On the Corner

I’ve been listening a lot lately to Miles Davis’ On the Corner, originally released in 1972. I am in general partial to Miles’ early-70s electronic period, but On the Corner is unique. More than thirty years later, this album still sounds absolutely radical, fresh, and contemporary. It’s swirling, propulsive funk, probably the most abrasive, explosive music Miles ever made. Pure rhythmic bliss, riffs weaving in and out, dense but never murky, atonal but never grating, “world music” (listen to those Indian tablas) but never sounding like mere touristic sampling. On the Corner can be heard behind nearly every interesting musical innovation of the last decade or so, from Aphex Twin to Timbaland to D’Angelo to UK drum ‘n’ bass and garage to microglitch, but in a real sense none of these artists or trends have yet matched its full intensity.

I’ve been listening a lot lately to Miles Davis’ On the Corner, originally released in 1972. I am in general partial to Miles’ early-70s electronic period, but On the Corner is unique. More than thirty years later, this album still sounds absolutely radical, fresh, and contemporary. It’s swirling, propulsive funk, probably the most abrasive, explosive music Miles ever made. Pure rhythmic bliss, riffs weaving in and out, dense but never murky, atonal but never grating, “world music” (listen to those Indian tablas) but never sounding like mere touristic sampling. On the Corner can be heard behind nearly every interesting musical innovation of the last decade or so, from Aphex Twin to Timbaland to D’Angelo to UK drum ‘n’ bass and garage to microglitch, but in a real sense none of these artists or trends have yet matched its full intensity.