Can we just do another music thread?

[Chromascope3D]

Oh god no, MGMT. I better start the preparations then.

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil..."

The Valley is technicolor, and filled with birds, moons, and monsters.

[DJ Yung Crunk]

The Valley is technicolor, and filled with birds, moons, and monsters.

Their 2010 album had moments but for the most part I really don't go for them. I don't usually go for that indie-easy listening stuff (with the exception of Vampire Weekend, I guess.) Maybe it's just me but I just like my pop major label. No reason in particular, different indie pop albums have failed to grab me for entirely separate reasons.

In other news I'm on a major Contemporary R&B kick right now. Anyone else got that new Solange Knowles EP? It sounds like it'd be pretty cool. R&B had a rough couple years in the middle of last decade. It's nice to see it back on the horse and how! If I gave out awards for Genres of the Year, Contempo R&B would get 2012's without a second thought.

That's impressive, black metal has held that title for a few years running now. Or it would if I gave out such awards.

[Chromascope3D]

Their 2010 album had moments but for the most part I really don't go for them. I don't usually go for that indie-easy listening stuff (with the exception of Vampire Weekend, I guess.) Maybe it's just me but I just like my pop major label. No reason in particular, different indie pop albums have failed to grab me for entirely separate reasons.

It's psychedelic rock, which is similar to some indie rock, but only because indie rock is mainly used as a catchall term for alt rock they couldn't fit in any other subgenre.

[DJ Yung Crunk]

It's psychedelic rock, which is similar to some indie rock, but only because indie rock is mainly used as a catchall term for alt rock they couldn't fit in any other subgenre.

Maybe the second album has flashes of psychedelic rock but, let's face it, they worship at the altar of Hookos: God of Catchy Hooks. They're pop through and through. They even have disco influences and not the good kind either.

[Zrak]

I think the best summary of why New Wave and Post-Punk are fundamentally different genres is to consider The Birthday Party in contrast with, say, Blondie.

[Moff Chumley]

I think the best summary of why New Wave and Post-Punk are fundamentally different genres is to consider The Birthday Party in contrast with, say, Blondie.

I already tried, man.

[Raistlin1040]

Once again, boom.

Spoiler

Show

[Chromascope3D]

Maybe the second album has flashes of psychedelic rock but, let's face it, they worship at the altar of Hookos: God of Catchy Hooks. They're pop through and through. They even have disco influences and not the good kind either.

Who says rock can't also be pop? I like that they have influences ranging far and wide, and I like how they put together experimental, yet still interesting music. They're just one of the signs of the eventual music singularity.

Anyway, VanWyngarden said that it was heavily inspired by R.E.M. (The original alt-rockers ) so I'm looking doubly forward to it.

[DJ Yung Crunk]

Who says rock can't also be pop? I like that they have influences ranging far and wide, and I like how they put together experimental, yet still interesting music. They're just one of the signs of the eventual music singularity.

Anyway, VanWyngarden said that it was heavily inspired by R.E.M. (The original alt-rockers ) so I'm looking doubly forward to it.

Oh pop and rock is certainly a thing. The rock aspects aren't what miffed me so, obviously, I didn't bring them up. I really must disagree with the whole "experimental" thing. If I had to choose genres for MGMT they'd be pop, psych rock, disco and soft rock. Experimental doesn't enter it.

[Radar]

Anyone ever listen to The Sonics, or 60s garage rock in general? That stuff's fantastic. I'm still working my way through Nuggets, it's quite a bit to digest...

I'm either not in the right mood, or it's not up my alley (most likely the former). Due to severe mental fatigue I'm currently munching on italo-disco and other light electronic music:
KOTO, Jean-Stephan Regottaz (for each Jean-Michel Jarre there is one unknown artist with talent of at least the same magnitude), Didier Marouani (or two artists for that matter), Space, Hipnosis (I guess, it's not a typo), Who's Who.

[Zrak]

Oh, man, The Sonics are awesome. Strychnine is just plain cool in a way only a select few songs before or since have been.

[Faulty]

Just relistened to Current 93's Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain just now, and it's such a cool album. :3

[JoshL]

Just relistened to Current 93's Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain just now, and it's such a cool album. :3

While recognizing that they aren't everyone's (or even most people's) cup of tea, I fully endorse listening to Current 93!

I recently bookmarked, but haven't had time to watch, a website with live concert videos, including a couple by Australian band The Church (I'm a big fan...psychedelic guitar pop, had a couple hits in the 80s). Specifically, three "full album" shows of their most recent, the album from the 80s that most people might know, and one of my all time favorite albums, Priest=Aura. Don't know if the show is any good, but I've seen them live a few times and they've always been pretty awesome.

The site seems pretty nifty. Didn't dig around much, but noticed a couple other shows I'd be interested in watching (Dinosaur Jr. stood out).

[Faulty]

I think Aleph might be, surprisingly, my favorite C93 I've heard. I've tried to get into the early industrial albums, but can't do it, oddly enough, given I like almost all early industrial.

Speaking of industrial, Cut Hands' Black Mamba is one of my favorite albums of this year. It's like... African rhythms with an industrial edge, made by William Bennet of Whitehouse fame. The fact that it's a British dude making albums using African instruments is slightly sketch but the music is good enough that I couldn't care less. Highly recommend it for people looking for something interesting.

[JoshL]

c93...Soft Black Stars might be my favorite, but for personal reasons. Thunder Perfect Mind, All The Pretty Little Horses, Of Ruine Or Some Blazing Starre, Imperium....all brilliant albums. Likewise Bright Yellow Moon, Dawn, In Menstrual Night, I Have A Special Plan For This World, for entirely different reasons. Even the weaker albums (Island) have tracks I love (Falling, Anyway, People Die, The Ballad of Christopher Robin, and who doesn't laugh at Crowleymass?). But I'm a pretty obsessive fan.

But as for getting into the early stuff, Dog's Blood Order might not be a bad place to get where it's coming from. C93 is definitely different than, say, Throbbing Gristle. If Boyd Rice worked with Sleep Chamber, that might end up where the early stuff was. Ritual music with a punk rock edge. Otherwise, you can pick up around Earth Covers Earth or Swastikas for Noddy and go from there.

And as for Cut Hands, well, it's no more inappropriate than Muslimgauze (who refused to visit the middle east for fear of tainting his perspective).

[Faulty]

c93...Soft Black Stars might be my favorite, but for personal reasons. Thunder Perfect Mind, All The Pretty Little Horses, Of Ruine Or Some Blazing Starre, Imperium....all brilliant albums. Likewise Bright Yellow Moon, Dawn, In Menstrual Night, I Have A Special Plan For This World, for entirely different reasons. Even the weaker albums (Island) have tracks I love (Falling, Anyway, People Die, The Ballad of Christopher Robin, and who doesn't laugh at Crowleymass?). But I'm a pretty obsessive fan.

But as for getting into the early stuff, Dog's Blood Order might not be a bad place to get where it's coming from. C93 is definitely different than, say, Throbbing Gristle. If Boyd Rice worked with Sleep Chamber, that might end up where the early stuff was. Ritual music with a punk rock edge. Otherwise, you can pick up around Earth Covers Earth or Swastikas for Noddy and go from there.

And as for Cut Hands, well, it's no more inappropriate than Muslimgauze (who refused to visit the middle east for fear of tainting his perspective).

I have heard Dog's Blood Rising, Nature Unveiled, In Menstrual Nights, Imperium, Lucifer Over London (another favorite), Thunderperfect Mind, Aleph, How He Loved the Moon (Moon Songs for Jhonn Balance, Sleep Has His House and parts of Island and Black Ships Ate the Sky. So I am familiar with Current 93. I think honestly my favorites go Lucifer Over London > Aleph > Thunderperfect Mind.

Did you liked the Cut Hands? Honestly I find Muslimgauze problematic too! Not enough to not listen to either though.

[Gaelbert]

I'm desperately searching for some way to get a hold of Ryan Adam's Extra Cheese EP. I can't seem to find it on iTunes, Amazon, or any of the other usual sources. I found Extra Cheese on the iTunes website, but when I clicked the link to see it in the iTunes player, it tried to make me install iTunes. Which I already have, so I don't know what's up with that. If anyone knows how to get a copy of it, please post here or PM me or something. This is getting frustrating.
And I realize 6/7 of the tracks are from different albums, but I'm trying to get the full EP, as foolish as that may sound.

[Kindablue]

In honor of Dave Brubeck's passing last week, Scientific American published an article today on the science and theory of asymmetrical meters that I thought was interesting.

"These uneven meters play by slightly different rules than the symmetrical meters," [music professor Justin] London says. For one, people's brains can't process the unusual meters as quickly as the standard ones, so they can't be performed as quickly. "Uneven beats are perfectly fine, but we can't do it quite as fast as with even beats." They also can't "swing" the way a lot of jazz does. When a piece swings, two eighth notes in succession aren't played evenly; instead, the first is longer than the second. This can make the figure sound like a triplet (with the first two notes slurred together) instead of two eighth notes. "When you're swinging, you're very close to blurring the lines between duplets and triplets," London says. But "Blue Rondo a la Turk," which relies on the listener hearing sets of both two and three, would get too muddy if it started to swing. "Brubeck was criticized for not swinging, but you can't swing the music in those meters the same way you can if you're just in a straight four."

...

For the performer, unusual rhythms can be a challenge. "They feel very natural to me," [saxophonist Patrick] Langham says, "but I grew up listening to Dave's music!" Joking aside, he says that the odd time signatures "don't allow you to play the normal riffs and ideas that you're so used to and comfortable doing when you're playing in a standard time signature." He says that this disruption of the status quo can help musicians grow. London says that in order for the ensemble to synchronize in difficult meters, they have to use different strategies from what they usually do. They need to be more aware of the larger measure-to-measure structure of the piece, rather than just the shorter sections of the work.

[Faulty]

So I checked out F♯ A♯ ∞ and 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! by Godspeed You! Black Emperor and while I enjoyed my time with them, my mind wasn't BLOWN like the hype made me think it would be. Maybe I'm missing something? :V

[Moff Chumley]

F#A# takes a few listens, I think. Haven't listened to ADBA and don't really plan to.
Have you heard much 1st wave post-rock? I find it a lot more interesting than any 2nd/3rd wave stuff.

[JoshL]

I felt kinda mixed about Cut Hands (again, the Muslimgauze comparisons!) some interesting textures, some neat ideas but some of it felt like it could be going more places than it did. Interesting note, as I followed your youtube link to give it another listen, my computer was having some problems, so all the audio came out severely bit crushed and degraded. I REALLY liked it that way. Maybe if I get some time I'll have to do some remixes, if I can reproduce that sound.

As for Godspeed, maybe it's a case of being over-hyped through the years? A good criticism from a friend at a show was "they only really have the one song...mind you, it's a good song..." I love them though, I like the new record a lot and hope they keep touring the way they used to so I can catch them again. Not sure where the lines are drawn in the post-rock sand, as far as waves go, but a lot of that stuff from the 90s I really love (Labradford, GYBE, Pram, Windsor For The Derby, Stars of the Lid, lots of that aesthetic in Swans, etc)

[Faulty]

Yeah I have no idea what counts as first wave and not.

[Ashery]

So I checked out F♯ A♯ ∞ and 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! by Godspeed You! Black Emperor and while I enjoyed my time with them, my mind wasn't BLOWN like the hype made me think it would be. Maybe I'm missing something? :V

You're probably right in regards to the hype making it come off as a bit of a letdown. I stumbled upon them a bit blindly and was blown away by my first listen (Lift Your Skinny... was the album I first listened to), but there's a bit of personal bias there as GYBE! was the point (2004?) in which I began exploring music on my own rather than largely following my dad's taste (Prog-rock). With that being said, I enjoyed Don't Bend quite a bit, but I don't follow the sub-genre anymore outside of a few select bands that scratch a bit of a nostalgic itch.

No idea about the waves, but wouldn't the likes of Talk Talk, Bark Psychosis, and Slint be considered the first wave?

[Moff Chumley]

Yeah I have no idea what counts as first wave and not.

No idea about the waves, but wouldn't the likes of Talk Talk, Bark Psychosis, and Slint be considered the first wave?

Yep. I've yet to listen to Bark Psychosis, but Slint and Talk Talk are fantastic.

[DJ Yung Crunk]

I tell you I'm getting really sick of all this trendy pop hating. I know it's not a new thing but it still busts my chops.

Also, Dave Brubeck died? Come on, man! It's not supposed to be like this! Artists are supposed to live forever! I'm gonna eat a whole thing of M&Ms and sit to think about things.

[Kindablue]

GZA on StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson, who never once pronounces "Wu-Tang" correctly.

I tell you I'm getting really sick of all this trendy pop hating. I know it's not a new thing but it still busts my chops.

Did anything in particular set this off?

Also, Dave Brubeck died? Come on, man! It's not supposed to be like this! Artists are supposed to live forever! I'm gonna eat a whole thing of M&Ms and sit to think about things.

He was an immense talent, and I wouldn't worry about him dying any time soon.

[DJ Yung Crunk]

Did anything in particular set this off?

The usual "This is real talent! Not like everything today which is talentless pop trash"

Kind of sick of hearing it.

[Moff Chumley]

The usual "This is real talent! Not like everything today which is talentless pop trash"

Kind of sick of hearing it.

Someone's been reading youtube comments again, haven't they?

[DJ Yung Crunk]

Someone's been reading youtube comments again, haven't they?

Nope. Have the derp herp add-on. Not that where I did hear it is much better, mind.

Also, guys, what exactly makes "synth pop"? Is Kraftwerk synth pop? Is Grace Jones synth pop? Is Purity Ring?

[Radar]

The usual "This is real talent! Not like everything today which is talentless pop trash"

Kind of sick of hearing it.

It actually gets me laughing, when people write things like that under Coco Jumbo or other stock cash grabs of the 90's. There is also something hilarious to see people praising old times for the better pop music, when there was as much trash back then as it is now (prime example being Sabrina).

Also, guys, what exactly makes "synth pop"? Is Kraftwerk synth pop? Is Grace Jones synth pop? Is Purity Ring?

Not sure, but I'd say that Alphaville or Animotion would be the prime examples of synth pop. IMO Krafwerk is a little too hard to be called pop - no clue about the others.