Music Library: Animal Collective, Archers of Loaf, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, Bats, Beaux Animaux, Andrew Bird, Blue Oyster Cult, Boris, James Brown, Can, Nick Cave

I've reviewed almost all of these artists before, but we have to catch up sometime.

Animal Collective - Centipede Hz (2012). I've covered this band so many damn times. But I like this one much more than the last.



Archers of Loaf - Vee Vee (1995). This is the two-disc remaster from last year, which sounds fantastic. One of my favorite Chapel Hill bands to see back in the 90s.



Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Brooklyn Babylon (2013). Powerful, beautiful, brilliant avant big-band music from one of the best jazz composers around.



The Bats - Thousands of Tiny Luminous Spheres (compilation, 2000), Don't You Rise EP (2009), Spill The Beans EP (2010). I have most of the Bats' releases, but this gathers up some of the odds and ends I missed. There's only two tracks from the compilation here. As always, the Bats are excellent.

Beaux Animaux - Beautiful Animals (2010). My pal Michael's last band. He's an amazing songwriter, and these are killer pop songs.

Andrew Bird - Hands of Glory (2012). Although endlessly innovative, Bird is also the indie rock guy most likely to turn into a folkie singing Townes Van Zandt songs on Letterman.



Blue Oyster Cult - On Your Feet Or On Your Knees (1975) and Spectres (1977). The former is live BOC, which is always awesome, but the latter is fairly tepid other than "Godzilla."

James Brown - Revolution Of The Mind: Live At The Apollo, Vol. III (1971). Hell yeahs.

Can - Tago Mago (40th Anniversary Edition) (1971). I don't know how many times I've bought this now. The remastered original album is the same as the 2004 re-release, an astonishingly clear version,  and the live album sounds fantastic, too.

Nick Cave - Your Funeral... My Trial (1986) and Push The Sky Away (2013). Some critics have complained about the new Cave album, but I like it. Don't love it yet, but that takes some time occasionally. The earlier one works about the same for me.

Music Library: Qa'a, Quadrajets, Quasi, Queen, Queens of the Stone Age

Qa'a - Chi'en (2009). A Spanish band very much in the vein of Godspeed You! Black Emperor with a more pronounced krautrock influence. I don't much care for their vocals, but most everything else is quite alright by me.

The Quadrajets - If The Good Lord's Willin' And The Creek Don't Rise (1993), Dixie Speedway 7" (1995), Let's Go To Outer Space 7" (1995), Queen of the Twist 7" (1995), When I Lay My Burden Down (1995), Alabama Hip Shake (1996), A Little More Speed (1997), The Real Fucked Up Blues EP (1997), 61 Blues 7" (1997), Pay The Deuce (1998), The Hellacopters And The Quadrajets 7" (1999), My Car, My Starship 7" (1999), When The World's On Fire (2000). Freakin' excellent country- and blues-influenced punk rock from Auburn, AL.



Quasi - The Sword Of God (2001). Featuring Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney and Wild Flag on drums and vocals and her ex-husband Sam Coomes on organ and vocals, Quasi has a kaleidoscope pop vibe not too far removed from organ-driven tracks by the Beatles or ELO. Interesting stuff, but it's never spurred me to seek out more.

Queen - Queen's Greatest Hits (compilation, 1974-80). Before I had kids, it never occurred to me that Queen is pretty much the ultimate in bubblegum kids' music. But now it seems obvious: the bombast, the silliness, the simplicity of the lyrics. Music for children.

Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf (2002). Pretty good rock music, but I don't see why people went apeshit crazy over this.

Music Library: Pterodactyl, Public Enemy, Public Image Ltd., Pulp, Pulsars, James and Bobby Purify, Pushtwangers, Pussy Galore, Pylon

Pterodactyl - Pterodactyl (2007). Fun Beefheartian spaz-rock.

Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush The Show (1987), It Takes A Nation Of Million To Hold Us Back (1988), and Fear Of A Black Planet (1990). As with other heavy-hitters I've gone through recently, this white middle-aged man concludes that he has little to contribute to any discussion of Public Enemy.

Public Image Ltd. - First Issue (1978), Second Edition (1980), Commercial Zone (1983), and Greatest Hits, So Far (compilation, 1978-90). These first two albums are absurdly great, all dub bass courtesy of Jah Wobble and Keith Levene's wailing industrial guitars while John Lydon (nee Rotten) whine-screams his objections to the modern world. Commercial Zone is Levene's protest album, as he stole the master tapes for the future This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get album during a dispute with Lydon and released these tracks himself. The compilation is okay, but shows how far from grace Public Image fell in 12 years. Check out this video, in which Lydon makes it up as he goes and has a hell of a time subverting the institution of American Bandstand.



Pulp - Different Class (1995). Sneering at British society just as much as Lydon, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker softened the blow with pop music not unlike later Roxy Music or Belle and Sebastian instead of Public Image's abrasive sound. Hard to argue which is more subversive.

The Pulsars - "Technology."Another orphan of unknown origin in my collection. Electropoppy.

James and Bobby Purify - Shake A Tail Feather: The Best Of James And Bobby Purify (1966-68). Perhaps the best ambassadors for the Muscle Shoals Sound.



Pushtwangers - "Naked In My Car."This orphan is power-poppy.

Pussy Galore - Exile On Main St. (1986) and Sugarshit Sharp EP (1988). A brilliant track-for-track deconstruction of the Stones album and a top-notch post-punk EP. Not bad at all. Warning: lots of dirty words in the clip below.



Pylon - Gyrate (1980) and Hit (1979-83). Truly excellent Athens (GA)-based post-punk band. You cannot go wrong listening to Pylon.

Music Library: Portishead, Brian Posehn, Postal Service, Pretenders, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Prince, Prince Albert Hunt, John Prine, Professor Longhair

Portishead - Portishead (1997). Tepid trip-hop (that was really a thing?) from the late 90s.

Brian Posehn - Fart and Wiener Jokes (2010). Although Posehn is kidding on the square, this is a pretty accurate title.

The Postal Service - Give Up (2003). Weirdly revered electro-pop album. Yes, it is good. No, I don't know why people lost their minds over it.

The Pretenders - The Pretenders (1980) and Singles (1987). Great faux-punk band who put a feminist spin on the laddish pub-rock scene.

Pretty Girls Make Graves - The New Romance (2003). Ok, but sort of forgettable Matador band. I saw them at SXSW one year while waiting for Mission of Burma, which is how I ended up with this album.

Prince - Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), 1999 (1983), Purple Rain (1984), Around The World In A Day (1985), Parade (1986), Sign 'O' The Times (1987), The Hits 1/The Hits 2/The B-Sides (compilation 1979-92). Clearly, what the world has been crying out for is yet another 40-something white guy to weigh in about why Prince is so awesome. Today is not the day, my friends.

Prince Albert Hunt - "Blues In A Bottle." I wonder how many of his performances were interrupted with jokes about letting him out of the can?

John Prine - Great Days: The John Prine Anthology (released 1993). Slightly more John Prine than I have any use for. The highlights are truly fantastic songs.

Professor Longhair - New Orleans Piano (1972) and 'Fess: The Professor Longhair Anthology (released 1993). The guy who pretty much invented and set into stone the New Orleans sound.

Music Library: Point Juncture WA, Polecats, Police, Polvo, Polyphonic Spree, Pong, Ponytail, Pop Art Toasters, Pop Group, Pop Will Eat Itself, Popol Vuh, Porter Wagoner

Point Juncture, WA - Juxtapony EP (2006). Pleasant but sorta uninspired indie rock.

The Polecats - The Polecats Are Go! (1981) and The Polecats Won't Die (1989). Rockabilly pranksters at their best when covering "John, I'm Only Dancing" and "Jeepster."



The Police - Outlandos D'Amour (1978), Regatta da Blanc (1979), Zenyatta Mondatta (1980), Ghost In The Machine (1981), Synchronicity (1983). Although these guys are revered by most people of my generation, I don't enjoy their music like I used to. They're at their best on the first two, and the last three have some decent songs among the increasing filler.

Polvo - Today's Active Lifestyles (1993), This Eclipse EP (1995), Exploded Drawing (1996), Shapes (1997). Excellent guitarwork and experimental song structures from Chapel Hill. This is what indie rock promised to be in the mid-90s.



The Polyphonic Spree - "Lithium." Ugh.

Pong - Killer Lifestyle (2002). Excellent Austin band that leapt across genres without a care in the world. Serious stuff.



Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual (2008). Like Yoko Ono fronting the Boredoms. With ADHD and no ritalin.



Pop Art Toasters - Pop Art Toasters EP (1994). David Kilgour of the Clean and Martin Phillips of the Chills covering four fairly obscure tunes and one semi-obscure Who track.



The Pop Group - Y (1979). Intensely great post-punk album with elements of dub, world music, Beefheart, and funk. A huge influence on the Minutemen.



Pop Will Eat Itself - "Can U Dig It?" Nope.

Popol Vuh - Herz aus Glas: Coeur de Verre (Filmmusik) (1978), Nosferatu: Original Soundtrack (1979), Sei still, wisse ich bin (1981). All three of these were used to soundtrack Herzog films (the last one popped up in Fitzcarraldo) and all three are powerful and emotional enough to stand on their own. Nosferatu is the least of these by a hair.

Porter Wagoner - The Cold Hard Facts Of Life (1967), The Bottom Of The Bottle (1968), The Carroll County Accident (1969), What Ain't To Be Just Might Happen (1972), The Essential Porter Wagoner (compilation, 1955-77), The Essential Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton (compilation, 1967-80). I have no idea what happened in Wagoner's life to turn him to the dark side in the late 60s, but the four of these albums are just amazingly great stuff, by turns bleak and witty and perhaps the best thing in the world to listen to while drinking cheap bourbon in a dive bar. The best is What Ain't To Be Just Might Happen, which is pretty well perfect from start to finish. The compilations are killer, too.

Music Library: Phosphorescent, Piero Umiliani, Pig Destroyer, pillows, Pine Valley Cosmonauts, Pink Avalanche, Pink Floyd, Pink Mountaintops, Pipettes, Pixies, PJ Harvey, Platters, Pogues

Phosphorescent - To Willie (2009). Ain't nothing wrong with an Alabama boy singing Willie Nelson songs.

Piero Umiliani - "Mah-Na-Mah-Na." The Swedish porno track that would later be huge for the Muppets.

Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb (2007). Heavy, bonkers, creative as hell.

the pillows - FLCL Original Soundtrack Vol. 3 (2005). Catchy, catchy, catchy.



The Pine Valley Cosmonauts - The Executioner's Last Songs Vol. 1 (2002), The Executioner's Last Songs Vol. 2 and 3 (2003). Three albums of Jon Langford and pals singing death songs for the benefit of an anti-death penalty nonprofit. Here's one with Mekons vocalist Tom Greenhalgh on lead covering a Hank Williams track.



Pink Avalanche - Wraiths (2013). Any band led by Che Arthur is going to be incredible. Veers from Baroness-style metal-but-not-quite to Husker Du-ish passion to almost folk-y intertwining guitars and back again. Heavy, beautiful, worthwhile stuff.



Pink Floyd - Peel Sessions 1967, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967), Peel Sessions 1968, A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968), Peel Sessions 1970, The Early Singles/Relics (1967-71), Meddle (1971), Dark Side of the Moon (1972), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), The Wall (1979). 1971 is the year where Pink Floyd goes from trippy garage-psych band that 40-something-year-old me likes to slick studio-psych band that 16-year-old me likes.

The Pink Mountaintops - The Pink Mountaintops (2004). More stripped back rock from the guy who fronts the Zeppish Canadian band Black Mountain.

The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes (2006). Feminist-ish girl group. The ironic 60s nostalgia laid on thick.



The Pixies - Pixies (1987), Come On Pilgrim (1987), Surfer Rosa (1988), Doolittle (1989), Bossanova (1990), Trompe Le Monde (1991), Complete B-Sides (1988-91), Pixies At The BBC (1988-91), Rough Diamonds (bootleg, 1987-91), "Bam Thwock." Is there anything left to say about the Pixies at this point?

PJ Harvey - Dry (1992), Rid of Me (1993), 4-Track Demos (1994), Uh Huh Her (2004), Let England Shake (2011). Like Nick Cave and Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, Polly Jean Harvey channels the creepy underbelly of old folk and blues songs into punk-based fury. She is fantastic. I need to pick up the albums I don't have.



The Platters - "My Prayer."Powerful doo-wop.

The Pogues - Red Roses For Me (1984), Rum Sodomy and The Lash (1985), If I Should Fall From Grace With God (1988), Peace and Love (1989), Hell's Ditch (1990). They're the Pogues, and they play Irish folk music with a punk rock heart. What's not to love?

Music Library: Peter Brötzmann, Peter Gabriel, Peter Laughner, Peter Martin, Petra Haden, Pharoah Sanders, Phil Kline, Phil Manzanera, Phil Spector, Philip Glass

Peter Brötzmann - Machine Gun (as the Peter Brötzmann Octet, 1968), Nipples (as the Peter Brötzmann Sextet and Quartet, 1969), and Images (as the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, 2004). This is jazz in the same way that extreme death metal is a kind of rock music. Abrasive, passionate, and overwhelming.

Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (1977), Peter Gabriel (1978), Peter Gabriel (1980), Passion: Music for the Last Temptation of Christ (1989), and Shaking The Tree (compilation, 1977-1989). The only one of Gabriel's solo albums that I really like is his second one. The rest are okay to good.

Peter Laughner - September 20, 1972: Coffeebreak Concert Cleveland, The Famous Lester Bangs Sessions (with Lester Bangs, 1975), Ann Arbor 1976, "What Goes On," Pirates Cove Cleveland 1976 (with Friction), Take The Guitar Player For A Ride (released 1995). 2013 and still no Laughner box set. For those who don't know the man, Laughner was a catalyst for Cleveland's amazing punk scene during his brief time there. He drank himself to death in 1977 when he was 24, so these live recordings cover only five years of his life. He put together a number of bands during that time, including Rocket From The Tombs and Pere Ubu. Wilco's "Misunderstood" steals liberally from his song "Amphetamine."



Peter Martin - Something Unexpected (2001). Or not so unexpected if you are expecting competent but not groundbreaking jazz.

Petra Haden - Imaginaryland (1999), Petra Haden and Bill Frisell (2003), Petra Haden Sings The Who Sell Out (2007), "God Only Knows," and "Thriller." My secret girlfriend Petra Haden makes music so precious that it barely exists. All of these other than the collaboration with Bill Frisell are a capella. Yes, Haden did a track-for-track cover of The Who Sell Out a capella, partially because Mike Watt suggested it. But mostly because she is awesome.



Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam (1969), Karma (1969), and Thembi (1970). Sanders, who played with Coltrane during Coltrane's later avant-big band period, is a player of extraordinary power and strength. These are incredible albums. Sanders also put on one of the most transcendentally powerful shows I ever saw in my life. I'm bragging, yes.



Phil Kline - Zippo Songs (2004). Kline is a minimalist composer and this album consists of songs based on poems that American soldiers would inscribe on their zippo lighters in Vietnam. It is beautiful and terrifying and moving.



Phil Manzanera - Diamond Heat (1975). Manzanera was the guitarist for Roxy Music and he played on pretty much all of the great British art-rock albums in the mid-70s. This, his first solo album, features one of Brian Eno's finest songs, "Big Day," although the whole album is fantastic.



Phil Spector - Back To Mono (1958 - 1969). A three-disc box covering just about everything that anyone needs from Spector's Wall of Sound production.

Philip Glass - North Star (1977), Einstein on the Beach (1979), Koyaanisqatsi (1982), and Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass (1995). Although I am very fond of minimalism, Glass sort of leaves me cold when he is the musician interpreting his own work. I could trance out to Koyaanisqatsi, though, and the Kronos album makes a great argument for his talents as a composer.

Music Library: Pelican, Pell Mell, Pelt, Pentagram, Pentangle, Percy Sledge, Pere Ubu, Perfume Azul do Sol, Carl Perkins, Pernice Brothers, Persona, Pet Shop Boys

Pelican - Pelican EP (2001), Australasia (2003), The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw (2005), March Into The Sea EP (2005), City of Echoes (2007), Pink Mammoth EP (2007), Split (with These Arms Are Snakes, 2008), Ephemeral EP (2009), What We All Come To Need (2009), Ataraxia/Taraxis (2012). Instrumental metal that recalls what King Crimson could do if they had dropped the sappy love songs. As the number of albums I have attests, I love this band.



Pell Mell - Bumper Crop (1987) and Interstate (1995). Instrumental indie rock with surf-like overtones.



Pelt - Max Meadows (1997), Empty Bell Ringing In The Sky (1999), Técheöd (2000), Ayahuasca (2001), Pearls From The River (2003), Skullfuck (Bestio Tergum Degero) (2005), Untitled (2005), Dauphin Elegies (2008). Mostly instrumental avant-folk from the late Jack Rose. What happens when the old, weird Americana meets the new, weird Americana.



Pentagram - "When The Screams Come." Pretty awesome mid-70s hard rock. And the trogdor comes in the niiiiight!

Pentangle - The Pentangle (1968), Sweet Child (1968), Basket of Light (1969), Cruel Sister (1970), Reflection (1971), Solomon's Seal (1972), A Maid That's Deep In Love (compilation, released 1989), Light Flight: The Anthology (compilation, released 2001), On Air (BBC Sessions 1969-70). Fantastic Brit-folk band led by guitarists John Renbourn and Bert Jansch. Jazzy, groovy, and with interlocking guitars that would later influence Television. Bassist Danny Thompson would later collaborate with Richard "No Relation" Thompson.



Percy Sledge - The Ultimate Collection: When A Man Loves A Woman (rel. 1966-70). Buncha Staxy singles.

Pere Ubu - The Shape of Things (live 1976), Ubu Unchained (half Ubu/half Rocket From The Tombs, recorded live 1975-76), Terminal Tower (1975-81), The Modern Dance (1978), Dub Housing (1978), New Picnic Time (1979). Early Pere Ubu is so freakin' awesome.



Perfume Azul do Sol - Nascimento (1974). More garage-y tropicalia.

Carl Perkins - Original Sun Greatest Hits (1955-58). This is why some folk say Perkins is better than Elvis.

The Pernice Brothers - EP (2000), My Own Personal Psychic EP (2001), Australia 2002 EP (2003), Yours, Mine and Ours (2003). More poppy than Joe Pernice's previous outfit the Scud Mountain Boys and quite good, if not great.

Persona - Som (1975). Even more tropicalia.

Pet Shop Boys - Les Garcons de Boutique des Animals Favoris (mix by Gary Mairs). My pal Gary couldn't believe that I didn't care for the Pet Shop Boys, so he made this mix some ten years back to change my mind. It's good. I like it. Not what I'm going to listen to every day, but I'm glad to appreciate the band now.