The Redeemer Of The World

Holger Czukay “Blessed Easter” – I’ve wanted to post this song at least six times in the past five years, but I can never find the right words to describe it. It’s a collage; it’s a mirage. It’s dawn, it’s dusk, it’s the wee hours of the night. It’s the world standing still. It’s a cathedral; it’s a prayer; it’s got Pope John Paul II on lead vocals. Czukay finds beauty in the rituals of religion, but keeps himself at a distance. I used to put this on tapes next to Spiritualized’s “No God, Only Religion” because sometimes subtlety is boring. I’ve put this song on so many tapes and cds since 1998, it’s actually sort of amazing that it took me so long to put this here. It’s one of most magical and peaceful pieces of music that I’ve ever heard. (Click here to buy it from iTunes.)

Beck “Think I’m In Love” – Did everyone just forget about this last Beck album? It wasn’t even a year ago. Did no one care about it? Did everyone just move on to downloading the next new thing? Is it all just an endless loop of anticipation, gratification, and disposal now? The Information was not built for the new online music culture — it’s long, dense, subtle, and in terms of its musical content, it has no gimmick.

The fifteen tracks on The Information pass by in a muted haze that can be easily confused for a lack of feeling. However, it’s not an album of small emotions, but instead visceral sensations that are diluted, buried, obscured, confused, and distorted by a never-ending stream of facts and fictions. The character in “Think I’m In Love” is so removed from himself that he can’t even be sure whether he’s in love, or if he’s just playing at it. His neuroses dull down his heart, and the thrill is replaced by the perverse comfort of paranoia. He makes his life a narrative, and he follows the plot. “I think I’m in love.” Well, yeah, guess so. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)