RICHARD WRIGHT / Wet Dream [1978]

With Pink Floyd well on it's way into complete self-destruction after 1977's Animals, the band went on a brief  hiatus to gather their bearings and possibly release a solo record or two.
1978's Wet Dream was keyboardist Richard Wright's leisurely offering.
It's a serene dreamlike trip with contemplative soothing vocals gently layered over smooth jazzy keyboards and lite-bluesy guitar riffs.  Like Wright, it's fairly inoffensive, peaceful and almost buries itself in the background making sure it never wears out it's welcome.  To sum it up, it sounds like Dark Side outtakes without the passion of David Gilmour's guitar playing and that's just fine with me.  I just simply enjoy it as a calming ambience every once in a blue moon.

3 pleas for time to breathe out of 5

Songs of Note: Summer Elegy; Drop In From The Top

RUN THE JEWELS / Run The Jewels [2013]

After a successful co-headlining tour together, veteran hip-hoppers El-P & Killer Mike decided to collaborate under the name Run The Jewels and release their 2013 eponymous album.
Clocking in at an all too short 33 minutes, the duo make damned sure it's all killer, no filler with El's fast-talking paranoid Philip K. Dick-ian wordplay complimenting Mike's aggressively punchy deliveries.  The electronic-infused backbeats are flavored with some fuzzy 808 synth-lines and bassy retro drum-tracks that tickle the eardrums.  As heavy as some of the subject matter gets, the album never feels too preachy and it's easy to hear the fun the two buddies are having together.  It doesn't have the even flow of a proper album but it certainly has more coherency than a mixtape.  Whatever it might be, it's obvious these guys are in their proper element and demands immediate replay.

4 puddles of cat piss out of 5

Songs of Note: DDFH; Twin Hype Back

PINK FLOYD / The Endless River [2014]

By sifting through over 20 hours of unused material from their Division Bell sessions, David Gilmour & Nick Mason set out to create Pink Floyd's swan song with 2014's The Endless River.

Made up of mostly instrumentals, with only a handful of them clocking in at over 3 minutes, the album is broken up into 4 distinct parts all of which thrive on that classic Floyd sound, which is a bit dated in this day and age.  Gilmour's bluesy guitars still ring out like stark teardrops, Wrights new-age keyboards swirl with warmth and heart while Mason's drumming is still heavy but subtle enough to never overpower the relaxed ambience.  It's got all the ingredients of a great Floyd album but instead it mostly feels like the echoes of noodling around, like sleepwalking backwards into time.  It's literally the best of Floyd and the worst of Floyd rolled into a comforting nostalgic yawn.

3 high hopes out of 5

Songs Of Note: It's What We Do; Calling

DAVID LYNCH & ALAN R. SPLET / Eraserhead: Original Soundtrack Recording [2012]

The soundtrack album to director David Lynch's 1977 black & white cult classic Eraserhead is literally a sound track album in every way.
Instead of being a collection of songs or score cues, it's a nightmarish mural of decaying soundscapes & awkward dialogues lifted directly from the movie, sounding something like a field recording from a mildly humorous industrial Hell dimension.  It roars and rumbles while unsettling soundclips of disturbed sexual frustration and a creepy-ass baby...er...thing cries out from the shadows and every now & then a haunted organ flutters in, courtesy of Fats Waller, and as the rotten cherry on top, the Lady in the Radiator chimes in with her disfigured beauty.  A terrifying symphony of noise, David Lynch & Alan R. Splet's sound design isn't for everybody but if this is your kind of thing then bathe in it's dark ambience.

4 regular chickens out of 5

Songs Of Note: In Heaven: Pete's Boogie