United States

Taylor Haskins - musician

sounds of obsession

 

SOUNDS OF OBSESSION

This here is the beginning of what will eventually be a long list of albums that, at one time or another, I just couldn't get enough of...I was obsessed. Fairly often it happens that I find myself attracted to a certain recording so much that I can't listen to anything other that one thing for months. I'm going to keep adding these albums to this page as I happen on them in my daily listening, in the hope that others might either be reminded of them or, better yet, discover them for the first time.

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Herbie HancocK
"Sextant" (1973)

This record is everything, and then some. I think it's one of Herbie's most honest and fearless albums...and that's saying a lot about someone who's been a honest and fearless explorer throughout his entire life. 

 

 

RY COODER & V.M. BHATT
"A MEETING BY THE RIVER"(1993)

A meeting of like-minded souls and an intertwining of two very unique yet sonically-related instruments: bottleneck guitar and mohan veena. I've adored this recording for over twenty years.

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RONI SIZE & REPRAZENT
"NEW FORMS" (1997)

This classic drum 'n' bass album flipped my script entirely; it lives up to it's bold title and breaks a lot of "rules". In a genre that doesn't generate full albums nearly as much as it does singles (in the form of one-off dub plates) this was a breath of fresh air at the time and I totally ate it up.

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COLLIN WALCOTT
"CLOUD DANCE" (1976)

This recording exudes wisdom and patience. The musicians play as a single entity, and each unique voice is heard equally. The flow is natural and the music gently leads the listener on a walk across a broad field and through an amber meadow, into a dimly-lit forest, across a trickling brook and up a mossy hill, where there is a sudden and stark clearing, and you do a little cloud dance.

 

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JOE HENDERSON
"MULTIPLE" (1973)

Joe Hen put out a lot of swinging, groovy records that I love...but for me, this one tops them all. The players are all completely free, the approach is wide open, loose, intense, searching, deep...musicians lifting each other up so someone can eventually get up over that wall and into the future.

 

BJORK
"VESPERTINE" (2001)

After being obsessed with "Post", when "Homogenic" came out I was confident that it couldn't possibly affect me to the same degree. I was wrong. I was even more obsessed with that album; I went to see her live three times during that tour and they were three of the best live shows I have ever seen. She followed that and, in my humble opinion, topped herself yet again and made what may be eventually considered the masterpiece of her entire career, "Vespertine". There aren't enough words for this one.

JOE ZAWINUL
"ZAWINUL" (1970)

Master Zawinul and his band of sorcerers...like the greatest artists in history, he lived inside the worlds of his own creation.