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1
Kate Bush – Hounds of Love
Kate Bush recorded at her own studio and used the Fairlight CMI alongside acoustic instruments. Hear Paddy Bush’s balalaika in “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” and the string sextet in “Cloudbusting.” On the seven-track second side, The Ninth Wave, the rush of uilleann pipes and fiddle in “Jig of Life” gives way to the choir in “Hello Earth.”
2
Talk Talk – Spirit of Eden
At Wessex Studios, a converted church hall in north London, Talk Talk recorded in near-darkness. Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene worked from hours of improvisations, keeping small details that could take over a whole passage. Listen to “The Rainbow” for how a few sounds gradually occupy the room, then try “I Believe in You” for the way the choir changes the scale.
3
Cocteau Twins – Treasure
Elizabeth Fraser bends syllables into long runs and quick bursts, and you can follow the shape of a line even when the words are hard to make out. On “Lorelei,” the drum machine and Simon Raymonde’s bass keep the song moving under the layers of guitar. “Ivo” leaves space for Fraser to move between a murmur and a leap.
4
Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel (Melt)
Peter Gabriel built “Intruder” around Phil Collins’s drums and a gated sound engineer Hugh Padgham had been experimenting with. Each hit swells and then cuts off sharply, leaving an uneasy gap before the next. The album changes the pressure again on “No Self Control,” where Morris Pert’s percussion threads through the band.
5
The Blue Nile – A Walk Across the Rooftops
At Castlesound Studios, engineer Calum Malcolm and the band recorded unusual sounds to tape and edited them by hand. The title track sets short string and bass phrases against long gaps, making each entrance count. “Tinseltown in the Rain” brings the same attention to detail to a busier arrangement, with traffic-like guitars and sweeping strings.
6
Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
Listen to the marimba and clipped guitar on “Clap Hands,” then hear Marc Ribot’s guitar curl around the beat on “Jockey Full of Bourbon.” Tom Waits changes the color of the band from song to song, from the parade drums and horns elsewhere on the album to the accordion on “Time.”
7
Laurie Anderson – Big Science
On “O Superman,” a repeated breathy syllable keeps time while Laurie Anderson’s vocoder voice drifts between a conversation and a recorded message. “From the Air” turns a pilot’s address into a deadpan performance. Across Big Science, tape loops, found sounds, and instruments such as bagpipes give ordinary announcements a strange authority.
8
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
Sonic Youth recorded at Greene Street Recording in New York in 1988. The guitars’ alternate tunings give “Teen Age Riot” a ring that holds even as Steve Shelley’s drums pick up. Stay for “Trilogy,” where the same band has room to stretch into three linked pieces and let the guitar noise take up more of the foreground.
9
World of Echo (1986)
Released
Arthur Russell recorded cello, voice, and echo with enough space to hear a note change after he plays it. On “Place I Know / Kid Like You,” the low end seems to linger behind him. “Let’s Go Swimming” gives a piece from his dance catalog a new pulse without drums.
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It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
Released
The Bomb Squad builds the tracks out of samples that cut across one another while Chuck D keeps the words clear. Follow the high, insistent squeal through “Rebel Without a Pause.” In “Bring the Noise,” listen to how the fragments around the beat give Flavor Flav room to punctuate Chuck’s lines.
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Halber Mensch (2011)
Released
The title track builds tension out of unaccompanied voices. “Yü-Gung” puts a voice against a heavy repeating percussion pattern that almost sounds like dance music until you hear how rough the individual sounds are. The two tracks are enough to show how differently the band could use repetition.
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Technodelic (1981)
Released
Yellow Magic Orchestra used a custom digital sampler to give sounds new rhythmic jobs. Listen to the clipped voices and uneven accents of “Neue Tanz,” then try “Seoul Music” for the way brief sounds take turns carrying the beat. Even the smallest part can change the pattern you hear.
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