Experimental singer-songwriter

[blissblogger]

artists working within the intimate, confessional, soul-baring tradition, who veer off into unexpectedly inventive, non-acoustic or expressively weird directions


it does my head in that Cat Stevens - Cat Stevens of "Peace Train", "Morning Has Broken" etc etc - released this track in early 1977 that invents electro and foreshadows techno and bleep

looky at some of the gear used on this album (Izitso) -
guitar synthesizer, Polymoog, Moog synthesizer, Minimoog, ARP String Synthesizer, ARP 2600, Yamaha CS-80, Yamaha GX-1, Yamaha EA5R electronic organ, music sequencer, Wurlitzer electric piano

 

[blissblogger]

looping the Burundi drums, a baleful synth line - not what you expect from Joni

 

[blissblogger]

Roy goes voicescape-y

 

[blissblogger]

here the experiment lies less in the sound (palatable and polished if apt and effective AOR) than in the performance and expression


sister of Catherine as in Home Alone, Beetlejuice, Schitt's Creek - kookiness runs in the blood

 

[blissblogger]

after a bunch of fetching singer-songwritery albums, Suzanne Vega - perhaps encouraged by the dancemix success of "Tom's Diner" - tried to get into beats and a vaguely alt-industrial tinged sound. In her context, an experimental move (not all experiments work, of course).

 

[blissblogger]

another from the same album

 

[jenks]

John Martyn and his echoplex - Live at Leeds probably him at his best.

 

[bassbeyondreason]

An obvious one:

 

[maxi]

 

[Leo]

Does Van Dyke Parks fit here? His stuff isn't experimental in terms of weird noise, but was definitely odd with the orchestral pop elements of "Song Cycle". Then, obviously, his work on the Beach Boys "Smile".

 

[Leo]

Robert Wyatt solo releases also a bit odd-pop.

 

[blissblogger]

i think you would possibly expect something experimental from Robert Wyatt, given Soft Machine and also his first solo album The End of An Ear, his mystic scat excursions in Matching Mole etc

i'm thinking more of that area where musically it's pretty palatable and very much in service to the song and the mode of intimacy, lyrics drawn from personal experience etc.

like i suppose Tim Buckley would fit, he starts as a folky troubadour, then gets jazzy, then gets really out-there with Starsailor

 

[maxi]

 

[sus]

here the experiment lies less in the sound (palatable and polished if apt and effective AOR) than in the performance and expression


sister of Catherine as in Home Alone, Beetlejuice, Schitt's Creek - kookiness runs in the blood

Miss America is as good as it gets—do you remember if the LP made a splash when it came out, or is it one of those overlooked gems in retrospect?

 

[blissblogger]

Miss America is as good as it gets—do you remember if the LP made a splash when it came out, or is it one of those overlooked gems in retrospect?

it got rave reviews, in Melody Maker for sure, elsewhere too was warmly received i think. a success d'estime if that's the expression - a critic-loved and cult-revered record, not a hit as such.

 

[sus]

I saw the Polaris award and figured it was something along those lines, but it's great to hear first-hand recollections. I'll have to scour old MelodyMaker archives, see if I can find anything. Looks like 70s are well-preserved, 80s issues not so much.

 

[WashYourHands]

 

[the ig]

early solo macca’s spliffy synth experimentalism is good for all that:

 

[the ig]

bw pulling this out on his sorta confessional 1988 solo album has to qualify, even tho obvs he’s a well know studio experimenter etc. i think it was a complete surprise at the time.


slightly over-bright, quite smile/vdp-alike cartoonish Americana, but from about 4:30 it’s marvellous, especially the ‘night little jasmin’ section.

 

[luka]

all experiments are failed experiments, just be normal