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Proud Californian Adam Payne is perhaps best known as the leader of the
stellar (and often interstellar) psychedelic freak-a-thon known as
Residual Echoes. Their last release for Holy Mountain, California,
is one of the finest psych releases in recent history – spiralling
walls of acid-drenched guitars, brilliant, eternal grooves, high-voltage
atmospherics – simply put, the record leaves you
knee-deep in your own cerebrospinal fluid.
And while Residual Echoes' respectable discography may be making the
biggest waves, Adam just put out his debut solo album in March. Organ,
also out on Holy Mountain, is the record in
question, and if you can get your hands on it you might want to hold on
tight.
Adam generously selected his Ten Crucial Records for our fine
publication, and his list hits on a whole whack of potential influences.
I'll say no more, for fear of ruining the surprise. Dig in...
--
  
 
-- RICHARD
THOMPSON - "Watching the Dark"
Criminally underrated guitarist and
songwriter, he's finally received some more widespread
acclaim over the last decade or so. This set released some really
rare stuff (at the time) alongside unexpected
album cuts, fire-breathing live excursions, as
well as his collaborations with his ex-wife Linda, Fairport Convention,
and Henry Kaiser. Greatest living guitarist.
CHARLES MINGUS - "Oh Yeah"
An anomaly in his canon, considering he
doesn't play a single note on the bass, this is the record that
re-acquainted me with jazz a year or so after I'd
blown a fuse on it, after playing 4's on a closed hi-hat until the
metronome disappeared. The band on this bends time in a way that would
make Uri Geller jealous.
BLACK FLAG - "Live '84"
The punk dude at work called this their worst
record (Family Man?).
The crazy psych dude at work called it 'middle
of the road' and said something about the Karate Kid. My buddy John and I
think this (alongside Husker Du's 'Living End' in their case) is their
best album. Henry's at his most prickish and Kira and Ginn are like a two
headed, 20 fingered, bi-sexual Blodeuwedd dispensing wisdom by the second.
WAYLON JENNINGS - "Ramblin'
Man"
Enough about the Burrito Brothers and that
guy who offed himself. Jennings' left boot-heel had more personality than
any squirrel-faced junkie. This really is cosmic country that's rooted in
reality.
MILES DAVIS - "Get Up With It"
Another misfit megalomaniac genius; a master
manipulator of styles and sounds. Davis accidentally invented the
jungle/drum and bass aesthetic (amongst
countless other styles) on this hodgepodge double disc of brilliance. I
tricked a German enthusiast friend by playing "He Loved Him Madly" for
him, and telling him it was some CAN outtake. He believed it for its full
28 minutes. Proof that Krautrock isn't a style. Good music is good music.
GRATEFUL DEAD -"Dick's Picks Volume 10"
More people seem to be warming up to the Dead
lately. I'm pretty sure this set isn't the one doing the converting but
it's them at their best. This show has a mythical status, and I gawked at
my bud Jerry when he tried to tell me about it, because it was from '77.
However I've recanted and this was their best period and the best document
of what this band was all about. Just don't watch any live footage from
this era, it'll just make you angry.
MEAT PUPPETS - "Huevos & Out My Way"
Meat Puppets 2 is always their de facto album
that gets mentioned, but I've always liked this LP and EP the most. Pure
bliss. These are 3 guys with too much talent and
taste to be tied down to any sort of rock logistics that ended up stifling
many of their contemporaries. Huevos is their "Eliminator"; a picture of
possibilities to come. Kirkwood's leads are heaven.
MOTHERS OF INVENTION - "We're Only In It
For The Money"
This is the record I've been trying to make
each time I start to lose the will to be outside and opt to hole up and
record instead. Love him or hate him, Frank
Zappa blew many a brain across many a room and agitated many a mom. This
guy ruined my life.
WEEN - "Pure Guava"
My first musical obsession was this album. I
heard nothing like it and everything I'd heard already in a new way.
Prince, Ice Cube, ZZ Top, Beatles, Hank Williams. Ween can be any band
they want to and their records are still good. I've seen them at least 20
times and they've never disappointed.
MOZART- "the Magic Flute"
Nobody sticks up for this guy any more. This
is pretty much a perfect piece of music. Bergman called it the "greatest
piece of music ever written". Power, beauty, strength, loss, and magic.
ADAM PAYNE
/ RESIDUAL ECHOES ON MYSPACE |
