Arthur Russell - "A Little Lost"
New York dance music producer and cellist, Arthur Russell died from AIDS in 1992.
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In “A Little Lost,” Russell’s cello never settles into a single mode, doesn’t stop surprising. It alternates between providing long notes (a bed for the lightly strummed, low-mixed acoustic guitar), quick stabs of lead melody, and playful harmony or counterpoint to his amorphous vocal line.
There are no points of reference for a song like this. (Except that) as Joni Mitchell’s songs sound like her own and Neil Young’s songs sound like his own, so too does this song sound like Arthur Russell’s own, the sound coming from within him and belonging to him alone.
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Animal Collective - "Leaf House"
Animal Collective blends unadulterated insanity, acid trip psych jamminess, rich harmonies and a surrealist lyrical approach to make something tense, propulsive and beautiful. When they sing “kitties,” my kitty (Bruno the Berber (purr-purr) kitty) listens, and so should you (and your kitties (and their kitties)).