Dirty Three - Ocean Songs (1998)

Besides being consummate musicians; Warren Ellis, Mick Turner and Jim White craft a sincere emotionality unlike no other, all without the use of words. Masters of their respective instruments (violin, guitar and drums) this Australian trio was founded in Melbourne in 1992 after the classically trained Ellis found being a schoolteacher to be a bit much. Attaching a guitar pickup to his violin... the story writes itself.

This may not be the consensus pick among fans as their best, but it's my favorite- as are most things with a nautical theme. Enjoy one of the most unique bands in music today, stuck somewhere between post-rock, slowcore and traditional folk...

Dirty Three - Ocean Songs (1998; Touch And Go Records)

Butthole Surfers - Rembrandt Pussyhorse (1986)

This record feels like an accident. I mean that in the nicest way possible- it's a fractured, dissonant, psychotic blend of experimentation and noisy post-punk; going from odd piano-driven tracks about creeps to insane babbling mayhem to quiet, almost funereal organ dirges to funky-ass, down-home psychedelic dirt blues soul rock.

This is the missing link between all that late-'60s acid-damaged stuff like Beefheart, Syd Barrett-era Floyd and '70s satirists/experimenters The Residents and today's bands like Liars and Black Dice. You can file the Surfers somewhere midway in that lineage; at least their first three records. If you have any of that radio-friendly alternacrap stuff from the nineties (especially Electriclarryland) please smack yourself in the face.

I'd recommend listening to this album at full volume in a dark room.

Butthole Surfers - Rembrandt Pussyhorse (1986; Touch and Go Records)

Slint - Spiderland (1991)

Next time you see me, please do me a favor and tell me how much of an idiot I am. I used to have an original LP copy of this that I got in the mid-to-late '90s, but sold it before I moved to California because "moving is really expensive and I need the money". Yeah, on second (and third and fourth) thought; I'd rather have this back. I've seen copies of it floating around eBay for around $40, so yeah- I'm an idiot (I probably got like 5 bucks for it, so that adds insult enough).

So what to say about Slint's Spiderland that hasn't been said already? Besides for the fact that it's considered a landmark album in both the early Post-Rock and (the more annoying genre tag of) Math Rock, it's an album that fucking rocks. Yeah, it's super dark, creepy, kinda eerie, full of emotional angst, it's methodical, meticulous and alienated... did I say creepy yet?

Just fucking download it. Then when you see me, do me that favor I asked of you. Then I can ridicule you and your shitty music library for not already owning this.

Slint - Spiderland (1991; Touch And Go Records)