ostolgie: pepper ann

ima name my daughter after her.

hiccups

galactic, garbled melodies like the dawn of a nuclear war.

phonographs

there are always those specific albums we go back to, realizing over and over how much of an impact and influence they have on our lives. we hear the first chord of the first song and we immediately die in ecstasy, waiting to take in the entire array of arrangements before losing our cool. such albums come to define moments in our lives, from being a kid to being an adult, in ways that leave a bittersweet haze once the last song has played its last hum. while thinking of these albums, i've made a list of 26 that have come to define my life in every possible way. in so many ways, i realize my life is not over yet but as of now, these are the most powerful pieces of musical art to my heart.


childhood

1. spice world - spice girls



five sex goddesses from mother england sing about world peace, feminine equality, and self-importance against disco thumps and jazzy hip hop beats, creating a wall of pop heaven that steals your life several times over.

2. fanmail - tlc



after being gone for half a decade, this r&b powerhouse trio returned with an album that was both an ode to their wide fanbase and to the bright futurism of the late 90s, melding their typical fuck-grooves with crashing industrial sounds of metal and computer keys, making you feel as if you're on an erotic space station orbiting mars.

3. oops! i did it again - britney spears



her bouncy debut may have gotten us all excited about midriffs and school uniforms, but it was her funk-fantasy follow-up combined with red jumpsuits, flipped chairs, and movie-star delusions that made me fall head over heels.

4. mariah carey - butterfly



mariah declares her independence (for the first time) with a collection of the most beautifully moody ballads of the fin-de-sicle, connecting her with the operatic greats of the past with a single stroke of her melisma.

5. relationship of command - at the drive-in



my best friend bought this when i was in 5th grade and although i initially made jokes about the aggressive, nonsensical lyrics, the mindblowing experience of this album cannot be denied with its train-yard angst and basketcase lounge vibes.

6. rhythm nation 1814 - janet jackson



uber-political, super-striking, and incredibly-electrifying, this is the first album to have any real effect on me (primarily based on the video collection my mom repeatedly played for my sister and i) and is filled with the harshest, most polished dance music ever to be created.

mid-years

7. garbage - garbage



as puberty mounted, the post-grunge gods lifted me from pop heaven and brought me down to earth with slinky, sleazy bass lines and lyrics about religion, eating stones, and crashing against oceans, giving me my first real taste of rock.

8. return of saturn - no doubt



rock steady may have been their grooviest and my official converter, but years of sampling their hits led me back to this melancholic ball of glitter and vaudeville, creating the darkest atmosphere for the band and a perfect outline for my adolescence.

9. live through this - hole



a friend of mine died in 7th grade and courtney love's loud, off-pitch, and largely abrasive voice and lyrics about dead fetuses and eating disorders seemed to reflect the anxiety and confusion i felt in those days soon after, serving stark reality on a tarnished platter.

10. whip it on - the raveonettes



who says the swedes can't rock? take the ronettes, my bloody valentine, and a ton of methamphetamine and you have the jumpy feedback flow of a band that sounds as sexy as they do paranoid.


high school

11. fever to tell - yeah yeah yeahs



"i'm rich," karen-o professes in her charming hillbilly yelp, setting the pace for the dirtiest, futuristic album of the last decade, mumbling about incest, the blues, and going absolutely bonkers.

12. washing machine - sonic youth



my favorite band dips their feet into the folksiest, stoned waters of the late 60s and early 70s, evoking a time of mind-altering substances, wooden dive bars, and kids who never had a chance of escaping it all.

13. dear diary my teen angst has a body count - from first to last



before sonny moore became the darling of the dubstep world, he fronted one of the most beautiful "post-hardcore" groups whose cynical, pop-cultural lyrics fused adolescent transgressions with violent fantasies, forever reminding me of lying on the floor with a bit of smoke in my mouth.

14. the singles collection - siouxsie and the banshees



the spookiest danceable music to come out of england, complete with horror movie hums and ghastly screams and gifted with the ability to evoke politics through hitchcockian terror.

15. power, corruption & lies - new order



feeding my burgeoning obsession with 80's club music, this synth-laden wonderland of chilly scenes, monarchical sadness, and cheery idealism conjures up a cold war world where luxury was western and decadent and "red scares" truly meant something.

16. crimes - blood brothers



there was nothing more revolutionary during my teen years than hearing the deep vibrato mixed with drag queen whines from this rousing group, fusing bush-era politics with pieces celebrating the downtrodden, urban disaster, and a world glittering toward mayhem.

17. funeral - arcade fire



never short of jolliness, elegance, and dignity, this symphonic dream is epitomized by jukey clanks and hollowed voices, carefully sounding as if the whos in whoville took a few hits from the pipe and began rockin away.

18. elephant - white stripes



oh how bluesy and loud! as primal as pretty, as gentle as gargantuan, each song feeds off the last and at its core, paints a passionate portrait of the headiness of dime store youths drinking soda with cigarettes hanging from their mouths; turning the proverbial leaf of michigan soul.

19. rio - duran duran



cleaner and flashier than new order but just as evocative of an era of tropical yachts, cocaine love affairs, and transatlantic materialism, making you feel as if you're on a constant flight on the concorde, a tiny umbrella hanging out of your martini glass.

20. the new romance - pretty girls make graves



hints of new wave, monster guitars, and oceanic lyrics create the perfect mood of deception, madness, and romance that can only be fully understood at the right age but becomes quite more gorgeous as time moves forward.


post

21. psychocandy - jesus and mary chain



heroin, sunshine, girls, alienation are the rules of the game and i will keep playing them if it means crawling into the tiny hole this band inhabits and never coming up for air.

22. my beautiful dark twisted fantasy - kanye west



putting hip hop on the highest level, this masterpiece embodies the obama years more than any other single piece of musical work, building grandiose sounds and decadent rhymes that put a mirror on the stylish yet distant nation we've become.

23. kala - m.i.a.



world music has never been my particular thing but how could one stay away from the sampling-crazy, globe-trotting, third-world know-it-all genius of maya arulpragasam, who creates the soundtrack for starving, gun-totting tweens with dance hooks and pop melodies; a colossal carnivale of rap and rations.

24. yoko ono/plastic ono band - yoko ono



whatever you've heard about yoko, forget it: this avant-garde classic (and clear influence to the riot grrl period) finds itself isolated in an industrial jungle, screaming and raging against man and nature with a staccato instrument of a voice that is unlike anything you will have ever heard.

25. born this way - lady gaga



after declaring it a pop masterpiece only a few days after its release, i continue to standby my assessment, still infatuated with the sheer electro-rock hysteria of rebellion and froth that oozes from each track and that has given us the first true mass goddess of the internet age.

26. the immaculate collection - madonna



a set of revolutionary, infectious hits that perfectly cling to their moments in which they were recorded while at the same time launching themselves as gorgeous artifacts to those who have never known what it was like "to get into the groove" or waiting for someone to "open your heart."

giant

i want this.

rubber cement

beautiful song, saddest lyrics. "it's surprising/how stupid we forget/the real things we forget." yes, indeed.

1929's greatest: pandora's box

louise brooks is the quintessential american girl in europe wreaking havoc on aristocrats and their children. she wants to be a star but settles on being a whore. and perhaps a murderess. the bob says it all: don't fuck with me. then again, never trust a guy with flowers in his pocket who says he knows a place that's "hospitable and discreet." lots of gambling, dangly pearls, ne'er-do-wells with wild fetishes. everyone loves everyone. the best line: "money...everyone wants money." makes me want to chainsmoke and do the charleston. decadence, personified. the most glamorous mood piece.

too far gone

"the first 15 minutes takes a long time. but the second 15 minutes takes FOREVER."
- ciao! manhattan

ghosts pt. 9

keep up the good werk, love.

narcissisus

kissy face.

riot

the only studio with no recording button.

picture this

moves like.

bright

the first great video of the year. nicki evokes classical sculpture and teenage iconography. hype williams proves himself to be the auteur du jour of music videos and the king of all hip hop image. so many pastels and neons, you'd think you were in a michael alig porn movie. while watching wear shades and eat starbursts for a full effect.

nights and weeknds

got the walls kickin like they six months pregnant.

moon update #13

never a dull moment.

1966's greatest: who are you polly maggoo?

pretentious, vapid, and utterly superficial in the best way possible, this mod fairy tale about how an ordinary american girl becomes the toast of the international fashion scene and the object of a prince's affection embodies the spirit of both its time and of our current era of upheaval and youthmania. its wry satire and incredible style of the mid-20th century couture crowd is only matched by darling, released a year older, but its absolute extravagance makes it the weirdest picture ever created about such a world. lots of hints of today's reality silliness. the best scene is the fashion show. and miss maxwell may be the most frighteningly stylish dictator i have ever seen.

bedhead

come see about me.

shows

rave on.

cool

hello, mr. president.

diaper burn

quite possibly the greatest cartoon known to man.

movement

although many people may have never heard of manu dibango, they are very aware of a phrase that was popularized by michael jackson. "ma-mako, ma-ma-sa, mako-mako ssa," anyone? well it was from his song "soul makossa" in which that phrase was lifted and it was that proto-disco hugeloft-cokeparty-shakemania track that made me fall in love with this particular brand of dance music. here's another song by him that reminds me of sitting in a cafe while trying very hard not to visibly tap your feet or shake your head. there is an unmistakably overwhelming sensation that he creates by combining the roots of black-american jazz and the oceanic-flavored rhythm of african soul. it brings me to a place of tranquility and heritage, something that runs through my veins and my blood. definitely worth a listen for even the casual fan of music.

all greek to me

great-grandpappy.

blind mice

i could watch these guys all day, and i actually did on new years' eve.

ticktock

fuck the mayans, 2012 is mine.