Beach Boys, “Love You” (Reprise, 1977)With Brian fully on board, the Boys offer their definitive statement of gently sun-baked late ‘70s SoCal eccentricity. Lots of dazzling but oddly dislocated piano and orchestral fanfare-sweeps that spotlight the naïve yet acute lyrics and melodies, driven along by Dennis’s languidly funky minimalist drum pulse. Maybe their last unequivocal […]
Beach Boys, “Summer Days and Summer Nights” (Capitol, 1965)The Boys at arguably their peak, one foot still in the streamlined, ice-cream-paint-job pop-rockabilly-plus-hormones of their early era, the other stretching into the light-and-shadow mode of Brian’s melodically shifting introspections.Try A/4, A/6, B/2, B/36/9/19
Beach Boys, “Ten Years of Harmony” (Brother, 1981; original recordings 1972-81)I happen to love the Beach Boys’ much-maligned ‘70s work; mellowing out in the studio with an ample supply of wine coolers and valium was the logical period-specific iteration of their evolving L.A. leisure ethos, and the sparse yet lush chorale-and-treated-instruments tunage often has a […]
Francis Bebey, “African Electronic Music 1975-1982” (Born Bad, 2012)The title is an accurate generic description, but only hints at the weirdness and wonder herein. Using an early synth, the Camerounian Bebey wove a stripped-down minimal-electronic funk with hints of polyrhythm, tossed-off voiceovers, and brain-scrambling sound effects. Picture a Franco-African cross between Zapp and Suicide and […]
Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band, “Safe As Milk” (Buddah, 1967)The Captain’s first full LP finds himself still (barely) in the same musical world as everyone else; this is snappy, rubber-limbed psychedelic blues-rock, but already a good deal more aggressively disorienting and alien than the competition. (Credit is due to Ry Cooder’s sun-dazed slide guitar […]
Captain Beefheart, “Trout Mask Replica” (Reprise, 1969)On this album, the Captain left the continent of hitherto-existing rock behind and created his own world of sound. Jagged shards of guitar-gnarl driven by impossible rhythms form a canvas for Cap’s multi-octave fractured folktales of nature’s mystery, mankind’s futility, and a lot of other shit no one’s even […]
Belmonts, “Cigars, Acapella, Candy” (Elektra, 1990; original recording 1972)Dion’s backing boys get back together for a last blast of their youth, raw, loose and unaccompanied. This has a really unique feel, alternately exuberant and autumnal.Try 6, 98/16/15
Best Coast, “Fade Away” (Jewel City, 2013)After a well-loved noise-pop debut album and a more coolly-received follow-up that experimented with a more muted sonic palette, Best Coast are back with an EP that combines both approaches for their best work yet. Haunting melodies, towering swells of reverbed guitar and (the most dramatic development) sharp, incisive […]
Best Coast, “The Only Place” (Mexican Summer, 2012)Despite the big-name producer, this still sounds quite modest-sized, though most of the fuzz is gone. Essentially, this is just another fine Best Coast release, the feel less neon-beach surf and more Laurel-Canyon-folky than last time. The songs are more intricate and subtle, less immediate, but this is […]
Best Coast, “Crazy On You? (Mexican Summer, 2010)In moving from bedroom-4-track-land to a “real” studio, Ms. Coast inevitably peels away a layer of the mystery that gives her work its distinctive charge, the sensation that’s oceanic yet intimate. The good news: lifting the haze (and adding drums) reveals an excellent rock and roll band, jarring, […]