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It's 2025 and we can't seem to extricate ourselves from the dystopian nightmare that is part and parcel of the modern world. To all the Goth heads who love Joy Division, Bauhaus, and the Birthday Party but have yet to discover their progeny: meet Pop 1280. They provide the cacophonous soundtrack to the fall of late stage capitalism if there ever was one. It's for happily roasting marshmallows by a distant fire while the whole rotten system collapses.
Track list: 1) It’s a Mirror 2) No Front Teeth 3) Clean Heart 4) Me & Angel 5) Left for Tomorrow 6) Full on 7) capezio 8) Dion 9) In a Row 10) Hanging Out 11) Glory
Is Television’s Marquee Moon the last great epic guitar album? I think all of us can attest (for those who have listened to it repeatedly in perennial fashion) qualitatively, that it’s a masterpiece and a supreme achievement for a vision manifested by starving artists inspired by free jazz, reggae, surf/psychedelic garage rock, the velvet underground, jimi hendrix, even funk.
Finish the Lyric: Bo knows this and Bo knows that… anyone of a certain age can; Especially if you grew up in the golden age of hip hop. A Tribe Called Quest released The Low End Theory on September 24th 1991 to universal critical acclaim. At 12, I couldn’t care less about what critics said, I just knew what I loved. I was just lucky enough to be able to come of age when, at the peak of creativity in hip hop, such a special group melded rap and elements of jazz together seamlessly. Every time I hear “Scenario,” it transports me back to the dog days of summer 1992. The glory days of sitting on the stoop with nothing to do but listen to Hot 97 with friends.
It wasn’t until years later that I realized what a monumental masterpiece the entire album is. The Quest is on. “Verses from the Abstract” not only name drops some of the most innovative pioneers of hip hop and rap ever to grace your speakers, it’s also a love letter to people who find themselves on the low end of society by no fault on their own.The tribe knew what was up since before systemic racism had a name. Jazz (we’ve got) piqued the curiosity of a little working class white girl about the vast soundscape of the genre. I wouldn’t venture into the likes of Milles, Coltrane, Blakey or Roland Kirk until much later, but ATCQ first planted the seed of the idea.
At a time when a lot of rappers thought they had to come across as hard and abrasive (and sometimes misogynistic) to prove street cred, ATCQ was smoothe, slick, laidback and intellectual. “Vibes and Stuff” is a testament to real hip hop as opposed to synthetic, top 40, heavily marketed drivel a la Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer. I love the fact that Afrika Bambaataa gets his due on the track. “What?” may contain my favorite line on the entire album: what is a poet/all balls no cock. The poetess in me can’t help but agree. Substance is more important than flash. But, ATCQ were well aware of this and WAY ahead of the curve.
S.E. Dalton
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