GAUGE 16:Desert Island Records

kgreg31
6 hours ago
7 min read

You're stranded on a desert island for the rest of your life.

What albums would you bring with you?

In my last blog, I talked about Brighten The Corners by Pavement, and I always remembered that my dad would say that if he were stranded on a deserted island, then that would be one of the records that he would bring with him, along with Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. So, I thought that it would be a fun idea to list off some of my all-time favorite albums. (Brighten The Corners would be on this list, but I already did a blog on it, so you should go read it if you haven't already.)

Bad Motor Finger - Soundgarden

I'm a huge Soundgarden fan so it was hard for me to pick between all their albums because I love all of them but I remember this was the first Soundgarden album that I really sat down and listened to all the way through. This was one of my first albums that I got into when I really started listening to music a lot more which was during my junior year of high school. Badmotorfinger probably has some of the most impressive vocals of all time from Chris Cornell, combined with the fuzzy and dissonant guitar and unorthodox tuning, easily sets itself on a different level of musical skill. The song "Slaves and Bulldozers" is probably the most vocally impressive song but of all the songs on this record, my favorite would have to be "Outshined" because I remember that me and my sister would always ask our dad to put on that song in the car when I was around 7 or 8 years old and holds a special place in my heart.

Alice in Chains (Album)

A popular band from the Seattle grunge scene along with Soundgarden, you may have heard of Alice in Chains even if you don't really listen to this type of music because a year or two ago, their song "Man in The Box" off their album facelift got decently popular on TIkTok. What sets this album apart from their other work is that, to me, it just felt muddier and had so much more underlying emotion behind it, which is because, during this recording, the lead singer, Layne Staley, was suffering from severe depression and substance use, which eventually led to his death shortly after the recording of this album. When I first listened to this album it was a cold night (somewhere close to 20°) and I was going through a rough time so I took a walk at night and sat by a small lake. I was underdressed for the weather, and whenever I hear a song from this album, I can almost feel the wind chill on my nose and fingers.

Push - Gruntruck

Push is another album from the grunge scene during the 1990s that feels heavier, groovier, and almost electrifying. I remember that when I was 14, I was really obsessed with going to the gym and trying to get as big and strong as possible, the song "Tribe" off of this album was one of my go to songs when I was hitting a PR or a really difficult set. When I was 16, I started picking up the guitar but stopped going to the gym religiously. I listened to the full album, and I learned how to play a few of the songs on there, which are really fun to play.

CASIOPEA (Album)

When I was getting more into guitar and music in general, my friend David would always put on old jazz like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Charlie Parker. I wanted to look into more jazz that involved guitar. I don't remember it clearly enough but I think I found out about CASIOPEA from a meme account on Intagram and while I was looking through it the audio was this fast and fluid guitar solo from the song "Time Limit" (its their first song on the album, its all in kanji because Spotify doesn't translate it for some reason) but I was like "what is blessing my ears rn??" Then I listened to this album all the way through and it was catchy, complex, and tightly stitched together, blending aspects of funk and jazz to create this beautiful instrumental composition. I think that even if you don't like jazz or even hate it, it would be hard to dislike a single song on this record.

BRAZILLIAN SKIES - Masayoshi Takanaka

After I listened to CASIOPEA I was hungry for more of the same type of music and by god I found it. BRAZILLIAN SKIES is like CASIOPEA in that it has the same funky and catchy rhythm to it, but has a bit of Latin American influence in it from Brazilian bossa nova and samba music, which gives it an almost tropical feel to the overall sound. Combined with the virtuosic, mind-blowing guitar skills that Masayoshi Takanaka has, this easily became one of my go-to records of all time. In one of my last blogs, I did a small overview of Masayoshi Takanaka, which, if you haven't read it, you should go over and give it a read.

Inedit 79 - Cortex

Again continuing with the jazz-fusion theme that Ive got going, you may have heard of Cortex's song "Huit octobre 1971" which was sampled in MF DOOM's "One Beer". Inedit 79 has been one of my favorite albums by them because all of the songs on there are rhythmically complex and implement aspects of psychedelic rock that feel almost ethereal but are surprisingly useful as study music.

Stoner Witch - Melvins

Transitioning back into more metal music, Stoner Witch is another album that my dad put me on to. When I first listened to this album all the way through, it was when my dad and I were going down to visit my sister for the first time since they left for college, so this album always reminded me of that sort of change. Aside from that, the album is heavy and loud with an unfiltered touch to it that makes the sound feel more personal, with some tracks that are more on the experimental side. My first time seeing the Melvins live, they played "Revolve," and it was so loud I felt like the bass was rattling my bones.

Sonic Express In It's Purest Form - Crowbar

The first time I listened to Crowbar was in the car with my sister and the song "To Build A Mountain" was on and it was probably the heaviest and catchy song that I've heard so far. A few days later, I was listening to more from Sonic Express In Its Purest Form, and I realized that every single song on this album is just straight up nasty. If you want to learn more about them, go and read my first blog. Crowbar is probably my favorite band as of writing this.

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? - Megadeth

Peace Sells..But Who's Buying? is probably my favorite metal album of all time. I could genuinely write an essay on the influence this single album has on the entire history of metal, so excuse me if I gush a little. The quick and aggressively complex guitar riffs that the lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Dave Mustaine, wrote, combined with the lead guitarist Chris Poland and drummer Gar Samuelson, who were both classically trained in jazz, together raised the bar for thrash metal as a whole. If you are going to listen to any song first off of this album, listen to "Good Mourning / Black Friday" because it is objectively the best song on this album, which starts off with a beautifully somber and woeful rhythm that slowly develops into a foreboding solo that builds up to a thrashy, violent, and catchy chorus. The downright mind-blowing guitar work from this record is something that I haven't been able to find from any other album. It's the kind of stuff that when you try to learn it, you ask yourself how someone even comes up with stuff like this. Other good songs that are on this album (they're all good imo) are "Wake Up Dead" and "Bad Omen".

Leviathan - Mastodon

My first introduction to progressive metal was Mastodon's song "Blood and Thunder" which I foolishly tried to learn as one of my first songs on guitar and I've yet to completely play it all the way through. This album perfectly showcases the unbelievable skill that these musicians have and their unique playing that I would characterize by an almost unearthly feeling that's kept at an aggressive and brutish gallop. This album makes you feel like you're fighting for your life on the deck of a wooden ship, trying to hunt for a mythical sea beast.

Absolute Elsewhere - Blood Incantation

My first time listening to Blood Incantation was wen my sister showed me their song "The Giza Power Plant" and back then I didn't really like it all too much and it sort of just was in the back of my mind and when Dani was telling me that they were going to their concert I figured I might as well give their new album a listen and it was unlike anything I'd ever heard. I don't even have the faintest idea how Morris Kolontyrsky is making some of the noises on his guitar from this album, but god damn, it's good. Each song builds an environment where you're encapsulated in a technical soundscape, changing drastically from ethereal synthesizers that make you feel like you're on another planet to catastrophic riffs that feel like the planet you're currently on is actively erupting. Listening to this album was unlike any other experience I've had, which is why I like it so much.

Consider what your desert Island records would be, and if you want to share them with me, I'd love to give them a listen!

GAUGE 16:Desert Island Records

You're stranded on a desert island for the rest of your life.

What albums would you bring with you?

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