Oh Bjork. You're so funny.

By Jenn Sussman aka DJ Belladonna

1. Ruby “Flippin’ Tha Bird (Ceasefire Remix)” – Last week’s murderous meanderings put me in a mood for some musical beauty, and when I started compiling this week’s list I realized that many of the songs I wanted to feature were by female artists. This is slightly odd, because despite being an equal opportunity listener, my sonic preferences have never specifically been in favor of the so-called fairer sex. However, the music of the female artists I do listen to tends to be dark, quirky or edgy, and I find those qualities, when combined in musical form, to be quite beautiful. So, I decided to go all-female this week, and on that note – we begin this week’s journey with a little known artist whose 1996 LP Salt Peter produced the single “Tiny Meat”, and this track, as remixed to superb effect by Ceasefire. The Ceasefire Remix of “Flippin’ Tha Bird” appears exclusively on the soundtrack to the 1997 art film Nowhere, a trippy and bizarre romp through the lives of disaffected rave-era youth in Los Angeles directed by the very cool and avant-garde Gregg Araki.

2. Switchblade Symphony “Dissolve” – Dark, disturbing, sensual, and guaranteed to bring me out onto the dance floor, “Dissolve” is perhaps the best known song by now defunct San Fran electro-goth duo Switchblade Symphony. Their sound is an amalgam of goth, ethereal and classical with the heavy feel of industrial and liberal usage of synthesizer riffs, and their lyrical content typically deals with the darkest of subjects. I wasn’t an SBS fan until I heard this song, and I found the dark beauty of it to be irresistible. I also like the slow, tribal conga beat in the background, a very trip-hop-like touch which reminds me of classic Latin rhythms that can be heard sampled on many old school hip-hop tracks. Interestingly enough, one of my favorite flows is to play “Dissolve” coming out of “High Plains Drifter” by the Beastie Boys – which sounds extremely strange, until you try it.

3. Esthero “Swallow Me” – Esthero’s debut album, the momentous and beautiful Breath From Another released in 1998, remains one of my favorite albums to this day. Esthero was only nineteen years old at the time, but her lyrics and voice conveyed an emotional maturity that was well beyond her years. Though Esthero cannot truly be considered a trip-hop artist, there are elements of and beats from that genre throughout the album courtesy of producer Doc. Of all the great songs on this album, “Swallow Me” became my favorite not only because of the music itself, but because the lyrics are an ode to the importance of music in Esthero’s life – a message that echoed my own feelings; “…Music was the man that made a woman out of me / The purest voices call to me / Deafening as the cry of 10,000 babies / Music was the lamb that made a lion out of me / Long as I have my voice / I don’t need arms to hold / I’ll never need arms to hold me”.

4. Natalie Imbruglia “Identify” – Another dark and beautiful song that can only be found on a film soundtrack, “Identify” was recorded for the film Stigmata (2000). I’m instantly transported by this song whenever I hear it, and always amazed that an artist who is best known for sugary pop confections was able to pull off this gorgeous, emotional, ethereal ballad penned by Billy Corgan as only he can do. “Identify” is about needing to know where you stand in the life of the person you love, to know whether or not they truly need you, and needing to hear the answer straight from them instead of infusing your own desired meaning into their every word and movement. The song asks, “Am I lonely, or am I just alive”, an emotionally honest question that anyone who’s lived through this experience can certainly appreciate. Even though “Identify” was recorded for Stigmata, I frequently picture the masquerade ball scene from the film Labyrinth (1986) when I hear it. Labyrinth fans, let your imagination take the lead and you’ll understand why.

5. Bjork “Bachelorette” – Hell hath no record album like one that was recorded by Bjork after a bad year, or so the saying goes… ok, so I doctored the saying a bit. A far cry from the Euro-house inspired rhythms of 1993’s Debut and the quirky experimentation of 1995’s Post, 1997’s Homogenic is a tough listen that fortunately becomes more accessible as the years go by. Angry, bitter in places, but still possessing enough of Bjork’s trademark quirky introspection to be interesting, Homogenic was released on the heels of a tumultuous year for the Icelandic singer which included a bad breakup with boyfriend and trip-hop legend Tricky, and being the recipient of a mail bomb. The two most beautiful and grandeur-filled experiences on Homogenic are “Joga”, a dedication to a dear friend of Bjork’s, and the emotionally powerful “Bachelorette”, the lament of a woman who waits for her lover to make her feel real and alive. The orchestration of “Bachelorette” alone will seize your attention, and the effect of the expansive arrangement and Bjork’s vocal delivery is a sense that you are experiencing something much larger than yourself.

6. Imogen Heap “I Am In Love With You” – Imogen Heap has a talent for
wrapping her deepest thoughts and emotions inside progressive yet
accessible electronic music, then sharing these gifts with her
audience using the chameleon-like instrument that is her incredible
voice. There’s simply no one else who sounds like her, and I consider
her voice to be in a similar realm as Annie Lennox’s in that it is
instantly recognizable, capable of morphing into different styles and
dimensions (frequently within a single song), and conveys real, honest
emotion to the listener. I picked up Heap’s 2005 solo release Speak
For Yourself solely on the strength of “Let Go”, a track she recorded
in 2002 with side project Frou Frou and which later became a hit
thanks to its inclusion on the soundtrack of the 2004 film Garden
State. I was blown away by her vocal style and almost every track on
Speak For Yourself is a revelation, most notably “Have You Got It In
You”, “The Walk”, “The Moment I Said It” and this playlist track. “I
Am In Love With You” is about ephemeral love, a fleeting,
live-in-the-moment concept of passion that moves on quickly, like a
brief, lustful hookup that dissolves in the morning light.

7. Rasputina “The Olde Headboard” – Ask anyone who knew me in the late ‘90s what my favorite song to dance to was, and they’ll probably say Rasputina’s “Transylvanian Concubine (The Manson Mix)” (off of the 1997 Transylvanian Regurgitations EP). Admittedly, that version of the song isn’t an accurate representation of Rasputina’s style for those who aren’t familiar with it, but that fact actually makes the remix all the more genius. Rasputina’s modern-medieval cello music largely does not appeal to me, but every now and again they drop a track that I dig, including “The Olde Headboard” from their 1998 release How We Quit The Forest. This is pseudo-classical with a subtle hip-hop beat played on live drums, their usual three cello affair augmented and complimented by the occasional electric guitar riff. I’ve dropped this one into dancier sets alongside hip-hop and soul and no one has been the wiser, despite the super brief cello-only interlude in the middle. Who knows, maybe people think that’s the next frontier in hip-hop.

8. Siouxsie and the Banshees “Into The Night” – It took me a long time to truly appreciate the music of post-punk pioneers Siouxsie and the Banshees. Despite frequent visits to goth nights (where SATB are a familiar staple), and despite living with a major Siouxsie fan for two years, for some reason it took me until about five years ago to really dig beyond the usual club fare like “Christine”, “Peek-A-Boo” and the radio-friendly “Kiss Them For Me”, and get to deeper, darker gems like “Israel”, “Red Light”, “Face To Face”, and “Into The Night” (from 1992’s Juju), which has become my favorite Siouxsie song. The rhythm is vaguely tribal, slow to mid tempo, the percussion providing a deep and haunting cadence as the moody elegance of Siouxsie’s voice warns listeners of the potential pitfalls of enlightenment . This track frequently comes up on my mp3 player while I’m traversing the subterranean network of the New York City transit system, and it’s a fitting soundtrack to gliding through pitch-black tunnels with only the occasional flash of illumination.

9. Olive “You Are Nothing” – I recently ran into an old friend whom I hadn’t seen since a difficult period in my life over a decade ago, and aside from the unexpected reunion bringing up various good and bad memories internally, I was delighted when this person asked me if I remembered how our little group used to listen to Olive’s Extra Virgin (1997) album pretty much nonstop. I’ve loved this record for many years, though in a bittersweet way; it’s hard not to associate it with that time in my life, particularly this track. Most people are familiar with Olive’s hit dance single “You’re Not Alone” and the slower yet frequently dance-remixed “Miracle”, but there is much deeper and more emotionally connective music to be found on Extra Virgin and on Olive’s 2000 follow up album, Trickle. “You Are Nothing” is about realizing that you are on the losing end of a relationship, looking for healthy and positive emotions from someone who is focused on negativity, and having the strength to tell that person that you are moving on because you deserve more. It’s gently empowering, and it was a point well taken all those years ago.

10. Mono “Silicone” – Had I not used the songs on previous playlists, I would have loved to end this week’s trip with either Florence + The Machine’s “Cosmic Love” or Milla’s “Rocket Collecting” in keeping with the tone of the playlist, but “Silicone” from Mono’s 1998 debut album Formica Blues is an equally good place to wind up in. Formica Blues is a whimsical album, slightly spacey, with harpsichords and random jungle beats in and amongst the general trip-hop vibe; overall, it comes across as being somewhat innocent, due mostly in part to the style of vocalist Siobhan de Maré. The masses are familiar with Mono thanks to “Life In Mono”, their dreamy and unusual smash hit contribution to the soundtrack for the 1998 film version of Great Expectations, starring Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow, but beyond that this UK duo is mostly an underground delicacy in the US. Grab up Formica Blues and serve it as haute cuisine for the ears to whoever is willing to listen.