Opinz

Talking Heads – Remain in Light

Many innovative bands sprang into being in the wake of punk, but none developed their unique vision as completely as Talking Heads did on Remain in Light: the album is a tangle of Afrobeat polyrhythms and locked grooves with David Byrne delivering strange and provocative lyrics about modern alienation in only the way that his voice can; add Brian Eno’s production to the equation and you’ve got what was perhaps the greatest record of the 80′s, a landmark whose influence can be heard more clearly today than ever before.

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Tags: brian eno, chris frantz, david byrne, jerry harrison, remain in light, talking heads, tina weymouth

Various Artists – Dark Was the Night

An AIDs charity compilation offered by 4AD and Red Hot, Dark Was the Night gathers the most recognizable names in the world of indie music for two discs worth of new recordings, the first folk-centric and the second more electric; as one would expect the results are mixed, with some big highlights – excellent contributions from Grizzly Bear (“Deep Blue Sea”), Arcade Fire (“Lenin”), My Morning Jacket (“El Caporel”), a team up between David Byrne and Dirty Projectors (“Knotty Pine”), and one of Bon Iver’s best songs yet (“Brackett, WI”) – and some disappointments – Spoon seem to phone it in on “Well-Alright” and Sufjan Stevens’ 10-minute epic “You Are the Blood” is not nearly as impressive as it thinks it is – but who cares because it’s for a good cause so you should buy it anyway.

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Tags: aaron dessner, andrew bird, antony hegarty, arcade fire, beirut, ben gibbard, blonde redhead, bon iver, bryce dessner, cat power, compilations, conor oberst, dark was the night, dave sitek, david byrne, devastations, dirty delta blues, dirty projectors, feist, gillian welch, grizzly bear, iron & wine, jose gonzalez, kevin drew, kronos quartet, my brightest diamond, my morning jacket, riceboy sleeps, sharon jones & the dap-kings, spoon, stuart murdoch, sufjan stevens, the books, the decemberists, the national, the new pornographers, yeasayer, yo la tengo

N.A.S.A. – The Spirit of Apollo

The sprawling, star-studded music collaboration known as N.A.S.A. is likely to fall somewhat short of the inevitable Gorillaz comparisons and your expectations when you see the list of guest stars (featuring the likes of David Byrne, Chuck D, Method Man, Karen O, Tom Waits, Kanye West, Santogold, M.I.A., George Clinton, and Ghostface Killah, to name a few), but it functions very well as a big, feel-good hip-hop album that runs a gamut of sounds and topics as diverse as its cast of creators. More »

Tags: amanda blank, barbie hatch, chali 2na, chuck d, david byrne, del the funkee homosapian, dj am, dj babao, dj qbert, dj swamp, e-40, fatlip, george clinton, ghostface killah, gift of gab, john frusciante, kanye west, karen o, kool kieth, kool kojak, krs-one, lovefoxxx, lykke li, m.i.a., method man, n.a.s.a., nick zinner, ol' dirty bastard, ras congo, rza, santogold, scarface, seu jorge, sizzla, slim kid tre, spank rock, the cool kids, the spirit of apollo, tom waits, z-trip

David Byrne and Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

Byrne and Eno’s first collaboration since 1981′s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Everything That Happens is a totally different affair, trading in sampling experiments for funky pop – often producing brilliantly entertaining results (“Everything That Happens”, “Strange Overtones”) but sometimes coming off as unfortunately dated.

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Tags: brian eno, david byrne, everything that happens will happen today