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I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the In Rainbows LP. I bought it to see what my daughters were into. One side is very Beatles-ish. The other side is very relaxing, trance-like stuff. All of it is well done, but I bet it sounds bad on crappy systems.
Dave
Nice idea for a thread. I wish I could come up with such a neat little list but I tend to jump around quite a bit in my listening and nothing ever seems to go into heavy rotation. Light rotation is about the best that I can do. Now add onto that the fact that I also listen to plenty of jazz and a good deal of classical music as well and my list of "rock" music in light rotation is pretty slim.
Anyway do you think it might be possible for you to annotate the list with a few words about each selection. Nothing fancy, just some info and a comment or two.
Thanks
my current list
1. Dvorak's "New World" Symphony--Bruno Walter and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra
2. Aha Shake Heartbreak--Kings of Leon (almost always in my heavy rotation)
3. Aja--Steely Dan (also, almost always there)
4. Al Final De Este Viaja--Silvio Rodriguez
5. 2112--Rush
I'm the same way, though probably to a lesser degree. I bet most people here are. I saw that this thread had its limitations, but I thought, "Aw, screw it -- I'll just put this list up here in Rock." I used to participate to another forum where their "Now Listening" thread -- nothing but a list of what people were currently listening to -- would just grow and grow and grow forever. I found a lot of new music through it.
I thought about that, too, but chose not to because I didn't want anyone to feel that they had to post anything more than a list. I bet that everyone here can come up with interesting lists, and I enjoy just knowing what people are currently listening to. I was also just being lazy, however. Let me give it a shot.
1) Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
I wrote a little about this album here, and it's our Recording of the Month for May, so keep an eye out for that.
2) Radiohead, In Rainbows
I'm listening to this album right now. I owned it for a long time before really paying attention to it. Suddenly, it just clicked and I've been obsessed with it. It's beautiful and intelligent, danceable and lulling. Fred Kaplan wrote a bit about it here. And so has the rest of the world. It is a great album, though.
3) Devotchka, A Mad & Faithful Telling
People had been telling me that I'd love Devotchka for awhile, but I just never got around to them. People were right, though. Devotchka sounds like a drunken carnival, a Spanish caravan. There are strings, and trumpets, and oboes.
4) Heather Duby, Heather Duby
I met Heather Duby at a bar in Jersey City. I wrote about that here. Heather Duby sings and plays piano. Her voice is beautiful and kind of ragged at the edges, like she's hollered a bit too much and she's trying to keep her walls up, but every now and then, she shows some vulnerability and it's just kind of heartbreaking.
5) Thom Yorke, The Eraser
Thom Yorke is the lead singer of Radiohead and this was his 2006 solo album. It sounds a bit like In Rainbows, but harder and more electronic.
6) Bobby Valentin, Algo Nuevo
Bobby Valentin is a bass player, most famous for his work with the Fania All-Stars. I love his compositions. Unusual for salsa, he employs lots of baritone sax, which I like.
7) Joanna Newsom, Ys
This is another one of those albums that has been written about like crazy, but again I think it deserves all the attention. This was one of Michael Fremer's R2D4s. Also an Art Dudley favorite. Joanna Newsom plays harp. She's backed by a full orchestra, and the arrangements are by Van Dyke Parks. Steve Albini recorded it, and Jim O'Rourke mixed it. I think it's a really special piece of work.
8) Van Morrison, Astral Weeks
I'd known the big Van Morrison hits, but this was the first Van Morrison album I'd ever really paid attention to. It's gripping and gorgeous and delightful, and it's fun to see where Bruce Springsteen got so many of his ideas.
9) PJ Harvey, White Chalk
This was our February Recording of the Month. Richard Lehnert does a much better job than I could at describing its beauty.
10) Various, Cuba: Soneros de Ayer y de Hoy
I had been wanting to hear the original version of Cheo Marquetti's "Oriente" forever, and finally found it on this disc. Most of the songs here are lost treasures, out of print, and full of Cuban life and history. It's a 2-disc set with nearly 50 tracks in total. The sound quality is often poor, but the music is just outstanding.
PS: This took me so long that I actually got that "The form is no longer valid" message you guys have sometimes told me about. Whew.
Man, I hate when that happens.
I hope you didn't have to rewrite the whole post. (I've taken to copying mine when I sense that I've been a little slow). It'd sure be nice if we didn't have to worry about that...
Dave
Thanks Stephen. That is exactly what I was looking for. As for the "The form is no longer valid" message, which being so long winded I get quite a bit, whenever that happens I just hit the back button and my completed but not sent message reappears at which time I copy the text of the message into a text editor (like wordpad or editpad) and then create a new post into which I paste the saved text.
I will post some annotated rotation lists within the next few days.
1. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
2. Radiohead - Kid A
3. Cream - Disraeli Gears
4. Carla Bruni - No promises
5. Mobb Deep - Hell on Earth
6. Herbert - 100 lbs
7. Ricardo Villalobos - Salvador
8. Elliott Smith - XO
9. Bill Monroe - 16 Gems
10. Uncle Tupelo - No Depression
1) The Pixies, Live In Vancouver, Bossa Nova, Surfer Rosa
2) Beck, Mutations
3) Corrine Bailey Rae, Corrine Bailey Rae
4) R.E.M., Reveal
5) Aimee Mann, Lost In Space
6) Steely Dan, Katy Lied
7) Sleater-Kinney, The Woods
8) Buddy Guy, Blues Singer
9) Mongo Santamaria, Mambo Mongo
10) Al DeMeola, Elegant Gypsy
Did you hear? Corrine Bailey Rae's husband was found dead or something. I think it was drug-related.
I love S-K's "The Woods"!
Yea, And immediately I think, "How can someone lucky enough to be with her throw it all away like that..?" Then I remember how I was completely clueless that my lovely first wife/artist/mother of my children was completely disenchanted with me at that age- and I lost her to someone else. The circle of life and heartbreak.
classic album!
and selfdivider, good choice on the Mobb Deep, definitely one of the Southern rap groups outshadowed by Outkast (even though they're quite embedded in each other) and the crunk music that came out a little later
For some reason, I've been trying to ignore this album, but I think I need to get it.
Interesting that you've been listening to Kid A. I lost touch with Radiohead for awhile, but now that I've fallen so deeply in love with In Rainbows, I want to go back and pay better attention to their last few albums.
Another one that I think I need to get.
Cool.
The Malkmus lyrics are as cloying and annoying as ever. But you know, I grew up listening to Pavement, so it's actually kind of endearing for me when I bear with it. But the music, the ensemble-play on the album is incredible. Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney just kicks ass on drums, Malkmus should beg her to stay. Try the song "Baltimore," the incredible jam at the end...
Kid A, for some reason, is my go-to Radiohead album. I love their 'rock' albums, like The Bends, but something about Kid A is always mysterious. And killer, memorable songs... 'How to Disappear Completely' is one of the saddest songs I know. Actually, when we all went out for Analog/Drunkards night, I was talking to John DeV about Kid A, about how the main character, this kid in Murakami's "Kafka On the Shore" walks around listening to Kid A through headphones... a trippy book, and the perfect soundtrack to that book. Murakami really knows his music.
1) COB - Moyshe McStiff & the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart
2) Ulaan Khol - Ulaan Khol I
3) Nick Lowe - Jesus of Cool
4) Valet - Naked Acid
5) Mission of Burma - Signals, Calls & Marches and Vs. reissues
6) Noah Howard - The Black Ark
7) Brethren of the Free Spirit - All things are from Him, through Him and in Him
8) Bardo Pond - Batholith
9) Velvet Underground - Legendary Guitar Amp Tape (bootleg)
10) Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
Perhaps I should revisit Joanna Newsom's Ys, I don't know if I really gave that album a fair chance. I've always kind of (perhaps unfairly) compared Newsom to Josephine Foster, an artist I absolutely adore.
One to add to my list. I've listened to it over 5 times in less than 24 hours: Jerry Butler's Ice on Ice.
Stones - Sticky Fingers (actually there is always at least one Stones album being listened to...)
Thievery Corp. - Sounds from the Verve Hi-Fi
Texas Tornadoes - Greatest Hits
Lenny Breau - Live
Stephen Stills - Manassas (an album you could be stranded on an island with because it has a little bit of it all)
Martin Denny - Hypnotique
I type trash so fast..I've never seen this thing you speak of. Seriously. But..I'm also 'king of the edit button', so that may be more of the truth.
On rotation:
Calexico:The Black Light (LP)
Soundtrack:'O brother where art thou'-SACD
Palamino: Saturday Morning Empires -Buddy Guy on 49 hits of acid, lost in ethereal space.(CD)
Mazzy Star: So tonight That I might See.(LP)
The Boards of Canada: The Campfire Headphase (LP)
Gebrige: The Fires Of Ork. (CD)
Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense (CD-car) (LP-home)
Dead Can Dance: Wake (2CD compilation)
Nick Drake: Compilation (CD)
Boogaloo Joe Jones: Prestige 'Legends of Acid Jazz series'- a van gelder work. Can't beat that! Those damn dentists.....
Man, that is quite a list of cutting edge electronica, for sure!
Didn't you recently tell us this:
"I myself prefer to look forward to the future, without forgetting or enjoying the reflections of the past, and have been, for the past 5-6 years, been listening almost exclusively to electronically based music such as ambient oriented and created stuff.
It is truly cutting edge, as the palette is one that has been heretofore non-existent and unrealized. That is part of what defines it as the true cutting edge of sonic endeavor in the rolling edge of human existence. The true mark of the 'times', the 'leading edge' of humanity, as an evolving group.
The evolving and quickening edge of humanity, via self erudition and self taught inner transformation, by a near defacto point, requires music without lyrics. The emotion must be self created via the sonic palette. The right ambient music, can easily achieve this. The whole point is to shut down the 'voice in the head' to allow the depth of the unconscious mind to come to the fore, and so it can be dealt with and cleared. Music with human lyrical content severely retards this aspect."
Can you elucidate me further about how your listening is almost exclusively electronic and how you avoid being distracted from enlightenment by all those songs with lyrics on your list?
Those are the OTHER titles I might listen to, at this time.
Some are in the car..so if I turn on the car system, the radio is shit, so it never gets used. what is in the car, is kinda stuck in the car, for a while, as the CD changer is in the trunk,and a pain to get to.
I have a satellite Ambient channel on any time I am awake, so the vast majority is of the ambient nature. Like right now.
I'm not contradicting myself, but explanations can be complex and involved, so most times we don't fully bother, do we?
As well, some of the titles were for other folks to pick up and take a shot at hearing. I really haven't listened to the given stuff all that recently. I just wandered over to the rack and said to myself 'what are some really great titles that folks should be exposed to?'..and grabbed a few of the ones that were right at hand.
So, its more of a case of outright fibbing, not simple contradiction. The fibbing being that I listened to 'Calexico' recently. Great stuff, BTW. But I haven't spun it for over 6 months.
Hi, KBK, I was just goofing.
Actually...If we really had to list what we listen to most, for me it would be the damn "easy rock" they play over the ceiling crap speakers at work!
If I have to listen to that ineffectual wussy James Blunt sing about a chick on the bus who drove him to write a song but he couldn't bring himself to talk to her or at least stalk her, I may go postal.
(Not really postal, maybe go Iron Chef, or Good Eats, or something.)
Cheers.
Or that "Hey there Delilah" song.
I finally picked up Devandra Banhart's Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, and I'm really digging it. These songs seem much more focused than those on his last album, Cripple Crow, but are still playful and meandering. Banhart is such a weird dude. Part 1950's rockabilly crooner, part Van Morrison, part Jim Morrison, part I don't know what.
Oh: Part Mexican, part Neil Young, part something else.
This is why I listen to the Pixies. The lyrics are inscrutable (and you can't figure them out, either!), so you're not distracted by all that meaning. And you still get the emotional impact of them vocalising the quickening edge of humanity's emotional transformaton.
But I would not recommend self erudition without a nurse in attendance. The irrigation bag is tricky.
This is why I listen to salsa.
This is why I listen to Bjork.
Which is why I listen to Sigur Ros, obviously.
Or any of the last 5 or so Springsteen CDs.
I picked up some Pixie dust the other day. I'll wait until I have about 4 days off to give it a try.
Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac, especially the track "Blue Letter"--can't stop singing it
1. Pete Townshend Ronnie Lane-"Rough Mix" Ronnie Lane needed money and asked for a loan Townshend was too cheap so he suggested that they do an album together. God bless Townshend's cheapness. Great recording, with very, very good sound. It's a real hidden jem. It was recently remastered as a Dual Disc, which also contains a nice little documentary too.
2. Cowboy Junkies-"Trinity Revisited" My thoughts on that album are here http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=36133&an=0&page=0#Post36133
3. Sheryl Crow-"Detours" Trying to fall in love with this one but it's not happening so far. It's more Pop than Rock. Which makes sense because it was produced by Bill Bottrell, the producer her first album "Tuesday Night Music Club." Maybe I'm expecting too much because of that.
4. Supergrass-"Diamond Ho Ha" Ya right I wish. It hasn't been released in the US yet and I seriously starting to consider buying it as an import through Amazon.com.
R.E.M. - Accelerate - really it's in "heavy rotation". I just picked it up and I've been listening to it ever since. I'm just finishing up my third time through and I'm really liking what I'm hearing. On "Horse to Water" the boys are rocking hard and it segues beautifully into the equally hard rocking "I'm Gonna DJ", which has my favorite audiophile quote on the whole recording: "I'm collecting vinyl" - Way to go, Mike.
Just bought Radiohead's 'OK Computer'..which I've never heard. On a 180gm audiophile double album LP.
I'm very much in the camp of "Fuck CD's, you cheapshit music ruining music industry assholes!"
The nice way to say that, is, I held off until I had the right time and place. Meaning..I was at an audio show and there was money in my pocket for the expressed purpose of buying albums, while there. So, Radiohead will be a new experience for me. I would not ruin good music by getting it on CD unless I absolutely have to.
At the festival Du Son, in montreal, I actually stepped into a room full of ONLY Digital music sales, CD and SACD..Stopped....and backed out of the room making the sign of the cross in front of me while hissing like an angry cat. No shit. Hopefully somebody had a sense of humour, and at least got a giggle out of it..
I suppose like most others, it varies and to some extent repeats in long cycles. And there's always a mix - Jazz, world, classical.... But, since this is the Rock forum:
- Porcupine Tree - We've Lost the Skyline, and, Nil Recurring
- Daryl Hall - Sacred Songs
- Genesis - Duke, Wind & Wuthtering, Trick of the Tale (all on SACD)
- Carlos Santana/John McLuaghlin - A Love Supereme