DEVO's 9th studio album, their first in 20 years, market-tested to fans before release, is a solid comeback worthy of their enduring cultlike influence. Using signature robotic blips and distorted guitars, DEVO builds concise new-wave pop jams, cleverly packed with their reliably cynical, political lyrics. The band formed in 1973 at Kent State in Akron, Ohio as a comment on the devolution (get it?) of society. Something For Everybody was helmed by accomplished producer Greg Kurstin (of The Bird and the Bee), and features appearances from Santigold, John King of the Dust Brothers, and the Teddybears. Crack that whip!
DJ Shadow / Preemptive Strike / Mo'Wax / 1998
Before his critically-lauded 1996 full-length debut Endtroducing..... Davis, CA-based DJ Shadow (aka Josh Davis) released a series of singles on UK label Mo'Wax. Preemptive Strike is a collection of those singles, from 1991-1998, showcasing Shadow's turntablism and tremendous use of samples to create groundbreaking instrumental hip-hop. Building on funk, jazz, ambient music, test records and other found sounds, he assembles something truly special and unique. DJ Shadow is a cratedigger extraordinaire; if there's any curiosity, looking up the list of sample sources for this album is highly recommended.
Pink Floyd / Wish You Were Here / Columbia / 1975
Wish You Were Here is the beautiful, perfect follow-up to the enormously successful Dark Side of the Moon. The five tracks are musically uncomplicated, showcasing the band's blues roots, bookended within a glacially-paced suite of synth-washed songs. There's a meditative, comforting quality to the work, which itself is groundbreaking for the era in terms of technology and track length. Syd Barrett, the band's founding singer/songwriter/guitarist who left the group after a drug-fueled mental breakdown in 1968, serves as the inspiration for the album. (Ironically, the last time any of the band members saw Barrett was when he arrived unexpectedly during the sessions for "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and no one initially recognized him due to a massive weight gain and completely shorn body hair. He died in 2006.)
Eels / Souljacker / DreamWorks / 2002
This is the 4th full-length of catchy Beck-style pop songs from singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E. The majority of the album is fun music--funky canned beats, distorted guitars--paired with meditative lyrics. E revels in dynamics, swerving from a cacaphony to a whisper in the same small space. Reportedly the words for Souljacker came to E while attending a spiritual retreat at which he was not permitted to write or speak; he broke the rules when the inspiration was too great to deny. E's father is quantum physicist Hugh Everett, who first formulated the Many-Worlds Interpretation, and at age 18 E was first on the scene of his father's fatal heart attack. Furthermore, E's sister was was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and took her own life in 1996, while his cousin was a flight attendant who was on the plane that struck the Pentagon on 9/11/2001. Souljacker, indeed.
Mclusky / My Pain and Sadness are More Sad and Painful Than Yours / Fuzzbox / 2000
This is the first of Mclusky's three full-length albums of post-punk, showing their early range between ferocious screamers and contemplative indie rock. Formed in 1996 in Cardiff, Wales and disbanded in 2004, Mclusky were noted for their incendiary live shows along with a sharp, dark sense of humor. In all, they were a literate, heavy rock band with a flair for the dramatic and a flirtation with pop appeal, placing them squarely in the midst of their influences: the Pixies, The Jesus Lizard, Nirvana, and Shellac (all projects recorded by Chicago's Steve Albini, who soon recorded Mclusky's next two albums). After the band split, Andy "Falco" Falkous (vocals, guitar) and Jack Egglestone (drums) went on to form Future of the Left in Cardiff, while bassist Jonathan Chapple moved his band Shooting At Unarmed Men to Australia.
Neutral Milk Hotel / On Avery Island / Merge / 1996
This is the first of two full-length albums of lo-fi indie rock from the mysterious and elusive singer/songwriter Jeff Mangum. A part of the Elephant 6 pop collective, he is joined by Robert Schneider of the Apples In Stereo. The result is a sonically fuzzy, distorted recording of passionate nasal singing and poetic lyrics full of natural imagery, pain and longing. It is nearly psychedelic, and incorporates Lewis Carroll-esque wordplay. Mangum hails from Ruston, Louisiana, and named this release after Avery Island, a salt dome in the southern part of the state (where Tabasco sauce comes from, incidentally).
