I get what you mean. It's sort of like they're appropriating the sonic elements of indie folk-pop but replacing the vocalists with boring alt-rock dudes. I mean, say what you will about Colin Meloy's voice, but at least it's distinctive.
I heard conflicting accounts of what, exactly, Daniel Amos' Horrendous Disc sounds like. Just that it was "weird" and completely alienated their previous fanbase.
Turns out it sounds a lot like a classic Electric Light Orchestra album, but with less strings and a few hard rock songs. Not nearly as weird as promised. But considering their prior albums were country-pop, I can definitely see why this would drive away the old fans.
In the liner notes, Byrne even writes that he and Eno probably would have included those cut tracks on the original album, if space on the disc hadn’t been a constraint back then.
I have no doubt. They were an ambitious and selective pair.
Speaking of which, while what I have heard of there recent collaboration is not entirely my cup of tea (although I am interested in hearing more of it), it seems like a lot of the negative reviews that I have seen of it are not entirely in good faith. I mean, not that they should have expected a bad album, but expecting an album anything like there first collaboration seems absurd. It's not that you set the bar lower, but that you have to set an entirely different bar.
Of course, the new Swans line-up has vaulted over that bar and the old one with wild aplomb, and post-reunion Pixies have consistently failed to jump either, so who knows.
My Brightest Diamond has a new album coming out next month. The preview track "Pressure" sounds less like a chamber orchestra (see the last album All Things Will Unwind) and more like a marching band. I can't help but wonder if Shara Worden's been listening to Love This Giant. There is a Worden/Byrne connection—she sang a duet with him on the pop opera Here Lies Love—so it's within the realm of possibility.
As for Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, yes it's an entirely different animal than It's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. It's weird, but weird in a way that would appeal more to die-hard Byrne fans than to Eno fans. And "Black Gospel, country, and funk all filtered through electronic music" isn't as "cool" as one of the pioneering works of funky plunderphonics.
I was lucky (unlucky?) enough to hear The Happening 2: Everything Today first, so I could approach it on its own merits. Even so, I think The Life in the Bush of Ghosts Chose Me is more consistently good. On the other hand, the new album gave us "Strange Overtones", one of the best Byrne songs I've heard yet.
I introduced a coworker to Wire, specifically 154, today. As we were listening to "The 15th", I asked him to guess when the album came out, based just on how it sounded. He guessed 1994.
Pepe Deluxé's "A Night and a Day" was used for a Puma TV ad. Unfortunately, the song's been mixed and edited to sound as generic as possible. I hope PD at least got some good money out of the deal.
Interesting theory, but it may be reaching too far. It doesn't explain my experience, for example. I'm not completely immune to nostalgia, but a lot of my favorite music right now is stuff with absolutely no nostalgic value at all.
If you take "teenager" to mean "high school", byt that measure, I should be really nostalgic for the grunge era. But I'm not...I'm more nostalgic for what was around just before and after (the ultra-slick, kid of dippy pop of the late 1980s and very early 1990s, and the post-grunge "anything goes" era of the late 1990s).
I expect that this will turn out like the last BOC album did, meaning that it will have some high points mixed in with some boring retreads. AFX is nothing if not unpredictable, however, so maybe this will be a new masterpiece. Either way, we will find out soon.
I expect that this will turn out like the last BOC album did, meaning that it will have some high points mixed in with some boring retreads. AFX is nothing if not unpredictable, however, so maybe this will be a new masterpiece. Either way, we will find out soon.
Alternately, it will be really divisive and a love-it/hate-it affair; or just a really solid, high-quality album without being especially ground-breaking or astonishing.
die antwoord pisses me off because they have a cool aesthetic going on and dope music videos but their songs are boring as hell
Generally agree here. See also: Fantano's "Die Antwoord is a meme" video-rant.
For the record, I also agree on Die Antwoord.
My problem with them is the same problem I have with Kanye West. I love the concept as it's described by people who like them, which makes me extremely disappointed that the actual music they make largely fails to match up to it.
Classical music is dying. Classical music already died back in 1324. Long live classical music.
The 1740 one is deliciously ironic on several levels - viola da gamba killed the guitar, eh? - but it does make me sad that we don't hear that family of stringed instruments much any more outside of historical reconstructions. The same goes for the theorbo, which is a lovely thing.
The one about the piano has a good point, though not the one that it is trying to make. The popularisation of the pianoforte, after all, did lead to the simplification of tuning toward twelve-tone equal temperament and really all but killed tuning innovation in mainstream classical music.
Comments
Examples:
West Side Story - "America"
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - "Marble Gallery"
Final Fantasy VII - "Jenova Absolute"
Go hear it. 【=◈︿◈=】
this dude seems pretty good from what i've heard so far
link to the album i'm listening to
mo you should listen to this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0iFUBwNMrU
it's incredible
As for Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, yes it's an entirely different animal than It's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. It's weird, but weird in a way that would appeal more to die-hard Byrne fans than to Eno fans. And "Black Gospel, country, and funk all filtered through electronic music" isn't as "cool" as one of the pioneering works of funky plunderphonics.
I was lucky (unlucky?) enough to hear The Happening 2: Everything Today first, so I could approach it on its own merits. Even so, I think The Life in the Bush of Ghosts Chose Me is more consistently good. On the other hand, the new album gave us "Strange Overtones", one of the best Byrne songs I've heard yet.
?????????????
It also leaves me in awe of just how far they've come since then. I'm eager to see what they do next after Queen of the Wave.
Interesting theory, but it may be reaching too far. It doesn't explain my experience, for example. I'm not completely immune to nostalgia, but a lot of my favorite music right now is stuff with absolutely no nostalgic value at all.
I expect that this will turn out like the last BOC album did, meaning that it will have some high points mixed in with some boring retreads. AFX is nothing if not unpredictable, however, so maybe this will be a new masterpiece. Either way, we will find out soon.
still fucking incredible