Welcome to Staff Trax, the weekly feature here on DC9 where we shed some light on the music we've been enjoying of late, regardless of the touring or album release schedules that tend to bear the focus of most of our coverage. Consider it a chance for you readers to get some more insight into our own personal tastes. Maybe you'll find something you like, ya dig?
A few months ago, I was anxiously awaiting the release of Caribou's video for "Odessa," the first single off Swim. On February 19th, the day the video was set to premiere here in the U.S., I hopped on the Internet in pursuit of it--but not because I've been a long-time Caribou lover and was anxious for a peek into Swim. Rather, my best friend, Julia, is the star of the "Odessa" video and I couldn't wait to see her. Turns out, the single is amazing, too--and the rest of the album is just as good. I finally got around to purchasing Swim over the weekend, and it has been playing on repeat ever since. --Catherine Downes
When I was in high school--and hanging with a very ambitious circle of musicians from band class--our Dark Side of the Moon was King Crimson's Discipline LP. The album is part of a small phase of King Crimson's sound in the '80s, known unofficially as the "Adrian Belew lineup" of Crimson. It consisted of three solid-colored LPs of experimental, frenetic, modernized art-prog rock. There was the yellow-covered Three of a Perfect Pair LP, the dark-blue Beat, and, my favorite, the wine-colored Discipline LP, where you can find this here track. Listening now, I'm gathering that the members of Tool are definitely one band that borrowed a page or two from the playbooks of these LPs. Baffling, fascinating, and completely insane music to back at high school age. Some things never change, I guess. --Alan Ayo
A few years back, a friend clued me into the greatness of Icelandic neo-classical composer Johann Johannsson. In 2006, Johannsson released IBM 1401, A User's Manual, an album as stunning as it is distinctive. Using his own father's voice (Jóhann Gunnarsson, an IBM engineer in 1964 who narrated training manuals), the younger Johannsson created a stunning piece of avant garde music that is like nothing else on the 4AD label. Check out this video for the single "The Sun's Gone Dim and the Sky's Turned Black." Simply incredible. --Darryl Smyers
Meat Loaf -
"Bat Out of Hell"
Given that I was raised on '70s soft rock and Top 40 in the 1980s, you can't really blame me for never hearing of Meat Loaf until Bat Out of Hell II came out in the mid-1990s. I have no regrets about what I was raised on, but I've been playing catch-up for years. Long after the original Bat Out of Hell had sold millions of records a year--and Meat lopped off his hair--this Born to Run-meets-Andrew Lloyd Webber record is still inspiring. Something about records where people want to have a better life just gets to me, even if its metaphor is a bat on a motorcycle on the way out of hell. --Eric Grubbs
