Artist: Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
Album: Trout Mask Replica
Year: 1969
What.
The.
Fuck.
?
I've heard some weird shit in my day. This album takes the cake.
Dueling guitars, cacophonous piano, amateurish saxophone honking, throaty vocals, absurdist lyrics...the Captain really takes the avant-garde blues rock he pioneered on Safe as Milk to the next level. This album plays as some kind of soundtrack to a fever-induced nightmare.
Yet, for all its seeming amateurism and sheer randomness, there is something compulsively listenable about this album. I'm not going to profess to understanding what Beefheart is going for here, nor do I think that the music is "good" by any normal standards. However, it is endlessly interesting, one of those daring sorts of albums where there are little surprises at every turn. "Pena" comes out of nowhere with its frantic stream-of-consciousness lyrics and jagged rhythms. "Ella Guru" isn't far off from Dr. John's Gris-Gris territory, possessing the same kind of creepy mysticism and a wicked sense of humor. "Moonlight on Vermont" has a pretty infectious guitar riff, the kind of angular, monolithic sound that indie rock bands even today would trade their left nuts for.
No doubt a wildly influential album here, also. I hear Tom Waits, John Zorn, Slint, Polvo, Pavement, Flaming Lips...all sorts of artists who pushed the boundaries of rock.
But above all: a squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous. Got me?
Rating: Worth repeated listens
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