http://www.tradebit.com/usr/mp3-albu...6/36345679.jpg


13. Alabama 3—Exile on Coldharbour Lane (1997)

As the pale saucer of the moon grows into a gigantic goddamn platter, desperation grows exponentially and people reach for increasingly strange things to buoy up their spirits. Bizarre religious cults crop up left and right. People rally around old, threadbare political ideologies. Crowds rave until dawn and then country line dance until dusk. At the nexus of all this frenetic to-ing and fro-ing stand Alabama 3.

You may know them as the guys who wrote the song that was used in The Sopranos opening credits. In fact, that song is on this album, though it takes on a very different tone when you listen to the whole thing and realize it's an ode to a bunch of jazz legends with no particular connection to organized crime whatsoever. At any rate, as much as I like "Woke Up This Morning", it barely scratches the surface of what this band is all about.

What are they about then? Well, electronic music smashed together with country, blues and gospel for one thing. Also, religious satire, Marxism, rehab, sleaziness, humor, fake American accents, toe-tapping beats, catchy hooks and, at times, surprisingly heartfelt sentiment. It's like they have some magical ability to just make shit work that allows them to be smart and dumb, funny and serious, campy and heartfelt all at once. I don't know how they pull it off, but they do.

Anyway, here's their track "Hypo Full of Love" (I have no idea what the car montage is all about):




And here they are covering John Prine (and, again, ignore the dumb random video):

^ I absolutely adore that band. Got into them through the Sopranos like so many other people I guess. The album has such a unique sound, well worth getting.

I great to know someone else who likes them! Are you familiar with any of their other albums?

I only have that one and La Peste, love 'em both though.

I actually just listened to La Peste for the first time the other day. I've had Power in the Blood for a long time though and that's also a really good album. It's a maybe a bit more uneven than Exile on Coldharbour Lane but it's best songs are some of my favorites by them.

Sounds awesome, I'll definitely check it out.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...51b0306e8e.jpg


12. My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult—13 Above the Night (1993)

As many people on Earth continue their half-crazed descent into desperate pleasure seeking, the fabric of society begins to restitch itself. Impromptu nightclubs spring up left and right in the most unusual of places, and like every club kid's dream come true, they're all free. Nobody cares about earning a profit anymore—it's all about having as much fun as possible—so the bars at these clubs simply distribute free drinks and drugs to whoever wants them. And the cops? They're there, snorting lines off the tabletops just like everyone else.

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult have always been about three things: sex, drugs and Satan. While their first two albums definitely skewed Satanic, this one puts a heavier emphasis on the sex and drugs parts of the trinity. In the final days of our planet I think this order of priorities seems pretty reasonable. I mean who really gives a shit about the prince of darkness? Trying to squeeze every last drop of pleasure from your final days, on the other hand? Priceless!

It's all very campy and tongue-in-cheek of course, but nevertheless, in the long, steamy history of sleazy music, 13 Above the Night ranks really, really high (as do several other Thrill Kill Kult albums, but that's a story for another day). Do not be deceived by the somewhat noisy opening track either, this album is far more Lords of Acid than it is Skinny Puppy. This is music to pop pills, boogie in glittery go-go boots and fuck in the middle of the dance floor to. It was actually somewhat divisive among Thrill Kill Kult fans when it came out given it's embrace of house music, but in my humble opinion it's one of the truly great odes to hedonism.

They are great live - saw them supporting Primal Scream years back. Their website is fun too.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...cult_Today.jpg


11. Electric Wizard—Witchcult Today (2007)

The time has come
.
All the chosen, time to put down your bongs.
Take up a knife, end all life.
Legalise drugs and murder.
—"The Chosen Few" Electric Wizard

In a world teetering on the edge of obliteration the line between camp and violence is strangely blurred. The orgy of sex and drugs that has been consuming much of the world for a while now flies completely off the rails and begins to spiral into rampant sadism and thrill killing. Now bizarre hipster death cults begin to spring up. Their soundtrack? Electric Wizard's Witchcult Today.

These guys have many fantastic albums, in fact I'd argue that all the albums I've heard by them—which are all except two of their LPs for anyone who's counting—are pretty stellar. Witchcult Today, though, is my favorite of the admittedly amazing bunch. It's always sounded to me like lying on a threadbare, musty couch in a hastily sheetrocked hallway, stoned out of your mind, bellbottom-clad legs draped over the armrest, listening to your buddy's metal band blasting through the walls of their practice space circa 1975. Not the actual 1975 but rather some cooler, better, more exciting 1975 where things were even more messed up—and fuzzed out metal bands were far, far heavier.

Similar to the previous album I reviewed here (My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult's 13 Above the Night) this album manages to function on a campy, tongue-firmly-in-cheek level and on a nihilistic, bleak-as-hell level simultaneously, which when you think about it is really a pretty impressive feat. For Earth's final moments of wild, hedonistic abandon I can think of no better score.

That Electric Wizard is murderous. I've been meaning to check them out for awhile now, they came up on my Stoner/Doom Metal station on Pandora and they were a favorite of mine (along with EYEHATEGOD). If this is a favorite of yours then i will mos def check it out- i think what they played mostly on that station was from Dopethrone.