“Without music, life would be a mistake” – Friedrich Neitzsche
These offerings of Seriously Good Music have been selected by Shannon Young, a Caribbean music lover, aspiring music producer, and Music Technology student at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). Enjoy the selections, and let us know what you think.
“Tago Mago” – Can (1971)
This era saw the exponential rise of experimental music, where musicians began pushing the boundaries of their art and asking themselves what could and could not be considered music. The 70’s saw the birth of many new genres, one of which being krautrock.
Developed in West Germany, the krautrock movement sought to pair popular blues stylings with a psychedelic flair and an avant-garde attitude. Can’s “Tago Mago” is an influential entry in the world of krautrock, complete with frenetic drumming, and Ozzy Osbourne-esque wailing of mournful guitars.
Perhaps the most attention-grabbing track on this record is “Oh Yeah,” a song in which the band utilizes reversed synths, vocals, and symbols sounds to create a tension-filled, drifting melody that haunts the listener. Another prominent feature of the album is the revisiting and re-contextualising of the same motifs in a hypnotic yet intriguing way.
“Remain In Light” – Talking Heads (1980)
Well known in popular culture and lauded by critics, Talking Heads’s “Remain in Light” is an essential for any person in any era in time. Wrapped in a tight package of 12 well-composed, well-constructed songs, “Remain in Light” draws on many sources of inspiration. This album serves as the blueprint for experimental artists and fusion outfits that exist to this day.
Bass heavy and groovy throughout much of its duration, “Remain in Light” perfectly balances the concept of a catchy hook with the comedy and off-the-wall spirit that is characteristic of avant-garde music. By the end of this album, you may be left thinking, “Wow! I don’t know what in the world I just heard, but I liked it!!!”
“Remain in Light” balances itself seamlessly between being slightly too weird to be enjoyable by the general public, and just weird enough to attract people to want to listen to it anyway. A strong feature on this album is the lead vocals, as singer David Byrne contrasts his off-beat, disorganized delivery with surprisingly smooth melodies that serve as the foundation for those captivating hooks.
“Dummy” – Portishead (1994)
The 90s was an interesting era for music, as artists continued to push themselves to innovate and change the definition of music that had been so carefully carved out by the eras before it. It was a time of endless possibilities, as underground movements such as grunge rose to global popularity. The 90s also saw the astronomical rise of hip hop, not just as a genre but as a movement in itself, building off of the trajectory set in the 80s. Which means that by proxy, the emergence of hip hop inspired bands was also to be expected.
Portishead’s “Dummy” pulls the best features of the genres that came before it; taking the heavy, thudding drums of hip hop and the slow, dark stylings of rock guitars and synths. Paired with Beth Gibbons’ ghoulish wail, “Dummy” is a truly unique experience and the first true foray into trip hop as a genre. Distorted percussion, reverberating guitars and the crackle of old vinyl drags the listener into a melancholy yet enraptured headspace.
“Dummy” exists in an intriguing little niche – it serves as both a record packed with emotion and agony, as well as the best record for calm, late night drive.
“The Way Out” – The Books (2010)
The 2000s was the era of refinement. The new decade brought the manic rush to create and innovate to an end, and production became tighter, more cohesive, and with a presence that was massively distinct from preceding decades.
Electronic music outfit The Books takes off-the-wall production to a new extreme with “The Way Out”.
The 14-song track listing seems to go by without the listener even noticing, as The Books are exceedingly talented at setting a mood and following through on this album. Reminiscent of avant-garde music and all its cousins from the 70s onward, The Books use an eclectic amalgamation of influences to assemble this highly entertaining, Frankenstein-esque adventure. In the era of Moby and Aphex Twin, where ultra-smooth production and heavenly synths seemed to rule the electronic music world, The Books seek to tear down those preconceived notions with strangely chopped, oddly placed rhythms and outlandish vocal samples that are littered throughout “The Way Out”.
“Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2” – Tkay Maidza (2020)
Now in this new decade, music production has begun to experience several changes. Music production is essentially at everyone’s fingertips with the existence of DAWs and increasingly affordable equipment. As some artists in the 2010s struggle to define themselves, Tkay Maidza carves out a distinct space for herself in an oversaturated market.
Aptly named, “Last Year Was Weird, Vol.2” is a group of punchy, well defined songs that gather everything good about current day pop music in one immaculate bundle. Clean, R&B inspired vocals, fantastic hooks, tight percussion and glitzy production tie every song on the record together. “Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2” borrows from every chart-topping song from the last few years while still working to amplify what makes those songs so appealing with sugary production, dark bass tones and effortless instrumentation.
Maidza manages to balance the vulnerability of a young girl navigating the world for the first time (in the opening track, “My Flowers”) with the confidence of a full grown woman (seen in tracks such as “Shook”). She flows with the music rather than fighting against it, and seamlessly takes the listener along for the ride.
© 2020 Shannon Young. All rights reserved.