Tuesday listens...what u got? [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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Mike
05-17-2005, 07:40 AM
Mainly:-
Richmond Fontaine - The Fitzgerald, it's a low key, lo-fi affair compared to his last one which so far leaves me cold. I still think Winnemucca is his best.

Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree, caught me by suprise this one it's quite upbeat and the guy has a very distinctive sort of half singing half talking voice, me likes.

Funeral - Arcade Fire, for a long time I got this confused with The Fiery Furnaces my simple mind and fire and cremations I guess. Anyway it's very nice.

Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat, I can't see what all the fuss is about, fortunately I didn't buy this, enough said.

The Verve - Singles Collection, anyone remember them, only 14 tracks but what a solid comp with a nice sound too, a swirling cacophony of sound.

Some others:-
Thievery Corporation - The Cosmic Game
AC/DC - Back In Black
Rachel Gosswell - Waves Are Universal
Joan Armatrading - Retrospective, a 2 CD remastered collection

Cheers
Mike

Jim Clark
05-17-2005, 11:49 AM
Can't let this thread die such an awful death so I'll take a few minutes away from painting to list a few.

Two KEXPMF comps. Some good toons, some recycled from the last comps she gave me (yeah, you lost track!). Good enough to note a few artists that if she's not representing, she should be but that will have to wait till later. Also a demo disc from what I'm assuming is a band in her stable the Push Stars. Haven't really latched on to that one. First track is radio friendly enough and another track was enjoyable, maybe 3? Not totally certain I got the right one there. Like I said - later.

Still jamming on the newest VNV Nation along with The National. Two early top 10 faves. Got the new Spoon today, not really loving it yet but it does have it's moments. If there's any validity at all to Davey's claim that they're channeling John Lennon then it really isn't a big shock that it didn't just leap out at me. Only listened twice, who knows.

Some old faves:Reindeer Section, Interpol, Arcade Fire, Massive Attack.

Lots o'boots:

Devo +some Demos from Booji Boy's basement
Electrelane
Raveonettes
Interpol
Postal Service
Adam Ant (Strip era - P.U., at least those tracks)
GBV
Clash 82' SBD recording
Alan Parsons Project in Russia
Jimmy Buffett SBD
Le Tigre -Pre FM broadcast
James
Catherine Wheel
The Primitives
Morrissey
Moby
Men At Work
Ultravox -'79 w/John foxx
A Clash DVD from the US music Fest
Big Country

jc

Troy
05-17-2005, 12:18 PM
Yeah, quiet here today . . .

New stuff:
Kino- Picture. Very much like Spocks Beard, but with better singing. Really poppy and accessible, yet filled with really strange/good harmonic choces. The drummer, ex-Porcupine Tree guy Chris Maitland, is a monster. Very Terry Bozzio. Overall, a very enjoyable pop-prog release.

Ben Folds- Songs for Silverman. One spin and I'm pretty bored by it. Missing the big rock arrangement of "Rockin' the Suburbs." Really obnoxiously precious in spots. Will play more in the coming weeks . . .

Adrian Belew- Side One. New AB solo release. First 3 tracks feature Les Claypool and rock pretty hard, if a bit sloppy and cacaphonous. Definitely the more experimental side of Belew. With only one spin I can tell this will not be a favorite.

others:
Calexico- Feast of Wire
Lancaster & Lumley- Marsscape
Porcupine Tree- Deadwing
Talking Heads- Buildings and Food
Tears for Fears- Elemental
Matthew Sweet- Blue skies on Mars

BarryL
05-17-2005, 12:45 PM
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All: Inca Roads and Andy are killer. The rest is just good. A long lost favorite, was my first Zappa LP, bought used.

PT- Deadwing: Still listening and liking.

Kino - Picture: What I said in my earlier review, which Troy repeats above.

James LaBrie - Elements of Persuasion: JL does his usual heavy metal vocals to heavy metal shredding. Plays it pretty safe, which means it is unlikely to appeal to anyone. All I can say is that I fell for it, based on my love of Frameshift. The problem for me isn't LaBrie's vocal abilities, it's his lack of imagination in song writing. Less metal, more progressive works better for him, IMO.

Yo-Yo Ma - The Dvorak Album: You have to love anything by a guy named Yo-Yo. Dvorak is the king of romantic composers IMO, and this album is filled with musical sensibilities by compositional genius that is all too rare in history, and almost non-existent in classical music today.

Also been skimming the Flower Kings to add tunes to the MP3 player on my Treo 600 phone.

Woochifer
05-17-2005, 01:24 PM
Currently shuffling up on my desktop playlist:

Underworld - Second Toughest In The Infants
Blue Note Revisited
The Brand New Heavies - Brother Sister
Soulstice - Mixed Illusions
Praxis - Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis)
Repo Man Original Movie Soundtrack
Hed Kandi Back to Love 3
George Gee and The Jump Jive and Wailers - Buddha Boogie
Kaskade - In The Moment

Slosh
05-17-2005, 01:27 PM
Good thing I don't buy my music based on first impressions 'cause I would have passed on <s>#$@!@&#$%</s> and now I can't stop playing it . . . over and over (except for the last track). :) Whoever the engineer was that set up the mic should be fired, though. The rest of the recording sounds decent enough but there is this awful vocal sibilance. I even went so far as to check my tracking force, VTA, and anti-skate but all were dead-on.

I did listen to a bunch of other stuff too but who really cares?

newtrix1
05-17-2005, 01:36 PM
Frost - Melodica
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Oukast - Stankonia

car-toons:
EMI sampler

Comps:
4194092002 - Rae

Hawkeye
05-17-2005, 04:27 PM
Yeah, quiet here today . . .
New stuff:
Kino- Picture. Very much like Spocks Beard, but with better singing. Really poppy and accessible, yet filled with really strange/good harmonic choces. The drummer, ex-Porcupine Tree guy Chris Maitland, is a monster. Very Terry Bozzio. Overall, a very enjoyable pop-prog release.
Troy, is there somewhere I can listen to samples of their music? Sounds very interesting, plus I see John Beck plays keyboards in the band. I've met him on a bunch of different occasions a few years ago when he made the rounds in Alan Parsons' Live Project, and also with the 2001 and 2002 renditions of Alan Parsons/Todd Rundgren led Beatles tribute: 'A Walk Down Abby Road' I'd love to hear some of what he's involved in now.

Dusty Chalk
05-17-2005, 04:52 PM
Lots of Mice Parade. Also the Isis remix collection (interesting stable of remixers). Also, lots of Auburn Lull (shoegazer).

ForeverAutumn
05-17-2005, 06:07 PM
I spent a lot of time in my car this past week, so I had lots of listening time. I didn't listen to anything really new though.

Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
The Honeydogs - 10,000 Years
Keane - Hopes and Fears
Jet - Get Born
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Pilate - Caught by the Window
Rheostatics - 2067
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Snow Patrol - Final Straw

I have to say that I LOVE the Playlist-On-The-Go feature on my iPod. No more trying to change CDs while driving 120 (kms) on the highway. Now I just load up a few hours of CDs or songs into a playlist, plug the iPod into my car, and I'm good for hours of driving. :D A question for other iPod users...can I put a playlist on shuffle? If so, how? I couldn't figure it out.

Earlier today I also listened to a couple of Mercury Rev disks borrowed from BarryL.
Deserter's Songs - Excellent disk. I really enjoyed this one.
Yerself Is Steam - What a piece of crap IMO. I actually found myself clenching my teeth a couple of times and eventually just pulled it out of the player about half way through. This one was like nails on a blackboard. I'm really glad that I listened to Deserter's Songs first. Had YIS been my first listen, I might not have given them another chance.

-Jar-
05-17-2005, 06:31 PM
IYerself Is Steam - What a piece of crap IMO. I actually found myself clenching my teeth a couple of times and eventually just pulled it out of the player about half way through. This one was like nails on a blackboard. I'm really glad that I listened to Deserter's Songs first. Had YIS been my first listen, I might not have given them another chance.

..it's not as easy as it may seem, remember that yerself is steam..

I always forget that most people like normal music.

:)

YERSELF is definately not normal music. But for those of us who like noise sweet noise, it's just a heavenly album. I guess you have to consider the environment that spawned them, just about everyone in the underground/indie rock world was doing the noise thing back in 1991. And copious amounts of drugs for sure. But, they all grew up and now make cafe' soundtrack music and toonz for Apple commercials and Nissans.

I still say "Frittering" stands above anything the band that calls itself Mercury Rev has done since.

IMO of course :)

I like DESERTER'S SONGS too.. but really only the first few cuts really grab me, the rest of the album is just a little on the nice side. I still think "Goddess on a Hiway" would sound awesome covered by Tom Petty.

Now, excuse me while I go crank BOCES. (you thought YERSELF IS STEAM was crap, hehe, I can't imagine you'd have very nice things to say about BOCES either..muahahah)


-jar

Ex Lion Tamer
05-17-2005, 06:33 PM
Listening through Gimme Fiction for the second time since bringing it home this afternoon and it is good solid Spoon, which is to say it's about as good as indie rock music gets in the 00s. Davey and JC both mentioned a Lennon/Beatles thing and the first song sounds about as much like White album era Lennon as, well White album era Lennon. Pretty sure I will like this more than Kill the Moonlight, but not sure about it reaching the heights of Girls Can Tell and A Series of Sneaks. But hey, it's Spoon and that's always a good thing.

Recent trip to the Biblio netted me Massive Attack's Mezzanine, and Beck's Guero. I've seen the MA at many a vinyl emporium but never pulled the trigger....probably because I like but don't LOVE Blue Lines, though Safe From Harm just knocks me out every time, I could listen to that song on repeat for hours. But I think I like Mezzanine quite a bit more than Blue Lines, just seems to lock onto a groove like a pit bull's jaw and never let go. (Note to self: must sweat up the sheets with this as the soundtrack at some point in the near future...hopefully my wife will join me ;-)). As for Beck, I'm one who never really got Odelay, mostly annoying, with a few stellar moments. I like my Beck with a soupcon of Mutations; mellow & melodic. I think I like Guero better than Odelay, but it sure ain't Mutations.

side Bar...My Mathematical Mind (Spoon song) just ended and it FREAKIN' ROCKS!!!! Great song!

other stuff this week...

BSP - Open Season = pretty good but I do wish it was more like The Decline of....

Pinback - Summer In Abaddon = still hugely popular around my CD player. Probably my favorite of last year. I guess I should search some more Pinback.

Eels - Electro-Shock Blues = call me crazy but I prefer "Daisies of the Galaxy".

and plenty of excellent comps from the likes of Davey; "No Joy, No Wow" & "Monkey Bones" and Slosh; "Guerrilas in the Mix.

and a little jazz from Michel Legrand (In Paris) and Charles Mingus (New Tijuana Moods)

A final note on Gimme Fiction; the vinyl pressing is of VERY high quality. That's two in a row, including The Arcade Fire's Funeral, albums that are flat, and dead quiet in the groove. Are bands paying more attention to quality control on vinyl lately? This is a trend I can really get behind. Highly recommended for lovers of the black circle.

-Jar-
05-17-2005, 06:41 PM
<i>Recent trip to the Biblio netted me Massive Attack's Mezzanine,</I>

if you ever cook this sucker to CD-R, keep me in mind. I would love to hear how it compares to my cd.

-jar

ForeverAutumn
05-17-2005, 07:19 PM
YERSELF is definately not normal music. But for those of us who like noise sweet noise, it's just a heavenly album. -jar

Funny you should word it this way. As I was listening to the first few tracks, I swear, I thought to myself..."this isn't music, it's noise". Now I know how my mother felt all those years ago when we were still living at home. :D

Ex Lion Tamer
05-17-2005, 07:46 PM
if you ever cook this sucker to CD-R, keep me in mind. I would love to hear how it compares to my cd.

-jar

Sorry Jar, this is just a CD-R copy of a CD from the library. I was too cheap to get the vinyl. But I do like it enough that if I see it on vinyl again, I'll probably pick it up. And I'll keep you in mind.

BarryL
05-18-2005, 05:40 AM
Yerself Is Steam - What a piece of crap IMO.


Had you thrown it out the window, I wouldn't have considered it a loss! (Except you shouldn't leave trash on the side of the highway).

Dave_G
05-18-2005, 07:29 AM
Me and ol Jim Clark like a lot of the same stuff, that old Ultravox stuff is killer, and Devo too.


But lately I have been enjoying my Richard Pryor boxed set, his stuff just tears me up.

Also played Kino, Stan Ridgway "Partyball", Galahad "Sleepers", and Ines "Hunting the Fox".

Dave

Davey
05-18-2005, 08:56 AM
Richmond Fontaine - The Fitzgerald, it's a low key, lo-fi affair compared to his last one which so far leaves me cold. I still think Winnemucca is his best.

Hey Mike, keep me posted on whether you warm up to that one. It's not gonna be released here for another couple months but I had placed it at the top of my list based on the review at americana.uk. Like Uncut, they're a bit over the top on those guys though. The only one I have so far is the one from last year.

Davey
05-18-2005, 09:13 AM
<i>Recent trip to the Biblio netted me Massive Attack's Mezzanine,</I>

if you ever cook this sucker to CD-R, keep me in mind. I would love to hear how it compares to my cd.

-jar
The vinyl does sound great...but then again I don't have the CD to compare it to, although I've heard a couple songs on comps and they sound pretty nice too. Probably kind of pricey now, if even still available. Probably kind of pricey back then too! I do have both the LP and CD for Protection and the vinyl has always sounded better, but I'm not sure of the recording factoids and it's not really night and day. It isn't one of those holographic analog experiences so probably a digital source. That song "Three" with Nicolette throws up a really nice and unique soundstage though that doesn't come across nearly as well with the CD and is a big favorite when spinning the LP.

nobody
05-18-2005, 09:44 AM
Yup...that one's pricey and I hate that I don't have a copy, but they're like 40-50 bucks on vinyl nowadays...along with Tricky's debut, which I wish I had on vinyl as well.

I've got most of their other stuff on vinyl, and I've seen their latest at good prices for 3 LP sets and you can usually find Protection at a decent price and there are cheap issues of Blue Lines all over. But, those two are tough to get a hold of without breaking the bank.

BarryL
05-18-2005, 10:22 AM
Funny you should word it this way. As I was listening to the first few tracks, I swear, I thought to myself..."this isn't music, it's noise". Now I know how my mother felt all those years ago when we were still living at home. :D

mom was saying those things about Andy Gibb and Free To Be You And Me. She always made me turn off Joni Mitchell, but she did like Tangerine Dream and wanted to come to see ELP with us.

Hmmmm. What kind of pills was she taking?

ForeverAutumn
05-18-2005, 01:45 PM
mom was saying those things about Andy Gibb and Free To Be You And Me. She always made me turn off Joni Mitchell, but she did like Tangerine Dream and wanted to come to see ELP with us.

Hmmmm. What kind of pills was she taking?

Free To Be You And Me. Wow. It's like an acid flashback. I had totally blocked that from my memory. There were some very positive messages in FTBYAM. You should consider a copy for your kiddies. Hmmmmm. Maybe they'll get one for Christmas. Bwaahaaahaaaahaaa.

I was watching a biography on the Bee Gees a coupla weeks ago and, I don't care what anybody says, Andy Gibb is still a total hunk! Well...okay, Andy Gibb probably isn't looking so hot these days, but my heart still did a little pitter patter as I watched old video footage. RIP.

Whatever pills she was taking...she wasn't getting them from me! I kept a close eye on my stash. ;)

BarryL
05-18-2005, 02:02 PM
You should consider a copy for your kiddies. Hmmmmm. Maybe they'll get one for Christmas. Bwaahaaahaaaahaaa.



I'll have you know that somehow my kiddies have been listening to FTBYAM, and so have I, in the car. It was recorded from some scratchy record. How many times do I have to hear "Billy wants a dolly, Billy wants a dolly" sung by Alan Alda? Bwaahaaahaaaahhh is right! Fortunately, the whole thing, while pathetic, is not nearly as subversive as The Simpsons or those gender-neutral Teletubbies, or A Clockwork Orange, especially for pre-teen girls (I'm not sure my kids really "got" the whole Clockwork Orange thing). This weekent, Rocky Horror Picture Show!

:rolleyes:

Wouldn't share with your lovin' mum? How bad is that.

ForeverAutumn
05-18-2005, 02:32 PM
Hmmmmm. Somehow I remember it as Barry wants a doll. Must be those acid flashbacks again. :p

Dusty Chalk
05-18-2005, 08:02 PM
Whatever you do, don't go out and get the Chasing a Bee single/EP/whatever.

I should probably revisit it, as I like noise. Maybe coming at it from that perspective, I can appreciate it more.

-Jar-
05-19-2005, 05:19 AM
Not like anyone could easily find the "Chasing a Bee" Ep. I don't even have that.

YERSELF is just, I mean, really it's one of my favorite albums of all time. One person's crap is another's treasure. Much of it really isn't "song" so much as "sound"... though "Carwash Hair" is one of the catchiest toonz they ever did.

"wanna ask but I just stare, can I run my hands through your carwash hair?"

-jar

BarryL
05-19-2005, 05:25 AM
Hmmmmm. Somehow I remember it as Barry wants a doll. Must be those acid flashbacks again. :p

Don't reveal my real name. This is a public website. You know the code!!!! :confused:

I'm telling. And stop teasing.

Waaaa.

Flower Kings in Rochester next week.

Waaaaa.

PT in Toronto next Tuesday, Yeah!
Chris Smither in Toronto next Thursday. Yeah!