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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Magma - Mekanik destruktiw kömmandöh. Magma did a 13(?) Album journey in an alien language
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones - Sea Brazil Banjo jazz 'nuff said. Live in Montreal is insane but not an “album”
Terry Reilly - Persian Surgery Dervishes a legendary improvisation
Keith Jarrett - The Köln Concert Dude is out of his tree. A true legend.
Geneva jacuzzi - Lamaze. I challenge you to find something more unique.
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 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 :(
The music video was insane!
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.
Cake’s first album Fashion Nugget is the kind of unique that we rarely see twice.
Daft Punk
Discovery
That’s a good unicorn. I think Daft Punk also had Human After All as another unicorn type, very industrial, very unique, often overlooked.
Igorrr - Spirituality and Distortion.
Latest album is great too. And the OG whourkr stuff
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana
Lemon Jelly - lemonjelly ky
The Flashbulb - Opus At The End Of Everything
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
My Life In The Bush of Ghosts by David Byrne and Brian Eno.
That’s what I was going to write. I don’t think people in 1981 knew what hit them.
Holy shit.
Steve Reich, music for 18 musicians
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.
They are such a blast! Their children’s albums are great, too; I played them all the time in English classes.
I grew up with them, and to this day I’ve never found anyone who quite matches that sound. Just pure musical creativity.
Rage against the machine - rage against the machine album
Pig destroyer - prowler in the yard
Eminem - the slim shady lp and marshal Mathers lp
Alice in chains - dirt
Rob zombie - hell Billy deluxe
Korn, I can’t pick one album
Guns n roses - appetite for destruction
Gutalax - shit beast
Kendrick Lamar to pimp a butterfly
I live under a rock, and I live in my own temporal warp field of mostly avante garde jazz works from 1940s-1990s
So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for sharing this, I am loving the hell out of it!
reporting back; this album is lit.
In particular “Since I left you” and “Frontier Psychiatrist” are both jams.
This is one of my favorite albums ever.
If anyone was wondering, I believe nearly the whole album is made up of samples.
The Avalanches have a ton of other stuff. If you are a fan of Since I Left You, definitely check out the Gimix version which starts similar but has a lot of different tracks in it (including much more famous songs) https://youtu.be/X7i8bIhJY8c
They’re by far one of my favorite artists. And you are correct. The band has claimed the album has no original recordings at all. And something like over 3000 samples. I still don’t even know how that was possible to do back in the mid 90s when they were making it. They’re other two albums are also great, each one with a different vibe, although they started relying less on samples because of how much it complicated things to ask for so many rights to so many different tracks.
The band[s] that jumps out at me when I think unique/original is anything that Les Claypool touches. It’s never just him but he has a knack for finding people with unusual talent to make something different. Even when they are doing covers. For example the Frog Brigade doing Pink Floyd’s Animals.
Tom Waits*
The Pixies*
Portishead*
Kruder & Dorfmeister the K&D Sessions
Massive Attack*
But maybe the most uniquely gifted musician on my list would be Richard David James.
Great call on Waits! I love Step Right Up
Thats a great track. Reminds me of a band I forgot… Morphine.
Came to mention Les myself. Anytime I hear he has released something with another artist is always a surprising treat.
