Return of the F:AT Music Thread

A lot of Killing Joke. Old and new.

That's funny, BradH, my first concert was also Bowie. And The Tubes. Yeah, The Tubes. Lots of people dressed up funny and the smell of clove cigs. This one fella had a surgeon's smock on. Ahh, memories.

Been listening to MF Doom: MM... Food. Pretty good stuff. Need to investigate more, I DL'd Madvilliany. Any recommends as to what else is worth checking? Been in the mood for some Gangstarr.

I have one Burzum and it is pretty interesting so I will have to play that again soon and look into more maybe. This one is pretty soundtracky, good for gaming.

Oh my god, don't get me started on missing TG. I can't believe they aren't doing a Seattle show, it would totally sell out. I have friends that were talking about driving to SF to see them but I just can't afford that. What a drag. I did see PTV but it was during the psychodelic techno trip and it just fucking sucked. Stations ov thee Cross was okay though. I'm not much into industial these days but it would be awesome to see TG! Youtube will be my gig I suppose...

This deserves its own response:

Int heard much Bowie but he is one of those guys I always wanted to sit down and listen to. Recommendations on what to download please.

This is tough, because unlike other artists where you can pick a few representative tracks you can't really do that with Bowie. It depends on what you want. If I were to download only five complete Bowie records, they would be:

HUNKY DORY
ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS
DIAMOND DOGS
LOW
SCARY MONSTERS

I think that's as close as you can come to approximating the whole of the Bowie sound, at least through 1980 and after that there's still some amazing music to be heard, but nothing as essential as what came before.

There's a lot of Bowie music before he was anything, the Davey Jones and the Lower Third stuff and a self-titled debut from '67 that includes "Love You 'Til Tuesday". There's some fun tracks there in a moddish fashion, particularly "London Bye Ta Ta". Most of the really early stuff is novelty more than anything else.

Moving into the late 60s, you run into a post-hippie, folky, singer-songwriter Bowie. The real "first" Bowie record is SPACE ODDITY. It's quaint, but the great songs (particularly the essential title track and "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud") are truly great. There's hints of futurism and glam rock in there if you know where to look.

"Man Who Sold the World" is very much a transitional record. It's a lot harder (Mick Ronson, Woody Woodmansey, and Trevor Bolder reporting for duty) and there's both elements of science fiction and hard rock. The title track is the most well known here because of Nirvana, of course, but there's some other scorchers- "Width of a Circle", "Supermen", "Black Country Rock", "She Shook Me Cold". An often overlooked record.

"Hunky Dory" is really where Bowie stepped into his own and it's a masterpiece- the hippie stuff isn't quite shaken off, but this is where you're going to hear canonical stuff like "Changes", "Oh,You Pretty Things", "Life on Mars", "Andy Warhol", "Queen Bitch" (definite Lou Reed influence in that one) and probably one of my top five Bowie cuts, "Quicksand".

"Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" is next and it's one of the best records every recorded. Don't hesitate to download the whole thing. A couple of B-sides from this period are must-hears too- "John, I'm Only Dancing", "Velvet Goldmine", and "Sweet Head".

"Aladdin Sane" is a continuation of the Ziggy character but a little darker and grittier. "Watch That Man", "Panic in Detroit", "Drive in Saturday" and "The Jean Genie" are the pics here.

"Pin Ups" is a covers album and kind of a farewell to the Spiders From Mars. Some good stuff, none of it really essential.

"Diamond Dogs" is another floor to ceiling masterpiece. The glam rock of the last couple of records reaches its apotheosis in "Rebel Rebel", which could be the greatest rock n' roll song ever record. There's more experimentalism on display here throughout, with the roots of what would become the "Plastic Soul" sound putting in an appearance. I love every song on this record, but other than "Rebel Rebel" be sure to hear the title track, "Big Brother", "Candidate", and "1984". Yep, it's a theme record.

"Young Americans" features one of Bowie's best vocals in the title track and with Luther Vandross on board songs like "Win" and "Fascination" are really incredible pieces of postmodern, homogenized, and deconstructed soul music. And that is exactly the point. "Fame" is the hit off the record, but do stick around for the remainder. A lot of the more rock-inclined Bowie fans dismiss this one, but that's a huge mistake. There's a studio outtake from these sessions, a cover of Springsteen's "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" that is absolutely scorching.

"Station to Station" is one of my newly rediscovered favorites. A subtlely bizarre record that blends the "Diamond Dogs" sound with a little Krautrock, more refined and earnest funk, occultism, and mountains of cocaine. It is no doubt a cocaine record, "The Thin White Duke" indeed. Title track, "TVC15" and "Stay" are essential. But don't neglect "Golden Years" just because it was in that awful A KNIGHT'S TALE- it's one of his best funk-influenced songs. Some nice balladry on display here too- "Word on a Wing".

From 1974-1979 you're getting into the three records he did with Brian Eno while sobering up in Berlin. They are one of the prime origins of New Wave and a huge percentage of what was going on in rock music in the 1980s. "Low" is yet another start-to-finish winner, with half the album consisting of scintillating and challenging pop songs like "Be My Wife", "Always Crashing in the Same Car", and "Sound and Vision". The other have is majestic, mysterious, and atmospheric ambient tracks that sound like they could have been cut last week. "Heroes" offers one of the best songs ever written (again) as its title track, more ambient fare, and a couple of classics like "The Secret Life of Arabia" and "Joe the Lion". "Lodger" rounds out the trio and it's a very disjointed, angular record that many would likely call one of the weaker Bowie records. It's impossible to hear and not think of Talking Heads (whom Eno had just produced) and there are a couple of weaker tracks, but "DJ", "Boys Keep Swinging", and "Look Back in Anger" are timeless classics. "Red Sails" has been really growing on me.

Heading into 1980, you wind up at "Scary Monsters". This was Bowie one-upping the nascent New Wavers. It's weird, because after this record Bowie's writing starts to sound dated. "Scary Monsters" sounds fresh and exciting, "Let's Dance" sounds like an 80s record. "Fashion" is my favorite here, but "Teenage Wildlife" and of course, the monumental "Ashes to Ashes" can't be missed.

Beyond that...there's great music but also some not-so-great Bowie. You can tell when he's really feeling it, but even the "bad" records are still good. And there's classic post-1980 Bowie- "Modern Love", "Blue Jean", "China Girl"(originally on Iggy Pop's "The Idiot"), "Loving the Alien", "Strangers When We Meet", "The Heart's Filthy Lesson", "Hallo Spaceboy", "Dead Man Walking", "Seven", "Everyone Says Hi", "Fall Dog Bombs the Moon"...

That should be enough to get you started, at least.

Orlok- did you see Killing Joke on their tour last year? I saw them in NYC, the original lineup. They came on to the BLADE RUNNER soundtrack and played every song off the first two albums, "Eighties", and "Love Like Blood". The venue sound was bad, but DAMN, they were awesome. "The Wait" was one of the most intense live performances I've ever seen.

Burzum...his atmospheric stuff is good, but you really need to get "Hviss Lyset Tar Oss" or "Filosofem". "Det Som Engang Var" too. Those records just blow me away.

You guys that dig Burzum really ought to check out Paysage D'Hiver...it's ultra lo-fi, but it's one of the only things I've heard that really capture that feeling of sheer _coldness_ that you hear in the Burzum records.

Amd everybody should go download some Brenoritvrezorkre. Let me know what you think about it.

The Black Crowes.

I need no other band.

Hex Sinister wrote:

Oh my god, don't get me started on missing TG. I can't believe they aren't doing a Seattle show, it would totally sell out. I have friends that were talking about driving to SF to see them but I just can't afford that. What a drag. I did see PTV but it was during the psychodelic techno trip and it just fucking sucked. Stations ov thee Cross was okay though. I'm not much into industial these days but it would be awesome to see TG! Youtube will be my gig I suppose...

I too thought about going down to SanFran for Throbbing Gristle. Fucking shame they aren't coming up to Seattle.

When did you see Psychic TV? If it was 2007 I was there. Don't get your hatred though, Psychic TV has never really been about industrial music.

Random stuff on the IPod....Some David Gilmour, Roger Waters, The Residents and Zappa.

I heard a really bad remake of Fear's "Let's Have a War". IT sounded like a Euro player doing a remake of that most awesome song.

Crappy remake


And Fear's

JonJacob,

I heard some Sage Francis song on the radio a couple of years back, and was blown away. It was a lengthy rap with a lot of criticism for the Bush Administration and overall current events, but I can't remember the song title just now.

And I too enjoy the Ennio Morricone soundtracks. I make my Call of Cthulhu group listen to the soundtrack to The Thing from time to time, just to build tension.

mikoyan wrote:

Random stuff on the IPod....Some David Gilmour, Roger Waters, The Residents and Zappa.

I heard a really bad remake of Fear's "Let's Have a War". IT sounded like a Euro player doing a remake of that most awesome song.

Crappy remake

And Fear's

Hey, both links go to the crappy version with insipid video.

Mad Malthus wrote:

mikoyan wrote:

Random stuff on the IPod....Some David Gilmour, Roger Waters, The Residents and Zappa.

I heard a really bad remake of Fear's "Let's Have a War". IT sounded like a Euro player doing a remake of that most awesome song.

Crappy remake

And Fear's

Hey, both links go to the crappy version with insipid video.

Try the other link now....It has been fixed...

Count Orlok wrote:

When did you see Psychic TV? If it was 2007 I was there. Don't get your hatred though, Psychic TV has never really been about industrial music.

I didn't even realize they were here in 07. This was back in the early 90's. As far as industrial goes, I consider PTV's stuff to be just that at least early on. But you say industrial nowadays and it means something completely different than it used to. Stuff like Hafler Trio, Nurse With Wound, Neubauten, that was what we knew as industrial music. It was TG and Monte Cazazza that coined the term right? Why Nine Inch Nails and stuff like that started being called such I know not. That is pop music to me.

Hex Sinister wrote:

Count Orlok wrote:

When did you see Psychic TV? If it was 2007 I was there. Don't get your hatred though, Psychic TV has never really been about industrial music.

I didn't even realize they were here in 07. This was back in the early 90's. As far as industrial goes, I consider PTV's stuff to be just that at least early on. But you say industrial nowadays and it means something completely different than it used to. Stuff like Hafler Trio, Nurse With Wound, Neubauten, that was what we knew as industrial music. It was TG and Monte Cazazza that coined the term right? Why Nine Inch Nails and stuff like that started being called such I know not. That is pop music to me.

I'm not doubting that, I'm talking about that industrial music. All the Psychic TV I've ever heard has been psychedelic, 60's pop or house. They've never really been very heavy. Now COIL is a different story, they started pretty heavy in the industrial scene, but drifted more into experimental.

As for why "industrial" being applied to things like nine inch nails, I think its because of Wax Trax! and their scene. They became known as "industrial" and were subsequently ripped off by these other bands who now claim the title.

I am curious what the new Throbbing Gristle record is going to sound like. The Endless Not is a great album, and a very interesting band. It's obvious that the whole band has been busy the last thirty years.

Shellhead wrote:

JonJacob,

I heard some Sage Francis song on the radio a couple of years back, and was blown away. It was a lengthy rap with a lot of criticism for the Bush Administration and overall current events, but I can't remember the song title just now.

And I too enjoy the Ennio Morricone soundtracks. I make my Call of Cthulhu group listen to the soundtrack to The Thing from time to time, just to build tension.

Cool man. I think the tune your thinking of is Makeshift Patriot... it was a single he released in response to 911... I remember hearing there was some controversy about it in New York.

I'll have to remember Morricone for Lovecraft stuff... that's a good fit.

Michael Barnes wrote:

JonJacob- screw you and your "Leonard Cohen is coming to my town"! NO ATLANTA DATE. At least we get the Pogues monday!

Most expensive show I've ever paid for.

Your Bowie list is pretty awesome.