Top 3 CDs from 2015
Ok so as usual
it’s tough to get it whittled down to just three favs from the year. I wish I
could include Motorhead’s Bad Magic (which is a fantastic record) in the list
to honor Lemmy’s passage to another plane but that would be a lie. Sorry Lem,
but these ones had it over you. I owe you another beer when I join you in the
beyond.
3. Twink-Dust Bunny
Ok so once again
Twink hits the top three. This is the best Twink album yet. There was a crowd
funding campaign for the record, which I gladly participated in. There is a
cracking good vinyl pressing of the album which really lends itself to the
production of this album. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the vinyl lathe
cut that supporters could get. It is four extra tracks pressed on a square
record that sound just a wee bit different whenever you play it. Wild!
Now to the music.
Wow! Yes, there is the usual Twink joy and fun but there is also a lite
melancholy hanging around some of the tracks. The sad beauty of the death and
rebirth of seasons are evoked from funked out toy piano sounds. Emberglow opens
the album with a leave covered tinkling of toy piano keys. It’s hard to list
standout tracks here as they all feel like they have a beautiful flow from one
to the next like a passage of musical seasons. Amazing stuff.
2. Steven Wilson- Hand. Cannot. Erase.
Usually
when Mr. Wilson puts out a record it’s almost guaranteed to be my favorite
musical slice for the year. Sorry Steven, but you came in second this time out.
Now let’s chat
about this brilliant record shall we? The deluxe edition of this record is the
best multi-media package that I have ever seen bar none. Books within the
booklet, Blu Ray content, an envelope stuffed with a letter, bonus tracks, blog
content, hidden coordinates that point to the ocean, there is just a ton of
depth here. Yeah I meant that pun.
The
music itself has a modern vibe as filtered through Steven’s wonderful musical
lenses. There are a lot of keys, choirs, along with some raw heavy guitars.
Routine is a standout track chronicling the daily struggle to exist for someone
who lost their entire family. Steven thinks it’s the prettiest sad song he ever
wrote. I’d have to go through his whole catalogue to see what I think, but it
is up there. Sad beauty indeed and food for thought. How do humans cope when
all they had is gone?
The story of the
album follows a young artistic girl who moves to London to try to disappear
into life. There is the possibility that she is being stalked by strange
creatures called the Visitors who promise to take her away somewhere magical
but yet… some of the people they took in the past have returned only to die. Or
maybe that’s all in her head. Steven leaves it up to the listener to decide.
Personally I think they’re evil scum bags trying to mess up her life for their
own ends.
It’s filled with a
clean modern sound and texture throughout which makes sense given the modern
theme of the record.
1. Nik Turner Space Fusion Odyssey
This is space rock
meets jazz-fusion in another galaxy. This is the sound
of space awesome. So many musical
guest stars groove in and out of this record it would be a crime not to mention
a few. So here we go; Robbie Krieger (if you don’t know who he is please don’t read
this blog ever again), Kephera Moon and Nicky Garratt (part of the engine of
Hedersleben), Steve Hillage (the guy who created the brilliant record Fish
Rising), Chris Poland (from Megadeth), and boatloads more.
Before
diving in too deep to the record I want to throw out some high praise for the
inner cd poster. It’s amazing and practically indescribable in its nutty
insanity.
Let’s
get to the tunes. This is primarily an instrumental affair as it should be with
this kind of deep cosmic ridden jazz. This is the sounds of Miles Davis’s
Bitch’s Brew meets Hawkwind on the set of a lost 60’s science fiction flick.
Over all of it Nik’s sax coated in flange and phaser roars like a spaced out
dragon except when his sonic flute is drifting through it.
The
stand out track of stand out tracks on this slab of astounding is, An
Elliptical Galaxy. It has old school menacing sci-fi synths, swirling bleeps,
jazz guitar scorch, throbbing drums and bass, and a skonking, squeaking, out of
this world sax. This track is a powerful soundscape of other world fusions. Dig
this song Earth people!
Pulsar
is a rip-roaring blast off into the outer reaches of jazz-rock space out music.
There is a quick riffing dive through hyperspace sax stomps with drum rolling
fill-laden punches. Nik also lets fly with some great flute on this tune too.
This
record should be played whenever mankind first steps on a planet outside of our
solar system. That’s how far in the future this music is.
Ok so that’s 2015.
Maybe 2016 will bring us a new Trance to the Sun record!
There was a great
batch of releases this year. Honorable mention goes to Brainticket’s latest
release Past, Present, and Future. It was amazing but it couldn’t topple the
power of Twink!
Yours in the joy of the sounds of
2015,
Count Robot
