Every once in a while you pick up a record by a band and it immediately reminds you of one of your friends. Something about it either musically or aesthetically compels you to tell a friend in hopes that they will validate you by also being strongly into the music. Ulver's "Perdition City" is such an album that I've been meaning to show Novak for quite some time now, partially because I feel it is one of the most groundbreaking and interesting records of all time and partially because it's one of my "desert island" albums that I would take with me in exile. Perhaps I've never shown him this album for the same reason many of us don't share such records with our friends. The possibility of something you find so breathtakingly inspiring being received with a "meh, it's alright, nothing special" is like getting kicked in the balls with a steel toe boot, it's not fun at all.
"Perdition City" is the fifth album by Norwegian Black Metal band turned Grammy award winning avant garde, experimental group Ulver. Combining elements of Trip Hop, Electronica, Jazz, Noise, ambient, and spoken word, "Perdition City" proved to be one of the most divisive and influential albums in recent history. A strange journey to say the least, this record soars through so many variances that you almost lose yourself in the atmosphere created and revel in your own confusion. Despite sounding like an album that can only be listened to when you're in a particular mood, every time I put on "Perdition City" it doesn't come out until it's over and typically gets played once or twice more. Every time you're comfortable with what's happening musically there's a shift and you are thrust into another dimension sonically, something that few records achieve with such ease.
- Joe