Comments on: Watching an industry die

by: nasking

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 04:20:37 +0000

Phil, I think so, I’m a late boomer, born in 1961…stuck in my memory from the 60s are the 13th Floor Elevators, The Byrds, The Doors, Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Love, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Nick Drake, early YES to name a few… from the 70s there’s Genesis (w/ Peter Gabriel), Can, Neu, Brian Eno, Tangarine Dream, Funkadelic, Patti Smith, Hawkwind, King Crimson, Robert Wyatt, Joy Division, Television, Talking Heads, Suicide, Muddy Waters, Magazine, …80s The Fall, Teardrop Explodes, Julian Cope, The Durutti Column, Dead Can Dance, Morrisey, the Smiths, The Cure, The Church, early REM, Psychedelic Furs, The Birthday Party, Echo & the Bunnymen, John Cale, Lou Reed, Cocteau Twins, The Chameleons, Sonic Youth, David Sylvian, Tom Waits, Jesus & Mary Chain, Spacemen 3, Laughing Clowns, Not Drowning Waving, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Died Pretty, Throwing Muses, Pixies, Talk Talk, The Wedding Present, The Bats, Galaxie 500, Mudhoney, Jane’s Addiction, American Music Club, House of Love, Stone Roses, Julee Cruise, Nine Inch Nails (early stuff), Bob Mould…& the 90s: Pavement, Sebadoh, Ride, Verve (early), Blue Aeroplanes, Pale Saints, Slowdive, The Waterboys, My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, The Orb, Swervedriver, The Cranes, Catherine Wheel, Spiritualized, Stereolab (early), Paul Weller, Tindersticks, Massive Attack, Tricky, Lisa Gerrard (w/ Pieter Bourke), Flying Saucer Attack, Arab Strap, Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, AMP, Low, Smog, Tortoise, Angelo Badalamenti, Kitchens of Distinction, The Necks, Dirty Three, Lou Reed & John Cale, Piano Magic, Yo La Tengo, Slint, Soundgarden (early), Temple of the Dog, Mercury Rev, Loreena McKennitt, Codeine, Mark Eitzel, Red House Painters, Morphine, Sugar, Guided By Voices, Grant Lee Buffalo, The Aints, Brad, Crow, Ed Kuepper, Lisa Germano, Autechre, Yume Bitsu, Surface of Eceon, Mark Lanegan, Will Oldham (& various Palace associations), Sigur Ros, Elliott Smith, Bike, D.J. Shadow, 16 Horsepower, Boards of Canada, Silver Jews, Calexico, Songs: Ohia, Codeine, Luna, Bardo Pond, Mazzy Star, Steve Kilbey, Pedro the Lion, Kristin Hersh, Idaho, Paradise Motel, The Hummingbirds, The Clouds, Big Heavy Stuff, Glide…

And of course there’s plenty of more popular bands/artists I like…

I’ve been listening to most of these bands for at least a decade…some up to 30 + years…& they all still sound fresh & as inspiring as ever…if not better…& plenty are what some would consider ‘alternative’…but they live in my head & when I play music/sing/write songs they flow thru it continually…:)

recently i’m trying to get into Chet Baker.

cheers

by: phil

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:35:50 +0000

OK, well will the ‘alt’ stuff listed be stuck in your brains in 30 years?

No, I confess, all us boomers are stuck in the 50s-70s (except that I also love big bands, for which you’re talking 30s-40s, that’s worse). And the blues, always the blues….

by: nasking

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 03:54:53 +0000

add:

Deerhunter: Cryptograms
Snowden: Anti-Anti
Malcolm Middleton: A Brighter Beat
Stars of the Lid: and their Refinement of the Decline

the other LPs I can’t stop playing:

Sufjan Stevens: Seven Swans (2004)
Ulrich Schnauss: A Strangely Isolated Place (2003)
Jeniferever: Choose A Bright Morning (2006)
The Durutti Column: Tempus Fugit (2004)
Johann Johannsson: Dis (2005)
Workhouse: The End of the Pier (2005)
Butterfly Explosion: Turn the Sky (2006)

by: nasking

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 03:39:03 +0000

I thought the last ‘Go-Betweens’ album was pretty good. I didn’t take to much of the earlier stuff tho. I was more of a Church fan in those days. But some people reckon’ they are the bees knees…that’s cool. I thought the best Radiohead was ‘The Bends’. They are way too hyped in the media & can be quite grating at times. Dylan is an acquired taste…my faves being ‘Bringing it all back home’ & ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ from a long, long time ago. Another over-hyped & opportunistic artist. Nirvana’s ‘Bleach’ is rawer & has more integrity than the over-hyped album ‘Nevermind’.
I have most of The White Stripes lps & generally can take or leave them…some works…some doesn’t…I prefer the likes of Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Eric Clapton & John Mayall’s ‘Bluesbreakers’, Hendrix for that kind of rock bluesing…but like i said, they have their moments, as does Wolfmother, Black Mountain & The Black Keys.

From this year, I’m enjoying:

‘Boxer’ by the National
‘Person Pitch’ by Panda Bear
‘All of a Sudden I miss Everyone’ by Explosions in the Sky
‘Cassadaga’ by Bright Eyes
‘Are the Dark Horse’ by The Besnard Lakes
‘The Adventures of Ghosthorse & Stillborn’ by CocoRosie
‘Woke on a Whaleheart’ by Bill Callahan

Not a big fan of charts…I read reviews at Pitchfork, Time Off & Rate Your Music & either download at EMusic…or grab at shops like Rocking Horse here in Brissie.

by: Administrator

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 23:25:58 +0000

‘The current charts’? Phil you’ve missed my point. Charts are just one more sign of the way the music industry is stuck in the last century when pimply-faced kids spent their pocket money on 45s.

Like I said, ‘No wonder anybody interested in contemporary music has pretty much abandoned the ‘music industry’ in favour of the online scene.’ Who cares if anyone remembers anything in 30 years’ time? Pop music is a perishable good, just like prawns. It should be allowed to go off like nature intended instead of freezing it in ‘golden oldies’ type radio stations and the reviews of ageing music critics.

by: Kieran

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 08:23:01 +0000

I sympathise with your overall point, but with respect, you are wrong about some of the artists mentioned. Ok, most of them (although agree about the sludgy Zepellin rip-off that Jack White has been getting into lately).

Just because professional wank-meisters list Radiohead or the like in their ’seminal’ lists, does not make those bands bad. Now, if you personally detest the music, that’s fine. There is a lot I detest, some of it much-hyped (see for example the appalling Arctic Monkeys).

And the Arcade Fire album was great, and their new one is better in my opinion. No living in the past here.

by: phil

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 08:04:37 +0000

“Oh great goddlemighty here’s a review of a CD where people are singing Will the Circle Be Unbroken …. do these people live their entire lives in the 19 fucking 70s??? ”

Good point. But it’d be a better one if you seriously think anyone will be able to remember, let alone sing, pretty much anything off the current charts in 30 years’ time. Pink? Britney Spears? Wolfmother? Anything - absolutely anything - rap or so-called “r’n'b”. I doubt it.

I just bought the CD/DVD of Traveling Wilburys. It’s still miles ahead of most contemporary music, eg I bought Arcade Fire’s Funeral, OK but nothing brilliant. Maybe too quirky - hah!