VNV Nation - Retaliate, off their next album.
Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, Maaad City album. The more I listen to it, the more it astounds me. Give the entire album a listen and pay attention to his subtle tricks. He plays with a ton of concepts. He's flipping over all the established hip-hop values, satirising them so subtly that it's embraced by the general hip-hop audience without most even realising what the album is really about. For instance, there's a song where "R.I.P. Aaliyah" is repeated, but the reason he speaks of it is because (though he tip-toes) rap artists are expected to repeat it—and he rejects that. So here we can recognize that he's about to stir some shit. There's a powerful arc that drives through the album... powered by notions of the doing good, being pigeonholed as a bad kid, why excessive drinking is terrible, why shallow consumerism is bad for your soul, how we don't feel recognised by our own culture, and how he is going to be the new person to represent our relatively civically minded generation—all while (and by) ideologically rejecting established beliefs and music production models. (and so on) I'm a harsh judge of art and cultural exports, but in this album his central beliefs resonate with masterful touches, smart poetics, and, just as importantly, one hell of a sound. It truly is a masterpiece, even if you do not see eye to eye with him. This album might be sitting at the top of my all timers.
Definitely a very powerful album. An incredible piece of musicianship imo, it's very hard to make a concept album that coherent and still have the music be as good as it is. Glad there's other people that are into hip hop on here, what other hip hop do you listen to?
Washed Out Phantogram Savior Adore Kitten The Naked and Famous The Features Cayucas Kisses Miyazaki The Kills The Ettes and the new National album keeps growing on me. http://open.spotify.com/user/qberry/playlist/4AY5lydRn5FQepL...
I had a great week and listened to way more than usual. MØ - XXX 88 ft. Diplo The Hillbilly Gypsies - Fire on the Mountain Stuck In The Sound - Let's Go Style Five - Splash Free! What's Your Raashee -Aa Le Chal Naughty Boy - La La La ft. Sam Smith Coldplay - Atlas A large amount of Manchester Orchestra, and a lot of Front Bottoms. A lot.
Naughty Boy is definitely on mine. Also, you get like 500 bonus points for having Free in there.
This is going to sound really stereotypical, but this weekend I experimented with some different sandwiches and this album by Pink Floyd, and you may have heard of it, The Dark Side of the Moon was turned on. Maybe this'll sound sacrilegious to some, but I had never listened to the band before. I knew who they were and all but yo... when Speak To Me/Breathe kicked on... I was transported to another dimension. It was scary at first but I quickly adjusted to my new reality and proceeded to have one of the most mind-blowing sonic experiences of my life. One thing I really enjoyed about this album was the experimentation. I can't even imagine what it must have been like hearing this for the first time in 1973. Money is ridiculous. The vocals are so smooth and I couldn't imagine any other voice over this shit. And it was great music for the occasion... But I couldn't help but picture another occasion perfect for this album. Sex. This is great sex music. Can anyone hook me up with some more progressive/psychedelic rock with a similar spacey sound like The Dark Side of the Moon has? I just listened to The Wall by Pink Floyd and while I thought it was great and will surely be listening to it again, I preferred the more psychedelic sound of The Dark Side of the Moon. Admittedly, I was 100% less fucked during that The Wall listen.
Oh the joys of listening to Pink Floyd under influence for the first time! Another good album although it definitely sounds different to TDSoM is Wish you were here. The album was heavily influenced by mental deterioration of a former band's leader Syd Barret, so it has quite an emotional undertone in its flow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0sw2CgysWY and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qEsTCTuajE both are amazing songs and I hope you will enjoy them!
There is no album that is like Dark Side of the Moon. That is why it is so highly revered and thought of as one of the best if not the best album ever made, another good Pink Floyd song which has a similar feel is echoes.
Dark Side of the Moon is a great album but I have to say Animals is my favorite. I saw The Machine (Pink Floyd cover band) play Dogs live. It was amazing.
Animals is great. Fearless may be my all time favorite Floyd tune. My band rarely covered songs but we used to play that one live a lot. We used a horn section to play the melody line. -sounded pretty cool.
Oh my god, I just found the most incredible hour-long freestyle of Aesop Rock, Blueprint, DJ Abilities, Eyedea, Felipe Cuauhtli, Illogic, Sage Francis and Slug! Holy... If you have not heard this... you need to spend the next hour bobbing your head up and down to this!
Holy shit. I'm like 15 minutes into this and it is amazing.
That's an eye-popping list of artists and I will for sure watch this sometime soon. I was at an Astronautalis concert in Dallas this weekend and he freestyled about his days growing up in Denton and going to see Lips at the very club we were at, and his old freestyle battles outside of shows around the area. Now he's about to go on tour with members of Doomtree. His delivery was much rawer and real-er than his usual shit; freestyle is a forgotten genre.
I am/was recently on a trip for work to Boca Raton Florida. I just spent the bulk of my day beside a pool that overlooked the ocean. I swam in the pool and in the ocean and I enjoyed the Mojito's as I relaxed and let the ocean breeze sway me to slumber. It was nice. The overarching theme musically seemed to be Bob Marley. -This was not my choice, but rather the resorts. Still, there are times when nothing other than Marley seems appropriate. As a kid, from the age of 16 on, we listened to Bob all summer long. In the off chance that there is someone on Hubski unfamiliar with Bob Marley, here is a link to his Greatest Hits.. LEGEND Enjoy.
So I downloaded some adware last night accidentally. So please disregard that earlier comment. The complexity of computers is both beautiful and maddening.
Thanks for letting me know. I thought you must have been joking anyways, so no harm done.
K. Flay -Fun stuff, you caught me at the right time and moment. I'm in a room overlooking the ocean, half drunk and it made me want to have a dance party. Bonus point for mentioning Jenga.
Cheap pop/electronic music this week. Goldroom - Embrace The Ashton Shuffle - Comfortable. Bags Packed - Bam Bam Bam ft. Allday. Edit: why did I only just realized the word pop music is from popular?
For techno/electronica I've been listening to this playlist mostly, I found the songs through the phenomenal dancer TakeSomeCrime( http://www.youtube.com/user/takeSomeCrime ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLJ_H_QQjJw&list=PLdkUNN-... For general music I've been listening to I use this playlist, most recent additions are from the rapping Hollohan, alternative/indie Sufjan Stevens and Idle Race, country Eilen Jewell, and jazz Nina Simone. The playlist is mostly Alternative rock. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYFfvnhwTNU&list=PL3FE6DA... I've also been listening to a jazz band called Squirrel Nut Zippers.
Electroswing? May I suggest Parov Stelar? He's a very good electroswing artist.
You can stream their new one here. No doubt this band could not exist without the 80's. But then again, maybe none of us could.
Indie Rock Built to Spill They have such a unique sound, partially due to Doug Martcsh's voice. I found them looking for bands similar to Modest Mouse.
King Krule - 6 feet beneath the moon album Tycho - dive album Both are great albums, King Krule is really raw / different sounding. Tycho is what I listen to when doing homework. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvZJI8rerWA - King Krule http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ih1aKeETk - Dive album
I've been listening to Yousei Teikoku. They are a small-ish Japanese band who sound amazing. I haven't seen anyone talk about or mention them. The closest I could find was on their last.fm page. I've been recently looking into Eri Kitamura's music, but I haven't listened enough to decide whether or not I enjoy it.
I'm from the US and it's easy to listen to foreign music and think of it as "one dimensional" but Yousei Telkoku is a great example of how multi-dimentional music can be. We can often be ethnocentric about this, but genres are being blended the world over.
I haven't quite found anything like them. Lots of bands in the Symphonic Metal genre come close, but not quite. What I like about Yousei Teikoku is all the different layers to the music there is. All the songs/albums have a similar sound as well. And there's plenty of variety so you don't get tired of listening. I try to tell people about them whenever I can, but most people brush it off since it's Japanese... I suppose I just need to find an american/english example of this type of music :P
Blueprint and Grieves Grieves is really good at singing, but I do like his rapping, and his songs are way more singing than rapping.
These are my favorites of his: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdrvDnMbHcY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGssAAItomU http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=CyqOs8n6KdA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChRlRRvXMjg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e6bDlWiYsI - a Grieves album https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0mUz_lI-m0 - a really awesome Blueprint song
Heh, plus ça changeKill a Hipster by Watsky
Indie games soundtracks. They put me quite in the zone for writing and daydreaming. Horatio Nullbuilt from Primordia. Dark, ambient, dystopian future where humanity has left robots to fend for themselves. I can hear the gears grinding. Juchu from Botanicula. Crazy and cute adventures of five insect friends on a tree. Original and most pleasing. Organon from Deponia. The hilarious tale of an-anti hero in a dystopian, Gunm-like universe. Have you ever brewed battery juice to make coffee? Milky Way from Faster Than Light. I can't get the game to run on my PC but the soundtrack is awesome. Cat from Minecraft. This game is addicting, it really is. On a quite different level, Flogging Molly's Speed of Darkness and A Prayer for Me in Silence are quite the thing, too.
Here's some stuff I've been into lately. You Me & Apollo - We Got a Roof Satellite Stories - Sirens The Royal Concept - Gimme Twice Foxtails Brigade - Little Person (Jon Brion cover) The Postelles - Sound the Alarms Handsome Boy Modeling School - The Truth (feat. Róisín Murphy & J-Live) The Shouting Matches - Seven Sisters The Front Bottoms - Twin Sized Mattress Rilo Kiley - Let Me Back In Koop - Koop Island Blues Their / They're / There - 572 Cuthbert Ave. (Nervous Energies session) Pickwick - Staged Names / Hacienda Motel (2011 - The Doe Bay Sessions) Typhoon - Dreams of Cannibalism Volcano Choir - Byegone tfvsjs - days of daze We Are Scientists - Return the Favor MASHUP: Tor & Sufjan Stevens feat. Aesop Rock - Star of Wonder / None Shall Pass Kendra Morris - Banshee MØ - XXX 88 ft. Diplo Dr. Dog - Broken Heart Poor Remy - Drinking All Night (The Thrill Sessions) Lady Lamb The Beekeeper - Rooftop Hozier - Take Me to Church Willow Beats - Elemental Matthew Hemerlein - Luminescent Braid (live on Big Ugly Yellow Couch)
I've been listening to a fare bit of They Might Be Giants. Namely Don't Let's Start, Particle Man, and Experimental Film. Pretty straight-up old fashioned geek rock. I can also never tell if they're being incredibly profound or just really silly.
I've listened to so much TMBG over the last week...
That reminds me, can you take me back to Constantinople?
No, you can't go back to Constantinople. Been a long time gone, Constantinople.
Sigur Rós very obscure post rock band from iceland, made famous for their use of bowed guitar. it just got so much feel, every song brings new emotions, its amazing.
Just saw them this past weekend. BEST CONCERT I HAVE EVER BEEN TOO. Highly recommended. Not obscure, however. It was also the biggest concert I have ever been too.
Sigur Rós is great but not exactly very obscure. Their last album debuted at #14 and their reddit AMA got almost 5k comments. Anyway, I definitely agree. I really loved the new direction they went on Kveikur
they said "it was a bit more agressive than their last albums" understatement of the year, but yeah i really like their new album too. check out *shels, in particular their album "plains of the purple buffaloe" its more focused on the buildup in the song which gives it a really great "feel"
Sounds really interesting, I'll definitely have to give them a listen
I was lucky enough to catch this band called July Talk opening at a show a month ago, and they hooked me. They sound like Tom Waits doing guest vocals on an entire Metric album. Guns & Ammunition is a great example of what they sound like. The downside is they've only got one album at the moment, so not a lot of listening to be had.
For the past few months I've been listening to all of the Nocturnes (and several Etudes/Waltz/Preludes) by Chopin on repeat. He is the sole reason why I am learning how to play the piano. Eventually I want to be able to write a Nocturne in the style of Chopin.
I've actually been into "The Living End" after hearing a song from THUG 2's soundtrack by them. (End of the World: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttNTmJcNr-Y). Apart from that I've been listening to Shane Koyczan's poetry lately, he's absolutely brilliant. (To This Day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltun92DfnPY)
They are singlehandedly responsible for getting me into Psychobilly. First song I heard by them was "Carry Me Home" on Guitar Hero II. Funny how video games can be such a good medium for bands to break new markets.
Been listening to a French duo by the name of Klingande a lot recently. They've got a nice house-y feel but it's also not your basic 4-on-the-floor pattern which makes it nice for unmixed listening. Also, although they're French and it's house I don't think it's exactly French house, but who knows. https://soundcloud.com/klingande/klingande-punga-original-mi...
What's your take on KOL's new stuff? Their first 3 albums I loved, after that......no thanks. Not even close.
Their first 3 albums are definitely great. King of The Rodeo Ragoo Manhattan are all classic Kings of Leon sounds for me. "Mechanical Bull" is definitely a pleasant surprise. Supersoaker, Rock City, Comeback Story, and Family Tree all get back to that unique sound that I like about them. I think the unsung hero in the bunch though is "Come Around Sundown." This was one of those albums where I was initially excited and then upon the first few listens didn't like it as much as the previous albums. Then I went back to it later on and really came to like The Immortals, Back Down South, No Money, and especially Pickup Truck. Not trying to say it's the best album or even not the worst. Just trying to say its underappreciated and if you went back to "Come Around Sundown" and "Mechanical Bull" and gave them another shot I think you might come to appreciate them the same way. The thing is even the band itself gets sick of their old music. I think that's why there new albums sound distinctly different. I was listening them being interviewed by David Dye, and they got asked about Use Somebody and one of them says, yeah "Use Somebody" was a good song until I heard it every time I turned on the radio then we came to get tired of it. I've only seen them once in concert and they did not play "Use Somebody". They did put on a great show and were playing lots of hits from "Mechanical Bull" that hadn't yet been released.
This is what I've been listening to for the past week. 1. Follakzoid - II These guys are from Chile, I think. They're a mix of desert rock, dark ambient, and post-punk - they're bass heavy, and most of their songs feature distant, reverbed vocals. This is some solid night music. Pick: Follakzoid - 9 2. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix Ok, these guys are pretty popular. They're a French band, who once sounded a lot like The Strokes. Not on this album, though. This album is more like New Wave. Really good stuff Pick: Phoenix - 1901 3. Oblivians - Desparation Oblivians are garage punk.
Now because of JakobVirgil's post here, I've been listening to Elizabeth Cotten who I'd never heard of before. Hey cgod, you know a buttload about music. Do you happen to have any recommendations for music in this vein?
I was loving that song as well. I can't really name a bunch of artist off the top of my head but lots of older blues stuff has that feel. Mississippi records puts out a ton of mix tapes (actually vinyls) many of which have lot's of stuff with this feel. Roots Blog had offered many of these albums as downloads after they went out of print. That link is with the search term Mississippi, don't know how well those links are maintained. I can't say enough good things about these compilations and if you download a bunch, enjoy a few than consider buying one on vinyl to support their good work. Tell me if the links work, if not I know other ways of getting these on digital formats.
What a great link, thanks for that! If I do download a bunch of stuff, I will certainly purchase something to support their efforts. I don't have a table at the moment, but it's on my list of stuff to get. Edit: Just got Street Musicians of Yogyakarta from there. Pretty good stuff so far :D
Listening to my new Sirius XM radio, I've been listening to almost nothing but alt nation, which has introduced me to grouplove's new album, Spreading Rumours (GREAT album by the way) and I got chvrches new album, which is almost the perfect combination of indie/pop/electronica Just driving around waiting for a song to come on really opened me up to new bands that I didn't really notice before.
Anyone here like Streetlight Manifesto?
I've kinda been on a ska binge lately, thanks for satisfying that for me.
I am currently listening to the new Korn album. Its been a long while since I heard an album by them and actually enjoyed it. And for the most part my tastes have changed dramatically, but I really enjoy this one. I can't stand the single from the album and skip over it every time, but the rest feels like a raw, ember glowing in a fire long burned out. Also, I am listening to a lot of Ballyhoo!. A, what I consider, beach rock-esque group from Maryland. They are perfect for those days that you just wanna drive down the road and relax.
Popish: Dallas Green (City and Colour) - California Classical: Giovanni Bottesini - Concerto no 2 (Performed by Rinat Ibragimov)
Lately- Capital Cities-In A Tidal Wave of Mystery Bastille-Bad Blood