Laughing Stock

Amazon.com
Dreamy and loose, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock turns 180 degrees away from the '80s pop sound of It's My Life and runs headlong into a web of Brian Eno, avant-garde, jazz, and experimental structure. The songs ache with languid phrases and the naked, vulnerable voice of Mark Hollis, the only element of the band that remains perceptible from their verse-chorus-verse past. The bashing, off-time clatter of "Ascension Day"; the impossibly patient organ motif snaking into a wailing guitar string in "After the Flood"; the terrifying, beautiful silences that engulf "Runeii" and "Myrrhman"; and the teetering, defenseless vocal Hollis lays down on "New Grass"--it all adds up to a stellar, shockingly original work that shreds all pretense of genre limitations, finding a transcendence in the light and shadow of musical color. --Matthew Cooke

Product Description
The band's final album, originally released in 1991 on Polydor. It was promptly deleted three months after it's release due to wrangling with the record company. Now available on the band's own label Pond Life. Standard jewel case.

Laughing Stock,Talk Talk,Polydor / Pgd,Pop,Popular Music,Post-Rock/Experimental,Rock,Rock/Pop

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Laughing Stock

Average customer rating: Late opinion Laughing stock Talk Talk Part two of Spirit of Eden Super sounds a living, breathing work of ART

Laughing Stock Talk Talk Manufacturer: Polydor / Umgd ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD New Wave | New Wave & Post-Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Experimental Rock | Rock | Alternative Styles | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Experimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music $7.99 and Under | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Alternative Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music $7.99 and Under | Prices | Blowout Music | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 25% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Spirit of Eden The Colour of Spring The Party's Over Natural History: The Very Best of Talk Talk Asides Besides ASIN: B000001FZK Release Date: 1991-11-19

Tracks:

1. Myrrhman
2. Ascension Day
3. After The Flood
4. Taphead
5. New Grass
6. Runeii

Amazon.com

Dreamy and loose, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock turns 180 degrees away from the '80s pop sound of It's My Life and runs headlong into a web of Brian Eno, avant-garde, jazz, and experimental structure. The songs ache with languid phrases and the naked, vulnerable voice of Mark Hollis, the only element of the band that remains perceptible from their verse-chorus-verse past. The bashing, off-time clatter of "Ascension Day"; the impossibly patient organ motif snaking into a wailing guitar string in "After the Flood"; the terrifying, beautiful silences that engulf "Runeii" and "Myrrhman"; and the teetering, defenseless vocal Hollis lays down on "New Grass"--it all adds up to a stellar, shockingly original work that shreds all pretense of genre limitations, finding a transcendence in the light and shadow of musical color. --Matthew Cooke

Album Description

The band's final album, originally released in 1991 on Polydor. It was promptly deleted three months after it's release due to wrangling with the record company. Now available on the band's own label Pond Life. Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews:

Late opinion.......2007-05-12

It's obvious that Talk Talk were getting as far away from pop music as they could by the time this CD was issued. This CD sounds much more like solo effort that Marc Hollis released years later. The songs are well played, the tunes are nice but not really easy listening type, so you have to listen a copule of times before you remember them. I just missed a coulpe of more recognisable melodies (think of Life's what you make it, Living in another world, Tomorrow started etc), but wasn't disappointed in general.

Laughing stock Talk Talk.......2007-05-12

WORTH A LISTEN
This was a surprise to me, I did not know their music, but it's a blend of electric folk and acid jazz, very cool and uplifting vocals. A must for a music traveler.

HMR

Part two of Spirit of Eden.......2007-04-03

The only complaint i could really aim at this swansong epic from Talk Talk is that it really breaks no new ground from Spirit of Eden- i find no real difference in tones sound etc. But ofcourse it is more a continuation or another part of that album. Most of the same guest musicians show up for this dark downtempo album- and the recording sounds nearly identical production wise and trackwise to Spirit of Eden. Still the fact remains these are two of the best minimal postrock art jazz whatever you want to call it recordings from the last 30 years. This was a band miles ahead of the pack that helped influence Portishead and Radioheads better moments. Its part ambient acoustic- very spacey and minimal before erupting into slowchurning bursts of almost triphop styled jazz. Some of the material foreshadows U2s achtung baby's darker slower tunes - the drums no doubt you will notice sound like that albums drums. I mention this only in sound - not to say TAlk Talk sounds like u2 or vice versa. The songs on L-Stock are long- far from pop verse chorus stylings and are completely uncommercial. This is music for musics sake and makes the new wave of Talk Talks' early career seem a bad distant memory. No band ever redeemed themselves so late in their career as well as TAlk TAlk. Not having both these albums is almost unforgivable for a music lover.

Super sounds.......2007-02-01

Decided to go ahead and buy this CD after reading the reviews, and getting Spirit of Eden on my friend 'noid's recommendation. Glad I did. Thanks reviewers for such detailed reviews. And, thanks to my pal, LS, I have formally been introduced to Talk Talk. :)

a living, breathing work of ART.......2006-09-10

Laughing Stock, like its predecessor Spirit Of Eden, is so wholly satisfying on every possible level that it makes me wonder why I need anything else in my life. It is an undeniable masterpiece of modern art, and I think that is the key to getting the most out of this album--one must not think of Laughing Stock as a musical release or collection of compositions - it is a painting, a sculpture, a living, breathing work of ART that can only come alive when processed through your ears. Everytime I hear this album, my mind always paints a very vivid fresco that I cannot describe--Laughing Stock (and again, Spirit Of Eden) is the only album I've ever heard that makes me think like that. I don't think I've ever actually heard the album, but I have certainly seen it many, many times, and it is a work of uncompromising and utterly perfect beauty. To me, this defines art.

If someone said to me "Laughing Stock is hands down the greatest album ever made" I would not argue with them.

Average customer rating: The album comes very close to the band's amazing live shows.

Laughing Stock Laughing Stock Manufacturer: Dept. of Ways & Means ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Alternative Pop | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Money for All Wonderful World EP Underskin World Citizen Snow Borne Sorrow ASIN: B00000IBK9 Release Date: 1999-02-01

Tracks:

1. *!0
2. White
3. Waking World
4. Driving Days
5. Soul Hurt
6. Heffalump
7. Hole
8. Glow
9. I'm
10. Fence
11. Moth

Album Description

Low-end grooves and open spaces, best served after three in the morning....

Customer Reviews:

The album comes very close to the band's amazing live shows........1999-08-13

This band is one of San Francisco's best kept treasures. As much as we hate to share them, they are bound for greatness and with CMJ reviews, I suspect that they will be on a plane to SXSW soon.

Average customer rating: great fun What Happened After She Got Run Over By The Reindeer?

Dr. Elmo's Twisted Christmas Dr. Elmo Manufacturer: Laughing Stock ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Children's Music | Styles | Music General | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Opera & Vocal | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Pop Vocal | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music Pop Vocal | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music Similar Items: Dr. Elmo's Greatest Christmas Hits Twisted Christmas More Twisted Christmas ASIN: B000006K4E Release Date: 1995-05-01

Tracks:

1. Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer
2. Grandma's Spending Christmas With The Superstars
3. Christmas Won't Be The Same Without Johnny
4. Grandma's Killer Fruitcake
5. Santa Ain't Comin'
6. Christmas Millionaire
7. Grandpa's Gonna Sue The Pants Off Of Santa
8. Junk Bond Christmas Blues
9. Send Me A Wife For Christmas
10. Here's To The Lonely
11. Don't Make Me Play That Grandma Song Again

Amazon.com

Novelty Christmas tunes come and go, but "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" has the shelf life of plutonium. If there were any goof justice in the world, a few more of these fractured numbers on Dr. Elmo's Twisted Christmas would be almost as popular. Elmo has managed to align so many twisted notions that they sometimes gleefully border on the sociopathic ("Christmas Won't Be the Same Without Johnny"). Then there's cultural fixation with celebrity as evidenced in "Grandma's Spending Christmas with the Superstars" and the down-and-out "Junk Bond Christmas Blues." Throw in some tunes about killer fruitcake, a lawsuit against Santa, and a few other off-kilter themes one doesn't usually associate with the season, and the bad Doctor has created a laughfest that merrily borders on the maniacal. --Martin Keller

Customer Reviews:

great fun.......2007-01-11

great fun great value can,t wait till next xmas to start playing it again

What Happened After She Got Run Over By The Reindeer?.......2001-08-28

I am amazed this album doesn't get more play. "Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer" became an overnight and permanent classic but Dr. Elmo has been virtually ignored in the grab bag for holiday hits since, and this hysterical collection makes for some hilarious holiday fun. After Grandma died, you see, she went on to spend Christmas somewhere far above us with some greats like Liberace, Elvis et al, in "Grandma's Spending Christmas With the Superstars" - the natural completion for the song the started it all. In the meantime "Grandpa's Gonna Sue the Pants off of Santa" and this tune proves it, mapping out Grandpa's revenge for the accident as well as Santa's legal representative. "Grandma's Killer Fruitcake" simply has to be heard. We've all gotten enough of the stuff and you will hear a few new uses for it in this ditty. "Here's to the Lonely" is woefully out of place in this CD, it is a sad ballad to spending the holiday alone. It threw me off at first, hidden deep in this group of goofiness, but I have grown to love it. And finally...finally...Dr. Elmo has his very own lament, "Don't Make My Play That Grandma Song Again" - funny, catchy, perhaps it mirrors his own thoughts as to why these other songs get no respect. This one is fun. Go get you one.

Average customer rating: Beyond Groovy Eddie Izzard Makes My Day! "Dress To Kill" different show from video, but still great Brilliant Comedy! Simly awesome

Glorious/Dress to Kill Eddie Izzard Manufacturer: Laughing Stock ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Country Comedy | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Soundtracks | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Unrepeatable/Definite Article Circle Sexie Dress to Kill Definite Article ASIN: B000050BAS Release Date: 2001-01-05

Tracks:

1. Glorious
2. In Bed With God
3. Noah on Speed
4. Tyranny of Ducks
5. River Styx
6. Mystic Hopscotch
7. Fill Me With the Gobi Desert
8. Six Million Dollar Queen
9. Do You Think I'm Sexy
10. Helen of Troy
11. Achilles Footwear
12. Huge Fuck-Off Horse
13. Play on Nativity
14. Crazy St. Peter
15. Swiss Protection
16. Nottingham Twang
17. My Name Is Tracy
18. Deus Ex Machina
19. They Lie to Us
20. Hell in a Shower
21. Flight of the Volkswagen
22. Birdsuck
23. I've Got a Bad Feeling
24. Death by Chocolate
25. Armageddon

Tracks:

1. San Francisco
2. American Dream
3. Empire
4. 2nd World War
5. Pearl Harbour to Russia
6. Italians and Fascists
7. European Union
8. Male Tomboy
9. Executive Transvestite
10. Stonehenge
11. Church of England
12. Scooby Doo
13. Heimlich Maneouvre
14. I'm a Film Nut
15. Great Escape
16. President Kennedy
17. One Step for Man
18. Puberty
19. Lost My Virginity
20. Encore

Album Description

UK compilation combines two of the acclaimed gender bending comic's albums, 'Glorious' (1997) and the one-off charity performance recorded at Wembley, 'Dressed To Kill' (1998). Two standard jewel cases with individual artwork, housed together in a slipcase.

Album Details

UK Releases from 1997 and 1998 Packaged in Two Standard Jewelcases Housed in a Slipcase.

Customer Reviews:

Beyond Groovy.......2003-03-19

If you want to laugh, & I mean really laugh you have to purchase this cd. Of course, this is not the spoon fed comedy you find with today "up and coming" "comics". I did have to take it home from the office - found myself spending too much time listening, and well you know the rest.

Eddie Izzard Makes My Day!.......2003-02-06

I play my Eddie Izzard tapes to and from school. I am a teacher and need that daily shot in the arm. Soon I imagine myself talking to the children just like Eddie does... Seriously - in a place where everyone takes themselves FAR too seriously, I need to remember some of Eddie's lines to get me through the day.

"Dress To Kill" different show from video, but still great.......2002-04-20

For those who may be curious about Eddie Izzard, the material on these two CDs will give you an idea of what the fuss is about - though not quite as good as the video presentation.

Eddie is one of those rare comedians who do more than merely entertain - they give you a glimpse into an entirely different world. Legendary comics such as Jonathan Winters or Lenny Bruce could do that. For those who haven't experienced this yet, maybe (just maybe) Eddie Izzard will do it for you.

Eddie Izzard did that for me with his HBO presentation of "Dress To Kill", and I had to get the audio CD (one-half of this double-pack CD set from the UK). What I heard on the CD was a different version of the show - one just as funny in its own way, but one which clearly avoided the "sight gags" that made the video presentation so brilliant. For those who have never seen the video version, by all means do - then you can compare it with this audio-only version and hear all the subtle differences. It's revealing, actually, to hear how free-form his show actually is and how different it can be from night to night.

The "Glorious" show, which could be considered a "pre-qual" to "Dress To Kill", is just as good - it's a hidden gem, waiting for newly-emerging Izzard fans to discover. I've never seen the video presentation of this one, though it probably won't be long before I get myself a copy.

In a nutshell, this two-CD set is a nice starting place for those emassing an Izzard audio library. But, for your first exposure, I would recommend seeing the video of "Dress To Kill" before you buy anything. That will settle the question of whether you'll enjoy his other material.

Brilliant Comedy!.......2002-04-05

I am an Izzard-addict. He is by far one of the funniest comedians on Earth! Most of the other reviews can tell you how funny he is and I agree. However, I am writing this to point out that the audio recordings are of different shows than those videotaped. Since Eddie tends to improvise his way through his material the shows are very similar but not word for word. So if you are a fellow Izzard-ite, I would recommend both as there are enough differences to usually make it worthwhile. I also recommend seeing him live as the shows are amazingly funny. At one of the LA shows of Circle he ended up riffing on the word "insidious" throughout the show that was hilarious. That, and, of course, what would a monkey say as soon as you taught it sign language?
"Can I have a banana?"
Only Eddie.

Simly awesome.......2002-02-05

the ability to poke fun at one & all with being offensive... the ability to thread together the different statements, made far apart in each show, that's the genius of this "executive transvestite"

Average customer rating: Brilliant Oh my God! Classic Eddie!! VERY FUNNY Earlier Izzard Ages Well: "I'm Still Not Happy With My Wash"

Unrepeatable/Definite Article Eddie Izzard Manufacturer: Laughing Stock ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Country Comedy | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Soundtracks | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Glorious/Dress to Kill Circle Eddie Izzard - Circle Sexie Eddie Izzard - Glorious ASIN: B000050BAR Release Date: 2003-12-23

Tracks:

1. Advertising/Are You Happy With Your Wash
2. Attacking the Prince/Secret Service
3. Question Time/Afghanistan
4. Holland/Shouting
5. Cats and Dogs
6. Transvestite
7. More Shouting/Bloke in a Dress
8. Bookshops/Does He Eat Crisps?
9. Religion
10. Great Escape
11. Birds
12. Fish and Goats/Swimming
13. Bees and Wasps
14. Horror Movies
15. Starship Enterprise

Tracks:

1. Shaftesbury Theatre
2. Thimbles/Animals
3. Supermarkets
4. Old Ladies
5. Dog Food
6. Supermarkets/Vegetables: Vegetarians/Vegetables/Bread/Queues
7. Shoplifting
8. Poetry/Mice
9. Suffering Fools
10. Latin & French
11. France/Exchange Trip
12. Being European
13. Romans
14. Hannibal
15. Handshakes
16. Being Cool
17. Parrots
18. Beachy Head/Suicide
19. James Bond
20. Chemistry
21. Einstein/Science
22. Pavlov's Dog/Cats
23. Encore/Salmon/Sex

Album Description

UK compilation combines the acclaimed gender bending comic's first two albums, 'Unrepeatable' (1995) and 'Definite Article' together in one package. Two standard jewel cases with individual artwork, housed together in a slipcase.

Album Details

UK Comic's First Two Releases, Packaged in Two Standard Jewelcases Housed in a Slipcase.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant.......2006-03-04

Eddie Izzard is an absolute genius! You will be laughing all the way through this album.

Oh my God!.......2004-10-06

Wow, okay so I was lucky enough to find this at Tower the other day being the Circle and Dress to Kill fan that I am. Dude, the CDs get better and better everytime you listen. There's always something you missed that lats time you listened to it. Izzard is simply the best comic around with his difficult and very intellectual humor. He's a vivid storyteller that you'll love to listen and laugh to. Heck, I've even learned a few things from him. Buy this, you will not be dissapointed. Definte Article and Unrepeatable are classics.

Classic Eddie!!.......2003-08-12

Obviously there is not a single bad thing to be said about Eddie Izzard as he is the single funniest person to come from the UK. However as any true Eddie Izzard fan would understand, he must be seen as well as heard. Although you can picture him as you listent to this CD, you really need to see his mannerisms. Still very funny but not as highly recommended as his DVD's are.

VERY FUNNY.......2003-06-13

A great set of comedy CD's. His obesrvations on life are great, and truthfull, which makes it even more funny.

I would love to see some of the skits live, because you miss some of the faces and jesters he makes while actually preforming them.

But all in all it is a great collection :)

Earlier Izzard Ages Well: "I'm Still Not Happy With My Wash".......2003-03-12

My wife's not used to 'listening' to comedians. Me, I grew up on record albums like "Steve Martin: a Wild and Crazy Guy". Richard Pryor's "Mudbone", Robin WIlliams and Eddie Murphy. I enjoy watching HBO specials sometimes, but I like being able to hear the monologue without visual distractions moreso.

Mr. Izzard's recorded performances in England might require some to listen to more than once to get the references or keep up with the patter, but who says that's a bad thing? Occasionally, the switch to French or German is a bit annoying (seeing as how those of us unfortunate enough to have been raised in the U.S. had 4th grade Spanish at best...forget French or German classes), but the intent is honest.

The usual sharp observations about life, religion and England's place in the world are all here. Sometimes, it manages to sound familiar...but not too much so. There's nothing here you'll remember from 'Dress to Kill', but you'll notice how some of his later skits grew out of these, which were recorded over 8 years ago (!).

Stiil and all, Mr. Izzard's good is better than most of today's comedians best. So there.

Average customer rating:

Definite Article Eddie Izzard Manufacturer: Laughing Stock ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Country Comedy | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music ASIN: B00002MRDE Release Date: 1996-01-01

Tracks:

1. Shaftesbury Theatre
2. Thimbles & Animals
3. Supermarkets
4. Old Ladies
5. Dog Food
6. Squeezy Squeezy Things
7. Shoplifting
8. Best Laid Plans
9. Suffering Fools
10. Latin & French
11. France Exchange Trip
12. Being European
13. Romans
14. Hannibal
15. Handshakes
16. Being Cool
17. Parrots
18. Beachy Head Suicide
19. James Bond
20. Chemistry
21. Einstein/Science
22. Pavlov's Cats
23. Big Bang Salmon

Average customer rating: really awkward [Solex: Laughing Stock of Indie Rock] Eyeopening, unfocused 700 miles from here! <wink> Extraordinary Esselink!!!!!

The Laughing Stock of Indie Rock Solex Manufacturer: Arena Rock ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Electronic Pop | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Electronica | Dance & DJ | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Low Kick and Hard Bop The Sunlandic Twins Love in the Time of Science Yellow House Fox Confessor Brings the Flood ASIN: B0002VEPBC Release Date: 2004-09-28

Tracks:

1. Yadda Yadda Yadda No. 1
2. Round Figure, A
3. The Boxer
4. Honkey Donkey
5. You're Ugly
6. Hot Diggity Dog Run Run Run
7. Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like An Egyptian
8. My B-Sides Rock Your World
9. On An Ordinary Day
10. The Show Master
11. Take That Gum Out!
12. You've Got Me

Album Description

Solex is the one-woman juggernaut otherwise known as Elisabeth Esselink. She creates her percolating rock tunes out of samples and loops. She's a blazing talent whose music, lyrics, and song titles betray a cutting sense of humor. This is her fourth full-length and first for Arena Rock.

Customer Reviews:

really awkward.......2007-05-13

I love her voice and the drums are cool, but the music is so awkward. It sounds like she made it with Mario Paint (if anybody knows what I'm talking about). It has a very disjointed unorganized flow. My favorite track is #8 My B-Sides Rock Your World and that is only because of the trippy chorus "hello boy." If Miss Solex were to get herself educated on composition I believe she could craft a very nice tune.

[Solex: Laughing Stock of Indie Rock] Eyeopening, unfocused.......2005-03-20

This is a bubbly, lively record with plenty of good beats, plenty of weird and thoughtful lyrics (not printed in the booklet, but available on the internet), and plenty of strange samples that you may never have heard before. For those of you who are newcomers to Solex's sonic stew, it involves collecting samples from long-forgotten records and re-recording them or using them directly.

I was prepped to like this record; it's her first one in a couple of years, on a new label, at that. But it didn't hit me over the head the way "Pick Up" or "Solex vs. the Hitmeister" did.

Listening to "The Boxer," you hear a catchy beat played on electric guitar with trap drum and Solex's trademark squeaky, down-in-the-mix voice, with lyrics that are largely incomprehensible because they don't scan or rhyme; it's as if she's singing a little prose story. Then in the middle is dropped in what sounds like the soundtrack to some video-game-console boxing game.

Mostly, "Laughing Stock" features guitars and trap drums and bass, with little electronic accents here and there. The rhythm parts sound herky-jerky, as if a single song's guitar track comes from four or six other records; the verse is played as if it was one record, then the chorus sounds like a second one, and the bridge a third, then the out-chorus a fourth.

It's an eyeopening sound, to mix a metaphor the way Solex might. But it's hard for me to imagine this as the soundtrack to any particular activity or emotion. Where her first two albums just insinuated themselves into everything I did: driving, working out, drinking coffee, going to sleep, et al., this one just doesn't seem to harness any particular kind of energy. It's just guitars and crazy lyrics and odd sonic textures that sound sampled but probably aren't. It still deserves four stars for the sheer imagination and creativity involved, but a fifth star awaits a Solex record with the same kind of brain-reshaping sonic awareness that "Hitmeister" and "Pick Up" conjured.

700 miles from here! <wink>.......2004-10-26

She's done it again! A totally chill stream of tunes that will boggle the brainstem while at the same time massaging it - this album is like candy, baby -- sweetness! If you are new to Solex, this is as good a place to start as any. But definately PICK-UP the back catalogue if you dig 'the laughing stock..."

Solex crafts tripped-out sound cubes that when placed on the eardrum melt into colorful beat vibrations and dissolve into your consciousness. If you're up for the absorbtion, her smooth vocals and playful bubbles of sound-waves will prove to be your cup of tea. One might sit about with a flask of brandy or cognac to sipple upon while spinning a disc from this wonderland-wiz. I mean, she's from Amsterdam, so its gotta be somewhat off-the-wall.

Not sure if this is trip-hop, experimental, indie rock, dance or somewhere in between....its just SOLEX. And I can't wait to see her live in Chapel Hill next month. I think I'll wear a shirt that says "Jack Daniels" and a hat that says "I love you".

Extraordinary Esselink!!!!!.......2004-10-07

A new Solex album (The Laughing Stock Of Indie Rock being the first in three years) is a treat and a gift. Elisabeth Esselink (aka Solex) builds her songs out of "found sounds" and samples from used CDs and taped bootlegs in the basement of her Amsterdam CD shop, and the result is music the likes of which almost no one else is making right now - pop music that challenges the head while simultaneously moving both the heart and feet! The Detroit Metro Times describes Esselink's music as "heavy orchestral cartoon music for carports; William Burroughs as Bugs Bunny; like 'Fantasia' for 60s delinquents, a strong dose of freakout fun."

Esselink's songs, not to mention her coy, mischevious voice and prankish, crafty lyrics, are often compared to that of Bjork and Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori. While the latter band has long since broken up, and Mrs. Gudmundsdottir has spent her last two albums meandering about in search of a memorable melody or rhythm, Solex has proudly carried along the tradition of tightly crafted, idiosyncratic, and utterly winning pop. Her last three brilliant albums on the Matador label (which inexcusably dropped her from their label for being too eccentric - !?) were masterpieces of warped, kitschy dementia, head-spinning originality, and delightful sounds. To listen to a Solex song or a Solex album is to literally be wrapped up in and hanging on every moment, every note, every outrageously creative and unexpected direction and detour, texture and effect - all the while having great fun figuring out how to dance to the damned things!

Whereas her previous albums often consisted in large part of inspired sonic experiments carried out over a number of minutes, The Laughing Stock of Indie Rock (Arrco) is probably Esselink's finest collection of purely constructed SONGS; indeed, verse/chorus/verse structure is prevalent throughout the whole disc. "The Boxer" and "Take That Gum Out!" are more giddily toe-tapping and genuinely radio-rotation-worthy than anything on Bjork's highly hyped latest 'Medulla' album. "Yadda Yadda Yadda No. 1" re-imagines Cibo Matto's trip-hop as performed by a Cajun horn ensemble at the world's most demented Mardi Gras. "Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like An Egyptian," in Esselink's words, conjures up a line dance between the Bangles and Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian - imagine a country/alt tiki torch procession and you're almost there. (Out of the entire set, only "You're Ugly" and "On An Ordinary Day" fall into, well, a sort of ordinariness - which is an adjective otherwise impossible to apply to Solex's gleefully unorthodox musical strategies.) Album closer "You've Got Me" recalls the sweeping and hypnotic ambient lyricism found on Yo La Tengo's masterful 2003 'Summer Sun' LP; over a gorgeously ethereal backdrop of piano, drum brushing, glittering keyboard samples and guitar noodling, Esselink softly croons and wails while a 'mystery guest' (actually one Mr. Stuart Brown of Australia) recites a spoken word tome, "Nobody told you/how to unfold your love." It may just be the most beautiful music Solex has ever created; if you count yourself as a pop music romantic, it will unquestionably break your heart into a million blissful, shimmering pieces.

http://www.solex.net/

Average customer rating:

Underskin Laughing Stock Manufacturer: Poor Me Music ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Rock | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Laughing Stock Money for All ASIN: B00012UYYO Release Date: 2003-10-14

Tracks:

1. Like Texas
2. J Church
3. Fast (Strange Euphoria)
4. Boom Bands
5. River Rushing
6. Things to Throw off a Precipice
7. Slow on Fast
8. Underskin
9. Plugged In

Album Description

Cinematic, spacious and poetic, the songs on Laughingstock's Underskin pull you in with layered textures and driving rhythms while celebrating the victories, defeats, and spirituality of the every day.

The sound of core members Alex Nahas (Chapman Stick, vocals) and Mark Bernfield (drums, vocals) is complemented on Underskin by innovative collaborations with cellist Zoe Keating, violinist Milton Cross, keyboardist Eric Glick Rieman, and producer Lee Townsend (known for his work with Bill Frisell, Kelly Joe Phelps, John Scofield, Elvis Costello) who have all contributed greatly to the band's sonic scope.

Average customer rating:

Dress to Kill Eddie Izzard Manufacturer: Laughing Stock ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music ASIN: B00002735V Release Date: 1998-01-01

Tracks:

1. San Francisco
2. American Dream
3. Empire
4. 2nd World War
5. Pearl Harbour to Russia
6. Italians & Fascists
7. European Union
8. Male Tomboy
9. Executive Transvestite
10. Stonehenge
11. Church of England
12. Scooby Doo
13. Heimlich Maneouvre
14. I'm a Film Nut
15. Great Escape
16. President Kennedy
17. One Step for Man
18. Puberty
19. Lost My Virginity
20. Encore

Average customer rating:

Love Death and Taxes Dr. Elmo Manufacturer: Laughing Stock ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music ASIN: B00004Y9V3 Release Date: 2000-04-18

Tracks:

1. Falling In Love
2. Don't Mess With The IRS
3. Blame It On El Nino
4. Dr. Kevorkian
5. When Love Comes Around
6. Intact Family
7. Midnight Train
8. Tall
9. Bernardo's Serenade
10. Montana

Rap Music:

1. Life, Love and Leaving
2. Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1
3. Live On
4. Los Super Seven
5. Love Metal [Enhanced] [Import]
6. Love [Original recording remastered]
7. Michael Buble/Christmas [Import]
8. Mink Rat or Rabbit
9. Music for People [Enhanced]
10. Music of Styx: Live With Symphony Orchestra [Live]

Rap Music

rap music

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