Pillows & Prayers Vol. 1

I'd like to call this one a "hidden gem", but in contains in itself so many more hidden gems that we'd get into a very messy intergemuality or somesuch thing. A much better way of describing this, in immediate retrospect, would be a treasure trove of hidden gems. Ahem.

Pillows & Prayers was released in 1982 with the strict order of "pay no more than 99p" printed on the cover. The dirt-cheap LP is a sampler from Cherry Red Records, featuring a bunch of sorely underrated new wave/post-punk as well as a few heavy-hitters, including Everything But the Girl, Felt and Quentin Crisp. And when those are the "popular" bands on the compilation, it certainly says something about how underappreciated it is.

It's a solid listen all the way through, but if I had to pick-and-choose favourites, The Monochrome Set's angular post-punk "Eine Symphonie Des Grauens", Thomas Leer's synth-heavy "All About You" and Ben Watt's acoustic faux-jazzy "Some Things Don't Matter" would be top picks, alongside The Nightingales and Eyeless in Gaza (holy shit, that is a rad name for a band.) Throw in a spoken word track and a poetry piece by Atilla the Stockbroker and you've got a well-rounded mix. It was worth your 99p 28 years ago, and it's definitely worth the 10 minute download now.



DOWNLOAD: Pillows & Prayers Volume 1

And yes, there is indeed a Volume 2. If anyone's interested, let me know!

Tied to Stone

Prurient's Adam Tied to Stone might just be my favourite noise album. Which is funny, because a few years ago I would've scoffed at the notion of a "favourite" noise album, or in fact, "better" or "worse" noise in general. I'll admit it: I was dismissive of the genre as a whole. I could appreciate noise in a context, such as in The Velvet Underground or Sonic Youth's early material, but concrete noise was over my head. But I suppose approaching a whole new genre can be a bit daunting, and one as anti-... music... as noise can be especially inpenetrable.

Now I'm by no means any sort of noise guru, but I at least have an appreciation for the genre, and listen to enough that I can finally answer people who ask me what makes a "good" noise album? How can one man's static be "better" than another?.

Adam Tied to Stone, as previously mentioned, is a decidedly "good" noise album. First and foremost, I think noise (by and large) can't be judged by "musical" standards - melody, rhythm, composition, etc. - but by "sound" standards: by its texture, volume, power (if I dare be so artsy-fartsy abstract). "Adam" is absolutely ferocious in terms of texture, a clipping, engulfing mess of static. Additionally, we have possibly my favourite distinguishing feature of Prurient, and that being vocals. Crank this to 11 and try not to get goosebumps during the first overdriven scream.

What also sets Adam... apart is - get this - variation. "Bad" noise is lazy noise. Bad noise is laptop looping. Bad noise can be made in 15 minutes with little care or attention. "Returning Rape", while just as destructive as "Adam", is audible different: there is a decidedly different texture, and the synths at the end even reveal different instrumentation. A big step, really, in an age where noise can be entirely "laptop music" (which is why earlier noise is so fascinating, with all the homemade instruments and guerilla tactics). "Tied to Stone" even has a goddamn beat.

So if you're noise-curious, give this a listen. It's out-of-print, but it's still kicking around and highly recommended - coloured vinyl, hand-numbered, the works.





Download: Prurient - Adam Tied to Stone