Like "Chant" but perfer the female voice for your canticles? Look no further than the acapella Anonymous 4, a major entry on the pantheon of early classical groups. Okay, truth be told, the casual listener won't be able to tell album from album, but that fact doesn't detract from the very beauty of the voice whose sweet ethereality begs to be accompaniment to a starlit night or a candlelit dinner.
THE BELOVED
Infamous for their "naked people" video ("Sweet Harmony" for those of you who read the credit portions) they are one of my favorite groups; and above and beyond my favorite group that no one has heard of. Their first US released album Happiness took me a few listens to actually like, a sort of mellow, groovy europop; but I eventually made it a part of my regular listening regiment [which it has been for the last eight years]. "Your Love Takes Me Higher (Chillum Willum)" off the Time After Time CD5 is quite possibly the best damned remix I've ever heard. Three years later their second album Conscience moved them into a slightly more synthetic style, at times pleasantly cheesy, at times blissful. Three more years later, 1996, I was elated when I found out that they were coming out with another album, X, which featured a new line-up of leader singer John Marsh and his wife Helena. Being totally non-objective when I comes to the Beloved, I already knew I'd like it no matter what it sounded like-- but was astounded to find their musical evolution having taken them to stunning techno realms. X breathes booming life into my Bang and Olfusens like I've never quite heard before-- It's perfect dancefloor fodder; but it sounds good off the dancefloor too.
BJÖRK
Her second album Post is one of the most competent albums by a contemporary artist I've heard in years, and it's remixed sister album Telegram is a brilliant vision of techno's darker side; an orchestrated Björk song; and even one with an exotic gamelan flavor. (An Icelandic technopop singer doing gamelan is so bizarre it simply must be appreciated.) Her latest album Homogenic once again proves her supreme talents as an ethereal techno nymph, and in a world where music critics give out the handle of "diva" as freely as talk show hosts refer to comedian guests as "a really funny guy," Björk is truly one of the few women of today deserving of the diva title. Anything that's remixed from her is worth a listen, but The Best Mixes from the Album Debut - For All the People Who Don't Buy White-Labels is quite possibly the best remix album I've ever heard; and like most of the best remix albums I've ever heard, is an import; because Americans are too stupid to appreciate dance music of quality.
RON CARTER
The day I bought my first Ron Carter CD I was in need of a great string bass player, and quite surely found one. Third Plane is one of my most remarkable jazz CDs; or at very least one of my favorites. (The stunning piano work alone inspired me to go out and get a Herbie Hancock disc.) This is the perfect score for twilight, and like all great jazz, is not merely listened to, but experienced.
HARRY CONNICK JR.
Savior of Swing. During my early college years, I got into Big Band music; However, I sort of kept it to myself as a sort of guilty pleasure because I knew every other person my age knew it was square. As time passed, I realized (that aside from my jazz musician friends), there was actually a sizable big band listening underground. Okay, most of it was coming from Connick's "When Harry Met Sally" soundtrack, but it was a start. I have to say, I'm not really fond of his recent releases and wish we would stick to the classic sounds of his masterworks 20 and Blue Light; the latter of which I listened to so much for so long, I made myself stop listening to it for fear of getting sick of it.
MILES DAVIS
Paragon of cool-- What else could one say of the man and his music? "Kind of Blue" is inarguably one of the best albums ever recorded, ranking in the top of my all-time favorite recordings. I could praddle on about him and his work, but it's best that you just buy some of his music and explore it yourself. Miles is a must have artist-- If you don't have one of his recordings, you plainly SUCK.
DEPECHE MODE
I can't do it. I just can't bring myself to do it. Try as I might, I just can't take Black Celebration our of my CD player for extended periods of time. The first DM song I remember hearing was "People Are People," and I hated it [then]. I didn't warm up to them until 1990 when a classmate was a playing the newly released Violator during a layout night in our high school journalism class. After that, I became hopelessly hooked; and I encourage others to do the same, especially when it comes to their CD5s, which make DM one of the top forces in the field of remixes.
ELLA FITZGERALD
I fell in love with Ella's sweet voice one late night many years ago when I was going to bed and KJAZ played "How High the Moon" She is unquestionably my personal favorite of all the jazz divas. "Mood Indigo" is one of the most stirring, bluesy songs I've ever heard; and I couldn't even begin to fathom exactly how many times I've listened to "Black Coffee." What more can I say? She is the paragon of the chanteuse and I could not live my life without hearing the fine sound of her voice.
STAN GETZ
While my original discovery of bossa nova was (like several of my best discoveries) accidental, Getz [and Jobim] made me an addict of the genre. He is one of the few cases where I forced myself to stop incessantly listening to his work for fear of getting sick of it-- but can't help it. He's my favorite tenor sax player, his smoothness and majestic qualities amazing; He and Hawkins are among the most sensuous sax players I've ever heard. Readily available on Verve for cheap, his music is best listened to after midnight-- or at least, that's the easiest way to fall in love with it, anyway.
COLEMAN HAWKINS
In search of sensual sax? Then look no further. Hawkins is one of the smoothest sax players to ever come around, and among his greatest accomplishments is pulling off an amazing solo performance in "Picasso" for the whole song! One breath of his sax has more soul than most songs today-- Hear him and appreciate his artistry.
HESPERION XX
My current two musical obessions are techno and early classical music-- and Hesperion XX is one of the top performers of the latter. Conducted by Jordi Savall (who scored "Tout Le Matins Du Monde"), they perform pieces of classical music from the 14th to 17th centuries, a period in which music had evolved from folk tradition, but had not yet become what most think of as classical music; such as Mozart or Beethoven. The melodies are exotic and ancient, romantic and playful, running a gamut of cultural sounds. In a matter of years, I have collected quite a few of their albums, and the group has become a personal favorite of mine. To listen to "O Magnum Mysterium" as you watch the sunrise is something magical that can only be experienced and not described. Plus you can sound smarter than you really are when you talk to your friends about music and site composers they've never even heard of!
BILLIE HOLIDAY
I have a certain weakness for unconventional beauty, perhaps the best description for Billie's voice. Who but her could pull off "Strange Fruit"? And what diva greater croons "Loverman" so as to make our hearts melt?
IN THE MIX
Kind of like how America sucks ass in technological fields as compared to Japan, we suck ass equally-- if not more-- in our domestic techno remixes as compared to England; or any European country. Sure, our acid jazz is untouchable, but that's not enough. I just don't understand it all. What I do understand is that the Virgin music In the Mix series is one of the strongest collections of remixes I've ever heard. Even at a hefty $36 dollars (plus tax) for a two disc set [totally crammed with music], it's still worth every cent; and makes our Party Mix discs look like the pathetic cheerleader-fodder crap that they are. If you keep up do date with the series, which is released three times a year, you can hear artists which will takes months if not years to hit the States domestically. Granted, you run the danger of finding an artist you really like and won't be able to find cheaply, but it's worth the risk. Get lost in the wicked bass booms, the techno pizzicatos, the swirling seductive synth... and pray that this stuff cathces on so we can quit paying $10 a pop for imported remix singles. [Only one of several discs has been linked above-- Try the search engine below, and remember to look for these discs in the import listings made by Virgin music.]
MASSIVE ATTACK
Anyone in the extraordinarily tired genre of gangsta rap could learn a lot from these guys: Intensity doesn't have to be about dick size, screaming into the microphone, or swearing every other word. Massive Attack are an example of trip-hop at its finest degree, smoky voices melded into tricked out, laid back beats and dub sounds. Even while these guys are able to turn out some of the most beautifully dark sounds in techno, they also churn out such poetic and vocal beauty as found in "Teardrop." It is a feat of talent not matched by many in the industry today.
PAT METHENY
While rock flounders to survive in the modern day, America killed jazz many years ago leaving it to be followed by merely a handful of those who actually live in the music's native land. One of jazz's greatest guitarists, Metheny is an artist whom you either love or hate, his songs merely elevator music to the untrained ear or the perfect soundtrack for dawn to the more educated. His music has many different sounds, and I admit I don't like his more folk stylings which his 70's recordings and a few of his modern ones reflect. The likes of his standard jazz work (question and answer) or modern jazz (Secret Story, Still Life (Talking), Quartet) constantly find their way into my CD player. While no means party music [maybe after the partry music], his sounds are better for road trips, stargazing, and intimate dinners.
MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT
There is a great sadneess within me-- The knowledge that Sexplosion! [the coolest title ever for an album] is out of print; and is very hard to find in used CD stores. How horrible to know that today's children will not be able to sit around the campfire and sing "Sex on Wheelz" or "Disko Fleshpot" from the also out of print 13 Above the Night. A darker techno fare with a wicked fondness for kink and pseudo-Satanic kitsch, TTK has become one of my favorite musical discoveries of the 90's. I looked for the Kooler Than Jesus EP for years-- and then it was reissued a few months after I found it. (D'oh!) Those wishing to sample their work (currently in print) can try Hit and Run Holiday for more traditional TKK fare, or their last album A Crime For All Seasons which is a bit more guitar-centric than usual (and comes with cool stickers). Now turn it up and make it hot!
RED HOT AND...
The Red Hot series is one of the best resources of music this decade, a sort of AIDS-awareness project. The first album, a personal favorite, Red, Hot, and Blue had artists ranging from Annie Lennox to David Byrne covering Cole Porter songs in modern fashion. This was the album which inspired both my exploration of jazz and morbid fear of showtunes. Porter, in my opinion, was the greatest American composer of the century and is celebrated for his showtunes; which were adopted by the jazz community, and eventually other genres too.
Blue was followed by Stolen Moments: Red, Hot, and Cool, an acid jazz compilation which restored my faith in the genre. Previously I saw it has rappers bastardizing jazz, which is was for what I'd heard of it, but this project had rappers and jazz musicians working together to make the songs; and the result was my favorite acid jazz album to date.
The most recent release from the series coupled two of my favorite musical genres, techno and bossa nova. It's an exotic South American bliss of music with artists ranging from PM Dawn to Milton Nascimento in various musical stylings which all have bossa nova roots to them. Explore them all!!
TRICKY
Portishead was my introduction into trip-hop, the Chemical Brothers my enticement, and Tricky my entrapment-- The genre would never leave my CD player again. With his raspy vocals and tricked out seductive beats, not to mention the siren vocals of the lovely Martine, the album Maxinquaye became one of my first favorites of the genre. Take a listen to "Hell Is Around the Corner" and get hooked too.
ULTRA LOUNGE
I'm not really sure if these albums are restored treasures of music forgotten or just an irrepressible guilty pleasure-- Maybe a little of both, perhaps? Ultra Lounge is a series of groovy retro discs with now over a dozen themed compilations of swanky, groovy, kitschy, jazzy sounds that make us have to seriously question the notion that heavy drug use indeed began in the 60's and not the 50's from which many of these recordings are from. Take a listen for yourself, but watch out, they're addictive; I'm up to half a dozen volumes-- One of those being the one and only Christmas album I own. How could I resist the "Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer Mambo"? I'm only human! [Or so is commonly believed.]
THE VERVE STORY: 1944-1994
Verve is one of the top jazz labels ever and in the last decade have made vast efforts to remaster their recordings into some of the best that I've ever heard. This 4-CD set highlights their last 50 years and introduced me to such artists as Cal Tjader (vibes), Jimmy Smith (jazz organ), Ben Webster (tenor sax), Sonny Stitt (sax), and others. It contains a heart-melting rendition of "Honeysuckle Rose" by diva Anita O'Day, which is one of the most sensuous songs I've ever heard. If you want to explore jazz, this is the best place to do it (and if you don't want to shill out the dough, there are cheaper compilations of their recordings). Still the same, this falls somewhere in the top 5 of my favorite box sets.
HILDEGARD VON BINGEN
One of the world's first great composers, it's somewhat a wonder why von Bingen, a 12th Century woman, wasn't burned at the stake for doing something such as compose music! The result is some of the most finest, beautiful canticles around-- Sort of a female version of the overpopular Chant. A perfect companion for stargazing.
