music_phantom13

Good review of The Shaggs, I always find that story interesting. I'd agree their music isn't good for normal listening, but it's always fun to hear what they created with really no training and the lyrics in their songs are really truly bizarre. It's like walking into a different crazy world.

The Shins are fantastic, and I enjoyed your review. If you haven't yet, you should definitely check out their latest release, Wincing the Night Away. It's a very diverse album in comparison, and definitely does have the experimental synthesizer and sounds that weren't present on Chutes. But Chutes is still better, imo.

squiresuzuki

Yeah..just a few days ago I heard Stevie Wonder and was like "wait....it that Higher Ground???"
Nice, story. Nothing compares to our cover of Sober, which you, unfortunately, have not heard yet. Because you chose to shop for shoes instead. Well you should.

__________________
Someone told me once that there's no right or wrong,
all this meant was cure for those who dare to cross the line but it must stop.
Be true.
Forget I'm just like you and,
Maybe it's
just bullshiit
I should play god, and
SHOOT YOU MYSELLFFFFFFFFF

storymilo

Heh maybe Wednesday if I'm not busy shoe-shopping some more. And of course I can provide some very useful keyboard accompaniment :P:

musicphantom, I haven't heard that album yet. I'll definitely be checking it out even if Chutes is better. Recently I've been listening to their debut Oh, Inverted World, and I've been liking it more than I used to.

storymilo

Hey guys. So, since this thread needs updating and I'm too lazy to do an album review at the moment I figured I'd show you guys some songs I've been digging lately. (Basically, stealing Bulldog's idea) This is actually a playlist I made for a friend. Keep in mind that most of these are tracks that I learned about from MB, just condensed into some of my favorites


1. Primal Scream- Moving On Up
I'm sure a lot of you know this track. I think it is a great song, one of my favorites by Primal Scream. It incorporates some gospel elements as well as an awesome guitar solo and just all-around coolness. A great opener to Screamadelica and I think a good opener to this.

2. Elvis Costello- Veronica
Taken from his live 1994 album at Woodstock (courtesy of Bulldog), in which he plays with only his keyboardist and himself on guitar. This is one of my favorite Costello songs (top 5 easily) and I actually like this album more than the original. The vocals are supreme, but I've come to expect that from Costello anyways

3. Buena Vista Social Club- Dos Gardenias
Buena Vista Social club was a club in Havana, Cuba which was mainly active in the 30's and 40's but inspired guitarist Ry Cooder to team up with some well known Cuban musicians and make an album title after the club. Basically, if you like any type of Spanish/Latin music you will probably like this and this is my favorite track off the album.

4. Frank Zappa- Dancin' Fool
The best part of this song are easily the lyrics. They're written from the perspective of a "Dancin' Fool", who tries to prove he's cool by going dancing every night even though he's awful at it. It has a funky beat as well, and is actually pretty fun to dance to. The ending is also pretty funny, even though I'm not exactly sure what's going on

5. The Specials- Little Bitch
This is just some classic Specials. If you haven't listened to them, they're a great ska band who actually manage to have some very stylistically different songs. This is one of their most famous and great if you like ska.

6. The Shins- Young Pilgrims
I already reviewed the album this song is on, and pretty much what I said about that holds true for this song. Really catchy and well produced, one of my favorites on the album.

7. Strapping Young Lad- Love?
There are two tracks on here which I'd like to thank Loathsome Pete for, and this is one of them. Metal was never really a genre I liked before coming to MB, but now I have been discovering some bands I'm really enjoying and this is one of them. Their guitar player, Devin Townsend, is particularly awesome.

8. Dub Incorporation- Murderer
Dub Incorporation are a French reggae band who sing in French and some Arabic I think. This is actually the only song I have by them, which I'll soon be fixing if I can find a link to the album, but I just love it. This song just has everything I like about reggae. I can't really explain why I like it so much, except it's so fun to listen to. And it doesn't really make a difference that they're singing in a language I can't understand.

9. Built To Spill- Center of The Universe
I recently got Built To Spill's album Keep It Like A Secret and have so far loved it. This is my favorite track off the album. They are kind of like the Shins, in that they have some great melodies and and nice production.

10. Fat Freddy's Drop- The Raft
Another reggae track. Fat Freddy's Drop are a group that I think are loved by a few people here on musicbanter. The few songs I've heard by them I've really liked, and this is one of them. Great beat and singing, and even though it's long it doesn't get boring.

11. R. Stevie Moore- Why Should I Love You
R. Stevie Moore is a lo-fi guy who has some really great and some weird songs. This is just a fun track with a great melody

12. Peeping Tom- Mojo (Feat. Rahzel & Dan The Automater)
This is the other track I learned about from Loathsome Pete. Peeping Tom are one of Mike Patton's many bands and out of the ones I've listened to my favorites. This song is especially good, and the chorus is awesome.

13. Porcupine Tree- Lazarus
Another song most of you have probably heard. I prefer Porcupine Tree's softer stuff much more than their heavier songs, and this fits the bill perfectly. Great melody and one of my favorite PT songs.

14. Sonic Youth- Teen Age Riot
This is my favorite song off their most famous album, Daydream Nation. It starts of with some trippy whispered words and a great guitar riff, until it really kicks off around 1:20. Then it's just 5 minutes of awesomeness.

15. Pavement- Stop Breathin'
Pavement are an alternative band who originated in the early 90's. They're actually kind of similar to Sonic Youth. Same sort of musical/vocal style. This is my favorite song by them. I think the chorus and lyrics are great.

16. Abyssinians- Forward Unto Zion
This is another great reggae song. Similar to the others, with great singing and overall fun to listen to.

17. The Fall- Wings
The Fall are a band I had never listened to before I downloaded Urban's and Molecule's Fall compilation. I really started loving them from the first song. After one listen I'd say this was my favorite track, but I still have to listen a bit more.

18. Sam & Dave- I Take What I Want
I've recently been looking into some good soul to listen to and Bulldog helpfully supplied me with Sam & Dave's greatest hits. It's some great stuff and this was my favorite song after a first listen.

19. The Celibate Rifles- Tick Tock
These guys are a great punk band, and this is a great song by them. Similar to The Specials a little bit imo, this is just a fun track to listen to.

20. The Stone Roses- Fools Gold
This is the closing bonus track on the remastered version of the Stone Roses' debut album. It's nine minutes long, but unlike a lot of other long tracks it doesn't get boring to me. Opens with a funky drum beat, and closes with a sweet guitar line, it's just a great song for anyone who likes the Stone Roses.

Some samples of the songs:



So, these are just some songs I've really been loving recently. Here's a link to the playlist if you care enough to listen:
Songz.rar

I listen to it in the order I put them in here but it probably doesn't matter how you listen to them. IF you do end up listening, let me know what you think

Bulldog

Bold = awesome tunes! I'm not that keen on R.Stevie Moore, Sonic Youth, Pavement or Porcupine Tree myself, but that's mostly due to unfamiliarity, and not an awful lot against the artists as a whole.

Funny you should mention that live version of Veronica being the better (good to hear you're digging the bootleg as well) - while I like it myself, I just think you can't really beat the original on Spike. It's that richly-layered and complex production style that does it for me, and what makes Spike as a whole one of my all-time favourites.

Good to hear you like Sam & Dave too. I'll fess up and say I don't listen to that particular song an awful lot. Can't You Find Another Way Of Doing It Baby, You Don't Know What You Mean To Me and Soul Sister (Brown Sugar) are my personal picks of the bunch. Then again, there are just so many of them - that CD's up there with the best bargain bin purchases I've ever made.

The rest of them I can't argue with If you like the dirtier, rock 'n' roll side of Primal Scream by the way, check out an album called Riot City Blues - nothing amazing but good, fun stuff all the same.

storymilo

Thanks for the feedback Bulldog

Right now I am enjoying that version of Veronica more than the original, but things like this are always changing for me. Maybe if I listen to the original a little more I'd prefer that.

And I actually already have that Primal Scream album. It's the only one I own besides Screamadelica. I'll agree and say it's definitely a good album, but there aren't really any stand out fantastic tracks on. Glad to hear you like most of the songs.

jackhammer

I have virtually all of the songs on the comp but a great eclectic comp that gives me hope that at least a few on here are paying attention. Keep it up!

__________________

Rickenbacker

Believe it or not, Fools Gold never really stuck out to me as a track. I think you'll grow to appreciate the Stone Roses debut more with repeated listens, actually. The bass and guitar based sonic textures of Made of Stone, I Wanna Be Adored, and the incredible closer I Am the Resurrection are absolutely breathtaking.

__________________

last.fm
rym
Talk About the Passion - R.E.M.'s Discography Reviewed

storymilo

I'll always admire poets, I think, for being able to do something I never will. For their ability to combine written words (I can at least make an attempt at writing in a standard format) with rhythm, or rhyme, or both, and make it beautiful in a way that must be read over before it can be appreciated, or if it is understood the first time, and clicks, then maybe that makes it all the more beautiful. If there was a contest, to see which style of writing is the most graceful, makes the most sense, is the most beautiful, poetry would be damn near the top for me.

That's not to say I read a lot of it. I don't think I've ever read a full book of the stuff; it's just not the type of mass produced writing that is appealing enough to me to hold my attention for the length of many pages. It's partly jealousy, I think, that is holding me back because a part of me doesn't want to read something that I don't understand, and that is sad, but I can't get over it and that's why I listen to Nick Drake.

My first listening experience with the man was Fly, discovered on my iTunes after reading about him in High Fidelity, and he swept my mind up to a place that I think was as close to poetry as I'll ever get. The music is simple, really. Acoustic guitar, occasional orchestral instruments, and a soothing voice that I don't know of any equivalent to. However simple it may be, though, it is evident from listening that Drake's soul is being directly imparted into his music.

He committed suicide in 1974, at 26 years old, and after releasing three unsuccessful studio albums. He was depressed throughout his life, and maybe one day it took complete hold of him, and that was why he did it. Maybe, he just didn't have anything left. How much can a musician put into his music before they are empty? Is there a limit? Why do all the great musicians seem to die young?

I don't know, but I like to think that there was more to the man's death than just simple depression. I think it's evident from listening to Bryter Layter that this wasn't a man simply wallowing in depression; he was instead expressing it, and sharing it with the world through poetry. Musical poetry. The lyrics are poetic, but it is the soft guitar and backing instruments that completes it, and his voice that elevates it to the level of a masterpiece. He sings about nature, and about poverty, and about hardship, and it is as poetic as anything I've ever read.

Poetry in music, it is beautiful, by a man doomed to never feel the same way about himself.

storymilo

It's all too much. I just can't stand it. My mind feels like it's going to implode. If I hear one more twang of a banjo, one more southern accent crooning about god, I'm going to kill myself.

I'm running away. The crowded city blocks are empty, people most likely shut in their own homes, to escape the noise. It's horrible. Who listens to this shit? I'm lucky not to know anyone.

The country music seems to be following me. It won't leave me alone. I see an alley, and graffitied on the wall is the word "Hell."* A fitting place for the music to rest. I head into the alley and notice an open sewer grate. There's a ladder going down. I take it.

I'm climbing down. The music has halted at the surface; this is good. But it is getting hot, oh so hot. I'm sweating, and I feel like I might slip off the ladder any second. I notice, the walls are turning red. Strange drawings are appearing. They're moving. Suddenly, they're not walls at all. They are fire, and they are engulfing me.

Demons are flying around me, and they are carrying instruments. One has a banjo.. oh god! The music they are playing is 10 times, no, 100 times more awful than anything I heard on the surface. Was this to be my eternal torment? Was I to forever listen to the music that I hated with a passion, that I discounted as nothing but twanging and lyrics about god?

God. That was it. That was what I needed. I prayed, and I prayed, as much as my brain could before rationalizing, and suddenly I saw a light. But no, it was not the searing hot light of the flames. It was a warm light, a white light. Something was descending from above.

I looked up, and my eyes were met with the sight of a great white hand floating gently down. It reached me, and I instantly felt cool and calm. Suddenly it picked me up, and swiftly flew upwards. It was what I would imagine flying to be like. Flying on a cloud.

The hand moved fast, and we reached the surface within a minute. But my eyes were not met with the cold urban metropolis. Instead, a lush green meadow greeted me, abundant with trees, fruit, and birds tweeting in the sky. I gazed around me in wonder, when suddenly my ears were met with something wondrous.

It was music, but music I'd never heard the likes of. It had all the qualities of things I hated; the country vibe, the southern accent. And yet... this sounded good! I searched for the source of the wondrous discovery, and I saw peeking over a hill a man sitting on a stool holding a guitar.

I made my way over there, and the crown watching smiled at me and the man smiled too, but he didn't stop playing. I saw from the sign above his head that he was name Johnny Cash, and I listened to this man named Johnny Cash for a long while, and stared at his black outfit, which seemed so out of place in this beautiful utopia, and then I heard more sounds coming from over another hill.

However much I liked this Mr. Cash, these sounds intrigued me as well. I took a short jog over the hill, and there I was met with the sight of a woman playing violin and a band proclaimed by the banner above the stage as Union Station backing her. They were playing fast, and the music was very country, but I liked it, just like I had Johnny Cash. The song finished, and the woman smiled at me. "My name is Alison Krauss" she announced in a distinct southern accent, and then she started to sing and it was wonderful.

But what was to come next? This dreamy land had opened my mind already, and I was excited to find more. But I could hear no more music besides Alison & Union Station, no matter how hard I strained my ears. I wanted to find more, but I couldn't.

Then a strange animal came galloping up to me. It was white, but not albino. It was white in the same way the hand had been, giving off a warm sheen. I looked closely, and I could see it was a milky colored bulldog. It barked once, and then started at a slow trot away. I made the decision to follow it; it couldn't be leading me somewhere bad, as I was sure there was nowhere bad in this place.

After about twenty minutes of following, we came to a forest. The dog headed straight inside, and I was not reluctant to tag along. The trees were immensely tall inside the forest, and so it took me a second to realize what they were bearing as leaves.

Burritos were growing on the trees. And, not only that, they were flying. Everywhere around me burritos drifted along, as without a care in the world. Some glided, and some swooped, but they all were magnificent.

The dog had now led me about 5 minutes into the forest, and this was when I started to hear sounds. It was a man singing this time, like the first performance I had come to, but there appeared to be a full backing band, like the second. I noticed the burritos were all moving towards one place: the place where the dog was leading me.

Suddenly the trees in front of us cleared, and in the middle of the clearing was 5 rows of people watching a band addressed as the Flying Burrito Brothers. This band stopped immediately as they saw me. "I see another one has made it," the man standing at the mic said. "I'm happy to meet you. My name is Gram Parsons."

Then they continued playing. It was unlike anything I'd ever considered to be country before this trip. There was talent, and care, and the lyrics were bearable. I couldn't tell if I was just going crazy or if it was truly a revelation.

After about an hour of bliss, they announced that the next song was going to be their last. I almost cried, for I knew this would be my last experience in this place of heaven. But did it have to be? I had ways of acquiring music at home. I could continue this journey. There were ways of sifting out the good from the bad; it just took patience, was all. I could do this.

My eyes opened as the last song, a spoken story of a boy, ended, and I felt the warm light again. The clearing was empty except for the performers, who were packing up their instruments. The feeling grew stronger, and suddenly the flying sensation from earlier arose. The hand had returned, and was carrying me swiftly from the forest. I gazed back at the utopian paradise in awe as the sun set and I was carried back home. Had I discovered something? I think so. And I think I will remember it for a long, long time.


* Seriously, I think people who discount an entire genre (whether it be country, hip-hop, whatever) should go to hell. And I used to be like this