slowdancingsociety on “Community Turntable - What Ya Listening To?”
So lately I’ve been extremely nostalgic with my choice of music. I always get like this when summer is coming to a close. I suppose when I was younger and summer was getting close to ending it always meant returning to school was in my near future and I was one year further from childhood and all the beautiful things that come along with that state of living.
So, fast forward to my mid 20’s and here I am dreaming about the better days of music, and life when everything was a bit easier and life seemed to have so much in store.
Anyway, enough with the ramblings, on to what I am digging these days.
“Takk” by Sigur Ros. Came out a while ago, but I saw these dudes at the Hollywood Bowl in, well, of course Hollywood last October and it was in an outdoor ampitheater. Pure musical bliss and what some might call a life changing experience. Exceptional musicianship, wonderful performance and beautiful music. Shooting stars and a warm autumn breeze most definitely helped add to that equation. None the less I love this new album from them and haven’t stopped listening to it for some time now.
“Bajamar” and “Azure Vista” by Manual. Some of the best drone/shoegaze/ambient/idm music out there. Quite a combo, of styles but seamless all the same. This Dane is an amazing producer and song writer. All of his tunes bring me back to the days when Shoegazing was hip and the air was electric with life and neon ruled the city nights! Imagine stadium rock with the explosive drums and huge chorused out guitars combined with the sadness and delicate nature of artists like Eno and u2 (pre political tom foolery). Wonderful stuff!
“Stranded Under Endless Sky” and “Kenotic” by Hammock. This is some of the best and cleanest produced indie music out there. Their sound is pure bliss and opium. Shoegaze at its best. Some might look at it as retro new age but its so not. This is just beautiful music and distant guitars. The music has a very sad feel to it, but the sad that makes you feel happy and sentimental. Sonically its beautiful too, as these guys are really great about making the music feel very open and spacious, like an empty field.
Anything and everything by The Red House Painters as well as the singer’s (Mark Kozelek) side project Sun Kil Moon. This is great folk rock straight up. Slowcore, Sadcore, call it what you want, I just call it a man, a guitar and a heart. Thats it. Very lullish and beautiful songwriting too.
“Hysteria” by Def Leppard. I’m an 80’s boy and a pop boy too! I love this band. Great melodies and amazing production. The drums are great. I love that old Simmons drum sound. You can totally hear the new wave sound in their guitars with all the chorus, flange and phaser action as well as the excellent drum programming. This music just reminds me of all the wonderful things in the 80’s. Convertable cars, big tits, bigger hair, and even bigger sounding music, summer nights full of neon, beer, pyroctechniques and girls crying when the ballads were played. Not only was this music so damn enjoyble but it was the last time that music was fun and their was no pretentious indie scenesters or hipsters that ruined it all. Just music and a good time where the harder you rock, the more your troubles will go away.
…honorable mentions for the above, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Warrant.
More 80’s are coming at ya! Prince! I’ve always loved the purple one! I think Prince is quite possibly the best musician/producer of all time. Glam, Rock, R&B, Pop, Hip Hop, Soul…all of it in his music. And original too! Not generic at all. Way ahead of his time and still sounds fresh today.
Finally with the 80’s stuff, but I’ve really been into cliche’d sounds of the 80’s like the twinkling crystal like keyboards, huge synthesizers, massive drums that exploded, reverbed out vocals, bouncy bass lines, and the best feelings in the world. I’ve really been listening to random 80’s staples such as Eddie Money, Simple Minds, Talk Talk, Belinda Carslile, Cheap Trick, Poison, Michael Jackson, Cocteau Twins, Souxie, Suzanne Vega, Jesus and Mary Chain, Crowded House, Thompson Twins, Tears For Fears, Heart, Joe Satriani, Skid Row, INXS, Erasure, Yes, on and on and on.
This was a time when there were so many artists out there just releasing the most music one could handle. Similar in some regards, but unique in itself though. Whereas all that I’m hearing today is just rehash, rehash, rehash! Go find some of these artists and go back to a time when things were better.