Uncommon music criticized by the common man. (Or, exercises in futility masquerading as critical thought.)

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Put Your Face Where We Can See It, Put It On A Show On Cable

You know what you should be listening to? The new El-P album, I'll Sleep When You're Dead. It's one of the best sounding records I've heard this year; El-P's production skills have gotten even better. As an MC, he is still kind of hit or miss (more of the former), but the sounds he creates are just bugged out. Whether or not it will stick with me as much as Fantastic Damage did remains to be seen, but seems likely at this point.

You wanna know what else sounds really good? The latest album from Of Montreal. They are becoming another favorite of mine, as the quality of their albums are consistently high. Heck, even Outback Steakhouse loves them. Wait...I'm sorry, my producer is saying that's not a ringing endorsement. Well, regardless, Of Montreal is still worth your time.

The Minsk album to which I referred in the previous post, called The Ritual Fires of Abandonment, is also highly recommended. Almost as densely packed as the El-P record, but heavier and with a more plodding pace that can be wearing on the uninitiated. However, if you have the patience and about an hour to kill, you can do worse than giving this disc a spin.

Lastly, I've finally dipped into the 33 1/3 book series, reading two volumes this past weekend. Both were well written, giving behind the scenes looks into the bands and the circumstances leading up to the recording of their landmark albums. I'll be picking up more volumes soon.