i'm not a big fan of the first four - i don't actively dislike them, i've just never heard anything that made me want to explore their work. And i've never heard of the last four. If you think i'd like them, what album(s) should i start with?
Here we go: Broken Bells-Anything involving James Mercer can't be that bad, right? Bruce Springsteen-Really? You're not a fan of the Boss? Great song writer, fantastic performer. Everything he releases has at least one good track. I'll definitely check out what he puts out. The New Pornographers-Great ensemble band. You just played a festival that one of them headlined. (Don't worry, I won't tell her you think her band stinks :)) Belle & Sebastian-Awesome band, cool lyrics, super melodic, have their own sound. I dig them quite a bit. The Notwist-That's a link to Neon Golden, an album sounds_sound introduced me to years ago. Great stuff. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks-Damn good. You may know Malkmus from his band Pavement-you may recall Wilco covering that tune at that show we were both at. Sun Kil Moon-Listen to this song. -You're welcome. Spoon-Great band that has been around for a long time. -I love the tone of the drums in this song. Really just the snare, it makes me wanna drive in a car with the windows down. Let me know what you think of these. I hope you enjoy at least some of them and can therefore be more excited about some of these 2014 releases :) By the way, I too am pretty excited about the Wilco and Beck releases. Both of those bands/artists rarely disappoint. EDIT: What about Fleet Foxestoo? -That's Someone You'd Admire a track I know that theadvancedapes digs. I'd say the song Helplessness Bluesis about as good as it gets. -That song can damn near bring me to tears.
So, i've been listening to these a lot. It's probably better that i let these guys sit with me for a while rather than giving you my first impressions. A couple of them (sun kil moon, new pornographers) have grown on me since first giving them a chance a week and a half ago. rather than giving you the song by song analysis, i thought this time i'd just say that i appreciated just about everything here. To be honest, the only thing i'm still not sold on is Springsteen. I've heard great things about his band and him as a performer but as a songwriter i guess its just not my thing. i found most of the songs on the greatest hits to be pretty cheesy. the 80s snare sound (where you take the reverb off the end and paste it over the initial strike) gets really fatiguing also. with that said, i enjoyed everything else you posted and i'm really glad you introduced/re-introduced me to them. With a lot of bands what happens with me is i'll hear it and not get into it at first, and then over time something happens to my ear and i'll hear the same band again and just "get it." this happened with belle and sebastian especially. After giving them another chance, i'm actually really enjoying it. I haven't gotten any albums though, i wanted to know which one you thought i should start with. I'm really impressed by their diversity. The notwist was a favorite out of these. their percussion tracks are just amazing - i really wish i could do stuff similar to this with my own music. The other favorite was Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. I can definitely hear the Pavement in them, i just never knew what the guy's name was, but it clicked pretty quickly. I got the album from the song you posted and that weekend i went with my band to wisconsin and we listened to it on the way there, it's a really solid album. I'll definitely be getting a few more. Also, i remember Wilco playing cut your hair that night, they did a great job! with all the covers really. It was my job as an intern to type up the lyrics to each song in that set for jeff. Can i ask, when they did the "stump the band" thing, how did you feel about that? enjoyable? believable? The drunk lady doing a british accent in front of the entire crowd was a highlight of my weekend. I like Fleet Foxes a lot, actually i should have said that. I am excited about anything they're going to release. Helplessness Blues is a great song. the whole album is really special. This one is another one i love.
I will admit, if I hadn't grown up with Springsteen and was given his music now and at your age I would probably not be a big fan either. There's a lot of small town america, working man's hero in there that resonates with me. My grandfather owns a manufacturing plant and a lot of the characters/towns he sings about seem to come from my childhood. That said, I'm very glad to read that you took some enjoyment from the other bands/artists listed. To answer the big question, which Belle & Sebastian album to go with. There's the old school approach of starting at square one, but I don't think I'll take that route. If I were you, I would start with The Boy With The Arab Strap -check out the songs It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career and Sleep the Clock Around -total ear candy. This was the first album I heard from them when it came out in 1998. I also really like to point people towards Dear Catastrophe Waitress -I think it's a really strong album. Stump the Band: Full honesty....First time it was amusing, subsequent times it was a bit awkward. I like Hodgman, he's a funny guy but they sort of beat that horse to death and no, it wasn't believable. That said, even awkwardness can be enjoyable and I had a blast during that set. The awkwardness made it real and brought me even more in to the experience, if that makes sense. -We were all collectively awkward :) Drunk lady was a riot and Jeff handled that all really well. For me a highlight was seeing my all time favorite band cover one of my all time favorite songs Waterloo Sunset. -Damn. Also, seeing them cover Who Loves The Sun prior to losing Lou Reed was pretty great. All in all, that was one of the most fun sets I've seen. I had a blast and it felt (and at times sounded) really loose, which was great. I'm hoping to be able to return to a Solid Sound festival. Will there be one this year? My wife is about to give birth within the next 30-40 days, we will see if I'm able to attend this year, but if so we will most definitely have to meet up (if you guys are there). What was the explanation on why they played And Your Bird Can Sing twice? Not complaining, one of my all time favorite Beatles tunes. -What a great riff. Let me know what you think of the Belle & Sebastian album(s) and Happy New Year!
I remember that they played that song twice... didn't they say they wanted to do it again just to get it right? i don't think it was on the set list to do it twice, so maybe they really did want to get it 100% right and decided to do so on the fly. but maybe i'm just forgetting and they actually did plan to do it again as part of the whole under-rehearsed, "you asked for this!" act. i'm sorry i don't remember exactly what happened. i assumed there would be another fest this year, but now that i think about it i don't recall hearing anyone talk about booking bands or anything. I haven't been to the loft in a while though and thats generally where all the preparation happens. but they've been doing it every year thus far haven't they? I hope something works out so we can go there, or even if i could drive up as an audience member that'd be great. if it does and you can also manage it we absolutely should get together. =)
I think they just were under the impression that they could do it better and therefore played it again. You're right. Did you have a favorite cover from that evening? How about a favorite band from that weekend? I'll definitely do all I can to be there again this year (if it happens). So, you get a chance to dig in to Belle & Sebastian any further? I'm going to drop a few videos here in this comment of some of my favorite B&S songs: I've shared a few of these with you already but now there all in one place. Side note: I've shared this link on Hubski a bazillion times, but if you've not listened to Sandro Perri's "Impossible Spaces," check out this song "Wolfman" -I think it's amazing. sounds_sound introduced me to it a while back.
I haven't had a chance yet to listen to all of these videos but i did listen to The Boy with the Arab Strap a couple times and it's just awesome. i'ts interesting though that you had me start with this one after the initial post. This whole album is more laid back, less funky. The guitar tone on every song is AMAZING, and the bass lines are really cool when you can hear them, i just wish bass was more forward in the mix in general (although i could just be saying that because i always over mix bass). There were times when the guy's voice bothered me, but the lyrics are so colorful and interesting that it was easy to look past. The biggest thing i've noticed is that i haven't been able to come up with any parallels between this band's sound and any other's. tonally and especially compositionally there are a lot of surprises. There were a bunch of times where they set themselves up for a nice resolving cadence and instead used a dissonant color chord. On the whole, they really are something i've never heard before and that is very cool to me.
I will say though that in some ways this album is something i can see The New Green doing. i couldn't name a specific song or lyric or progression, just that the atmosphere of this album made me think that the album of yours which you sent me was influenced in some way by these guys, or that you could make an album like this if you wanted to. If that makes sense... Anyway, i'm definitely keeping this album in my library and will be adding a few more. I'll also keep working my way through these videos. I'm taking a class now (contemporary music history and analysis) that is going take up all of the time i usually spend listening to music "recreationally," if that was ever possible. But thank you for starting me off with these guys, they're really great and if you have any more suggestions i'd love to hear them.
Now that you have a sense of the music I dig and more importantly, the music I write/create, do you have any suggestions for me? I could use some new music. Good luck with the contemporary music history class, if you stumble across any great finds in your study you ought to post them.
well i'm not sure what i have that you haven't heard yet, or more importantly that you'd actually enjoy. but i'll give it a shot! Unknown Mortal Orchestra is on the same label as Foxygen and the are pretty cool. mixed pretty weirdly put i think it adds an element of romance once you get used to it. Tame Impala, maybe? Psychadelic! All tracked by one guy, which is cool. I imagine you'd like The Tallest Man on Earth if you haven't already heard him. i found this in NPR's top albums of 2013 and have been listening to it a lot since then. The Bryan Ferry Orchestra Gavin Castleton is one of my favorite living songwriters. It's really hard to show people his stuff though because most of it is weird and inaccessible (funk/rock opera about a zombie apocalypse and a prediction of his own future sung in reverse chronological order are things he's done in the past) but this one i think is hard to dislike. Lost Lander - Cold Feet my favorite song by one of my favorite bands. it's hard to pick one song that is representative of them. If you could only get one of the albums i've suggested i would say get this one. Everything on it is worth listening to, the entire album is colorful and inspiring and very special to me. Hopefully you can get something out of it too.
Sorry for the late reply. I've written up a reply twice now only to be called away from my computer etc. I really dig the Unknown Mortal Orchestra it's right up my alley. Great tones, cool melodies and music that I find very easy to listen to. I will say that I had a conversation with a friend recently wondering when the retro-drowning in reverb sound will pass, I'm not complaining because I love the sound but it seems that everything is like that these days. -You know? We have had an unusually harsh winter here in the South, I know Chicago probably has too but you are used to it. Anyways, when the first 65 degree day hits, I want to go for a drive and put that Tame Impala song on. -Perfect sunny day driving music imo. I'm torn as to how I feel about The Tallest Man on Earth. I respect the songwriting and the delivery but I don't enjoy the voice. I don't trust it for some reason, it seems intentionally effected. But hey, that's just like one mans opinion dude. The Bryan Ferry Orchestra is awesome!! Makes me want to visit a speakeasy or watch the Little Rascals. I need to give Gavin Castleton another listen. I enjoyed some of the ear candy in the mix, but don't recall more than that. I'll listen again. Lost Lander was my favorite of the bunch. I really like this song, topically and lyrically it hits home. It has some interesting percussion and vocal work. The video is cool too. I'm going to buy this album per your suggestion. Thank you! How are your classes going by the way? Hope all is well. You see this one? You should add some bass to it.
I tried recording something but ended up letting it sit. I think it might be too busy of a line. I don't know if I should add anything too complicated since so much is likely to be added on afterwards. Let me know if you have any opinions about that. No worries for not digging the guy's voice. It definitely takes some getting used to and your reaction is the same as a lot of other people I've showed him to. In his defense though, he's not the first to put on a funny accent when he sings. The name bob Dylan comes to mind.........
I'd love to hear anything you have regarding bass. If you would rather re-record, go for it. That said, having the bass line dictate what's to come isn't a bad thing.... Add some bass, I can't tell you how much joy it brings me to hear stuff added to these collaborative songs. Thanks again for the new music. Some gems there.In his defense though, he's not the first to put on a funny accent when he sings. The name bob Dylan comes to mind
Bob did it first and when I hear him, I believe him. There are plenty of singers that add affectation to their voice and I still love them, just wasn't the case here.
so apparently if you take too long to write a comment, you can't submit it and you also lose everything that you wrote. I listened to all of these and commented as i went through them, but at this point its late and i can't write it all (i already don't remember everything i said) so i'll just start over tomorrow morning. The short version is that i downloaded some Notwist and Stephen Malkmus albums, with Broken Bells and Belle & Sebastian on my to-do list.
Sorry about that T-Dog, often hitting the backspace button will recover it. What likely happened was that the guys were working on the site mid way through your post and it was temporarily down when you submitted. It's a giant pain in the ass. I'm sorry. Glad you listened though. mk, forwardslash, just a heads up that this occurred.
I'm gonna make you a playlist later tonight. We'll at least make you a Belle and Sebastian fan.