1. The Casket Lottery – Black Heart Wench Of Death – Dot Dot Dash Something Or Other (1999)
The Casket Lottery are an indie rock band started by two former bass players of pioneering metalcore band Coalesce. Stacy Hilt and the guy who replaced him in that band, Nathan Ellis, started working together in 1998, and Dot Dot Dash Something Or Other was their first official EP. What was so intriguing about this material was the weird approach they took to indie rock, carrying over the complex characteristics that defined Coalesce’s music, but straying away from what would be typically defined as Math-Rock. “Black Heart Wench Of Death” has this weird little extra fraction of a beat thrown in during the intro and outro sections that catches listeners by surprise until they are familiar with it. The bass tone is incredible too.
2. Ache – Green Man – Green Man (1971)
Denmark had a really deep and interesting psychedelic and prog-rock rock scene in the 70s. I came across Ache while checking out one of surprisingly many compilations of “Danskrock” bands. Green Man is their second album and from what I have read, their most critically and commercially successful. The title track has a nice poppy, Kinks-esque groove to it, but also delves into spacey guitar solos and a driving Hammond organ that would make Procol Harum proud.
3. Nels Cline – Flesh Recipe – These Films Don’t Exist But Their Music Does
I stumbled across this “officially unofficial” Nels Cline CD at a thrift store and could find no information on it. Literally none. It’s not even listed on Discogs, which is more or less unheard of in this digital age. With nothing else to go on, I e-mailed Nels’ management company but assumed nothing would come of that. I actually got a response telling me that These Films Don’t Exist But Their Music Does was an album that he had recorded for fun, intended for friends and family, though a small number did make it out to select independent record stores. None of the material sounds anything like what you would expect from Nels Cline, and that’s because every track is a musical cue for a film that doesn’t exist. In fact, each track is actually credited to a different fake movie. “Flesh Recipe,” the darkest and most industrial sounding, claims to be from Fry Cook II: Into The Fire. And while that may sound like a last resort Netflix pick, the music comes off sounding closer to something from Lost Highway or Twin Peaks: The Return. I’d love to hear Nels Cline do more of this stuff.
4. Charlie Parr – Over The Red Cedar – Stumpjumper (2015)
Charlie Parr plays the blues, and I don’t mean some boring twelve bar blues you hear a dad band play at the local dive on a Wednesday night. I mean some serious good old-fashioned Son House and Blind Willie McTell blues. And his originals sound as old as the cover tunes he plays from the old timers. Want to hear the best version of the widely played traditional song “Moonshiner?” Here you go. But Stumpjumper, his sixteenth (give or take) album, is one of his greatest achievements. On it Charlie has a group backing him, which isn’t typical of his albums, but the added percussion plays perfectly with his modified claw-hammer style picking. His lightning fast style is crazy to comprehend, even when you’ve seen it live, and his lyrics about down trodden Middle Americans are wholly endearing. Charlie Parr is a national treasure.
5. Shabaka And The Ancestors – OBS – Wisdom Of Elders (2016)
When I was in Austin for the ACL festival, a write up in the guide for a band I had never heard of caught my attention. On a whim, I left the group I was with, wandered over to the smallest stage of the fest, and watched some sort of spaced out synth driven electronic jazz trio led by an enigmatic saxophone player. I can’t remember what they were described as, but I do recall thinking it didn’t give justice to what I had just seen. The group was called The Comet Is Coming. I immediately texted my friend, a big jazz aficionado, about what I had just seen and, of course, he already knew what I was talking about. Not only that, he recommended I check out an album the sax player, Shabaka Hutchins, had done with a group of South African musicians. That was this album by Shabaka And The Ancestors, which finds him leaning more on tradition than electronics, but by no means is it anything conventional. There are hints of everything from bop to afro-beat and psychedelia, and as evidenced by the track here, “OBS,” as it spirals into a noisy, delay driven spaciness, the group isn’t afraid to get weird.
6. Cluster & Eno – Fur Elise – Cluster & Eno (1977)
In the mid 70s Brian Eno started exploring the more ambient territory of music that he became known for, shifting away from his earlier more rock-based approach. Another Green World and Discreet Music were his first steps into the more ethereal sonic textures, but his collaboration with the German experimental group Cluster proved to be highly influential. Cluster existed on the fringes of Krautrock and, like their more famous peers in Kraftwerk, helped to explore early electronic music through the experimental nature of that scene. It makes sense that Eno, with his interests in synthesizers, tape loops and sound manipulation, would have turned his attention towards what was happening in Germany and the reclusive Cluster was the perfect match. The cerebral soundscapes they created together should not be overlooked in the grand scheme of ambient music. Keep in mind Eno’s Ambient 1 would be released the following year.
7. Will Johnson – The Watchman – Swan City Vampires (2015)
Will Johnson is one of those guys who just shows up everywhere but never gets his proper due. His band Centro-matic and their alter ego South San Gabriel have put together an extensive catalog of really great albums and even as a solo artist the guy is no slouch. The amount of credits he has to his name is insane. He was a member of The Monsters Of Folk, Overseas and New Multitudes alongside the likes of Jim James, Conner Oberst, David Bazan, Vic Chestnut and Jay Farrar; he’s contributed to Drive By Truckers albums; and he’s even had former Trucker superstar Jason Isbell cover one of his songs on Sirius Radio. Yet, somehow he remains this enigma in the music world. He will come around playing peoples living rooms and then show up in town a few months later opening for Bob Mould at the music hall. Hey people, pay attention: Will Johnson is your favorite artists favorite artist.
8. Nels Cline – Breezy Country – These Films Don’t Exist But Their Music Does
This is another one off that obscure Nels Cline CD I mentioned before. Again taking on a completely different personality, this is a nice alt-country inspired piece of indie cinematic music. The non-existent movie this one is from is called The Tumbling Of The Weeds. I can picture it - a nice B-roll shot of an open pasture with ghostly bluish mountains hovering in the background. Or something like that.
9. Ektroverde – Kapituli – Ukkossalama (2003)
Ektroverde are part of the extended family created by Finnish weirdo rockers Circle. Like everything those fellows are associated with, Ektroverde defies any type of classification or genre. Ukkossalama sees the group pulling from a variety of different influences – Krautrock, psychedelic rock, jazz and indie all show up in one form or another. It’s difficult to tell if the songs are composed, improvised or some sort of combination. There is definitely a free-form jam type feel as the horns and guitars rise and fall over a bed of groove-laden rhythms. Think Miles Davis’ On The Corner on psilocybin.
10. Liima – David Copperfield – 1982 (2017)
Liima are the electronic side project of Danish art-rockers Efterklang. During Efterklang’s hiatus, the core trio of that group teamed up with Finnish percussionist Tatu Ronkko to make a pair of albums of synth heavy electronica. There’s definitely a Kraftwerk type vibe to the instrumental opening section of the song that takes up approximately half of its run time. Then the band kicks into ambient synth-heavy electronica. Like in Efterklang, vocalist Casper Claussen belts out strong, memorable melodies over the top, giving the latter half a poppy vibe.
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