TOP 5 LIST

[KlingKlangBedlam]

This is a forum asking your top 5 favorite CD's of all time and current favorites (that have come out this year). Here's mine to start off:
ALL TIME:
(1). Das Ich-"Antichrist". I've always loved Das Ich, but felt they were yet to reach that perfect crescendo. Well,this is their coup de grace, a perfect CD through and through. A great mix of opera and industrial with their usual razor-sharp yet enigmatic German lyrics.

(2). Fektion Fekler-"Kling Klang Bedlam". Still after all these years perhaps the pinnacle of what electro-industrial should be: fun yet starkly emotive and ever changing. No filler at all on this one, and the hidden track is a trip in the surreal.

(3). La Floa Maldita-"Destination Heaven". If you hear Rhea sing you know why they call French the language of love. Divine ethereal vocals sung mostly in French over a nice mix of electro-pop and classical/darkwave. People compare Rhea to Sarah McLaughlin. Sara McLaughlin is laughable before Rhea,believe me there is no comparing to Rhea's vocals or Guido's sounds! Absolute perfection to say the least and the perfect album for a Paris night, a night with your lover, or anything dealing with the divine in life.

(4). Diary Of Dreams-"One Of 18 Angels". Adrian Hates' epic of darkness and surreal pain painted in metaphorical lyrics. Very dark very tense, a great display of emotion and electronics clashing together, all with Adrian's suicidal Barry White vocals.

(5). Haujobb-"Matrix". One of the most intriguing CD's ever made and one of the oddest as well. A strange mix of minimalism and ambient set over diverse and changing techno atmospheres, very entrancing. you can dance to it but feel a sense of warped energy to it, and with each listen you notice a different sound layer. Futuristic,freeflowing,warping,shifting and visionary are all words to describe it. "99" is also highly recommended.


Top 5 picks of this Year:
(1). Das Ich-"Antichrist"
(2). Stoa-"Zal"
(3). TOY-"Space Radio"
(4). Chandeen-"Bikes And Pyramids"
(5). Hocico-"Signos De Abbrecion" (US release)

[BigBlock454]

Fektion Fekler "Kling Klang Bedlam"  -  so that's where your name comes from...

Kling Klang was the name of Kraftwerk's studio in the 1970s  -  they now seem to use it as the name of their range of consumer products.
http://www.kraftwerk.com/  

[BigBlock454]

ALL-TIME TOP 5

1.  "The Faust Tapes" by FAUST.
An amazing journey through avant-garde music, fast edits / music concrete / heavy electronics / ur-punk / and acoustic music in odd time signatures...

2.  "Another Green World" by ENO.
The third of his four solo "song" albums, this shows the beginings of his ambient works, plus some fantastic tracks  -  such as "Sky Saw" and "Over Fire Island", where the music is treated as the basic block of sonic material which is then sculptured into shape by removing pieces.   And it features Percy Jones, the world's best fretless bass player, doing his best work.

3.  "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" by PINK FLOYD.
The first Floyd album, and the only one to fully feature original singer/guitarist Syd Barrett.  Barrett's songs, vocals and guitar playing are all stunning.  There was no-one else like him.  The track "Interstellar Overdrive" is apparently closest to what the Floyd sounded like live at this time.

4.  "Trout Mask Replica" by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART.
The avant-garde album that it's ok to like...  Beefheart locked the Magic Band in a shed for two months; improvised music on instruments he couldn't play; demanded that the band learn his music exactly; then rushed into Frank Zappa's studio and cut a double album straight off.  A mix of rock, blues, jazz, improv, music concrete, poetry and sheer weirdness.

5. "The Commercial Album" by THE RESIDENTS.
40 pieces of music, each one exactly one minute long. Some beautiful stuff here, very strange and moving.  Odd little vignettes, sung in strange voices, played on strange instruments.  And it is probably the easiest album by The Residents to get into.

ALBUMS RELEASED THIS YEAR ?
I haven't liked any albums released this year.  
I have bought a lot of CDs recently, and I think all of them were originally released before 1975...

[KlingKlangBedlam]

Righty-o,matey that's where my name came from. They are perhaps the most underated group of all time, with no web sites or anything like that. I am finally fixing that by working with the group on a web-site while learning Flash at the same time. I've played the CD at least 4-10 times a week for over 3 years now, alot of the time in rotation. It's positively addictive. I'll ask Robert if that is where the name came from, I was thinking that too,but from Kraftwerk's song "Kling Klang". The Fektion interview will be up soon,it's the one interview I've waited years to do. They have a special place in my heart.
Can't forget the classics,BigBlock, though I disagree on the last part. Skinny Puppy broke the mold way back in teh 80's going way past anything released in the 70's. But yeah the senses of daring in alot of music s gone nowadays, people are more concerned about making floor-fillers. I learned that last week,that goth is NOT made for clubs. Somebody will pull a Nirvana on the scene though and sweep that ethic out of the way. Or maybe not. I take it too you're probably a big fan of Tangerine Dream. And as an artist sometimes I like to go back to my old Kraftwerk CD's and just study the sheer minimalism on there for inspiration. I'd love to be in Paris right now to see them,it'd blow my world away.

[BigBlock454]

Not a huge Tangerine Dream fan  -  I have Phaedra and Rubicon but it's all a bit drifty and unfocussed for me.  I believe that their first four albums are more Krautrockish, but I don't know them.

I was listening to "Ralf und Florian" by Kraftwerk last night.  I particularly like "Trans-Europ Express" (the rhythms that inspired House Music) and "Man Machine".

[KlingKlangBedlam]

Busting out some "Radioactivity" right now. You have to love the classics, we owe everything to Kraftwerk in the electronic scene. Listening to Haujobb's "Matrix" you can tell some of the Kraftwerk influence a bit, with the blips and constrained beats. I bumped by a book called "I was A Robot" by Kraftwerk's drummer, which looks interesting. I haven't read it but it's definitely on my list. It's an open door to an otherwise shadowy world of Kraftwerk's media silence.
I read something that the Residents are still going strong nowadays, so is Tangerine Dream I believe. I loved Paul Hasslinger's "World Without Rules". The man pretty much along with Kraftwerk inveneted electronic music, and they still show they have more to show the youngsters. Hopefully with the new Kraftwerk tour we will see a reunion album.

[BigBlock454]

I have just read a Kraftwerk book (not the drummer's one)  -  but I can't remember the title or author!

It was very interesting to read how they crafted their sound and image with meticulous care.

I'll try and find out the book details.

[Schizoid]

Top 5 albums ever:

Suicidal Tendencies - Suicidal Tendencies
-classic 1980's style punk metal cross over

Exit 13 - Ethos Musick
-brutal and politicized jazz/grindcore hymns to weed, environmentalism

Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
-this is the only black metal album that matters

Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction
-this is where it all started.  This is pure attitude

Meathook Seed - Embedded
-very technoized 90's industrial grindcore, classic!

Top 5 albums right now:

The Donnas - Spend the Night
Various Artists - Intellectos Manifesto Volume 1
Ambassador21 - A21 vs the World
Tatsuhiko Asano - Genny Haniver
Dennis Leary - Lock N Load

[KlingKlangBedlam]

I think I should extend this to the Top 10,I'm feeling some very important bands in my world are being left out,and perhaps in your's as well. I love Dennis Leary,though I am more of a Carlin fan. Hehe I grew up on Suicidal Tendencies from my brother,and a whole lot of Guns N Roses and Slayer. Can't forget Iron Maiden of course,they were the first tape I ever bought,at 12 years old. And they still kick ass after all these years,esp. with Bruce back in the game. So let's make it the Top 10!
www.cortical.org  good link for BigBlock,you'll love it ;-)

[BigBlock454]

Thanks for the link, very good !  Interesting Derek Bailey article about free improvisation.

Not sure about Guns 'n' Roses being "where it all started"  -  Slash strikes me as being very derivative (a bit of Jimmy Page, a bit of Jeff Beck, etc.)  -  even his look is copied off a Marc Bolan album cover.

[marcnyc]

To me "Appetite For Destruction" still rocks but I wouldn't say it all started there (of course first we'd have to elaborate what "all" is)...

I don't think I could even achieve to get 5 records out of my collection and leave for a desert island with them (even 10 would be too few)...

Also it's easier to mention 5 favourite artists rather than 5 favourite records ;-)

Last but not least, I listen to very different genres so if I had to mention only "gray area" artists in the top 5 list it would probably go something like this (in no specific order):

Die Krupps ("One", "II..." and "III..." are all great in my book), the Young Gods (especially "Second Nature", "Only Heaven" and "TV Sky" and ), Nine Inch Nails ("Broken" I think is the best), Stabbing Westward (one of the best sounding records I ever heard is their only really great album "Ungod")

But if I had to pick just 5 bands to go on the island I would be more open to make sure I have an album/artist for every mood... The list would then include: Young Gods (see above), Sepultura (probably "Roots" because it is so smartly politicized, as opposed to the good sounding but less involced "Chaos AD"), Pat Metheny (probably his last "Imaginary Days"), Pink Floyd (maybe the double live "A Momentary Lapse of Reason", if I remember correctly) and then maybe Temple Of the Dog, just for some great rock (or maybe Pearl Jam's "Ten")...

I know I screwed up by not following KKB's format of the classical top 5, but I have over 5000 records, you can't ask me to cut that down to 5, jeez!!!  :-/

[Mauri]

I guess I'm kinda stuck in the 80's because all my favourite bands and album are from that decade...
Just to name the first 5 that comes to my mind:

1) Soft Cell: "The Art Of Falling Apart"
2) Killing Joke: "Fire Dances"
3) Siouxsie & The Banshees: "Kaleidoscope"
4) Simple Minds: "New God Dream"
5) Associates: "Sulk"

others to follow:
Ultravox: "Rage in Eden"
Bauhaus: "The Sky's Gone Out"
Play Dead: "First Flower"
Japan: "Gentlemen Take Polaroids"
Cocteau Twins: "Head Over Hills"
Death In June: "Nada"
Coil: "Horse Rotorvator"
Psychic TV: "Dreams Less Sweet"
just to name few.
I don't know if the reason is only because on those years I was a teenager but I guess music sounded more fresh back then...
In any case I still get excited nowadays when I listen to something interesting...

Cheerio...
Maurizio

[KlingKlangBedlam]

I think he meant Guns N' Roses was the start to his love of metal and hard rock. The rest of my list goes as follows:
(6). Death In June-"Rose Clouds of Holocaust". This is what poetry is supposed to be, a hypnosis done by words. Love him or loath him, Douglas Pierce is an undeniable poet and one of the great innovators of music. "Symbols of The Sun" has one of my favorite lines "If blood is another color of hope,then what is love?" This as of the last year has been my biggest poetic influence in quite a while.
(7). Joy Division-"Substance". The man and the band who started it all for me, and whose work to this day still hit deadly and accurate. A great introduction to a band whose sheer emotion is still what goth should be.
(. Tiamat-"A Deeper Kind Of Slumber". Going away from their death metal roots, Tiamat put every bit of production into this masterpiece. It's lyrics are like a cross between Pink Floyd and strangely beautiful metaphors of drug use,depression,and angst in isolation. They went goth-pop after this, but eh why try to top such a masterpiece? An album like this requires superhuman creativity.
(9). Black Tape For A Blue Girl-"As One Aflame Laid Bare By Desire". Another great definition of what goth should be. Extremely tense yet gorgeous at the same time, with very deep musings on the passing of love. The playing is tight,the lyrics and subject are melancholy as hell, and the artwork is a textbook example of tasteful sensuality done right, not trashy.
(10). Projekt 100 (Various Artists)-Projekt records sampler covering the best songs and artist on this prolific label. This is the example of why they are where they are today. My faves on here are Lycia,LoveliesCrushing, and Black Tape's unreleased "Griffith Park", which is their brilliant take on a pop song. Perfect to write poetry to or write period,as well as a snuggling album (same goes for #9,definite!).

Haha every guitarist is derivative of those two,unless you're a blues artist. That's like saying every synthpop band copies Sparks or Depeche Mode. Wolfsheim wrongly gets accused of that.  A little bit of this and that mixed makes originality in this day and age, not much totally new to explore,really,unless alien technology gives us something new. =>

[BigBlock454]

Joy Division  -  top band.

I worked with the late Martin Hannett once (Joy Division's producer and the instigator of "that" sound)  -  a strange and intense man.

[marcnyc]

Hey BB454, so are you a producer or a musician? How did you work with him? as musician or something else?

by the way, are you from London? I am coming to London next week... maybe we can go for a coke (or maybe I should say a tea?)...