What MUSIC are you listening to? ARCHIVE

Tonight saw Noah & the Whale do a concert. They were slow to get off the mark, but gradually found pace and rythm and built up to a good finale. Then returned for a stunning encore. Well done that! My enjoyment of the concert was strongly linked to that of the drummer, who was constantly casting his begging eyes upon the singer: can I play now? It was a pleasure to see him working up to an outburst, looking up as he drew a deep breath before attacking his drumset with vigour.


They were preceded by the angelic voices of the Blue Roses, who I'd loved to buy a CD from, but they hadn't any. Two clear beautiful voices intertwining, with songs as lusty as an everlasting end of summer day, floating in a rowing boat on a quiet lake resting your head in the lap of your lover and the breeze slowly guides you home. I was nearly moved to tears. Getting old.

Gary Sax wrote:

mikoyan wrote:

I also picked up a CD by a guy named Sufjan Stevens called Greetings from Michigan-The Great Lakes State. PRetty good as well.

The Illinois album is the really good one.

I got the Michigan one based on where I'm from. I'll probably get the Illinois one at some point.

Heavy Metal soundtrack.

Donald Fagen sounded so far ahead of the pack. A real shame he did nothing for over 10 years after that.

I just got back from a GANG OF FOUR show in London here, which was awesome. They were on their Entertainment! anniversary tour. Original members Andy Gill and Jon Kind are over 50 now, but they still put up a hell of a show. Jon smashed a microwave on stage during "He'd send in the army" and Andy threw his guitar around the stage floor during "Anthrax". They also had a woman there who sang "I love a man in uniform" (3rd encore out of 4).

So I dunno I slept on this dude/band for so long but I just got way into Roy Wood/Wizzard. I love the early rock vibe, I've been super stoked on the relatively recent girl group resurgence, but this dude was killing it just a decade or two after it was new. I know the Christmas song but never really bothered to pay any attention to the band before. I imagine a lot of it is that they never broke big in the US despite their hugeness in the UK.

Also, dude looks totally fucking insane which is just so awesome and not at all what I would expect from just listening.




Anyone got any good follow ups of similar stuff I might have missed? (I got all The Move stuff too, and ELO kinda blows besides the couple good jams they have like Mr. Blue Sky).

This one goes out to Barnes, that closet Ladytron fan:

Dark Side of the Moon - I just picked up the Super Audio CD release.

Nice, but a bit too much top end emphasis in the mastering.

real estate

www.myspace.com/letsrockthebeach

sort of surfy indie stuff but not summery, much more downbeat and melancholy. very very good.

Shellhead wrote:

This one goes out to Barnes, that closet Ladytron fan:

Fuck you! Ladytron absolutely rocks. I liked the East European abble in the first album ("604"), but their second ("Witching Hour") was great as well (especially live)

Listening: Brenda Holloway, Ronettes, Shirelles.

I second Jur's Ladytron opinion. I think it was their first album that had that Playgirl song on it. I used to listen to that song over and over and over... in college. I have a soft spot for ice cold electronica.

Heavy Metal soundtrack.

HA! Me too. I wish they had that album on Rock Band 2, or at least just the title track anyway.

My favorite Ladytron song is He Took Her To A Movie. Somehow sexy in a robotic way, with a playful lesbian innuendo to the lyrics. On my Android soundtracks, this song is the theme for the sexbot suspect. Oddly enough, my girlfriend's favorite Ladytron song is Black Car, despite it sounding like an East German take on a Cars tune.

One of my co-workers just left early for the start of hunting season. We talked briefly about the crazed bow hunters, and that reminded me of a delightful song. The YouTube has been taken down, probably due to legal and/or death threats by the subject of the song, but the lyrics are the best part of this briskly-paced folk song:

The Day Ted Nugent Killed All the Animals, by Wally Pleasant

The day Ted Nugent killed all the animals
The day Ted Nugent killed all the animals
He did it so he could bond with his male friends
He did so they could broadcast it on ESPN
And when the news hit the wire Green peace activist were crying in their hankies
They hadn`t heard anything so awful since the first record by Damn Yankees
It was the day Ted Nugent killed all the animals
The day Ted Nugent killed all the animals

Imagine that, the motor city mad man in your backyard stalking your cat: scratch fever.

And Bob Barker cried
And Ricki Lake tried to save them
Noah turned right around in his grave
And they were all dead
But he was still Ted

He did with his bow in hand
Sitting up North in the open air
He did it for the Michigan Militia
He did it for Fred Bear
It was the day Ted Nugent killed all the animals
The day Ted Nugent killed all the animals

Cause he had so much respect for wildlife
He started tipping over goldfish bowls and chasing Bambi`s mom with a knife
Which is the equivalent to having so much admiration for an art museum
That you burn all the paintings as soon as you see them
It was the day Ted Nugent killed all the animals
The day Ted Nugent killed all the animals

Raccoons get in the Garbage
(Kill `em)
Baby seals are too cute
(Kill `em)
Squirrels, yum
(Kill `em)
Orangutans, wang dang that Orangutan
(Kill `em)

He killed them all, big and small
So he could put their heads up on his wall
It was the day Ted Nugent killed all the animals

How did I miss all this Ladytron talk? Oh, it looks like it was last week, when I was in fucking corporate hell.

I'm not a closet Ladytron fan, I openly love them. I actually didn't think "606" was all that great, it wasn't until "Light and Magic" and "Witching Hour" that they went from like to love. Once they started pulling in the shoegaze and subtle goth stuff, that's when I really got into them. Their last record was pretty good too, some interesting stuff.

Best track- hard call, but it's either "Destroy Everything You Touch" or "Cracked LCD" (obviously).

On that note, my recent listening...some odd themes here:

Suicide- One of my proudest rock nerd moments was when I saw Suicide about six years ago and I got to sing "Dream Baby Dream" with Alan Vega. I told him "thank you so much for coming to Atlanta" and he hugged me and said "No, thank you for coming to see us". Suicide isn't a band you listen to for songs, you listen to them for that SOUND. I've had the first two records on a lot recently. Hey, Springsteen was a fan...you should be too. Hear "Rocket USA" and "Ghost Rider" if you haven't before.

LCD Soundsystem- "Sound of Silver"- I think this one of the two best records of the past decade (the other would be one of TV on the Radio's last two records, I can't decide). This is an amazing piece of work, one of those records that hangs together so freaking well from cut to cut with an amazing consistency. Not only that, it's almost like a variety show celebrating the best of "smart" rock and dance music from all decades. It's a little post-punk, it's a little disco, it's a little indie...but there's krautrock, techno, new wave, pop, and lots of different sounds that come from a lot of different places. What's more, there's a maturity and awareness that you don't usually find on records like this- this is an album made by somebody a little older, and it shows. Listen to the track "All My Friends" if you only pick one to hear. It's incredible, an alchemical mixture of Steve Reich and New Order with some incredibly moving lyrics about getting older. "Someone Great" would be the second pick, a haunting elegy captures the fine details and unreality surrounding the death of a friend without junky melodrama or histrionics.

Christian Death- the ultimate Death Rock band, and that's solely based on "Only Theater of Pain". What a genre-defining record. It's a shame that goth and death rock veered away from the trajectory it set, pretty much just a mutation of punk rock with some Bowie/Cooper/Pop influences. Very few band have this kind of sound and do it authentically, the short list other than CD would be early TSOL and 45 Grave, really. I actually really like the subsequent records "Catastrophe Ballet" and "Ashes"- some very surprising music on those, very goth but more sophisticated and intricate than is typical for the genre. And not cheesy at all.

Parliament and Funkadelic- My wife got to meet George Clinton and Bootsy Collins the other day so I dragged out a couple of comps. Go Parliament if you want the extended, almost infinite funk workouts. Go Funkadelic if you want the psychedlic rock end of the P-Funk spectrum. "Maggot Brain", "One Nation Under a Groove"...this is some great, great music that probably doesn't make a great case for making records while _not_ under the influence.

Marvin Gaye- "What's Goin' On". This is one of the best records ever recorded, period. Lately something about the autumnal, sincere tone of it all has had me listening to it on repeat. From the monumental title track (which may be the greatest soul cut of all time, and one of shamefully few that has an overt political subtext) to the incredible "Mercy Me" which is probably the only R&B track ever about the environment to the intense "Inner City Blues", this one of those albums where you are in all seriousness listening to the absolute peak of music- regardless of genre.

Sly and the Family Stone- More funk/soul/R&B. I don't care who you are, Sly has something for you. Black, white, rocker, hip-hopper, metalhead, punk...whatever. This is universally great music. "There's a Riot Goin' On" is the one to get, one of the best records of its era. Political, but in a socially conscious way that's more about progress and positive change than revolution.

Addison Groove Project have been my funk band of choice for the past few weeks. Good, straightforward, jazzy stuff.