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new music? whatcha listening to? - Page 2 — Brooklynian

new music? whatcha listening to?

24

Comments

  • michaelkeys
    michaelkeys
    pitu wrote: Radiohead or TVOTR never really caught me either. The goofy banging around of White Stripes, yeah. Very melodic, an appealing harsh whine of vocal...maybe your friend likes them because it sounds like the Kinks banging around in the garage.
    Could be. Yeah, I can hear the "Kinky" vibe in TWS' tunes (as well as The Raconteurs, come to think of it). Don't get me wrong Jack White is a decent songwriter. But the thing with my friend, and many like him, is that he never gave Radiohead or TVOTR--which are up his alley, musically speaking--even a cursory listen yet he really got into the Stripes. I'm not saying you HAVE to like 'em, that would be absurd. But I liken it to listening to say, '70s metal exclusively and not giving The Melvins a chance but loving The Arcade Fire, for instance. That kinda thing. Weird...
    pitu wrote: musicians can get geeked out on some details that don't sound all that interesting or fresh to non-musicians.
    Yes, guilty as charged. But sometimes those details are similar to what makes sausage tasty. You probably just don't wanna know how it gets in there.
    pitu wrote: I thought the packaging of White Stripes was great (those colors) but was surprised that the hooks caught me so hard...
    Fair enough.
    drano wrote: I'm looking forward to the new Shellac album to be released shortly - at six years in the making it's bound to be good! Right...?
    Damn well better be. Wait--Albini took SIX YEARS to make a Shellac record? Huh? Do you know more about this?
    drano wrote: Forgot to mention this initially, but The Raconteurs are really pretty good live. Made me dust off the CD and I like it more now.
    Yeah, that's what I've heard. I haven't seen 'em so I hope they'll tour some more behind this album. But with everyone in that band having other commitments it just might not happen.
  • drano
    drano
    Damn well better be. Wait--Albini took SIX YEARS to make a Shellac record? Huh? Do you know more about this?
    No, not really. They pretty much do what they want and I guess they didn't feel like it until now. Some of the songs that will be on it have been in their live act for quite a while though.
  • caaahyoko
    caaahyoko
    pitu wrote:
    I'm an artist but not a musician -- musicians can get geeked out on some details that don't sound all that interesting or fresh to non-musicians. Being as elderly as I am, I'm *always* hearing the influences and if it doesn't get past that, I lose interest.
    I thought the packaging of White Stripes was great (those colors) but was surprised that the hooks caught me so hard...
    Yeah, WS are one of those weird bands that I don't like if I think about too much. I think their value is more in the line of, it puts me in the mood to check out other stuff that I hadn't, like Bad Brains or Queen II or whatever.

    But anyway, its interesting to hear how other people react to them :wink:
  • caaahyoko
    caaahyoko
    MichaelKeys wrote:
    Btw, shouldn't we be having this discussion over a drink at our local watering hole?
    Yes, and yes. To the Milk!
  • erikka
    erikka
    Drano wrote: I'm looking forward to the new Shellac album to be released shortly - at six years in the making it's bound to be good! Right...?.
    Well, if the last High on Fire album is what Albini is up to these days, then all signs point to yes...if you were a Shellac fan in the first place. I have mixed feelings.


    albums I have recently acquired (through various means) and do not get the hype surrounding the artist:
    Cold War Kids
    Julez Santana
    Beach House (zzzzzzzzzzz)
    Fujiya and Miyagi
    Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
    Joanna Newsom (there's two kinds of people in this world--people who like her and people who can't f'ing stand her. I am the latter)
    Of Montreal
  • idlewild
    idlewild
    I have a question. Cold War Kids, Fujiya and Miyagi, The Raconteurs, Trans Am, etc...who are these fucking bands/people? Doesn't anyone listen to The Beta Band, Modest Mouse or heaven help me, the Sex Pistols any more?????
    Oh well, the topic is "New Music".
  • laura
    laura
    Idlewild wrote: I have a question. Cold War Kids, Fujiya and Miyagi, The Raconteurs, Trans Am, etc...who are these fucking bands/people?
    Beats me. This whole thread makes me feel ancient.

    Kids today and their crazy bands, I tell ya.
  • erikka
    erikka
    Idlewild wrote: I have a question. Cold War Kids, Fujiya and Miyagi, The Raconteurs, Trans Am, etc...who are these fucking bands/people? Doesn't anyone listen to The Beta Band, Modest Mouse or heaven help me, the Sex Pistols any more?????
    Oh well, the topic is "New Music".
    I subscribe to a music service and get everything reviewed on pitchfork. Just imagine how much garbage I trudge through looking for the occasional gem.
  • idlewild
    idlewild
    My only thing is I feel guilty ragging on today's music. I mean if I were asked "did you enjoy the music in the '80's?" I wouldn't be able too justify why I enjoyed it. let's just admit that except for a very few bands, from '83 to '89 music sucked until NWA, G&R and Nirvana came along.
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    Idlewild wrote: let's just admit that except for a very few bands, from '83 to '89 music sucked until NWA, G&R and Nirvana came along.
    This is almost entirely the fault of the synthisizer, IMHO.

    So many bands were making great music in the 70's but the synthizer meant all their 80's stuff was crap.

    Like half of all great reggae bands & singers were almost ruined by 80's styles. The genre itself barely recovered (and I'm not talking about dance hall).
  • idlewild
    idlewild
    Well, I'm including Metal/Hair as well. With the exception of bands like Iron Maiden, Van Halen (DLR), Dokken and Ronnie James Dio, the music of that era was one big collective suck bowl.
  • laura
    laura
    There were certainly a lot of 70s bands who tried on the 80s to groaningly disastrous effect, although I can't think of any I liked in the first place. On the other hand, there were a lot of great 80s bands who used the synthesizer well.

    But I love the 80s ... and I play synth.
  • idlewild
    idlewild
    I liked early '80's New Wave. The Waitresses, Motels, Eurythmics, Flying Lizards, The Plastics, Soft Cell, Squeeze, etc.
  • laura
    laura
    Yes, new wave and such. Especially big on Eurythmics. And then more 4AD goth-y stuff.

    I admit though that in my dotage even the fluffier 80s stuff has taken on a nostalgic appeal.
  • drano
    drano
    erikka wrote: [quote=Drano]I'm looking forward to the new Shellac album to be released shortly - at six years in the making it's bound to be good! Right...?.
    Well, if the last High on Fire album is what Albini is up to these days, then all signs point to yes...if you were a Shellac fan in the first place. I have mixed feelings.

    Oh yeah, I've really enjoyed everything they've done - although the opener on Terraform was tough to digest. For my softer side, The Long Winters' Putting the Days to Bed is a good one, and the kid loves it. She doesn't like Shellac for some reason.

    As far as new bands are concerned, I get suspicious if an act has more than three words in their name - to me it's an indicator that they might be too clever for their own good.
  • michaelkeys
    michaelkeys
    Drano wrote: As far as new bands are concerned, I get suspicious if an act has more than three words in their name - to me it's an indicator that they might be too clever for their own good.
    Chris Cornell once said that if a band can't put in the effort to come up with a decent one-to-three-word band name, they probably suck. Maybe. But then again, I love(d) Soundgarden but that's not the best of names, is it?
    laura wrote: Kids today and their crazy bands, I tell ya.
    Hey, us old farts like SOME of the new stuff, too. Although I must confess I'll be at Southpaw next month for the Lemonheads show. And I've got me a date with a lovely lady for the upcoming--hopefully, if Diamond Dave steps up to the plate--Van Halen reunion. Yikes!

    idlewild, I like you dude: not only funny but good taste in music, as well. We should hang and rip lame new bands over drinks one of these days. First one's on me.
  • laura
    laura
    Well golly, after never having heard of the Cold War Kids, I just opened my iTunes to find that their 'Hang Me Up To Dry' is the free download single of the week. And worth every penny I must say. (Although it's not bad in comparison to the rest of the snippets I listened to, which I found unbearably irritating).

    Lord knows I would love to find new music I can really love, but it doesn't seem to happen very often.
  • michaelkeys
    michaelkeys
    laura wrote: Lord knows I would love to find new music I can really love, but it doesn't seem to happen very often.
    One way is to get your hands on one of the solid British music mags--I highly recommend Mojo and Uncut--for their 200 or so album reviews and free CD sampler every month. They are a bit pricey ($8.50-$9.00) but worth it, in my book.

    I'm toying with the idea of starting some sort of service--e-mail, iPod loading, podcast, etc--to turn busy people onto new (and not so new)music they might be interested in. Dunno yet...Any ideas?
  • laura
    laura
    Oh, I adore Mojo and Uncut, I've been reading them for years. Unfortunately I like the writing in the magazines much better than most of the actual music on the CDs. :(
  • michaelkeys
    michaelkeys
    erikka wrote: re: Joanna Newsom (there's two kinds of people in this world--people who like her and people who can't f'ing stand her. I am the latter)
    Ha! Yeah erikka, I'm with ya. Oh so twee and precious...I mean, I can dig "sweetness and light" but jeez...
  • michaelkeys
    michaelkeys
    laura wrote: Oh, I adore Mojo and Uncut, I've been reading them for years. Unfortunately I like the writing in the magazines much better than most of the actual music on the CDs. :(
    Me too, I must confess... :(
  • alafairnadia
    alafairnadia
    anyone know what lou barlow is up to these days?
  • laura
    laura
    MichaelKeys wrote: [quote=laura]Oh, I adore Mojo and Uncut, I've been reading them for years. Unfortunately I like the writing in the magazines much better than most of the actual music on the CDs. :(
    Me too, I must confess... :(
    They're the only magazines I read just about every single word in (and there's a lot there!), even about bands I had no interest in.

    I just looked up Joanna Newsom on iTunes because the name didn't ring a bell and realized it's that blasted Milk-Eyed Mender woman. :::shudder:::
  • drano
    drano
    The cool thing is that the internet takes a lot of risk out of the whole affair. You can almost always listen a bit before you pony up good money for the music - come to think of it, though, some of the stuff I end up liking best is not stuff I would have liked on that first listen. So maybe risk is a healthy part of it; I know there were a few albums/CD's I bought as a teenager almost strictly on the strength of the cover art that really paid off - Zen Arcade and Atomizer come to mind. Sometimes it will come to you, but more often you need to get out there and sniff around a bit, talk to people whose taste you trust, etc. I intend to check out some of the stuff discussed here.
  • michaelkeys
    michaelkeys
    alafairnadia wrote: anyone know what lou barlow is up to these days?
    He's in suburban MA recording the new Dinosaur Jr album with J and Murph. Yes, you read correctly.
  • michaelkeys
    michaelkeys
    Drano wrote: The cool thing is that the internet takes a lot of risk out of the whole affair. You can almost always listen a bit before you pony up good money for the music - come to think of it, though, some of the stuff I end up liking best is not stuff I would have liked on that first listen. So maybe risk is a healthy part of it; I know there were a few albums/CD's I bought as a teenager almost strictly on the strength of the cover art that really paid off - Zen Arcade and Atomizer come to mind. Sometimes it will come to you, but more often you need to get out there and sniff around a bit, talk to people whose taste you trust, etc. I intend to check out some of the stuff discussed here.
    I hear you, man. I too used to buy a ton of records on basic recommendations including reviews, cover art, gut instinct etc and lucked out way more than 75% of the time. These days, even the tried and true artists I enjoy have let me down with too much frequency for me to delude my self anymore. Damn.

    Let me throw this out there, even if it is a bit off topic:

    A buddy of mine buys whole albums online almost exclusively, not so much for price reasons, but because ever since the death of vinyl on a mass-consumer level, the smaller size of CDs don't do it for him cover/artwork-wise. "So, fuck it. I'll just get the music," he says. I don't necessarily share his point of view but I find it valid and quite interesting. What say you?
  • alafairnadia
    alafairnadia
    MichaelKeys wrote: [quote=alafairnadia]anyone know what lou barlow is up to these days?
    He's in suburban MA recording the new Dinosaur Jr album with J and Murph. Yes, you read correctly.

    yr kidding? I kinda was a big fan of him in the mid 90s. of course, I was also a huge fan of bikini kill and bratmobile. who makes my music these days? I feel so old.
  • pitu
    pitu
    laura wrote:
    Lord knows I would love to find new music I can really love, but it doesn't seem to happen very often.
    and then there's Pandora
    http://www.pandora.com/

    although what I really REALLY want is some reliable radio dj with eclectic tastes to throw new stuff at me. Vickie Starr had a weekly show like that on WBAI that stopped ten years ago (or something like that) . . . DJ Red Alert on Saturday night in the early 90s when I had a car and would be driving somewhere on a Saturday night . . . any equivalents to suggest?

    I listen to that Soundcheck guy on WNYC, but he annoys the crap out of me.
  • pitu
    pitu
    MichaelKeys wrote:
    Let me throw this out there, even if it is a bit off topic:

    A buddy of mine buys whole albums online almost exclusively, not so much for price reasons, but because ever since the death of vinyl on a mass-consumer level, the smaller size of CDs don't do it for him cover/artwork-wise. "So, fuck it. I'll just get the music," he says. I don't necessarily share his point of view but I find it valid and quite interesting. What say you?
    a bad archival practice but, for passing fancy, fine
    I no longer fetishize the packaging, because of the annoying size. UNLESS...it's a great package. That happens one in a thousand.
  • michaelkeys
    michaelkeys
    pitu wrote: ...what I really REALLY want is some reliable radio dj with eclectic tastes to throw new stuff at me. Vickie Starr had a weekly show like that on WBAI that stopped ten years ago (or something like that) . . . DJ Red Alert on Saturday night in the early 90s when I had a car and would be driving somewhere on a Saturday night . . . any equivalents to suggest?

    I listen to that Soundcheck guy on WNYC, but he annoys the crap out of me.
    Damn, I gotta get back on the airwaves...somehow...

    Do any of you guys listen to satellite radio, btw? I don't have access to it, but I'm curious.
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