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anticipation · 08-21-2009, 08:12 PM

I joined up when I was 12/13 yrs old, but unlike many kids my age I didn't really get into "nu-metal" or post-punk. I was being raised by a single mother who had no taste in music aside from a fierce love of the oft demonized U2. So, at a very young age I was left to fend for myself in the vast music world, and at the time of my joining I listened to T-Bone Walker, Elmore James, Magic Sam, Jimmy Smith, Django Reinhardt, and Wes Montgomery. Looking back, I find it kind of astounding that I was able to have such a deep understanding of blues and jazz at a young age, and when I first began to post that understanding helped me alot. I was able to communicate about my favorite artists with adults, who immediately pegged me as a 20 something year old college student. Aside from Ethan, I sometimes felt like mb's golden child, especially when guys like David and Lee would express the same ideas about soul or blues as me.

As mb grew and grew I found myself playing a diminished role, until I eventually found a home in the screamo/emo forum. Many who have been around since 07 or earlier may think of me as one of the stalwarts of the screamo subforum along with the infamous cap'n caveman, zealious, ethan, and the dave. In the days before our recent influx of quality screamo fans, those who frequented the forum were tight knit and eager to spread bands through the sharing thread and pm's, something that has kind of stagnated. I'm not trying to say that our new crop of posters is lazy, because I do really like all the new dudes (bardonodude, rubber, cult classic, tyrannoear, cassius, etc). I do not know how I came to have such a feverent love of screamo, as you can well imagine most of the bands mentioned in our threads are a far cry from blues, jazz, and soul. It's hard to remember but I think my introduction to screamo was either I Have Dreams or Circle Takes The Square, but I do know that Capn Jazz introduced me to emo. These days I do not listen to CTTS or Capn Jazz, but I have expanded out into hardcore and more indiemo than I had ever dreamed of. For a long time screamo was all I listened to, as I got caught up in the complex family trees of the genre. Today I have narrowed my tastes down to the essentials, all of whom constitute exceptional music in my eyes.

About the time I figured out what I liked about the screamo/emo genre, I began to explore West Coast hyphy and Stones Throw records. MF Doom was always my favorite lyricist, and Dilla was always my favorite producer. I looked into Mac Dre, the godfather of the Bay Area hyphy scene, as well as Yukmouth and Del. I have always liked poetry, even from a very very young age I would read e.e. cummings, so the ability to create intricate rhymes and meaningful lyrics is important to me. These rappers all met my expectations in really unique ways. I never considered myself that big of a hip hop fan, although I did listen to Slum Village and A Tribe Called Quest, as well as other Brand Nubians and Native Tongues like De La Soul and Black Moon.

After my hip hop phase I bounced around from post-rock and Western African folk. I listened to folk pretty heavily too, but I never got into Nick Drake or whoever ethans favorite artists were that he used to recommend everyone. Now I listen to everything I think will interest me.

I get this weird feeling when I talk about finding new music. I'm at the point now that I have listened to so much music that I can pretty much determine if I will be able to listen to something or not before even checking it out. I think that kinda sounds elitist or close minded, but that just means I can discern that I'm not going to like female j-pop or what have you. I guess my tastes have become more defined, but that's not to say I am only willing to listen to certain things. If anything I'm more open now than I've ever been, recent discoveries include Comus and Guides By Voices. I don't consider myself that knowledgeable about music at all, but I figure as long as I get that urge to smile ear to ear I'm doing just fine.

08-21-2009, 08:12 PM	#36 (permalink)
anticipation Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 3,565	I joined up when I was 12/13 yrs old, but unlike many kids my age I didn't really get into "nu-metal" or post-punk. I was being raised by a single mother who had no taste in music aside from a fierce love of the oft demonized U2. So, at a very young age I was left to fend for myself in the vast music world, and at the time of my joining I listened to T-Bone Walker, Elmore James, Magic Sam, Jimmy Smith, Django Reinhardt, and Wes Montgomery. Looking back, I find it kind of astounding that I was able to have such a deep understanding of blues and jazz at a young age, and when I first began to post that understanding helped me alot. I was able to communicate about my favorite artists with adults, who immediately pegged me as a 20 something year old college student. Aside from Ethan, I sometimes felt like mb's golden child, especially when guys like David and Lee would express the same ideas about soul or blues as me. As mb grew and grew I found myself playing a diminished role, until I eventually found a home in the screamo/emo forum. Many who have been around since 07 or earlier may think of me as one of the stalwarts of the screamo subforum along with the infamous cap'n caveman, zealious, ethan, and the dave. In the days before our recent influx of quality screamo fans, those who frequented the forum were tight knit and eager to spread bands through the sharing thread and pm's, something that has kind of stagnated. I'm not trying to say that our new crop of posters is lazy, because I do really like all the new dudes (bardonodude, rubber, cult classic, tyrannoear, cassius, etc). I do not know how I came to have such a feverent love of screamo, as you can well imagine most of the bands mentioned in our threads are a far cry from blues, jazz, and soul. It's hard to remember but I think my introduction to screamo was either I Have Dreams or Circle Takes The Square, but I do know that Capn Jazz introduced me to emo. These days I do not listen to CTTS or Capn Jazz, but I have expanded out into hardcore and more indiemo than I had ever dreamed of. For a long time screamo was all I listened to, as I got caught up in the complex family trees of the genre. Today I have narrowed my tastes down to the essentials, all of whom constitute exceptional music in my eyes. About the time I figured out what I liked about the screamo/emo genre, I began to explore West Coast hyphy and Stones Throw records. MF Doom was always my favorite lyricist, and Dilla was always my favorite producer. I looked into Mac Dre, the godfather of the Bay Area hyphy scene, as well as Yukmouth and Del. I have always liked poetry, even from a very very young age I would read e.e. cummings, so the ability to create intricate rhymes and meaningful lyrics is important to me. These rappers all met my expectations in really unique ways. I never considered myself that big of a hip hop fan, although I did listen to Slum Village and A Tribe Called Quest, as well as other Brand Nubians and Native Tongues like De La Soul and Black Moon. After my hip hop phase I bounced around from post-rock and Western African folk. I listened to folk pretty heavily too, but I never got into Nick Drake or whoever ethans favorite artists were that he used to recommend everyone. Now I listen to everything I think will interest me. I get this weird feeling when I talk about finding new music. I'm at the point now that I have listened to so much music that I can pretty much determine if I will be able to listen to something or not before even checking it out. I think that kinda sounds elitist or close minded, but that just means I can discern that I'm not going to like female j-pop or what have you. I guess my tastes have become more defined, but that's not to say I am only willing to listen to certain things. If anything I'm more open now than I've ever been, recent discoveries include Comus and Guides By Voices. I don't consider myself that knowledgeable about music at all, but I figure as long as I get that urge to smile ear to ear I'm doing just fine.