It’s actually a relief to see protests against “empty” lists, because my list would be endless. My discovery of electronic music back in ‘96 changed my life and it’s been my genre of choice since then, but I love music of (nearly) all kinds, from jazz to heavy metal to hip-hop. As with the author of this thread, music played the largest role in my life, especially as a kid, and I went through many phases over the years. I grew up listening to mostly “Top 40” 80’s stuff, because my crappy radio only picked up one channel. As teenage angst set in, I found comfort in heavy metal and the emerging rap scene. From then on, my tastes continued to diversify. The only two areas I still have trouble getting into are country and opera music. I can appreciate some of it, but in general they just don’t do much for me. As for being able to play music, I can’t. Wish I’d stuck with my piano lessons. I can sing pretty well, but that’s it.
Anyway, if I had to list 10 artists off the top of my head: Archive, Doves, Slowdive, Underworld, Tears For Fears (seriously, I love all their stuff), Saint Etienne, Beethoven, Orbital, Billie Holiday, De La Soul. But I’m already itching to type dozens more…
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re: Boo -
i have yet to post any of my music yet, mainly because i’m one hell of a procrastinator, so none of it is quite finished. It’s difficult to record vocals in an apartment with thin walls. I’ll definitely keep you posted as soon as i do. I’ve got 3 pieces near completion and a slew of ideas ready to start.
love the miles davis story, too. i can echo that sentiment.
i love the arcade fire. in fact i have lyrics tattooed on my arm.
These are the performers I’ve listened to the most in the past year, according to Last FM:
The Ergs!
Dillinger Four
The Kinks
Circle Jerks
Guided by Voices
The Velvet Underground
The Rolling Stones
Hank Williams
Woody Guthrie
Joe Pass
Merle Haggard
Daniel Johnston
Loretta Lynn
Lemuria
Frédéric Chopin
So as to not annoy mutli-instrumental improvisationalist Against Mr. Boo, I will explain WHY I like each band/musician listed.
The Ergs! – This is a punk band from New Jersey who just played their last show a couple of weekends ago. I’m very sad they won’t be making anymore music before they were incredible. In the vain of The Descendents but tighter and more talented, with occasional jazz, hardcore, and country elements thrown in. And a Weird Al, Nirvana, or Vince Guarldi cover thrown in here and there. The Ergs! could do anything.
Dillinger Four – Minnesota punk rock band. Made my favorite album ever, Midwestern Songs of the Americas. Best lyrics in the business.
The Kinks – …it’s The Kinks. Surely I don’t need to explain this. I’ve listened mostly to Part One Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround and The Village Green Preservation Society mostly this year, although I enjoy most of their other albums as well, especially Arthur…
Circle Jerks – I only recently realized what a great album Group Sex is. So I’ve been listening to it. A lot. Sixteen minutes of awesome.
Guided by Voices – Great, bizarre songwriting with hooks, drunken antics, indie rock gods. Really, for better or worse, there would be no “indie rock” without Guided By Voices. If you’re not familiar, see the albums Alien Lanes, Bee Thousand, and Propeller. Lo-fi haters need not apply.
The Velvet Underground – I just listen to this band a lot. Have since I was 13 or so. They destroy 99% of the bands from the 60s.
The Rolling Stones – This is one of the only bands from the 60s The VU does not destroy. I don’t need to explain.
Hank Williams – The greatest songwriter to ever live. One of the greatest singers.
Woody Guthrie – …it’s Woody Guthrie.
Joe Pass – I don’t know what my deal with Joe Pass is. I’ve flirted with the idea of committing to learning jazz guitar a few times this year, so I’ve listened to a lot of jazz guitar. I’m surprised I haven’t listened to more Tal Farlow or Grant Green. Anyway, Joe Pass is just an incredible player. Listening to him makes me want to throw my guitars away. This is probably why I still haven’t started working hard on learning how to play jazz!
Merle Haggard – Um, he’s awesome. I don’t know what’s not to like about Merle Haggard. Great songs, great voice, great attitude, good band. He’s solid across the board.
Daniel Johnston – One of my favorites. Has written some of the most heartbreaking songs ever. Once again, lo-fi haters need not apply.
Loretta Lynn – Even better attitude than Merle! Loretta is one of the best. Her songs can be vicious. When she sings “Who Says God is Dead!” it makes me actually think I believe in God for a minute.
Lemuria – Awesome indie punk band from Buffalo. Get Better is probably the best album of 2008. Great songs, great female lead vocals with low male harmonies. Great drumming in this band. They’re just great. I’m not very articulate. I’m trying, Against Mr. Boo!
Frédéric Chopin – I like Preludes Opus 28. A lot. IX E Major especially. Really, though, all of them.
Thus concludes my Black Friday Hangover description of the music I’ve listened to most in 2008. Smell ya later.
I am with you T (it’s driving me crazy trying to come up with what the anagram of your pseudonym really means) on your love for the so called atonal and avant-garde. I, too, love Schoenberg, Penderecki, Berio, Ligeti, Stockhausen, Part, Schnittke, well, you don’t need my list. Most of these composers are still being ignored or shafted by the mainstream, but what else is new? Same thing happens with filmmakers that are trying to bend the medium. When I read Cage’s book Silence many years ago it opened my mind to new possibilities in music. I used to listen to electronic, weird stuff like Harry Partch, anything by Ives or Elliot Carter – the American rebels of classical music. Enjoyed Gavin Bryars experimentations, too. Yes, it opens up another can of worms in terms of discussion. Good luck with your own experimentation and keep us posted on your projects. As Diaghilev said to Nijinsky, “Astonish me!”
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Another Ives fan here, ever since I first heard “The Unanswered Question.”
first and foremost, j.s. bach. i feel terrible any time anyone asks who my favourite artists are because i listen to more bach than anything else at all. after bach, abel, forqueray, pergolesi, monteverdi, handel, purcell, gibbons, byrd, chopin, vivaldi, tchaikovsky, arvo part, schoenberg, stravinsky, and far too many more.
and leonard cohen. i do adore leonard cohen. and bill callahan of ‘smog’, yes.
There’s only Bob Dylan.
David Bowie, Scott Walker, Jacques Brel, Mark E Smith and Noël Coward are gods amongst men. I could suffice with a mere five desert island discs, and they would all be by Bowie and all have been released between 1976 and 1980. I also listen to a lot of pap and twaddle and John Adamsian minimalism/non-minimalism and so-called classical music. Here I shall mention ABBA, Tikhon Khrennikov, The Birthday Party and William Schuman and then say no more for my own cause. None of these precisely landmark, but merely indicative and convenient.
T. - I presume that you must not have heard any of Giacinto Scelsi (particularly post-breakdown [his that is, not {necessarily} yours]), for if you had you would have mentioned him, given the company you profess to prefer to keep. Messiaen is a possibility, lying precisely between the noisemaking and the corpses. His Vingt regrads sur l’enfant Jésus is still the pristine example of music which spends two-and-a-half hours simultaneously going nowhere and doing nothing, and is all the better for it. Knudåge Riisager is as fine and delightful as any Satie, only substituting French whimsy for Danish austerity. As for Ives, the origin stories I am familiar with have to do with his being brought up by a bandleader father who taught young Charles to perform a song (whether art or popular, I am not sure) on the piano whilst accompanying himself in a separate key. The story you mention occuring at a festival I seem to recall rather at a agglomeration of bands either presided over or otherwise attended by his father. The ensuing wandering experience of hearing multiple marching bands warming up their various patriotistics in separate metres and keys is very convincingly evoked in one of the Three Places In New England, I believe (although not certain as to which).
Also, to say that 90% of music is boring and predictable and needs reïnvigoration is to tell the truth, but only the same truth which has been told every year for the past…well, at all events, since the year after the year certain things began hitting other things with an occasional intention apart from it being in order to be able to then eat the first thing. Ours is not the only age to have a Salieri, nor was his the only to have its ignorable (and ignoble) Mozart(s). Not to say that one need give up fighting the good fight, but it does seem to me to always tend towards the disguising of inclusiveness as disinclusiveness and the antithesis getting just as stagnant as the thesis. Synthesis, for my money, has always seemed a far worthier option.
Likewise, the act and implicit implication of professing that the soundtrack to The Piano is as ‘weak as fuck’ would certainly hinge upon in just what way one chooses to go about that particular act, wouldn’t you say?
I am listening to Bob Dylan right this moment: Bootleg Series, Vol. 8. Bought it today. Early Christmas present to me.
There’s nothing for me but Bob Dylan since…I don’t know…April?
I got hooked in 1975 — around this time, in fact. My older brother came home from college with Greatest Hits, Vol. II and life hasn’t been the same since.
It’d be to hard to pick and choose bands, so I’ll just say what genres I’m interested in. Classic rock, metal, and indie rock (Among others, of course). My favorite albums are
- Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan
- Excitable Boy – Warren Zevon
- Magical Mystery Tour – The Beatles
- Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
- What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
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nice idea for a thread, but I have suggestion inclined with Mr Boo’s first comments.
Why don’t we post entries of artist/musicians or music that we think most haven’t heard? To whom we feel a personal connection, regardless of whether our explanations make sense or not.I mean the suggestion should be taken in with other suggestions and not exclusively as its own. Actually most have mentioned a few artist that I have never heard, I’ll be sure to check them out.
- My entry would be Sandro Perri, more specifically is latest album called Tiny Mirrors.
He is very divergent musicians with influences and collaborations with many artists. He is best known for making music under the moniker Polmo Polpo, creating electronic compositions suitable for late nights.His latest album is a more lyrical album in the tradition of the singer/songwriter genre but with electronic subtleties and more importantly keeping his compositions interesting. He also covers other musician’s songs and does a great cover of ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac during his live shows.
Hmm…and I thought I was just making a very oblique pun on the word ‘fuck’. Hence the tone. And the silliness. I apologise for my being misunderstandable.
And, as they said to Schönberg, just because all genius cannot be understood doesn’t mean that all who cannot be understood have genius….
Oh yes, I also like a lot of French/ye-ye music. The pic with Bob Dylan and Francoise Hardy is so fun!
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I like ye-ye a lot. I don’t listen to it that often, but it’s a lot of fun. I put some on from time to time.
I fancy myself a big Dylan fan, but I’m the only person I know who greatly prefers his pre-Highway 61 Revisited albums to the post.
I love Air, all their albums are amazing. I would recommend the albums Talkie Walkie, Moon Safari, Pocket Symphony.
Yeah, David: I am with you re Bob’s early albums. I am so old, I have them all on record and get them up from the basement for a good airing, every now and then. I love Times They are a Changin’, Free Wheelin’ Dylan, Another Side of Bob Dylan, and Bringing it All Back Home (all pre-Highway, of course) more than any others but Blonde on Blonde. I am sure, like me, you would not have booed him at Newport for going electric, but his early albums have a certain moral authority, poetry, and vision of social justice that he never equalled, in my mind. That picture of him on the cover of Times They are a Changin’ is haunting, and I thinks reflects the ‘true’ Dylan – a side that is often lost in the view of him today as a kind of tourin’ rock chameleon.
To bring all this back to film, what does everyone think of I’m Not There? I thought parts of it brilliant – loved Cate Blanchett as Dylan, for instance, loved the fresh visual take on many of the songs I didn’t really know, but got bogged down on the long Western take. Any opinions?
A lot of what I enjoy has already been mentioned in some form or other, from the atonal to the absolute. From what has not, Shostakovich is one of my favourite composers and I find both his music and life story fascinating. There also seems to a distinct lack of post-punk mentioned so I would urge people to check our Wire’s Pink Flag, Gang of Four’s Entertainment and any early Comsat Angels album. I’m also fascinated by most music emerging from New York in the late 70’s, specifically No-Wave. Eno’s No New York compilation is a great primer.
My favourite album of recent times would be Kingdom Shore’s ‘…and all the dogs to shark’. The aesthetics of classical, avant-rock, and punk are not so much blended as heaved and smashed against each other with invigorating idiosyncrasy, turning to their own internal reason. Definitely worth buying if you can spare the time.
For me, and I’m exaggerating a little bit here, but only to make a point, all roads go through Bob Dylan. His music has been a steady and insightful companion for over half my life. I tend to identify most strongly with the earthy Americana of The Basement Tapes, John Wesley Harding, and Time Out of Mind. Blood on the Tracks and Oh Mercy also mean a great deal to me. Overall, I’m inclined to agree with George Harrison’s assessment that, in five hundred years, people will still think that Bob Dylan is the man.
As you would expect from that, I like an awful lot of rootsy singer/songwriters: Steve Forbert, Gillian Welch, John Hiatt, Robbie Fulks, Dave Alvin, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Neil Young, Alejandro Escovedo, Randy Newman, John Prine, Jon Dee Graham, Bruce Springsteen, Townes Van Zandt…..you get the idea. These artists pretty much authored my twenties. Gillian Welch is, after Dylan, probably my favorite living singer/songwriter. Spellbinding performer and a great, great songwriter.
I also have a lot of time for David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Robyn Hitchcock, Roky Erickson, Robert Wyatt, Serge Gainsbourg, Ron Sexsmith, Richard Hell, Warren Zevon, Lloyd Cole, Tom Waits, Vic Chesnutt, Richard Thompson, Leonard Cohen, The Velvet Underground, and John Wesley Harding. Costello, in particular, was one that I went through a huge phase with where I would eat, sleep, and breathe My Aim Is True, Blood & Chocolate, When I Was Cruel, All This Useless Beauty, Brutal Youth, and Imperial Bedroom.
On the pure country end, I love most of the usual suspects along with a few other less obvious rogues. Cash, Willie, Waylon, Hank Sr., The Louvin Brothers, The Stanley Brothers, Tom T. Hall, Jimmie Rodgers, Marty Robbins, Lefty, Roger Miller, Johnny Paycheck, The Carter Family, Billy Joe Shaver, and Porter Wagoner are all staples of mine. Outside of The Man In Black, Tom T. is the one that means the most to me. Genius songwriter. “I Hope It Rains At My Funeral,” “That’s How I Got To Memphis,” “Turn It On, Turn It On, Turn It On,” “I Washed My Face In The Morning Dew,” and “Tulsa Telephone Book” are as good as country music gets for me.
I love hip hop, although I tend to be all over the place there and I know that I have some pretty huge holes in my collection and understanding of the form. I love Eric B & Rakim, Slick Rick, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, early Ice Cube, early LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, The Roots, Common, MF Doom, Wu Tang (especially RZA and GZA), Mos Def, Jay-Z, Aesop Rock, and Run-D.M.C. Slick Rick’s The Great Adventures of Slick Rick is probably my favorite album of the 1980s.
I like a lot of old school soul, blues and R&B, although, again, I have a very Stuff That White People Like approach to it. Motown, Stax/Volt, Mississippi John Hurt, Solomon Burke, Aretha, Ray Charles, Bettye Lavette, Skip James, Howlin’ & Muddy, and some of the Fat Possum stuff that R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough did.
As far as the current pop/rock scene, I really dig TV on the Radio, The Flaming Lips, Rilo Kiley, Chuck Prophet, Ryan Adams, Frank Black, Josh Rouse, Josh Ritter, Neko Case, Spoon, Supergrass, The National, She & Him, Wilco, Aimee Mann, Antony & The Johnsons, and LCD Soundsystem. I think my favorite pop record this decade is, no fooling, William Shatner’s Has Been. Glorious record with my single favorite song of the decade: “That’s Me Trying.”
Right now I’ve been really digging Shugo Tokumaru, especially his Exit album. I’m not exactly sure what it is about his music that I love, but man does it lift my mood almost instantly.
Demerest: Very interesting & eclectic list of musicians here, many I am not familiar with, so I won’t comment on them. I agree with you completely re the importance of Bob Dylan (and the comments re him from others here) – you are absolutely right that “all roads go through him.” However, I did catch your reference to William Shatner at the end. That reminds me (as grandpop would say), of a funny story. I worked in the 60s for several record stores in the Vancouver area, and developed an interest in all types of music at that time. When William Shatner’s first album came out, Transformed Man, we would play it over the loud speakers to clear the store! His version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds would crack us up. I assume he has come a long way since then. Please, don’t take offense, but I had to relate this anecdote. See the Wikipedia write-up on this album for critical summation.
Hi Bob!
I actually own a copy of The Transformed Man, which is also something of a personal fave. It’s an incredibly bombastic record, isn’t it? It reminds me of something Harry Shearer said about The Day The Clown Cried, which he was lucky/unfortunate enough to see when he was working for Spy, which is that it is, in its own way, absolutely perfect because it always manages to make the absolute wrong choice every time out. It’s great for clearing people out of your house or busting out for the grad students and other assorted hipsters when you start talking kitsch.
Ha Demarest!
Now I know why you like Shatner so much – I looked up The Day the Clown Died and I am really curious to see it, too. Maybe I need to try Shatner again. I could alternate him with the Fugs (one of the strangest grunge-type bands of the crazy 60s) for some truly ‘alternative’ music. I now know you are one of the Merry Pranksters. This hipster will be forwarned re your ‘faves’! But, I must say, I am impressed by your perfect tastelessness.
Bob Stutsman
Hmm, I was thinking of adding this as a topic – as it is interesting to know what auteur film buffs listen to when they are not watching films – or listening to film music (surely, a separate topic). I am and old fogey, here, as I listen only to Classical – does anyone else??? On rare occasiions, I will get out the old 60s rock and folk records from the basement for an airing – Dylan, Joni Mitchell, The Doors, The Beatles, The Stones, The Jefferson Airplane, etc, etc – all very predictable. But my passion is Classical music and opera, esp. Wagner, Mozart, R. Strauss, Verdi, Donizetti – those old Italian and German guys. Let’s throw in lots of Bach, mainly his keyboard and choral music, and you get the idea of my dated tastes. I do listen to a host of 20th Century composers, too, from Bartok and Stravinsky to J. Adams and Lutoslawski. I am sorry to be so out of it relative to the contemporary music scene. I will take my old records and Classical CDs and go home now. I live for the Ring – not meaning the Lord of either, though I liked that trilogy, too.