Audio files: The abstract non-event of a new album; the slow strangulation of the mind
It’s rare that I stumble upon an album in the same year it’s released. That happened more often when I was younger. Back then, time moved more slowly. Polaroids and phone booths were the proud faces of instant gratification. If I wanted some gossip on the pending divorce of David Lee Roth and Van Halen, I had to wait for Rockline or buy an issue of Hit Parader while grocery shopping with my mom at Cub Foods.
These days, the tsunami of instantly available information makes it tough to stay current. Moreover, bands and labels package and distribute music in more abstract ways than in 1987, when Debbie Gibson made your Jim Dog quiver.
So what follows is a list of albums released in 2010 that I never sat down and gave proper attention to. They zipped right by me. Had they come out 25 years ago, I would’ve known every track by heart.
Massive Attack, Heligoland
Says the Internet: “Recently, Massive Attack were banned from advertising their new album, Heligoland, on the London Underground because the album’s cover art apparently looked like graffiti.”
No surprise, I guess, given that Britain is happily becoming a soft totalitarian state.
The Knife, Tomorrow in a Year
According to the Webosphere, this CD is an opera “based on the life and work of Charles Darwin, with some pieces inspired by Richard Dawkins‘ gene trees. The music is comprised of both electronic sounds and field recordings.”
Sade, Soldier of Love
Sources say “…the title track…is a six-minute epic, punctuated by strings and a menacing guitar, with a dance-y, sorrowful vibe that is powered by the sheer agony and lioness tone that is Sade.“
Brian Eno, Small Craft on a Milk Sea
Pop Matters opines that this rekkid “gives us the classically transportive experience that Brian Eno excels in creating. It begs to be listened to as a whole, so that one can track the emotional trajectory of the album, moving with Eno from mildly stoned contentment to burgeoning paranoia, to explosive frustration and back again.”
R. Kelly, Love Letter
The All-Music nerds note that “Kelly’s tenth studio album is tame by his standard. It’s easily the least sexually charged album in his discography, ideal for those who admire him as a singer, arranger, and producer but tune out the fantastical come-ons. Packaged like a classic ‘60s album, a handful of songs are clearly designed to evoke the sound of that era…“
For more on the music of 2010, consider Greg Gutfeld’s “best of” list.
For a slow strangulation of the mind, watch me play bass.
For a hott sultry song, click here.
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Recently I played Eno’s latest to my beard and while the music was insufficiently bearded for him to get fully engaged, he did remark that it reminded him a lot of Music for Films 3, a record in Eno’s catalogue few people are ever reminded of.
He also lamented the nondescript contributions of Eno’s faceless, bland collaborators.
On the other hand, he said it was a lot better than the wretched Eno/Byrne collaboration of 2 years back, which was so bland and old man-ish it made Dire Straits sound like Fantomas in comparison.