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What have you been listening to this week?
What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something!
Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.
You can make a chart if you use last.fm:
http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/
Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.
I spent last week on vacation in New Orleans and saw a different band almost every night, including George Porter Jr. (bassist from The Meters), a jazz trio led by Stanton Moore (drummer of Galactic), and Johnny Sketch & The Dirty Notes. The best of all was my last night there - a trio led by the drummer Johnny Vidacovich (who played with Professor Longhair, John Scofield, James Booker, etc.), with bassist Daryl Johnson (Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Neville Brothers) and guitarist Brian Stoltz (the Funky Meters). It was all loose jams but it got into otherworldly territory as the night went on. Group improvisation at its best!
I also hit a couple of the local record stores - Louisiana Music Factory and Euclid Records - and came away with a stack of used CDs. Mostly jazz but also some '70s albums by the Beach Boys and Big Star. Haven't had time to dig in to all of that yet, but I'll report back in future threads with any interesting finds.
Nice! Is that the group he did the AT tribute album last year with? I bet that was great.
All those shows sound fantastic, very jealous!
The Stanton trio is actually a weekly gig that he does at a jazz club called Snug Harbor when he's not on the road with Galactic. It's Dave Torkanowsky on piano and James Singleton on bass (so yes, the same core trio as the Toussaint tribute). Torkanowsky and Singleton used to be in a jazz group called Astral Project that also included Stanton's mentor Johnny Vidacovich.
Here's some video of the trio (actually playing an old Astral Project song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD5OV8IHSLo
I've been sucked back into some of Infected Mushroom's old tracks. Primarily, I've had I Wish and Saeed on loop. If anyone knows of similar, vocal-heavy psytrance, I'd love to find more tracks like these!
Well I have had a bit of a bout of anxiety this week so I've been listening to some Midwest Emo/Emo Revival stuff (Cap'n Jazz, The Wonder Years, The Front Bottoms, etc.) and lo-fi punky stuff (Pat the Bunny, Kimya Dawson). I also fit in my two favorite bands, mewithoutYou and Coheed & Cambria. Mixed it up with some alt rap (Eyedea, MF Doom) and metal (Cattle Decapitation, Skeletonwitch, Cephalic Carnage)
I think your genre-categorising is insanely bad, but your taste in music is great!
Okay seriously though math-rock, pop-punk/pizzacore and folk-punk aren't emo.Hah guilty as charged. I am horrible at categorizing the music I like. It doesn't bother me but I can see how others would want proper classifications.
Basement's new album, Beside Myself.
They're quickly becoming one of my favourite bands.
Right?! I hadn't heard of them at all up until a few weeks ago and then they just blew up!
Christine and the Queens' Chaleur humaine
Engaging, cozy synthpop. I don't speak French, but I prefer the French versions of the songs to the English ones just because of how they sound. I also love that "iT" can be interpreted as a feel-good trans pride song. I don't know if that's the intended take, but there's enough there to make it work regardless.
I've been going back and forth between jazz-funk a la George Duke or Lonnie Liston Smith and the Dead... I get lazy when I'm super slammed at work, and I could listen to them until the end of time ;)
A friend recommended me a black metal band called Zeal and Ardor, so I've been listening to them. Their album Stranger Fruit is pretty good, and Devil is Fine has some good tracks as well. I also saw a positive review of Time 'n' Place by Kero Kero Bonito, so I gave that a shot and surprisingly really like it. It's an alt rock album with noise pop elements.
Zeal and Ardor is a real oddity. I haven't really been able to enjoy them that much beyond the novelty of slave spirituals + black metal, but Devil is Fine is still a good listen. I'm less impressed by Stranger Fruit, it feels watered down imo.
I think Devil is Fine has higher highs, but the lows are kind of a chore to get through, whereas I never felt like I was checking out during Stranger Fruit. I think the track Devil is Fine is the best at sounding like slave spirituals with a metal backing, and nothing on Stranger Fruit is quite that close to bridging the two (Row Row is maybe the closest). Stranger Fruit seemed to incorporate some other sounds in it, Gregorian like chanting and some synth for example, which I think help to make their sound a little less one note. For their future records though, I would like to see some more of the slave spirituals roots blended into the new sounds, instead of one replacing the other.
I haven't really listened to them since but I saw them live this summer and it was quite the experience. Think I'm gonna give them a go today.
A friend recommended "Nina Sex Party" to me recently and I've been listening to them throughout the week.
I like the music and the overall humor they have. Their covers are pretty darn good as well.
"Danny don't you know" is the song that my friend had me listen to initially.
I haven't listened much to Ninja Sex Party, but the lead singer is part of my favourite YouTube duo: Game Grumps. And he is, indeed, hilarious.
Mood Booster playlist on spotify ... anything to drown out the ping-pong that goes on in the room behind my desk ;)
Clairo, Tash Sultana, Wolfmother, gorrilaz(the now now), and I've actually found a few episodes of Adventures in good music with Karl Hass. The latter has been the favorite thing I've found recently, seeing as you cannot find this anywhere! He was on the radio for decades and now you can't get anything. Makes me very sad as he could describe classical music like no one else.
Automated Refrains by Dan Terminus. It came out last year, but I somehow missed it although I liked his previous release, The Wrath Of Code very much also. Automated Refrains is an exceptional conceptual synthwave/cyberpunk album. The structure of the tracks, and the whole album actually reminds me of old prog rock, and I haven't heard anyone really going that way in a genre like this before.
Yet another single from Haken this week!
Haken - A Cell Divides
I know you mentioned last.fm but are audiobooks okay?
I've been listening mostly to The Dark Tower series as read by George Guidall and Frank Muller. I'm having a bit of trouble getting into book V: Wolves of the Calla, but I'm sure it'll click eventually. As a whole I've really been enjoying the series. Book II: The Drawing of the Three has been my favorite so far.
I love The Dark Tower. It's one of my absolute favorite series of all time. I've read the series twice and listened to the audiobooks once. Both George and Frank do an amazing job narrating. It took me a few chapters to get accustomed to the new voice when it switched. As far as book V goes - I'd say a large majority of the fans have big problems with the last 3 books. It's understandable to me as there are some major flaws, but I think that the flaws people find with them are part of the beautiful meta-commentary that the series is known for. Keep on trucking through with an open mind and I think you'll find it highly enjoyable.
Thanks for your comment! I definitely plan to finish the series still. I have to know how Roland's journey ends.
I had the same period of adjustment when the author's voice changed. Admittedly I think George is more suited for Roland (sort of that dusty western voice), but Frank had a lot more range for Suzannah and the other characters. It gave them a little more identity which I still miss at times.
Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States.
So I don't think Howard Zinn really counts as a proper answer to the question. If this was being asked in ~talk, ~books or ~humanities it definitely would though... but regardless of that, Howard Zinn's People's History is fantastic and I would highly recommend it also!
I'm not listening to music and the OP asks what I'm listening to. And plus popular history is music to my ears!