affair and introduces a Techno vibe to the the Ethno-Ambient sound forged on the first album. On "Barren," the album's beautiful lead track, Web and Harris create an expansive and multi-layered soundscape that is punctuated by bursts of notes from a santoor, making the song sound reminiscent of Dead Can Dance. Another distinctive track is "Moratorium," which features Webb taking a turn on vocals in amidst a melange of tribal rhythms and distorted guitars, resulting in the closest thing to a traditional pop-song .O. Rang has recorded. While Herd of Instinct was distinctive due to its Jazz-like free-form approach, Field of Waves tightens up the song structures a bit to make the proceedings a bit more danceable, but still manages to retain the eclectic, experimental feel that defines .O.Rang's sound.

The Durutti Column- Amigos em Portugal (1983) MP3 & FLAC

"All I really need is the mercy of your lies and the clouds to break."

Amigos em Portugal, out of print for more than twenty years until re-issued in 2005, is an obscure gem that also happens to contain some of Vini Reilly's most beautiful guitar work. Recorded solo (for the most part) over the course of a few days in Portugal for a newly-formed independent record label in anticipation of The Durutti Column's Without Mercy, Reilly's guitar oscillates regularly between Jazz, Flamenco, and his trademark percussive style, all of which is interwoven into some haunting piano passages. "Lisboa," for example, uses an impressionistic piano foundation over which Reilly indulges in some amazing guitar improvisations; at times, the proceedings sound almost raga-like. While most of the album is instrumental, Reilly does add vocals to three tracks, the best of which is "Lies of Mercy"; however, in the others, he sounds quite reticent and often out of tune. Despite this minor flaw, Amigos em Portugal is a must-listen for anyone with even a passing interest in The Durutti Column's work. Presumably due to lost master tapes, this CD re-issue was remastered from the original vinyl, so surface noise is audible, but the beauty of the music quickly overcomes the sonic limitations of the source.

Michael Brook & Pieter Nooten- Sleeps with the Fishes (1987) MP3 & FLAC

This one-off collaboration between Michael Brook of Infinite Guitar fame and Clan of Xymox's Pieter Nooten is an absolute stunner, a largely forgotten gem in the expansive 4AD catalog that ranks with the best of the label's eighties-era releases. Similar in tone to This Mortal Coil but far more focused and sumptuous, Brooks' always impressive guitar work weaves and melts into meticulously constructed soundscapes, which are further fleshed out by cellos and ambient keyboard washes. While much of the album is instrumental, Pieter Nooten provides hushed vocals on several tracks, all of which rank among his finest performances on record. Released in 1987, Sleeps with the Fishes sounds like a logical (and quite beautiful) progression of both the dream-pop and dark ambient genres that bloomed during the eighties, and, in some ways, presages the direction Dead Can Dance would take on their final albums. Not to be missed.

Julianna Barwick- The Magic Place (2011) MP3 & FLAC

Reminiscent of the wordless vocal peregrinations characterizing Elizabeth Fraser's much-heralded work with The Cocteau Twins, Julianna Barwick's first long-player, The Magic Place, is a startlingly beautiful recording that sounds both epic in its aspirations and humble in its approach. Comprised primarily of Barwick's voice overdubbed to infinity and looped to create something approximating Gregorian chant, The Magic Place is full of hidden aural nooks and crannies that flicker forth on repeated listens. While many reviewers are using terms such as "nostalgic" and "soothing" to describe this album, it nevertheless possesses a disquieting undercurrent that borders on creepiness in places; this adds an emotional weight to these otherwise quite ethereal compositions, resulting in a choral-ambient hybrid that steadfastly refuses to unfold quietly in the background.

The Durutti Column- Circuses and Bread (1985) MP3 & FLAC

"All I wanted was your time; all you ever gave me was tomorrow."

Led by Vini Reilly, arguably the most subtle and gifted guitarist of the Post-Punk era, The Durutti Column dispensed with conventional notions of what guitar-based alternative music could sound like, and in doing so, played a big role in laying the groundwork for a more experimental, less structured form of rock composition, perhaps best embodied in the later work of  Mark Hollis' Talk Talk. Circuses and Bread  is fairly typical of The Durutti Column's early eighties work, in that it is dominated by Reilly's deft, electric arpeggios, which at times take on Jazz-oriented inflections, but more often than not, spin beautifully ornate, crisp melodies that may shine on the surface but also reverberate with regret and despair. For example, on "Royal Infirmary," Reilly's lovely, melodic guitar work is joined by piano and trumpet, creating a spaciously dark and moody soundscape that is hard to shake once the song ends. While primarily an instrumental album, Circuses and Bread does contain one of Reilly's better-known vocal turns on "Tomorrow," a gloomy ode to a love that dies on the vine; this is a song deserving of a far better fate than the relative obscurity it now wallows in. Truly one of the most distinctive bands of the eighties.

Nicolas Jaar- Space Is Only Noise (2011) MP3 & FLAC

More fascinating pastiche than anything else, Nicolas Jaar's debut Space Is Only Noise is too introverted to be labeled techno and too spaciously comfortable to be labeled minimalist. However, Jaar is clearly out to deconstruct such genre-reifying labels, and does so by weaving together disparate textures such as subterranean beats, glitches and static, impressionistic piano passages, stringed instruments, heavily treated vocals, ambient recordings, and samples to create a strangely cohesive and stunningly singular listening experience. Don't let the breakbeats fool you, this is music that quietly demands to be contemplated rather than quickly consumed. Needless to say, this is quite a contrarian move for someone considered to be one of the rising young stars on the techno scene. Highly recommended.

Tim Hecker- Ravedeath, 1972 (2011) MP3 & FLAC

Aside from having one the best album titles I've heard in awhile, Ravedeath, 1972 represents Tim Hecker's finest work in the minimalist Electronic vein. That eye-catching title reveals much about the music, in that it signifies, among other things, temporal displacement, the way past and future perpetually act upon and redefine each other. Recorded in a church, the album reverberates with the spaciousness of such a structure, but does so sounding both strangely organic and highly treated. As with much of Hecker's work, Ravedeath, 1972 is deceptively ambient. What I mean by this is that the compositions refuse any sense of linear progression or any trace of hierarchy among elements; however, they also insist on and reward one's close attention. "Cathedral Electronic," maybe, but Hecker's gift is to be both philosophical and visceral while never being aggressive about either.

Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd- The Moon and the Melodies (1986) MP3 & FLAC -For Issi-

The Moon and the Melodies occupies an odd place in the Cocteau Twins' discography: while it contains a few of the band's better songs (e.g. "She Will Destroy You"), it was completely overlooked by Robin Guthrie when he remastered the Cocteau Twins catalog several years back. This slight reiterates its undeserved reputation as an inessential "ambient" album. While The Moon and the Melodies is not necessarily successful as a collaborative effort, in that it seems quite tentative in integrating the Cocteau Twins' unique vocal and guitar arrangements into Harold Budd's Eno-esque ambient soundscapes and vice versa, it does contain some memorable work by everyone involved. The final track, "Ooze Out and Away, Onehow" is, in particular, not to be missed.

Forest Swords- Dagger Paths + Rattling Cage EP (2010) MP3 & FLAC

While bearing a passing resemblance to the Post-Rock-meets-Dub palette of bands such as Labradford and Bowery Electric, Matthew Barnes' Forest Swords project effectively transcends such comparisons by integrating Post-Punk, Kraut-Rock, Reggae, R&B, and Techno influences into its reverb-drenched mix. Barnes' spiderweb-spinning guitar work coupled with the Dub-heavy atmospherics on tracks such as "Miarches" and "Glory Gongs" sounds something like Tom Verlaine in low gear fronting a space-rock band produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry. What Barnes does best on Dagger Paths is create some dark, atmospheric gems, all deftly structured around a surprisingly unique mix of influences. Yes, it is clearly indebted, in the guitar-atmospherics department, to Verlaine's instrumental work on, for example, Around and Warm and Cool; however, there is something dynamic and original about the EP, which has me highly anticipating Forest Swords' next move.

Labradford- Mi Media Naranja (1997) MP3 & FLAC

Not quite Ambient, not quite Post-Rock, yet containing the best traits of both, Labradford's Mi Media Naranja creates a darkly-lit soundscape full of dusty, desolate expanses illuminated by Mark Nelson's melancholy spaghetti-western melodies. While certainly minimalist in approach, this is music that rewards familiarity because each track is fleshed out with many subtle details that only unfurl with repeated listens. For example, on the surface, the gorgeous opening track, "S," sounds something like a Morricone-inspired lullaby; however, just beneath the twang can be heard the rumble of a volcanic watery drone counterpoised with a high-pitched electronic bell effect ringing out a faint Dub-style beat. This oblique arrangement creates both a sense of formlessness and movement, making the song instantly memorable but even more revelatory on the second listen. Labradford really came into their own on this album, trading in the cluttered gloom of earlier releases for a more cinematic journey into the abyss. Highly recommended.

Brian Eno Series, #9: Robert Fripp & Brian Eno: No Pussyfooting (1973) Limited Ed. (Bonus Disc) MP3 & FLAC

Robert Fripp and Brian Eno's first collaborative effort was recorded while Eno was hard at work on his first solo album, Here Come the Warm Jets, and it marks not only Fripp's first foray into what would later come to be known as "frippertronics," but it also marks Eno's first experimental/Ambient recording. The music was created using two Revox tape recorders set up to play recorded sounds randomly and on a continuing loop, the volume descending slightly with each iteration in order to create a decay effect. On top of this repetitive yet dynamic soundscape, Fripp's beautifully serpentine guitar solos weave in and out, sometimes joining and melting into the loop themselves. While not entirely original (Terry Riley had experimented with this method years earlier), on No Pussyfooting, this all works to great affect, especially on "The Heavenly Music Corporation" suite, perhaps my favorite piece of "Ambient" music; with its melancholy drone and Fripp's aeronautical guitar antics, this is music paying homage to the depthless beauty of the arbitrary.

Tim Hecker- Haunt Me Haunt Me, Do It Again (2001) MP3 & FLAC

Haunt Me Haunt Me Do It Again bears little resemblance to Tim Hecker's previous output as Jetone, a minimalist-leaning Techno-based project that is also well worth seeking out. Recording for the first time under his own name, Hecker makes a radical departure into minimalist ambient territory, but such a description does little justice to the cavernous depths and glacial beauty that characterize this recording from start to finish. While lacking any trace of traditional song structure, each track is shaded with many layers of textural detail that make the album surprisingly accessible and conducive to repeated listens. Every percussive effect, every glitch, every plunked piano key reveals the vast sense of space woven into the music. This gives the album a bottomless feel, pulling the listener in but never fully revealing its depths. Completely belying its laptop origins, this is Electronic music at its best.

Brian Eno Series, #6: Brian Eno- Ambient 1: Music for Airports (1978) MP3 & FLAC

One of the most intriguing aspects of Brian Eno's Ambient work is its acknowledgment of the functionality of art rather than simply its purpose. Traditionally, a work of art assumes an engaged audience; in other words, the purpose (and perceived value) of an artwork relates to its status as an object of aesthetic and/or intellectual contemplation. All of the reviews I've written (and will write) for this blog operate on this assumption. However, Eno's Ambient work attempts to explore the functionality of an artwork. To do so, Eno hit on the idea of a form of music that would be complex enough to reward the contemplative listener at louder volumes, but would, at lower volumes, function more as an acoustic texture or color, blending into the background of an environment, not as mere background noise but as a textural element creating the kind of ambiance a painting, a sculpture, or even a bookcase full of books lends to a space even when not an object of direct attention. Ambient 1: Music for Airports has much to offer the listener in terms of both purpose and function, so don't be fooled; this is very listenable and often very evocative music that is well worth your time.

Brian Eno Series, #5: Brian Eno & David Byrne- My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) MP3 & FLAC

A hybrid work through and through, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts revolutionized the concept of "World" music by exploring what it could be rather than preaching what it should be. By wedding African-inspired percussion (sometimes played with found objects such as a frying pan) to Funk-inspired compositions, as well as utilizing a vast array of vocal samples (also groundbreaking), Brian Eno and David Byrne carry out a relentless assault on the fetishistic notion of cultural purity.  Whereas previous "Western" attempts to engage the music of other cultures tended to treat these music forms as museum artifacts, Eno & Byrne highlight the fact that all culture is in some sense a mash-up, constantly in conversation with other cultures and therefore perpetually in flux. While this is heresy to preservationists, what it does is open our ears to the limitless possibilities of such conversations. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was one of the first pop recordings to borrow freely and explicitly from multiple cultural sources in the effort to create something new, something unforeseen. In doing so, it laid the groundwork for, among other things, Paul Simon's next muse and all the Vampire Weekends of the future.

Brian Eno Series, #2: Brian Eno- Small Craft on a Milk Sea (2010) Limited Ed. Box (Bonus Disc) MP3 & FLAC

I'm not sure whether Small Craft on a Milk Sea is best described as a return to form for Brian Eno or a case of self-reflection on his groundbreaking 70s ambient work coupled with a nod to contemporary Electronic music. Whichever it is (and why can't it be both?), this album pleasantly surprised me, especially given that it is, in part, comprised of some rejected soundtrack compositions. When Small Craft on a Milk Sea tries to sound contemporary (a move which more often than not makes an album sound dated), it tends to go percussive, really percussive compared to the more obviously Eno-esque ambient tracks. Occasionally, this undermines the album's cohesiveness; however, the highlights manage to do Eno's back-catalog justice, making this more than just another easily forgotten release by an elder-statesman of sound manipulation. The