the albums you havent heard

When I began falling down the rabbit hole of weird, experimental music in 2007, I was quickly surprised at how many widely-known artists had ventured into this territory. Ranging from drone to noise, and ambient to freak folk, these artists have exposed popular audiences to music they would probably not ordinarily hear. I’m still often taken aback when I realize that many of these albums simply escaped most people. Without speculating too much on why this happens, here’s a list of albums released by widely-known bands, but that break from their popular music to experiment a little. They’re not ranked in any way. Let me know if you have any additions!

1. Bjork - Drawing Restraint 9
2. Sonic Youth - the SYR series (SYR 1: Anagrama, SYR 2: Slaapkamers Met Slagroom, SYR 3: Invito Al Cielo, SYR 4: Goodbye Twentieth Century, SYR 5: Musical Perspective, SYR 6: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui)
3. Phish - The Siket Disc
4. Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
5. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works (‘85-‘92 & Volume 2)
6. The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (OK, this one is a huge stretch, but it still requires a patient ear to fully appreciate)
7. John Lennon & Yoko Ono - The Wedding Album
8. The Flaming Lips - Zaireeka
9. Yves Klein - Monotone Symphony (He was an artist, not a musician, but still was an interesting musical intervention)