Talk Talk Series, #11: .O.Rang- Herd of Instinct (1994) / Spoor EP (1994) MP3 & FLAC

What makes Talk Talk's final two albums, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, so distinctive is their formal experimentation with both organic instrumentation and diverse aural textures as well as an unconventional recording process based on mostly improvised fragments woven into whole cloth through the editing process. To a large extent, this approach is carried over into .O.Rang, Paul Webb and Lee Harris' often brilliant and always enjoyable post-Talk Talk venture that necessitated the construction of its own studio (called "The Slug"). For the largely impromptu sessions comprising both the Spoor EP and Herd of Instinct, a steady and diverse stream of musicians were brought in to record improvisational jam-sessions with the intention of capturing free-form performances that highlight both the individual instruments themselves, but also the way they seamlessly cohere into carefully constructed soundscapes. Despite the similarities in method between O.Rang and Talk Talk's later work, their results are quite distinct, as .O.Rang tends to delve much more deeply into World Beat textures. On Herd of Instinct, this approach pays off with some amazing Dub and Post-Rock-influenced tracks, such as "Orang," which opens the album. Here, Harris' insistent drumming drives the proceedings while a sea of guitar textures buzzing and ringing in the background carry the oblique melody; however, the song is punctuated by some dynamic moments of calm that keep things from lapsing into repetition. Another standout is "Loaded Values," a song that is slightly reminiscent of Dead Can Dance's later work. Comprised of some great guitar work, Afro-Beat vocals, and a host of other instruments all seemingly doing their own thing in the mix but somehow cohering into something larger, it is a truly engaging listening experience. While .O.Rang's second album, Field of Waves, is also an impressive work, Herd of Instinct retains a certain imprecise, improvisational tone that lends the songs a more organic feel than those on the later album. Highly recommended.

Talk Talk Series, #7: .O.Rang- Fields and Waves (1996) MP3 & FLAC

One of the most unsung aspects of Talk Talk's groundbreaking later work was the band's rhythm section comprised of bassist Paul Webb and drummer Lee Harris. While earlier albums such as It's My Life  and The Colour of Spring  were far more traditional in their use of bass and percussion, on the final two albums, Webb and Harris regularly traversed into Jazz territory with an emphasis on texture and space rather than beat. On the heels of Talk Talk's demise after recording Laughing Stock, Webb and Harris built their own studio and formed .O.Rang. While .O.Rang's sound bears little outward resemblance to Talk Talk, Webb and Harris do retain the experimental ethos of their previous band's best work. For example, before putting together their brilliant debut, Herd of Instinct, .O.Rang brought in a diverse range of musicians to improvise in the studio with acoustic-based instruments, thus providing the raw materials from which they built the tracks comprising the finished album. Fields and Waves, .O.Rang's second album, is a more formally produced affair and introduces a Techno vibe to the the Ethno-Ambient sound forged on the first album. On "Barren," the album's beautiful lead track, Web and Harris create an expansive and multi-layered soundscape that is punctuated by bursts of notes from a santoor, making the song sound reminiscent of Dead Can Dance. Another distinctive track is "Moratorium," which features Webb taking a turn on vocals in amidst a melange of tribal rhythms and distorted guitars, resulting in the closest thing to a traditional pop-song .O. Rang has recorded. While Herd of Instinct was distinctive due to its Jazz-like free-form approach, Field of Waves tightens up the song structures a bit to make the proceedings a bit more danceable, but still manages to retain the eclectic, experimental feel that defines .O.Rang's sound.

Dead Can Dance- 1981-1998 (2001) Box Set (3 Discs) MP3 & FLAC

"The great mass play a waiting game, embalmed, crippled, dying in fear of pain."

The career trajectory and creative evolution of Dead Can Dance is quite amazing given the band's humble beginnings: an Australian Punk band called The Marching Girls who couldn't land a recording contract. Brendan Perry eventually quit this band to pursue a more experimental musical muse, which ultimately resulted in the formation of Dead Can Dance with Lisa Gerrard in 1981. Early on, they were a four piece Goth-Industrial outfit with a slightly more exotic sound than most of their peers. However, over the course of the next 20 years, Dead Can Dance would prove to be one of the most singular and timeless bands of the Post-Punk era, integrating Gregorian chant, African percussion, Eastern Folk idioms, and Classical influences such as Arvo Part into their musical palette. The box set 1981-1998 attempts the impossible task of summarizing Dead Can Dance's discography, and while each of their original eight albums is represented by several songs, these, without exception, are better heard in their original contexts. What makes this box set worthwhile for those already familiar with the band's work are the rarities, which, though not plentiful, are quite desirable. Chief among these is a complete John Peel session recorded in 1983, a year before releasing their first LP for 4AD. Even at this early stage in the band's development, Lisa Gerrard's peerless alto and Brendan Perry's strangely Sinatra-esque baritone sound transcendent and creatively restless. Needless to say, this is absolutely essential listening.

Brian Eno Series, #5: Brian Eno & David Byrne- My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) MP3 & FLAC

A hybrid work through and through, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts revolutionized the concept of "World" music by exploring what it could be rather than preaching what it should be. By wedding African-inspired percussion (sometimes played with found objects such as a frying pan) to Funk-inspired compositions, as well as utilizing a vast array of vocal samples (also groundbreaking), Brian Eno and David Byrne carry out a relentless assault on the fetishistic notion of cultural purity.  Whereas previous "Western" attempts to engage the music of other cultures tended to treat these music forms as museum artifacts, Eno & Byrne highlight the fact that all culture is in some sense a mash-up, constantly in conversation with other cultures and therefore perpetually in flux. While this is heresy to preservationists, what it does is open our ears to the limitless possibilities of such conversations. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was one of the first pop recordings to borrow freely and explicitly from multiple cultural sources in the effort to create something new, something unforeseen. In doing so, it laid the groundwork for, among other things, Paul Simon's next muse and all the Vampire Weekends of the future.