1. Bill Frisell and Vernon Reid - Smash & Scatteration
Seattle spaghetti western jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and Vernon Reid of the rock band Living Colour made one of the weirdest albums ever. Ever. In fact, this may not even qualify as a crossover because after listening to it a few times a year for about five years, I still don't know what it is. The closest comparison I can think of is a Bela Fleck and the Flecktones record spun while being peed on. Or maybe the sound of a chicken dying in the factory from Herbie Hancock's "Rock It" video. Each guitarist gets an atonal solo noise track, there's a duet that sounds like gypsy jazz, and all the drums are produced by synth guitars on a drum setting. People who think free jazz is out there should listen to Smash & Scatteration; this record is proof of how weird musicians can be when they think they're doing something sort of normal.
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