Dusted Features Every Friday, Dusted Magazine publishes a series of music-related lists determined by our favorite artists. This week: anticon's Alias and improvisational drone-rockers San Agustin Tweet

Listed: Alias + San Agustin

Alias

Alias is the quiet-spoken unsung beat-hero and prose-poet of the Bay Area's anticon collective. Neither so frenetic nor so dusty as the other anticon producers, nor so rabid or eccentric as the other vocalists, Alias managed to carve out a niche for himself of dark tones and deep thoughts in the overcrowded world of indie-hop with his 2002 opus The Other Side of the Looking Glass.

1. The Notwist - Neon Golden (Domino) – This has been in heavy, heavy rotation for me lately. I haven't had an album hit me like this since OK Computer. Dax Pierson brought it with him on the Themselves/Alias U.S. tour and we listened to it constantly. It hasn't been released in the states yet, but it will be this month on Domino and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys good music.

2. Mum - Finally we are No one (FatCat) – This is another one I've been listening to a lot of. It hit me kind of weird.........it’s like whisper music or something. So quiet and nicely arranged. Great to listen to on headphones.

3. Boards of Canada - Geodaddi (Warp) – I slept on this album for about seven months..............I had Music Has the Right, but for some reason I never bought or heard this album for months............it was a mistake on my part. “1969” is my favorite track on this album.

4. Sole - Selling Live Water (Anticon) – I know I'm biased to list this album, but I really feel like it's some of Sole's best work to date. I'm glad it's finally out for other people to enjoy.

5. Savath & Savalas - Folk Songs for Trains, Trees & Honey (Hefty) – I bought this album when it first came out, but it went missing soon after. I re-bought it when I was in Orlando last month, and remembered why I bought it the first time. Really different from his Prefuse73 stuff, more organic. Nice to listen to in airports.

6. Why? - ??? (Anticon) – I'm not sure what the title is, but Yoni gave me a copy of his new album last week. I didn't know what to expect from him on a solo project, but I knew it would be great. The melodies he comes up with are really dope and his lyrics are great as usual. An example: "I just found out for sure / the girl I have a crush on is a lesbian / and all the other women I know like Dose." Why Murda in tha heezy.

7. Anything on Morr Music - Mr. Morr gave us all huge bundles of music when we were in Germany. After being a wonderful host to us all, he then gave us almost his entire catalog. It's all great, especially the Ms. John Soda. Most of it has a indie rock / electronica feel, but each project is so great to listen to. It took me a while to listen to all of it, but it's provided lots of inspiration for the new music I'm working on.

8. Vangelis - L'Apocalypse Des Animaux (Polydor) – Vangelis is one of my favorite composers. The textures he comes up with are really, really dope. This is a soundtrack he did for a French movie in 1972. Really fun to listen to when you’re in an airplane and you have the window seat. It makes the view much more enjoyable.

9. Organized Konfusion - Stress: the Extinction Agenda (Hollywood Basic) – A classic hip hop album that I will never stop listening to. Ever.

San Agustin

San Agustin, who have recently released music on the sadly departed Road Cone and the on-fire Family Vineyard labels, are masters of the minimal, abstract guitar drone made famous by pioneers such as Loren Mazzacane Connors and Alan Licht. Their new record, Passing Song, recorded with Suzanne Langille, is out now on Family Vineyard Records. A new 3xCD set, The Expanding Sea, recorded live during the Table of the Elements European showcase tour, will be available on Table of the Elements soon. More information will be available soon at the brand-new San Agustin website, www.san-agustin.org. Guitarist David Daniell also runs a small label, Antiopic, which will release a new Ultra-red album in March.

Andrew Burnes' Recent Five

1) Segun Bucknor – Poor Man No Get Brother (Afrostrut) – This one has been in rotation for a while. No music exists in a vacuum – not even Fela. I've been looking for stuff like this for years. See also Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story of 1970's Funky Lagos.

2) Betty Davis – They Say I'm Different (MPC Ltd.) – Nasty autobiographical funk. I wish I'd been exposed to this as a child.

3) Blind Faith – s/t (Polydor) – This is just what's in the CD player right now. Know your roots.

4) Sam Cooke – Keep Movin' On (ABKCO) – I wish I was Sam Cooke, except for the murder part.

5) Tammy Wynette – Stand By Your Man (Epic) – Like so much good music, I came late to Tammy Wynette. This record breaks my heart every time I hear it. "Joey" is a tough, tough song.

David Daniell's Recent Five

1) Luc Ferrari – Cycle Des Souvenirs (1995-2000) (Blue Chopsticks) – The best of Ferrari's recent work. His take on musique concrete is visceral and sensual, and this CD really does capture what I found so evocative in the theatrics of "Presque Rien" and the incredibly sexy "Unheimlich schön".

2) Oren Ambarchi – Mort Aux Vaches ("Song of Separation") (Staalplaat) – Ambarchi's Suspension renewed my faith in the idea that the guitar is not dead yet – rich, floating tones suspended (the name couldn't be more apt) like oil in water or like rolling blobs of mercury. Ambarchi's live performance here shows a remarkable control of tone and timbre along with a deep understanding of compositional, perfectly-paced improvisation.

3) Henry Flynt – You Are My Everlovin'/Celextial Power (John Berndt) – A friend recently referred to Henry Flynt as "the rock'n'roll Tony Conrad" – a befitting assessment, to which I would have to add that Flynt's particular brand of minimalism also contains a healthy dose of good ole' mountain hillbilly stomp. Essential.

4) Ultra-red – La Economía Nueva (Operation Gatekeeper) (FatCat) – Composed from field recordings of a demonstration in opposition to the militarization of the US/Mexican border, this is my favorite so far of Ultra-red's dispatches. A concise and deeply affecting EP that manages to be both a strikingly musical achievement as well as a very powerful political statement – a rare thing indeed.

5) El-P – Fantastic Damage (Def Jux) – Quite possibly the heaviest, hardest album of 2002 (I guess Kevin Drumm's Sheer Hellish Miasma might run a close second) – Brilliant paranoid lyricism and the densest, thickest, most complex production possible. "This is for kids worried about the apocalypse / Do something! / Prepare yourself / But stop talking shit" – Right on!

By Dusted Magazine

Read More View all articles by Dusted Magazine