I thought I’d do a list for 1999 before the Mayan “apocalypse”. Isn’t a fake end of the world the ultimate in 90’s nostalgia? This was the first record I thought of including, but I soon realized (not soon enough, I spent at least an hour on the thing) two things: 1). This record came out in 19-fucking-96. It was in heavy rotation for like 3 years. Or was it? When did I buy it? I don’t remember. 2.) This list fills in way too many blanks. It fills in all of the blanks. There’s the question of why I’m doing it or if it should be done, and there’s the question of if I have the correct answers for the questions. Right?

I think I got it through Columbia House. It might have been after seeing the Christiansands video (which, for real is not on youtube?), but I also just bought a lot stuff back then because I liked the cover or the name. I know I got it before Maxinquaye, I was not hip to that. Everybody seems to like that one best, but this is the one for me. It might not be as good musically—lyrics that are barely lyrics, songs that are barely songs—but it’s a solid statement. Half of the booklet is literally pictures of nothing. That’s so cool. C’mon. That’s a statement. You make that into a pdf, it’s bullshit. You gotta get fingerprints you can’t wipe off onto your frantic search for answers, more information. Why was this record made like this? You can just look it up now. I like that he’s fighting his own nature here and his intention fails completely. “Trip-hop” fits this guy perfectly.

This CD could be on repeat for days in those years. Really set a mood. Seems hard to recreate now. Of course, I was really depressed in those days. Clinically; there was no reason for it. And I was on a lot of drugs that kept me generally fuzzy. Thus the futility of specific details of this era. I was into a lot of music that was heavily weed-influenced because it fit with my general demeanor tho I hardly touched the stuff.

I dunno how much you can talk about this music. I remember around this time getting disgusted with music writing, at least the way people had started writing about this kind of music. It’s just a mood, you kinda kill it but talking it to death. I still don’t know what the guy in Ghetto Youth is talking about and it just does not matter. It’s just like a slice of reality you can relive.

New Year’s 2000 wasn’t any kind of Armageddon, but that whole year was a turning point.

There’s a before and after, no going back.

Buy it on CD. %