steering clear of the mainstream
since 2001

june 2010

ten crucial records
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residual echoes' adam payne's ten crucial records
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...

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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

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