Radical Imaginations

Yoko Ono and Le Tigre “Sisters O Sisters” – Though Yoko Ono is covering familiar ground in this collaboration, she ultimately sounds like she’s a special guest on a song that could have easily fit on either of the last two Le Tigre albums. It’s an inspired combination — few living people represent the aesthetic of 60s progressive activism as completely as Ono, and Le Tigre made a career out of trying to revive it in a new context. Like a lot of their respective music, it contains a lot of protest language that may seem anachronistic, corny, and cheap, but they know that, and at least part of the point is to make the listener question why they feel that way about this sort of thing even if they essentially agree with the politics. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

Boris with Michio Kurihara “Starship Narrator” – Boris and Kurihara lock into a heavy groove at the start, but it’s just a formality, something to carry us toward a brilliant, visceral guitar solo at the center of the cut that pretty much defines the phrase “rock ultimate.” Brandon Stosuy liked this track to the sound of Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins over on Pitchfork yesterday, and I think he’s right on about that. Unlike Billy Corgan, Boris and Kurihara aren’t beholden to pop song forms, but there’s a similar spirit and power to this music, especially if you compare it to live recordings of the Pumpkins back when Billy was more interested in expressing spirituality through sublime psychedelic noise than chasing commercial success. (Which is not to say that pursuit didn’t yield some fine work, but you know…) (Click here to buy it from Amp Camp.)

Elsewhere: My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site with mp3s from Ornette Coleman, Noonday Underground, and Klanguage. It’s one of the best sets of songs in the history of the column, so definitely check that out.