Oliver Lake, NTU: Point from which Creation Begins (side A)

NTU: Point from which Creation Begins seems a bit out of time and place. Its repetitive, groove based tracks sound in some ways like mid-'70s Marion Brown or Archie Shepp, though it was recorded in 1971 in St. Louis (it remained unreleased until 1976, by which point it was less stylistically incongruous). It has elements of early-'70s Miles Davis, especially in the electric guitar playing, and it also reminds me a bit of the Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre records on Delmark (there was a connection between the Black Artists Guild and the AACM, so this similarity makes sense). NTU sounds great too, with neither the murkiness of the '60s nor the polished sheen of the '70s, but the cover art does not look so impressive.

The Eternals, Black Museum (12" EP)

2 years after the Eternals' debut LP emphasized their pop song side, the Black Museum 12" (2002) focused primarily on a series of fractured instrumentals. The one exception is the first track—"Black Museum" is a slow, beautiful song with an aggressive breakdown in the middle. Most of the instrumentals are built around what sound like loops of hand drums, but their origins are unclear. They're less recognizably modern/techo in style than the instrumentals on the early 12"s, and they provide a foundation for a lot of the group's later work. Black Museum sounds clear and modern but never sterile or brittle, and it features the Eternals' usual cut-up imagery on the cover.

Marion Brown, Sweet Earth Flying (side A)

Perhaps the strangest thing about this album is the track list on side A, "Sweet Earth Flying" parts 1, 3, 4, and 5—what happened to part 2?! Marion Brown is at his mellowest on 1974's Sweet Earth Flying—it's still far jazzier, for lack of a better word, than Afternoon of a Georgia Fawn, with lots of organ (sometimes played by both Brown and Paul Bley). It's also surprising that only a year later, Brown leapt to the very high-energy found on Vista. The movements here set up a nice groove and sit in it, and even the poetic section works nicely. The gatefold is nice, and the cover photo is charming, but the mastering is unfortunately a bit murky.

Big Flame, Cubist Pop Manifesto (12" EP)

Cubist Pop Manifesto (1986) is a German 12" collecting tracks from a couple of English Big Flame 7"s. The sound quality is murky for a 45 RPM 12", but the energy of the performance remains contagious and the political lyrics are inspired and funny when they cut through the din. Big Flame came after the Nightingales at a point when it's really too late to think of them as post-punk, but it's probably the most logical genre to force them into. At their best, their unforgettable melodies leap out, but they're always a fun engaging listen. The bright colors on the cover are (tastefully) a bit overwhelming.

Amon Düül II, Dance of the Lemmings (side C)

I always think of Amon Düül II from their more structured and trance-y output from the mid-70s, but Dance of the Lemmings (1971) reminded me that the transition from their hippie years was more gradual. The electric instruments are here and occasionally there are bits of drone, but they're combined with a more meandering and unstructured approach than the early Amon Düül albums. Dance of the Lemmings sounds bizarre and slightly primitive, and it generally resembles little else. It comes in a crazy looking gatefold sleeve, but having sides A/D on one album and B/C on another (from the age of stacking turntables) will never fail to annoy me.

Mr. Partridge, Take Away (side A)

Andy Partridge from XTC does some vaguely dub-inspired processing of old XTC songs, and then he sings over some of them. The results are 1980's Take Away, a diverse and fascinating record. His vocals sound a lot more primitive than on the XTC records where he's more overtly the featured element. The processing is idiosyncratic and personal, with a rich sonic palette. Take Away is far less stylized than its closest peers, New Age Steppers or Basement 5 In Dub—it doesn't sound (or look, for that matter) like much else.

Comsat Angels, Sleep No More (side A)

The first Comsat Angels album was the one that I fell in love with. Sleep No More came only a year later, in 1981. If anything, the palette is a bit more refined, with a lot of lush reverb, although it was released before convenient digital technology made these sounds fashionable. The murky reverb makes the vocals seem buried though they're pretty prominent in the mix. The vocal melodies are slightly less catchy than on Waiting for a Miracle, but the songs are just as well constructed. The very top is largely missing, but it's nonetheless a great-sounding master, with the guitar and bass particularly clear. The cover art is a bit impenetrable, fascinating, and tasteful.