Topic: The Music Thread

Listening to this at the moment, worth checking out if you're into Synthwave.

https://kalax.bandcamp.com/album/iii

@LieutenantFatman Do you like any synthrock? Sturgill Simpson's album Sound and Fury lies at the scuzzier end of that particular spectrum.

@nessisonett Where do you stand on country? @ralphdibny What music do you listen to? Haven't seen you posting in here before.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic RE clipping. I think I prefer There Existed An Addiction To Blood to their latest album. Just felt fresher.

RE. Country music, I dabble. Dolly’s an icon of course but the only other mainstream Nashville ones I’m into are a bit of Johnny Cash and then I guess Elvis was kinda that scene although rock and roll at heart. I’m a lot more into alt-country, whether that’s early stuff like Townes Van Zandt, Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers or more recent stuff like Uncle Tupelo, Jason Molina’s projects or Wilco.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic

Can't say I've tried any to be honest, certainly does sound like a combination worth checking out.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic cheers for the tag, I think we have had a brief discussion about it a while back. I think I mentioned The Prodigy as being my flavour of the month.

Honestly my music taste is massively varied and I've gone through many phases in my life. There are genres I like but honestly it's more just specific artists in genres that I like. For rap music I like "old school" up to "gangsta rap" so like Run DMC, Public Enemy, Sugarhill Gang, NWA, Tupac, Biggie, snoop Dogg, Eminem, D12, 50 Cent, Obie Trice. In terms of the UK scene, I was big into The Streets and Plan B. It's not limited to those artists but they are the main ones. I lost interest in rap as a genre when Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreaks came out, to put it diplomatically for the benefit of fans, it wasn't to my taste (I thought it was awful). Every new rap album and artist after that just imitated that record because it was popular, people like Drake etc. It wasn't for me so I stuck to my window of rap music I liked. I'm sure it's changed again now, but barring the odd album by a legacy artist like Eminem or Dr Dre, I don't really follow it now.

In terms of rock, my taste is much more varied, I like Muse, Tenacious D, Chili Peppers, Queens of the stone age (any Josh homme project really, eagles of death metal , them crooked vultures etc). Elton John, regular Queen (not of the stone age), Rage against the machine (though that is rap/rock fusion), David Bowie, Johnny Cash, The Doors, Sex Pistols, Pink Floyd, The Clash, The Jam, The rolling stones, the Beatles, Iron Maiden etc. I really like Pet shop boys and Yazoo as well. I liked a lot of mid noughties Indie bands like Franz Ferdinand, The Kooks, the libertines and the Kaiser chiefs. Oasis, Blur, Ocean Colour Scene too. I just like music that is familiar to me really. Again this list is in no way exhaustive! I doubt I'll be getting into any new scenes or bands/artists at this point. There's plenty that I like and have liked for a long time and plenty songs I'll leave playing on the radio in the car (but also plenty of rubbish that I will always skip past).

I used to listen to a lot of depressing music like Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley etc. I still love them but I associate them with such a dark time in my life that it can make me cease the function if I listen to them anymore, so I don't. I'd like to put on the albums sometimes but its difficult to separate the emotion from the music so it's not frequent. Just the other day my partner was playing some Jeff Buckley and I heard it and it just hit me straight in the gut.

I like a lot of pop music now too, because it's happy and catchy and I don't have to do a lot of thinking about it when I listen to it. It's still limited because I only like really good pop music. Pop Music is like the Blockbuster movie genre for music, it takes all that's good about other genres and puts it together into something palatable but less deep. The problem is that it's popular so a good artist will then get imitated and the genre becomes stale quickly. Artists I like include Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Nikki Minaj, Ariana Grande, Beyonce etc. I'm not mega familiar with their entire discographies but these are the sorts of artists I'd leave playing on the radio and occasionally belt out the words to (if I know the words of course!).

I'm also a big fan of both of the Blues Brothers movies so if I hear anything that kind of sounds a bit Jazzy or bluesy on the radio, I'll normally leave it on. I'm not well educated on the genres but I think I'm far enough in to enjoy it and not become overwhelmed.

My knowledge of reggae is limited to Bob Marley and UB40. I absolutely love Bob Marley but it's honestly enough for me in terms of listening to reggae

And of course, I'm still a big fan of the Prodigy!

I'm a bit stuck in my ways (and I like it that way) when it comes to music consumption so I'm afraid I won't know a lot about smaller bands that people like so I might not be the best person to talk music with tbh!

Sorry for the essay! But hopefully there's something in there you might be familiar with, or have some thoughts on or want to ask me more about!

@LieutenantFatman yeah synthwave! I will get on that later. Hopwfully it features a lot of instrument changes, it can get really dull if the transitions are slow.

@themcnoisy
Aye, true, shouldn't be an issue with this album, I reckon.
Two of my favourite artists for Synthwave are Robert Parker and Gunship. And of course you can go far wrong with Carpenter Brut.

Any you'd recommend checking out?

@LieutenantFatman yes Carpenter brut. I was lead there by hotline Miami!

@themcnoisy
Yep, same here!

@LieutenantFatman just listened to that link you posted and it's way cheesy. Decent though.

@themcnoisy
Yep, good cheese to chill out to.

@nessisonett I really dig early Wilco, before the mighty Nels Cline joined - not that he spoiled anything, I just prefer their earlier, more experimental sound.

@ralphdibny @themcnoisy @nessisonett @Thrillho @LieuetenantFatman

What do y'all think? I think she has an excellent command of the acoustic guitar and American Primitive Guitar style and isn't showy or flashy just ballsy and really feels her music, gets into the feel of it when she plays. Her technique is commendable, and she has clearly been studying the guitar for a long time. John Fahey nuts should love her, and hopefully she'll be making music for years to come.

She recently released Strange Lights over Garth Mountain, her debut album, and I urge you all to check it out.

@ralphdibny Have you heard Kendrick Lamar? (regarding rap) You might like good kid, mAAd City or DAMN as those are more traditional hip hop/rap (forgive me if I am giving an incorrect definition here) records.

@nessisonett I should really be posting this in the vinyl thread, but I will just say that I am planning on getting La Roux & MGMT on vinyl - are you a fan of either of those artists?

@ralphdibny Did you check out Kendrick Lamar? He might be more palatable to your tastes than most modern hip hop artists, also try clipping. they are modern hip hop with a twist - horrorcore, in fact, is the genre they draw from.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic I quite liked the Kendrick Lamar song that was on Marshall Mathers LP 2 so I thought he was quite good, but then I heard one of his famous solo songs that was called Drink or something, I didn't really get into that tbh. Just been playing games for the last few days so haven't been listening to any music, I normally listen to music when I'm in the car

@ralphdibny I was thinking of buying the slim shady Lp as I am a fan of early Eminem, whilst we're on that subject - I think that clipping. might be more up your street with their horrorcore style, I think that's closer to early Em than Kendrick is.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic I might check it out, I love the slim shady LP, it's one of my favourite albums. Plan Bs first album which I think was called something like Who needs actions when you've got words takes a lot of influence from early Eminem. Really good album