With a brief look at some notables along the road, Chang Terhune’s Music Mondays aims to shed light on both new and old(er) music over a wide spectrum of sound (and vision). This week: Big Audio Dynamite, Paul St. Hilaire, Sparkle Division, and David Sylvian.
Dig in!
Big Audio Dynamite — When The Clash broke up, fans eagerly waited to hear what their respective members would do next. Of all their members careers, Mick Jones may have had the most influential and interesting. Taking off from styles explored on the later Clash album, Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite aka B.A.D. The band was punk at tis roots while exploring everything from reggae to early techno. It would be a while before anyone else came close to their groundbreaking mixture of styles. Personally I liked the B.A.D. iteration with the great Don Letts on keyboards. Their album Megatop Phoenix was an incredible mix of rock, reggae, techno and hiphop. My favorite tracks are—the whole album. But the best video was definitely for “James Brown” of which all the lyrics are from James Brown songs. Dig in!
Paul St. Hilaire :: Tikiman Vol.1 — Paul St. Hilaire, aka Tikiman, has been gracing others tracks with his vocals for a long while now. I discovered him through his work with Deadbeat. In fact I played ‘The Infinity Dub Sessions’ several times a day when I first got it. This year saw an album of original works by Paul St. Hilaire entitled ‘Paul St. Hilaire – Tikiman Vol.1’ (KYNANT). It’s an amazing album which showcases St. Hilaire’s vocal and production chops together. I can’t single out one particular track as they’re all incredible. Fans of Berlin techno, dub, ambient and sweet lovers rock will enjoy.
Sparkle Division :: Foxy — Sparkle Division is William Basinksi and Gary Thomas Wright. Fans of Basinski’s works will be deeply disappointed if they expect the sound of his usual work. Foxy is a slinky, sexy journey through a lost weekend of smooth tunes, stiff drinks, hard excess, and the dreaded morning after. Basinski’s saxophone features prominently as do Wright’s production chops. The album runs through lounge, synth-pop, glitch pop and just about everything in between. It’s a glorious decadent listen.
David Sylvian :: Do You Know Me Now? — I’ve been a fan of David Sylvain since discovering the band Japan in freshman year of high school. Their music was such a strange flavor of pop performed by immensely talented musicians (their bassist, the late Mick Karn, is one of the reasons I own a fretless bass which I play very poorly). They’d broken up by then but I bought Sylvian’s first two solo albums Brilliant Trees and Taking The Veil, immediately falling in love with them. Since then, Sylvain has produced a series of albums ranging from the smooth to the abrasive. Do You Know Me Now? (Samadhisound) is a collection of songs from his Samadhi label, deftly curated with some of his most intense work (mostly) from his home studio in New Hampshire. It includes some of his work with the late Ryuchi Sakamoto as well as tracks by Nine Horses, a band he formed with his brother Steve Jansen and Berndt Friedman of Nonplace Urban Field.
Do you know me now ? from Samadhisound on Vimeo.
