Fatboy Slim
Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars
EMD/Astralwerks, 2000
Fatboy Slim ruled streaming media in the days when bad ol' Pseudo featured him in just about every ad break.Oh, and he also contributed a killer remix to a CD that we produced, called Best of Moog. What? You don't have a copy?
I like it when an artist turns their backs on audience expectations and trusts their own unfolding vision. This is clear from Fatboy Slim's collaboration on "Weapon of Choice" with the incredible Bootsy Collins as well as the sampling of Jim Morrison in "Bird of Prey". Even the sampling of Reverend W. Leo Daniel's "Answer To Watergate" on "Drop The Hate" resonated with the U.S. election scandal that happened in Florida in late 2000.
One of the most chilling tracks is "Demons", a Macy Gray collaboration, that captures the destiny of Generation E, and resonates with GHB "date-rape drug" fears.
Special Mention:
Tool
Salival
BMG/Zoo/Volcano/Pavement, 2000
Sneaking in by just days, Tool's album Salival combines live and unreleased studio tracks with an evocative DVD that features the band's clips (some of the visuals are influenced by The Brothers Quay).
I love a band that uses its monthly newsletters to spread knowledge about Amanita Muscaria and re-writing Star of the Magi histories. They're fans of Alex Grey and Szukalski too.
The band member biographies reveal some interesting methods for recording music, including drummer Danney Carey's applied Goetia and guitarist Justin Chancellor's Tensor Yoga. Guitarist Adam Jones directs the band's clips. And there's always vocalist Maynard James Keenan's other band, A Perfect Circle.
In an interview with Alternative Press Magazine, Keenan made the following brilliant observation that sums up Disinformation.com's raison d'etre:
"One of the biggest indications of a rise in the collective unconsciousness is the Internet. It's the perfect example of something that would be indescribable 1000 years ago - and here it is."
Now get to Work.