Muddy Waters Blues Band (feat. B.B. King) - Live at Ebbets Field (5/30/73)

Remember all those fanciful dreams about music being this organic ball of artistic creativity where money and "scenes" didn't dictate what ended up on your iPod? Remember? There would be these gods of musicians all playing with big smiles and happy hearts; and the only people allowed to play big shows and record CD's were those who had proven they played for the love of it all. Right?

Well, you didn't make that up; bluesmen who sat guitars on their lap and could improvise for years on end did. I'm not prepared to give you a history lesson on the blues. In fact, I think only God Himself knows well enough to explain. But men used to "borrow" phrases, riffs, and entire songs from each other (royalty-free!) in the spirit of good music. Giants of blues played together for kicks and never once made a tour shirt. And they jammed for days.

There is no Square One to start from with blues. So, here's something. Two immortal giants of guitar reminding everyone that "the blues are born into you".

Artist: Muddy Waters Blues Band (feat. B.B. King)
Album: Live at Ebbets Field (5/30/73)

1. Piano Jam
2. Instrumental
3. Instrumental With Muddy Intro
4. My Sweet Little Baby
5. Rock Me
6. Can't Get No Grindin'
7. I've Got My Mojo Workin'
8. Forty Days and Forty Nights
9. Band Intro
10. I Know You Didn't Want Me
11. Thrill Is Gone
12. Instrumental
13. Caledonia

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John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

The absolute brilliance of A Love Supreme makes you nearly uncomfortable for the first while. Made by musicians who understand jazz on a level few do, it's a true journey into the mind of Coltrane while he tries to explain God in four nearly entirely instrumental movements of emotion and spiritual process. Simply put, this is well within history's greatest jazz jam sessions; a heavily influential album before jazz got high-jacked by hollow body electrics.

Artist: John Coltrane
Album: A Love Supreme

1. Acknowledgment
2. Resolution
3. Pursuance
4. Psalm

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Blueprint Car Crash - Rhetoric Of a Marionette

Blueprint Car Crash was an amazing one-and-out type band that released this album under The Militia Group. Part complex indie rock and part post-hardcore, Rhetoric of a Marionette predated the scene that has become so generous to such abrupt time-signature shifts. This is an entirely ingenious approach to good songwriting in the later veins of At the Drive-In and other indie-punk acts for smart people. The EP flows start to finish with soaring refrains and everything you didn't really expect to hear next. Go ahead, find yourself singing a catchy polyrhythm.

Artist: Blueprint Car Crash
Album: Rhetoric Of a Marionette

1. Kiss Me One Last Line
2. 12.8.80
3. Grave of Fireflies
4. Terminat Hora Diem
5. Bel-Imperia
6. Gun Moll

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The Beatles - Revolver

I know Paul McCartney would have to be physically revived after seeing this album up for free, but it's important to know where the Beatles turned the corner. The "Fab Four" already had plenty of solid credibility as songwriters, but Revolver is one of the first public turns towards psychedelia in popular music. All of these songs are in stark contrast to their surrounding tracks- a definite no-no for a band at the top of the pop music world with everything to lose. Rubber Soul, this album's predecessor, is filled with musical hints and tastes of the creativity exercised on Revolver, which, combined with the immense confidence it took to release said album within its context, paved the way for not only Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club and Magical Mystery Tour, but experimental and "indie"-type music. The social unrest within the Beatles minds allowed itself to be quite obvious. All that creative room to breathe along with the freedom to speak clearly inspired (and still does inspire) countless musicians to seek independent direction and forced the listening public to actually listen more intently. Did they spark the hippie movement? It doesn't matter; Revolver is nearly immortal and will forever remain a benchmark in British and pop music.

Artist: The Beatles
Album: Revolver

1. Taxman
2. Eleanor Rigby
3. I'm Only Sleeping
4. Love You To
5. Here, There and Everywhere
6. Yellow Submarine
7. She Said She Said
8. Good Day Sunshine
9. And Your Bird Can Sing
10. For No One
11. Doctor Robert
12. I Want To Tell You
13. Got to Get You Into My Life
14. Tomorrow Never Knows

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Explosions In The Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

There exists very little gray area between the two ways to experience this album. Either "The Earth..." is your trendy substitute for classical music playing in the background while you read some eastern philosophy book or it is an immensely dense artistic sound-scape that demands full and focused attention. The sound here is HUGE; the melodic movement is nearly always interesting. Essentially, this is creative music stripped-down to its essence: tension and release.



Artist: Explosions In The Sky
Album: The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

1. First Breath After Coma
2. Only Moment We Were Alone
3. Six Days At the Bottom of the Ocean
4. Memorial
5. Your Hand In Mine

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The Handshake Murders - Usurper

Through the rise and demise of "metalcore", some bands have actually made an effort to not seem completely redundant. Such pushes in the directions of technicality, brutality, speed and experimentation created some mildly interesting niches, each not without their own pinnacles and champion bands. The Handshake Murders, a relatively small band on Goodfellow, have done something different than parting out their music to build a new machine, and have yet not maintained a sound that would allude to a chance in the mainstream. This is the apex of heavy, brutal, somewhat technical "metalcore". Somehow ridding themselves of the guilt-laden, childish cheesiness that plagues the bands making up the actual fan base generally associated with such a sound, they have the Golden Gun with Usurper. From the tone to the album flow to all the individual components, this makes mice of men in both metal and hardcore (and all other 'cores' as well) with angular, loud guitars playing precisely calculated off-times; not to mention, perhaps one of the best vocalists around. Don't let the production fool you, they pull this off live with perfection.

Artist: The Handshake Murders
Album: Usurper

1. Into the Mouth of Fear/Dissector
2. Bloodline
3. Painted Contortionist
4. A New Enemy/Messenger
5. Error
6. Mind Bender
7. How To Kill
8. The New Human
9. Apostate
10. Myopia
11. Of Cult and Atrophy

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Sunn O))) & Boris - Alter

If a record has to be catchy for you to enjoy it, probably don't waste your time with this one. If you enjoy listening to albums whole and have the patience to listen for nuances and enjoy well-executed mood-setting, this is one of the best. A collaboration between two groups (which share some members), Alter is a little less dark than former Sunn O))) albums, but, as usual with these bands, the collaboration isn't exactly the sum of its parts. It's an avant-garde, progressive, dark, meaty album with enough low-frequency waves to shut your brain down, yet its apex seems always just ahead. Let this open the door to noise albums for you; it's one modern manifestation of classical music.



Artist: Sunn O))) & Boris
Album: Alter

1. Etna
2. N.L.T.
3. The Sinking Belle (Blue Sheep)
4. Akuma No Kuma
5. Fried Eagle Mind
6. Blood Swamp

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