Wire Playlist: Excess All Areas
September 2019
Excess All Areas! magazine cover artwork designed by Ben Weaver Studio, developed by Aslak Gurholt and Alejandro V Rojas
An audio accompaniment to our latest themed issue exploring music's love affair with excess, overload, lavishness and volume
| Anthony Braxton “Opus 82, Part One” (excerpt) | 0:27:36 |
| Wes Montgomery “Bumpin' On Sunset” | 0:04:52 |
| Eddie Kendricks “Goin' Up In Smoke” | 0:04:35 |
| Rudolph Grey “Transformation” | 0:03:41 |
| Public Enemy “Night Of The Living Baseheads” | 0:03:14 |
| Funkadelic “Cosmic Slop” | 0:05:20 |
| Laurent X “Machines” | 0:06:47 |
| Delirium Tremens “Cut Substances” | 0:07:59 |
| Ween “Piss Up A Rope” | 0:03:33 |
| REM “I Don't Sleep, I Dream” | 0:03:28 |
| Gentle Giant “Cogs In Cogs” | 0:03:09 |
| Marco Fusinato “Spectral Arrows: Singapore, Side A” | 0:14:02 |
| Allan Holdsworth “Atavachron” | 0:04:44 |
| Louis Andriessen “Choir 3” | 0:03:45 |
| John Cage “Roaratorio - An Irish Circus On Finnegans Wake - Part One” | 0:26:46 |
| Gaseneta “Gaseneta Party Mix” | 0:18:47 |
| Diamanda Galás “O Death” | 0:10:55 |
| John Coltrane “My Favorite Things” | 0:34:36 |
Sometimes a little just isn't enough. Following our popular When Less Is More feature on the enduring appeal of minimalism in music in The Wire 414, we felt the need to celebrate the other side of the coin. In a special 22 page section in The Wire 427, our writers recalled excess in music from many angles, considering guitar solos, string sections, jazz fusion, prog rock, dancefloor hedonism, and many other examples of music going OTT.
Here, we ask those special features contributors to single out one track in relation to their essays and explain their choice, forming a playlist spanning P-funk, prog, acid house, noise, and more. Read Excess All Areas in its entirety in The Wire 427. Subscribers can also access the full issue via the online archive.
Anthony Braxton
“Opus 82, Part One”
From The Complete Arista Recordings Of Anthony Braxton
(Mosaic) 2008
“Opus 82, Part One”
From The Complete Arista Recordings Of Anthony Braxton
(Mosaic) 2008
Tony Herrington says:
“This piece for four orchestras was the first in a planned series of compositions for multiple orchestras located in different cities, on different planets, and in different galaxies. In the September issue Excess All Areas feature I try to explain why this notion was something more than mere artistic hubris. And why four orchestras? Because Stockhausen could only manage three in Gruppen, that’s why.”
“This piece for four orchestras was the first in a planned series of compositions for multiple orchestras located in different cities, on different planets, and in different galaxies. In the September issue Excess All Areas feature I try to explain why this notion was something more than mere artistic hubris. And why four orchestras? Because Stockhausen could only manage three in Gruppen, that’s why.”
Wes Montgomery
“Bumpin’ On Sunset”
From Tequila
(Verve) 1966
David Toop says:
“Bumpin’ On Sunset”
From Tequila
(Verve) 1966
David Toop says:
”You could accuse the strings of being excessive because Wes Montgomery really didn’t need them but Claus Ogerman’s arrangement adds atmosphere and drama without detracting from the cool restraint of the basic track.”
Eddie Kendricks
Eddie Kendricks
"Goin' Up In Smoke”
From Goin' Up In Smoke
(Tamla) 1976
Jacob Arnold says:
“"Goin' Up In Smoke” by Eddie Kendricks (1976) demonstrates session musician Don Renaldo’s mastery of disco string arrangements, with sophisticated violin orchestration that perfectly complements Kendricks’ intense falsetto vocals.”
“Spectral Arrows: Singapore, Side A”
From Spectral Arrows: Singapore
(Ujikaji) 2017
Philip Freeman says:
“The track comes from an eight hour performance from 2015, rising from a soft hum in the distance to a massive overpowering roar of noise so dense it begins to sound like a demonic voice is bellowing at the listener from another realm. Each side of the LP ends in a locked groove, allowing the track to continue into infinity.”
Allan Holdsworth
“Atavachron”
From Atavachron
(Restless) 1986
Angel Marcloid says:
“This song is one of the first Holdsworth songs I heard. It really took me aback and opened my brain. The main chord progression is one of the most gorgeous things he's ever written, and I really love Gary Husband's circular drum beat that sounds like he's slowly mixing a soup of hi hats and tom-toms over top of his kick & snare rhythm. It's got all of my favorite elements of 80s fusion- synth, legato, melodrama, and riding that fine line between emotional & head-scratching.”
Andy Hamilton says:
“Trademark composition of Andriessen's maximalism in a classic interpretation.”
John Cage
“Roaratorio: An Irish Circus On Finnegans Wake, Part 1”
From Roaratorio
(Mode) 1992
Julian Cowley says:
“Subtitled “An Irish Circus On Finnegans Wake” and scored for speaker, Irish musicians and 62-track-tape, Cage follows the lead of James Joyce and revels in the disparity between the way we conventionally map the world through words and the actual fullness of lived experience that exceeds linguistic expression, always and everywhere.”
Gaseneta
“Gaseneta Party Mix”
From In The Box
(Disk Union) 2011
Jennifer Lucy Allan says:
"This mix is one of three from disc ten of the Gasaneta In The Box set, and is accompanied by “Gasaneta Speed Mix” and “Gaseneta Deep Mix”. I would recommend listening to all three in a row, but if you've only got time for one, the Party Mix is the most bright, fast, and furious."
Diamanda Galás
“O Death”
From All The Way
(Intravenal Sound Operations) 2017
Diamanda Galás says:
“There is a burst of power which keeps a phrase going, one note suspended, the timbres within the note changing constantly, building one on top of the other – and then a simple melody can be constructed from that changing note... is it extreme?”
John Coltrane
“My Favorite Things”
From The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording
(Impulse!) 2001
Tony Herrington says:
“A Broadway melody exploded towards the infinite. But it never gets there. It stays right where it is, in a centre for African culture in Harlem, New York. Which is maybe where it needed to be all along.”
From Goin' Up In Smoke
(Tamla) 1976
Jacob Arnold says:
“"Goin' Up In Smoke” by Eddie Kendricks (1976) demonstrates session musician Don Renaldo’s mastery of disco string arrangements, with sophisticated violin orchestration that perfectly complements Kendricks’ intense falsetto vocals.”
Rudolph Grey
“Transformation”
From Implosion – 73
(New Alliance/Ecstatic Peace!) 1991
Johnny 'Inzane' Olson says:
“Utterly microwaved soul destruction here in over tracked barbed wire string manglings. Excessive coarse grit stylings trapped in a 7" vinyl cage. Warning = not chill.”
Public Enemy
“Night Of The Living Baseheads”
“Night Of The Living Baseheads”
From It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
(Def Jam/Columbia) 1988
Michael Gonzales says:
(Def Jam/Columbia) 1988
Michael Gonzales says:
This Bomb Squad track was on one of the most sonically excessive albums of the 1980s era; It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. “Night Of The Living Baseheads” opens with a rabble rousing speech by Khalid Abdul Muhammad before launching into a powerful anti-drug anthem featuring a blaring siren that steadily competes with Chuck D's baritone voice. The Squad keeps the head nodding groove steady while also texturing the track with a shroud of samples ranging from David Bowie to Salt-N-Pepa. Over the next few years, the Bomb Squad would prove themselves more than a few times as the kings of boom and samples, most notably on Ice Cube's debut “AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted”, but 31 years later “Night Of The Living Baseheads” remains one of most innovative of their catalogue.
Funkadelic
Funkadelic
“Cosmic Slop”
From Cosmic Slop
(Westbound) 1973
Greg Tate says:
From Cosmic Slop
(Westbound) 1973
Greg Tate says:
“An ambient feedback riddled grove dynamo with a karate chop background chanting, galvanized by an uncredited Bootsy Collins bassline vocals,orchestral/ tribal drumming and lyrics from a reminiscing child’s POV about a hood Mom who turns tricks for The Devil. It’s sweet R&B swooning and crooning and pointillistic space-blues guitar put to use not for hearts and flowers romance but for a Mephisto waltz.”
REM
Laurent X
“Machines”
(House Nation) 1988
Louise Gray says:
“Machines”
(House Nation) 1988
Louise Gray says:
“This track is pure, brutal energy, a piece of music that puts soul in the machine and (inadvertently?) links more genres than one might immediately suspect.”
Delirium Tremens
“Cut Substances”
From Cybernetics
(Dream Project) 2017
Michaelangelo Matos says:
“Tracks like Delirium Tremens’ “Cut Substances” ... can be genuinely sensederanging ... due to its dizzying cut and paste production touches (shades of Todd Edwards, only with a completely different value system).”
From Cybernetics
(Dream Project) 2017
Michaelangelo Matos says:
“Tracks like Delirium Tremens’ “Cut Substances” ... can be genuinely sensederanging ... due to its dizzying cut and paste production touches (shades of Todd Edwards, only with a completely different value system).”
Ween
“Piss Up A Rope”
From 12 Golden Country Greats
(Elektra) 1996
Spenser Tompson says:
(Elektra) 1996
Spenser Tompson says:
“Ween’s aesthetic of excess does not only combine their musical virtuosity with an idiosyncratic crassness, but it does so with complete control over multiple styles and genres. “Piss Up A Rope” - a profane adventure into shitkicker territory - offers entertainment via some hilariously crass lyrical content and also the fact that, besides the ribald imagery, it’s just about the best country and western song ever written.”
REM
“I Don't Sleep, I Dream”
From Monster
(Warner Bros) 1994
Claire Biddles says:
“An exemplary of the excessive queer sexuality of its parent album, Monster. Michael Stipe's salacious delivery turns every line into a come-on, throwaway and aggressive in turn.”
Gentle Giant
“Cogs In Cogs”
From The Power and the Glory
(WWA) 1974
Dave Mandl says:
“There's syncopation, and then there's this, the kind of "funk" only a mathematician could love. The song (at only 3:07) boasts the time signatures 15/4, 9/8, 7/4, 14/4, and 10/4, among others. The verses feature a relentless sequence of accents that you never see coming, a veritable ambush. Extreme even by Gentle Giant's standards.”
Marco Fusinato
From Monster
(Warner Bros) 1994
Claire Biddles says:
“An exemplary of the excessive queer sexuality of its parent album, Monster. Michael Stipe's salacious delivery turns every line into a come-on, throwaway and aggressive in turn.”
Gentle Giant
“Cogs In Cogs”
From The Power and the Glory
(WWA) 1974
Dave Mandl says:
“There's syncopation, and then there's this, the kind of "funk" only a mathematician could love. The song (at only 3:07) boasts the time signatures 15/4, 9/8, 7/4, 14/4, and 10/4, among others. The verses feature a relentless sequence of accents that you never see coming, a veritable ambush. Extreme even by Gentle Giant's standards.”
Marco Fusinato
From Spectral Arrows: Singapore
(Ujikaji) 2017
Philip Freeman says:
“The track comes from an eight hour performance from 2015, rising from a soft hum in the distance to a massive overpowering roar of noise so dense it begins to sound like a demonic voice is bellowing at the listener from another realm. Each side of the LP ends in a locked groove, allowing the track to continue into infinity.”
Allan Holdsworth
“Atavachron”
From Atavachron
(Restless) 1986
Angel Marcloid says:
“This song is one of the first Holdsworth songs I heard. It really took me aback and opened my brain. The main chord progression is one of the most gorgeous things he's ever written, and I really love Gary Husband's circular drum beat that sounds like he's slowly mixing a soup of hi hats and tom-toms over top of his kick & snare rhythm. It's got all of my favorite elements of 80s fusion- synth, legato, melodrama, and riding that fine line between emotional & head-scratching.”
Louis Andriessen
“Choir 3”
From De Staat
(Signum) 2011
“Choir 3”
From De Staat
(Signum) 2011
Andy Hamilton says:
“Trademark composition of Andriessen's maximalism in a classic interpretation.”
John Cage
“Roaratorio: An Irish Circus On Finnegans Wake, Part 1”
From Roaratorio
(Mode) 1992
Julian Cowley says:
“Subtitled “An Irish Circus On Finnegans Wake” and scored for speaker, Irish musicians and 62-track-tape, Cage follows the lead of James Joyce and revels in the disparity between the way we conventionally map the world through words and the actual fullness of lived experience that exceeds linguistic expression, always and everywhere.”
Gaseneta
“Gaseneta Party Mix”
From In The Box
(Disk Union) 2011
Jennifer Lucy Allan says:
"This mix is one of three from disc ten of the Gasaneta In The Box set, and is accompanied by “Gasaneta Speed Mix” and “Gaseneta Deep Mix”. I would recommend listening to all three in a row, but if you've only got time for one, the Party Mix is the most bright, fast, and furious."
Diamanda Galás
“O Death”
From All The Way
(Intravenal Sound Operations) 2017
Diamanda Galás says:
“There is a burst of power which keeps a phrase going, one note suspended, the timbres within the note changing constantly, building one on top of the other – and then a simple melody can be constructed from that changing note... is it extreme?”
John Coltrane
“My Favorite Things”
From The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording
(Impulse!) 2001
Tony Herrington says:
“A Broadway melody exploded towards the infinite. But it never gets there. It stays right where it is, in a centre for African culture in Harlem, New York. Which is maybe where it needed to be all along.”
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