UT, Early Live Life (side A)

Early Live Life, from 1987, collects primitive live recordings between 1979 and 1985. While UT's albums featured delicate and abstract moments, the emphasis here is definitely more guttural—whether that's because it's a live recording or because it documents an earlier era is hard to tell in retrospect. The music is consistently intense, fragmented, and defiant—UT already had a voice like few others. While Early Live Life may not be the best introduction to the group, it's an amazing document of their evolution. Their defiance of any neat genre or convention seems to leave them largely (and sadly) overlooked.