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Lookout Landing

Friday Morning Music Open Thread

Anybody who's ever read an Off-Topic thread knows that this community likes its music almost as much as it likes its baseball. As such, I've decided to try something out: front-paged bi-weekly Friday morning open threads for music discussion. It seems like there's more than enough interest to make this a worthwhile endeavor, with the side benefit of clearing space in the Off-Topics for new stuff.

I'm not sure exactly how these are going to work. Personally, I barely have anything to add to the discussion. I don't know that much. But what I do know is that there are a lot of people like me who enjoy finding new music, and there are a lot of people familiar with more unknown artists who enjoy sharing their knowledge. Consider this a thread for that. You may also consider this a thread to talk about shows you've been to, or shows you're going to, or shows you're putting on, or anything, really. I won't know how best to structure these until we have one.

So, here's a song. Off we go.


1 recs  |  667 comments

Comments

Band I'm currently obsessed with:

Alaska in Winter – Close Your Eyes/We Are Blind

Couldn’t find a studio version of this song, but this is a pretty good live version.

I like this quite a bit on first listen.
I like this song pretty well and that's an awesome hat

I’ll have to check this band out.

Well I'm intrigued

The one that drives me crazy is We Are The Tide. Always the best song at a Blind Pilot show, but not yet on an album.

Is the rest of their stuff this good?
You beat me to it

This is great

This is a little faster than most of it

But it’s a terrific album, with only one or two songs I don’t really like. I would recommend it to almost anyone.

One Red Thread is another song of theirs to check out if you liked this one

A lot of their other stuff is a bit less upbeat, but still great.

I think 'Poor Boy' is the only track I couldn't listen to on repeat for an hour
Having a similar reaction - I have never listened to Blind Pilot but I like this very, very much.
Please use the open link in a new window feature in the future!
But seriously I enjoyed this a lot
Blind Pilot...

Is funking groovy

It's hard for me to get past any song featuring computer voice...

I heard the singer is a gay fish.

Here's a question to start things off

What band or musician do you know little or nothing about that you’ve always been curious about, but for whatever reason haven’t delved into?

I have always thought I should be more into the Pretenders, especially given my predilection for other similar music of that era, but for some reason I have “Pretenders: The Singles” and that’s about it. I don’t really know why I’ve never dug deeper, but I never have. Every time I pick up a record, I always put it back down because I find five other things I want to buy – it’s almost like I’m gunshy at this point. What’s yours?

The Smiths!

Then I saw 500 Days Of Summer and decided I hate them

Don't even get me started on the goddamn fucking Smiths
You could have four musical Einsteins but put those vocals in front and I'll box my own ears
Morrissey is a scourge upon the earth

that band plagued my high school and college years and oh my god they’re still just as irritating as they always have been. I will give Johnny Marr credit, he’s a hell of a musician and has done some great work since, but if I ever meet Morrissey in person I will cut him up with rusty scissors and feed him to neighborhood raccoons.

This won't do
You're right, I should use a Cuisinart and pour him down a storm drain instead
Hey, I don't fuck with your shit.
You don't have the anatomy
Have I told you lately that I love you?
My Morrissey hatred knows no start or no end or no rational limit
Yeah, and Morrissey fans are known for their ends and limits
And their angst and ennui and puffy shirts
I thought you liked my ennui
My Morrissey hatred is not a reflection on or a judgment of you though
I just want you to like me pdb, is that so wrong
I like you!
Screw Morrissey then.
Aw

Someone needs a hug!

I own no shirts which could be described as pufffy
But think of the hungry hungry raccoons!
I had kind of similar experience.

I’d heard so much about them, everybody said they were a major influence in modern bands I like. So I downloaded Louder than Bombs and was wholly underwhelmed.

I really love the song "What She Said" by them.

Everything else…meh.

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.
I don't think half of these are even letters
They're Welsh which explains that
Talking Heads
I really want to love the Talking Heads unreservedly but I can't

Stop Making Sense is a stellar concert film, but a lot of their other stuff is very hit and miss for me.

Ditto ditto ditto...

and, of course, the CD version of Stop Making Sense is a good substitute for the film when driving.

Best Talking Heads

The Name of This Band is Talking Heads, Disk 2
Remain in Light

- Elgin

Frank Zappa.
I haven't scrolled up to see the origin of this, but...

I’ve always meant to check him out and still intend to some day…

see that you do
Beefheart is better
Beefheart is crazy.

Trout Mask Replica would still be out there if it were released today.

Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground.

Saw them live before Portugal. the Man, then I just never looked in to them again. I’ve heard they’re not as good on albums as they are live though…

They're good, you should follow up

But the band I would really recommend (if you haven’t checked them out already) is the band that Kay Kay spawned from….Gatsby’s American Dream

My answer until a week ago was Wilco

But now it’d have to be Of Montreal or something like that. Or maybe David Bowie or The Band, older bands/artists I’ve never listened to too much.

Ugh, in my opinion don't bother with Of Montreal.
I have never liked one of their songs. Except Nickee Coco. Okay so I never liked two of their songs.

Plus? Annoying

Oh come now they have plenty of fun songs

Their “creativity” annoys me beyond belief but here. This is a song that always cheers me up

Still don't like it.

I just don’t like their melodies.

I'll add The Fall in here as well.
I have tried on many occasions to like The Fall but I cannot

But I do love it when Mark E Smith reads the football results.

Absolutely agreed.
Hmm...

Off the top of my head… The Replacements, Talking Heads, Pere Ubu….

Did finally kind of get into the early career of The Residents though.

Get into the Replacements soon because they're unbelievably awesome

Pleased To Meet Me and Tim are where you should start. You will not regret it.

Early Pere Ubu

is unspeakable awesome. Everything from Final Solution to New Picnic Time. Most fascinating music I’ve ever listened to. The associated bands (Dead Boys, Rocket From the Tombs) are also great if you like your music more straight-forward and sleazy.

The Replacements are great, but I’d say you should start in chronological order, just to appreciate their development.

Here's a song from my own library that've recently rediscovered

And I can’t get enough of it

My computer freaked out and yelled malware when I opened this. :(
I don't listen to the radio

and even if I did, i live in Kansas so all I’d here is the mainstream stuff from the late 90s (Buckcherry, Matchbox 20, Creed, blah, blah, blah, blah, barf).

The most recent bands I’ve fallen for are Ghostland Observatory (you can find some of their stuff on YouTube) and Miss Li. Yeah, I’m that dork that checks out the catchy stuff from the iPod commercials.

I keep meaning to expand my nerdcore hip hop collection, but mostly just end up listening to my old MC Frontalot stuff and random Kompressor tracks.

I have no organized method for exposing myself to new music. What I do know is that I need to get the same 4 CDs I’ve been listening to for the last 24 months the hell out of my car.

the iPod people have pretty good taste in commercial music though
It just gets driven into the ground.
I'd agree,

but I only watch TV on DVR, so I don’t get heavily exposed to the commercials… I see a new one and fast forward past them going forward.

Ghostland Observatory intrigues me.

It’s not anything like the stuff I normally listen to, but I occasionally just feel like listening to them.

Ghostland took some getting used to

But now I love them. Something about some peoples voices; the first time you listen to them you want to die, then after awhile you don’t even notice it.

Dancing on my Grave is one of my favorites

Oh Aaron Behrens has an exceedingly annoying voice.
Random nerdcore hip hop greatness

Psikotic’s “The Economist” is pretty damned great.

Also, I stayed away from Jonathan Coulton for a long time because I thought he was sort of a joke.

But a good friend of mine took me to one of his shows, and I was blown away. He’s a very talented songwriter, and isn’t always silly with his songs. Observe:

Space Doggity — Tribute to Laika, the first dog to go to space.

Always the Moon — Heart-rending song about break-up, using various Creation metaphors.

I love the Christmas song entitled Chiron Beta Prime
Christ.

This is going to become an ongoing and never-ending list of new music I need to check out. Like I don’t have anything else to do.

That anxiety you feel is LL reaching into your stomach and gripping your soul
I'm putting on a show in March.

It was going to be local bands who are Mariners fans, but now it’s going to be Morrissey.

Morrissey's an Angels fan you know
Really?

You really think Morrissey would be caught dead in red?

He's a West Ham fan too :/
If you pull this off I am leaving you Sadie in my will
Fleet Foxes

White Winter Hymnal

Probably preaching to the choir since this is a Seattle-heavy blog

but yeah. If you have not listened to Fleet Foxes you don’t know what music can be. Has anybody seen them in concert? I’m interested in how much the live experience compares with the beauty of the albums.

Saw 'em at Sasquatch last year, and they were otherworldly.

They reproduce their amazing harmonies extremely well live. Plus, it helped having the gorgeous view of the Gorge behind them…

I saw them at SP20 a couple years ago

and it was a very jarring experience, because they were sandwiched in between Pissed Jeans and the Fluid, which is not really the best context for them. They were OK, though.

Saw FF at The Moore

Opened the show with the most stirring rendition of Sun Giant (a cappella song from the EP). Most beautiful, pitch-perfect a cappella performance I’ve ever heard. Haunting. The EP and LP are the most addictive albums I’ve ever owned. For me, everything they do is gold. Best thing to happen to pop music. Go see them.

They are my favorite band, and I’m a ooey-gooey softy, so take this for what it’s worth.

Bon Iver is cool too (until they put one on the effing vampire movie), and a bunch of others. I think it’s a good time for music right now.

Glad I'm not the only one to associate Bon Iver and FF

Wasn’t sure if it was a forced connection, but I like both for the same reasons—harmonies and acoustic goodness.

I connect them by their big booshy beards
A very hypnotic, addictive song

but for some reason I can’t get in to the rest of the album – I don’t know why, but it just doesn’t grab me. I love this song though.

I'm in the same boat
Different album, but Mykonos is also a great song by them

Agreed though, can’t get into their peripheral stuff.

Tiger Mountain Peasant Song

Not that it reminds me of Tiger Mountain.

I like the rest of their songs quite a bit

But Mykonos and White Winter Hymnal are head and shoulders above the rest.

I'm one of those people

who still dig Modest Mouse. It probably doesn’t hurt that I never go to shows and have lived outside of the Seattle area during most of their development arc.

I don't think there's any reason not to continue to like Modest Mouse.

There were some phenomenal songs off of No One’s First and You’re Next.

Although the video for King Rat is absolutely terrifying.

Lonesome Crowded West and This is a Long Drive.... are so great, and their recent output pains me.

Am I upset because their new stuff is legitimately terrible, or am I just upset that I’m no longer 23? I leave that to you, but I will say that Modest Mouse was once frighteningly good, and while their shows were always either transcendent or trainwrecks, I wanted to see every one of them.

Trailer Trash is a masterpiece.
'Dramamine' is one of my all-time favorite songs.
I love that song

but for some reason never got into Modest Mouse.

I'm partial to Polar Opposities and 3rd Planet
Both of those in my top 5 of MM songs
Tiny Cities Made of Ashes LIVE

At the Showbox in 05 or something, was amazing, and still is the best single song I’ve ever seen live.
Here

I inevitably like Sun Kill Moon's versions of Modest Mouse's songs

more than MM’s.

For example: Tiny Cities

I was going to mention this cover album

And while some of them are great (arguably better than the original), I like that he didn’t really mess with Dramamine or Neverending Math Equation.

Hehe yeah

I do like that version of Tiny Cities as well. The one from the concert was just crazy, hearing the song is more of an emotional visceral response than anything these days. Ahh live music.

Those are my two favorites

but I do like their recent output… it’s not as repeatedly listenable as the others, but I still dig them.

Lonesome Crowded West

is one of the best albums of the last two decades and saying that, yes their latest has been pretty disappointing.

Their last decent album being so long ago is a god reason to not continue liking Modest Mouse.

They exemplify the stereotype of the band that signs onto a major label and immediately begins to suck.

I'm trying to allow for variance in musical taste

I might tend to agree, but I’m trying to be nicer in my old age.

I can never get into Modest Mouse for some reason

and it’s kind of odd because I love a lot of bands that people consider to be similar.

A lot of people are stupid though.

I never saw any similarity between Pearl Jam and Stoen Temple Pilots but more than half the people I knew at the time couldn’t tell one from the other.

Flagged.

A comparison between Modest Mouse and Stone Temple Pilots is so, so off base as to be invalid. Ridiculous.
May as well say Modest Mouse and Crosby, Stills and Nash.

He was actually comparing STP to Pearl Jam
Aha! Well that's *almost* as ludicrous.
the difference is that STP writes bad songs and Pearl wirties good songs

also Pearl Jam is rooted much more in 70s rock and much less in metal

I'm not the biggest PJ fan out there, but I agree with this.
I just bought The Moon and Antarctica

Sounds good so far. Really like 3rd Planet and Gravity Rides Everything so far.

For some reason the only other albums I own by them are We Were Dead... and No One's First...

Odd. What album should I go to next? The Lonesome Crowded West?

Yes
Seconded.
And done.
Good...it's their best by far.

I love it to death.

Mike Doughty solo

and Soul Coughing, of course. I dig the steady rhythms and lyrical poetry.

Wow....

I mean, Skittish I think is a brilliant work that no one cared to pay attention to. The lyrics are fantastic and he manages to do so much with so little (though I still fall back on some of the leaked entries that had minor accompaniment), but it started to go downhill with Rockity Roll for me and the last one I bought was Haughty Melodic. I hear his stuff’s pretty mainstream now.

I know

a few people here are into dnb, but I wanna know if anyone is into dubstep?

My only experience with drum and bass is Bass Mechanik.
The closest I get to dnb or anything like that is a smattering of DJ Rap and BT
here some tracks

dubstep
Innerpartysystem- Last Night in Brooklyn
MGMT-Weekend Wars (George Lenton rmx)
The Pixies-Where is My Mind (Bassnectar rmx)

dnb
B-Complex ft Ill-Esha- Broken Windows

X-Press 2 Feat. David Byrne - Lazy

Does that count? It’s a standalone track, but I dig it.

I guess I have some other stuff…

State of Bengal… Talvin Singh…

the more house music than anything

if house is your thing check out Designer Drugs. Used to chill with them when they lived in Philly. Really good music.

more dubstep

some smooth shit
Ellie Goulding – Starry Eyed (Jakwob Remix)
Chromeo – Night By Night (Skream Remix)
Owl City – Fireflies (Trillbass & E Tubbs Remix ft. Catt)
Daladubz-Disco
<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncQcWz_XwwU>Proxy – Dancing In The Dark (OlliE! & Bare Noize VIP)
”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVuZWfWUb1c">Nenka-Heartbeat (Chase and Status rmx)

well fucked that up

royally

I just got a Wu-Tang meets London dubstep album.

It’s pretty nice, but honestly the dubstep gets old for me pretty quick. I typically listen to 2-3 songs then switch to something less heavy. I did like that they chose less-well known Wu songs to cover.

I have that as well

No really a favorite cause the vocals don’t really sit in the tracks that well. There’s a couple stateside artists on there like Trillbass and Evol Intent who probably had the best vocal arrangement on there.

Santigold

Starstruck

I really expected to hate her album, but I love it.

I recommend this album to a ton of people

I found it completely by accident (Pineapple Express!) and fell madly in love with her stuff once I heard the whole album.

I first heard her when she and the Black Keys were co-headlining with The Roots

And promptly reconsidered my stance on New Wave

That's on a FIFA soundtrack I think.

I like LES Artistes and You’ll Find a Way more, but that’s a decent track too.

My brother's girlfriend has recently introduced him to some 70s/80s/90s stuff...

The Smiths and that sort of thing. I’ve never seen the appeal, but I haven’t listened to much. I do like the Stiff Little Fingers and Generation X.

Stiff Little Fingers are awesome.

if you like them, you might like…no, should like….no, MUST LOVE the Buzzcocks. Check this and this and this out.

And the Rezillos

Here
Here
and
Here (can’t find a studio version of this but this is my favorite song of theirs)

The Buzzcocks are completely awesome.

Not really like the Smiths, but yeah….

I guess if I'm to contribute, it'll be hip hop.

I love MCs with the ability to tell a story. My favorite examples of this are the more well-known Blackalicious song Deception and of course J-Live (with J Rawls) Great Live Caper.

I don't listen to much hip hop, except

Chino XL, KRS One, some old Wu-Tang, and the occasional nostalgic gangsta rap (NWA, Public Enemy).

hiphop died with j dilla

but some people still make it

DE LA SOUL FEAT MF DOOM

How about Blakroc?

here

“BlakRoc is a cool collaboration between the band Black Keys and a dream list of notable NYC hip-hop stars. Originally conceived by Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash, who reached out to the Akron duo purely because he was a fan, the project that started as a session with Dash’s current partner, rapper Jim Jones, grew to include Mos Def, RZA, Ludacris, Q-Tip and others. "

I fucking love the Black Keys

so I will have to check that out.

It seems like it should be awesome

But the album’s actually pretty hit or miss. The Raekwon and Mos Def songs are incredible, about half the other songs are good, a few are forgettable, and there are one or two that are tone-deaf-awful.

It was a pretty lazy album

And not in a good way – it really sounded like everybody (save Mos Def) came in and laid their lines over beats that were completely incongruous to their flow. Even Pharoahe Monch, who’s generally awesome at that, sounded like he had more pressing things to do elsewhere.

Still, it grows on you after a while.

I agree

It really had the potential to be much, much better. For instance, you can really hear the influence in the songs where RZA had something to do with the production.

There is a new Black Keys album due in April so I'm passing on the Blackroc record

The new album was recorded at Muscle Shoals Studio, by the same producer that recorded Dan Auerbach’s Keep It Hid. Should be amazing.

JD was talented but by no means the end-all-be-all of hip hop.

He was hardly even known until he died.

i know what you mean
I can't believe I forgot De La Soul...

shame on me.

My knowledge of hip-hop is pretty limited, but I like it, and would like to discover more.

Do you have any suggestions of what I may like based on the fact that I like Notorious BIG, A Tribe Called Quest, Dr. Dre, N.W.A., and old Snoop Dogg? If you’re going to be the hip-hop contributor.

Here, let me Pandora that for you.
Looks like you're into older gangster, although ATCQ means you may enjoy some more funky and lyrically interesting stuff.

I’d find more Blackalicious (Nia and Blazing Arrow are great albums). I’d recommend finding yourself some post-Wu Tang Method Man and go with Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides. Those should be good branch points.

Thanks man!

I’m just putting a list of anything that looks interesting into an e-mail to myself, so they have just been added.

Voodoo by D'Angelo

Devil’s Pie in particular. Haunting.

Weird...

I just don’t see how Quest fits into that list… Check the Roots. Maybe the Jurassic Five. Then again, maybe not.

The Knux

And you can get their new EP free here

Or listen here

People Under the Stairs

If you like ATCQ, you’ll definitely dig People Under the Stairs.

indeed

start with some of this
and then maybe some Acid Raindrops

PUTS are fucking fantastic.
Songs that have a theme that and that keep working proper nouns into the song are interesting to me.

There has to be a name for this but I don’t know it. Two amazing examples.
Win, Lose, or Draw, Doujah Raze. Gameshows past and present work their way in.
Soda and Soap, Masta Ace. The title is enough.

You should check out Chino XL

Ghetto Vampite being his best album… He doesn’t quite use the themes, but every line is a pop-culture reference and it gets pretty crazy.

I'm not into Chino XL. He just sounds like he's pissed off and yelling.
That whole genre of hispanic gangbangers turned rappers doesn't really do it for me.
I've heard basically nothing else in said genre,

but I doubt I would like any of them. Chino is smart as hell and goes seriously deep in his stuff.

But I’m not his fanbase, so it’s all about smarts for me.

He's definitely pissed off,

but there’s almost nobody in the main stream that can fully develop a rhyme like he does, or go as deep with a metaphor.

I still think of "The Double"

every time I hear Centerfield by John Fogerty.

I have it on a mixtape that’s been in my car since I bought it 18 months ago, so that is fairly regularly.

Centerfield makes me want to run into a sword.
What can I say?

I can understand not liking it, but it I associate it with a good memory, so I can dig it.

Oh my God, I found a kindred soul!
I can't find it online right now

but Visqueen did a cover of it a few years back that totally redeemed that song in my mind.

reply fail to abender20's Centerfield
I'll see if I can track that down.
If not let me know and I can email it to you when I get home
not that emailing music files is legal or should be encouraged
Where's lailaihei when you need him?
Last.fm to the rescue.

You’re right, this is so much better.

A band I mentioned before that I like.

None of you guys probably have heard of them. But they have some good songs. (That’s four different links)

Not to belittle but The Bravery are a fairly well-known band
I would agree
Both An Honest Mistake and Believe got a lot of radio play / exposure.
Based on my friend's Facebook they've played approximately 17 shows in San Diego over the past 6 months
They also got lots of hype and subsequent backlash for the hype
Just like the Yankees and Red Sox!
An Honest Mistake was on the last good baseball video game ever made!
Never heard of em
Really?

All people I’ve talked to have no idea who they are. Unless they’ve played MVP Baseball 2005 and then I just tell them that one of the Bravery’s songs was used in the game. Then they remember. ;)

I assume these are people at your school?

Having recently attended high school, I can attest that many are not aware of anything that’s not top 40.

I had tickets to see them a few years ago

but never went. I had no idea they were still around.

I remember Honest Mistake from MVP Baseball 2005...

Good stuff. For whatever reason, I never really got into them though.

They have a few other good songs from that CD but I can't remember the names for the life of me.
Out of Line and Tyrant are two.
Here is a band worth checking out.

Consider the Source is based out of NYC and rarely plays out west but I seriously suggest checking them out next time they do. No vocals and a bit off the beaten path for many, but I am in love with their bass player.

Also if you have never heard Jucifer before,

fix that here and now.

Two piece bands rule, just ask ac.

The band I can never get enough of.

Deerhunter.

"Vox Celeste #5" is a great song, one of the better singles of '09

(It’s from last year’s SubPop singles club)

Still, I find that I skip tons of their songs, to get to the truffles buried underneath all of that dirt.

(And Atlas Sound’s ‘Walkabout’ is another of the better singles of ’09, so well played to you Bradford Cox)

I like the dirt and truffles analogy

but recently I made a cd that was a mix of different bands that I like and what I notice is that whenever a Deerhunter song comes on it’s like light in the darkness. They’re just so damn good at what they do, that even the dirt just shines.

I've fallen back into

Listening to a lot of Bright Eyes lately. The Digital Ash in a Digit Urn album specifically.

I love that CD.

It’s the only Bright Eyes CD I can tolerate.

Born Ruffians?

Here
And here

Not quite as melodic as a lot of what I see mentioned here, but putting it out there.

Okay, I actually have to work.

stupid government…

Shabazz Palaces is in heavy rotation right now.

Hot hot fire. Local hip-hop, fronted by Ishmael from Digable Planets. Truly innovative production, amazing rhyme schemes. I can see them being national in short order. Soundscapes are kind of bleak and sparse with some old world and early-80s influences, a little dubstep and Carribean noise for spice.

His style is too halting for me and I haven't heard much variation in flow.
The EPs took me a couple listens but there is a lot of depth there.

They’re a little outside my comfort zone but I love the music more with every listen.

For the blues-rock fans

Might I recommend Wiser Time?

DJ Shadow's Endtroducing would be one of my Desert Island Discs

I will probably listen to this for the rest of the day.

YES!

DJ Shadow is pretty awesome.

Phoenix are French.

Which is interesting.

http://www.blogotheque.net/Phoenix,5179

I just learned that yesterday!
Serious?
I tried to avoid the Phoenix hype until it died down a little
Makes sense.

Seems like that was the first thing I ever heard about them.

Yup. Me too. Someone kept telling me I had to hear this french band

and I ignored it, then Phoenix kept turning up in 2009 (Cadillac ads?), and the only thing I knew about them was that they were French. And in this Cadillac ad.

Yeah, when United came out my Electronica buyer made a big stink about them.

I hated that he was right

I gave in last week and downloaded the album.

Surprise to none, I love it.

No shit!

I had no clue.

Their last couple albums are somewhat infectious.

Don’t like their oldest stuff so much.

I always find recommending music weird since I usually end up discovering more old bands than new bands

so I’m sure lots of these are well known, and I don’t really listen to full albums, but a quick sampling of bands I’m defaulting to a lot this past month:

Band of Horses
Barcelona (the Seattle one, not the one from Virginia)
Blind Pilot
Blitzen Trapper
Lemurs
Metric
Dandy Warhols
Vines [I’m sure most people have heard them]
Sons and Daughters
Frightened Rabbit
Spacemen 3
Air Traffic
The Village Green [bad name, gets confused with The Kinks]
Jose Gonzalez
Thirteen Senses [No, I didn’t hear it on Grey’s Anatomy]
And ever since going to Sweden, fucking Little Boots won’t get out of my head.

I saw Band of Horses on

Jools Holland and liked them a lot but, once again, never properly got into them.

Sons and Daughters are awesome

I like This Gift better than Repulsion Box, but they’re both good albums.

Oh Glasgow, do you ever STOP giving?
What a great city

I assume never heaving been there but claiming heritage from

It's staggeringly good.
I love it so, so much.
Spacemen 3!

If you like them, you should check out Grandaddy (well, really just “Sophtware Slump”).

You son of a bitch
I get Band of Horses and Band of Skulls confused.
Frightened Rabbit

Loved the second album (which is the much more popular one) then went back and listened to the first and can’t stand it. Third album is coming out in March though so I’m very curious.

Also love Sons and Daughters.

I actually deleted their first album off my computer

Gave it several chances and hated it. The second one is…silver, with Modern Leper being gold.

Modern Leper's good but I find Keep Yourself Warm to be the best song on the album
I think them and We Were Promised Jetpacks have identical song titles
I have not heard of this other band so I will staunchly disagree
They're like seven times more Scottish
They're also one of the rare bands fronted by a fat ugly guy

I wouldn't call him fat
By this point he was down 15 pounds of sweat
He doesn't really look fat in this picture either

Fat relative to the usual
I think Craig Finn holds the title for frontman that looks the least like a frontman

Got me there
For the longest time I just assumed the members of the Gorillaz were hideous

but apparently they’re quite normal looking

I'm in one of those!
You were this close from having Chinese named on my shuffle list

tough break big guy

I agree

Keep Yourself Warm is my favorite, with Modern Leper a close second. But I also really love The Twist, Fast Blood, My Backwards Walk…

I am a huge fan of that album.

Old Old Fashioned goes above Fast Blood and My Backwards Walk for me but otherwise I agree with you
The Brooklyn Academy

with Thirstin’ Howl III

My first concert was Weird Al Yankovic
Mine was ZZ Top and Night Ranger
Whenever people ask me about royalcurve

I tell ’em She Can Still Rock In America.

Jimmy Buffet for me...but Weird Al puts on a great live show.
Mine was an Abba tribute band called Bjorn Again.
Mine was an all star rock fest lineup!

Foreigner
Joan Jett
Loverboy
Blue Oyster Cult
Iron Maiden

Ah, 1982, you were an awesome year for festival rock.

I'm so jealous. That's not fair.
Also the first time I smelled pot!
That was Ozzy Osbourne for me.

I was 11, with my parents, and two guys literally right next to us were passing a joint. Good times. I love Canada.

I was 13 and petrified to ask the guy who was smoking it if I could try some

so all I did was sniff.

I was straight edge as hell until I was 18.

Oh how times change.

I was straight edge until like 19 or 20. It's all a little hazy around there.
That's pretty much how it goes.
Yup.
Interestingly, I was almost the exact opposite.

17 rolled around, and I went clean and never looked back.

I wasn't straight edge because I desperately wanted to avoid alcohol (though that was fine with me)

I was straight edge because no one would go out with me, and I needed a philosophical justification for being alone.

Samesies.

I sore to myself when I was 17 that I would never drink.

Times have changed.

I don't know who I should reply to at this point in the thread

But my first show was The Fixx and the Godfathers.

I saw the Godfathers once opening for Love and Rockets

all I remember was

BIRTH
SCHOOL
WORK
DEATH

repeated a bunch of times.

Wait, crap, you're right!

Well, who the hell opened for The Fixx then? Dammit! I hate being old!

I just remember that The Fixx was my first show. I did also see that Godfathers/L&R show, a few years later in the same venue (which is probably where my mind freeze is coming from).

I also suffered through the Fixx at possibly the worst venue of all time: Tacoma Dome

Thompson Twins and the Fixx opened for The Police. The acoustics were….not good.

Also

That’s pretty much all ANYone remembers about the Godfathers. :/

That would probably have been the show at Seattle Center Coliseum, no?

With the Bubblemen?

In Seattle, yes

In Portland, it was at the Civic Auditorium. And there were indeed Bubblemen. :D

My wife is going to that fine yet renamed establishment tonight to see Xanadu: The Musical

I shall not be joining her.

Good call.
With the right cast

I understand it is pretty hi-larious.

'82, my first concert was that year too.

AC/DC at the Seattle Center Coliseum. Pretty crazy experience for a 12 year old.

I saw Everclear right after they released World of Noise.

How far the mighty have fallen.

Mine was Metallica, I think.
The Who or Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

I can’t remember

I think mine was The Beach Boys?
A place called Kokomo...
I remember being four or so...

and having Good Vibrations being one of the strangest things I had ever heard, but all the same entrancing.

My first concert was in 1969

Led Zeppelin, with Jethro Tull opening, at San Diego Sports Arena. I was 14 and I didn’t know what the funny smell was.

I am very, very old. – Elgin

I have a sneaking feeling mine was Barry Manilow.

Escorting younger sister and friend.

I believe mine was Sugar Ray.
I'm stuck in 60's and 70's classic rock
I'm right there with you
This is not a bad thing.
Until my last dying breath I will contend that "25 or 6 to 4" is the greatest song to grill a steak to.

Just give me a pair of tongs, a heavy rotation of moldy classic rock staples, and a Bud heavy and I’m…my dad.

Or this song

Which is pretty much 25 or 6 to 4, without all the horns….

I'm not sure if you'd call it rock

but from that era I love the stuff America did.

Adult contemporary

AKA “The smooooooth hits of the 70s.”

I do always go back to the White Stripes
Indeed!

There are maybe 5 or 6 tracks of theirs that I don’t love. Half of those are on Blue Orchid.

I met the Stripes once and they were kind of assholes.

Jack White in particular. It makes me happy to know that this new decade can’t possibly be as kind to him as the last was.

Jack White is an asshole?

SURPRISED FACE

It was a surprise in 2002!
I would still light myself on fire in order to keep Meg warm
If you like the Stripes

then I recommend She Keeps Bees. Kind of like White Stripes with the genders reversed.

Got my 9 year old daughter a mp3 for Christmas

 and am trying to put a playlist of essential listening to educate her to the point that she realises Miley Cyris is not good (except for “I can’t wait to see you again” which is a great song). So far we’ve got Velvet Underground, Husker Du, Johnny Cash, Shonen Knife, Jon Spencer, and Neil Young. What else do 9 year olds need to know?

I love this comment
The Ramones
Beat the Brat?
Have you listened to a lot of Husker Du lyrics?

The Ramones are awesome for kids. Great beat, easy to bop around the house to.

Yeah

every kid needs to listen to the thoughts of fat, white, gay, bi-polar, depressed people

Somebody Put Something In My Drink
There is no better place than LL to ask what a 9 year old needs to know
But if we're talking essential music that everyone should know and recognize

I feel Zep, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones have to be in there.

The thought of a 9-year-old singing "Whole Lotta Love"

will send you to jail I believe.

Maybe way down inside is actually the ladies' soul and not the inside of her cooter or bum
They need to know that they are not special just because they exist.

Oh, did you mean musically? I don’t know, The Who?

Jon Spencer of Blues Explosion fame?

I fucking love the song he did for Hot Fuzz.

As a teacher, I love loading my students up on the jazz.

Folk or intelligent pop (TMBG) is golden for kids, too.

You have to throw some Foghat on there
The Pixies?
I second this comment.
The Clash is the first thing that comes to mind.

Not to cheery on the lyrics though…

My six-year-old's mp3 player is loaded with all kinds of heavy stuff

Metallica (by his request), 3 Inches of Blood (he looooooves Wykydtron and sings along to it), Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult. For all the faults I probably have as a parent, at least he likes good music

My 7 year old can sing most of

Foo Fighters and Journey

I've really gotten into Bad Astronaut lately.

Anyone heard of them?

The Passenger
Stillwater, California
Single
Minus

I've always liked Lagwagon better
I was just gonna list a few like Matthew did, but then I did this. Hopefully there's something worthwhile in here.

Andrew Jackson Jihad—Folk punk with dark, sometimes whiny, but oftentimes true lyrics. They’re usually kind of humorous.
Arctic Monkeys—Older, forgotten, still good.
At the Drive-In—Probably one of my favorite all-time bands. If you haven’t listened to them, you’re wearing your fuck-up boots.
Bearvsshark—Kind of hard to categorize their sound. They broke up 5 years ago, but I refuse to take them off my ipod.
Edna’s Goldfish—A really mainstream sounding (and therefore weak) ska-punk band, but I like ‘em.
The Fall of Troy—They’re from Mukilteo, and they’re a great nearly hardcore band. A lot of fans have abandoned them as they’ve evolved for not being as hardcore, and not screaming as much. But I think they’re just as good now, just different.
Horse the Band—A goofy “Nintendocore” band that’s just catchy and fun.
Islands—A pretty cool indie band that has a sound that should be accessible to just about anyone. Used to be The Unicorns.
Kid Cudi—He calls himself a rapper, but it’s not really typical rap. This track is featuring MGMT and Ratatat, two awesome bands…if you like rap, hip hop, or indie music, give him a listen. I find Stanky Leg to be hilarious fun and all, but it’s nice to see some rappers still earning it.
Man Man—A pretty unique indie band. They’re weird, but not abrasive to the ear.
MGMT—everyone knows MGMT.
Notorious B.I.G.—Classic but awesome.
The Protomen—A small band out of Tennessee that plays…wait for it…Mega Man Rock Opera music. Honestly, they’re probably my favorite or second favorite band right now. They’re epic as hell and great driving music.
Reel Big Fish—Well known. Still awesome. One of the better ska bands around.
Streetlight Manifesto—My favorite band. Third wave ska…they mesh horns and traditional rock band instruments extremely well, and Thomas Kalnoky’s voice fits the music. If this band isn’t your favorite band right now, I hate you.
Tera Melos—Super technical math rock. They used to be instrumental only, then they came out with the album with the song I linked. Now they’re a bit punky, but still good. It’s really easy to vibe and chill to this music.
A Tribe Called Quest—My favorite song by my favorite old hip hop group.
The Unicorns—The slightly better predecessor to Islands. They’re a bit trippy and weird, and easy to listen to.

I love that I have finally seen the words "Arctic Monkeys" and "forgotten" together
Seems like they haven't done anything in awhile. Maybe I haven't paid much attention.
They just released a new album a few months ago
A very good album, at that.

But I don’t ever listen to the radio so I never know what’s been played out.

Yeah, I rely on friends instead of the radio for music.
Wow, I'm clearly fucking up.
Whole-heartedly agree--nothing old or forgotten about Arctic Monkeys.

Made the colossal mistake of seeing them live in September. Let me tell you, they are very much loved and remembered by the 13-17 year old moshing crowd.

New stuff is good, but seeing them live really harps on how similar a lot of their older songs sound. Still, good energy.

I feel the same way about The Fall of Troy, except now it's 10-15 year olds going to shows. I've literally seen moms standing at the back of the show waiting for their kids. It's so depressing.
If you saw them in Portland, I was there

Holy hell did that show disappoint me. The Like were better.

Milwaukee, actually.

I won’t go so far as to say The Like were better, but yes, thoroughly disappointing.

If you ask Pandora, Arctic Monkeys are very much not forgotten at all
HOW CAN I MISS YOU IF YOU WON'T GO AWAY?
GOD

I swear I can be listening to MF Doom’s channel and it’ll still play fucking Arctic Monkeys

I recently rediscovered in/CASINO/OUT

and have been listening to it an awful lot.

Oh man that's good
Even though it's their big one, I'd reccomend Relationship of Command as well.

Acrobatic Tenement is a bit different sounding, but also worth picking up.

I think part of the reason I'm enjoying i/C/O so much is that it isn't Relationship of Command

RoC is an amazing album and everything but I’ve played it way too much. I haven’t heard Acrobatic Tenement in years after lending it to a friend and never seeing it again :(

It always seemed like Vaya got the fan love...

but in/CASINO/OUT was always my favorite.

At the Drive-In was the band that pulled me out of rap music. I haven’t really been back since, with a few exceptions.

The newest Fall of Troy album is fantastic

And I’m always happy to see Streetlight Manifesto. If you’re into ska music, have you heard Bomb the Music Industry’s latest? Probably my favorite album of 2009.

Yeah, a lot of "die-hards" are really bashing In The Unlikely Event, but I think it sounds great. Especially Battleship Graveyard.

I do love ska. Probably my favorite type of music…but I’ve only recently gotten into ska, so I’ve never heard Bomb the Music Industry. That’ll change as soon as I get home, however.

I recommend

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra!

THIS THIS A THOUSAND TIMES THIS!

Skapara toujou and Wild Peace are such amazing albums.

All the BTMI albums are available free on quoteunquoterecords.com

“Scrambles” is definitely the best. Lyrics are great, and it’s a ton of fun. But my favorite track by them overall is “Syke! Life Is Awesome!” Those would be an awesome place to start.

Man Man!

These guys are fantastic.

I think The Ballad of Butter Beans captures what they’re about better than Doo Right. You can’t find a sound like that anywhere else.

This is a truthfact.
I always regret not listening to At The Drive-In more.

I was making my best of the decade list and went back to listen to Relationship of Command. I had it ranked 25ish but after listening to it 3 straight times it was a no doubt top 10. It’s just so urgent and alive.

Good call on The Unicorns

Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone? was good all the way through.

Way late but Streetlight is awesome.
Am I wrong in saying At The Drive In's lead singer sounds like a mix of Protest the Hero's and Rise Against's at first listen?
I think the singer for ATDI sounds like the singer for The Mars Volta.
You're a visionary!
If you dig MGMT

please check out Neon Indian.

Oh man, I hate to sound like a snob

I really do, and I wrestled with even writing this comment, but I just have to.

Reel Big Fish aren’t ska. Ska-punk, ska-core, alt-ska, whatever, but they’re not ska. I know that it seems silly, but if you were to call the Weather Report jazz, someone would probably slap you. It’s not any sort of commentary on Reel Big Fish as a band, it’s just that they’re not ska.

This is a sore spot for me, and I apologize if I sound like a dick.

This is masterful restraint.
The way i've always looked at it, "ska-punk" is a subgenre of punk, not ska.

No, ska-punk isn’t ska (usually), but ska-punk brings up a certain sound in people’s mind, so why not just go with it? As for ska-core and those fake genres they can go to hell.

Bear vs Shark is the best live band I've ever seen.

Terrorhawk is a pretty damn great album, too.

Personally I prefer "Right Now You're In The Best Of Hands..."

But some of my favorites of theirs are on Terrorhawk, like “Catamaran” and “Baraga Embankment”. They did put on a killer live show…I was lucky enough to see a show that started with Since By Man, then The Fall of Troy, then Bear vs. Shark, then ended with Fear Before The March of Flames before they sucked. Bear vs. Shark’s singer was by far the most brutal of any of the frontmen.

I was at that exact same show.
So, anyone, what's the most ridiculous band name?
Any pornogrind band.

Torsofuck, Spermswamp, Anal Cunt (though they’re really more grindcore), etc.

I feel shafted that I hadn't heard of these genres before.

What the hell have I been doing with my life?

Cunt is What We Aim For

Not that anyone listens to them, because they’re a shitty thrash band.

Which would be a take off on Cute Is What We Aim For, which is also a fucking retarded name.
Buckcherry

That takes it because, unlike Anal Cunt, it’s not offensively nonsensical but nonsensically offensive.

I meant the other way around
!!!

or, if you prefer, chk chk chk

I've always steadfastly refused to pronounce their name.
AxCx

If not for their name, then definitely for their song titles.

Steaming Wolf Penis
Panic! At the Disco

If only because I like to pronounce the exclamation

? and the Mysterions
Chinese
God I hate that band.
Couple of fudgepackers is what I've heard
They're good but if they got a kick ass bass player and singer they would be so much better
Having listened to their music I would say that a french horn player and a glockenspiel would be more appropriate
The Who had all that minus the glockenspiel of course and they kicked ass
Go eat a chocolate bar
I saw a review on Pitchfork for a band called Fuck Buttons.
Bad name,

But one could really get lost in their latest album.

I was handed a flyer onces while at a show advertising a band called Midget Handjob

I’ve also heard a band called Pissing Razorblades

Jay Reatard died on Wednesday.

Giant bummer

Does anyone else listen to Enter Shikari?

Pretty interesting music if you’re in to Post-hardcore. They also put on one hell of a show. Just beware that they are pretty screamy.

I can't stop listening to Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra right now

specifically these three tracks.

This is one of my favorite bands

And favorite songs of all time.
Underworld – Luetin

I would give a lot to see them live if I could, but so far have been extremely unsuccessful. They have never come near Seattle.

Assorted list of few songs I've been listening to a lot lately

Probably not the most obscure music, but here goes:

Saul Williams – Grippo
Sholi – November Through June
Blind Pilot – Paint or Pollen
Beirut – Nantes
Band of Horses – Is There a Ghost
The New Pornographers – The Laws Have Changed
Bon Iver – Lump Sum
MF Doom – Bells of DOOM
The Decemberists – Mariner’s Revenge Song

I wanted to like Saul WIlliams so badly, but it just sounds like a hacky NIN to me.
I'm not crazy about most of his stuff, but I like some of it

Definitely not for everyone, that’s for sure.

well

Trent Reznor did produce his Niggy Tardust album.

November Through June's a good song, isn't it.

Is it wrong that I always get Blind Pilot and Three Mile Pilot mixed up? This doesn’t happen with Idiot Pilot, for some reason.

Hip-Hop head here

Just picked up a new single by D-sisive called Anvil, inspired by a documentary based on the band.

Also been giving the new Slum Village and Statik Selektah Eps spins along with O.C. and A.G.s Oasis. Jay Electronica’s Exhibit C is a dope new single with a bunch of actually good remixes out there.

Another band I'm currently loving is Monsters of Folk.

Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes, Jim James from My Morning Jacket, and M. Ward from She & Him. It’s a neat little collaboration.

Say Please has gotten some radio airplay. Also like Whole Lotta Losin’.

Oh, on that line

Check out Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero’s. I got both Monsters of Folk and Edward Sharp at the same time, and have listened to Edward Sharp way more.

Already done.

So fucking good. Although some of the songs get a liiiitle too spacey. I’ve heard their live shows are just a blast.

I find it hilarious that M. Ward is more famous for She & Him than his solo work.

Kinda sad, really.

Here's a pretty awesome NPR

recording of a concert of his.

Here

Any Mew fans here? Pretty amazing band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tei_-YmCWek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVXi03qMsX8

My main musical love though is metal, but I doubt anyone here is interested in the kind of metal I listen to so I won’t bother.

I may be interested in your kind of metal.
Do you like late 80s/early 90s death metal?
Alright you got me.

I’m more in to modern things that resemble metal.

I did... whoa, that's going to send me back to my freshman year of high school
Cool..

So you’re familiar with Obitiuary, Pestilence, Autopsy and the like?

Kind of. I was into some death metal and a lot of really heavy, sludgy industrial.

But I was into Benediction, a bit of Deicide, some other things like that. I probably knew Obituary at one point, as they came out of the same scene as Deicide, but I don’t remember.

I love love love Mew.
Mostly Sludge and Instrumental

Russian Circles – Malko
Torche – Grenades
Baroness – A Horse Called Golgotha
El Ten Eleven – I Like Van Halen Because My Sister Says They Are Cool
Jesu – Losing Streak
The Appleseed Cast – The Road West
Pelican – An Inch Above Sand

Baroness

WIN

How about this?

ASG – Horsewhipper

Melodic sludge.

I’ve got “Winusover,” which I like, but I don’t find it quite as much to my taste as Baroness. Still good though – Baroness is just that freaking amazing in my opinion. The Blue Record really made up for Mastodon’s massively disappointing “Crack the Skye.”

Helms Alee

Just had Helms Alee – “Night Terror” come up on my playlist. Truly amazing album. One of the best of 08-09 for me.

Have you seen them live? The one time they’ve been to DC in the last few years I happened to be out of town. Among the many things I miss about Seattle is the fact that EVERY band stops in Seattle, no matter what. Tons of the bands I like stop in Philly, Baltimore and Richmond – skipping DC altogether. It sucks.

Anyhow, I’m still shocked that Mastodon gets all the publicity – on the whole I much prefer Baroness.

I've mentioned them before without a response so I'm plowing on with it

CKY?
People seem to either hate or love them, most don’t even give them a chance. It’s just good rock made by 4 talented musicians.

Someone has to have heard 96 Quite Bitter Beings before, right?

You could also check out Disengage the Simulator.

Both songs are off their first album which was made over 10 years ago, they’ve put out 3 others since.

Any Animal Collective fans? They're ok.
Very much so
I like them okay but I love love love Panda Bear's solo album
Don't like them.

Their music is okay, but none of those animal bands do anything for me.

I'm scared to listen and then like them and be labeled a soulless hipster.
From what I've listened to of them I don't understand the hype.
You don't listen to enough Bob Dylan.

Esoteric is the only exception here. I can, and have, listened to Dylan for months on end.

Can't stand his voice, or his songwriting style, really.
I've tried. I can't.
Laugh all you want

but I always thought Paul Simon was better at being Dylan than Dylan ever was.

Not to say that I don't like Dylan
I don't see them as all that similar, and love both.
I respect him, but I don't particularly enjoy his music.
I feel the same way about Janis Joplin. Her message is clear, but god is her voice annoying.
Most people bash me but this is how I feel about Leonard Cohem.

I absolutely love his songwriting skills and think that he’s one of the greatest at his craft, but I just can’t listen to him sing.

Leonard Cohen*
I'm right there with you on this one
I used to be a Cohen basher, but...

I have been converted

His early stuff is way easier to listen to.

Stuff from “The Future”? Not so much.

Leonard Cohen covers rule for this very reason.
I can handle the singing.

Much of the synth, I cannot.

I love early acoustic Dylan and only like later Dylan

But he’s a genius no bones about it

I can't stand Dylan.

His voice is annoying, his lyrics suck, and he only knows like 5 chords on guitar which he repeats ad nauseum. Also, hippies annoy me to no end.

His lyrics suck?

And five chords are quite a few, way more than is used in most pop or rock music.

Yes, his lyrics suck.

I do not think lyrics are good when I can predict the next line based on the most obvious rhyme and have it be correct. I also do not think lyrics are good when they’re just bitching about the government. And I also do not think lyrics are good when they are a bunch of random stuff that stoned people read meanings into.

And I meant five chords total, not five per song.

Well you are one of about three people on earth that feel that way about his lyrics

and five chords total is what I meant as well. There really aren’t that many chords on the guitar and 98% non-jazz guitar uses three or (at the most) four of them.

There's 12 major chords and 12 minors,

and then there’s all the 4th and 6th and 7th chords, and suspended chords, and add9 chords, and augmented chords…bottom line is, there’s a lot of them, and anyone with a modicum of musical creativity can add in a few of the less common ones here and there to keep things fresh.

In terms of lyrics, I firmly believe that there is a sort of emperor’s new clothes thing going on. That is, everyone thinks that his lyrics are good because (they think) everyone else does, and that there must be something that they’re missing, some deeper meaning, and they’ll make up some sort of deep symbolic significance in order to not feel left out. They think that smarter people can see the significance, when in reality it was just a bunch of hippies stoned out of their minds back in the day who decided that his songs were “deep” or whatever.

I used to be like that, honestly. I thought that Bob Dylan was a good lyricist because I was told that he was. Then I started actually paying attention to his lyrics and realized that they were hopelessly simplistic, cliche, and meaningless.

I mean, come on, can you honestly say that this is lyrical brilliance?

You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain’t it hard when you discover that
He really wasn’t where it’s at

And that’s not some obscure b-side, that’s probably his most famous song.

You can listen to him if you want, I’m certainly not going to stop you, but personally I prefer lyrics that I find to have some actual meaning behind them and are presented in an original fashion, rather than some jibberish about a Siamese cat.

Way to cherry pick and good job twisting fairly obvious hyperbole into an opportunity to bring up augmented chords!

Dylan was folksy. If you don’t like his lyrics, fine. But your criticism are pretty revisionist. He pretty much left new lingo in his wake, and citing “Like A Rolling Stone” as a fair sampling of his output is akin to saying the Kinks were a one-riff garage band and citing “You Really Got Me” as proof. And keep in mind, I don’t even like Dylan that much.

As far as chords go, “…anyone with a modicum of musical creativity can add in a few of the less common ones here and there to keep things fresh.”

Fuck that. Jazz chords are all well and good for jazz, but if you’re using an absence of diminished sevenths as a judge for what kinds of music you’ll listen to, well, have fun with Steve Vai.

You said

“There really aren’t that many chords on the guitar” and I listed a bunch because there are effectively a limitless number of chords. I don’t see how that qualifies ad cherrypicking.

I used “Like A Rolling Stone” as an example because that is probably his most famous song and I didn’t want to have to subject myself to any unnecessary ear torture. All of his songs that I have had the misfortune of hearing have the same inane forced rhyming and utterly nonsensical lyrics.

Not all chords that aren’t your basic majors and minors are exclusively jazz chords, not by a long shot (and from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t seem like Dylan even knows all the basic open chords on a guitar). Lots of pop music uses 7th chords, and 6th chords, sus2 chords, and add9 chords, are used quite widely as well, just to name a few. I’m not going to fault anyone for failing to use enough Ebdim7aug9 or whatever chords, but, musically, I IV V gets boring extremely fast.

That said, I will listen to music with annoying vocals. I will listen to music with bad lyrics. I will listen to music with little or no musical creativity. What I can’t stand is when it has all three, like Bob Dylan.

Also, as far as instrumental guitarists go,

Steve Vai is overrated. Joe Satriani is much better, IMO. And so is Buckethead.

Who would you say is a good lyricist?
Blake Schwarzenbach was pretty good, especially in his Jawbreaker days.

Jesse Lacey of Brand New is pretty good too, though lyrically their last album was sub-par.

I like his voice
For Dylan fans:

The Tallest Man on Earth. I particularly love the lyrics to this song

YES YES YES

This is probably one of my favorite songs of his.

Desolation Row

Blonde on Blonde
New Morning
Positively 4th Street

There is much to love about Mr. Dylan. – Elgin

If you haven't heard Super Furry Animals before

you should change that right now. Incredible Welsh band.

Yes indeed.

They are fantastic.

There's Will Oldham

and then there’s everybody else.

Everybody else

Not including Bonnie Prince Billy.

The Asteroid No. 4

War. Again, couldn’t find the studio version, but this live version is quite good.

Hundred Reasons - Oratorio

This is a great song from one of the few bands in my music collection that you might not have heard of.

Eeeewww, AMV

I think I'll plug the Faunts again.

Three songs in particular. M4 Part II, M4 Part I, and Das Malefitz

I kinda hope they have a song in Mass Effect 2...
Barcelona is good.

I like this song. A lot.

Uh, Bruce Springsteen?
Hmm. Something has gone horribly wrong with that link.
Horribly awesome you mean
I'm not that terribly big into music so I rarely have suggestions that others do that already know of but courtesy of a random survivor shop in Stockholm

Today I do!

Matthew has tiny genitalia
I assume you have firsthand knowledge?
Maybe it only felt tiny
I'm interested in finding out if you troll me a greater percentage of your total comments than I do with Jeff.
Jealousy strikes in odd ways.
There is no way Fett is jealous of me.
Anyone listen to the new Vampire Weekend album yet?

I’ve heard good things

We had a big anti-VW conversation in the OT...

So…ummm…

Uh oh

I take it back! I take it back!

Have the courage of your convictions

Not my cup of beets, but if you like ’em, great.

To be honest

I think they’re pretty meh. I liked their first album enough to listen to it more than once, but they didn’t really leave an impression on me. I just thought it might spark discussion since they’re pretty well known.

Vampire Weekend would be great

For the 10 year-old crowd, if only they could clean up the language a bit.

Yeah...I'm wasn't trying to hate...but this discussion just happened.

If you like them it’s fine.

Fuck it.

I have it. I like it. I don’t love it, but I think it’ll grow on me over time. If you’ve heard Discovery, which is an electronica side project featuring one of the VW guys, you can definitely hear that influence in Contra, which I don’t think is a bad thing.

I loved Blue CD-R, but Contra does nothing for me.

Disappointing.

Not as good as the first album but I find it to be decent.
Diplomat's Son is an early favorite.

As well as Cousins.

Let's get creative here: Favorite Seasame Street musical moment?

There are so many great ones but I’m very partial to this recent amazing Ricky Gervais tune.

I love Ricky so much, and I love that clip.

How about Feist?

Although I do love

Neil Patrick Harris (apologies, I watch a lot of Sesame Street).

I wasn't alive for it

but Stevie Wonder performing Superstition

Mostly because of the spastic kid in the red shirt.
I know I'm the only one on the planet, but I hate that song.
Stevie Wonder in general, or just that song?
I'm pretty meh on Stevie Wonder, but that song in particular raises my ire.
Stevie Wonder, to me

is the greatest argument ever for a career that can and should be summed up in one Greatest Hits disc. Superstition, Livin’ For The City, Master Blaster, For Once In My Life, Higher Ground, Sir Duke, there’s a few more – all awesome (to me). Most of the rest of his stuff – not awesome.

I Just Called To Say I Love You is whatever the direct opposite of awesome is.

Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony!
This is my problem with Stevie Wonder

Livin’ For The City is one of the best songs ever about urban decay and big city despair, and then he can turn around and crap out I Just Called…. and Ebony And Ivory. GOD

IJCTSILY

Makes it seem like poor Stevie was deaf rather than blind. :(

Let's all agree

To never mention that song again.

On a hot summer day

There are fewer better songs to listen to than Kruder & Dorfmeister’s dub mix of Bug Powder Dust. Just add a couch and a nice cold beer, and something on the grill…

I'm just wondering

Has anyone heard of The Ironclads? One of my friends from college is in the band and I wonder how popular they are in the Seattle scene.

Their myspace page if interested

Dirty Projectors are a trendy pick I suppose,

but I thought Bitte Orca was really good.

yes

very enjoyable, and the other album, which I forget the name of, is also quite good. – Elgin

Lala.com

Anyone wanting to explore new (and old) music in this thread should really check out lala.com. Awesome! Listen to any song or album once for free, with an ever-expanding library. Quite handy.

Any hip-hop head who hasn't heard of Blu and Exile is doing themself a disservice

Go and educate yourself. Their whole Below The Heavens album is absolutely worth your money.

I might be the only one who likes this but:

My Drive Thru by Pharell, Santigold and Julian Casablancas

It’s commercial (in that it was created for a Converse commercial) but I really like it. Then again I really like The Strokes and NERD.

Pharrell bothers me like few people do.
I love Frontin but I completely understand why people hate Pharrell
Julian's new album is really solid.

Especially Glass

Indeed. I really like it.

Though I think I’ve tired of it for the time being.

I wish I had more to add to this thread

Most of what I like has been covered already, so I’ll just say that I really enjoy Alexi Murdoch

Oh also I picked up Reservoir by Fanfarlo off the suggestion of marc w/PlaySportsInSeattle in a prior OT thread (thanks!)

And I have to say that this song is the perfect night time song. Absolutely beautiful. I reconcile the fact that it’s only a little over a minute long with the idea that you can only serenade midnight for a minute before it’s gone.

I have only heard Orange Sky and Song For You

but I love both. I really should find more of his stuff.

I'd say this thread has been a smashing success.

Thanks, Jeff.

I was exposed to my second Flock of Seagulls song today on the radio.

I had only ever heard “I Ran (So Far Away” before, so I was pleasantly surprised by “Space Age Love Song”

Yeah, that's a good one
Odd... same thing happened to me.

94.7 Portland?

Joe Pug

I recently saw Joe Pug supporting Steve Earle and was blown away by this song. Unfortunately, his other stuff isn’t quite to this level. Still, it’s not very often that you hear a song from a completely unknown artist and immediately think: wow. I normally need to hear songs a few times.

I love Belle and Sebastian

One of my favorite bands ever. Especially If You’re Feeling Sinister and Boy with the Arab Strap. I could listen to both of those albums for hours on end.

This is a band I wish I had discovered in high school, rather than college.

Judging by LL’s reaction towards the Smiths, I wouldn’t recommend B&S to many people here, but I love ’em.

Oh I don't know, I think people can love B&S without liking The Smiths.

Most people hate Morrissey’s voice, and Stuart Murdoch doesn’t have a whiny voice at all. I will link internet arms with you over Belle and Sebastian any day.

I guess I just see The Smiths and B&S as being very interconnected.

Many songs sharing similar subjects, and everything. I’m glad I was wrong in my assumption, though.

I can't do the video thing from work, but here's a list of the albums I like enough to bring into work right now.

Arkells – Jackson Square
Novaks – Things Fall Apart
The Walkmen – You and Me
Vroom – Throws Like a Girl
Son of Dave – 03

Most of the above I found on XM Verge (Canadain Music), except Vroom was a Philly pop band that has been defunct for 5 or so years, but I still listen to their albums at least once a week.

I also got Them Crooked Vultures on a whim and the people involved, and I’ve decided I don’t like it much. They are not even the sum of their parts.

I like that Walkmen album so much. I actually really like all their albums.
It's great chill music when I'm driving home.
Songs that have videos I've seen at some point:

Arkells – John Lennon
Novaks – Worm in the Apple
Walkmen – On the Water (Awesome video, BTW)
Son of Dave – Old Times Were Good Times
I can’t find a video for Vroom, but I swear I saw some of their songs on last.fm

VROOOM

Great record by King Crimson. – Elgin

Vroom's the band in this case.

And as a personal favor, could you please stop signing your posts? You have your name below each comment, so you’re signing it twice. It’s vaguely disturbing in a way I can’t quite place.

Also, I went and saw theWeakerthans live my last trip to Canada and now I can't stop playing Reconstruction Site.
Are all The Walkmen songs as good as The Rat?
Since nobody's mentioned them yet...

I’m a very big fan of The Mountain Goats. Any discussion of today’s best lyricists has to include John Darnielle.

His singing, on the other hand...
Yeah, I can see how he'd grate on some.

I seem to like bands with unconventional singers.

"Game Shows Touch Our Lives" is one of the best written songs ever.
A good song with a good laugh:

If you haven’t heard this song by Get Set Go, it’s worth checking out.

Damn...I have computer issues...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw-eYFXF-wg

Can anyone tell me why I suck at linking here?

Using the preview button works quite well.
Amazingly enough you are correct...

Sorry for the sloppiness, but check out the song anyway.

Guitar heroes

John McLaughlin
Allan Holdsworth
Morglbl
John Scofield
Steve Vai
Scott Henderson
Nguyen Le
and of course Jimi Hendrix. – Elgin

Some of my more modern ones...

Dave Knudson – Minus the Bear (Clear #1)
Chris Cheney – The Living End (Most under-appreciated)
Omar Rodríguez-López – ATDI (Mars Volta stuff is good but not my bag)
Rivers Cuomo – Weezer (Well not for his modern stuff, but no one writes better melodic solos)
Matthew Bellamy – Muse (Partly cause he can sing so pretty while he plays)

And Bellamy is as good as keyboardist as guitar player!

I would have to add Jack White to the list…and these are bordering on modern, but you mentioned Cuomo, Mike McCready and Tom Morello are two of my favorites. I also love to watch Ben Harper rock the slide.

additions

Marc Ribot
John Squire
Thurston Moore?

Thurston Moore-Sonic Youth
I was listening to Murray Street earlier today

So good.

I love Sonic Youth

but was very disappointed yesterday to discover that Dirty hasn’t aged well at all. Murray Street is fantastic, though.

Welcome to LL!

Just a wee stylistic note, you don’t need to end your posts with “- Elgin”. We’re not that formal ’round these parts.

Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd

from Television. Marquee Moon is unbelievably good.

Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls / Heartbreakers) and Robert Quine (from the Voidoids), too.

All great- I particularly love McLaughlin and Hendrix

My all-time favorite personally is David Gilmour, followed closely by Hendrix and John Frusciante.

Needs

Dave Knudsen – Minus the Bear
Dug Martsch – Built to Spill
J. Mascis – Dinosaur Jr

Good call on the last two.
I feel like J. Mascis is especially underrated
Critically!

He pretty much brought the guitar back into a prominent role in indie rock. Totally shreds.

The lack of Buckethead is astounding.
Ahh Buckethead...

O ye master of nunchucks and shred.

What I love is that he does stuff like that

and also puts out albums like Electric Tears.

No shit.

The guy can play guitar to anything. In case you’ve never seen him play bass…

J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. should be in that conversation somewhere.
Ah, shit. I did not read Woodinville_12thMan's comment above.

Disregard.

Maybe someone already asked this but, what are the best songs sort of about baseball?

Belle and Sebastian’s “Piazza, New York Catcher” is just amazing, even though they mention batting average, which is ridiculous.

Oh and Centerfield isn't about baseball, it's about John Fogerty
Oooh how about Lil' Wayne's Barry Bonds song? Yessss
Bill Lee - Warren Zevon

Ted Fucking Williams – The Baseball Project
Glory Days – Bruce Springsteen

I'd rather listen to Wonderful Christmastime on repeat for a week than suffer through Glory Days.

I love Warren Zevon though.

Sweet Caroline

And it kills me that Boston took it as its own.

Talkin Softball from The Simpsons.
Anyone interested in a multi-taksing flutist?

Check this out

I suppose I'll be the one to represent the metal heads in these threads.

A band I’ve really gotten into lately and is quickly climbing the ladder of my all time favorites is Dream Evil.

Various songs:

The Chosen Ones
The 7th Day
The Book of Heavy Metal
Doomlord
Evilized

I've been listening to a ton of Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse, but I suppose that's grindcore
`

Holy shit creepy

Classic Annie Lennox.

Missionary Man is a close runner up on the freaky scale.

And here's a fun one.

Recognize the guy setting next to Annie in this video?

I'll be impressed if anyon makes it far enough to see him.
I know the music video is strange and awful

but Hugh Laurie is only one second in.

He gets around.
As if LL wasn't wasting enough of my time already.
Thanks for posting the Love Language song. I'm working through the album... dig it so far.

The Gaslight Anthem is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands ever. Also getting really into Lucero lately.

Really like Thievery Corporation, The Dining Rooms and Nightmares on Wax as background music.

Godspeed You Black Emperor!

aka Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Great stuff.

Good stuff, but

I am definitely more partial to Explosions in the Sky.

Explosions in the Sky

They are wonderful. I’ve been hooked on them for a little over a year now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtW67TCAn0E

If you like Explosions in the Sky

you should check out Mono. They are a Japanese post-rock band, not to be confused with the French trip-hop band MONO.
.
Also, check out Red Sparowes.

That Mono track is amazing

I immediately checked if they were touring and SUCCESS! I’ll be seeing them in march :D

Thanks for the tip

I really enjoyed that.

Mono Rocks

Instrumental music has become what I listen to most frequently lately, since it allows me to work/write/read while blocking out distractions. Fans of EITS and Mono should also check out:

If These Trees Could Talk
Caspian
This Will Destroy You
Unwed Sailor
Gifts From Enola
Tristeza
Maserati
Mogwai

If you like the somewhat harder sound of Red Sparowes, you’d probably dig Pelican and Russian Circles (both linked above), Don Caballero, Irepress, or Kinski.

If you like your instrumental a bit more up-tempo, try Turing Machine.

Love Kinski and Pelican. I'll have to check these other bands out.

Thanks!

Pandora

Most of them show up on the “Explosions in the Sky” Pandora Station.

Don Caballero and Kinski have both had some serious evolution in terms of their sound

Don Caballero’s album ‘American Don’ is an absolute classic, but it’s much more math rock. Ian Williams of Storm and Stress (and then Battles) brought that to what had been a heavier/riffy band focused more on Damon Che’s drumming. So depending on your thoughts on math rock and which album you pick up, you’ll love them or hate them. Personally, I don’t like early (or even the recent, post-Ian) Don Caballero all that much.

I really can’t recommend Russian Circles enough. They play a mean live show, and their bassist is currently none other than Brian Cook (These Arms Are Snakes, ex-Botch).

If you like Unwed Sailor:

A Northern Chorus

Sweet

Thanks – I’ll have to check out more of this.

Stay away from their newest album. It sucks big ones.

Their first two are good, though.

What are your thoughts on the Seattle hipster-hop movement?

Pretty much headed by, produced by, rapped by, and promoted by P Smoov of Mad Rad and Fresh Espresso. I am pretty partial to some of Mad Rad’s stuff.

Currently at the top of my playlist

Department of Eagles—similar in style to Grizzly Bear (they share a member), if you’re into that sort of stuff.

On a related note, Pandora played me a song of theirs a while back that I really enjoyed. Stupidly (I was working) I didn’t fully register on the name of the song, or give it a thumbs up. And the band has put out too much music for me to look through Anyone know a way to look back at Pandora history? Or see all the songs by that band on Pandora?

Grizzly Bear kills!

One o my favorite bands, and I love Department of Eagles. I recommend the Dodos if you are into those two and haven’t checked em out yet.

Bands I've been listening to a lot lately:

KARP
Wolves In The Throne Room
Behead The Prophet No Lord Shall Live

Country Teasers
A-Frames
The Lightning Bolt
The Valentines (This one is actually just to represent the fact the I’ve been listening to a ton of trad ska, specifically the Trojan boxed sets; I’d love to hear more of the Valentines, but I can’t find anything else :(

Also I cannot get this song out of my head ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7fVK1mA2zg&feature=related

I like it!
Oopsies aside, how do you key people in to the point where that song starts rocking out?

There’s no “And as we wind on down the road” moment; it just starts to kill.

That was pretty great, even if not what you were trying to post
Woo! Behead the Prophet!
I love that you like BTPNLSL and also twee pop.

(I do too!).

Best band ever is Matisyahu
No the best band ever is Tenacious D...because they say they are.
Matisyahu is a solo artist.
Since I use Pandora like some people use coffee,

What Pandora stations are getting the most play for you right now? I studied music in college but know very little about it anymore, so Pandora may have been the best investment ever. Right now I’m listening pretty heavily to my Busdriver/K-OS stations (a nice assortment of hip-hop) and my Takenobu/Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett) stations.

Funny story, I thought the girl from this video was crazy-cute and wondered if she had done anything. Anyways, I had heard a band that I liked on one of my Pandora shuffles, My Brightest Diamond, and after a week of listening to their music, just now figured out it was the same girl. I did a little victory dance in my cubicle and had to try and explain to my coworkers (unsuccessfully) what I was so excited about.

My favorite stations right now are The Format and Conor Oberst.
Conor Oberst is the man!

An incredible song writing talent!

Sufjan Stevens...

Supplying the world with hot guitarists!

Shameless plug ahoy!

I’ve been writing a new music blog with my cousin – link is in my signature. All kinds of links over there to listen to new/interesting stuff.

Bands that I just can't stop listening to

3 Inches of Blood, specifically the Advance and Vanquish album. When Deadly Sinners starts playing, I start going crazy

I’ve also grown quite attached to Misery Signals. It’s a combination of the lead singer’s sound and the drum work. The drummer in this band is excellent and has turned me into a drum-lover.

I have an eternal love for Glassjaw. They are easily one of my most favorite bands and I really, really hope that they can start putting out some new music

Hmmm, that Deadly Sinners song has a kind of ManoWar feel to it.
Ever listen to Himsa?
One more I haven't seen mentioned yet

Dr. Dog

Matthew Good

Any fans out there? He’s not too well known in the US, but he’s very famous in Canada. Sort of an acquired taste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPenSz7p2F8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpeNL8oPaGI

I'm probably a little late here, but from what I tell there hasn't been much discussion on ska, metal, or Japanese music.

Ska like Skapara or Westbound Train, metal like Tyr or Wintersun, Japanese music like ムラマサ☆ or GReeeeN. I can also talk about punk music because I was way into the punk scene 3-7 years ago.

Japanese

I dig Mono, and Boris is awesome, although I’m more into their upbeat stuff, and less keen on the Earth-esque drone. They’re totally worth seeing live though, because . . . they’re just weird, that’s why.

I'm not a huge fan of Boris, but Mono is great.

Check out Envy’s Insomniac Doze if you are ever in the mood for some post-rock with some emo mixed in.

Alberta Cross

They rock pretty hard. After an impressive EP, their first album came out last year and it, too, it really solid.

I'm music director for KZUU, the WSU "indie" station

I hope I don’t get in trouble for plugging this, but it’s definitely on topic.

You can stream us here:
http://kzuu.wsu.edu

We also have a blog:
http://kzuu.wordpress.com/

While I’m at it I’ll throw out some bands with good new albums:
Real Estate
Beach House
Los Campesinos!
Nana Grizol

Oh and if you're really curious, I do a show. Fridays, 2-4 pm.

Please don’t consider this spam and ban me.

This is perfectly fine in the music thread

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