Just to get music talk out of the movies (soundtracks optional).
Thinking about disjoint sets of musical likes & dislikes.

a few Richard and Linda Thompson favorites: I became a RandLT fan after reading a review in Creem which described their 1st lp, 1974's "I want to see the Bright Lights tonight" as "druid rock" and then buying about 8 copies, 2 for myself and the rest to give away.

Couldn't find "Down where the drunkards roll" w/ both Richard and Linda. But here's a little "Doom and gloom from the tomb" (the original RT listserver's name).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIIiS7kjC... - "a heart needs a home". Slow - Gene, avoid. But a gorgeous song and terrific live performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39-wM-hmn... "hard luck stories" the ultimate fk off and die song. It's better on the album w/ Linda singing. wtf.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Za9JU - "we'll sing Hallelulah"
And one of the saddest love songs ever http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4LICp91M... "Dimming of the day" (even slower than the lp version, i think)

the magnetic fields http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiET1rADQ... (best concert i've ever been to in 40+ yrs of fandom). Redoing a 6ths' song.

And for a bit of distortion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2EQxrGU7... The Jesus and Mary chain by way of Stephen Merritt.

(as it happened got to see Joni touring behind "Court & Spark" in Williamburg Va, back in the stone ages, 1974- great, great show.) Pretty the same band as here for the non-solo portion of the concert.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y3f61DXn...

Message edited by its author, Jun 10, 2009, 10:21pm.

"Walking on a Wire", great Richard & Linda song. The venom it contains (they recorded the album "Shoot Out The Lights" as they were on the verge of breaking up).

Have seen Richard Thompson many times, and he just gets betterand better. I think my favourite old Fairport one is "Meet On The Ledge" (although an ex of mine used to refer to it as "Meat And Two Veg", which spoiled things somewhat ...).

i didn't see him till an early 1980s tour w/ Christine Collister replacing Linda and full band. If anything, i think the solo concerts i've seen RT play have been even more impressive than his full band concerts. I VERY much liked his "1000 yrs of Popular Music collection"
http://www.richardthompson-music.com/cat...
From "Summer is icumen in" to "oops, I did it again" which suddenly acquires all sorts of pathological undertones in RTs voice.

Many of the live RT and Linda videos on youtube are taken from shows circa their break up - no live recording of Linda breaking an empty beer bottle on Richard's forehead that i could find, however. Does seem like after all these years - they've both been remarried for a long time - that they've been able to make nice again; or at least play on each other's recordings.

#4 - if you like Christine Collister, try and get hold of an album of covers she did with Clive Gregson - "Love is a Strange Hotel" - it's fabulous. I once got drunk with Christine at the Band on the Wall in Manchester - she'd just split up with Clive G and was spitting blood. Ah, these gentle folky types are terrible when they're scorned ... :-)

Saw Richard opening for Crowded House years ago. Great concert. The boys from Crowded House were clearly thrilled to have him along and ran out on stage to join him at one point...

Cliff, thought you'd enjoy this news story:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/maynard-j...

Hey, thanks, Karl!

Maynard's the man!

The interview with him is great too (below the trailer).

That Tool concert I attended in Saskatoon is still the best EVER (my ears haven't quit bleeding since).

good tunes from saskatoon: SexyMathematics.

www,sexymathematics.com

"The idea is to merge the loudest, thickest, crunchiest, heaviest guitar sound with the dirtiest, harshest, grittiest, nastiest synth sound you have ever heard. Throw some bass and drums in the mix and you have Sexy Mathematics. Additionally we strive to create interesting music that people enjoy listening to it. This has consistently proven harder to accomplish then the phrase implies."

Not quite as harsh and nasty as they might hope - but an interesting retro sound.

I'll check 'em out, Bob. Thanks.

A cut from Jack White's new band:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scJ8ITsZs...

Now, I liked that one, too. Thanks, Cliff.

Rock on, Gene ol' buddy!

Caught Bob Dylan's latest incarnation on tour w/ Willie Nelson and John Mellancamp. @ the Durham Bulls ball park Tuesday evening.

I'm not a fan of Willie's voice/songs though i think he's a pretty neat person so his set was neither here nor there. He kind of phoned the set in from stage front.

Mellancamp's show was very good, excellent showmanship, neat arrangements (he's almost always had a violinist - but having the primary keyboard be an accordion worked v. well). The only problem (and it was not trivial) was that the bass drum was way overmiked so that too often the strength of the arrangements was lost in the thud of the bass drum. The acoustic songs were v. well done. The semi-pro drummer I went to the show with had exactly the same reaction..too much drum miking.

Dylan sounds like he's ripped his larynx to shreds. His voice was always a matter of taste - but it was a voice that I liked. But this time round - if you didn't KNOW it was Dylan, except for brief moments of phrasing, i'd bet you'd be hard pressed to identify his singing..er croaking, like Tom Waits w/ a really REALLY bad case of laryngitis.

However his new touring band was sensational. VERY electric - reminded me very much of the early electric sessions w/ the Butterfield band - but amped up and even more skilled players. A lot of the arrangements were standout - but it also seemed to be the case that there was much more allowance for instrumental breaks, perhaps to allow Dylan to rest his voice a little. I was as bit taken aback when i realized he was playing what looked to be an old Farfisa organ (to good effect) throughout instead of guitar. And then the thought occurred that keyboards - esp. electric organs - are MUCH easier on the hands than even a very easy playing guitar and that this might have been another concession to getting older. (I was back far enough, and wearing an old pair of glasses, so that for the first couple of songs I thought the 2nd lead guitarist - who had the center of the stage - WAS Dylan and that he'd become a hell of a lead guitarist. But his organ playing fit the songs very well - ala Al Kooper rather than Garth Hudson.).

Oh - the closing arrangement of "all along the watchtower" was very eye (or rather ear) opening. A very dramatic and driving electric version that is nothing like the Hendrix version (on a previous recent tour Dylan said that Hendrix "owned" the song and then recapitulated HIS version of Hendrix doing Dylan)

Anyway, I'm glad i went though i think i'll stick to the documentary "Dylan at Newport" or clips of him touring w/ the Band when i want my fix of live, electric Dylan.

Chatting w/ singers - the consensus was that Dylan has serious problems w/ nodules on his vocal chords - I could barely understand his spoken introduction of his (stellar) band members.

Thanks for the concert peek, Bob.

Didn't like Dylan's last album (as reported here) but I'd still very much like to see him live. Him, Neil Young...and then from today's crop, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Interpol, Elbow. Those would be bitchin' shows, mate. Dinosaur Jr. will be playing in Saskatoon in November and I'm thinking about taking them in.

My nephew Jesse just turned me on to a cool band named Clutch. This is why I still hang around with youngsters: they can steer us old fogies to the good new stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx6FV2qR2...

The Dylan/Mellancamp/Nelson tour is hitting Dallas this weekend, I think. I know it's soon.

one the one hand it's a fair bit of $$. On the other hand it IS ~ 4hrs of music. Dylan's band is spectacular though he has no voice and i very much enjoyed a lot of the arrangements on their own right. Maybe Nelson will be more into things in his home state? And Mellencamp's band was also first rate and he was in good voice as well. So...

15> Cliff, I saw Neil Young a few years ago on the Greendale tour, and he was awesome.

One of my favorite albums is Neil's double live "Weld"--fuzz, feedback guitar and extended versions of "Powderfinger" and other classics that would make Satan hisself weep...

Heard that Mellancamp is really good on this tour. I'm still so torn on whether I want to see Bob or not - heard too much about his wrecked voice in a live setting.

I'm a fan of the band Pains of Being Pure at Heart - yes, their name is heinous, but they have a Cure/JAMC sound of 80s jangly pop that is pretty addictive.

i think that if you know in advance that Dylan's voice is shot - it might be easier to just appreciate the quality of the arrangements and his band. And yeah, Mellancamp's band and show is awfully good.

Whether or not Dylan's voice is shot is very much a matter of opinion. He has good nights and bad nights, and even on his good nights, his current style is not for everyone. But you don't perform a hundred nights a year for 20 years with nodules on your vocal cords.

His current band, in my opinion, is lacklustre -- particularly the lead guitar player -- although I haven't seen them yet this year.

but you can certainly develop nodules doing 100+ concerts a year over decades!

I thought Dylan's generally incomprehensible grunts (er, singing) were part of the appeal?

24: His voice really has changed a lot. I heard his latest album and was shocked.

going from a nasal tenor w/ a range of a maybe a bit over an octave to a low baritone/bass croak w/ a range of about 3 notes is a pretty drastic change. As it happens, i LIKED the nasal tenor voice - when he attempted smoother crooning (Nashville Skyline) his voice became sort of smarmy to my ears.

Message edited by its author, Aug 5, 2009, 10:28pm.

His range is considerably greater than three notes. I'm guessing you haven't paid much attention to his studio recordings over the past decade?

The best modern music is Animal Collective. =P

>28 - Their lyrics are always very interesting.

"Meow, kitties..."

i'm talking about his last live performance which WAS 3 notes. I might be exaggerating for emphasis, but it WAS no more than 5 notes. I've bought a couple of his recent cds and gave them a listen or two and then passed them on.

Some singers can get away effectively w/ a v. limited range (Morphine's singer, Mark Sandman, Lou Reed, Soul Coughing) but a lot of Dylan's songs have lovely melody lines, w/in the confines of his range, and nifty transpositions and require the melody to be present to be most effective. Living for decades in a family where both everyone on my wife's side and my side, except me, has a vocal range of 2+ octaves, i became aware early on of the limits of having a voice that might get to 9 notes on a good day. There was a reason why the only songs i sang w/ an old bar band were Velvet underground songs (besides liking the songs).

I have no problem w/ lots of garage/punk bands whose songs are more or less shouted out ("the universe is permeated w/ the odor of kerosene" by Gonn remains one of my favorite opening ... remarks to a song). But, given a choice, i'll generally take material from Buddy Holly/Chuck Berry/beatles to the Magnetic Fields, Yo La Tengo, Blondie, Amy Rigby,Eleni Mandell to Oliver Mutukidzi, Garmana, Richard & Linda Thompson, Sam Phillips (the woman singer, not producer) the Ravonettes, etc who don't lose the beauty of the melody.....

Message edited by its author, Aug 6, 2009, 9:58am.

28:

Here, here.

Imagine loving to sing along with the radio almost more than anything else in the world and having only one note and that flat.

Gene, until you've seen me strutting around my office, singing along with "Beast of Burden" or old Bowie to get warmed up before a day of writing, you haven't experienced true humour...

#31 - maybe "Hear hear" ?

There, there.

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Mekons/_/Ch...

one of my favorite songs/groups ever. Jon Langford, Sally Timms and the U of Leeds gang of 8 or so.

I was out late the other night
Fear and whiskey kept me going
I swore somebody held me tight
But now there's just no way of knowing
I saw your face in a crowded bar
'Excuse me please!'
At least I thought it was you
Now I just don't know where you are
My suit was smart when I put it on last week
All I could remember as I walked down the street
Was the rain and tears on your face
Oh gee, I guess I'm just a disgrace

The other day I got the Neil Diamond box-set 'In My Lifetime' from the library, so that has been my primary listening. My fandom is such that I like all of it and love most of it, even the duet with Streisand...

as much as i dislike giving credit to Dook U for just about anything...while trying to track down research on a totally different topic came across this which ends up w/ a pretty exact description of Bobby Zimmerman's current vocal exertions.
--------

With the ACC tourney gearing up and March Madness getting in full swing, basketball fans are topping decibel charts with their verbal support for their favorite college team.

Unfortunately, all that screaming won't help any player score a goal. It could, however, do temporary or even permanent damage to your vocal cords.

"Too much screaming can change the quality of your voice, your ability to use it how you want to, and even put you at risk for losing your voice's natural sound," says David L. Witsell, MD, Director of Duke University Medical Center's Voice Care Center.

Enthusiastic sports fans aren't the only ones who should be concerned. Millions of professionals including lawyers, teachers, clergy, singers, actors and other professionals rely on their voices daily for their occupation.

And, misuse or abuse may partly explain why nearly eight million people have vocal problems, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Your voice is the sound that's produced when air passes through the vibrating smooth muscle of the vocal cords, explains Witsell.

"Problems are often due to overuse or straining the vocal cords excessively," like excessive talking, throat clearing, coughing, inhaling irritants, smoking, screaming or yelling. Individually or collectively, they can cause the vocal cords, which are housed in the larynx, to become irritated and inflamed.

Once strained, a normal voice can quickly turn into the breathy, raspy sounds associated with laryngitis. In some cases, vocal nodules or calluses form on the cords, making a person sound hoarse, low-pitched and slightly breathy. Witsell says a similar-sounding voice can result from vocal growths, or polyps which are more like soft blisters.

now if the cameron crazies would go for clever instead of loud..
http://www.dukehealth.org/HealthLibrary/...

there..i'm officially done beating a dead horse into a grave w/ quoting from the duke med. research news site. sigh. I should sink so low.

Message edited by its author, Aug 7, 2009, 6:02pm.

You should see my throat when the Bruins are playing the Canadians. By the end of the second period I'm either incoherent with glee or apoplectic with rage...

reaction to sports is just weird. If it's a close bball game for the tar heels i generally get up and leave the room (generally just the radio, now that most games are not on free TV) and start pacing around nervously. I'll wander in and out of range of Woody Durham's voice (he's been the play by play announcer ever since i've been here - 1976) to determine if it's "safe" for me to stay in and listen for a bit. There's no sense in my reaction - it kind of just "is."

The Habs and the Bruins have the same effect on me, Cliff.

I'm not going to ask what side you're on ... it just doesn't seem safe. ;)

Can't you guess from my abrasive (not to say aggressive) attitude, brutish wit, decidedly lower-middle class orientation? A Bruin lad all the way.

But Cliff ... you can spell, and write a coherent sentence.

...despite I dunno how many pucks bounced off my head.

Watch me tear up as I watch old footage of Bobby Orr. Embarrassing...

What does all this hockey-talk have to do with music, ya hosers? Take off!

11:
Cliff The dead weather is great stuff. Did you hear their version of 'Are friends electric?'

Message edited by its author, Aug 10, 2009, 7:56pm.

I hear Dead Weather's live show rocks like a 9.0 earthquake. And keep an eye out for the DVD of The White Stripes' tour of strange, exotic locales in Canada...like my former 10-20, Iqaluit, Nunavut...

Message edited by its author, Aug 10, 2009, 8:43pm.

Went to see Dub Colossus play at the Festival. They mix reggae and Ethopian pop & traditional music. Great live - the pity was they had to end just as they had everybody up and dancing.

You can hear some of their music here.

One of the singers, Tsedenia Gebremarkos is a star in the making - she is just brilliant live, totally commanding. Here's a recorded track by her.

Message edited by its author, Aug 11, 2009, 5:29am.

#35 - Where? Where?

My warmup before work this morning included the incendiary version of "Minstrel Boy" by Joe Strummer on the "Blackhawk Down" soundtrack. At full blast, that got the furniture shifting, I tell ya...

trying to decide whether to get tix to see one of my faves, Yo La Tengo at a nice venue in Durham next week.

34:
Haha, I was scrolling down the thread just now and saw my post and thought to myself 'Wait a minute, that's not right...'

BlackHawk Down has a fine, fine soundtrack. I THINK it's one we bought outside of the movie.

I agree--love the soundtrack, eclectic mix of music, very cool to write to...

umm....I think i've found a candidate for the SNOBBIEST book of music criticism ever- August Kleinzahler, poet and music critic, has just published a collection of brief essays: Music I-LXXIV. He knows a good bit about music - but not, i think, nearly as much as he thinks he does. I kindof enjoy some of his essays, but his tone of voice is..pretty insufferable. He affects THE look down yr nose persona; snippy, dismissive of any and all he doesn't happen to like (whether a model of harpsichord, or an early rock and roller). I don't have the book here - i'll have to put in a few quotes later - but he is the ne plus ultra of a type of musical snobbishness that seems far more prevalent among jazz critics than among writers who focus on either classical or pop. William Buckley as a jazz/Chicago blues buff.

For a more positive take on the book: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/0...

Message edited by its author, Sep 16, 2009, 3:20pm.

We'll make him an honorary member of our group, shall we? Insufferably pompous, opinionated, dismissive...heck, Bob, he'd fit right in here!

Cliff,

An interview with dear old Trent of NIN:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/trent-rez...

Ah, Trent...

Mwa! Mwa!

(Kissing him on both cheeks and holding him at arms' length, grinning like a fool...)

That was a great interview. My older son is really into NIN - I sent him the link. Thanks KSW...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDNy4YuCx...

Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues by Frederik Rzewski. A pretty amazing piece of relatively modern piano music. The composer is trying, w/ great success, to get the sound of old southern textile mills into the music. We heard Adam's piano teacher play this in an abandoned (now being refurbished) textile mill in Pittsboro ~ 10 yrs ago. The echo and overtones worked to the music's advantage. (We also heard Greg play this in a conventional concert hall). One of the neat things about this particular performance is that it's at the Van Cliburn competition. The piece is ~ 9 minutes long and you need to give it time to build.

The Village People will be playing in Saskatoon in October.

That's right: The....Village...People...

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology...

So the concert will be only slightly less gay than a meeting of Republican evangelicals screening 300 (And for those playing at home, I don't mean gay in any metaphorical sense.)

Wow, Saskatoon's hit the big time now! Are you going to give them a parade?

Of course it's much better here in Dallas, Vanilla Ice is going to do a show in Deep Ellum, soon. See what heights Saskatoon can attain if it just attracts a few million more people?

Gack! I thought Vanilla Ice was dead. Or, at least, reduced to flipping burgers/managing a Boston Pizza franchise.

Bob, sorry for the delay, finally watched the Roger Wright link you posted and thought it stunning.

What the history with the Rzewski piece? Do you know what inspired it?

Message edited by its author, Sep 19, 2009, 3:25pm.

Rzewksi was one of a small cohort of communist American modern composers who ended up as expats for much of their adult lives. Winnsboro is both a "programmatic" piece - FR IS trying, and succeeding, to integrate the industrial sound of the cotton mill into the piano piece, and its "own" piece, albeit w/ references to many bits and pieces of traditional American southern tunes/music. IIRC FR has spent most of his adult life teaching in Europe (he said bravely w/out looking at wikipedia...). Another nifty piece is his set of 30+ variations on "The People, United, will never be defeated" - based on the famous battle hymn of Allende's Chilean movt,
"¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido! "

"¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido! "
One of the best piano pieces ever!!!

While we're on the topic, do any of you listen to modern "classical" music with any frequency? What are your impressions? I read an interesting article about the decline of classical music: "Terminal Prestige: The Case of Avant-Garde Music Composition." Cultural Critique 12 (1989): 57-81. (Man, I miss JSTOR!)

I know the average person doesn't get it, but I haven't had a lot of contact with intellectuals who weren't musicians. Do you think composers have become so esoteric as to be irrelevant to anyone but other composers?

"So sit bolt upright in that straight-backed chair, button that top button, and get set for some difficult music." -Laurie Anderson

Given i'm a non-composer/non-musician i probably listen to more "modern classical" than most people. And there's a LOT that i don't listen to, for sure! But a good deal (beyond the minimalists - much of whose music I like, and are "easy") is probably more accessible than folk's preconceptions. The book i started this thread with, Alex Ross's the rest is noise is probably the best place to start if anyone is interested in dipping their toe or jumping in.

And w/ a collection of several hundred "classical" cds, maybe only 50-60 are "modern." But Ligeti, Tippet, Goreki, Rzewski are much more approachable, than, say, Boulez. Medellia would have many more suggestions than I can conjure. Glenn Gould recorded a lot of Schoenberg's piano pieces and the early pieces (although 100 yrs old!) can be considered "modern" and very listenable. You've heard Ligeti if you've watched 2001 or the Shining.

But i'm currently listening to..the Beatles rereleased mono masters.

LOVE Ligetti.

Didn't know Gould played Schoenberg, I'll have to keep my eye out for that.

My current favourite album is "As Night Conquers Day" by Autumn Leaves, a death metal band from Denmark which lasted from 1992 to 2001. "As Night Conquers Day" was their last album, released in 1999.

Esp. if you like the way Gould plays Bach, i think you'd like his Schoenberg - more so than with other performances of the same pieces by other composers you can hear the relationship between Bach (and Gould's is certainly one "valid" argument for Bach) keyboard works and then Schoenberg via Gould.

On my list, Bob. Heading into the "big city" soon and will be raiding the library shelves for a number of things.

As for you and your weird Spinal Tap/death metal bands, Sales, the less said the better...

69> It's interesting that Boulez went from the wild stuff to conducting Mahler symphonies.

74> Well, Mahler was radical for his day, but he was a superb conductor and ardent admirer of Beethoven. Mendelssohn rescued Bach from historical oblivion. Etc, etc.

I adore Glenn Gould, but I think I like Angela Hewitt even better. One thing is certain: you Canadians sure know your Bach!

I must also say that I've never heard the name Ligeti uttered outside of grad school. You people are fantastic.

Literary snobs? Finally a Librarything group that appreciates the point of view of the rich, white males who rule the world (and have done a very good job at it until everyone else started feeling left out because they cannot produce the beautiful things that we do). One of the bad parts about democracy is that idiots get their chance to share their ideas with the rest of us. If you ask me to choose between a democracy of idiots and a dictatorship of wise men I will always choose the dictatorship of wise men.

Uh-oh, somebody's been reading Plato...

76> Yes, yes, you've hit the nail on the head and nailed our head to the wall.

"The wise men" was the name given to a group of people LBJ appointed to assess the progress of the Vietnam War and who assured him it was winnable.

Clark Clifford's response to this commission findings was a classic: "You old BASTARDS..."

Within a year they had reversed themselves, increasing Johnson's isolation and moving him that much closer to his decision to resign.

I don't trust "wise men". We're all slobbering, murderous monkeys under the skin...

Message edited by its author, Sep 23, 2009, 5:24pm.

umm, music anyone?

#76: Literary snobs? Finally a Librarything group that appreciates the point of view of the rich, white males who rule the world (and have done a very good job at it until everyone else started feeling left out because they cannot produce the beautiful things that we do).

Susan McClary? Is that you? ;)

How about this. Just different ways to kill the pain.

Message edited by its author, Sep 23, 2009, 6:40pm.

I do an Opera radio show every week. After finishing Wagner's 'Tristan und Isolde' in last week's show, today I began Puccini's 'Tosca'.

Any suggestions future shows? Are there any really odd (but good) operas I should track down?

Spent the afternoon playing around and recording music on Garageband--what a program. I love music dearly but can neither read a note or play an instrument. Garageband lets me find the sounds in my head and lay tracks down with no training whatsoever. I'm recording lots of weird, cool, ambient stuff, soundtrack for a movie that will never be made.

I'm going to load the best of them on my blog one of these fine days and will give you a head's up when I do...

Inaudible, Satyagraha, and a show would be a good place for people to hear it because it takes explanation. With a little explanation and the libretto, which is fairly simple although in Sanskrit, it becomes a really compelling treat.

Robert

Message edited by its author, Sep 23, 2009, 7:50pm.

What about the modern opera that was created based on Philip K. Dick's VALIS? I betcha that one would grab people's attention...

83> How about Berg's Wozzeck? Or Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande?

81> You made my day.

I'll second Pelleas et Melisande. It is modern but not contemporary. No arias so it can be a struggle to hear the music, but the drama is fine -- it is much about mystery.

Robert

#87: I aim to please. ;)

I second Wozzeck and Pelleas et Melisande. Look into Ligeti's Le Grande Macabre as well, and Bela Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle, and Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. Depending on how far you are willing to stretch your definition of opera, you might also look into Morton Feldman's "opera" Neither, which has a text by Beckett.

I'm not a big fan of Britten's operas, but I know a lot of folks who like The Turn of the Screw.

For years I have DESPERATELY wanted to lay my hands on a recording of Vaughan-Williams' "Sinfonia Antarctica" that includes John Gielgud reading from Robert Falcon Scott's diaries. If anyone has a copy of it, let me know. Scott was a fool but he died well. And I'd give my eye teeth for the aforementioned piece.

"For God's sake, look after our people..." His last words and I tear up every time I think of them...

#87, again w/out knowing what you've played - i like Adam's "i was looking at the ceiling and then i saw the sky" but what i've heard of opera and art song is slight & totally random.

i'm a teeny bit sorry for being petty in desiring that not every thread in lit snobs exhibit more or less the same political plaints. But, at least for me, it'd be more interesting for someone to suggest genres that people might not be familiar with. Fado's a music i knew naught about till a Portuguese friend pointed me to several artists a month or so ago (Mariza http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfpDD4Mch... was one, in particular, Rita suggested). Or the incredibly intense melding of trad Scandinavian w/ a rock mindset of groups like Garmarna - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufnnr_q1y... . No one's gonna like everything - try as i may, Piazolla (sic) is vastly popular and does nothing for me.

Stealing from wikipedia, Kyle Gann an American white male composer/critic - among the scores i don't know - asserts, doubtless correctly that: " after researching the top composition prizes in America, including the Grawemeyer Award for Music, he discovered that the award panels often included "the same seven names over and over as judges": Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Jacob Druckman (now deceased), George Perle, John Harbison, Mario Davidovsky, and Bernard Rands. Gann concluded that since all of these composers are white men, and generally have same "narrow Eurocentric aesthetic" that the prize has been unfairly biased. " blah, blah, blah.

But all the same i'd only heard pieces by 10/23 of the winners, so evilly biased or not, there's still a bunch of potentially interesting music i might like to check out. Though if the Village Voice's classical music criticism is as useless to me as their pop music, movie and literary reviews usually are, wtf. (Though little pop criticism is as pointless and clueless for my interests as the New Yorker's deathlessly hip Frere jaques sasha Jones. sic, again)

89: "What?!?! No Britten operas? I revoke my compliment;) Not even Peter Grimes? Do you like the Sea Interludes at least? I loved Turn of the Screw. Which reminds me of the thread where someone was asking about unreliable narrators...where was that?

91: Of course, Nixon in China is the most famous one. It really is superb, but many avoid it for political reasons.

#92: Do I get any points back for liking the Sea Interludes, and adoring the War Requiem?

I'm thinking that the description of "modern music" doesn't mean Taylor Swift and Katy Perry...?

#95: I suspect that most of us in this group are far too old for the latest hot singers. :)

While I'm here, are any of you classical music folks Jonathan Harvey fans? I saw a really fine performance of his Tombeau de Messiaen (for piano and tape) tonight. I rarely see his music programmed here in the States, so I was very excited to hear it.

I can do old too :)
Santana, Aerosmith, Police, Bryan Adam, Billy Joel...

That's not old:

Bill Haley and the Comets
Early Elvis (Elvis after 1961 was a parody of himself)
The Crickets
Gene Vincent and the Bluecaps
Jerry Lee Lewis
Ivory Joe Hunter
Chuck Willis
Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters...

and

Perry Como
Dinah Shore
Teresa Brewer
Bing Crosby
Frank Sinatra
Gogi Grant...

and many more

Now that's old.

Message edited by its author, Sep 25, 2009, 12:14pm.

Pfft. That's not old.

Guillaume de Machaut
Philippe de Vitry
Josquin des Prez
Johannes Ockeghem

and, um

Léonin
Pérotin
Adam de la Halle
Hildegard von Bingen

...and so forth.

99: You've inspired me to go home and listen to Gesualdo:) "'Io parto' e non più dissi, che il dolore
Privò di vita il core."

#100: Gosh, I love Gesualdo. Sometimes I like to muse on what the progression of music history might've been like if his style had caught on at the time.

I had a music history prof who played us the beginning of "Moro, lasso" and told us that Gesualdo composed the first Batman music.

OK, if it's OLD OLD, then I don't belong here :)
70's is as old as I get...even my parents don't listen to stuff older than that!
Not to say any of you are OLD!
I think it's so cool LT has such a wide age group!!!

urk..i'm kindof old (we have a 25 yr old son)- Medellia, otoh, is a lot younger than your parents, i'm quite sure, she just happens to know a good bit about old musics.

At the moment listening to semi-old music - but historic - the last mvt of Beethoven's 9th, Bernstein conducting in E. Berlin, after the Berlin wall was torn down.

The 70s weren't all that bad in re pop. Richard & Linda Thompson, the Clash, Elvis Costello, one of the great music movies, The Harder They Come, which helped reggae go global. (The Criterion edition of the movie, w/ commentary both by Jimmy Cliff and the director, Perry Henzel, is fantastic, but out of print, still, i think; other good releases are available). I can't think of any worthless decade (in re music)

#93 - just thinking about John Adam's operas - probably the one which caused him the most political grief was the death of Klinghoffer?

(for a while now we've generally relied on our son to let us know what newish music he thinks we'll like. Actually adam wrote some of the original entries on wikipedia about various Italian renaissance composers)

Bob, I have just a couple of years on your son. I'm a cube this year.

SecretariatGirl, I agree about the interesting age range here. There's one LT user, Esta1923, who is 86 years old! My own sweet grandmother's age. (I wonder if she has the distinction of being the oldest person on LT.)

At the moment listening to semi-old music - but historic - the last mvt of Beethoven's 9th
I believe Susan McClary had a few interesting words on that one as well. :)

Bob, re: Italians and new music, has your son put you on to Salvatore Sciarrino? Holcombjmarie, he's not far off of our Gesualdo discussion, either--he has a piece called Le voci sottovetro, which involves strangely-orchestrated transcriptions of Gesualdo's music. I confess I've not listened to it yet, but I usually like Sciarrino's instrumental music very much--his flute and string stuff (respectively) in particular.

Posted about my book haul while in da Big City but also found some good music--a Dylan collection, also his album "Desire", the soundtrack for "Troy" (never saw the movie and never will but James Horner did the score and I like his work) and a couple of vinyl records, stuff from the mid-seventies from Tangerine Dream (one of my favorite bands to work to). The office is gonna be a-rockin' today, friends...

103: I'd never seen Klinghoffer, and looked it up on good old Wikipedia. I had a pretty one-dimensional view of Adams as a conservative apologist. Tricky Dick seemed pretty darn sympathetic in Nixon in China. I'll have to check into him more carefully, I guess.

104: You know, I thought of myself as a feminist until I read Susan McClary. Now the label kind of scares me. Feminine Endings is one of the worst books I've ever read. Re Batman, if we ressurrected Gesualdo, do you think he'd be one of Danny Elfman's legions of grad student slaves?

thinking about "popular" music and decades. At least in terms of what I enjoy, i'm pretty much stuck within my own lifespan (1950s - now). I have no idea how typical this prejudice happens to be. But thinking about SecretariatGirl's comment made me think i had pretty much the same reaction as she, just spread out over 59 yrs.

Big band music just never did it for me - nor did Viennese waltzes - nor hot NO jazz. Which is much more a comment on me than on the music.

Sciarrino? no - there's always something new! Thanks. Cliff, i'd totally forgotten (or rather my leaking braincells couldn't bring Sigur Ros to mind, but they are easily my favorite of the Icelandic bands).

Even w/ "world music" the stuff i like best (Thomas Mapfumo, Zimbabwe and other southern, SW African, pop as well as reggae, ska, rocksteady, as well as "modern" Scandinavian folk stuff is well w/in my lifetime.

107: Well, you are in good company. Adorno famously hated jazz, didn't he? But then again he went on a diatribe about slippers and the decline of Western civilization:)

Hey, I have the Kairos Sciarrino recording with Le voci sottovetro. That is one curious collection of stuff—everything revolves around crazy Italian Renaissance characters.

Are you familiar with those recent operas about Gesualdo? There's one by Schnittke and another by some lesser luminary whom I've never run into elsewhere. I've heard neither.

Message edited by its author, Sep 26, 2009, 2:05pm.

108 - actually my problem w/ a lot of jazz is pretty basic - i'm not a fan of most reed instruments, w/ sax being my least liked (grew up w/ a v. good clarinetist who went to conservatory - didn't help any - though my sister was playing Mozart concerti until she got off on her own and took up bari-sax and then choral singing after she moved to NOrleans.) What jazz i like is almost all keyboard or vibes based. Kind of like my reaction towards Debussy or Wagner - i can accept that it's a failure, in some sense, of appreciation on my part. I recognize its importance and influence w/out wanting to listen to much.

Ouch... I majored in saxophone performance in undergrad. But it was mostly classical (yes, classical saxophone does exist.) I am learning the banjo, however, so I hope I'm not just pure evil.

Do you like oboe or bassoon? (Or crumhorns?)

110> Check out Khan Jamal. He's an incredible Jazz vibe player.

I'm not sure what the deal is w/ reeds - I am a bit more comfortable w/ double reed instruments. Some childhood trauma i'd need serious therapy to recall, i imagine.

(And i actually like a lot of accordion music so wtf..)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMyLqZ_v6...
- not the version by Accordion Tribe i was looking for, but still nice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdb-ijWq8... or, ever odder, Inna Gadda da vida by ATribe as a quartet...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZIOZEES2...

my apologies to all reed players! I know i was at least partially traumatized by forgetting 2 pages of the piano accompaniment when my sister was playing the Mozart clarinet concerto @ some competition in hs. She kept her place, somehow (she was a much better musician than I)

Message edited by its author, Sep 26, 2009, 5:45pm.

#106 holcombjmarie: Re Batman, if we ressurrected Gesualdo, do you think he'd be one of Danny Elfman's legions of grad student slaves?
:)

#109 darsu: I was aware that there was one by Schnittke, but I haven't heard of the other one, whoever it's by. I haven't listened to the Schnittke.

Bob! As a clarinetist, I am deeply wounded. *pout*

i really don't "hate" clarinet music - but i'll certainly grant it's not close to my top choices if i'm looking for a concerto. There are thousands of instrument jokes (brass vs strings; umm brass players against the world, really). But my favorite clarinet bit came on Terry Gross' show on NPR. She had John Adams on for a very nice and informative interview - just after his big boxed set came out. If you listen to Fresh Air, it's pretty clear she's awfully close to being an on-air groupie for musicians she likes, and John Adams was no exception. She'd done her research and found that Adams had started off as a clarinetist and oooh and ahhed, exclaiming "how that was one of the HARDEST instruments to play." John Adams seemed to shake his head gently (over the air) and said, no..the clarinet was really one of the easiest "symphonic/band" instruments to learn. He didn't make the follow on point, that becoming a virtuoso on ANY instrument is never easy.

I only remember that snippet because growing up w/ my sister's playing. Our poor neighbors - we lived in a 60s style modern, mostly glass, house (google Hollin Hills, Fairfax County and there's alot of info on where we grew up) and certainly before double paned glass became standard. By 5:am my sister was practicing clarinet, my baby brother his trumpet and i was bringing up the musical rear on piano. All playing different music at the same time. Followed by us vacuuming our bedrooms several mornings a week, before breakfast/school etc.
*ed to correct "musical real" to "musical rear"
I do like Gnarly Buttons

Message edited by its author, Sep 27, 2009, 6:15pm.

Speaking of John Adams and clarinets (he's right, btw), have you given Gnarly Buttons a listen? I particularly like the third movement, "Put Your Loving Arms Around Me," though I think the title is one of the lamest things I've ever seen in classical music.

My parents were always happy to have me practice my piano indoors, but when I began learning the clarinet around that same time, they began pointing out what a very nice day it was outside, and gosh, that breeze was so lovely.

There are few things I love more than clarinets in klezmer music.

117: hear, hear!!!

One of the easiest instruments to learn is actually (gasp) the saxophone. As a former teacher once said, "To play the saxophone poorly, one needs only the embouchure of a jell-o mold." Also, I hear if you slap a soft reed on a sax mouthpiece, hold it out the car window, and go flying down the highway, it will actually "play". But, as mentioned above, it is devilishly hard to master.

p.s. 115: I have a hard time liking the harpsichord, so no hard feelings:) The only time I liked it was in Ginsberg's poem: "who sat in boxes breathing in the darkness under the bridge, and rose up to build harpsichords in their lofts."

And now, for your listening (and viewing) pleasure, Ernie Kovacs' "Kitchen Sink Symphony".

And people think I'm uncultured:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX5khYGqj...

Pftt. This makes better use of a kitchen sink. Well, a fridge and a cooker at least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysUjYAi0W...

That's...fascinating.

I think I'll go lie down now...

OK, I have to post on this thread about the amazing concert I saw on Saturday night. Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Zakir Hussein and Chris Thile playing with the Oregon Symphony. The Symphony bookended the concert with famous overtures (Dvorak's Carnival and Suppe's Poet & Peasant) and did a pretty good job racing through them. Chris Thile played an amazing mandolin concerto he wrote, and did a Bach partita as an encore - faster than I've ever heard a violin play it, and every note was clear! Then Fleck/Meyer/Hussein did this completely wonderful triple concerto for banjo/double bass/tabla that THEY had written. It was really beautiful, particularly Hussein's playing on the tabla. I need the recording.

Message edited by its author, Sep 28, 2009, 11:14am.

I have attended a performance of the triple concerto and have bought the CD (I have yet to listen to it). The rest of the audience was moved much more than I including a couple of people here and there whose bonafides I know. I have always kind of thought that bongos are a con job; calling them tablas doesn't much alleviate that.

It was pleasant sound, but I didn't hear the coherence that I expect of a single piece.

Edgar Meyer with Mark O'Connor and Yoyo Ma and with others has done some absolutely engaging stuff. I just wasn't engaged by this work.

I remain open to changing my mind once I confer with those other people I knew at the concert and once I have listened to it a few more times.

Robert

124: Have you heard Thile's concerto?

125: No.

Do you have "Music for Two"? It's a wonderful collaboration between Meyer and Fleck.

The father of one of my former students used to jam in his basement with Bela Fleck, and apparently Edgar Meyer was there a few times as well. So jealous...

127: Yes, I have "Music for Two" as well as Bela Fleck's album "Perpetual Motion" which includes a couple of numbers with Meyer. I love them both. There's a DVD of "Music for Two" which is very entertaining and contains a lot of footage of them rehearsing and performing.

Oh..should anyone be interested - for the next couple of weeks Mojo Nixon's complete oeuvre is downloadable for free from Amazon (if you're coming in from a US server). An acquired taste, and a very, umm spotty body of work. All the same songs such as: "I hate banks," "the ballad of Wendell Scott" (the first Black Nascar driver) and "Elvis is everywhere" have stood the test of time (though my personal all time Mojo favorite is his cover of the Woody Guthrie classic "this land is your land."

http://tinyurl.com/yhqgcn9

AV Club critic Nathan Rabin has a wonderful series called "Nashville or Bust":

http://www.avclub.com/articles/nashville...

He is the hip hop reviewer and also does the "My Year of Flops" series. Great writing on country western-type music.

British electro-glitch-noise duo...ahem...Fuck Buttons has an upcoming new album called Tarot Sport. It's such a fringe genre that I have no idea if it would appeal to anybody on this forum, but if you're the sort of person who enjoys noisy, quasi-experimental stuff, then I whole-heartedly recommend them. I saw them perform their whole first album live with about fifteen other audience members and it was a really cool experience. The only other group that's rattled my ribcage quite that hard is My Bloody Valentine.

#131: The tracks they have up on their MySpace page are interesting.

Speaking of glitch, any Oval fans in here?

Any band with a moniker like "Fuck Buttons" can't be ALL bad. My Bloody Valentine is a pretty fine group--"Loveless" has been blasted in my office more than once. Presently I've got The Ramones Greatest Hits thundering away and following that Muse ("Black Holes and Revelations").

As for Oval, nope, not familiar with them--you folks should post some links so we can sample their "wares"...

Am off to see Tinariwen this evening. Should be interesting.

"Tinariwen" being an old Celt word meaning "turn down that fucking noise"....

>135 - Tinariwen are a band of "poet guitarists" (record company expression) from the Sahara. (The kind of music you would expect Neil Young to produce if he got lost on camel ride when on holiday in North Africa).

Tinariwen? Awesome!

I haven't listened to Fuck Buttons, but everything I've heard about them is positive.

Me, I've been boring and am listening to The Antlers' "Hospice" - an album about, among other things, Sylvia Plath. =P

#136 Now THAT does sound interesting. Not at ALL like Sales' usual thrash-it-til-my-body-cavities-bleed type music.

The Antlers--haven't heard of them either. Again, I urge folks to post links so we can watch the videos or listen to the tunesmiths in question...

A link to NPR's "All Songs Considered" program, with various concerts, diverse musicians. I was listening to Dinosaur Jr's show last night. Whoo hoo!

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

>138 - For Tinariwen.

Listening to it now--thanks, chum. My wife is a huge fan of "world music"; think I'll send this on to her, as well...

139:
Dinosaur Jr. did a free show in Central Park a couple of months ago and I missed it. A real shame, since it seems like most of the new album was written to be heard live.

Pynchon had the greatest name for a punk band: Fascist Toejam.

Tinariwen were excellent. The support act proved to be... Tinariwen without front man Ibrahim Ag Alhabib. Some good music, some not so good dancing in the crowd though.

Anyone with YouTube footage of Ian Sales moshing, please post it to this thread...

145: Wouldn't he spill his cognac on his Lawrence Durrell?

Bill Hicks on dance clubs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlMtY8BXh...

I've been listening to one of Tangerine Dream's early albums, "Zeit". Very spacey and atmospheric--highly recommended.

Listening to the new Tinariwen album, Imidiwan: Companions. A lot more bluesy than earlier albums. The track 'Tenhert' is especially good.

Last night I was over paying birthday respects to a friend and, lo and behold, her husband gave her two Tinariwen CDs a gifts. Apparently they've been getting lots of airplay on CBC Radio and our pals both fell in love with the band's sound.

Join me in a chorus of "It's a small world after all", won't you?

Not you, Ian. With your taste in music, we'll give you a couple of spoons you can rattle during the chorus...

Not to disappoint you, Cliff, on Saturday I'm off to the Damnation Festival - where, among many others, four bands I like a great deal will be playing: Anathema, Akercocke, Mithras and Rotting Christ...

"Rotting Christ"?

Yikes.

Sales, there's a special brazier in Hades waiting for you...

I'm gonna see Califone play tonight. Apparently the lead guy has written/directed a movie, which their new album is meant to accompany, and they're gonna screen it tonight and play the music live along with it. The film looks sort of odd, but even if it's awful I'm sure the music will make up for it. They're kind of a rumbling experimental Americana outfit, though this latest offering is a lot more accessible than past albums.

http://califonemusic.com/

Looks way cool. Let us know what you think of the concert & film.

The show was very good. There was a projection screen set up on a small stage with the band behind it. I got a seat on the side so i could see most of the band in addition to the screen. The movie wasn't bad at all. It had to do with a psychic who lives in an old house with a bunch of ghosts. Nothing groundbreaking, but it was interesting, and the music contributed a huge amount of atmosphere. The band played through most of the film, though there were only 4 full-on songs. The rest was instrumental versions and ambient-type stuff. After it was over, they came back on and played 5 or 6 songs. Very enjoyable. If I could, I'd head down to VA and drag my girlfriend to it on Monday.

Thanks for the review--sounds like my kinda show.

Back from Damnation. Much better than I expected. Mithras and Akercocke were let down a bit by the sound quality, but were very good. Anathema played a "best of" set and were excellent. Rotting Christ were pretty good too. Didn't think much of Life of Agony, though.

And my ears are still ringing.

I think I have some understanding--watched a Lamb of God concert video with my son, Liam, last night--playing full blast from our speakers, Dolby 5.1 sound. Have no idea what they were singing about, other than the song titles--to me, the most fascinating aspect were the bits between songs which documented the band's sometimes fractious relationship with each other. At one point, two of the members get into a drunken scrap over nothing, fight inside the tour bus and then in the street outside.

And the mosh pit looked like a free for all brawl--do you mosh, Ian?

Gotta zip some Mithras Liam's way--incoherent lyrics and accompanying noise, probably right up his alley if Lamb of God is any indication...

No, I don't mosh. It gets a bit violent in there. I prefer to just listen to the music and watch the performance.

I was at a Sonic Youth concert and there was moshing ... by people who clearly didn't fit the mosh pit age demographic.

For those interested, check out "The Modern Chamber" on WMSE:

http://www.wmse.org/djs/jason.php

Ah, Sonic Youth; must have five or six or their albums. Good stuff.

Besides their mainstream rock albums, they also have a series of more experimental albums under the SYR label. An acquired taste to say the least.

Let me put in a plug for an ambient group that's been on near-constant play in my office, Stars of the Lid. Subtle, minimalistic, moody--definitely NOT elevator music. Have a listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89_lBfgMO...

"Valley" from The Orb -- the Orbus Terrarum album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R1gEwnpy...

... wait for the bass to kick in. Delicious!

162:
I wrote a lot of papers to And Their Refinement of the Decline in college.

I've had my eye out for that album ("And Their Refinement...) but it clocks in at twenty bucks, even on iTunes so I'll keep looking. I've got "Per Aspera Ad Astra" (to Wikipedia or your Latin dictionaries!) and like it just fine.

Karl, I've got about 4 Orb CD's and like 'em a whole lot...

Message edited by its author, Oct 26, 2009, 6:52pm.

The Orb is awesome, even to someone whose means of intoxication is limited to booze and cigars. Also check out the group Future Sound of London.

For those interested in the bleeping and blooping world of electronica, trance, jungle, techno, etc., check out these two documentaries and their accompanying soundtracks:

*Better Living Through Circuitry

The trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUfOi0c5c...

*Modulations

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E77_tuLHe...

"Curse of the Hearse" by Terry Teene:

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

Happy Halloween!

Hee, hee, that's great!

My new favorite pop tune, started my morning with it, is "Dominoes" by Big Pink. Try to keep from dancing to this one:

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

Some of the cuts off the album are produced by one of the dudes from My Bloody Valentine...

"I Put a Spell on You." Screamin' Jay Hawkins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kGPhpvqt...

And the modernized version from Marilyn Manson -- also heard in the David Lynch film, "Lost Highway":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPw1i9dAJ...

Happy Halloween kiddies!

Here's a neat site that features some good alt-music downloads and snippets. I nabbed a collaboration between Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse that's pretty amazing. Flaming Lips and Iggy Pop are just a couple of the guest stars. Troll around in this place for awhile, I think you'll find some nifty tunes:

http://onethirtybpm.com

http://www.forcedexposure.com/artists/gr...

throbbing gristle desktop loop generator...

well..this isn't new music by any means...but Stan Rogers' NorthWest Passage has long been a favorite song of mine. There are many great versions out there (tho none better than the one Rogers recorded) but here's neat one in Polish:

http://www.nme.com/awards/video/id/DpoLx...
one w/ a 5 piece woman string orchestra:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVW8oMvQ0...
and the original..which is chilling in many senses of the word:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVY8LoM47...

This is straightforward folk. The original was a cappella

I know there are some popmatters readers in this group. I wonder if anybody has an opinion on their new "Best Debut Albums of the Year" feature. Personally, I think it's a great list and, other than the fact that I would have put Japandroids in the top 3, I even agree with the order.

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/117...

popmatters is SO much better than pitchfork~!

tho i'll admit to being po'd at the whole reviewing world when the Hold Steady's 1st cd was given all those raves a few yrs back. Last time i'll buy something w/out hearing at least a cut or two.

Message edited by its author, Dec 8, 2009, 6:46pm.

173 - especially The XX is my personal number one
of the year.
The album Fever Ray from Karin Dreijer of the Knife comes second in line but then it is just a solo project and not really a new comer.

174:
Haha, I happen to really like the Hold Steady, but you're right, sometimes pitchfork makes some pretty strange calls. I think in their review of the last Akron/Family album, the reviewer called their "gospel-like chanting" tedious...when I've always thought of that stuff as one of the best reasons to listen to Akron/Family.

175:
Yeah I liked the Fever Ray album too, but it might as well have been another Knife record, so I think it's appropriate to leave it off a list of debuts.

Message edited by its author, Dec 8, 2009, 8:25pm.

i have to confess my feelings towards the Hold Steady are akin to mine towards Bolano. Almost every one I know but me thinks both are great - whereas i think both are incredibly pretentious. So i'm just not getting something that the rest of the world is in these instances.

been listening to semi-random ambient sounds in my office generated by the "buddhaII" loop generator the size of a deck of cards.
http://www.forcedexposure.com/bin/search...

2009 The Year in Band Names:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/2009-the-...

Got The Resistance by Muse, and it's superb. The Exogenesis suite is amazing.

Message edited by its author, Dec 11, 2009, 4:14pm.

>179 Interesting. I was a bit underwelmed by Muse's new album. I know that they've always been very over-the-top, but this just seemed too much to me.

180:

I felt the same way after the first listen. They definitely took a different direction with this album, and at times, I felt they were almost parodying themselves and/or paying homage to late 70's or early eighties rock, especially a nod to Queen. However, the sentiment in the latter parts of the record, especially with United States of Eurasia, I Belong to You and Exogenesis, the songs are so well conceived that it balances the recording and finishes sublimely. It's hard to incorporate a symphonic piece into loud alt-rock, but they pull it off. Maybe they're just too clever for their own good.

Maybe I should go back and give it another listen, then. They are one of my favorite bands, after all.

I like Muse too--give a listen to Grandaddy and Aqualung if yer interested in something along the same lines. Mebbe the Eels too, they can be sublime...

Ah, Grandaddy. So sad they've dissolved. Jason Lytle's new solo album is really great, though, and it's basically an extension of Grandaddy.

Speaking of snobbery, I have to mention Lambchop. An alt-country band from Nashville, they possess very esoteric, strange and even disconcerting lyrics, but in quiet contemplation.

One of my faves from the Chop - Crackers

Message edited by its author, Yesterday, 9:03am.

Thanks for the link to Jason's site, Gonzo! Have been warming up before work (literally, it's -32 this morning) with the tracks he's posted blasting away. This solo album sounds like...a really terrific Grandaddy album. And, yeah, I miss them too.

Check out that Aqualung dude too--"Strange and Beautiful" and "Memory Man" are both fine CDs...

It's Rosemary Clooney, but is it "modern"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWfBIc2IM...

No worries, Cliff. Just checked out Aqualung, and I like it very much. Sort of a mix somewhere between Eels and Radiohead (never have been able to get into Radiohead though god knows I've tried - but that's for another thread).

Speaking of Eels, the new album is pretty solid I must say. I was skeptical since he does tend to focus on love songs, but the lo-fi, lonely recluse vibe works well. Love the Wolfman theme.

Thanks for that, Karl. That was my favorite song when I was in the fourth grade. A real chart topper.

As to its modern-ness, absolutely!