Only saw Pajo perform as Aerial M the year before, and not again until the Slint reunion ATP show in 2005. Oh! Almost forgot, he was a touring member of Palace Brothers in '93 (I think?...circa the first album), and I caught them on the Norwich date of that tour, too. Cheers, D
1999 was definitely a slim pickings year. As I mentioned last time, my 1999 album actually came out in '98. However, that was the year when I transitioned from a guitarist to a bassist, which was a role I held for the next 22 years (I've since returned to being a guitarist). Unsurprisingly, as a punk rock guy, my bass textbook (as it were) was predominantly The Clash discography. And in 1999, we did get the first official Clash live record with From Here To Eternity, and the accompanying documentary Westway To The World, both of which I consumed to the point of gluttony. But yeah, not a hugely impactful year for my ears, either. Glad you found something to mention, though! See you next week/year.....
GBV’s ‘Do the collapse’ got me hot and bothered most this year. I know it’s not a popular choice with pollard aficionados but I was all over it. Runners up - superchunk ‘come pick me up’, promise ring ‘very emergency’, make-up ‘save yourself’, cave-in ‘until your heart stops’, neurosis ‘times of grace’, month of birthdays ‘lost in the translation’.
Have to admit, I dialled out on GBV for a while after "Mag Earwhig!" (the one before DTC), and could really do with revisiting that whole Pollard era. Easier said than done given the rate he works at! Cheers, D
@@discellanyjust gave the latest one a listen and it’s… canny? I really need to go back and re -listen to the albums they knocked out on fire records. And give Boston spaceships a re listen. And Tobin sprouts solos. It never ends…
I've probably played this less than the Aerial M debut over the intervening years, but replaying Shark Cage again whilst prepping this video was really illuminating,. It reminded me how much I listened to it at the time, and how intimate and pretty and unhurried it sounds. Cheers, D
Live From A Shark Cage was an important one for me from that year, I remember Wire magazine had a free CD of Domino Records artists called Domino On The Wire and I discovered Plastic Energy Man on that amongst other delights. Secret Name by Low was the highlight of 1999 for me.
Yeah, I like "Secret Name", did consider it, but it ended up further down both the Low and '99 pecking order when it came to putting this video together. That one-two of "Starfire" followed by "Two Step" is pretty hard to top though, I'll give you. Cheers, D
Afraid I never "got" Mogwai. We all have one, I guess...something we should like, but for whatever reason, don't. Mogwai are it. Liked the "Ten Rapid" EPs, but hated "Young Team", and have heard very little else from them that's provoked an epiphany of any sort. Cheers, D
1999 was: the fear of turning 30 being worse than the underwhelming reality; Two kids under the age of 5; finishing my MBA. The soundtrack? Very little that was released in that year. Very mainstream shortlist of The Man Who, Performance and Cocktails, and Play. They have all migrated onto my Apple Music so there must be something there, but it does feel like another lean year. Rock, paper, scissors… Moby by a whisker
Yeah, this really was the end for me. The weeklies had spluttered out, Uncut was making me buy hundreds of appaling 58 minute Americana albums. 'I See a Darkness' stands out a mile for me. That sort of Disneyfication of guitar pop like Flaming Lips & Mercury Rev left me totally cold..orchestral flourishes..dreadful....particulaly distressing as I consider 'Yourself Is Steam' one of the last great American guitar records. It was DJ mix CD comps for me..and I was fascinated by what Timbaland & The Neptunes were starting to do with R&B production for various artists...bending it into all sorts of directions..but that was single based, they couldnt pull of a decent artist album. 'Spanish Dance Troupe' by Gorkys was enjoyable.
Always good to see Pajo getting some love. I've probably listened to Shark Cage less than a lot of his other stuff but am happily in the process of setting that straight. My favourite from this year is Low's Secret Name - maybe it's just the time it hit me (end of teens) but to me it's their most intimate and directly moving record. Boredoms' blissfuly chaotic Vision Creation Newsun would be another contender. 1999 did also seem to be a strong year for heavy gloom, and I was very much there for it - Mogwai's Come On Die young is probably their most downbeat release and one of my favourites. Ditto GYBE's Slow Riot..., Rothko's A Negative For Francis and I See A Darkness.
Just realised I forgot Mouse on Mars' Niun Niggung, a spectacularly daft, joyous album with tender edges of melancholy. Might even pip Low to my favourite of the year depending on my mood.
Woefully unschooled with regards Mouse On Mars back catalogue, which is something I should really fix one of these days. Loved the MES collaboration on Von Sudenfed, and always meant to work backwards, but y'know, life etc. Cheers, D
Call it a blind spot, call it sour grapes, just a fringe opinion maybe, but...beyond the first few EPs, I really do not care for Mogwai. The odd release has flashed over the years (the "Atomic" soundtrack springs to mind), but for the most part, just like Godspeed, they have never quite lived up to their billing. I alluded to this in the video (without naming names), and it's one of the reasons I find a lot of post-rock formulaic and uninvolving. I was much more a fan of the earlier UK strand of post-rock that was a little freer and more open to technology, sampling, dub studio trickery etc. One person's opinion 'n' all, but there it is. Cheers, D
Honestly, I know I mentioned "sour grapes" up there, but it really was pretty boring being in a band playing instrumental guitar stuff back then and ALWAYS being compared to Mogwai. We were literally influenced by, reacting to, exactly the same US groups that Mogwai were (Slint, Codeine, Tortoise, Bastro, etc.), but they became the de facto comparison for UK bands of that period, and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it. It drove me absolutely mad back in the day. It's what got me behind bands like Trans Am and A Minor Forest...groups that were playing rip-snorting instrumental (mostly) stuff with humour and a lightness of touch that was missing from a lot of post-rock music at the time. Cheers, D
Ah, 1999, millennial angst... Besides GBV's "controversial" Ric Ocasek produced Do the Collapse, immediately springing to mind is the Flaming Lips masterful Soft Bulletin and nowadays that may compete with Built to Spill's Keep it Like a Secret as a (the?) favourite album from this year for me... unless I forget something. Let's hit play! [edit] Prolapse... is just about the most unwelcoming band name you could ever hope to see pop up in unexpected places. Well, after checking I definitely forgot about Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs, Opeth's Still Life, Aimee Mann's Bachelor no. 2, Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness, Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun, Sleater-Kinney's the Hot Rock and Wilco's Summer Teeth as top tier albums from 1999 imo. ymmv idk etc.
I think circa this point in time may be when some "separation" kicked in, and I started finding myself ambivalent (at best) to some of the acts/releases that are/were held up as "greats". Sigur Ros are a perfect example of that. I had friends who raved about them, I did quite enjoy "()", but beyond that they just never clicked with me in a big way. You could add BTS and Wilco (much prefer Loose Fur, but hey, Jim O'Rourke will do that to you) to that list. "I See A Darkness" is a good shout, but I'm fairly certain I didn't pick it up until a year or two post-'99. Cheers, D
I just had a scan down the list of records from 1999 and, well. It really wasn't great times, as you said. In my world, I was listening to Protechtion (sic) by Swedish(?) techno wizard Adam Beyer (it goes bang bang bang worp) and the Ritchie Hawtin Decks and FX album (likewise), both of which would be as much interest to you as Rees-Mogg's nanny-lint, I suspect, and some Squarepusher, which possibly would score even lower than that. But there really wasn't much in the world of guitars grabbing me around then. I can't even point at much in the way of hip-hop (an ok Handsome Boy Modelling School record and probably an early Blackalicious ep, I guess). Although I suspect we shared the Flaming Lips, I like them more the less you do. I suspect a friend up here will be delighted to see you namecheck Prolapse, although the sound you can hear now is me drawing the curtains over my ears to spare the wax from aural melancholy. Maybe I should try some trans am to teach that whole ear business of mine a lesson. I do remember your first house, though, for mightily I visited occasionally therein to become drunk. Although not in 99, when I was busy myself finally becoming someone with a degree and then buggering off to Australia for six weeks to get drunk there instead. Then masters too. Strange year. Terrible dome, also. Nope, that's all I've got. Onward.
It really was an underwhelming year, musically speaking. Thought it might have just been me - irons fire, fire irons, too much going on - all that stuff. But no...I checked several sources (even the ceaseless musical Yellow Pages that is that horrible "album of the year" website), and kept coming up diddly squat. The Sigur Ros one with the elvish name came out, but I honestly never took to them in a big way (the double brackets one from a few years later is OK, though). Twas a definite case of "pick the one that best reflects what I was up to", which happened to be this Pajo one. It is very pretty, but I can see how it might come off as a bit "slight" to many. Hey ho. Whassa come 'n' a go? The old house was in good hands for a few years (a Danish scientist me n Mrs knew through work), but has since been sold on to a property developer and converted into a multiple-occupancy dinge-hole. Saddens me somewhat, as I have (mostly) very good memories associated with that place. Sniff. D
Agree 99 was not the best. I See A Darkness by Bonnie Prince Billy gets my vote, with Wilco’s Summerteeth a close secon. I was riding the alt country train hard. Also 69 Love Songs from Magnetic Fields which is still a big favourite and not been topped by them/him since in my view.
Slim pickings in 99 for me as well, clearly the least number of albums bought in a year of any around it. Matthew Sweet In Reverse is ironically incredibly sacchrine pop but I love it. In Oz I love a band called Musket and they released an album called On. Rocks a litlle inconsistent though.
I tried hard to like The Soft Bulletin but it's just not what I want from the Flaming Lips. Giant hamster balls and celebs in furry suits? No thanks. In 1999 I was listening to 13 by Blur, 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields, Beaucoup Fish by Underworld and Mock Tudor by Richard Thompson. But the album I keep going back back to is Ágætis Byrjun by Sigur Rós. I heard Svefn-g-englar and I was transfixed. Their other albums are pretty good but this remains my favourite.
Mmm…it was not a good year and a turning point in indie music. Maybe Jim O Rourke’s ‘Eureka’, Will Oldham’s ‘I see a darkness’ or Smog’s ‘Knock Knock’ are my candidates for most enjoyable or 1999s stand-out albums. Certainly also Papa M’s, Rachels and Burning Airlines. And I went to live for one year in civil war torn Georgia to set up a Biodiversity centre for the Black Sea: remote and with very little internet or exposure to the outside world 😬
Georgia? Wow. That must have been quite the experience. I spent huge swathes of '99 and '00 putting in super-long days in the computing lab (midnight finishes were common), so my listening over this and the next few years was very focused...heavy on the post-rock releases (hence me being pretty picky over some of my choices here). Keeping the band ticking over was pretty hard work, too. Cheers, D
@@discellany I was - still am - a picky post-rock connoisseur Darren. There’s been a flood of post-rock bands in the post Millenium era, but to my appreciation they don’t hold up to the pioneers).
Being a life long Louisville resident this made me happy! I fortunately saw Papa M live here in town around this time frame.
Only saw Pajo perform as Aerial M the year before, and not again until the Slint reunion ATP show in 2005. Oh! Almost forgot, he was a touring member of Palace Brothers in '93 (I think?...circa the first album), and I caught them on the Norwich date of that tour, too. Cheers, D
1999 was definitely a slim pickings year.
As I mentioned last time, my 1999 album actually came out in '98.
However, that was the year when I transitioned from a guitarist to a bassist, which was a role I held for the next 22 years (I've since returned to being a guitarist).
Unsurprisingly, as a punk rock guy, my bass textbook (as it were) was predominantly The Clash discography. And in 1999, we did get the first official Clash live record with From Here To Eternity, and the accompanying documentary Westway To The World, both of which I consumed to the point of gluttony.
But yeah, not a hugely impactful year for my ears, either.
Glad you found something to mention, though!
See you next week/year.....
GBV’s ‘Do the collapse’ got me hot and bothered most this year. I know it’s not a popular choice with pollard aficionados but I was all over it.
Runners up - superchunk ‘come pick me up’, promise ring ‘very emergency’, make-up ‘save yourself’, cave-in ‘until your heart stops’, neurosis ‘times of grace’, month of birthdays ‘lost in the translation’.
Have to admit, I dialled out on GBV for a while after "Mag Earwhig!" (the one before DTC), and could really do with revisiting that whole Pollard era. Easier said than done given the rate he works at! Cheers, D
@@discellanyjust gave the latest one a listen and it’s… canny?
I really need to go back and re -listen to the albums they knocked out on fire records. And give Boston spaceships a re listen. And Tobin sprouts solos.
It never ends…
Yeah I;ve got an old vinyl copy of Live from a Shark Cage - I bought it yonks ago, purely on the strength of Arundel. An incredible piece.
I've probably played this less than the Aerial M debut over the intervening years, but replaying Shark Cage again whilst prepping this video was really illuminating,. It reminded me how much I listened to it at the time, and how intimate and pretty and unhurried it sounds. Cheers, D
Live From A Shark Cage was an important one for me from that year, I remember Wire magazine had a free CD of Domino Records artists called Domino On The Wire and I discovered Plastic Energy Man on that amongst other delights. Secret Name by Low was the highlight of 1999 for me.
Yeah, I like "Secret Name", did consider it, but it ended up further down both the Low and '99 pecking order when it came to putting this video together. That one-two of "Starfire" followed by "Two Step" is pretty hard to top though, I'll give you. Cheers, D
'Come On Die Young'?? Listened to that thing f*cking endlessly...
Afraid I never "got" Mogwai. We all have one, I guess...something we should like, but for whatever reason, don't. Mogwai are it. Liked the "Ten Rapid" EPs, but hated "Young Team", and have heard very little else from them that's provoked an epiphany of any sort. Cheers, D
1999 was: the fear of turning 30 being worse than the underwhelming reality; Two kids under the age of 5; finishing my MBA. The soundtrack? Very little that was released in that year. Very mainstream shortlist of The Man Who, Performance and Cocktails, and Play. They have all migrated onto my Apple Music so there must be something there, but it does feel like another lean year.
Rock, paper, scissors… Moby by a whisker
Yeah, this really was the end for me. The weeklies had spluttered out, Uncut was making me buy hundreds of appaling 58 minute Americana albums. 'I See a Darkness' stands out a mile for me. That sort of Disneyfication of guitar pop like Flaming Lips & Mercury Rev left me totally cold..orchestral flourishes..dreadful....particulaly distressing as I consider 'Yourself Is Steam' one of the last great American guitar records. It was DJ mix CD comps for me..and I was fascinated by what Timbaland & The Neptunes were starting to do with R&B production for various artists...bending it into all sorts of directions..but that was single based, they couldnt pull of a decent artist album. 'Spanish Dance Troupe' by Gorkys was enjoyable.
Always good to see Pajo getting some love. I've probably listened to Shark Cage less than a lot of his other stuff but am happily in the process of setting that straight. My favourite from this year is Low's Secret Name - maybe it's just the time it hit me (end of teens) but to me it's their most intimate and directly moving record. Boredoms' blissfuly chaotic Vision Creation Newsun would be another contender. 1999 did also seem to be a strong year for heavy gloom, and I was very much there for it - Mogwai's Come On Die young is probably their most downbeat release and one of my favourites. Ditto GYBE's Slow Riot..., Rothko's A Negative For Francis and I See A Darkness.
Just realised I forgot Mouse on Mars' Niun Niggung, a spectacularly daft, joyous album with tender edges of melancholy. Might even pip Low to my favourite of the year depending on my mood.
Woefully unschooled with regards Mouse On Mars back catalogue, which is something I should really fix one of these days. Loved the MES collaboration on Von Sudenfed, and always meant to work backwards, but y'know, life etc. Cheers, D
Come On Die Young. For me the most massively important record of '99.
Call it a blind spot, call it sour grapes, just a fringe opinion maybe, but...beyond the first few EPs, I really do not care for Mogwai.
The odd release has flashed over the years (the "Atomic" soundtrack springs to mind), but for the most part, just like Godspeed, they have never quite lived up to their billing. I alluded to this in the video (without naming names), and it's one of the reasons I find a lot of post-rock formulaic and uninvolving. I was much more a fan of the earlier UK strand of post-rock that was a little freer and more open to technology, sampling, dub studio trickery etc.
One person's opinion 'n' all, but there it is. Cheers, D
@@discellany It would be a dull world if everyone had the same opinions. Really enjoy Atomic myself.
Honestly, I know I mentioned "sour grapes" up there, but it really was pretty boring being in a band playing instrumental guitar stuff back then and ALWAYS being compared to Mogwai. We were literally influenced by, reacting to, exactly the same US groups that Mogwai were (Slint, Codeine, Tortoise, Bastro, etc.), but they became the de facto comparison for UK bands of that period, and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it. It drove me absolutely mad back in the day. It's what got me behind bands like Trans Am and A Minor Forest...groups that were playing rip-snorting instrumental (mostly) stuff with humour and a lightness of touch that was missing from a lot of post-rock music at the time. Cheers, D
Ah, 1999, millennial angst... Besides GBV's "controversial" Ric Ocasek produced Do the Collapse, immediately springing to mind is the Flaming Lips masterful Soft Bulletin and nowadays that may compete with Built to Spill's Keep it Like a Secret as a (the?) favourite album from this year for me... unless I forget something. Let's hit play!
[edit] Prolapse... is just about the most unwelcoming band name you could ever hope to see pop up in unexpected places.
Well, after checking I definitely forgot about Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs, Opeth's Still Life, Aimee Mann's Bachelor no. 2, Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness, Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun, Sleater-Kinney's the Hot Rock and Wilco's Summer Teeth as top tier albums from 1999 imo. ymmv idk etc.
I think circa this point in time may be when some "separation" kicked in, and I started finding myself ambivalent (at best) to some of the acts/releases that are/were held up as "greats". Sigur Ros are a perfect example of that. I had friends who raved about them, I did quite enjoy "()", but beyond that they just never clicked with me in a big way. You could add BTS and Wilco (much prefer Loose Fur, but hey, Jim O'Rourke will do that to you) to that list. "I See A Darkness" is a good shout, but I'm fairly certain I didn't pick it up until a year or two post-'99. Cheers, D
I just had a scan down the list of records from 1999 and, well. It really wasn't great times, as you said. In my world, I was listening to Protechtion (sic) by Swedish(?) techno wizard Adam Beyer (it goes bang bang bang worp) and the Ritchie Hawtin Decks and FX album (likewise), both of which would be as much interest to you as Rees-Mogg's nanny-lint, I suspect, and some Squarepusher, which possibly would score even lower than that. But there really wasn't much in the world of guitars grabbing me around then. I can't even point at much in the way of hip-hop (an ok Handsome Boy Modelling School record and probably an early Blackalicious ep, I guess). Although I suspect we shared the Flaming Lips, I like them more the less you do. I suspect a friend up here will be delighted to see you namecheck Prolapse, although the sound you can hear now is me drawing the curtains over my ears to spare the wax from aural melancholy. Maybe I should try some trans am to teach that whole ear business of mine a lesson.
I do remember your first house, though, for mightily I visited occasionally therein to become drunk. Although not in 99, when I was busy myself finally becoming someone with a degree and then buggering off to Australia for six weeks to get drunk there instead. Then masters too. Strange year. Terrible dome, also. Nope, that's all I've got. Onward.
It really was an underwhelming year, musically speaking. Thought it might have just been me - irons fire, fire irons, too much going on - all that stuff. But no...I checked several sources (even the ceaseless musical Yellow Pages that is that horrible "album of the year" website), and kept coming up diddly squat. The Sigur Ros one with the elvish name came out, but I honestly never took to them in a big way (the double brackets one from a few years later is OK, though). Twas a definite case of "pick the one that best reflects what I was up to", which happened to be this Pajo one. It is very pretty, but I can see how it might come off as a bit "slight" to many. Hey ho. Whassa come 'n' a go?
The old house was in good hands for a few years (a Danish scientist me n Mrs knew through work), but has since been sold on to a property developer and converted into a multiple-occupancy dinge-hole. Saddens me somewhat, as I have (mostly) very good memories associated with that place. Sniff. D
Agree 99 was not the best. I See A Darkness by Bonnie Prince Billy gets my vote, with Wilco’s Summerteeth a close secon. I was riding the alt country train hard. Also 69 Love Songs from Magnetic Fields which is still a big favourite and not been topped by them/him since in my view.
Slim pickings in 99 for me as well, clearly the least number of albums bought in a year of any around it. Matthew Sweet In Reverse is ironically incredibly sacchrine pop but I love it. In Oz I love a band called Musket and they released an album called On. Rocks a litlle inconsistent though.
I tried hard to like The Soft Bulletin but it's just not what I want from the Flaming Lips. Giant hamster balls and celebs in furry suits? No thanks.
In 1999 I was listening to 13 by Blur, 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields, Beaucoup Fish by Underworld and Mock Tudor by Richard Thompson.
But the album I keep going back back to is Ágætis Byrjun by Sigur Rós. I heard Svefn-g-englar and I was transfixed. Their other albums are pretty good but this remains my favourite.
Mmm…it was not a good year and a turning point in indie music. Maybe Jim O Rourke’s ‘Eureka’, Will Oldham’s ‘I see a darkness’ or Smog’s ‘Knock Knock’ are my candidates for most enjoyable or 1999s stand-out albums. Certainly also Papa M’s, Rachels and Burning Airlines. And I went to live for one year in civil war torn Georgia to set up a Biodiversity centre for the Black Sea: remote and with very little internet or exposure to the outside world 😬
Georgia? Wow. That must have been quite the experience. I spent huge swathes of '99 and '00 putting in super-long days in the computing lab (midnight finishes were common), so my listening over this and the next few years was very focused...heavy on the post-rock releases (hence me being pretty picky over some of my choices here). Keeping the band ticking over was pretty hard work, too. Cheers, D
@@discellany I was - still am - a picky post-rock connoisseur Darren. There’s been a flood of post-rock bands in the post Millenium era, but to my appreciation they don’t hold up to the pioneers).