NOEXTEHO

Reviews have equated this to WIRE and Gang Of Four, and that is in fact a fair comparison.  Same era (late 70s/early 80s), same place (U.K.), same scene (post-punk/new-wave)....  And this is a definite good thing.  The sheer ammount of songs on this disc is a little overwhelming, so feel free to take it in small bites (although there's certainly nothing wrong with rocking out to the whole thing at once).  If you (like me) are in danger of over-playing your Joy Division, WIRE, and Gang Of Four albums, then it's time for you to add Joseph K to your rotation.  (and if you know of more things to add to such a rotation, please let me know!  and no, The Killers and Interpol and that shit are NOT viable options!)

I forget why I first sought out songs by this band, but I'm glad I did. It's energetic and fun rock, without being cheesy. It's noisy and dissonant, yet still melodic. Oh, and there's a female singer. All ingredients that I like. There is a bit of a post-punk/new-wave-y Siouxsie And The Banshees (or maybe Lydia Lunch?) vibe about it, but it isn't necessarily _trying_ to sound like that, it just sort of _does_. And that's a large part of the reason why this is so good.

It comes as no surprise to me that I like this compilation. What with Madlib, Jay Dee, and MF Doom all appearing on it, I was bound to listen to it and at the very least enjoy their tracks. However, while the tracks I was looking forward to are indeed pretty awesome, the entire mix as a whole is amazing. It's truly a more cohessive album than many single-artist albums I've heard. Each song complements those around it to the point where I forget that it's a compilation. Also, I've listened to it countless times and I'm still not sick of it. (side note: I'm not to crazy about the DVD that comes with it, though. It feels sort of like the obligatory bonus features that come standard with every DVD now. Oh well... The CD alone is more than worth the purchase, anyway.)

i've always been a fan of kool keith, but this album is really awesome. the dude producing it (IZ-REAL, whoever that is) made some awesome sci-fi head-nod beats that are just perfect for kool keith to rap about 'galaxy waxers' and say "black 37.... meet me at 11" over and over and over... over. maybe it's that this is the first kool keith album i've listened to intently, but this is the first of his albums to truly make me afraid of him. i'm pretty certain he really has ray guns.

(btw, Project Polaroid and the new Dr. Octagon are pretty cool too. maybe i'll post about them indivually sometime.)

ok ok ok... sure, pitchfork loves it, and when listening to it, you can see all the same people you hated who worshipped electroclash (only when it was hip in nyc, mind you) totally rocking out to this now, sort of like their electroclash replacement. but its soooo awesome that the good outweighs the bad. waaaaaay outweighs. it's weird and fun and dance-able and electronic and pop and hip and cheesy all at the same time, just like how everything swedish should be.

I don't remember what the first Espers album sounded like, but I'm going to have to go back and give it another listen now. "Espers II", their newest album, is pretty awesome. It put me in the same kind of peacefully haunted mood that Air's Playground Lover song did. Except this is a whole album of that mood. Real nice. It won't necessarily make you bouncing off the walls with happiness, but if you're looking for a chill, slow-ish, sad-ish album, here's a great one.

This is some pretty nice electronic music, in a similar vein to Boards of Canada or (perhaps more accurately) Freescha. Pretty, simple, yet engaging. A couple of songs are rather mediocre, but most of them are almost as nice as Freescha, I think. And it sure beats the hell out of any other 'electronic' albums I've heard for months.

I've been liking Def Jux more and more over the years. Sure, there's still spots of it I just can't get into (one example: Camu Tau or whatever his name is) but pretty much anything by El-P, Aesop Rock, or Mr. Lif is awesome. And, fortunately for us, this is a Mr.Lif album which El-P produced which has guest spots by El-P and Aesop Rock, among others. So, its got the ingredients to be awesome, and it is. (also, i don't normally care about an album's artwork, but this cd has some really beautiful artwork. if you're sick of all those photoshopped look-a-like crappy hip hop covers, buy this cd for the artwork alone, even if you hate the tunes)

so, most of the album lacks drums. and its awesome. there's rhythm to the album, just not a rhythm section... its sort of like if philip glass made an indy album, sort of? and if he used words, and had a sense of humor? yeah, sort of? oh, and by the time the first (and only?) song with drums comes in, oh man, the energy is so very amazing. i know this album is a few years old, but if you haven't heard it, you have to get it right now. and dont just get a few songs, then decide that you dont like it. get all of it, and listen to it all the way through at least once. then decide what you want to about it.

[on a related note, I heard the new Sparks album Hello Young Lovers and it's got some good points, but it's really not as good as this one.]

perhaps you've heard that girltalk song where he mixes together ALL of the jockjams songs into one impossibly pumped-up song. or perhaps you've heard the one where he mixes the meow mix jingle with 'every rose has a thorn'.... those are mostly awesome due to their funny, but this one is awesome for being essentially the awesomest mash-up i've heard. so many songs.... so many cuts and transistions... sure, some of it is funny, but that's not the point. the point is that its a crazy mind fuck of a mix. its got rap references directly contrasted with the material their referencing. its got Biggy rappin on top of elton john. oh, and its got the mashup standard of using MIA at least once. but don't hold that against mr. girltalk, because it really is a dense, booty-shakin, amusing, and yet somehow totally cool mix.
[update: i wrote this while listening to the cd for the first time. by the end, i was a little sick of it. but thats probably just because its really insane the whole way through. i still have fond memories of it, though.]