I'm looking for music recommendations, preferably something I can check out while on the comp (youtube clips, Myspace songs, artist sites with streamable clips, etc.)

What are you listening to?

I recommend www.pandora.com. I like the Schoenberg station except I can't really get into Terry Riley.

Any particular tracks?

Edit - More easily accessible that way.

Message edited by its author, Apr 30, 2009, 6:27pm.

One amazing piece that will blow the top of your head off: Gregorio Allegri's Miserere. The Tallis Scholars have a perfromance that is simply breathtaking.

Beautiful melodies, harmonies, and voices: Mediaeval Baebes. (That's how they spell it; don't blame me.)
Try Mistletoe & Wine, tracks 4, 7, 9, 11.
Try Mirabilis, tracks 5 & 15.
(People criticize them for not producing "authentic" period music, which so misses the point.)

Interesting polyrhythms, non-standard time signatures: Mahavishnu Orchestra, Yes, Rush.

Enigma: MCMXC. Tracks 2, 4. Cool monkish chanting over a pounding drum track.

The best of the best: Ludwig van Beethoven. Obviously.
Everyone knows the Chorale from the Ninth and the 1st movement of the 5th. But try the last movement of the 5th or the first movement of the 3rd.
Great thing about ol' Ludwig: The andante passages lull you, then BAM! he does something outrageous that makes you start out of your chair and gets your undivided attention.

And if you're not exhausted after listening to the Mighty Ninth, you haven't actually listened to it.

Message edited by its author, May 5, 2009, 5:04pm.

And here I could have lived the rest of my life without ever heaing it again. Go figure. Maybe it has to do with listening to it more than once every Monday through Friday for 25 years as an adult raising three kids.

What kind of music, outside of classical and muppet, do you like? I've gotten hooked on the new Bad Plus album ... the band is a (very) modern jazz trio, and on the new disc they do some reinterpretations of pop/rock songs with vocalist Wendy Lewis ... stuff like Yes' "Runaround," Heart's "Barracuda," some Nirvana, etc. ... and if you search YouTube for "The Bad Plus and Wendy Lewis" you can see the live versions.

Not the best quality video, but here they are doing "Comfortably Numb":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEuf4nRBT...

The question is a little like asking, there's an election today, how should I vote? We all may have an opinion, but our opinions may not match your tastes. I have been reading the rest is noise so I have been listening to 20th century composers, and here is a link that plays a bunch of them.

http://broadcaster.pandora.com/t?r=927&c...;

Pandora is pretty interesting -- you can name a composer or an artist or group you like and it will find a "station" that someone created with that composer/artist/group and others like it.

BTW, "The Rest is Noise" is an interesting book ... except it's hard to make sense of it without doing a lot of listening to the music described. E.g. Busoni combines atonality with neoclassicism -- how in the world can one do that??

"The rest is noise" is also an interesting blog. Weekly "must read" for me.

http://www.therestisnoise.com/

But you probably knew that already.

Message edited by its author, May 7, 2009, 1:37pm.

>5, 6 Weener & Gene

It could worth going back to the speedier ur-version of this goofball sublime, The Pipkins' Gimme Dat Ding.

The question is a little like asking, there's an election today, how should I vote? We all may have an opinion, but our opinions may not match your tastes. I have been reading the rest is noise so I have been listening to 20th century composers, and here is a link that plays a bunch of them.

That's kind of the point, though. If I wanted to listen to music that I know I like, I'd break out my cd's. I want to hear new shit. I want to know what you think is worth listening to.

What a silly question, only ridiculous show offs would want to impress people with their music tastes like that. So here are some of my recent favourite myspace picks ;)

http://www.myspace.com/scorzayzee1stof2t...

http://www.myspace.com/pollypaulusma

http://www.myspace.com/ladysaw

http://www.myspace.com/bleedingheartnarr...

http://www.myspace.com/isoscelestheband

Show-offs? Impress?

A couple of suggestions of my own ;

Firstly, a good source of sounds is Jools Holland`s radio show - youll find it at the website for BBC Radio 2 if you search around a bit. Each show features half an hour of selections from his own collection, then he`s joined by a guest to play a mix of their own stuff and selections from their own collection. Recent guests have included Phil Manzanera and Albert Lee (not on the same show though).

My own favourite music of all time is that produced by Duke Reid in the `60s, particularly those tracks involving sax players Tommy McCook and Roland Alphonso and/or keyboard man Winston Wright.

Lastly, there`s some good stuff on You Tube by The Pretty Things. Because of their endless personnel changes over many years they`ve been through many changes, from `60s r `n` b band to psychedelic to `70s ballad-type stuff to the current line-up which is a return to their roots, though with mixed results. No-one could like everything they`ve done, but an interesting band nevertheless. There are also two spin-offs - the British Invasion All-Stars and it`s descendant The Yardbirds Pretty Things Blues Band.

Inspired by this discussion, I decided to listen to Beethoven’s Third today. The disc I have with the Third also has the First, so I gave the 1st movement of that a listen before going on to the Third.

Interesting. Musically, it’s underwhelming, for Beethoven (for lots of other composers it would be quite good). And yet, and yet...there are hints of what is to come. The use of the strings has a definite Beethoven quality: They are more powerful, less “polite” than the way other composers use them. There are moments of percussive pounding that prefigure things we were to get in later works. Yet it’s somehow restrained, as if he’s thinking, “Can I actually be this radical? Can I do this?” He’s groping at something that he was to achieve, triumphantly, later.

Then I listened to the first movement of the Third Symphony. FUCKING WOW!!!!!!! He had already cast aside all doubts and become the immortal genius that is Ludwig van Beethoven. He had realized, “Yes, I can be this radical. No, I don’t have to hold back.” You can just see the bluenoses of his day going “You can’t do that! You can’t have those....blasts of sound...Those bizarre, sliding dissonances...Those weirdly syncopated rhythms dropped in at odd moments!”

And Ludwig gives them the upraised middle finger and says “I can do whatever the fuck I want!”

AWESOME!

"Prince (Lichnowsky), what you are, you are through chance and birth; what I am, I am through my own labor. There are many princes and there will continue to be thousands more, but there is only one Beethoven."

Sweet.

#16

You really love Beethoven, don`t you ? I don`t know much about him but I`m intrigued by yr description. Which piece of his would you recommend as an introduction to him ?

Aside from the stuff I mentioned in the other posts, some nice short pieces (i.e., much shorter than symphonies) are Fur Elise and Turkish March. Turkish March is a very light-hearted, upbeat little piece...candy.
Fur Elise you might recognize; it's one of his well-known ones. I've heard both a piano arrangement and a string arrangement, and they're both lovely.

His violin concerto (he only wrote one) is also very nice, IMO, but it's longer.

I'd stay away from Moonlight Sonata as an Intro to B. It's not one of his best, and is overrated, in my opinion.

This takes me to the last point, which is that you can't really like all of a composer's work (let alone all of classical music). The more you listen, the more your own taste will develop and you'll become more confident in saying "I love this; don't really care for that."

Okay, so here's my Intro-to-Beethoven list:

Short:
Fur Elise
Turkish March
Last movement of the 5th Symphony
Chorale from the 9th Symphony

Medium length:
First movement of the 3rd Symphony (This is ~17 minutes)

Long (reserve a block of time):
Entire 9th Symphony
Entire 5th Symphony
Violin Concerto

Message edited by its author, May 14, 2009, 7:55am.

I fell in love with Beethoven through his 6th Symphony. This and as Carny says the Ninth Symphony, particularly the Chorale. At least fifty percent of the Catholic Songbook sets words to the Chorale of the Ninth (or so it seems).

Anyone here have any feelings about Jean Sibelius? What a dark vision. I guess it comes with being Finnish.

I've never heard anyone say that about the 6th, Gene. I must make a note and give it a listen.

I don't kniow anything by Sibelius. Is there anything you'd recommend as an Intro?

I'm particularly intrigued by his 2nd Symphony. Unfortunately, at present and indeed for some years past I don't have a way of listening to his music. I haven't been able to listen to his music since I lost my method of converting vinyl to bits. I refuse to buy CDs when I have the same stuff, in better quality, on vinyl. I just need to fix my conversion gap.

>23
So you're a vinyl guy? There's a very good rant by Neil Young defending vinyl that I read a number of years ago--I think it was in Q magazine or some other British pop thing--I'll see if I can track it down.

I prefer vinyl (music, being an analog activity suffers from digitalization), but not having an amp and speakers anymore, nor any inclination to buy them, I listen pretty much to music on satellite tv or my laptop through excellent earphones. Digital transfer rates continue to create streams closer to analog, but nevertheless, the music still suffers.

Sibelius is cold, rainy day music, very moody and dark in spots.

Here is a sample of his #2.. Even when he is trying to be bright and spritely there is still a touch of melancholy.

There's this sweet site where you can create your own radio station or listen to user created stations. I made one with everything I like... so really random. It's the easiest way I can think of to say what I like. Feel free to disregard it tho.

http://play.it/stations/Scatter

Thanks for tips, guys.

I think all y'all are overshooting your audience.

I mean, I've got the collected symphonies in a couple of different forms (Ormandy comes to mind, but I may be just pulling that out of my ass), but the fanciest I've gotten recently has been the Jarrett Koln Concerto. (you can provide your own diaresis on that one.)

Song for You

Panic Switch

Innocente

Poker Face

House of Cards

Hallelujah

White Flash

Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. II

Love Me or Leave Me

Down to the River to Pray

Do It Now

Dream Machine

Islands in the Stream

Beggin

Going out of my head

Cactus

Hard to go wrong with material like Cohen's Hallelujah.

Jesse, I think that's an umlaut not a diaresis.

Robert

Christ, if I knew I were (note the conditional tense) going to be tested on this shit, I would not have been posting shitfaced at three in the morning.

Although Wikipedia does note that that -

A very similar diacritic is the diaeresis (or trema), and a distinction between umlaut and diaeresis characters is not always made.

Prescriptivists of the world, Untie!

And fuck all y'all.

Hard to go wrong with material like Cohen's Hallelujah.

I've seen it done, mind you. Rufus has a pretty good shot at it, too. I still dig Jeff Buckley, though.

You've heard the duet he did with Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins...

>31
Hmmm. Or is that a subjunctive?

Once when travelling I had some dodgy umlauts and then, diaereses for days after. What a trip!

Prescriptivists of the world, Untie!

"We are the few, the proud, the appalled at everyone else." ;)

You ever read David Foster Wallace's Tense Present, Carnophile?

Why yes, Jesse, at your recommendation. That's how I knew that at least one peron on this thread would get the reference.
(I'm still trying to find time for Infinite Jest.)

Recently listened to Jupiter, bringer of jollity (he's jovial) from Holst's The Planets. There's a beautiful part that starts around the 3:10 mark in my performance and lasts a couple of minutes.

Carny, >36,

"That's how I knew that at least one peron..."

Shouldn't that be Juan Peron?

That was, uh, deliberate. Yeah. Everyone knows that Jesse's a Peronista!

Collie Man by Slightly Stoopid
Good Excuse by John Butler Trio
Cold December by Matt Costa
Car by Built to Spill
Lake Michigan by Rogue Wave
I'll Believe in Anything by Wolf Parade

This is fairly representative of the sissy rock I listen to. If you like any of it, I could recommend some more. As far as I know, none of the artists above use 12-tone rows.

Message edited by its author, Jun 8, 2009, 5:36pm.

I've heard the Rogue Wave before... Like "Lake Michigan" and "Eyes, though not so familiar with any of their other stuff. Vaguely acquainted with Built to Spill.

You ever listen to Hayden Desser or Sebadoh?

I haven't heard of Hayden Desser but Sebadoh sounds familiar. I'll have to look up the latter to make sure.

Pandora is a good place to go for music recommendations since it will play songs similar to the ones you enter in the interface.

Sebadoh were one of those early nineties (methinks) lo-fi (think Liz Phair, Pavement or GBV) acts. Started by one of the members of Dinosaur Jr, Lou Barlow... You might try "On Fire" or "Skull".

Hayden Dresser is a guy from Toronto... Still kind of lo-fi.

"Dynamite Walls:

"Bad as They Seem"

Dinosaur Jr.--now that's a band I haven't heard in a while. Thanks for the links, especially the Hayden Dresser, which I like.

Here's some more.

The Last Thought I'll Have Before I Die by Cary Judd
No Sissies by Hawksley Workman
Don't Know Why (You Stay) by The Essex Green
This Isn't Farmlife by The Essex Green

One more for good measure.

Angeles by Elliot Smith

Elliot Smith is someone I haven't thought of in a good ten years.

Have you ever heard Andrew Bird... I'm only familiar with Armchair Apocrypha, but it's a doozie.

Definitely not the lo-fi kick, but one of the more stunning albums I heard the year it came out. And it's got a pretty mellow, rueful feel to it.

"Plasticities"

"Imitosis"

"Scythian Empires"

"Dark Matter"

I apologise if any of those links are wonky, but I left my headphones out of my bag today, so I can't hear what they refer to.

Elliot Smith is dead now, died in 2003 from two stab wounds to the chest.

A friend of mine introduced me to Andrew Bird a year ago, and I liked what I heard. But, for some reason, I didn't follow up on his recommendation.

I downloaded Plasticities and the rest are growing on me.

Here's Snow Day by Matt Pond PA

Mirah's Jerusalem may be a timely addition to this thread.

And, in an effort to bury what is quite possibly the most distasteful meme to have come out of Pro and Con (thanks, Oakes), I must say: Be warned. Mirah is a Jew.

Jew? Fine. Mizrahi or Ashkenazi? One will break your heart; the other will tear it from your chest.

Kidding.

Great song.

Here's Arctic Monkeys, From the Rtiz to the Rubble

Be warned, they''re British--and possibly Labour Party supporters.

I might be straying from the lo-fi/indie rock preference this thread has taken of late, but the new Breeders song, well, rocks.

That's the second time I've heard of Mirah this month. It strikes me as rather funny, as I don't think I'd thought of her at all since "Sweepstakes Prize". Though that album title is brilliant.

Suppose it isn't, though.

I dance around in my underwear while listening to this song.

I know some of you do the same thing. Question is, will some of you admit it and mention what music?

I do the wave with my hands and arms, which culminates in a head and upper body wave.

I'm more of an air guitar/air drums/air anything kind of guy. And it's basically any music with a decent tempo, from van Beethoven to Van Halen.

This thread is growing so rapidly I'm finding it impossible to keep up. I'm waiting for a block of time to check out suggestions. That's a nice "problem" to have, though.

Message edited by its author, Jun 14, 2009, 7:55am.

Cody, your description of dancing reminds me of the skroderiders in A Fire upon the Deep relaxing on the beach.

Which track, Cody? "Godless"?

You'll be very happy to know that I threw "Angeles" on the jukebox at the bar the other night. It was funny. As I was walking around, I heard a couple of people going "ELLIOT SMITH!", and then they all disavowed any knowledge of the man and called me a faggot.

Not so unknown, but I've been digging the new Chris Cornell track "Long Gone".

I was referring to the song "Shakin'". "Godless" is a good too, though not nearly as boogie worthy.

Those people in the bar remind me of those older folk who rag on the likes of Hall & Oates but were big fans back in the day.

Carny, it's nice to know there are other air drummers out there.

There must be an association, possibly a union.

Those people in the bar remind me of those older folk who rag on the likes of Hall & Oates but were big fans back in the day.

Can't say they bother me that much. Normally if someone calls me a faggot, I just tell them that they're being absurd and that I just needed the money. (Though it does kind of astound me how "gay" works as an all-purpose insult in HB, like them's supposed to be bloody, bloody fighting words.)

It's funny, but there're a lot of "punks" in OC, but they're really not so much. There's one old guy in the bar that will start skipping their Pennywise and Social D with shit like Haddaway. All the guys'll get pissed off, and I think it's hilarious... That old guy's punk as fuck. Fuck you, I'll do what I want regardless of whether you think it's cool or not.

If you look at the old-school shit, they were, quite literally, a bunch of Art Fags.

When I was in high-school, I tried to be punk. I went to the local dollar store and bought some hair dye. Given that my hair is dark and thick, my lovely head turned an ugly orange color. I got so frustrated with my attempt that I said "screw it." From that point on I stopped wasting money trying to appear "punk" or "alternative."

A lot of "punks" are like that these days--spend ungodly amounts on clothing and tats so that they can advertise to others that they are not like them. Punk is an attitude, not a style of dress. The old guy at the bar I think embodies that ethos.

Art fags has some truth to it. The Stooges and the New York Dolls--both huge influences on The Ramones, the fathers of punk--definitely had a gender bending quality to them.

Yeah, but even the Ramones spent their time hustling on the streets. If you want to go punk, grab Please Kill Me. Television. Smith. Lou Reed (tranny whores, anyone?) Past a certain point, though, a counter-culture is just another culture.

From JLHeim’s review of Gibson’s All Tomorrow’s Parties:

A key quote: “Alternative subcultures. They were a critical aspect of industrial civilization in the two previous centuries. They were where industrial civilization went to dream. A sort of unconscious R&D, exploring alternative social strategies... But they became extinct.”
“'Extinct?”
“We started picking them before they could ripen. A certain critical growing period was lost, as marketing evolved and the mechanisms of recommodification became quicker, more rapacious. Authentic subcultures required backwaters, and time, and there are no more backwaters.”

I don't agree with the leftish political tone here (rapacious recommodification etc.) but like the idea that subcultures are beneficial and it would be nice to let them marinate for a while.

Speaking of "All Tomorrow's Parties," The Velvel Underground album Velvet Underground and Nico is very nice. Punikish stuff generally isn't my main thang, but what a gem of an album!

I couldn't agree with you more about the VU with Nico. Ah, yes, when I'm rushing on my run and I feel just like Jesus son... I often pull out that album (figuratively speaking since it really only exists as charged electronic particles).

Gene - When they were rehearshing for that album they imposed a fine on any band member who played a blues lick.

My professor of BDSM studies recommended the song "Venus in Furs." Taste the whip in love not given lightly!

My problem with most music today is not that it isn't bluesy, or even that it may or may not have a beat, it's that it all sounds essentially the same: Spinal Tap volume levels, thrashing guitars, shouters whose great claim to fame is not hitting a single recognized or recognizable note (although that's not always important), there's almost no musicality about it. It's just loud, turgid lyrics with turbid guitars thrashing and drums crashing. Manic. Not my taste at all. It's the ultimate punk music. Hey kids, let's start a band! Don't know anything about music, that's good, music will just fuck it all up.

Oh, well. My parents wondered what Elvis was all about, too.

I guess what really happened is that between the Marshall Tucker Band and the new good stuff (I'm sure there must be some) there was at least fifteen or twenty years that arguably produced one, maybe two bands worth listening to, so I just got out of the habit of finding good music. There may be good music out there now (I liked the Kings of Leon track on the other thread), but I'm past having the skills or the desire to find it. I should probably drop out of these music discussions because I really don't have anything to bring to the table, and I'm sure most here, if they even bother to listen to what I post, are reminded of Grandma and Grandpa's house.

What a drag it is getting old....

Message edited by its author, Jun 15, 2009, 12:53pm.

My professor of BDSM studies recommended the song "Venus in Furs." Taste the whip in love not given lightly!

The title, of course, stolen from Venus in Furs by Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch. I've been flipping through SM 101: A Realistic Introduction recently. It's a rather interesting book.

Don't know anything about music, that's good, music will just fuck it all up.

In large part, you're not incorrect. Though it's rather funny that you precede this with a rave about the VU, as they're something of the granddaddies of the idea (though one can argue that it goes further back than that.) But there's definitely something empowering about the idea that music need not be virtuosic (ok, so that's probably not really a word) to be good. And I think that in general, the trend towards DIY technologies are a good thing. Printing Press ----> LiveJournal---->Twitter---->The situation in Iran

The Who, VU, Patti Smith, Ramones, Television.... It's all some pretty beautiful "noise". I mean, it's not like we're talking about the Residents, here. Edit: or Negativland, even.

so I just got out of the habit of finding good music.

What do you like? Let's see what we can kick your way.

are reminded of Grandma and Grandpa's house

Nothing wrong with that. I still pull out the Nina Simone, Benny Goodman and Louis Prima on a regular basis.

Message edited by its author, Jun 15, 2009, 6:02pm.

Well, for starters I liked the Kings of Leon that Cliff pulled up for me. It's probably easier to tell you what I don't like. Pretty much anything from the late seventies forward, at least to the oughties. My daughter used to be a big fan of Green Day and REM. I favored the B-52's. I like "Rock the Casbah" (I met Joe Strummer, et al on the street in Atlanta when they played there in the seventies). I don't know. I think I'm a lost cause. I think the best thing is just keep posting music and as I listen I will develop a feel for what's good out there.

As far as VU, they may have been proto-punk or whatever, but they still had a musicality to their music that gets lost in thrash metal. Another proto-punk band of my day was the MC-5. I liked them a lot. I place them closer to punk than the VU. Rama-lama-fa-fa-fa! If you don't know 'em look 'em up.

Kick Out the Jams, eh? A bit more Jeff Buckley for you...

I assume you already know about Iggy Pop?

Free-associating with the Marshall Tucker, might I recommend either some Big Head Todd and the Monsters or maybe some Ray LaMontagne?

Ray LaMontagne's "Trouble"

And a pretty kick-ass acoustic cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy"

Here you go, Gene. "Ain't No Easy Way" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

More: Your Touch by The Black Keys
Keeping the Blues Alive by The Black Keys (edit: this is actually three songs in one clip)
I Got Mine by The Black Keys

Message edited by its author, Jun 15, 2009, 6:20pm.

Old Enough by The Raconteurs (featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe)
Salute Your Solution by The Raconteurs

Message edited by its author, Jun 15, 2009, 6:29pm.

The Black Keys

New one to me... Thanks.

Jesse, I'm not a singer songwriter fan (raised on Dylan and Donovan, but they're the exceptions) so Ray LaMontagne didn't really do it for me, but WOW, why have I never heard of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club! I closed my eyes and was back in the old Aztec Bar in Atlanta where one of the MC clubs from around there hung out. Great stuff. I will look up more of their music. Thanks!

The Black Keys sounded promising, cody, I'll have to listen to them some more. I haven't listened to the Raconteurs yet, but I will. I like Ricky Skaggs.

Thanks, you've restored my faith in music!!

Message edited by its author, Jun 15, 2009, 6:53pm.

>51 And, in an effort to bury what is quite possibly the most distasteful meme to have come out of Pro and Con (thanks, Oakes), I must say: Be warned. Mirah is a Jew.

BGP, you failed to catch Oakes's irony in a sarcastic exchange he and Cody are having on Israel.
(It started on Israel, anyway, and has since seeped out.)

>76 Having done my fair share of sparring with Oakes, I can tell you that it wasn't irony. It was an open and repeated, if partially veiled, accusation of antisemitism. Those two were playing nicer than they could have been, but there was no love lost in that thread. None at all.

To be perfectly honest, I would probably define the majority of the most famous propagators of Cody's particular brand of conservatism as racists, based on a simple, straightforward analysis of a specific subset of their views. In fact, I--amongst others--have found a number of Cody's assertions over the years to be bordering on reprehensible. Be that as it may, if any discussion regarding Israel is preempted with a semi-veiled allegation of antisemitism, the thread--and the very forum itself--has been poisoned. Personally, I have only been "back" in the Pro and Con community (after a nearly year long departure) for a week or two, but this scene has become so nasty that I'm simply not going to bother dealing with any of the Israel or Middle Eastern threads which pop up here in Pro and Con. I specialized in the region as an undergraduate, and later visited eight of the nations in the region, including Israel. I find the region fascinating. That said, I'm just not willing to engage in any debates of this nature, debates which are taking place under the shadow of allegations of racism from the very outset. It's just not worth my time.

Cody's a contrarian, and, when challenged, he clearly takes pleasure in baiting and otherwise riling up his opponents. This does not make him or his views racist (the man should be challenged in regards to the words and arguments that have originated from him, not on the basis of the fact that a number of questionable characters have been associated with his views). More specifically, it must be accepted by at least one person in this forum that holding views on a controversial event which are contrary to those held by a certain Oakes Spalding does not automatically make the individual in question a racist... In the end, the point of my post was simple: comments of a certain nature destroy the feeling of community within a forum. If that's the fate of Pro and Con, so be it. But I'll be damned if I don't take the time to make a post or two on behalf of reason before I leave again, if only for the sake of having done it...

Message edited by its author, Jun 17, 2009, 3:58pm.

Having done my fair share of sparring with Oakes . . .

Our first meeting was when I took a fellow Political Conservative to task for making a silly remark about your Profile picture. Our last was when you swooped into a thread with "Oakes this . . . " "Oakes that . . . ", Oakes' loyalties this, Oakes' way of thinking that, etc., etc. on a throw away suggestion to another poster. As I explained, we probably agreed on the related issue more than we disagreed. Where was your "feeling of community" then?

And since you've acknowledged (I think) that you think Codyed's views on (perhaps) race are "bordering on reprehensible", and you acknowledge my thing about anti-semitism (though you think I go too far with it, or use it in personal way, or whatever), then why:

the most distasteful meme to have come out of Pro and Con (thanks, Oakes), I must say: "Be warned. Mirah is a Jew."

Which, I should add, you just sort of randomly threw out in a thread that I was not involved in, which contained no argument or tension on the particular issue, and had nothing to do with the relevant political matter?

For those who hadn't read the original thread or similar one's, the implication was clear that I said something racist or bad about Jews. To the extent that you knew that interpretation would be made, you were maliciously dishonest. On the other hand, for those who were familiar with it, perhaps the implication was that "the most distasteful meme to have come out of Pro and Con" was that I was being sarcastic about the tendency of other posters to talk about the Jewish lobby or the Israel lobby, etc. etc. That was distasteful? That was the most distasteful thing ever on Pro and Con? On Pro and Con? Are you out of your mind? Where was your "feeling of community" then?

For the record, I don't think calling a particular person a "racist" or an "anti-semite" is particularly useful. (I've argued that point before.) I'm not sure I've actually explicitly made such an accusation. (Check it.) If I did, it was probably out of anger. (I'm explicitly and implicitly called all kinds of things on these threads on a relatively consistent basis, by people involved in the discussions, as well as by people bombing in out of the blue--some of them almost like clockwork. Personal, political, what have you. Check the traffic in the last 24 hours.) But I'm usually pretty careful to hedge it with qualifications. I do think anti-semitism itself is a real and present danger. And yes, I think it in some sense motivates a lot of the hostility towards Israel--whatever we say about the personal motivations of those involved. I think I'm in pretty good company there, by the way (one reason I cited the speech by the Elena Bonner--forgive me), though of course reasonable people can disagree.

But if you want to fight to the death disputing that last claim, because it is an opinion against all "reason", that it's the "worst thing" ever to be mentioned in Pro and Con, or whatever, fine. That's your business.

On the other hand, when a person or group of people make constant references to anti-Israeli conspiracy theories, question my "patriotic" loyalties because of what I think of such theories (I would prefer to support a foreign power, etc.), make jokes about the Holocaust Museum, make jokes about the so-called "birthright trips", make constant references to the Jewish neo-cons, Jewish Lobby, Israeli Lobby, etc., and then top it off by claiming that if a second Holocaust occurs and the Jews of the world are all killed, then that would all be Israel's fault, if that isn't at least an expression that, so to speak, something anti-semitic is going on, nothing is. But even then, in my calmer moods, I would rather not claim that the person is an anti-semite. In the actual case, I think he is probably merely being childish and obnoxious. But the fact that a number of people can say those sorts of things and, to a certain extent, no one else bats an eye is frightening. Too bad someone on the left cannot appreciate that. Though, I suppose I would say that cowardice and the fear of being unfashionable are the operative phenomena here, much more than any kind of innate hatred, or whatever, that particular persons may have about Jews.

If some right-wing supposed enemy (perhaps me), said such things, why do I have the feeling you'd be howling for blood, and probably making the same sort of sarcastic remarks that I've made?

And of course I don't feel that people who merely disagree with me are racists. You said it. I didn't. Though I suspect you don't really believe that I think that. To you, it's just another part of the game.

Too bad.

Message edited by its author, Jun 17, 2009, 7:43pm.

If BGP keeps this up, he might get Oakes to give a detailed explanation for why he didn't assassinate JFK.

Not exactly music, but I like the spoken word piece that opens this episode of NPR
s "This American Life".

Only Want You by The Eagles of Death Metal

I can dance like the lead singer.

Here'a another: Miss Alissa by Eagles of Death Metal

Message edited by its author, Jun 18, 2009, 12:12am.

I don't know much about my Polish ancestry, but whenever I listen to this Henryk Wieniawski piece, I feel like a Polish nationalist.

In case you're curious, the piece sounds like it is in scherzo form.

And this 15 year old girl just rocks. This video impressed the hell out of me.

Canción by Manuel de Falla, another one of my favorites.

The above clip has three songs in one. I set it so it plays the third clip, which is 4 min and 30 sec into it.

A vocal rendition by the great Teresa Berganza.

Message edited by its author, Jun 18, 2009, 4:46am.

I just listened to several INXS songs, especially this one, which had to repeat itself three times.

I'm okay with it; I'm fine with it; I can admit this without fear. My reasoning behind this is that, if guys can walk around wearing pink t-shirts without feeling the least bit self-conscious, then I can listen to INXS without feeling as though I'm in a gay bar.

A little birdy told me that Modelos are waiting for me, and music, and...

OH MY GOD! Where am I?

I've nothing against INXS whatsoever. Mind you, they're not the Cult.

Is Modelo Especial just Corona in a smaller, squat bottle? Just wondering...

I've never been into the Cult. What I know of them is what I hear on the radio. Interesting, though, is that they seem to be getting a lot of play on contemporary radio.

But if you're in a band, and you want to break up, there's no better way then how they did it--fists flying on stage. At least give the audience a show.

Coors and Corona are liquid proof that the worst sh*t in the world can be sold to people who don't know any better with good marketing.

I don't know if it is still true but you used to be able to hold a bottle of Corona up to the light and see that oily green looking high light that stuff gets when there is actually oil in the liquid.

When I drink beer, I make it an SNPA. Something people in Europe would recognize as beer.

I've had the occasional Modelo, I don't know if it was especial or not, and gave it good marks for Mexican beer, certainly way better than Corona. It should tell you something about the beer when it requires a slice of lime to make it drinkable. The best Mexican beer is Dos Equis. It is the last Austrian style lager brewed in the world. Unless some booticoo brewery is making it.

I've never had it, so I can't say if its good or not, but Grupo Modelo, the brewer of both Modelo and Corona, has a brand called Negra Modelo. NM is supposed to be an Vienna lager. I couldn't tell you if that's the same thing as an Austrian lager. Maybe some of you beer-o-philes might be able to set me straight.

Itzhak Perlman rocking' Wieniawski on the Ed Sullivan Show.

And while walking through the library today, I noticed they had an Autumn de Wilde coffee table book about Smith. You seen that one, Cody? Elliot Smith.

If my library has the book, I might check it out. Coffee table books generally aren't my thing, though.

Elliot Smith was an interesting character who went out in a very dramatic way.

This and this because I used to play trumpet as a kid.

Punk covers of classic songs by the punk cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes:

Up Town Girl
I'll be there
Wild World
Who Put the Bomp

Yeah. Done the Me First thing. You know Richard Cheese? I spent the night with the aforementioned "old guy"... We sat there and swapped Sade and Tears for Fears.

Yes. I know Richard Cheese all too well. I got so sick of listening to him on my buddy's iPod that I did the unthinkable--I deleted all the tracks.

Actually, he wanted me to end the torture too. You can only listen to the lounge music versions of Motley Crue and gangsta rap for so long. :)

Zak and Sara by Ben Folds

Here is the fifth movement to Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. From 1:30 to about 2:30 is my favorite part of the whole symphony.

Gossip

It's like the bastard love child of Stevie Nicks and Sleater-Kinney.

Message edited by its author, Jun 27, 2009, 4:32pm.

Or maybe it's just a female Golden Earring

Here, Gene.

Spiral Staircase by Kings of Leon

This is from their first album, which sounds completely different than their latest album.

I need to find time to listen to more of these guys. Thanks, cody, I have liked what I've heard by them a lot so far.

That one reminds me a lot of a more hyped up (iin the sense of hyper, not a sales pitch) Bob Dylan's 115th Dream (I think that's the title. I was ridin' on the Mayflower when I thought I spied some land...) with a bit more oomph. I think my mentioning this stems from our need to categorize things.

If Bob Marley and Coldplay had a baby, it would be State Radio.

"When I Say Go" by The 1900s.

This song is so hip that I am genuinely surprised Apple hasn't appropriated it yet for one of its commercials.

I like that.

Any recommendations for something like The Ting Tings? Shiny Toy Guns' Le Disko and Rapture's Get Myself Into It are both kind of there, but... Anything else?

"Jager Yoga" by CSS

Be sure to click the "HQ" button.

Message edited by its author, Jul 28, 2009, 7:36pm.

"Bring the Good Boys Home" by The 1900s.

The lead singer is representative of what I find sexy in certain female entertainers. Showy but not flashy.

Here's some Alaskan metal: "Bloodwork" by 36 Crazyfists

Unlike a lot of metal, this one has a discernible melody.

And for Gene -

Rival Son's On My Way

"The Calculation" by Regina Spektor

This song, like the 1900s tunes posted above, is very Applesque. That should be a new musical genre, right? Applesque.

In case you didn't click on it, Jesse, the CSS tune above is the closest group I could think of which sounds anything like the Ting Tings.

EDIT: Here's another one from her, Folding Chair Upbeat, poppy, and it made me smile when she made the dolphin sounds. If you can work dolphin sounds into your music, you have made a fan out of me.

Message edited by its author, Jul 31, 2009, 12:51am.

the CSS tune above is the closest group I could think of which sounds anything like the Ting Tings.

They're the group that does the "My Music is my Sex" song or something like that, no? It's definitely got that Ting Tings feel, but a bit more electro-clash than I like. Reminds me of the old dirty house stuff...

Zoot Woman _ It's Automatic & Living in A Magazine

Playgirl ~ Ladytron

Feist, I'm convinced, was created in a top secret Apple laboratory alongside the iPhone.

You say Apple... I always think of Starbucks when I think of that kind of shit.

Rilo Kiley ~ "Silver Lining"

Spoon ~ "You've Got Yr. Cherry Bomb"

And as embarrassing as it is to admit, I find the latest Shakira track to be amazingly catchy.

Message edited by its author, Aug 1, 2009, 3:29pm.

He did not die!

"Dance Anthem of the 80's" by Regina Spektor

If the girl is sufficiently cute enough, then all one would need to make a top notch music video is one camera pointed in a fixed position throughout for the entire shoot.

I learn these things because I figure they will come in handy one day.

Christ. I haven't heard "Mann's Chinese" by Naked in years. I remember trying to find it online a while back but with no such luck. This song takes me back to high-school with me slouched against the bike path tunnel, smoking a Marlboro during lunch while listening to my friends drone on about the amazingly large breasts of a girl who was in our English class.

Read through this thread and found Carnophile and geneg discussing Sibelius #22-23-25.
Many call it melancholic music; I never did find it so, but rather fantastic/magical, a deep black Finnish forest magical. (It helps to have read the Kalevala perhaps, a great inspiration for him.)
Paradoxically I saw the magic/fantastic side best interpreted by an American city dweller: Leonard Bernstein with Symphony No. 4.

His “pop tune” is “Valse Triste,” popular with the ice dancers, but best known is his “Finlandia.”
It is “easy listening,” melodic romantic nationalism comparable to Tchaikovsky and Dvorak (and Grieg). If one is much enamoured with the stringent attention-demanding works of Beethoven one might find Sibelius quite “mushy.”
Talking of Beethoven, I have Beethoven’s “Bagatelles” played by Glenn Gould, I have this idea that this is perfect Sunday morning breakfast music.

Message edited by its author, Aug 8, 2009, 12:29pm.

I don't know why, Cody, but "Mann's Chinese" makes me think of Overwhelming Colorfast's cover of the Beatles' "She Said, She Said".

Aw, man, I seriously thought he was going to be a bone fide librarian for a moment. That would have been sweet.

Here you go, Gene. "Ain't no rest for the wicked" by Cage the Elephant has been making the rounds on the radio and seems to fit your preferences.

Johnny Ramone once claimed the Ramones were the best at what they did. But he conceded that The Clash was the only band that could rival them.

Thanks for that, cody! Nice catchy tune with a simple melody. Right up my alley. Thanks!

Someone kicked me this one yesterday, which I'm digging.

The guy from the Cage the Elephant video looks like Mark Wahlberg. I wonder if some entertainment executives keep a few Mark Mark clones on hand, unleashing them on the masses every ten years or so to liven up the music or film biz.

Come on, Jesse. And you thought CSS was too electro!?

Not too electro, too electro-clash.

I love trashy punky music like Shop Assistants - I Don't Want To Be Friends With You (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU9fZkXHq...) or Undertones - Teenage Kicks (favorite song of John Peel) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGu2lu5XW...)

But also the Vogues - 5 O'Clock World

125 says, "The guy from the Cage the Elephant video looks like Mark Wahlberg."

http://files.list.co.uk/images/2008/11/1...

http://cm1.theinsider.com/media/0/136/81...

Yeah, I dunno... I'm not so certain I see it. LOL

My favorite Johnny Cash cover.

Feel it baby? I can too.

Sad news: Les Paul has died.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblo...

Message edited by its author, Aug 14, 2009, 7:54am.

Another one for the Apple/Starbucks collection, Codyed...

As Tall As Lions, "Love, Love, Love"

The new Pearl Jam is definitely doing it for me.

"The Fixer"

This might actually make me like Pearl Jam again.

My favorite Johnny Cash cover.

My jaw dropped when I first heard Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt. I initially thought the recording would be akin to Pat Boone covering Alice Cooper. Boy was I wrong.

Here's Cash covering Soudgarden (original).

Message edited by its author, Aug 29, 2009, 6:20am.

You've heard Chris Cornell doing Billie Jean, I assume?

Message edited by its author, Aug 29, 2009, 6:56am.

I was looking for this when I stumbled across this... Is that Amy Lee?

Message edited by its author, Aug 29, 2009, 7:04am.

Yes. I have heard Cornell's rendition of Billie Jean. Oh. My. God.

My friend likes it. I give him a hard time about it.

"She's a Genius" by Jet

I'm setting up a new website to compete with Tim's project. I'm calling it "Libary Thang."

For you, Codyed...

I thought the best line in the piece was:

"Where the American dream was once to actually become something from nothing, it's now to imagine being something instead of nothing. Why make things better when you can just pretend they are?"

We are a nation of people that make their own reality in their heads and then can't deal with the cognitive dissonance.

This was a surprise for me, first time I heard it. I knew the song, knew the performers, but had no idea that together they might be able to produce this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu69rDqVu...

Message edited by its author, Nov 11, 2009, 11:27am.

"When We Swam" by Thao with the Get Down Stay Down.

"Gorgeous Behavior" by Marching Band.

We Were Promised Jetpacks

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_qu...

"Percussion Gun" ~ White Rabbits

A good friend turned me on to this band, which has quickly become a favorite of mine.

"Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

(Dang hippies.)

Another friend turned me onto the following band, but I'm a little ambivalent about them (good song, though).

"Mykonos" by Fleet Foxes

Message edited by its author, Dec 3, 2009, 2:30am.