Recommendations for a homesick alien

January 3, 2006 1:09 PM

MusicFilter: I watched "The Man Who Fell to Earth" this past weekend, and now I'm in a mood and only want to listen to Bowie's "Low" and OK Computer. Do you have other music recommendations for a homesick alien?
posted by lunalaguna to Media & Arts (39 answers total)

Well sticking with Bowie there is always "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars"
posted by Captain_Science at 1:16 PM on January 3, 2006

..and Station to Station.
posted by the cuban at 1:26 PM on January 3, 2006

No, not Ziggy. Heroes is the correct successor to Low.
posted by pracowity at 1:26 PM on January 3, 2006

I'd try Bowie's "Heroes", released the same year as "Low". The production is similar but with a more epic feel. Also anything by Kraftwerk.
posted by Holly at 1:27 PM on January 3, 2006

Yeah, thirding "Heroes" -- several moody, instrumental, Eno-influenced pieces on that as well. "Low" is still my absolute fave Bowie, but "Heroes" is probably tied for second (alongside "Ziggy Stardust").

For similar moods, I love the first several Gary Numan/Tubeway Army records ("Replica," "Telekon," "The Pleasure Principle"), as well as Ultravox's "Vienna" and "Rage in Eden."
posted by scody at 1:37 PM on January 3, 2006

Response by poster: Yep, I got all the Bowie and Eno one could care about. I just downloaded "The Pleasure Principle," (thanks!) and I'm sure my bf has Ultravox somewhere.
posted by lunalaguna at 1:43 PM on January 3, 2006

My Mood List includes the following artists, among others:

Mazzy Star
Mono
Radiohead (you may also like Amnesiac)
Sam Phillips (provides a bit of balance)
Portishead (? this may very well be an acquired taste)
Retsin
Cocteau Twins
The Cure (Songs: "Like Cockatoos" and most off of the album "Mixed Up")
Sheryl Crow's song "Weather Channel"
Moby (selected songs)
Happy Rhodes (songs: "Ashes to Ashes-" a Bowie redo, "Yes Medley," "Phobos," "Wrong Century," "Words Weren't Made for Cowards")
posted by moira at 1:44 PM on January 3, 2006

i like the way this question is worded. Maybe you will like some stuff from ghostly international.
posted by 31d1 at 1:46 PM on January 3, 2006

Yum. Haven't listened to Low in years. I'll second Replicas (tubeway army/gary numan). Maybe The Notwist (Neon Golden)? A little Joy Division, perhaps? What about some Eno straight (warm jets, airports, etc.)?
posted by shoepal at 1:46 PM on January 3, 2006

Also., if you can find it, Sun Ra's Interstallar Low Ways has Space Loneliness on lock, believe me.
posted by 31d1 at 1:48 PM on January 3, 2006

Seconding the Gary Numan (Try "Replicas" as well) and Ultravox suggestions. Also try John Foxx's Metamatic.
The Human League may be a bit too cheerful, but "Dare!" is still one of my favorite albums in that 80s synth-y genre.
For newer music: maybe Enon?
posted by ktrey at 1:50 PM on January 3, 2006

Response by poster: I fortunately have most of everything recommended. Thanks for the Notwist reminder especially. This should make a good playlist.

Regarding ghostly international, I've never seen this sight before. But arrgh! Based on the tour schedule, Skeletons and the Girl-Faced Boys will play Austin during SXSW, which makes seeing them terribly difficult. [grumble]
posted by lunalaguna at 1:51 PM on January 3, 2006

EBTG
posted by Makebusy7 at 2:06 PM on January 3, 2006

Third the 'Heroes'. One of the best albums ever, imo.

Philip Glass does "cover" albums (in the loosest possible sense of the word) of both "Heroes" and 'Low'. These have the alien mood (via chrome 13th century) that you may be looking for. If you don't know Philip Glass, his work is really worth a listen -- lots of people think they know what it is like -- one note repeated -- but most of it is much more varied than that, it is like modern Gregorian chant, really clean. Obras Maestras 1 and 2 are good samplers to start with (Spanish release "greatest hits") you could say.

and what about that Allan Parsons album, for the alien theme?
posted by Rumple at 2:15 PM on January 3, 2006

if you don't have Radiohead's "Airbag/How Am I Driving?" EP, now's the time
posted by lbergstr at 2:27 PM on January 3, 2006

Boo Radley's Giant Steps? OMD (Architecture and Morality)? Dead Can Dance? Arcade Fire? Broadcast (noise made by people)? Alpha? Fennesz? Kent (v. Radiohead) Sigur Ros? London Apartments? M83? Menomena?

Ok. I'll stop now.
posted by shoepal at 2:31 PM on January 3, 2006

ooh, I used to LOVE the Boo Radleys' "Giant Steps"! I haven't listened to that in years and years... *makes note to find it again*
posted by scody at 2:40 PM on January 3, 2006

I can't really add anything that hasn't already been recommended, but I would like to compliment your fine musical taste. I honestly believe LOW to be a turning point in popular music: there is the music made before LOW, and the music made after LOW. Utter masterpiece.

Allegedly true story: Nick Lowe, ever the wit, released his 1977 ep BOWI as a "response" to Bowie's E-less "tribute" to him.
posted by Dr. Wu at 2:48 PM on January 3, 2006

Response by poster: Giant Steps is OOP in the U.S. What up with that? I do have OMD, Arcade Fire, Broadcast, Kent, Sigur Ros, and M83. I've always found Dead Can Dance, um, let's say "too ethnic." I don't feel like I have a venue for Fennesz. It's interesting but not something I would listen to at home, in the car, or on headphones at work. You know what I mean?

I also have nearly every piddling little thing Radiohead has ever done. It's almost embarrasing...it takes up way too much space in my iPod and in my head.
posted by lunalaguna at 2:50 PM on January 3, 2006

I honestly believe LOW to be a turning point in popular music: there is the music made before LOW, and the music made after LOW. Utter masterpiece.

Yes yes yes. The last time I saw Bowie (about 2 years ago), he did "A New Career In A New Town" and I just about lost it. It was insanely exciting to hear even one of the Low instrumentals live -- one of those musical moments I never thought I'd experience.
posted by scody at 2:59 PM on January 3, 2006

Response by poster: In the commentary for "The Man Who Fell to Earth," Bowie says Low was the result of three months spent writing music for the movie before realizing that no one had actually asked him to write the music.

Also, I have an ex who studied sound engineering, and he once took me to a studio to mess around with some processors and synthesizers and stuff. Many of the production effects invented for Low and now standard on these machines.
posted by lunalaguna at 3:06 PM on January 3, 2006

Sun Ra (again)
Klaus Nomi

Now those are some aliens.
posted by ITheCosmos at 3:28 PM on January 3, 2006

Response by poster: Ah, yes! Klaus! I almost named my new cat Nomi. The recent documentary about him is very good.

Oh, and I just thought about Antony and the Johnsons... because that guy is strange, so strange.
posted by lunalaguna at 3:34 PM on January 3, 2006

Brian Eno - "Anther Green World"
Eno Mobius Roedelius - "After the Heat"
posted by doctor_negative at 3:37 PM on January 3, 2006

Have you heard Rufus Wainwright's Want 1 (the first album, not the second)? The whole album is excellent, but one particular track, "Go or Go Ahead," has all the operatic scope, deep instrumental layering, and disaffected longing of alot of OK Computer.
posted by onlyconnect at 3:48 PM on January 3, 2006

Keith Fullerton Whitman's "Multiples"
posted by heeeraldo at 5:07 PM on January 3, 2006

lunalaguna: Yeah, I'm not a big fan of DCD either and I totally know what you mean about Fennesz. Thanks for posting this question as I'm currently listening to The Boos, Broadcast, Bowie and some other stuff I haven't spun in like forever. Always nice to rediscover music. I feel like a large portion of my collection gets neglected far too often. Enjoy your mix!
posted by shoepal at 5:24 PM on January 3, 2006

Bowie was very consciously copying German Krautrock on Low and Heroes. Some of my favorite krautrock records on the dreamy keyboardish side of things:

Harmonia - Music Von Harmonia, Deluxe, '76
Neu - I, II, '75
Cluster - Zuckerzeit, Sowiesoso. Cluster also released a collaboration with Brian Eno called Cluster & Eno which is very similiar to the second sides of Low and Heroes.
Eno, Mobius, Roedelius, and Plank - Begegnungen
Kraftwerk I, II
Manuel Gottsching - E2E4
posted by dydecker at 5:37 PM on January 3, 2006

A big second for John Foxx: Metamatic. I fell in love with it all over again after buying the reissue a couple years back.
posted by davebush at 6:47 PM on January 3, 2006

A second on the Airbag EP.

I suspect you'd like Hooverphonic, "A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular."
posted by abcde at 6:54 PM on January 3, 2006

Hmmm.

Flying Saucer Attack's "Land Beyond The Sun" 7" had kind of an ethereal melancholy to it, with wave after wave of fizzy solid-state fuzz pedal effects. Their other stuff might be similar.

"Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois" off of Sufjan Stevens' "Come On Feel The Illinoise" has a minimal, entrancing trill/drone thing going on musically with mystical I-wanna-be-abducted lyrics. The rest of the LP ain't like that, though.

Tangerine Dream's "Alpha Centauri" is pretty spare and haunting, kind of a cavernous vacuum of space thing.

And when you're ready for re-entry, Stereolab's "Mars Audiac Quintet" album is the sound of the Jetsons future, as played by the world's grooviest Marxists.
posted by arto at 7:07 PM on January 3, 2006

I feel like I recommend this all the time but, well, it's freakin' great: Destroyer's "This Night" will put a healthy new chapter in your lunatic Bowie dreams. (once you've finished with that, do "Streethawk: A Seduction" next.) I can't make the connection to Radiohead, though. Nothing compares! Maybe "Selected Ambient Works Vol. 1" by Aphex Twin? Miles Davis?
posted by carsonb at 7:16 PM on January 3, 2006

Radiohead Kid A. Always makes me think of wandering through airports alone and loveless....

Also Stereolab.
posted by gergtreble at 7:18 PM on January 3, 2006

I immediately thought of After The Heat- consider this a second.
posted by carterk at 7:22 PM on January 3, 2006

I can't add much musically that has not been mentioned already. Maybe Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians which Bowie supposedly say in Berlin while making Low.

If you have not picked it up already, I highly recommend Hugo Wilcken's book on Low for the Continuum 33 1/3 series.
posted by Razzle Bathbone at 7:58 PM on January 3, 2006

I've thought a bit more about this, and I wonder how easy it is to follow up albums like Low and OK Computer. They're top o' their respective heaps (in my humble etc.) and perhaps matched only by totally unrelated, other great albums. Having digested these two incredible recordings, maybe you should just try to hit up the essentials of other genres. I spent the evening listening to them (an excellent suggestion on your part, thanks!) and have a craving for something totally dissimilar afterwards. Of course, you'll never ever find a consensus as to what these albums are, let alone which genres to turn to--there's no accounting for taste, after all, but perhaps your homesick alien can find a new home here on earth....someplace odd like classical music, or wild like jazz, or subtle like ancient music. If you get settled in somewhere let me know and I'll be over for housewarming right after I'm finished sucking off Thom and Davey. *slurp* muah! no more posting drunk, dammit
posted by carsonb at 10:37 PM on January 3, 2006

If I had been listening to Low, I would follow up with:
Eno's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats
Basement 5 Basement 5 in Dub
And then various Joy Division and Killing Joke tracks.

Can't explain why exactly. I still don't 'get' Radioheah ...
posted by djniall at 5:50 AM on January 4, 2006

I just had a look through my various playlists with tracks from Low on them and, as well as a lot of the artists already mentioned, The Flaming Lips, Coil and Nurse With Wound cropped up a few times. (And please, don't sully your ears with Radiohead after listening to Dame Dave's masterpiece!)

Also, though it might sound a rather unlikely match, you might try a bit of folk music of the more prog-ish psychedelic wigged-out type, as found on compilations like Gather In The Mushrooms. A lot of that stuff has the gentle-but-ominous, familiar-but-unhemlich feel that Low does.

Dr. Wu: "I honestly believe LOW to be a turning point in popular music: there is the music made before LOW, and the music made after LOW. Utter masterpiece."

Couldn't agree more.
posted by jack_mo at 7:52 AM on January 4, 2006

Also, Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica is definitely on the same list with those albums.
posted by abcde at 10:29 PM on January 4, 2006