Experimental
Noah’s Barks pages relating to experimental media.
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Inland Empire
Inland Empire (IE) beats out Eraserhead for the scarier surrealist movie, mostly because it has much less of David Lynch‘s diffident, “unintentional” humor. Frustratingly enough, that humor still shows up in IE from time to time, but despite its incomprehensibility, IE is somewhat entertaining in how manic and disturbing it is, where Lynch’s earlier cryptographs… (read more)
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Swans – “To Be Kind” (2014)
Swans used to pummel you into oblivion with giant, cold mechanical fists (well, sometimes they’d squeeze you slowly like an iron giant). This personality conquered any music of a similar nature. It’s what they’re best at, and they still managed to make a diverse, evolving career with it (The Burning World is great, by the way).… (read more)
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Royal Trux – “Twin Infinitives” (1990)
On Twin Infinitives, Royal Trux use their constantly mutating guitar lines and faint, twinkling, sustained keyboard notes to paint an acid-soaked vision of a nighttime cityscape’s dark underbelly. Streetlights sparkle through a veil of smoke, carrying a heavy drug-induced haze protruding from shadowy alleyways and underground clubs. Jennifer Herrema is the star vocalist on Twin… (read more)
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The Red Crayola with The Familiar Ugly – “The Parable of Arable Land” (1967)
Brilliant approach: just bash your guitar on the wall until you hear a new sound instead of reaching it naturally. I can’t respect The Parable of Arable Land at all. Tunelessly playing your instruments at random as if one gave a five year-old an electric guitar they’ve never picked up before is a result obvious… (read more)
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Tricky – “Pre-Millennium Tension” (1996)
It’s very rare to find a trip hop album that pushes the boundaries of the genre, but Pre-Millennium Tension is one of them. The production is damp—and I mean damp. Some of the thickest beats I’ve ever heard, strange off-kilter instrumentation, and surreal imagery (though not atypical for trip hop). Almost unbearably thick production. Pre-Millennium Tension… (read more)
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John Zorn – “Naked City” (1990)
A general issue I have with genre-blending experiments is that they usually don’t deliver on their premise. John Zorn’s Naked City rarely does either, usually alternating between its jazz and grindcore instead of truly melding them into a uniform sound. Without that, this is just two separate genres on one album; a novel collaboration, but… (read more)
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The Mothers of Invention – “Uncle Meat” (1969)
To this day, Uncle Meat remains one of the most unique listening experiences I’ve ever had. Unique to the point where I almost don’t even want to call it “music.” Not as a value judgment, but because it genuinely feels like improper categorization compared to literally everything else in my library. Uncle Meat isn’t something… (read more)
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Björk – “Medúlla”
Meant to explore the voice as an instrument. Almost every sound on the album is someone’s voice. I can’t help but feel that this concept, while very interesting, was underutilized. The album sounds very minimal considering it’s not just Björk—”Medúlla”—singing. There was much more to work with with this idea, and Medúlla ends up being… (read more)
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Sonic Youth – “NYC Ghosts & Flowers” (2000)
NYC Ghosts & Flowers isn’t as bad as some reviews would lead you to believe, such as a particularly fucking awfully-written one that I likely don’t need to name. I believe it comes closest to matching the atmosphere of EVOL, something no other Sonic Youth album has attempted since. It paints a similar picture of a… (read more)
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Sonic Youth – “Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star” (1994)
Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star is one of the only Sonic Youth albums I just cannot get into. There’s not even one song here I think is a killer and encourages returning to search out other highlights. I’ve listened to it more than once, but every time, I feel the album is overly… (read more)