Alex Ross, music critic for the New Yorker, has a excellent, relatively new, book on modern musics: The Rest is Noise. On his blog..
http://www.therestisnoise.com/ there are more examples, snippets of sound, etc. which complements the book nicely. He's weak on avant- rock but (as far as i can tell) very sound on most of his topics

Yes, Bob, literary snobs also like weird, incomprehensible music, stuff that no one else is smart enough to truly understand.

I've even got some John Cage, although that Zorn fella turned out to be just noise.

I like Georgy Ligetti, whose music was featured in some of Kubrick's films.

An instrumental group I've been listening to as I write is Explosions in the Sky. That shit gets me in the mood, I tell ya...

I'm afraid my musical taste doesn't stretch to modern orchestral music, although the stuff I like has certainly been described as "noise" by many...

Including this correspondent.

When I was shopping for music down in Regina, my buddy Dave at X-Ray Records told me that Dark Tranquility had been through town recently.

That may explain why all the buildings in the vicinity of the venue were slightly askew, exhibiting a definite list...

The only "weird" music I've been exposed to (meaning I've heard a bit but have no idea who it was by) that I like is Philip Glass. There's just something about slooooowly rolling through a musical progression that I find soothing.

Cliff, and you didn't go see them? They're good live. Seen them four times myself. Which isn't bad considering they from Gothenburg...

*puts on music hat*

#1: Yup, the Alex Ross is great. He knows his stuff.

#2: Ligeti is the man. He's my favorite composer. The music that was featured in Kubrick's 2001 was from my favorite period of his. Do you know the band Mogwai? If you like Explosions in the Sky, you might also like Mogwai. (Lord, I sound like the Amazon recommender.)

#5: To continue my Amazon persona, if you like Philip Glass, you might give Steve Reich or Terry Riley a chance. Or perhaps John Adams (more of a post-minimalist). Reich is my favorite of the minimalists(-cum-maximalists), and any music snob will tell you that he is superior to the others. :)

*removes music hat*

Medellia: LOVE Mogwai; a friend put a compilation CD together for that's on regular rotation in my office.

Nice to meet a fellow Ligeti maven--his work on "Eyes Wide Shut" is pretty fine too.

Can take or leave Philip Glass; he can be a bit dull and repetitive, that same musical motif playing over and over and over...

Other bands to write to: Air, Muse (Radiohead-like), Porcupine Tree (prog rock), the NIN ambient album "Ghosts I-IV", Sigur Ros, Tangerine Dream, Coil, John Foxx...

In terms of regular old listenin' music, Interpol and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club set my liver to quiverin'.

But they may not be toffee-nosed enough for this group.

Can take or leave Philip Glass; he can be a bit dull and repetitive, that same musical motif playing over and over and over...
You know that knock-knock joke, right?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Philip Glass.
Philip Glass who?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
.......etc

I like Ligeti's Musica Ricercata (part of which was used in Eyes Wide Shut), but I love his piano Etudes.

My other favorite composer types: Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Alban Berg, Olivier Messiaen, Anton Webern, Giacinto Scelsi, Bela Bartok, Salvatore Sciarrino, Steve Reich, George Crumb, Luigi Nono, Kaija Saariaho, Tristan Murail, Gerard Grisey, Philippe Hurel, Iancu Dumitrescu, and Jonathan Harvey. And a lot of others. (Fans of Ligeti should give Scelsi a shot.)

Over time, I've listened to less and less "popular music," but when I do, it's usually electronic IDM-y type stuff: Autechre, Aphex Twin, Oval, Squarepusher, Plaid, etc.

A roster that would make any snob worth his/her salt SWOON.

I just placed an order for the soundtrack from "Mysterious Skin", a collaboration between Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie. Really have high hopes for that one.

And what about this mix of talents: Mogwai and Kronos Quartet on "The Fountain" soundtrack--that was a dandy.

I'll give a nod here to Sheffield's finest--In the Nursery--whose latest release is a "soundtrack" to the excellent silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc.

http://www.inthenursery.com/JOA.html

I also like ordering from the Tonevendor website, a haven for fans of shoegaze and nu-gaze--Yes, I still worship at the altar of Slowdive.

http://www.tonevendor.com/

#8 I like some Porcupine Tree. I've even been known to listen to Muse every now and again. Have you tried Anathema?

#11 I'll have to keep an eye open for In the Nursery performances - I live in Sheffield. For shoegazer, I've always preferred Chapterhouse.

For someone who's music is both very exciting and technically exacting..Conlon Nancarrow. He more or less despaired of finding any players who could perform what he wanted, so much of his work was scored for/played on player piano. But..the number of technically gifted players has increased and maybe he got mellower in his old age, but he started writing for musicians, again, eventually.

Harry: a fellow Dreyer fan--isn't he something? Dreyer always said acting was "in the eyes" and I LOVED his "Vampyr" and "Day of Wrath". Amazing cinema.

In the Nursery, eh? What kid of music is it? Gloomy instrumental? Ambient?

#13 Did Nancarrow once play with Zappa? The name rings a bell.

well...possibly..Nancarrow exiled himself to Mexico ..logistically it could have worked. He became semi-well known towards the end of his life.
Schoenberg also wrote some v. interesting piano studies that are quite easy to listen to, despite his reputation.
(in rock, i'm pretty classical too..beatles/stones/R&L Thompson/Yo La Tengo/Raveonettes/Chuck Berry/buddy holly)

I've definitely heard Nancarrow's name on a Zappa album, but I can't remember which one or in what context.

I doubt that Nancarrow ever played with Zappa, but Zappa was inspired by Nancarrow. I wouldn't be surprised to find Nancarrow's name crop up in the liner notes for one of the Synclavier albums.

That's probably it.

A German friend sent me some Schoenberg stuff on tape and while I regarded it with misgivings at first, imagining it some atonal nonsense, it was actually lovely.

So I'll second Schoenberg...er, SOME Schoenberg...

Slightly off-topic, but I've been trying to find a copy of the soundtrack to "Crash". That's the Cronenberg adaptation of Ballard's novel, not the dull up-its-bum race-relations-n-LA drama.

Schoenberg was an acquired taste for me. It took a prof who really knew his stuff and truly loved Schoenberg's works to change my mind. I like his early atonal works better than his 12-tone works.

For 12-tone, though, Berg and Webern are my guys. And Dallapiccola. And Stravinsky's late serial works (now there was a guy who knew how to make method work for him, not the other way around).

Ian:

There are used copies of Howard Shore's "Crash" soundtrack available at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B...

I could order it for you, if you like. I think there's probably a copy at the Saskatoon Public Library--I could check for you next time we go into the city. Up to you.

Medellia: I think Stravinsky was the punk artist of his day. Hell, didn't one of his premieres set off a riot? Now THAT'S music...

Message edited by its author, Oct 21, 2008, 11:21am.

Yep. The Rite of Spring. Good times.

i think it was the ballet as much as the music..

#25: True. The incitement to riot was a collaborative effort. :)

I wonder if Stravinsky had a Malcolm McClaren-type manager...

Ah, my musical tastes are clearly utterly mundane and banal in this company. In the car at the moment I have a fairly random selection comprising (let's see) Blind Willie McTell, Woody Guthrie, Little Willie John, Al Green, Charlie Parker and The Legendary Sun Records Story.

Well it suits me.

Nothin' wrong with those folks. And toss in Leadbelly, as well.

Oops, just noticed the infelicitous (and accidental) juxtaposition of "(let's see) Blind Willie McTell ..."

I could go back and edit it, but I thought I'd just own up instead.

Serendipity is ninety-nine percent of genius.

Message edited by its author, Oct 21, 2008, 2:19pm.

we grew up w/ the folkways recordings of Leadbelly/pete seeger..and then all the rest was classical. I thought my father might like some of the newer Chicago electric blues..but he hated those lps i tried to play for him. The only lp he ever came into my room and asked about, w/ approving curiosity, was one of the early Floyd lps..Saucerful of Secrets, perhaps

Haven't listened to folk music for years. But I still appreciate Guthrie and Leadbelly.

To me, Dylan only became interesting after he went electric. That great scene in "No Direction Home" when Bob's being booed and heckled by his hardcore folk fans and he turns, snarling to Robbie Robertson and the lads in The Band: "Play it fucking loud."

Speaking of Dylan, I spent all morning humming and singing lines from "Highway 61" and had to go downstairs and dig it out to give it a listen:

"The next time you see me coming you'd better run..."

oh, i like the early electric Dylan, Hiway 61-Blonde on Blonde, the best, by far. When i was in high school i'd memorized all the verses to Bob Dylan's 115th Dream. I think i had the whole lp memorized, actually (or as best i could decipher the lyrics)
"Abe said where you want this killing done?"
Cate Blanchett (sic) nails the Dylan of this era to perfection in "I'm not there."
That may be the Dylan song w/ the best cover versions..not the most..just the best. Jason and the Scorchers & Larry Raspberry & The Highsteppers providing two of the best.

"But the funniest thing was
When I was leavin' the bay
I saw three ships a-sailin'
They were all heading my way
I asked the captain what his name was
And how come he didn't drive a truck
He said his name was Columbus
I just said, "Good luck."
(um 115th dream...)

Message edited by its author, Oct 21, 2008, 10:22pm.

I've missed out on seeing Dylan a couple of times and kicked meself afterward.

Just ordered the latest in his Bootleg series.

He kinda went into the tank on the early-mid 70's but "Time Out of Mind" brought him back. Christ, that's a good album. And he really hasn't released a clinker since...

Message edited by its author, Oct 21, 2008, 11:45pm.

#12 I like Chapterhouse and have their CD Whirlpool (which, if I recall correctly, was produced or had some involvement by Robin Guthrie). I didn't buy the follow-up--for some foolish reason such as not like liking the lead-off single. And there's a 2 CD release of outtakes--might be an "official" boot-leg. Might also be pricey.

I love about three quarters of "Bringing It All Back Home", but "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" falls heavily into the quarter I don't like.

Ah, the joys of contrariness.

Chapterhouse....In the Nursery...Harry, I think I'd like to raid your record collection some day...

#36, I have "Whirlpool", also "Blood Music"... and "Rownderbowt", a 2 CD collection of B-sides, demos and remixes. "Blood Music" was one of the best albums of the early 1990s. I still listen to it now, despite my taste in music have shifted to extreme metal.

#15 Loved Vampyr and was stunned by Joan of Arc--one of those silent films Turner Classic Movies cynically programs late at night as "filler". I haven't seen Day of Wrath--a new-fangled "talkie", ain't it?

As to In the Nusery--keyboard-based but not so much gloomy as dramatic with a neo-classical influence (they've joked that like a lot of bands they were influenced by the 60s but in their case it's the 1860s) and a strong percussive element (utilizing snare drums) which owes something to their earlier slightly more industrial leanings (although at no ponit would you confuse them with Frontline Assembley although at one point they were both on Wax Trax records).

The soundtracks and the material they released as Les Jumeaux are more ambient-techno. And many of their CDs have a narrative element. Here's one track they did with Colin Wilson reciting Ernest Dowson:

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

I've always found them to be quite inspiring.

I saw "Ordet" last week. Beautifully filmed, and extremely moving. The others are on my list.

I wanna see "Ordet". That's one I'll watch for at the library.

Harry, I LOVED "Day of Wrath" but it is really, really depressing. Yup, it's a talkie but wonderful nonetheless. The shadows in "Vampyr"--zang!

Frontline Assembly--Christ, I haven't heard them for years. Used to listen to them and Front 242...ah, you're bringing back some memories. Severed Heads, Skinny Puppy.

Gonna check out that Youtube link...

Ah, yes, that was very good...

Back on the Dylan tit, the story is told that someone asked why he did't play "All Along the Watchtower", and he just looked at them and said "Hendrix".

Who is this "Dylan" and "Hendrix" of whom you people speak?

(...Okay, I'm not quite that bad.)

Some of us aren't totally eat up with the hoity-toities!

#46: ...And I just choked on my green tea.

Gene's a BAAAAD boy.

Hendrix & SF: "1983, A Merman I Shall Be" from Electric Ladyland. "Third From the Sun"--those beauties will cook your brains...

Has anyone heard "Before The Flood", the 1974 live album? (The come-back album, I suppose, ignoring "Planet Waves", which we should.)

Dylan and the Band play "All Along The Watchtower" like Hendrix did. That's good.

Dylan's live work can be a tad spotty (and I be a big fan) but if you think it worthy, I'll seek it out. I'd love to hear a blistering version of "Watchtower" from the man hisself...

I have some twelve or fourteen versions of Watchtower all by different groups, including the Band (I have nearly everything the Band ever did. Now, those were some Canucks, except Levon, of course, good old Arkansan) none of which stand up to Hendrix IMNSHO.

But you know, it's funny, here in my old age, I prefer the original to all the rest.

A friend of mine just came back from seeing Neil Young in Regina. His ears are still smoking...

Neil had a pretty innerestin' version of "Watchtower" too, didn't he?

Anyone fans of the group M83? Just picked up their disk "Dead Cities, Red Seas, Lost Ghosts", after looking for it for ages. Here's the Wikipedia entry, FYI:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M83_(band)

Soundscapes, aural hallucinations...

I don't want to sound too much like Comic Book Guy, but Astral Weeks - best album ever?

This is a brilliant article about it ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov...

Used to be a real fan of Van the Man but he's kind of dropped off my radar of late. "Astral Weeks" is a doozie though. I'll have a peek at the article...

A few minutes later: excellent piece. Anybody going to make those November 7th and 8th concerts? I'm sure you can buy a ticket off a scalper...if you're willing to put a second mortgage on your house...

Message edited by its author, Nov 2, 2008, 10:03am.

best album ever is silly..since almost all of us have our favorites for best..Astral Weeks is probably Van Morrison's best ever and a defn. great lp. I can't even pick favorite album ever and i'm a pretty compulsive list maker..At one point many years ago i had decided the Joy of Cooking's 2nd lp was the 23rd best album in the world..????

Forinstance patty and i saw the best concert we've seen in our lives a couple of weekends back -(non-classical genre) w/ the Magnetic Fields acoustic tour based of the raucous Distortion cd; we both agree on this and we've been going to concerts since the mid 60s. But that's just the best ever for US. (well, also our son who insisted we go had said it was the best he'd ever seen). Then yesterday saw a glorious performance of Vivaldi's Gloria.

I love "Best Ever" debates, however, they always provoke interesting, heated discussions.

I've posted book lists and movie lists on my site and those are the ones that really attract a lot of hits and people countering with their own rosters of faves.

Music is a tough one because I listen to different types of music for different reasons. Hard rock and alt pop to get warmed up for writing; instrumental/ambient and soundtracks while I'm working...just about everything else (except country, jazz and folk) when I'm unwinding or just kicking back.

I found a copy of Howard Shore's soundtrack for "Crash" on eBay. It's as unsettling as I remember it.

#57 I post the occasional Youtube video or mp3 to my blog. For reasons that usually seem good at the time.

Last one was 70s heavy rockers Uriah Heep (here) - who are still going strong. In fact, they'll be playing Holmfirth this month. I doubt I'll get to see them though.

Prior to that, it was a fan-made video of Dark Tranquillity, using Lego figures (here).

Message edited by its author, Nov 3, 2008, 8:48am.

...and here's the Bangles singing "Manic Monday":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s48kuKLf0...

That shriek you just heard came all the way from northern England. Ian, I had no idea you could hit a high "C"...

Saw these on Saturday night: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pYtO1Ufn0_...

Wrote a letter to a fellow scribbler as I was listening to those TransGlobal dudes. Very catchy, Ian. And, unlike many of the bands you favor, I could actually make out the lyrics. You know, what they were SAYING...

Indeed: "Egyptian pharaohs fall from the sky, fall from the sky, and play the blues." Wise words...

Typical that you wouldn't catch the Wittgenstein reference (from Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, to be precise) in the song lyric you quoted.

Y'know, Sales, you really have to expand your repertoire of reading so you'll pick up on stuff like that. It shouldn't be up to ME to constantly provide you with relevant bits of information to expand your limited worldview.

I believe a "thank you" should be forthcoming but, instead, you'll (as usual) ignore my attempts to further the education you didn't get at whatever limey school you attended.

So there.

Philip Glass... - currently listening to Waiting for the Barbarians... (I saw that one as a premiere in 2005 and have been eagerly awaiting the release of a CD).

I also like John Cage.

But I do listen to all sorts of stuff, even like Mark Saul..."Drum 'n' Bagpipe Techno Folk Dance", or: Musical Vegemite, as one Amazon reviewer described it.

Gal: Drum 'n' Bagpipe Techno Folk Dance?????

Okay, I may be weird and jaded, but that sounds too good to be true.

Bring it on...

My pal Dave Kuzenko, owner of X-Ray Records in Regina, knows of my great love for crazed psychedelic guitar ("Safesurfer" by Julian Cope being a prime example) and was telling me about an English chap named Bevis Frond. Very prolific.

Anybody familiar with this dude?

Cliff, hehehe!
That's the stuff you get to know by listening to Genevieve Tudor's Sunday Folk on BBC Radio Shropshire (don't ask, *lol*).
Mark has a few musical sneak previews on his website at http://www.marksaul.tv/ .

More weirdness from my collections: Jens Thomas: "Goethe! Gesang der Geister" (a cross-section of Goethe's poems as soul, hip-hop, jazz, singer-songwriter... songs by a composer that usually works for theatres around the country. Sneak previews at his myspace page (music is on autostart!): http://www.myspace.com/pianovoice

OK, what else... Steve Reich, Sting, Björk, Madredeus, (*tries to hide James Blunt's "Back to Bedlam"* ;-) °), Jamie Cullum, ... the rest is still deep down in a carton box. Mostly mainstream, but should I come across more weirdness, I'll report here!

° Yes. And I am *not* hiding it. He made me cry with the first song I heard of him, "No Bravery". Living in a city in the early 1990s that was the first stop (central registration) for Yugoslavian refugees does that to you.

Message edited by its author, Nov 3, 2008, 5:55pm.

Bevis Frond..wrote several really good songs for the sorely underrated Mary Lou Lord...but i always thought the Frond was a group. OK wtf.

Beatles uber alles.
Stones (Jagger very underrated as a witty lyricist)
Chuck Berry - dissected 1950s US culture w/ a beat.
Buddy Holly,
Richard & Linda Thompson
Stephen Merritt
The Blasters
ECostello's first 3 lps
CCR
June Tabor
Steeleye Span
Kinks up through Arthur
The Kennedys
VU..actually bought their first LP in hschool..but didn't form a band till 8 yrs later..
Moby Grape
Mojo Nixon..I hate Banks
Pogues
Small Faces
Yo La Tengo
Blondie
Cherie Knight (Northeast Kingdom)
Morphine
the Nields
The Animals
Ramones
Sam PHillips
Drive By Truckers
Amy Rigby
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Fleetwood Mac-Then Play On -> Tusk.
Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Liz Phair
Love
The Raveonettes
Patty Loveless
Oliver Mutukudzi
Massive Attack
The Heptones
Arrogance
Jimmy Cliff
Mary Lou Lord
Eleni Mandell
Rodrigo & Gabriela
...that's plenty..and defn shows my age.
Lots of Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Handel, John Adams..weak on 19th C past the Mendelssohns, except for the odd string quartet. Picks up w/ Schoenberg and a good bit of "modern classical." Virtually no jazz. Good bit of Scando folk-rock(?) Garmarna, Vasen, Hoven Droven etc.

Helluva roster, Bob.

Bevis is apparently one fella and very eccentric. Huge body of work, both solo and working w/ other musicians. I heard some of his geetar solos and they sounded very fine...

Great line from the dude behind Brian Jonestown Massacre: only two things can be found in the middle of the road--dead animals and dumb Americans.

I think I'd like to hang out with this guy...

If we're naming the bands/artists we listen to...

Dark Tranquillity (Sweden)
Opeth (Sweden)
Mithras (UK)
Fall of the Leafe (Finland)
Symbyosis (France)
Anathema (UK)
The Old Dead Tree (France)
Dark Lunacy (Italy)
Orphaned Land (Israel)
Persefone (Andorra)
Augury (Canada)
NahemaH (Spain)
Morbid Angel (USA)
Phlebotomized (Netherlands)

One of the things I like about metal is that it's an international genre...

EDIT: added links, as requested. Most of the sites have mp3s you can listen to.

Message edited by its author, Nov 4, 2008, 5:25am.

Hey, come on folks, don't just parade your horses here. Give us a few links, with audio content, preferably! :-)

i think i started a multi purpose thread here that folks can pretty much use as they will..As usual it started out w/ a reference to a specific book about modern classical music and mutated on. But as lots of us are obsessive list makers, wtf.
but most groups are easily found..a few of the lesser known in the US

Garmarna http://www.myspace.com/garmarna
Vasen - http://www.vasen.se/
Rodrigo and Gabriela - www.rodgab.com/ amazing acoustic guitar duets
Oliver Mtkudzi http://www.ritmoartists.com/Mtukudzi/mtu... - similar to, but a bit more "poppy" than his more famous Zimbabwean (?) fellow musician, Thomas Mapfumo

The Scandinavian groups have a audible affinity w/ Irish/Celtic music...all those early invasions by the Danes/Norwegians etc paid off musically.

Message edited by its author, Nov 4, 2008, 7:29am.

"One of the things I like about metal is that it's an international genre..."

Yes, Ian, it's incoherent in any language.

I still haven't gotten around to listening to the new Metallica (produced by the legendary Rick Rubin). My nice little Yamaha mini component stereo in my office conked out, leaving me with nothing except a personal discman. Grrr. I've been waiting weeks for my stereo to get fixed, even ended up ordering a part from the States myself because the repair people claimed Yamaha wasn't making it any more. But THAT part turned out not to help--so I faxed an aggrieved letter to Yamaha and had a company rep call me from Toronto and promise to do what they could. That was two weeks ago and still nada.

Music is an essential part of my writing routine so this is KILLING me.

This music thread is just rubbing salt in a very fresh and nasty wound...

Er, you have a computer. Stick the CD in its CD/DVD drive and let iTunes do the rest...

Now why didn't I think of...

Y'know, Ian, one day I'm gonna show up at your door with a roll of duct tape and some assorted sharp implements and I'm gonna--

Y'see, we do have a computer capable of doing just that but it's downstairs. My old Mac in my office is not wired to the internet and lacks the memory or capability to be much more than a word processor. I would love to get a new Mac but we're talking at least two grand, which is about nineteen hundred bucks more than I can afford. I've checked into cheaper solutions, external hard drives, etc. but nothing will really make the nut.

I'm screwed.

Message edited by its author, Nov 4, 2008, 9:01am.

So don't get a Mac, get a PC. You can pick up one nowadays for about £300.

NEVER will I get a PC--that was my first computer and I won't soon forget that experience. Macs are built for morons and I break out in hives thinking about having anything else in my office. Eventually I want to create my own music and short videos and Mac is great for stuff like that too--Garageband, iMovie, etc.

I just need to rob a bank in order to get the system I want...

They've changed a lot, you know. And under the bonnet, both Macs and PC use Intel x86 architecture now. So it's not as if Macs are even technologically superior.

Once upon a time Macs were better than PCs, but that day is long past. You can tell: Apple stress the snob value of their hardware in their adverts now*.

(*Having said that, Microsoft's latest ad campaign for Vista uses the slogan "Life without walls". Well, without walls, you wouldn't have windows, just piles of shattered glass...)

The hardware may be the same but how does the software compare? Do PC's have the equivalent of Garageband and iMovie?

Cliff, calm down... :-) *quietly takes away duct tape and cutlery*-- get yourself a pair of these active speakers for computers... and plug them into your walkman thingamajig. Shouldn't set you back more than 40€ (not top quality, of course, but will do).

Message edited by its author, Nov 4, 2008, 10:31am.

SOMETHING has to change. Right now, I'm pacing about my office, my discman tucked in one of those "belly pack" carriers. I have lovely Sennheiser headphones (top o' the line) but my head rings after about half an hour and, well, it just ain't the same thing.

I'm calling the repair place this morning to get an update. Of course, they want me to buy a new Yamaha unit for around eight hundred bucks. And it doesn't even have a cassette deck (I have about 400 cassettes in my collection). To which I respond:

(Peals of raucous laughter)

#80 Cliff, pretty much everything that's available on Mac is available on PC. Or an alternative is available. Or a free alternative is available. It's actually the other way round: not everything available for PC is also available for Mac.

And really, a PC is no harder to use than a Mac. An extra button on the mouse. That's about it.

Cliff, if you do get a PC (It doesn't sound like you have an interest in it) DON'T get Vista. Get XP Pro. For ninety-nine percent of us it is the best OS on the market. It may not be as intuitive as the Mac OS but it sure is close.

As far as the software you are looking for, you can find whatever you want ranging in price from free to thousands of dollars. I avoid Microsoft software like the plague. My most gratifying moment in a long time was when I was finally able to convince my wife to get off Internet Explorer and try Firefox. Now she's a convert. Get a good virus scan and a real time monitor, I use WinPatrol, a free package that keeps me from getting viruses, etc., and go from there.

Who knows, you may enjoy getting to know your computer a little better.

If the Mac was a truly superior product, the market, after what, fifteen years, would have spoken by now.

* Sigh *

Yes, it may come to that. There's so much you can do with the new computers, so many worlds they open up that I'd like to explore.

First I'll deal with the music problem then we'll see...

besides if you stay away from Ipods and Apples you'll have a lot less problems w/ DRM, moving music around, just less hassle...My computer and mp3 player sync automatically..just plug in via the USB port (a Sansa player).
In truth there's a LOT more software in any genre except desktop publishing available for PCs..and it's v. easy to dual boot Linux and get all that great free Linux software...

The Mac is a habit..a perfectly fine one and well made..but nothing special at this point in time outside of a good sense of style.

And if you're interested in really heavy duty computational analysis, most work is done w/ parallel processing on massive sets of linked Intel boxes running some flavor of Linux.

Message edited by its author, Nov 4, 2008, 11:09am.

Appreciate the advice and input, folks--you make compelling arguments and I'll take this under advisement.

Message edited by its author, Nov 4, 2008, 11:09am.

Here's more on THE REST IS NOISE, Alex Ross's take on 20th century music:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug...

Also a look at its Amazon page:

http://www.amazon.com/Rest-Noise-Listeni...

And another bit of news: I got my Yamaha stereo back yesterday and my office is once more filled with music....

Message edited by its author, Nov 8, 2008, 11:18am.

#18 At the end of 'Peaches III' on his 1981 album Tinseltown Rebellion Frank Zappa says, "Let's hear it for a great Italian: Conlon Nancarrow". So that's where I'd heard the name. He goes to name a few more "great Italians", including Warren Cucurullo, a musician who had played with his band, and Alvin Lee... No. I don't understand that either: Lee is from Nottingham.

#89: Well, Nancarrow's not Italian, either, so that one zooms over my head.

Someone has provided me with basically the entire Clash discography on MP3. Am trying to figure out how to play them/convert them to CD's but when I do hoo-hoo-hooooo...

Very nice, Cliff, but does it have the original version of Capital Radio? Probably, I suppose.

I saw them in 1976. Epochal. I just wish I'd seen them in the glory years of I Fought The Law as well.

Depends how old your CD player is - it might play MP3s. Otherwise, most CD burning CD will convert MP3s to audio cd files.

If I have a really old CD player do you think I can get it to play some of my 78s?

I think I'm figuring this out. So far, I have 5 CD's that appear to play. The lad sent me everything, including two disks of Joe's stuff with the Mescaleros. Some interesting oddities thrown in as bonus songs, tributes and one-offs. The only thing it appears to be missing is the Shea Stadium concert CD (when they opened for the Who) that was released in the past six months. Finally have the complete "Sandinista!", after pining for it for over 15 years.

New music, restored stereo...life is good at Casa Burns...

Sandinista! Yes. A good single LP spread over three discs.

No one had better ruin this for me...

"I saw them in 1976. "

I was learning to write, then.
GFI, still ignorant about The Clash.

Learning to write!

How's it going?

I also have a couple of Clash/Joe Strummer documentaries. 1976-77. Craaaazy times. I was, what, thirteen or fourteen and dumb as a post. The Clash and the punk scene were pretty far removed from my reality. It wasn't until I picked up a copy of "London Calling" in 1981 that I became a convert.

And by then it was all over but for the ripped t-shirts and rusted safety pins...

Message edited by its author, Nov 17, 2008, 11:30pm.

Just posted re: my latest musical obsessions...and the saga of my Yamaha stereo.

http://cliffjburns.wordpress.com

At least this one has a happy ending...

Alex Ross is the s**t. I've been devouring his book and spending hard earned cash on everyone from Sibelius to Britten. I've always preferred film and videogame composers, and now I know why.

He also turned me on to John Luther Adams, who literally creates music out of tectonic plate shifting. SOO cool and very very listenable.

Went to see Nine Inch Nails last night.

Here's the review--well, NIN is modern music, innit?

http://cliffjburns.wordpress.com

#103: Actually, electronic music geeks (even the hardcore avant-garde types) tend to be appreciative of NIN. A prof of mine who organizes an electronic music festival each year tried to get Trent Reznor as the special guest--of course, to no avail. :) Another modern favorite among this bunch is Radiohead. (Plus some of the more usual suspects, like Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher, Oval, etc.)

I used to like NIN many years ago. I have a bunch of his albums, but I've not listened to them for ages.

Does post-metal count as modern music? Sometimes it's called "noise". I'm off to see Isis on Sunday. Also good are Pelican - seen them three times.

Or Two Wolves in the Throne Room. They are fascinating. Pelican and Isis are cool too.

Sylvan, you may have found a friend for life. Nobody else here can even TALK to Ian about the stuff he listens to. Just don't encourage him...

I went to a friend's book launch last weekend and he did some rune-singing. Sort of. After that, no one can tell me I have a weird taste in music...

Sylvan - is that Wolves in the Throne Room, or Two Wolves in the Throne Room?

(if you like ambient / extreme metal, check out Mithras)

>104 - in re Radiohead..i noticed that one of my son's music profs @ macalester published articles on "classical classical" and Radiohead. I must admit i've never been able to enjoy (as opposed to appreciate) Radiohead..and i can enjoy Schoenberg (well, his piano etudes/studies). But (i'm sure i mentioned this earlier) if you want to get into 20th C "serious" music via rock...Conlon Nancarrow is a terrific composer to start off with.

http://otherminds.org/mp3/Study5_excerpt...
http://otherminds.org/mp3/Study3e_excerp... for instance.

I've enjoyed everything by Radiohead, except "Hail to the Thief"--have you heard their two (largely) instrumental albums, Bob, "Amnesiac" and "Kid A"? Good, spacey, mind-bender music...

Well, I'll say one thing about the first song (or whatever one calls it) in >110, the twitter woke my dog up and made him take a momentary interest. Too bad I can't say the same for his owner.

i'd probably like the instrumental albums a lot more..it's too easy for me to get turned off by vocalizations that i don't like (i have a v. hard time listening to/ Tom Waits and Randy Newman though i like a lot of their songs - but then i like Lou Reed's "singing")

And the colored girls go . . .

#113: His voice does bore into me like a drill sometimes. I have to be in the right mood to enjoy Radiohead.

Augh! Sleep deprivation strikes again! It is Wolves in the Throne Room, right? The nutso post-rocky eco-feminist band (dang! that's a lot of hyphens!)? Either way, I love them. Apparently not enough to remember their band name, but yeah. I'm trying to think of another band I listen to that is similar, but all I'm coming up with is Godspeed! You Black Emperor and they are more musique concrete and trail-y. I do listen to WitTR and Black Mountain together a lot though. Black Mountain is more proggy Led Zeppeliny stuff, but they can meander through torpid beats with the best.

Surprisingly enough I can't stand Radiohead. Strange. But then again, I listen either to Pink Floyd or Wagner when I am really pissed, so defying explanation is really routine for my musical taste.

I'm not a Radiohead fan either, although I like Anathema a lot and these days they're a bit like Radio Floyd.

Radiohead's last one, "In Rainbows" was very, very good.

I've heard a lot about "Godspeed! You Black Emperor", that they have some interesting atmospheric work. Can you suggest a good album or compilation?

Also similar are 65DaysofStatic, The Red Sparowes and Capricorns.

#113 - lou reed...well not only did (and still do) i like VU a great deal - i also have a similarly limited vocal range..and the only songs i'd sing on a cover band i was in decades ago were lou reed/VU songs. I did have a people come up a couple of times and say that i sounded exactly like Reed..which is odd as my speaking voice is a high tenor, not QUITE a bargain-counter tenor..but not too far away either. I not-infrequently have been asked for "the man of the house"* on cold-call phone solicitations - or called "mamm" by operators who have been standing by to take my personal phone calls.

*makes it easy to say.."he's gone..don't know when he'll be back"

>120 - as long as you don't come across like Reed. Seen him a couple of times and he's a tube!

Post-metal, ambient, rune-singing - sounds like a new Julian Cope release.

Saint Julian. Fascinating guy. "Safesurfer", what a masterpiece...

@ian: I have never heard of any of those bands! Nice.

When I listen to metal it's mostly things like middling Metallica, Mastodon, Iron Maiden sometimes, & things like Titan (Oh! another 10-minute-song guy! totally forgot!). Other than that I love more melodic, uncomplicated prog. Sigur Ros and Mogwai and the like, not to mention the Rachel's.

Hey Cliff! The Godspeed! I legally have is F#A#Infinity, but the best (and the one containing the music from 28 Days Later) is Lift Your Skinny Fists...

you know, if you like their found sound thing, there is also the Books, the kings of the found sound scene fo' real, and Tunng, and then stranger people like Deerhoof and Fiery Furnaces, though those bands are more about dynamics and general weirdness.

Anyway.

yeah..everything i've heard about LReed in person has him coming across as a jerk..I passed on tix to see him @ a very nice venue in Durham a few months back for that reason.

Best live show in years, nay decades, was the Magnetic Fields tour behind their latest album, Distortion. Because Merritt has an auditory disorder where loud sounds become painful, his live show is essential an acoustic quartet w/ cello, piano, guitar and Uke or balalaika and the arrangements of simple, but lovely, melody lines are gorgeous.

give me back my dreams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiET1rADQ...

California girls..acoustic "inclusive" version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07fevIyNc...
and the Jesus and Mary Chain version from the album...
http://tinyurl.com/57knvy (same as below)
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=z2EQxrGU7Y...

from the

concert in Raleigh - very mellow geneg!

In-teresting...

Have you heard Reed's take on the works of Edgar Allan Poe? Dreadful. Lou's lucky the dead aren't ambulatory or the moldering corpse of Poe would be kicking his ass up and down the dirty boulevards of NYC.

Sylvan, the only band you mention that rings a bell is the Fiery Furnaces. The others are unknown to me.

I like Sigur Ros and Mogwai too. And there's an instrumental album by John Foxx (formerly from Ultravox) called "TinyColourMovies" that I like to work to.

Bob, you cite the Jesus and Mary Chain--earning my affection forevermore. The Reid Bros. When I'm in a bad mood, sometimes nothing else suffices.

Cliff, you've got to give Lou a break, especially if he's rushing on his run, you know he feels just like Jesus' son and that's a feeling not easy to contain.

>124 - the acoustic arrangement suits the song better. Distortion has grown on me but it does sound like a Jesus & Mary Chain tribute album, rather than the Magnetic Fields. What we need is 69 Love Songs volumes 4-6; or for Merritt to bring back Future Bible Heroes. (Who can resist a band with a song called 'Doris daytheearthstoodstill'?)

>123 - that's an interesting selection of bands that have been thrown together in the 'found sound' scene - they don't seem overly connected to me. I always thought that Godspeed must have been listening to Laibach at some time.

>125 - if you like TinyColourMovies then you'd really like Cathedral Oceans, of which Foxx has released 3 volumes. (But then I'm a Foxx fan, I like the early electropop albums - I even enjoy the Ultravox albums he was on).

well i guess, but i just don't know...
in re Lou...

Ah, monsieur Jargoneer, I should've known an obscure name like John Foxx would not slip beneath your radar.

"Cathedral Oceans" has been on my much-alluded to wishlist for the past 18 months.

Aren't the liner notes for "TinyColourMovies" fascinating?

@jargoneer (I almost wrote wagoneer...): They're not really connected. I prefer my music to be varied, so it tends to spit back out of my brain in that form.

I've heard of Laibach but have never listened to them. Do you prefer them?

@cliff-- Fiery Furnaces is a bit of an acquired taste, I think, as is Deerhoof. I like the concept of what Fiery Furnaces is doing, though-- radio drama-esque soap operas about their grandparents and so on. Or something like that.

There is so much to love about Sigur Ros-- their best album (IMHO of course) is one they did for a movie called the Angels of the Universe-- it's beautiful but direct. Mogwai, too, helped on the Fountain soundtrack, which is cool in a drugged out kind of way. I tend to listen to these two in particular, cause I hate mood-changing dynamics while I'm doing something else. The Rachel's are also a good band for concentrate-y music, but their sound varies wildly between albums, and sometimes they (shock! horror!) talk. Gah.

Another TinyColourMovies fan here! Surprisingly the local library acquired a copy (and came very close to acquiring one of the Cathedral Oceans series before consigning it to "limbo/we changed our minds" status) and I enjoyed listening to it earlier this year along with some of the YouTube clips ("Europe After the Rain" is a favourite").

Any Roger Eno fans? I'll throw in a recommendation for "Lost in Translation" which has some beautful tracks on it.

I've got some Brian Eno but no Roger.

Lemme second that mench of "The Fountain" soundtrack--Mogwai and Kronos Quartet, fantastic! Great changes in mood, atmosphere; again, wonderful to work to...

Agreed. I saw Tom Waits and the Kronos Quartet (not to mention NIN and the Kronos!) last year, and I about died of hyperattentive musical transportation. That man is like the undead spider monkey from Pirates of the Caribbean, and he sings like you'd think the monkey and all his pirate crew would sing.

Now there's a band I haven't quite got ahold of yet, though there's no reason why I shouldn't have...

Brian Eno is, for the man who "invented post-rock", surprisingly strange to listen to, and not at all what I expected. Quite enjoyable, though.

>130 - Laibach are a very strange (but with some dodgy imagery that has resulted in questions about their politics) but when they are good they can be very good - their version of Let It Be is better than the original Beatles recording, and their last album Volk, a recording of 14 national anthems is worth hearing. On the other hand they can just come across as being pretentious.

>133 - Brian Eno's output varies widely over his career - throughout the 70s he seemed interested in music and released a slew of decent albums but a lot of the stuff since is a little disappointing: too often a single idea spread out too thinly over the length of an album. (Linking from Eno, Roxy Music & Bryan Ferry released quite a lot of decent music over the years).

A pox on your Laibachs and your Kronos Quartets and what have you. I am listening to The Roches' Christmas album. I love it.

I'll leave my card at the door.

Now, now, Dave. Mellow and spacey are GOOD sometimes. I love shoegazer music.

Wait, here's one for you and Ian.

Merry holidays and happy Christmas, lads!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z3hNwujw...

Thank you, Cliff! What a nice seasonal thought.

Actually, it's really good. Something of a dislocation from Planet Roche (Frosty the Snowman, to be precise), but I like it a lot. I shall investigate further.

Now back to the chipmunks.

Not bad.

I've still got my eye out for some "In the Nursery" stuff--someone on this thread mentioned them before. Also shoegazer material, unless I'm mistaken...

>135 - We Three Kings is an excellent album.

Now - is jargoneer agreeing with me, or is he just trying to lure me out into the open so they can get a clear shot at me? And was I always this paranoid? Not before joining Literary Snobs, I wasn't.

Ah to hell with it. It is, jargo, it is. Mi piace molto.

Gone away
is da blueboid ...

>143 - I'm a Roches fan - I have the solo albums as well. Wish they would release more.

Jargoneer never blindsides.

It's always a good, clean, open field hit.

And when you regain consciousness...

Re: #141 "Something heavier..."

I think I've heard more fucking Opeth in the past three months than I had in the previous 44 3/4 years.

And I'm still wondering: is that a GOOD thing?

Opeth are ace.

Trying to move forward with my musical taste, I took a flyer and watched the four videos posted above. The first two were the same song with different words. Groups have been playing that song since the late seventies. T(h)rash Metal. Didn't fit my taste then, see no reason to shoe horn it in now.

The two from Opeth were a different matter. The first one with the organ leading the way was quite nice and reminded me of some of the nicer Procol Harum tunes. If I closed my eyes and just listened to the opening and closing of the second Opeth piece I thought I was still living in my sons adolescent nightmare with Rammstein, however the soft, quiet middle was very nice.

One of the problems with having been there at the birth of rock and roll is that I don't hear much contemporary R&R that I can't say, "Oh, I recognize that! It's from . . . ". It all just seems so boring and/or derivative. I don't know if it's my age or if it just is. My age tells me it's the latter.

ETA: As for the lugubriousness of the second Opeth piece, or Rammstein, for that matter, listen to Vanilla Fudge, the creators of lugRock.

Message edited by its author, Dec 19, 2008, 2:36pm.

Is there such a thing as a discography of "lugrock", Gene?

You big lug...

P.S. Rammstein...(shudder)

Message edited by its author, Dec 19, 2008, 4:57pm.

I don't know about a discography but here is the epitome of lugRock. If these guys dragged the beat any farther it would be in a coma.

This is what that song should sound like.

You see, lugubrious.

Message edited by its author, Dec 19, 2008, 5:23pm.

More More lugRock.

It's funny, at one point toward the middle this group grabs the beat? by the throat and strangles it nearly to death, but you know what, while I wouldn't give you a plugged nickel for all the Vanilla Fudge in the world, this could be my favorite group and this one of my top five songs. Ain't life a jabber?

Message edited by its author, Dec 19, 2008, 5:43pm.

Gene, you've caused me happy chills.

I first heard Vanilla Fudge in a shop in Haight Ashbury in 1967. LSD was already illegal so I had to make do with booze if I wanted to be a Navy pilot. My Navy haircut caused whispers of "cop" as I walked the streets. I think that first album was the only one that held my attention; they got very self-indulgent and uninteresting after that.

And I liked it in part because I knew what the song should sound like.

Wasn't Grace Slick a beauty? And wasn't Jefferson Airplane special? I was so naive and so literal that people had to point out drug references in the songs for me to get them. "White Rabbit" was "Go Ask Alice" to me and was about alternate takes on reality.

It is the music, though, that causes the chills.

Thanks,

Robert

It was the interplay between Cassisdy's bass and Jorma's guitar on Crown of Creation that was the Airplane's highpoint for me. (should have looked up correct name spelling, but..too lazy).
Vanilla Fudge's 1st lp WAS good..jeez they were WAY too loud in concert though.

Pfft. Comparing Opeth to Rammstein... Rammstein are comedy metal, Opeth are gods.

As for age, it has nothing to do with it. I'm the oldest person at many of the gigs I go to.

Re: #152 I was smitten by Grace Slick too.

Vanilla Fudge? Sorry, lads, just a tad before my time but I've always held some affection for them.

Long live lug rock!

Okay, one more lugRock.

You guys have created a monster. You should never have introduced me to music on YouTube.

And yes, I know this is about modern music, but jeez, I just can't help myself.

Message edited by its author, Dec 21, 2008, 5:28pm.

Procol Harum...my Gawd...

When I was a younger man than I am today, I used to listen to my father's music, which I enjoyed but it was not to my taste given my druthers. I approached it with the attitude of respect for what it was, but in the end it just didn't punch my buttons. I suspect, in terms of taste in modern music many of you think somewhat the same about the songs I've pointed to here. It's good, but jeez, it's old guy stuff!

I promise, I will not post any more of it, at least not here. I know that it is OT in this thread. I had intended to stop prior to posting the Procol Harum bit but I was so excited at finding that particular tune on YouTube (I have been totally unable to find it elsewhere) that I just couldn't help it. It's not a song that made a splash in the bucket of history so is probably not well known by most casual listeners of sixties music. Even more than "Whiter Shade of Pale" and "A Salty Dog", it is my favorite Procol Harum tune. To me it is the essence of "Heavy", not typical when one thinks of PH.

Okay, no more old guy music. At least not from me.

There is no such thing as "Off Topic" on this thread...

I've never heard of lugRock, but call it oldlugRock, Gene, and I'm in.

"Rammstein are comedy metal,"

Bwahahaha! Excellent.
(I still think their choice of name is a bit --unfortunate. Like naming a band Columbine, or WTC...)

Other that that, I feel like I am in a time warp here. Oh what the hell --back to listening to the Brandenburg Concertos.

Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin' into the future. Listening to the Brandenburg Concertos while placing music from Bach's future into a time warp makes an interesting image. I'm familiar with time warps into the past, but into the future is a new idea. Of course

It's just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right
With your hands on your hips
You bring your knees in tight
But it's the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane,
Let's do the Time Warp again!

28. I'll see your Blind Willie McTell and raise you a Lightnin Hopkins and a Lonnie Johnson.
In high school I'd listen to Warren Zevon and another friend discuss Schoenberg, Berg, Berio, Mayazumi, etc. Mayazumi was my favorite.
Lately listening to folk/blues/alt country: Karan Casey, Solas, Steve Russell, Eliza Gilkyson, Greg Brown, Richard Shindell, Jann Browne, etc. Too bad Dylan hasn't done much since "Blood on the Tracks".

28? Why, that's my Blind Willie McTell. I just got a book about him for Christmas - Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes - very good so far.

Lightin Hopkins and Lonnie Johnson? Good advice, tros.

I don't recognise any of the folk/blues/alt country names, but I agree with you about Bob and "Blood on the Tracks". One of my all time favourites.

I might check those folk/blues/alt country names out.

I will totally recommend the relatively recent Murray Lester dvd of Dylan at Newport. Begins w/ an (almost) self-effacing Bob Dylan in 63. Then Dylan as the lord of folk in '64 - w/ Peter Yarrow begging w/ the crowd to stop calling Dylan back for encores after his night session so the remaining performers can come on stage. And then the 1965 "hey..come along or stay, i don't give a fk" electric performance w/ the Butterfield Blues band of "Maggie's Farm" and "Like a Rolling Stone" - followed by the bitterest acoustic performance imaginable of "It's all over now, Baby Blue." I really had never appreciated what a good pairing Bloomfield on lead and Dylan singing trading off the riffs were earlier, though i'd seen shorter clips from that same performance. The sound quality is REMARKABLY good. There are clips from both workshop and night performances.

As a nice extra, a very interesting interview w/ Lester about how he came to be the "recording archivist" for the Newport Festival. And a few short clips of others (eg Johnny Cash performing "i'm not the one you want" (sic)

I'm so old school, my favorite (by far) Dylan lps are the set from "Bringing it all back home" through "Blonde on Blonde" with maybe "Highway 61 Revisited" being my favorite.

Bummed that "Cadillac Records" came and went from our area w/out coming to a theater close to us; wait for the DVD, i guess. Based roughly on the history of Chess records, who by putting out the Chicago based electric blues of Muddy Water, Little Walter et al -> Chuck Berry could reasonably contend w/ Sun records as the originating point of rock & roll. (I, personally, also give major credit to Buddy Holly..Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and Buddy Holly being my R&R triumvirate - w/ Chuck Berry being 1st among equals in that set)

My new year listening always seems to include
"Thrill is Gone" by BB and "Darkness, Darkness" by Solas.
A couple of relatively new blues favorites are;
Rory Block (Lovin' Whiskey) and Mark Selby
(I'm the Lucky One).

Now Solas I know. Not quite your average blues band.

Karan Casey was with Solas at the start for,
I think, 3 cd's. She has an interesting voice. Sort of sounds like Sandy Denny and has some interesting arrangements. She has several solo cd's. The female vocalist on "Darkness, Darkness" isn't Karan, but has a haunting voice.

Two Cow Garage and Explosions in the Sky on my digital turntable New Year's Eve.

Plus the Canadian Juniors thumped the U.S. hockey squad (after a shaky beginning)...

because I wasted money on their incredibly pretentious 1st cd - I'll nominate the Hold Steady as the most over-hyped/overrated band since...The Strokes? Blur? Oasis?

Listening to Karan Casey "Chasing the Sun" now. (See #163.)

Got any Bjork fans in here?

Hm, just to go OT, SilverTome's post struck me with the reference to "in here". I think of all you "out there". I wonder what makes us think in these terms.

My wife LOVES Bjork.

Unfortunately, as I have stated previously, I believe her "singing" resembles a seal with a whistle caught in its throat.

To be fair, she (my wife) thinks Ministry sounds like consecutive armloads of pots and pans dropped on a cement floor...

A little something for you Wilco fans. How about that Nels Cline fella:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBzKAB4Nq...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXGYu0hrU...

For geetar freaks...

Yeah, Bjork's the type where you either love her or you hate her--no in betweens.

Another rock icon bites the dust - Iggy Pop is now advertising insurance on TV in the UK. As he was gyrating across the screen enlightening me about car insurance I realised that we need a special tax on bland bestselling artists that will be used to stop cool ageing artists sell their legacy.

Bert Jansch, Santa Cruz, CA, '07. Bert can still
play better than anyone. The master guitarist from
Pentangle, etc. If you missed the gig, "Fresh as a Sweet Sunday Morning" on dvd.

Message edited by its author, Jan 6, 2009, 4:50pm.

And please note that one of the original Stooges has been found dead:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/...

That's a shame!

Raise a glass to 'im...or a bong...

well it's awfully hard to imagine Iggy Pop getting v. good terms for a life insurance policy. That is a very bizarre concept, tho, even w/ auto insurance. Is it on youtube yet?
(i always liked the idea of the stooges more than their albums)

Have just stumbled across a band which fits this thread. They're called WHOURKR, because, apparently: The name WHOURKR was born from a long research on the primitive human shout. This recurrent sound is the link and the key to the language used in the band's creations: in order to dig further into feelings, the singing doesn't bother with the weight of words. No significance, no translation: the voice is a howling instrument that creates an emotional language.

They describe their music as, a groundbreaking concept, getting inspiration both from the primitive side of Death Metal and the delicate and cold side of Electronica. The resulting sound is mostly made of guitars, drums and vocals, all passed through a digital chopper.

Here's their myspace page. There's something appealingly off-the-wall about the noise they make and the brand of bollocks they spout.

"the primitive side of Death Metal and the delicate and cold side of Electronica..."

Now THERE'S an interesting fusion.

Like Bach...and a blender.

Sonic Youth, Nine Inch Nails, and David Bowie are my usual musical accompaniment. Either that, or movie soundtracks.

Saw Nine Inch Nails last month in Saskatoon.

Wow! Next to Tool, my favorite concert ever. I'm a Sonic Youth guy too. Bowie? Early to mid-years. Nothing really after "Scary Monsters"...

ok (early) bowie fans....if you haven't watched the Todd Haynes movie Velvet Goldmine...do it~

>186 But were you Running Back to Saskatoon?

I been hangin' around libraries
I been learnin' 'bout books
I been talkin' to playwriters
I been workin' on words, phrases

Moose Jaw Broadview, Moosomin too
Runnin' back to Saskatoon
Red Deer, Terrace and a Medicine Hat
Sing another prairie tune
Sing another prairie tune

When I saw Pearl Jam in Saskatoon a couple of years back, they were given such a warm welcome, the band performed numerous encores including an impromptu version of "Running Back...". They wrote the words down on a sheet of foolscap backstage and read off the sheet as they sang. It was ragged as Hell but the gesture was appreciated. Eddie & the boys put on a fuckin' great show.

"Velvet Goldmine" is a fun movie. Evokes the period very well...

Early Bowie (1970s): Good.
Middle Years Bowie (1980s): Forgettable tripe. Exception: Tin Machine
Later Years (1990s on): Back to good.

Saw Sonic Youth in Milwaukee and later The Dresden Dolls, my girlfriend is a big fan. I also saw Nine Inch Nails in Milwaukee.

I'd like to see Tool and Marilyn Manson sometime, unfortunately Manson has become passe. The music is still top-notch goth-industrial metal. I also enjoy Manson's costuming and album design. Floria Sigismondi has an awesome book of photography, some including Manson and Co. from "The Beautiful People" years.

I wouldn't go see Nine Inch Nails if you paid me. He used to be good - I quite liked Broken and Fixed.

You lot should listen to some Isis and Pelican.

Have you heard the new NIN, Ian?

"The Slip" is a fine album and you can download and burn it from Reznor's site. There's an eight minute instrumental cut called "Corona Radiata" that's smashing--you'll be lunging for a bongful of the finest as soon as you crack it on.

I also really enjoyed his double ambient album "Ghosts I-IV", which is great to write to, lad. Mood music for space freaks. Give it a shot...

I love Ghosts I-IV! Have to get my hands on "The Slip." The band Velvet Acid Christ is also good goth-industrial. Best use of movie samples. In one album, he samples "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", "Dune," and "Event Horizon."

Fun With Knives: Best album title ever! ;)

Another good album is "Bad Moon Rising" by Sonic Youth. Creepy post-punk soundscapes. One song has Lydia Lunch as a guest vocalist.

FUN WITH KNIVES sounds like a great title for a horror anthology. Velvet Acid Christ...bloody good name for a band. You know them, Ian?

Cliff, check out this Isis track. I've seen the band live twice now. And listen to some Pelican on their MySpace page - seen them three times.

Ian, that was GREAT. I liked that it wasn't just screaming incomprehensibility, there were layers and textures to the piece. Neat visual images too. That's more like it...

I thought you'd like Isis. It's sort of a little bit like Tool, but the music is heavier and there's much more to it. Pelican is sort of like Isis but entirely instrumental.

No, I don't think the music is heavier than Tool. Maynard Keenan's psychology is so evident throughout Tool's body of work and each album becomes more in-depth, challenging and thematically ambitious.

To my mind, nobody can touch Tool, in terms of musical ability (someone once tried to explain how complex their time signatures were or some such thing and I got lost halfway through) and integrity. This is a band who refused to record for four fucking years because their record company tried to dictate content on their albums. "10,000 Days" is the greatest "heavy" album of all time. No other candidates are even in the same UNIVERSE...

Isis are definitely heavier than Tool - heavier as in more metal. And strange time signatures are not that unusual in extreme metal. I can't fault Tool for their insistence on doing things their way - and perhaps they had more to loose doing so than the vast majority of extreme metal bands. But. Mithras were dropped by their label because they wouldn't tour to support their album - they couldn't find a drummer they were happy with (the guitarist did all the drum parts in the studio). Happily, they did find one... and I saw them perform back in December.

Mithras, Isis...why all the references to mythology in metal? Explanation?

The problem with drummers (exploding or otherwise) seems to be an on-going one in the music world...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6OQNI8HA...

It's either mythology references or Robert Plant singing about Hobbits ;)

One of my sci fi writing friends told me he wrote his stories to Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music

Not so heavy, but good, Bowie's Outside. I would love to see Bowie, Trent Reznor, and Marilyn Manson get together and tour. Maybe throw in some TOOL and Dresden Dolls too.

Does Rotting Christ count as mythology? They're Greek, by the way...

Seen Bowie and Reznor's duet on "Hurt"?

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

There's better version on a NIN concert I have on VHS but this one is a small taste...

They're duet with "I'm Afraid of Americans" is excellent. Oddly prescient too.

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

Great cut, I'd forgotten about that one...

Ian: "Rotting Christ"????????

Gad...

I think I'll use that as an epithet.

Ayn Rand? Stephanie Meyer? Rotting Christ, they're bad writers! ;)

Cliff is like a combo of my father (books) and my son (music) who has the Bowie/Reznor "I'm afraid of Americans" on his all time top favorites. My favorite rendition of "Hurt" is the Johnny Cash one. My son also likes Massive Attack. (Isn't it one of those "Trip-Hop" groups?) And Marilyn Manson. However he also read all 4 Twilight books so ... he has a bit of growing up to do... But his music taste is apparently very with-it.

As for me I drive my kids crazy listening to Irish folk music and Bluegrass. (I play the Irish folk harp and my father plays the 5 string banjo.) My family all have a classical background (my sister is a violinist in an orchestra) and I love traditional classical music but not so much the new stuff that this thread started out with. (I had to play If...Then when in a youth philharmonic and that was not an experience I would ever want to repeat)

Modern Classical music I like: Sibelius, Shostakovich, Bartok (see, I am pretty dated here), Prokofiev, see where this is going. I have heard some Messaien (sp?) that I like.

Back when I was a kid, my Bowie CD was "Tonight." After many more Bowie CDs, I realized "Tonight" was crap on a stick.

Someday your kid will look back on his childhood reading choices and laugh. Or act like Charleton Heston at the end of Planet of the Apes. "Goddamn you! Goddamn you all to Hell!" ;)

Anna, my father-in-law is a bluegrass nut and got me listening to Ralph Stanley, Osborne Bros. et all. He drives from Manitoba down to a lot of the major U.S. bluegrass festivals, sits around all night picking and strumming with people, having a ball. A guy just turned 70 with a heart ailment and a survivor of a cancer scare.

Wonderful.

I've got two of Sibelius' symphonies, love them...

If ever you come down to Oregon I will make sure you drop by my Dad's place, Cliff! Also, bring your father in law with you.

He is in an oldtime band right now called the Illinois Valley String Band....

And kswolff, my kid is already embarrassed about the Britney Spears CD he used to listen to when he was 11....

I enjoy Britney Spears on MTV ... with the mute button on ;) Her voice reminds me of a squirrel being strangled.

Oh, shit, I don't remember what Ken's (father-in-law) impromptu group is called. Something with "Boys" in it.

I drove through Oregon once but was in a hurry and didn't see enough of it. LOVED the country, though, and folks seem to have a "live and let live" mentality in that part of A-murrica, which suits me just fine.

Your pop sounds special, it would be fun to meet him. If this agoraphobic ever takes it upon himself to leave his safe, reassuring home and head that way, you betcha I'll drop in.

One of the Sibelius symphonies (#7?) I have was composed when he thought he was terminally ill. Haunting...beautiful...sublime...

Turned out it was a false alarm and he lived for some years afterward.

Actually, I'm rather proud of the fact that when I was a boy I listened to first runs of such as Bill Haley and the Comets, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, and on and on. I never tire of listening to those guys.

The greatest pure rock and roll album ever made was Live at the Star Club by the Beatles. There is no music better than a handful of folks whacking away at their instruments with nothing more on their minds than the sheer exuberance of it all.

"There is no music better than a handful of folks whacking away at their instruments with nothing more on their minds than the sheer exuberance of it all."

So you're a punk fan, Gene? If you have a picture of your glory days, wrapped in a Union Jack, a safety pin pushed through your lip, please post, as in post-haste...

Message edited by its author, Jan 13, 2009, 8:54am.

Speaking of punk, Search and Destroy by the radical gang at Re/Search is a great anthology reprint of the West Coast punk scene. Interviews with Iggy Pop, Devo, the Ramones, etc.

High on Rebellion and Lipstick Traces are also good. Greil Marcus parallels the Rise of Punk, the Situationist International, and the Cathar Heresy. An interesting literary trick.

...and there's a good punk book by "Legs" McNeil or something like that. I seem to recall seeing it around. I have an antho of punk music called (properly enough) "I Hate You". Smashing stuff (literally)...

That McNeil book (I just checked): Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk...

A good book with punk sensibility is Specimen Tank by Buzz Calloway.

Anyone read A by Warhol? A neat little pop culture oddity.

Moi, j'adore les chansons de Jacques Brel.

And Gene, have you seen "Backbeat"? I enjoyed it a lot, and I thought the band of 90s grungers (it says here) do a terrific job on the music.

I've never heard "Live at the Star Club". I've always assumed it was unlistenable (due to the sound quality). Damn these assumptions.

>220 Actually the sound quality is pretty bad, but comes shining through all the noise and conversation the pure heart of rock and roll.

I essentially stopped listening to current music at the same time the Sex Pistols became popular over here (actually a little ahead of this). Having an instrument and playing it is not quite the same as having an instrument and knowing how to play it.

I'm an old curmudgeon. My heart cries when I see even the least heart indelibly blued into flesh. Pins and Needles is a song by The Searchers, not a fashion statement.

"Pins and Needles is a song by The Searchers, not a fashion statement."

Gene, THIS is why I like hanging out with you...

Dammitall, the pedant in me is just screaming out that it's Needles and Pins. Easily confused with, but utterly superior to Bits and Pieces by the Dave Clark Five.

(Do give Backbeat a go, Gene. I think you'll like it.)

Oops, "Needles and Pins", my profligate youff strikes again!

I've heard of Backbeat. I may even have seen it. Does it cover Stu and Astrid? I'm pretty sure I've seen it. The clouds are rapidly vanishing. Poor Stu.

The three luckiest people in all of R&R: Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman.

but for the DC5, "Bits and Pieces" was pretty OK; in fact leave off Dave Clark's drumming and the DC5 were pretty ok.

"Backbeat" IS totally terrific - you'll have to judge if you're gonna let your teens watch it - i think adam watched it the 2nd time round when he was what, a jr in hs.(16?)

if you call Ringo a dog, i shall love him.

Hey...Charlie Watts is totally cool and a terrific drummer and Ringo gave the Beatles "swing." So he's cool too. Bill Wyman..well i believe that Keith Richards started letting him play on recordings eventually...by when...December's Children?

So long as the drummers don't explode ;)

Hi all, just wanted to tell you all I saw the most incredible concert last night here in Portland, with the Oregon Symphony and Edgar Meyer the bassist. He played his own composition and they also played Ives' Central Park in the Dark which I had never heard before and absolutely loved. Then they did Dvorak's Sixth which also is hardly ever performed, which was also gorgeous.

Anna, that sounds fantastic.

The daughter of a friend of mine is moving to Portland soon. Is this a good thing? I'm sure it must be.

Lucky, lucky Anna...

Posted without comment:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/how-to-wo...

We are scraping the creosote off the bottom of the barrel again...

A personal trainer named Chaos? Seriously, you can't make that stuff up ... well, unless you're really high and are listening to Blink-182 on a perpetual loop.

It's like Jazzercise or "Sweating to the Oldies," but with more tattoos and idiot hipster posturing.

Time to do some leg stretches while listening to Nada Surf and Fountains of Wayne.

Gag self with spoon.

Someone mentioned these fellas. Thought I'd put this up for the general enjoyment of all.

I found a unique little band the other day. Detektivbyran from Sweden. I searched and found their myspace page (I know, I know) which has a nice selection of their songs: http://www.myspace.com/detektivbyran

Some days you just wanna k-k-kick out the jams, ya know what I mean?

Fred is with the choir invisible that you talk about from time to time.

Yup, good ol "Sonic"...

What were Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald doing in that sub-basement after all?

What a picture!! Great link, Gene lad...

Funny Times mag (among other places) has that photo available as a T-shirt.

235, Thanks, gene,

I'm gonna ask my dentist to play that in his offfice...

Speaking of snark and being smug:

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/garbage-...

Listened repeatedly to some of the Epoxies songs from their 2nd cd, "Stop the Future." Rather like an updating of Blondie's sound and sensibility.
3 really good songs are "toys",

"You think that boys and girls are just toys made for one another
But I got news for you even toys can hurt each other"

Radiation - which is very 1984ish

"there’s radiation in my tv set (it’s realigning you)
I guess I know that but it hasn’t got me yet
(How do you know?)
I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know

Disinformation on my tv set (it’s reprogramming you)
They try, it’s true but I can hear beyond the noise and see the truth"

and "Everything looks beautiful on video"

"I don’t want you to touch me
Don’t try to help you’ll only make it worse
Don’t tell me it will be okay nothing’s gonna be okay
And anyway it doesn’t matter I’m gonna turn my tv on
Cause everything looks beautiful on video"

a rather offbeat list of best rock and roll soundtracks..
http://www.examiner.com/x-930-LA-Vinyl-R...
starts off w/ "The return of the living dead" (Cramps, damned..)
includes the classic "wild in the streets" w/ the "other" Shapes of things to come.
might not be my picks for best - i think he's going for a lot of garage obscurities, but there is a lot to cherry pick from in there.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/18/tou...

tourists reenacting Abbey Road's cover

They're driving on the wrong side of the road.

Robert

well duh - that's why they have to run so damn fast.

I tried to check 245 link at work and it was blocked. Will wait until I get home....

When I was in London some years ago, I nearly got killed more than once. It took me a while to learn to look to the right first, rather than the left. I would look left and see no one coming and start to take a step out when a car would whiz right past my ear.

I thought everyone in London drove steampunk Queen Victorias or day-glo painted Mini Coopers?

re 252

Was this before they started painting "LOOK LEFT" and "LOOK RIGHT" in huge block letters at every pedestrian crossing?

Oh, and...erm...everyone should listen to My Bloody Valentine. I caught them in London last summer and it only deepened my devotion.

#252: I have given up of trying to cross London streets on my own when visiting. I take my sister's arm and have her guide me across (otherwise I'd either jump in front of an oncoming car, or be nailed to the kerb due to conflicting info from the brain and eyes! ;-)).

It was in early 1966. I don't recall any directions about which way to look.

In Abu Dhabi, the green man at pedestrian crossings only meant it was safe to cross if there were no cars coming. So on a visit to the US, I waited at a pedestrian crossing for a car turning right into the road to drive past before stepping out - even though the green man was lit. The car stopped, and the driver wound down his window. And yelled abuse at me for not crossing and making him wait.

Message edited by its author, Feb 23, 2009, 12:13pm.

A link to the NPR's site, where you can download all kinds of cool music, including over 2 hours of Tom Waits wailing and howling away (for those of you who enjoy such things, nighthawks in the diner of life):

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...

Saw Agalloch on their one and only date in the UK on Thursday night. I'm not a huge fan - I went with a friend who is. However, I ended up chatting to the guitarist from one of my favourite bands, Mithras, so I had an excellent time.

Message edited by its author, Mar 28, 2009, 5:45am.

Was he a regular bloke or was there something like the stench of brimstone wafting about?

A regular bloke. I even persuaded him to subscribe to Interzone....

An interesting demographic...

I see this whole thread started with The Rest Is Noise which, in accordance with my policy of being at least two to three paces behind the Zeitgeist (that little minx), I have just started.

It must be working, because I have bought Salome - which I think is great, although (or possibly because) much more conventional sounding than I expected - and I'm going into the attic tomorrow, secured by ropes, to find my old CD of Debussy Préludes.

263: I heard the dance of the seven veils from Salome at the Oregon Symphony a month ago, and loved it. I always have loved Strauss, I grew up listening to Till Eulenspiegel etc. I really want to see the whole opera.

I play in the instrumental band canyons of static..

check us out www.myspace.com/canyonsofstatic

"Experimental"? "Shoegaze"? "Ambient"?

Sounds like my kinda tunes. Lately, I've been playing stuff like Explosions in the Sky and M83 almost constantly. And in the next few weeks I'm gonna order a CD by God is an Astronaut ("All is Violent, All is Bright").

Think I have Ian to thank for turning me on to those guys, if I'm recalling correctly...

Message edited by its author, Apr 5, 2009, 3:33pm.

I think we were compared to God is an Astronaut in a review some time ago..hope you enjoy the music.

Music to write to...

Went to see Thomas Truax on tour to launch his album of songs from David Lynch movies, and very enjoyable it was too. (The friends I dragged along were completely won-over). It was a one-man show that really worked - having built your own weird and wonderful instruments helps. Saw him the next day in my local record shop and had a chat with him, nice person as well.

Message edited by its author, Apr 9, 2009, 8:06am.

Oh, man, that would've been something.

Sometimes it's a pain living in (to quote "Apocalypse Now") the "asshole of the world".

Definitely have to try and get out more.

I've been listening to some ambient stuff from In the Nursery ("Duality"), which is pretty decent. Better, I'm afraid, than the new Dylan, which does not impress. Most of the tracks would make o-kay bootleg album material but nothing really, really first-rate. Certainly doesn't hold a candle to Bobby D's "Time Out of Mind"...

Sonic Youth has a new album, but I have not heard it yet. Reading mixed reviews so far.

The new NahemaH album is their best yet.

Yeah, that one's on MY list too, Ian.

Right after The Waynesboro College Toe Nail Clippers' Ensemble doing "Broadway Classics" and a compilation of slaughterhouse noises Rob Zombie is releasing through his "Ain't I Weiiiirrrd?" label...

Duality is one of their stronger releases. Anatomy of a Poet, which is in a similar vein, is also worth checking out.

Thanks, Harry, will do.

Also really enjoying working to (I know, I've mentioned them before) God is an Astronaut--"All is Violent, All is Bright" is good, trippy stuff...

>271 - agree about the new Dylan album - it's nice but not as good as the last couple.

Been listening to the Electric Six album I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the Master - great fun as usual, still to release a dud. Big guitars, nice synth lines, and wonderfully daft lyrics. Nobody does the (bizarre) rock chant better than Dick Valentine - all together now..."Be Nova Scotian"...

Message edited by its author, May 8, 2009, 4:34am.

I went to see Electric 6 play live once. There were only 5 of them. Bloody rip-off.

>278 - judging by the turnover of band members it appears that Dick Valentine employs similar HR policies to Mark E Smith.

Love it, a Fall reference to start my morning. I've got "50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong", a decent compilation. Yeah, Mark would be an interesting taskmaster. Like a musically gifted Heydrich...

My husband works in the technology department at a private school here in Dallas. Yesterday Polyphonic Spree played for the kids in the quad at lunch time. I'm so very jealous. We did have a fight break out in the cafeteria at my school, so it wasn't completely without entertainment.

Message edited by its author, May 8, 2009, 7:15pm.

One of my favorite new bands, Elbow, just won a couple of British song-writing awards. Check these guys out, Interpol fans:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qGnKESW8...

What is the world coming to?

First, Iggy Pop releases a jazz influenced album because he's tired of thugs with guitars, and then Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin) releases a banjo album.

What's weird about that? Steve Martin has been playing the banjo for decades.

Haven't you heard Iggy's album called "The Idiot"? Very jazz-influenced. When he's doing duets with Kenny G. and touring with Norman Greenbaum, then I'll prepare for the apocalypse.

Iggy's "thugs with guitars" riff is just plain stupid.

I guess the Ig-ster is just too old to rock 'n roll any more. A fact attested to by his last couple of albums.

As for Steve Martin, I'd like to hang him on a meathook by his fucking banjo strings. He has become a caricature of himself...and he wasn't that funny to start with. All of his work is just to make money for his admittedly impressive modern art collection.

A whore of the first order, albeit a well-paid one.

But a DAMN FINE banjo player nonetheless.

In the UK, Iggy advertises car insurance. Mind you, John Lydon advertises butter.

I remember seeing Steve Martin playing his banjo as a street musician on Main Street in Disneyland.

I thought he was quite funny as a wild and crazy guy. Other than that, not so much. Although some of the bits from Let's Get Small were funny as I recall. Did he do a ripoff of Mr. Rogers? I know someone did. I didn't/don't think it was very funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mSE-Iy_t...

"Never mind the bollocks, let's sell stuff!" The true motto of the punk movement.

Mel Brooks distills it nicely:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvmZ9SPcT...

I wonder, 20 years down the line, what Maynard James Keenan and Trent Reznor will be shilling?

"Hi, I'm Trent Reznor, musical mastermind behind Nine Inch Nails. Have you thought seriously about term life insurance? At Heritage Mutual we're committed to bringing our customers, etc., etc."

Maybe Hunter S Thompson saw one too many car commercials that used songs from the Who. If I see Trent turn into a latter-day Wilford Brimley, I may off myself the same way.

Maynard stumping for Pfizer's latest anti-depressant. Christ, if that happens, you and I will share the same shotgun...

Message edited by its author, Jun 3, 2009, 5:24pm.

290: The SNL Mr. Rogers Parody was Eddie Murphy, who essentially played Mr. Rogers in the ghetto.

Time for a new thread. This is getting as long as a Led Zeppelin drum solo.

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is more like it. All pomp and no circumstance.

Or more likely Alice's Restaurant. Long, boring with a story no one cares about. A good opportunity for airshifters to take a good dump.

Message edited by its author, Jun 4, 2009, 9:01am.

>295 - If it's like Alice's Restaurant I'd start to worry. Arlo Guthrie has managed to have a thirty year career on the basis of that one song.

A recommendation: Camera Obscura My Maudlin Career - lovely horn-driven pop music.
It is one of the oddities of Scottish culture that the literature, film, painting, etc is primarily depressive and yet the music scene keeps producing bands that make lovely (pop) music. (A list can be provided if prove is needed).

I heard a lovely recording of Osvaldo Golijov's composition 'Azul' the other night on the radio. Highly recommended.

Jargoneer: "depressive" music is my kinda thing, laddie.

Mogwai are Scottish, aren't they? And they suit me just fine. As for your providing a roster of good bands on the Scot scene, bring it on. Love to add interesting (especially instrumental) music to my library.

Message edited by its author, Jun 4, 2009, 3:01pm.

oops - i was about to mention the Super furry animals as a "chipper" Scots band - and then remembered they're Welsh.
David Lindley's early 90s "world music" cds - World our of Time and the Sweet sunny north are largely instrumental and very interesting. But if it's (sometimes) depressive instrumentals (or vocals that you'll not understand) i'd try current Scandinavian"folk-rock." Northside records out of Minn, releases a lot of Scando "roots" music - Garmarna, Hoven Droven, Hedningarna, Swap are all great. hmm. our crap security @ work has, once again, cut us off from the rest of the world in their ever increasing drive to non-productivity.
www.noside.com is the place to start looking. They have great, v. cheap, sampler cds.
(Swap is probably the most upbeat of the bunch, Garmarna, you might start w/ Vengeance which takes their sound into more modern spaces, the bleakest.)

Message edited by its author, Jun 4, 2009, 2:10pm.