1001 Albums: Suicide

#386

Album: Suicide

Artist: Suicide

Year: 1977

Length: 32:07

Genre: Synth-Punk / Electronic Rock / Synth-Pop / Electronic / Minimalist

“Ghost Rider motorcycle hero

Hey baby, baby, baby he’s a-lookin’ so cute

Sneak around-round-round in a blue jump suit
Ghost Rider motorcycle hero”

Ghost Rider

How do you even begin to talk about an album like this? An album whose sole purpose was to shock and terrify the listener. When performance art duo Alan Vega and Martin Rev conceived of this musical idea, their goal was to scare audiences. Alan Vega would aggressively get into audience members faces in hopes that they would beat the shit out of him in response, screaming gutturally in their personal bubbles., all while Martin Rev was behind his keyboards playing droning bass synths that felt like they were trying to eat your soul and attacking synth sounds with his right hand that pierced through your ears like a sharp needle. As a whole this is not meant to be a pleasant experience, it’s supposed to be disturbing and horrible… and yet… it’s absolutely beautiful in its execution.

Hauntingly beautiful is the words I would use to describe it, because no matter how sinister the album gets, there’s always the strange ethereal beauty just underlaying the whole thing. The best example of this is Cheree, which feels like a love song for two haunted souls finding each other in the afterlife. It’s like the soundtrack to a demented rom-com taking place on a creepy graveyard and I’m here for this. For all of this. Maybe it’s the halloween-esque synth sounds that feel possessed or the added reverb to Alan Vega’s vocals that give it this haunting beauty. Whatever it may be, this is one hell of an experience in the world of synth-punk that you will truly never forget.

How does one even convince people of the dark, sinister beauty of this album? Any average listener would run screaming at the very mention of it. The name of the band is provocative enough, but if they even make it to their ten-minute opus “Frankie Teardrop” there’s no way this person you’re trying to sell the experience on will be by your side. The second Alan Vega’s blood-curdling screams exit his mouth and travel through the speakers into their ears, they’ll be done. Their souls shrivelling up and decaying on the spot. A shiver down your spine is an understatement and he does it not once but multiple times and all to the story of a man snapping and shooting his wife and kids before shooting himself, the horrifying screams replacing the gun shots… how do you sell an album like this to someone?!

I would like to say I can spread the word and convince everyone of the haunting beauty that is Suicide’s Suicide. But, alas, with a piece of music like this, there’s more chances of a rejection happening than an acceptance. I would urge everyone to listen to this album at least once in their lives and experience it for themselves. If I can get just one person to see the album’ for what it is’s haunting beauty then I know I will have done my duty.

Favourite Song: Ghost Rider

-Bosco

1001 Albums: Another Green World

#327

Album: Another Green World

Artist: Brian Eno

Year: 1975

Length: 40:55

Genre: Art Rock / Ambient / Art Pop / Electronic Pop / Ambient Pop / Minimalist / Avant-Pop

“Mau Mau starter ching ching da da
Daughter daughter dumpling data
Pack and pick the ping-pong starter
Carter Carter go get Carter
Perigeeeeeee
Open stick and delphic doldrums
Open click and quantum data.”

Sky Saw

Remember in my last post when I mentioned that I was now starting a new playlist and was excited to finally listen to actual new albums for me? What I mean by this is, since I had listened to the end of the last playlist, I was basically revisiting all those albums and it wasn’t a first time listening type experience when it came to writing the post. I was finally excited to tick off more albums off the list as listened because I didn’t want to start on this playlist until I was absolutely caught up. Well, funnily enough this is not one of those albums. I’ve already heard this album and know it, so I’m not starting off right away with a new one. Oops, haha.

As someone who enjoys Brian Eno, it only made sense that I would have listened to this album on my own time at some point, especially since it closely followed (an album separates the two) Here Come The Warm Jets, an album I love. I was curious to see what Eno had done, especially knowing that later in his career he would start making ambient music. I was curious to see if there was a clear progression that led him to that moment or if it was a sudden and abrupt change in his creative vision as a whole. After listening to this album it became clear that it was definitely the former and this seems to mark the official transition that he would make towards creating ambient music.

Unlike Here Come The Warm Jets, which had a fun mix of art-rock and glam rock that felt like an obvious pre-cursor to post-punk and new wave music, here he stripped it all down and took a much more minimalist approach to his music. Most songs on this album are instrumentals, with the exception of five songs that do include lyrics, and he seems to be experimenting with lush soundscapes, music that paints pictures and evokes feelings through its sounds rather than its words. Another Green World seems like he was influenced by nature and natural elements, which makes it funny that he uses synthesizer so much through the album. He would even go on to create his own unique sounds that would get credited as “Snake Guitar”, “Uncertain Piano”, “Castanet Guitars” or “Leslie Piano” as he attempted to create new sounds that would fit the style of his album. There’s a great example in the opening song called Sky Saw, where the synth noises actually sound like saws. When put all together we get a wonderful experimentation from Brian Eno that showed a massive shift in his style and gave for promising prospects for his musical future.

As much as I have been gushing about Brian Eno, it’s funny that after this album, I haven’t actually listened to any others. I know a few of them will be coming soon and I think there’s a part of me that wants to wait until the moment comes that I get to listen to it for the first time and write down my first thoughts rather than having it be a revisit. I eagerly await the arrival of them because I’ve been wanting to listen to his ambient work for a long time. I know I could just listen to it whenever I want but there’s something exciting about waiting for it, almost like a delayed gratification. It’ll be awhile but I’m sure it’ll b worth the wait.

Favourite Song: In Dark Trees

-Bosco