Renaldo & the Loaf, The Elbow is Taboo (side A)

Renaldo & the Loaf were two Englishmen who became associated with the Residents. Their (vaguely) canonical album was 1981's Songs for Swinging Larvae, a primitive, hilarious romp through their odd minds. It didn't leave a clear blueprint for artistic evolution or progress, so the duo took two tries to find its more mature style, finally succeeding with 1987's The Elbow is Taboo. The melodies are a bit clearer, which somehow enhances their faux-ethnic quality. The vocals are a bit clearer as well, but they still sound extreme, blending the group's earlier processed approach with some cleaner (but still somehow absurd) vocal sounds. The punchy low-end on some kick drum-like sounds is a nice touch too. The funny cover photo shows lingeré covering a marble sculpture of elbows.

Laurie Spiegel, Harmonices Mundi (one-sided LP)

Harmonices Mundi is a one-sided LP from New York computer music innovator Laurie Spiegel. It was recorded in 1977 for inclusion on the Voyager spacecraft, but not released in a commercial format until this 2003 LP. The back of the album is covered with a crazy space-themed image, that can be mostly seen backwards through the clear yellow vinyl while the record plays. The music starts as a slowly evolving, largely unfiltered, high-pitched drone, and additional layers of busier drone are very slowly added through the course of the piece.

Lluis Llach, Viatge a Itaca (side A)

Lluis Llach is known, at least in Europe, for having written a timeless political protest song called "L'estaca" in 1968. He made many records through the 70s, combining a Robert Wyatt-like leftist agenda with a more mellifluous folk palette that vaguely resembles Simon and Garfunkel. Many of his albums, including 1975's Viatge a Itaca have a side-long track with complex evolution and structure, and then short pieces on the other side. He often relies on sophisticated arrangements around folk-like harmonic content. Llach's albums can be an acquired taste, especially with the lyrics in Catalan (the translation to French in the liner notes helps me a bit), but I've come to enjoy them. The crazy instrumental sections in the course of "Itaca"'s 15 minute evolution are fascinating, and Llach's vocal delivery is compelling.

Joseph Jarman/Don Moye, Black Paladins (side A)

1979's Black Paladins features nice trio recordings of Jarman, Moye, and Johnny Dyani on bass/piano/vocals. It includes 3 Jarman compositions, and by 1979 he had definitely headed into the mellower approach that he still favors today. The Dyani piece "Mama Marimba" is interesting because it includes obvious use of overdubs—it's also a great document of Dyani's work in this era. They also perform a low-key version of Kalaparusha's "Humility in the Light of the Creator". The cover art is fairly bland, and the recording/mastering is overly bright.

MZUI, Waterloo Gallery (side A)

Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis from Wire worked as the duo Dome in the early-'80s. The MZUI album documents a Waterloo Gallery installation from 1982, and is pretty different from their Dome albums. It's not compositional or particularly electronic, but a recorded document of this installation. It reminds me most of work that Achim Wollscheid did many years later, except it's a series of short sketches, compared to Wollscheid's longer, conceptual pieces. The excellent packaging includes a booklet of photos documenting the installation.

The Dead C, Clyma Est Mort (side A)

Clyma Est Mort contains "live" Dead C recordings from their practice space, in front of a small audience in 1992. The imitation packaging of the Fall's Totale's Turns is humorous, and the sound quality is a bit rough even by the Dead C's lo-fi standards. The New Zealand noise legends are heroes to many, so there's not much to add here.

Ornette Coleman, Who's Crazy? 2 (side A)

This confusing record shows a copyright year of 1979, but it was apparently recorded in 1966. Who's Crazy 2 is a bit more tossed-off than some of Ornette's more overtly compositional work, but still contains some excellent trio playing. The group here is with Moffett and Izenzon, and they're a lot more introspective and cerebral than some of Ornette's other groups. Moffett especially leaves a lot more space than Higgins, Blackwell, or Denardo—he provides a lot of subtle texture on the toms in place of the driving cymbal rhythms often associated with Ornette. The pieces are not neat compositions, but more workouts on concepts. The front cover photo is nice enough, but I'm particularly fond of the parrot image on the center sticker.