#6 Ne Obliviscaris – Portal Of I
What we have here apart from being the only
Australian band on the list (our land is girt by sea rah rah rah) is an
extraordinarily complex chef d'oeuvre and guess what? This particular band
features something not seen all too often by bands of the metal persuasion
which is a violinist, something which I’m sure has left you all reeling. The
violin stands out in the eruditely named track ‘And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope’ and frankly speaking the song
is a bit of a bastard child as it flits between genres almost anarchically, but
in the end it all fits together like eccentrically flamboyant puzzle pieces. This
is an album where no song follows the old verse, chorus layout. Each song
frolics freely in the meadows not too unlike a careless gazelle, gracefully
jumping about from side to side soaring higher and higher with each leap. It
can at times hit you with the subtlety of a concrete turd and at others
titillatingly caress your cochlea gently like a sultry, nubile concubine.
Ne
Obliviscaris are without a doubt one of the more
innovative bands of the past ten years. This is also the only album on the list
to feature any kind of ‘screamo’
vocals so it definitely requires you to handle it with saccharine gauntlets and
not be too dismissive. This is definitely a band I’ll bang a promotional glockenspiel
for them long and hard until it falls apart into a heap of twisted metal and
shrapnel.
#5 Return to Forever – Romantic
Warrior
.
Every time I hear this album the sheer
technique bowls me over, and seeing videos of the band playing a live show on Youtube,
or whatever, vindicates my faith in their prodigious talents. Featuring
virtuosos Al Di Meola and Chick Corea, this brand of jazz fusion
has done well to integrate several genres into a beautiful musical turducken. (Corea having featured on a few of Miles Davis’s jazz classics such as; Bitch’s Brew and In a Silent Way, among several others and obviously has the chops
to be considered a phenomenal keyboardist) Being an all-instrumental album,
this allows you to concentrate and be stimulated by the carefully manicured
hands of this album as it massages your brain through its contours. Speaking
of, there are plenty of peaks, troughs and even the odd plateau with the opening
track kicking off slowly, and culminating with a virtuosic eruption of quavers.
This kind of rapid interplay between instrumentalists never fails to provide
listeners with a monolithic bout of tumescence.
Being loosely designed as a concept album
with a medieval theme (given away by the armoured paladin on the cover art I
guess) you can definitely feel this theme coming through strongly in tracks
such as The Magician’, and there is also an element of some
baroque instrumentation throughout the album which has to be seriously
considered as a glistening, ivory tower of a landmark in the jazz fusion
movement.
#4 Kraftwerk – The Man-Machine
As far as an electronic act goes, Kraftwerk are definitely one of the
most influential of all time which also means they are guilty of propagating
the rise of nefarious cultural pollutants such as dubstep. But I guess I can forgive them for this misdemeanour. Man Machine bucks the trend of the
albums that came before it in the way that it went for more complex rhythmic
patterns as opposed to the minimalistic stylings of some of their works
previous to this album. The vocals are simple and completely robotic, as Kraftwerk were known for doing most of
their vocal melodies through the use of a vocoder, and I find the robotic
invocation enchanting, akin to chanting the oracle of Delphi. I can understand
what people mean when they say they find the method of delivery languid but I
find that this style of delivery adds to the group’s overall charm.
Developing from the group’s krautrock
origins (Interesting little genre originating out of Germany and encompasses
various esoteric, but fantastic bands such as Can and Neu who are very
underground but definitely worth a listen), this album has seen a continued
eschewing of the previously utilized traditional band setup that featured
prominently in their menarche album as the only instruments featured are
keyboards and electronic drum-kits to make this a totally electronic affair,
which is what most people think of them as being anyway. Overall it is a rather
mellow offering which is often just what you’re looking for when you’ve awoken
after a night of festivities with a hell of a katzenjammer or perusing through your
rumpology textbook, or what have you.
#3 Antonio Vivaldi – Four Seasons
There has been a study done on the
purported wonders that classical music does for the mind, and interestingly
enough this phenomenon has been termed the ‘Mozart
Effect’ which is sure to do wonders for the man’s ego. Especially since he
has long since succumbed to the irresistible force of the grim reaper. Published in 1725, this has gone on to be one
of the most popular concertos of the classical genre and with good reason too,
as the four seasons are accurately captured in each of the movements
(personally Winter is a favourite with the high pinched notes acting as a kind
of onomatopoeia for a blizzard as the sleet comes bucketing down and there’s
similar effects throughout all of the movements) and each one slithers into the
front of your consciousness like an ameliorating snake with such subtlety, as
is typical of the classical genre.
I anticipate that many of you will have
heard at least the Spring movement in the various commercial that it is been
shoehorned into and probably even if you’ve ever been put on hold by Telstra or
a similar bunch of charlatans. Each season is allotted three movements and if
it so tickles your fancy there is a sonnet that accompanies each concerto
(quite uncommon in classical music although this poem is basically never heard
in recordings), that can be easily found through a quick google search. The
whole suite is brimming with a certain kind of celestial energy that can easily
be picked up on after one listen and along with Beethoven and Mozart, is
the perfect place to begin your foray into the lush arboretum of classical
music.
#2 Air – Moon Safari
Yes, a French album. Before you all start
squawking, hollering and shitting through the curtains like errant parrots, I
can confirm that the lyrics on this record are in English so shush. This is
definitely a serene compilation of tranquil tracks that would also be apt for
airing in a padded cell in San Quentin, to help calm down a rowdy convict from
trying to burst from the snuggly confines of his straitjacket. While it is true that this album is shrouded
in a shimmering aura of ethereal electronic pulses which can melt your ears
into a satisfied puddle, it isn’t the kind of slow soothing gaggle of beats
that you’d expect from Dirty Three or
Brian Eno that you’d listen to as you
ride an elevator to your office and it’s good that they’ve struck a balance
here. A calming opiate for the mind if you will. This is what makes this brand
of electronica different. It’s definitely not the kind of music you can head to
a nightclub and rave to until the crack of dawn while high on methylenedioxymethamphetamine (same with The Man-Machine), but it does have some
slight similarities with more “hardstyle” techno music in the beats that
feature throughout the album.
From a popular music standpoint, the standout tracks
can be considered to be Kelly Watch The
Stars and Sexy Boy, indeed they
are the most likely to be played on FM radio. But the primo track on the album
for me is the opener La femme d'argent
which covers you in a substance not too dissimilar to
glucose which I am going to boldly name peaceful ambience that will hit you
square in the head with a boulder of serenity.
#1 Tool – Lateralus
Definitely the most perplexingly profoundly
recondite record I’ve plonked in on this here list without delving into the
realm of Captain Beefheart. Tool are totally what one would call
‘metal for the thinking man’, which is another way of saying ‘not very
accessible’, but they’re worth the perseverance and repeated listens. This is
definitely a band that has transcended the mundane into the empyreal firmament,
in a bold defiance of established trends. Interestingly enough, the title track
is widely lauded, and a little known fact is that it incorporates the Fibonacci sequence in everything from
the time signatures (of which there are several, interchanging in and out
repeatedly like a neurotic insomniac checking under their bed for a rapacious
succubus) of the song, and the way the lyrics are aligned to syllabically unfurl.
This is also prominent drummer Danny
Carey’s standout album as words struggle to describe the incredible
technique this man brings to the percussive arts, especially in songs such as Ticks and Leeches, Disposition and also the title track.
Rising out of the zeitgeist of the early nineties,
where they were certainly interlopers in a flannel plaid nirvana (hehe), they
were definitely standouts in the Southern California scene for their seemingly
out of place musical intricacy and labyrinthian epics.
Article By. Patrick Ogisi
