Music Thread

Topic

This is a thread to talk about music.

Replies

@DAVIDM

Rock Out To Disneyland (Short-Lived) Sexy Prog-Rock Band

1 user thanked author for this post.

DavidM

O…kay

I don’t hear much in those clips that I would call “prog” of any flavor. But Bruce Gowdy went on to work with Billy Sherwood, so I suppose there are some tangential prog credentials

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

This is my second-favourite Russian band:

 

 

It’s also nice to see that somebody found a good home for the surplus costumes when Xena Warrior Princess finished filming

 

Sad that this song is still relevant fifty years later:

1 user thanked author for this post.

njerry

That’s what the world is today…

1 user thanked author for this post.

JRCarter

It’s list time, the 2020 version has been released today (following the prior 2003 and 2012 ones):

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/

You could spend all day reading it and looking into the albums and the highlighted tracks – the top 10 is as follows:

Lauren Hill – Miseducation of…

Bob Dylan – Blood on the tracks

Prince – Purple Rain

Fleetwood Mac – Rumours

Nirvana – Nevermind

Beatles – Abbey Road

Stevie Wonder – songs in the key of life

Joni Mitchell – Blue

Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

and number one:

Marvin Gaye – What’s going on

It’s a much more diverse top 10 than previously – last time around apart from Marvel Gaye’s album at number 6, all albums were from white artists, all male. 7 of the albums from the 1960s, 3 from the ’70s.

2 users thanked author for this post.

DavidM, njerry

I own 9 of the top 10, missing only Joni Mitchell’s Blue

I don’t think Purple Rain is even Prince’s best album. It’s Sign ‘o’ The Times. (Hey The Guardian agrees)!

Very surprised Lauren Hill is in there, didn’t realise that album was so well regarded. I’m not arguing because I have never listened to it but it’s not an usual one in the pantheon of great albums like the others.

njerry wrote:

I own 9 of the top 10, missing only Joni Mitchell’s Blue

I like Blue a lot but I might like Ladies of the Canyon and The Hissing of Summer Lawns even better.

garjones wrote:

Very surprised Lauren Hill is in there, didn’t realise that album was so well regarded. I’m not arguing because I have never listened to it but it’s not an usual one in the pantheon of great albums like the others.

I don’t know, it’s one that I regularly saw praised in the late 90s and early 00s as an instant classic, I wasn’t surprised to see it show up (but although I like it, it probably wouldn’t make my personal top ten).

Really though these lists are always a bit artificial and highly subjective. I get the sense from this one that there has been a concerted effort to represent a wider range of genres, artists and eras than usual which is commendable – it’s at least a more interesting list than the usual suspects.

garjones wrote:

Very surprised Lauren Hill is in there

It’s long been in the mix on these lists, but not usually this high – it might have a bit of additional mythology because she never released a follow-up album.

Last time the Beatles had four in the top 10, with Pepper’s at #1; it’s now at #24 behind albums by Notorious BIG, Kendrick Lamar, Public Enemy, Kanye West, and Radiohead.

(Last time Oasis had #378 with What’s the Story; this time that album is gone from the list, but their debut is at #217.)

Dave wrote:

I get the sense from this one that there has been a concerted effort to represent a wider range of genres, artists and eras than usual

that is a nice way of saying it but Radiohead knocking Born to Run out of the top 20 is a bit much imo

2 users thanked author for this post.

njerry, DavidM

Rocket wrote:

Dave wrote:

I get the sense from this one that there has been a concerted effort to represent a wider range of genres, artists and eras than usual

that is a nice way of saying it but Radiohead knocking Born to Run out of the top 20 is a bit much imo

I was thinking of it from the opposite perspective – after years of seeing these lists from UK magazines it was nice not to see two Radiohead albums in the top ten!

3 users thanked author for this post.

njerry, DavidM, Todd

My problem with Radiohead is that while they are undoubtedly a prog band, they must be one of the most boring prog bands in the world (now, or ever).

I try to put a positive spin on it, though. It’s nice that a prog band gets some recognition, and I can carry on dreaming about how blown away the mainstream would be if they heard real progressive music

3 users thanked author for this post.

Dave, garjones, Todd

DavidM wrote:

My problem with Radiohead is that while they are undoubtedly a prog band, they must be one of the most boring prog bands in the world (now, or ever).

I try to put a positive spin on it, though. It’s nice that a prog band gets some recognition, and I can carry on dreaming about how blown away the mainstream would be if they heard real progressive music

I never thought of them as prog. The indie music station that I listen to a lot plays Radiohead and Thom Yorke quite a bit.

Per Wikipedia, Radiohead is considered art rock, alternative rock, electronica, and experimental rock. For contrast, Deep Purple is labeled as hard rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock.

1 user thanked author for this post.

DavidM

Todd wrote:

Per Wikipedia, Radiohead is considered art rock, alternative rock, electronica, and experimental rock. For contrast, Deep Purple is labeled as hard rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock.

Check different language wikis and I bet you’ll find different genres for the same bands.

I think sometimes bands can be categorised into how they look as much as how they sound. Like Blondie are thrown in with punk when none of their singles sound like punk at all.

Radiohead came to prominence in the Britpop/Indie era and didn’t look too dissimilar to Oasis or whoever, short haircuts and nice kagouls. I agree with David though, something like OK Computer is pure prog.

I mean for fuck’s sake just listen to Paranoid Android. Title off a sci-fi book, long meandering track moves through several sequences with no real chorus. Prog rock 101. If you had them put on some makeup, jumpsuit and feather boa nobody would even question what it is.

1 user thanked author for this post.

DavidM

garjones wrote:

If you had them put on some makeup, jumpsuit and feather boa

…it might have been more interesting?

I think that’s Meadows’ argument. Definitely prog but a boring version.

I’m sorry but all prog is boring… ok, almost all prog is boring… there are some rare few exceptions… =P

Also, that list is whack.

Todd wrote:

I never thought of them as prog.

Yeah, like Muse, they’re “proggy” at times – weird time signatures, sophisticated instrumentation, heavily produced, but I tend to think of prog if having lyrics as having “meaningful”lyrics, and minimal repetition. Radiohead lyrics are often chucked together randomly, and most of their songs follow a standard verse-chorus structure.

Todd wrote:

art rock

We claim art rock as a sub-genre of prog.

Really, art rock is a label coined by critics who were embarrassed to admit they liked prog

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

Andrew wrote:

I tend to think of prog if having lyrics as having “meaningful”lyrics, and minimal repetition

Let me introduce you to Hawkwind… hold on, I need to find something that’s shorter than three album sides… this should do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgrKUDQQKsc

 

 

 

As we were recently talking about Prince’s Sign ‘o’ The Times I just read it has been re-released with 63(!) bonus unreleased tracks from the time.

They are opening up the ‘vault’ which it’s reported had over 3000 recorded songs in it.

This is a ‘new’ single from 1987:

3 users thanked author for this post.

JRCarter, DavidM, njerry

garjones wrote:

As we were recently talking about Prince’s Sign ‘o’ The Times I just read it has been re-released with 63(!) bonus unreleased tracks from the time.

I’ll raise you… King Crimson are re-releasing In The Court Of The Crimson King as a 26-disc set.

I have no idea when I will ever have time to listen to 26 discs

 

2 users thanked author for this post.

Todd, garjones

I’d suggest during the commute, but these days…

1 user thanked author for this post.

DavidM

Seriously, working from home has cut down my music listening time by about 2 hours per day. In theory I should still have that time immediately before and after work, but it always seems to evaporate somewhere

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Dave

Yeah, work seems to have a way of expanding to fill that space.

DavidM wrote:

I’ll raise you… King Crimson are re-releasing In The Court Of The Crimson King as a 26-disc set.

Yes but being prog that’s actually only 4 songs isn’t it?

4 users thanked author for this post.

Will_C, DavidM, Dave

garjones wrote:

DavidM wrote:

I’ll raise you… King Crimson are re-releasing In The Court Of The Crimson King as a 26-disc set.

Yes but being prog that’s actually only 4 songs isn’t it?

Actually, it’s only one song.

And it happens to be the short version…

There is a MIDI version of Koyaanisqatsi on youtube:

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

Kylie Minogue is 52. There’s a picture in that attic surely.

 

Prog magazine just ran a readers’ poll to determine “Greatest Prog Musician of All time”. 80,000 votes were cast, and a drummer won.

Bearing in mind that it’s completely subjective, and an on-line poll is probably open to ballot stuffing, and that I’m sure some of the votes for the winner were only because he died quite recently, I still think this is a fair result. See what you think:

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

garjones wrote:

Kylie Minogue is 52

52 what? Inches tall?

1 user thanked author for this post.

Andrew

52 years old but I remember many years ago one of the UK music magazines had a height in pop feature with them all lined up like the Usual Suspects.

Kylie was the smallest at just under 5 foot tall. Then Jimmy Sommerville of Bronski Beat and The Communards was an inch or so shorter than Prince.

At the tall end it was Mick Fleetwood with Fish from Marillion next tallest.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Andrew

A #placeyourhands update! Last week, the @reefband classic sold 1,385 copies – a 6.7% decrease from the week before, but still the 21st best selling week out of 39 in 2020 and 47 sales more than the weekly average. Unstoppable. pic.twitter.com/cA3uxLaM5P
— Place Your Hands (@PlaceYourHands) September 29, 2020

This is a Twitter account that for no apparent reason is tracking the weekly sales of a 1996 single from a British band called Reef. It was a big hit at the time (went top 10 in the UK and top 30 in the US and Oz) but Reef rather fell into obscurity, their last single in the UK top 40 in 2000.

So I think the main idea is clearly just a joke that someone is obsessed by a somewhat obscure song but it’s also interesting to look at the long tail for a band like that now digital sales mean everything is always available. On the average there they are selling just under 70,000 copies a year, 24 years after it came out, even though you could just find it on Youtube or Spotify. That’s a lot more than I’d have thought.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Bruce, Dave, DavidM

I have had this song stuck in my head for over a week. All in all, I don’t mind it too much.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Andrew

The singer Fish has just released a new album, Weltschmerz, that has sold enough copies to place at #2 in the UK album charts.

Except the charts only measure sales through a recognized record company. Fish’s album is entirely self-funded, self-produced, and self-released, with no record company involvement.

Fish’s final album Weltschmerz, which was released on Friday, would be happily resting at No. 2 in the Official Chart Company midweek chart listings – a good pointer to where an album will end up in the charts. If Fish wasn’t an entirely independent artist.
Having taken the decision not to partner with any record label or pander to the chart rules which require distribution through official channels, he has entirely self-funded, marketed, created and distributed the album from his home in Scotland.

Nevertheless the sales have been through the roof and if the album had been chart-registered he would currently be sitting at no.2 on the UK midweek charts behind IDLES and well ahead of Prince, Michael Kiwanuka, Machine Gun Kelly and Deftones. That would have been his highest chart position since his 1990 debut A Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors, which reached No. 5.

“It’s disappointing that it won’t be officially recognised but we know ourselves what we have achieved and in amongst the ‘forest’ of cardboard packaging strewn throughout our house there are people with big smiles today,” Fish explains.

“I’ve been operating as an independent artist since the mid 90s and we have adjusted to living without the machinery of the major music business with our small cottage industry since then, constantly adjusting and refining how we sell and send albums out to fans,” he explains. “With a retail sector in tatters and particularly at this moment in history when there’s little footfall in stores, having a mail order set up operating out of the studio where we live has been a life saver.

“It’s a lot of work and a lot of organisation but the levels of satisfaction are immense. I’m proud that as an independent operation based in Scotland with a small dedicated and enthusiastic team and with tremendous support from my fans – who are incredibly engaged with me through social media – that we have managed to achieve the equivalent of a ‘phantom’ number 2 midweek position for the Weltschmerz album in the UK national charts.”

I think that the majority of the music I buy these days is released like this. Bands you have never heard of — and never will hear of, because there’s a corporate conspiracy to keep them hidden from you.

2 users thanked author for this post.

njerry, Todd

Todd wrote:

I have had this song stuck in my head for over a week. All in all, I don’t mind it too much.

She’s really cool, one of my wife’s recent favourites – Bridgers has been pretty prolific, what with two side projects in addition to her solo albums over the past couple of years.

I’m still working my way through the Rolling Stone top 500 list, listening to new-to-me albums that sound interesting along the way thanks to Apple Music – a weird thing with this list, particularly in the 500-250 range is they’re including “Best of”/”Greatest hits” collections – ABBA’s “The Definitive Collection” for example at 303.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

Andrew wrote:

I’m still working my way through the Rolling Stone top 500 list, listening to new-to-me albums that sound interesting along the way thanks to Apple Music

Are you listening to every album in the list? Or choosing selectively?

DavidM wrote:

Andrew wrote:

I’m still working my way through the Rolling Stone top 500 list, listening to new-to-me albums that sound interesting along the way thanks to Apple Music

Are you listening to every album in the list? Or choosing selectively?

Oh, selectively – the vast majority doesn’t interest me so far.

Tomorrow will be another “Bandcamp Friday”.

For those who don’t know, Bandcamp is an online sales platform for independent music artists to sell downloads, physical media, and other merchandise. Every band I know that uses it (and that’s a lot of bands — I have close to 100 in my  Bandcamp “following” list) says it’s the fairest platform out there, taking only a small cut of the fee as commission. And as a user, I think it’s a really nice platform. It’s well laid out, it’s easy to find and buy and pay for albums, it sends me updates from the bands I follow, it lets me see what other people listening to those bands are buying, it lets me stream the music I’ve bought from the app if I want. It’s generally nicer to use than any major sales platform I might name *cough*Amazon*cough*.

Since the Covid situation killed musicians’ income, Bandcamp have completely waived their fees on the first Friday of each month, meaning 100% of what you pay for the music goes directly to the artist.

I think that’s pretty awesome.

So if you’ve been planning on buying something recently, why not do it tomorrow from bandcamp.com ? I mean, not if you’re looking for Oasis or Prince albums (for example), people like that aren’t on there, but if there’s a “small” band you’ve always wanted to check out, they might be there and they’ll benefit more than if you buy their album on Amazon, and a billion times more than if you stream it on Spotify.

Prince doesn’t need the money anyway, what with being dead and all that.

2 users thanked author for this post.

DavidM, Dave

It’s amazing how many dead musicians are desperate for your money

In unrelated news, discovering that two of my favourite duos have covered one of my favourite songs (while separated by literally half the globe) made me very happy this morning:

Some classic Johnny Nash

3 users thanked author for this post.

Rocket, njerry, JRCarter

Fuck youtube autoplay. It chose something called “beautiful relaxing music for stress relief” for me to listen to and it makes me want to crush people’s skulls.

 

I’ve started to hate most classical music the last few years. I used to like a lot of classical music but these days the only things I can stomach are some Monteverdi, a few things by Mozart and some things by Bach. The rest I just can’t listen to anymore. I listen to a lot of folk music, especially gypsy music and things from Pakistan, Morocco, the Balkans and Japan.

 

edit: This is truly horrible. It is 3 hours of just the same 4 chords. Either you have to be brain damaged to like this or you become brain damaged after listening to the full 3 hours.

 

The thing that really annoys me is the perception that classical music is “relaxing”. There’s a whole industry around releasing CDs like “Relaxing Classics to make Your Baby Sleep Volume 1000”.

If you think classical music is relaxing then you’re not listening to it right. Classical music is the deepest, richest, most complex, multi-layered music I’ve ever heard. The fact that it takes a hundred people to play a symphony and it lasts 30-60(+) minutes is kind of a clue that it’s not exactly simplistic background noise. If you can “relax” while trying to make sense of all the layers of Mahler 2, then you must be some kind of instinctive musical genius.

I put on classical music and I concentrate on it. There’s no way I can have it on as background music, and I certainly can’t relax while it’s on.

 

(In the interests of honestly: yes there are a few very short very simple classical pieces. Why are you bothering with those? :D )

DavidM wrote:

If you think classical music is relaxing then you’re not listening to it right. Classical music is the deepest, richest, most complex, multi-layered music I’ve ever heard. The fact that it takes a hundred people to play a symphony and it lasts 30-60(+) minutes is kind of a clue that it’s not exactly simplistic background noise. If you can “relax” while trying to make sense of all the layers of Mahler 2, then you must be some kind of instinctive musical genius.

The idea of listening to something “right” is nonsense though, isn’t it?

Some people definitely do find classical music relaxing, and their way of engaging with it isn’t to engage with all its complexities and try and fully understand all the various instrumental interactions – they just want to let it wash over them. And that’s fine. There’s lots of classical music that is great for that.

It’s like suggesting that the only proper way to listen to a pop song is to analyse the production techniques and songwriting and vocal style and instrumental arrangements.

Sometimes you just want to get up and dance.

But you wouldn’t put on, say, an episode of Breaking Bad as background and let it wash over you while you’re working or playing D&D or falling asleep or whatever.

Or, I dunno, maybe people do

 

Music isn’t a linear narrative experience in the same way as a TV show though.

(And yes, some people would.)

Back when Houston had a classical music radio station, I would listen to it while driving to and from work. It helped take the edge off the commute.

DavidM wrote:

I put on classical music and I concentrate on it. There’s no way I can have it on as background music, and I certainly can’t relax while it’s on.

When I have the time, I will put on headphones and focus exclusively on the music; but most of my workday I have music on while I’m performing other duties, because I like listening to it even when I cannot give it my full attention. That includes classical music; I can enjoy a piece by Mozart or Albinoni even if I’m listening to it while I’m writing a report or doing on-line research.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

[DavidM]

Dave wrote:

Music isn’t a linear narrative experience in the same way as a TV show though.

I could argue that point, too. But I won’t, because I’ve already gone on enough

 

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by DavidM.

[Andrew]

I’ve been listening to a new album by comedian Tim Heidecker, Fear of Death. It’s not a comedy album though. This track is one of the highlights:

This is another one:

Kinda similar in sound to Father John Misty, or Nilsson/Elton John at times. A bit country/folk. And Weyesblood co-wrote some tracks, provides backing vocals, and takes the lead on the closer.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by Andrew.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

Stevie Wonder shares two new songs and leaves Motown Records after nearly 60 years

Stevie Wonder shares two new songs and leaves Motown Records after nearly 60 years

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

I think Frequency Drift are my favourite German band at the moment. Stylistic similarities to Gazpacho (which I why I just thought of them, I’ve been listening to Gazpacho’s new album) but more of a radio-friendly sound I guess.

Ok, maybe this one isn’t exactly radio friendly. But at least it’s short!

 

Elephant Gym are releasing new music

Ok, I realise I’m the only one here interested in Taiwanese math rock, but anyway:

 

2 users thanked author for this post.

njerry, Bruce

There’s now an official (?) UK folk music chart. I’m not sure why, except to illustrate that the genre is so broad as to make the label fairly meaningless. But here’s the top 10. I only own two of the albums featured:

 

Metallica Halloween

1 user thanked author for this post.

Rocket

at the beginning I thought the little spiders were just bursts of lights. I loved when the Jack O’Lantern started doing the lyrics

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sean Robinson

They don’t make them like this any more.

Possibly that’s a good thing

1 user thanked author for this post.

njerry

DavidM wrote:

Possibly that’s a good thing

That’s a far cry from Journey to the Centre of the Earth, or his contributions to Yes.

Ian Paice (drummer with Deep Purple) runs through 15 of his top drummers. The first 14 are the old guys who influenced him, so the likes of Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Ringo, etc. He has only one “modern” drummer. See if you can guess who it might be before skipping to 11:30 in this video to see the answer. I think it might surprise you:

3 users thanked author for this post.

Bruce, Todd, garjones

Fully deserved but no I was not expecting that name from him at all.

DavidM wrote:

I think it might surprise you

David’s gone full clickbait on us!

4 users thanked author for this post.

Andrew, Todd, DavidM, garjones

WOKE

2 users thanked author for this post.

Andrew, Todd

What’s Mike Doughty up to? …

Same as everyone else.

 

I watched the 1988 Tom Waits concert film, Big Time.

With all that has been going on lately, it really hit the spot. Great movie and great music.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Bruce, DavidM

Tomorrow is another Bandcamp Friday. This is the day when music shopfront Bandcamp waives their usual fees to give 100% of what you pay to the artists. So if you’ve been thinking about buying some CDs or MP3s recently, tomorrow is the day to do it.

It’s looking like a light month for me. Possibly the new album by Eivor (prog/folk singer) but that’s only showing up as a download so I might wait to see if there’s a physical release. And possibly the new string quartet by Stephan Thelen (contemporary classical composer).

But the absolutely unmissable release this month is the Christmas EP by Iamthemorning (best new band of the 21st century). They have promised two traditional carols and two original songs, one being about how 2020 can burn in hell. How can you resist?

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

Five albums bought on Bandcamp so far today. I didn’t mean to, it just kind of… happened

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

So the final tally was possibly *cough*nine new albums*cough*

 

2 users thanked author for this post.

Todd, Dave

DavidM wrote:

So the final tally was possibly *cough*nine new albums*cough*

Well done. I remember going to Tower Records (or Best Buy) and picking up a half-dozen CDs of new artists on a whim (which is how I discovered Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, My Morning Jacket, Kings of Leon and other bands/performers I love). Sadly, there are no more brick-and-mortar stores with a decent selection of music to browse through. I have Spotify, but it’s not the same.

2 users thanked author for this post.

DavidM, Todd

System of a Down just released their first two new songs in 15 years. They’re just okay, to be honest, but the reason behind the release is maybe the more interesting thing here. They’ve always been a politically active band especially when it comes to Armenia, and they’re trying to support their home country. This is the statement on their bandcamp site:

We as System Of A Down have just released new music for the first time in 15 years. The time to do this is now, as together, the four of us have something extremely important to say as a unified voice. These two songs, “Protect The Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz” both speak of a dire and serious war being perpetrated upon our cultural homelands of Artsakh and Armenia.

We’re proud to share these songs with you and hope you enjoy listening to them. Further, we encourage you to read on to learn more about their origins and once you do, hope you are inspired to speak out about the horrific injustices and human rights violations occurring there now. Most importantly and urgently, we humbly implore you to donate, in sums small or large to help those adversely affected with what are ever growing accounts of crimes against humanity.

In turn, you will receive downloads of these two new songs and the feeling that you’re truly making a difference. These funds will be used to provide crucial and desperately needed aid and basic supplies for those affected by these hideous acts.

On September 27, the combined forces of Azerbaijan and Turkey (along with Isis terrorists from Syria) attacked the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which we as Armenians call Artsakh. For over the past month, civilians young and old have been awakened day and night by the frightful sights and sounds of rocket attacks, falling bombs, missiles, drones and terrorist attacks. They’ve had to find sanctuary in makeshift shelters, trying to avoid the fallout of outlawed cluster bombs raining down on their streets and homes, hospitals and places of worship. Their attackers have set their forests and endangered wildlife ablaze using white phosphorus, another banned weapon.

And Why?

Because over 30 years ago in 1988, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh (which at the time was an Autonomous Oblast within the USSR), were tired of being treated as second class citizens and decided to declare their rightful independence from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic whose borders engulfed their own. This ultimately led to a war of self determination by Armenians in Karabakh against Azerbaijan that ended in a cease fire in 1994, with Armenians retaining control of their ancestral homelands and maintaining their independence to the present day. Our people have lived there for millennia, and for most families there, it’s the only home they and their forefathers and mothers have ever known. They just want to live in peace as they have for centuries.

The current corrupt regimes of Aliyev in Azerbaijan and Erdogan in Turkey now want to not only claim these lands as their own, but are committing genocidal acts with impunity on humanity and wildlife to achieve their mission. They are banking on the world being too distracted with COVID, elections and civil unrest to call out their atrocities. They have the bankroll, the resources and have recruited massive public relations firms to spin the truth and conceal their barbaric objective of genocide. This is not the time to turn a blind eye.

There is an immediate need for global citizens to urge their respective governments to not only condemn the actions of these crooked dictators, but to also insist world leaders act with urgency to bring peace to the region and rightfully recognize Artsakh as the independent nation it is.

We realize that for many of you, there are more convenient ways you like listening to music, so please consider the opportunity to download these songs as an act of charity above all else. Think of the list price for the downloads as a minimum donation, and if you have the ability and can be more generous with your donation, every single member of System Of A Down will be even more grateful for your benevolence. Band royalties from this initiative will be donated to Armenia Fund, a US based charity organization instrumental in providing those in need in Artsakh and Armenia with supplies needed for their basic survival.

The music and lyrics speak for themselves. We need you to speak for Artsakh.

Peace,

Daron, Shavo, John and Serj

2 users thanked author for this post.

Todd, DavidM

It’s not new and it’s not great but it has a point and I love it.

 

Today I have been mostly listening to Eivor Palsdottir. The song’s from about 8 years ago, but sometimes I need a break from new music:

 

New “single” (at a mere 9 1/2 minutes, this is the “abridged version” ) from Transatlantic to tease the new album, which will surely be a contender for best album of 2021:

2 users thanked author for this post.

njerry, Todd

Wow! I suddenly flashed back to the early/mid 1970s, to the days of Yes and Starcastle and solo Rick Wakeman and the heyday of Prog Rock.

I need to take a nap now…

3 users thanked author for this post.

Rocket, DavidM, Todd

(Skip to 4:07 for the lyrics, folks.)

In January three guys started a podcast called “Do you love us?” all about the Manic Street Preachers – they’ve been working through the band’s catalogue and will in the next few weeks release the episode for the band’s most recent album, their 13th. As a result of being an avid fan of the pod I’ve spent much of the year revisiting the Manics (who are already one of my top 4 musical acts), a weird backdrop to the chaos of 2020.

There have been revelations along the way, and the pod from humble beginnings has grown to include episodes interviewing fairly high profile folks, such as two of the band’s producers, a former manager, and superfan/music-video star Michael Sheen. In the most recent episode they spoke to longtime producer Dave Eringa, who’s working with the band right now on their 14th album.

This is the opening track to their 11th album (though this is not an official video), a light acoustic number with a really great melody (and one of the rare Manics’ songs in a register I and therefore most people can adequately sing along to) – This Sullen Welsh Heart:

The act of creation saves us from despair
A phrase that keeps repeating in my head
In my head

It’s not enough to succeed others must fail
My unhappy mantra I wish I could escape
I wish I could escape

I can’t fight this war any more
Time to surrender, time to move on
So line up the firing squads, kiss goodbye to what you want
Go with the flow, go home
You can keep on struggling when you’re alone
When you’re alone
This sullen Welsh heart
It won’t leave, it won’t give up
The hating half of me
Has won the battle easily

2 users thanked author for this post.

DavidM, garjones

njerry wrote:

Wow! I suddenly flashed back to the early/mid 1970s, to the days of Yes and Starcastle and solo Rick Wakeman and the heyday of Prog Rock.

I need to take a nap now…

That’s basically the entire mission statement of Transatlantic.

Well, not the taking a nap part.

1 user thanked author for this post.

njerry

Saw this oddity today which is fun. Italian singer Adriano Celentano was convinced songs got airplay just because they were in English, so released this record, which sounds like English with an American lilt but is in fact complete nonsense language. He was right, it was a hit.

4 users thanked author for this post.

Christian, Dave, DavidM

That’s brilliant.

In de col men seivuan
Prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait
Uis de seim cius men
Op de seim ol uat men
In de colobos dai
Trr
Ciak is e maind beghin de col
Bebi stei ye push yo oh
Uis de seim cius men
In de colobos dai
Not is de seim laikiu
De promisdin iu nau
In trabol lovgiai ciu gen
In do camo not cius no bai
For lov so op op giast
Cam lau ue cam lov ai
Oping tu stei laik cius
Go mo men
Iu bicos tue men cold
Dobrei gorls
Oh sandei

Ai ai smai sesler
Eni els so co uil piso ai
In de col men seivuan

Prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait
Uei ai sint no ai
Giv de sint laik de cius
Nobodi oh gud taim lev feis go
Uis de seim et seim cius
Go no ben let de cius
End kai for not de gai giast stei
Ai ai smai senflecs
Eni go for doing peso ai
In de col mein seivuan
Prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait
Lu nei si not sicidor
Ah es la bebi la dai big iour

Ai ai smai senflecs
Eni go for doin peso ai
In de col mein saivuan
Prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait
Lu nei si not sicodor
Ah es la bebi la dai big iour

garjones wrote:

Saw this oddity today which is fun. Italian singer Adriano Celentano was convinced songs got airplay just because they were in English, so released this record, which sounds like English with an American lilt but is in fact complete nonsense language. He was right, it was a hit.

This is the reverse of what the Beatles did with Sun King in 1969, or what Elton John did with Solar Prestige a Gammon in 1974.

So, I heard something on sports radio, but wasn’t paying attention.
Did I hear that there is a new # 1 album of all-time?
I know not too long ago digital downloads added to the equation saw The Eagles Greatest Hits overtake Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
I did a search last night and every single link has a different list. I shit you not.

Now, I didn’t check the dates, so maybe not up-to-date, and then wake up to the fact that the internet may have been/has been lying to me.
But I couldn’t see how something could change so dramatically.
Unless it was overall group/catalog sales. AC/DC has a new album out? maybe?

Basically, I don’t know what’s real.

Random thoughts that I spied: Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill. Really? I didn’t know how much.
Metallica’s ‘Black album’ – whoa, same thing, but I was old school and that was sell-out.
Linkin Park? Screams wrong to me. good for them, but wow…

Def Leppard’s Hysteria 20 million compared to Pyromania’s 10 million?
I effin’ loved them back in the day, but rarely now (or after a certain amount of alcohol).
That Hysteria tour was top-notch production (theatre in the round, and they were pros about it), and the Vancouver show (1988?) was awesome and noted by others as one of the special ones on that tour.
But album wise, if it’s not Pyromania, then it’s High & Dry.
Click for Switch 625

1 user thanked author for this post.

DavidM

It’s the Baby Shark Remixes Collection.

4 users thanked author for this post.

garjones, Sean Robinson, njerry, Todd

There was a recent story that Linkin Park had broken into the top 50 albums of all time (in US sales) for the first time, maybe that’s what you heard? As far as I know Eagles/Thriller are still #1/#2.

I think a lot of the top 50 are greatest hits (including the Eagles of course), which seems like a cheat to me. Because if your best seller is a singles collection, then you’re a singles band not an album band (not saying that’s a bad thing, just a different thing). You’ve already been recognised in the singles chart, you don’t deserve a spot in the album chart too unless you can write a consistently good album.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sean Robinson

New Liam Gallagher single – not tied to an album as far as I know, with proceeds going to charity. It’s not a Christmas song but people have mentioned it as something “deserving” to be the UK Christmas #1, quiet ballad “All you’re dreaming of” live on Jonathan Ross:

Voice in good form; hair on point!

IT’S TIME FOR CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!!

Rocket is right in saying that I am a little dated. I like Prince and 90’s alternative as well as the classic AOR music.

It is time to get into new music…

I have been trying to get into Halsey. She is cute and has some nice songs. Doesn’t really fall into the pop tart category like Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, etc. I like Florence and the Machine too…

I guess I will continue to surf YouTube for now.

Al-x wrote:

Doesn’t really fall into the pop tart category like…Taylor Swift,

Taylor Swift’s latest album Folklore, which she wrote and recorded in isolation during COVID, is a departure from her usual pop sound. Definitely one of the best new albums I’ve heard this year (and I’m not a big fan of her previous albums).

1 user thanked author for this post.

Andrew

I kind of love this, as bizarre as it is.

I remember seeing Asian Dub Foundation live about 20 years ago and having a fantastic time. It’s been a while since I’ve listed to them but this has me curious about their new stuff.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Christian, njerry

njerry wrote:

Al-x wrote:

Doesn’t really fall into the pop tart category like…Taylor Swift,

Taylor Swift’s latest album Folklore, which she wrote and recorded in isolation during COVID, is a departure from her usual pop sound. Definitely one of the best new albums I’ve heard this year (and I’m not a big fan of her previous albums).

I remember seeing the cover for that and thinking she put out a black metal album.

3 users thanked author for this post.

DavidM, njerry, Dave

That would’ve been kinda awesome… too bad =(

1 user thanked author for this post.

Christian

Dave wrote:

I kind of love this, as bizarre as it is.

Yeah, that was great. Took me a bit to recognise Stewart Lee there.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Dave

The Murder Capital is a great name for a band.

This is the kind of song that instantly feels like it has always been a part of me:

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

Miley Cyrus…

Most remember her for twerking half naked on that awards show, but she has changed her style and music since then. She was always wanting to shed herself of the innocent Hannah Montana persona. On an interview, she said that as with most artists, she releases an album and has to tour to make the real money, but after singing the same album songs in concert over and over, she did some cover songs of Led Zeppelin just to mix it up. Now she is also covering some Blondie and is being taken a little more seriously. Good.

Al-x wrote:

Miley Cyrus…

She did a cover of a couple of Elton John/Bernie Taupin songs on the tribute albums that came out a few years ago. The obvious one was The Bitch is Back, but I was pleasantly surprised by her rendition of this one.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Andrew