What are you listening to? Is it good? 2.0

Poppadocrock

@JanKun said:
Lately I am obsessed with this track and the incredible production by Blake Mills

Perfume Genius has several great tracks. Check his album before that one with tracks Queen and Fool.

Poppadocrock

Y’all want a banger….

IDLES - pop pop pop off their newest album produced by the famous Nigel Godrich.

This song is addictive, especially the drum beat, get ready…

JeffChasteen

@jebni said:
Back again to women singing, all day, every day.

I recently discovered PJ Harvey's recentishly released demo versions of the songs from Let England Shake, and they're blowing my mind.

I'm fascinated by what these demos reveal about Harvey's songwriting process; I had absolutely no idea that she'd been writing songs around looped samples, and it's nuts just how oddly this messes up one's preconceptions of the whole "singer-songwriter (non-)industrial complex".

Take "The Words That Maketh Murder". Here's the finished track, for reference:

We're already somewhat behind the curtain with the music video's little cuts to her at home (?), playing her auto-harp like a kooky prophet bleating into the wind. But then… here's the actual demo:

My jaw dropped when I heard this. We might have all thought that the finished song simply had an Eddie Cochran reference/callback in the final refrain, but hearing her auto-harp come in over an actual sample of "Summertime Blues" from the very outset in the demo is just… stunning. Your mileage might vary, but for me, the tension in that mashup is what generates the drive of the released song.

And then there's the title track. Again, the final track for reference:

And in contrast, here's the mutherf*&^ing demo, with a loop from The Four Lads' "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" taking pride of place, and chopped to a length that lets the song's odd time signature unfold:

I have no words.

Michael, thanks for sharing that.
It is a fascinating look at her compositional process.
Since I always think of Harvey as a blues artist with a lot of something extra, her use of appropriated grooves/feels as inspiration can be akin to the utilization of musical and lyrical tropes in the blues vocabulary.
As I always say when defending my magpie ways, “Hey man, it’s all folk music!”

HotStrange

New Vampire Weekend album is excellent. Mary Boone is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard recently. Highly recommended.

And yes @Poppadocrock that new Idles album slaps!

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

Cheesy 1960s lounge jazz, or some of the best musicians of the era grooving their tails off? You make the call!

McD

I heard a recommendation on a Podcast for this track from an upcoming album and I thought:

“Oh hell no.” but after a while I thought… I should try and understand why a culture critic is so excited about this particular artist so I checked out the track… not the video for my first listen but the track on iTunes.

I provide the video here for a free discussion (NOTE: the video starts with 42 seconds of silence):

WOW! That keyboard part and the subesequent vocal and ensemble is unlike any pop tune I can recall since Vanessa Carlton’s wonderful “A Thousand Miles”.

I then wondered, “Is anyone else as excited by this track as I am?” and I found:

Mind blown. I want to craft something like this. Mastering Notation and breaking free of IOS DAW’s would be required. Did I mention StaffPad is on sale for $69 yet?

Fingolfinzz

I’ve been in quite the afi phase lately

jwmmakerofmusic

Been getting back into listening to Deadmau5 after all these years. His newer music sounds excellent much like his older stuff.

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@McD said:
I heard a recommendation on a Podcast for this track from an upcoming album and I thought:

“Oh hell no.” but after a while I thought… I should try and understand why a culture critic is so excited about this particular artist so I checked out the track… not the video for my first listen but the track on iTunes.

I provide the video here for a free discussion (NOTE: the video starts with 42 seconds of silence):

Nice one. Clearly she inherited her musical talent through the maternal line!

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@R_2 said:
I love how I love this

She was one of the great beauties of 60s pop, with a voice to match. Check out this live version from shortly before she died though. Brings tears to my eyes every time:

McD

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@McD said:
I heard a recommendation on a Podcast for this track from an upcoming album and I thought:

“Oh hell no.” but after a while I thought… I should try and understand why a culture critic is so excited about this particular artist so I checked out the track… not the video for my first listen but the track on iTunes.

I provide the video here for a free discussion (NOTE: the video starts with 42 seconds of silence):

Nice one. Clearly she inherited her musical talent through the maternal line!

We have a family friends that home schooled 3 children and one of them was able to spend her almost complete focus on creating music… I think that might be the consequence of Willow’s upbringing. She has dug into the deep end of the musical theory pool for rhythm, harmony and instrumental execution.

I checked out her previous album and the mack of a keyboard focus left me a bit unmoved. I suspect multiple listening might work to show some hidden aspects that didn’t seem obvious on a first pass listen hoping for something akin to this little gem of an ear worm. I love the way the verses are all in A minor and the ending chord is an unexpected A major. It has a profound uplifting effect.

cuscolima

@McD said:
I heard a recommendation on a Podcast for this track from an upcoming album and I thought:

“Oh hell no.” but after a while I thought… I should try and understand why a culture critic is so excited about this particular artist so I checked out the track… not the video for my first listen but the track on iTunes.

I provide the video here for a free discussion (NOTE: the video starts with 42 seconds of silence):

WOW! That keyboard part and the subesequent vocal and ensemble is unlike any pop tune I can recall since Vanessa Carlton’s wonderful “A Thousand Miles”.

I then wondered, “Is anyone else as excited by this track as I am?” and I found:

Mind blown. I want to craft something like this. Mastering Notation and breaking free of IOS DAW’s would be required. Did I mention StaffPad is on sale for $69 yet?

Her new album definitely worth a listen. Big influence by St-Vincent. I can hear some Jacob Collier…

Fingolfinzz

Mr. Reznor

McD

@cuscolima said:
Her new album definitely worth a listen. Big influence by St-Vincent. I can hear some Jacob Collier…

It’s out… I will be checking it out. I see Jon Batiste and St Vincent are featured but I’m eager to know who these current studio musicians are. If anyone has clues please comment… there are probably interviews surfacing with the press for the album. The iTunes credits have some details.

Brad Oberhofer played the keyboards on “symptom of life” and is credited as a co-composer.

Jon Batiste is a composer on his featured track and “Annie Clark” (St.Vincent) is composer on her collab track.

Fingolfinzz

After being a fan for like three decades, I’m finally going to go see Green Day live. With my excitement being immeasurable, it’s all I can listen to right now.

reasOne

@Poppadocrock said:
Y’all want a banger….

IDLES - pop pop pop off their newest album produced by the famous Nigel Godrich.

This song is addictive, especially the drum beat, get ready…

IDLES are dope af, i jam this track a lot.. their last two albums have really made me a fan

Fingolfinzz

Fugazi is one of the best bands ever

yellow_eyez

MadeofWax

I know they probably aren’t popular here on the forum, but I love the production on some of Bring Me The Horizon’s music.
This one’s called n/A

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

Vikki Carr singing a duet with herself, but each Vikki is singing a different Burt Bacharach song. Apparently some guy is cheating on Vikki with the other Vikki. It's a 1970s TV variety show gimmick; it's also an artistic masterwork. Incredible musicianship to put this together:

cramdog

MrStochastic

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:
Cheesy 1960s lounge jazz, or some of the best musicians of the era grooving their tails off? You make the call!

I really like the organ sound here and the playing. Cheesy? maybe but it gives me ideas.

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@MrStochastic said:

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:
Cheesy 1960s lounge jazz, or some of the best musicians of the era grooving their tails off? You make the call!

I really like the organ sound here and the playing. Cheesy? maybe but it gives me ideas.

I'm just a sucker for tonewheels. It's my favorite synth. I will listen to almost any kind of music with a prominent tonewheel organ part. Jimmy McGriff is my favorite organist, but Walter Wanderley is a close second. They are both total groove meisters with a very clear and simple presentation.

SirMcp

An older album but amazing and sone Lamb of God. Warning, the youtube link is extremely heavy music (hardcore).

HolyMoses

I'm still in love with the album 'Rien ne se tait' from the French band Danakil - the album is from 2021 - perfect Friday party music!!

mikejohn

@SirMcp said:

An older album but amazing and sone Lamb of God. Warning, the youtube link is extremely heavy music (hardcore).

Fantastic album .. thanks for the reminder

NeuM

ralis

I have been digging these guys for a bit

And I have been loving this

ashh

jebni

Having missed Babylon Berlin when it first came out, I’ve just started watching Season 1 and am utterly mesmerised by this song.

I sense that they were trying to capture some ideas about the period rather than reproduce it, so it stands to reason that it’s a beautifully anachronistic genre freak show. But I want more! How can I make this happen? And what exactly are the hybrid blends that are going on here?

I’ve seen those contemporary but retro brass bands that do techno covers, and there’s something similar at work here that I adore. With this song you hear the EDM conceptually, not sonically. Kind of like the mirror image of Grace Jones’ relationship to cabaret, where the cabaret attitude was delivered through whatever fantastic post-punk disco mashup she was doing. Am I making sense?

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it also feels like a big band referencing minimalist music that is in turn referencing big band. You know when a brass section swaggers “inappropriately” in Glass or Michael Nyman? It feels a bit like that, but even more meta.

Halp!