Música: Rock & Roll/Garage Rock Revival

Comentário AM:

Released at a time when "low-fi" still meant the Mary Chain, and garage rock was largely ill-defined Cramps copyists, the Artist Formerly Known As Wreckless Eric bounced back from five years of more-or-less obscurity with an album that still defies easy categorization. No matter that most of the lessons taught by the Len Bright Combo have long since been absorbed into the mainstream, nor that everyone from Mudhoney and Sonic Youth to whichever unrepentant noisemakers are most hip this week, owes the Combo a massive stylistic debt. Still, The Len Bright Combo Present the Len Bright Combo by the Len Bright Combo represents the peerless merging of pristine pop songwriting and deathless aural terrorism, the most impressive album of that ilk since the Velvet Underground first sent the recording level unstoppably into the red — and the last to do it so gracefully.There is nothing contrived or awkward about this album. Its sonic credentials may be primitive mono, but that's because the songs, not the style, demanded it. From the maniacal Euro-bop of "Someone Must Have Nailed Us Together," a song so singalong that even confirmed hermits love it, to the shattered punk of "The Golden Hour of Harry Secombe," the album has that timeless aura that could have been composed and cut any time in the past 50 years — yes, the entire history of rock & roll is here and, if the bellicose savagery of "Young, Upwardly Mobile...and Stupid" is dated by the then-(mid-'80s) faddishness of its title, then the deceptively acoustic "Lureland" catapults the listener back to 1950s England, where family vacations to the seaside were transformed in the child's imagination to assault courses of sand castles, rock pools, and demented old men cracking skulls with their walking sticks.Seek out The Len Bright Combo Present the Len Bright Combo by the Len Bright Combo in Wreckless Eric's discography, and it's just one album among many, and there's not a hit single in sight. Experience it in person, however, cranked up loud with your mind's eye wide open, and it's records like this that make music worth hearing. And nothing else will sound so great for days. And this is THE Double album ! Another Rock & Roll Gem.

5

Wreckless Eric - Len Bright Combo [1986/2004]

Música: Techno/IDM/Detroit Techno/Club Dance

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A bright, shimmering epic where critics and fans had expected more moody breakbeat electro, the debut Carl Craig LP appeared after years of production work and marked the first of many times when Craig was obviously making his own way, oblivious to what critics might think. Beginning with the sounds of an automobile starting up on "Mind of a Machine" (complete with warning bells and a seatbelt click), Craig introduces us to his man-machine world, where cruising I-96 west of Detroit is a sublime night-time journey, conjuring visions of Trans-Europe Express and "Strings of Life" instead of What's Going On. The single "Science Fiction," "Technology," the title track and "Einbahn" continue the journey to its close back in the garage. Landcruising was a change-up for critics, but as usual, Craig proved up to the expectations.

5

Carl Craig - Landcruising [1995]

Música: Soundtracks/Original Score

Comentário AM:

This is one of the prettiest albums I've listened to. I only occassionally buy soundtracks, but I can't stop listening to this one. Partly it reminds me of the movie and how I loved it, how I felt when I left the theatre, which was uplifted. But even by itself, the music - by Devotchka in particular - is gorgeous, and just puts me in the best mood. It's the sort of orchestral instrumentals that make you want to hum along, or maybe swing your arms wildly as if you're the maestro! I'll admit I usually skip over the non-Devotchka songs and scores, but that's only a few songs. Highly recommended - soundtrack as well as movie!

4.5

VA - Little Miss Sunshine - OST [2006] [DEX UPDATED... AGAIN]

Música: Soundtracks/Eastern Europe/Gypsy/Musical Comedy

Comentário AM:

Sacha Baron Cohen blurs the lines between reality and satire once again on the soundtrack — or rather, "Stereophonic Musical Listenings That Have Been Origin in Moving Film" — to Borat. The album mixes authentic Eastern European music, such as Esma Redzepova's "Chaje Shukarije" with Cohen's own twisted songs like the hearty singalong "In My Country There Is Problem (Throw the Jew Down the Well)," and pieces that fall somewhere in between, like Fanfare Ciocarlia's Gypsy take on "Born to Be Wild." In between are hilarious, mostly unprintable excerpts of Borat's racist, sexist dialogue, but the funniest thing about Borat is how seamlessly the music moves between unintentional and intentional comedy. O.M.F.O's mix of electronics and Eastern European melodies is so strangely perky on its own that it's hard not to crack a smile, but the juxtaposition with Borat's own cheesy-creepy love song "You Be My Wife" is brilliant. Borat ends up being an affectionate parody of Eastern European music with just enough musical accuracy to ensure credibility as well as laughs.

4

VA - Borat - OST [2006]