(Beauty is the first glimpse of terror we're still just able to bear and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.)

Momus used the first part of this verse from Rilke's first Duino Elegy to describe the new Black Dice album Creature Comforts in this witty review at ILM. Black Dice from Brooklyn are indeed making irritating but very exciting music. They are like an organic Autechre. There are all those little weird sounds (in Creature I hear mice communicating with each other). Never has electronic music sounded so natural. We are not very far from the kosmische Musik of Cluster II or early Tangerine Dream here though this time it is not about pulsars and quasars in outer space but mostly about tiny often terrifying noises on planet earth. You can listen to the album on the DFA radio player. Probably the most innovative release of this year.

P.S. Without Momus and John Darnielle (Mountain Goats) participating in the discussions ILM would be only half as fun. In the recent mega thread on PJ Harvey's Uh Huh Her where Momus defended his critical stance bravely against an armada of PJ lovers (including me) he even made a situationist détournement of one of my replies.

The list with blurbs on each item (albums in bold I own, underlined albums would definitely be in my top 100 of the 70s):

100 Brian Eno - Before and After Science 099 Neil Young - After the Goldrush 098 Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom 097 Various Artists - The Harder They Come 096 Iggy Pop - The Idiot 095 Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti 094 King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black 093 Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys 092 Kraftwerk - The Man-Machine 091 Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats 090 Fela Anikulapo Kuti & Africa '70 - Zombie 089 Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Devo! 088 Giorgio Moroder - From Here to Eternity 087 Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure 086 Joni Mitchell - Blue 085 Wire - 154 084 Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson 083 Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power 082 George Harrison - All Things Must Pass 081 David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders from Mars 080 David Bowie - Hunky Dory 079 Randy Newman - Sail Away 078 Anikulapo Kuti & Africa '70 - Expensive Shit 077 David Bowie - Aladdin Sane 076 Blondie - Parallel Lines 075 Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy 074 Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate 073 Van Halen - Van Halen 072 King Crimson - Red 071 James Brown - The Payback 070 Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon 069 Faust - IV 068 Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters 067 Pink Floyd - Meddle 066 Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers 065 Neil Young - On the Beach 064 Iggy Pop - Lust for Life 063 Cluster - Zuckerzeit 062 The Cars - The Cars 061 Beach Boys - Surf's Up 060 John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band 059 Ramones - Rocket to Russia 058 Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson 057 Paul Simon - Paul Simon 056 Can - Future Days 055 Nick Drake - Bryter Later 054 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory 053 Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians 052 Elvis Costello - This Year's Modeö 051 Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks 050 Tim Buckley - Starsailor 049 Marvin Gaye - What's Going On 048 Miles Davis - Live-Evil 047 Al Green - Call Me 046 The Congos - Heart of the Congos 045 Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food 044 The Clash - The Clash 043 Michael Jackson - Off the Wall 042 The Specials - The Specials 041 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours 040 The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers 039 Suicide - Suicide 038 XTC - Drums and Wires 037 Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True 036 Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here 035 The Pop Group - Y 034 Various Artists - Saturday Night Fever 033 Wire - Chairs Missing 032 Pink Floyd - The Wall 031 Talking Heads - Fear of Music 030 Miles Davis - On the Corner 029 Can - Tago Mago 028 The Beatles - Let It Be 027 Led Zeppelin - III 026 Stevie Wonder - Innervisions 025 Neu! - Neu! 024 Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets 023 Ramones - Ramones 022 Wire - Pink Flag 021 Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson 020 T.Rex - Electric Warrior 019 Can - Ege Bamyasi 018 Miles Davis - Bitches Brew 017 Funkadelic - Maggot Brain 016 Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady 015 The Who - Who's Next 014 The Velvet Underground - Loaded 013 Nick Drake - Pink Moon 012 The Stooges - Funhouse 011 Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street 010 Brian Eno - Another Green World 009 Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures 008 Gang of Four - Entertainment! 007 Led Zeppelin - IV 006 Kraftwerk - Trans Europa Express 005 Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks 004 Sly & The Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin' On 003 Television - Marquee Moon 002 The Clash - London Calling 001 David Bowie - Low

Artists with more than one album on the list:

4 David Bowie Miles Davis Led Zeppelin Pink Floyd Iggy Pop (+-Stooges)

3 Can Brian Eno Wire

2 The Clash Elvis Costello Nick Drake King Crimson Kraftwerk Fela Kuti Ramones Talking Heads

of albums by artists with more than one entry: 45

of albums I own: 38

of albums I'd definitely put on my top 100: 20

The long ILM thread (467 answers yet) is in the backlinks.

Weird omissions: Kate Bush, John Cale (Paris 1919 maybe), Captain Beefheart, The Cure, Dr. Feelgood, Fairport Convention, The Fall, Genesis, Little Feat, Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield, Steve Miller, Pere Ubu, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Soft Machine, Strawbs, Tangerine Dream, Richard Thompson, Tom Waits, Weather Report, ZZ Top

Omissions I am unsure of: Alan Parsons, JJ Cale, Eric Clapton, Ry Cooder, Alex Harvey, Steely Dan, Rod Stewart, Van Morrison, Frank Zappa

Omissions I don't care about: Abba, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Barclay James Harvest, Boston, Jackson Browne, Black Sabbath, Cat Stevens, Deep Purple, Earth, Wind & Fire, ELO, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Gentle Giant, Grateful Dead, Incredible String Band, Jethro Tull, Meat Loaf, Moody Blues, Mike Oldfield, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Status Quo, Supertramp, Thin Lizzy, Uriah Heep, Yes

God there was a lot of shit on the radio in the 70s. And the worst is. A lot of it is still on today's German radio.

In case you like indie guitar pop you should head for Douglas Wolk's lacunae immediately. A couple of days ago he offered an mp3 of Another Sunny Day's You Should All Be Murdered (November 1989), an infectious blasting tune by Harvey Williams from the heyday of Sarah Records. This is what I call beauty. Sunny and sad. Energetic and innocent. A song which can compete with everything from the gorgeous but almost forgotten Field Mice, a band Williams played in at the same time. His vocals sound a lot like Morrissey's on this guitar gem. You can call it twee if you like. Or power pop. Names are not important.

P.S. This song seems to have been influenced a lot by The Field Mice's Sensitive (February 1989), one of the most addictive songs of all time.

I found an enlightening dissection of the Pitchfork music articles (via travelers diagram). The author has built a MySQL database of the 100,000 different words used in all 5,575 reviews. By calculating scores for words used in positive reviews he tries to find out which kind of music the critics like. He found very positive scores for words like "sad", "dark", "crescendo", "massive", "distorted", "lush" etc. In the end he even composed two songs taking into account his findings. The first one Kissing God is ok but the whole is definitely less than the sum of its parts. The song is not cohesive, the elements only form a conglomerate. It comes as a kind of relief that the recipe to satisfy the critics doesn't seem to work. I think people listening to a lot of different music want to be surprised, they want to discover new sounds and they crave for a personal, individual touch of the music. All this cannot be achieved using a program even if it is as well thought out as this one.

The American Analog Set will play at the Moschée in Offenbach tomorrow. The kind of mellow music perfect for a lukewarm summer night. Three new live songs as a teaser here. I loved their concert in Frankfurt two years ago.