While re-listening to Bitches Brew tonight it occurred to me, there’s never been anything that sounds quite like it since, and there never will be again.
What are your favorite unicorn albums?
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My Life In The Bush of Ghosts by David Byrne and Brian Eno.
Holy shit.
The first time I heard F# A# ∞ I was so blown away. I still regularly listen to it even 20 years later from the first time I heard it. I recently saw them live which was incredible, but I was a tiny bit sad I didn’t get to hear Dead Flag Blues.
Definitely one of my favorite bands of all time.
The Prodigy - The Fat of The Land
It’s a one of a kind album. I don’t think the prodigy ever made another album that good. And I don’t think there is anything else out there similar to it. It has its own energy, it’s definitely a unicorn type.
Smack My Bitch Up is insane. They won’t even play it in music venues and bars anymore, sadly :(
Yeah. For quite a while I thought this was a best of, given the name too, until I realized it was just a regular album. Definitely their best.
The first album of The Crystal Method also no givese similar vibes.
Cannot believe I forgot this. Absolutely incredible album. Every single tune a banger and such a unique sound.
They absolutely nailed the Zeitgeist with it.
Prince - Sign O the Times
One of the few albums I listen to beginning to end.
Also, Pink Floyd. Pretty much any album, but specifically Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here.
Check out the 1977 Prince Funk Sessions!
Cake’s first album Fashion Nugget is the kind of unique that we rarely see twice.
Future Shock by Herbie Hancock. Dude released like 25 jazz and funk albums over two decades, then in '83 just drops a hip hop bomb
Also, Dr. John - The Night Tripper. 60s psychedelic New Orleans perfection
Oh my God that’s one of the things I love about Herbie so much! He was not afraid to push himself in new musical directions. He has so many albums in his vast discography that changed the musical landscape forever.
Hell, I just listened to Headhunters before I listened to Bitches Brew, before I posted! And on that album is the seminal Watermelon Man where he incorporates hindewhu (pygmy music).
I would encourage anyone to listen to any Herbie album, in full, from any era. His first 6 albums are dope as hell!!
Totally almost picked Headhunters because of Watermelon Man! There’s nothing like it. Herbie occupies a different plane of existence
Agree. If Stevie Wonder is made of music as McCartney says, Herbie would be the quantum music field.
I came here to say Future shock. I just listened to it on the drive home.
‘Rockit’ was pretty much entirely made by the production team of Bill Laswell and Michael Beinhorn, from the band Material, with GrandMixer DXT and three other dudes doing the scratching. Hancock basically came in at the end to play some synth lines.
I’ll throw my few in here:
Lemon Jelly - KY
Paul Simon - Graceland
Air - Moon Safari
Portishead - Dummy
Alt-J - An awesome waveHere is mine.
Such a unique time when it came out. Electronic music was at peak experimental stage in the late 90’s. Kind of like B**ches Brew was the peak 60’s psychedelic experiment. This album was the perfect culmination of two masters of world music, psychedelic trance, and ambient music. Simon Posford is the absolute genius sound engineer at the peak of his game and Raja Ram was the old hippie wizard guiding him through realms unknown.
Wow I forgot about Shpongle! Haha cool memory, thanks for sharing!
I had a friend who was always on coke and acid and always was asking people to get spongled with them
Dr. Pnut, wherever you ended up, I hope you’re still spongle-ing.
Thanks for this. Listened to about 20 mins and already found an album for sale which is now on its way.
Shpongle are a trip. Been years since i heard this, thanks
The Postal Service
There are many synth artists that try to target a similar feel, but the way they tug on your emotions with just the subtlest of sounds. Everything feels like it’s meant to fit. Never has a song made me feel more homesick than Recycled Air. And I don’t even want to go back home.
Honorable mention goes to Moon Safari by Air. First time I heard every song on that album felt like I’d heard it before in a memory.
Honorable mention goes to Moon Safari by Air. First time I heard every song on that album felt like I’d heard it before in a memory.
I still remember my first time hearing this too.
The dregs of a house party. Only a few chill people still up. Sun starts coming up and someone put it on. Absolutely perfect setting to hear that album for the first time.
I can immediately place myself in that room it seared itself into my memory with how well it hit.
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
The two i listened to most when i was young were Sgt Pepper and Dark Side of the Moon. Happy for the vinyl revival so my kids can experience the two sides of an album.
Endtroducing by DJ Shadow
It’s his inaugural album and there’s never been anything quite like it. Even his follow up albums, with his unique sound, feel a bit different than this one (not in a bad way, but I don’t think they meet your unicorn criteria).
Also, I think this easily goes in my top ten albums list.
I never heard of this artist or album before, so far I’m 1/4 through the listening and digging it, thanks for posting
The first, like, 5 albums by They Might Be Giants are unique in their own ways. Just different blends of wackiness and musical sophistication, it’s sublime.
Any album by Pink Floyd.
Even mostly works if you compare said album to other albums by Pink Floyd. Dark Side of the Moon as a classic notable callout.
It’s hard to pick not a one hit album wonder band, because bands will tend to have a lot of continuity in their sound. But dark side of the moon is both very popular and unique. Yes (Green) album was a bit of a one hit wonder.
Steely Dan and KC Roberts Live Revolution are sounds that were never copied by anyone else. NiN was very unique until copied.
A Grand Don’t Come For Free by The Streets. I love this album start to finish and it’s got a great story right through it.
First time I heard it I’d gotten an email from Vice promoting it and I clicked the link thinking it would just be the first 20 seconds of each song but it was the whole album! Was just starting a movie but I never watched it, just listened to the album straight through. So good.
His first few albums really are seminal. If you’re a HHH there really is no comparison to them.
If this makes sense, there’s a feeling of old outlaw country in those albums and the stories he tells.
It’s funny because I’m not a HHH by any stretch of the imagination! But man, this is a desert island album for me. I absolutely get what you mean about the outlaw feeling though.
