Honestly, I don't even know. Just random songs on youtube
And I was not specifically looking for poppy and catchy, it's just what I expected for some reason.My own tastes tend to lie closer to three chords and the Truth on one end or full-on symphonic metal on the other :)
I have issues with Hey Jude because it's entirely possible it's where my middle name comes from and that fact bugs me.
That, and the fact my parents would make fun of my middle name when I was young. Why they would do that I have no idea, since they're the ones that gave me it.
However, "overly sensitive" describes me far too well especially when young, so it is possible they didn't mean it that way. But it still bugged me. It could have just been their idea of silliness.
I Want You (She's So Heavy) and Strawberry Fields Forever are my own personal favourites, but they're also on the weirder end.
Same. I also really like "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite", "Savoy Truffle", "Long Long Long", "Flying", "I'm Only Sleeping", "Norwegian Wood", "Baby, You're a Rich Man" and especially "Tomorrow Never Knows".
"Wild Honey Pie" is pretty fun, too. They have a lot of fun songs.
Eleanor Rigby - I like this one. It's basically a classical piece, for what it's worth. Hey Jude - I don't like this song much; the words don't fit the music very well, and the music takes a few harmonic turns that just don't work very well. And half the song seems to be repetitive audience participation bait. Let It Be - one of my favorite Beatles songs, for its comforting melody and lyrics. Nowhere Man - another one of my favorites; has a very catchy melody, along with meaningful lyrics. Especially like that G#m chord's placement. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - an odd and distinctive song. Not my favorite, but not bad either. The refrain and verse seem oddly disconnected. Yellow Submarine - not my favorite song but definitely one I like. I prefer the whole movie, though. When I'm Sixty-Four - another song with a nice catchy melody that I like, along with playful lyrics. Help! - not the best song, but a fun one to quote as a meme. Good Day Sunshine - similar to Help!, except less quotable.
I'd like to add that Tomorrow Never Knows fills out my trio of favourite Beatles songs.
I'd also like to stick up for Happiness is a Warm Gun, She Said She Said, and Hey Bulldog.
Lastly, I'd like to agree with Sredni that the Beatles have a lot of fun songs. I also think that their willingness to utilize the full range of their artistic talents in their output instead of pigeonholing themselves to one or two genres is an example that more bands should follow.
Tomorrow Never Knows I Am the Walrus A Day in the Life Here Comes the Sun Help! Let It Be Strawberry Fields Forever She Loves You Rain Don't Let Me Down Revolution Please Please Me She Said She Said Hey Bulldog Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Nowhere Man Penny Lane In My Life Glass Onion While My Guitar Gently Weeps
The Gently Weeping Guitar is an enemy in Mother 3 in Club Titiboo's attic. Its battle theme, being a 1950's rock and roll-style piece, is quite similar to that of the New Age Retro Hippie. It is moderately dangerous due to its electric attack which can cause up to 35 damage to all allies. It appears in the boss battle with the Jealous Bass along with the Beaten Drumin which it can attack twice if all instruments are alive, causing about 135 HP per turn (in all). If the Beaten Drum is defeated first, the Guitar can use a sobbing attack (very rarely) which causes 50 HP damage to each party member.
I'd never heard of onkyokei before somehow, and it sounds so very up my alley! Thank you, Sorrow!
On a completely different note, anyone worth their salt has given Swans' new album To Be Kind a glowing review, and Anthony Fantano gave it his second ever 10/10 (with a very vivid and passionate extrapolation on the matter as well). I have heard both promo tracks and they are glorious. I have also seen "She Loves Us!", "Nathalie Neal" and "To Be Kind" played live; they were glorious then, too.
Yeah, George Harrison really came into his own as a songwriter and as a guitarist towards the end of the Beatles.
As for my favorite Beatles tunes, my top five are: A Day in the Life The medley on the the second half of Abbey road ("You never give me your Money" through "The End") Within You Without You Strawberry Fields Forever Magical Mystery Tour
Hey Jude - I don't like this song much; the words don't fit the music very well, and the music takes a few harmonic turns that just don't work very well. And half the song seems to be repetitive audience participation bait.
Out of curiosity, what specific harmonic turns don't sit well with you, because nothing ever seemed out of place to me. I actually like the Beatles' version of the song, though I think I might prefer Wilson Pickett's rendition.
Actually, make that one harmonic turn and several melodic/rhythmic turns.
The harmonic turn that's weird is going from F7 to C7 (the transition between the first and second verses, and again later).
The melodic/rhythmic things are mainly things like the words not really lining up well with the rhythm, and leaving a bunch of phrase-ending syllables in weird off-beats. Also, the melody where the lyrics go "make i-it be-etter" just sounds weird for some reason -- it sounds like something isn't resolving right I think.
It's got a very pretty verse, but the best parts of the song seem to end there.
I like those weird little quirks, to be honest. They make the song distinctive.
For what it's worth, I feel that way about this arrangement of "Planetes" from Guilty Crown. The chords are different from the original's chords (and there's no good upload of it on Youtube but you should be able to find the original pretty easily around the internet, PM me if you can't). But the way I think this arrangement makes use of this is to contrast the beginning of the verse phrases (with their vi to I cadences) to the end of the verse and the refrain which has a lot more harmonic momentum.
Actually, make that one harmonic turn and several melodic/rhythmic turns.
The harmonic turn that's weird is going from F7 to C7 (the transition between the first and second verses, and again later).
The melodic/rhythmic things are mainly things like the words not really lining up well with the rhythm, and leaving a bunch of phrase-ending syllables in weird off-beats. Also, the melody where the lyrics go "make i-it be-etter" just sounds weird for some reason -- it sounds like something isn't resolving right I think.
It's got a very pretty verse, but the best parts of the song seem to end there.
Ah. I'd have to look at the score for the harmonic thing, but I actually enjoy the melodic/rhythmic things you mentioned.
Also, decided to give Havalina Rail Co.'s music another go, specifically the albums America and Russian Lullabies. So far, I have the same impression of them as the first time I gave them a try, which is that I love their music and they're a fantastic bunch of musicians, but I'm not really a fan of their vocalist and wish they had somebody else singing. Half of the time I'm only indifferent to his voice, but the other half of the time his voice is just grating to me.
^^ If you want extremely distinctive chord progressions, I suggest the following Wire songs: "Blessed State", "Outdoor Miner" and "100 Beats That". They are all fairly short and I do not think that you will regret the decision to listen to them.
(My favourites from those albums are "Map Ref. 41°N 93°W", "Marooned" and "Brazil" respectively, but those are interesting for very different reasons.)
can't find the last one on Youtube, so i opted for more creative solutions, which also didn't work.
I think my personal favorite use of harmony comes from unfamiliar or undistinctive harmonies contrasted with familiar and distinctive harmonies.
It's like earlier Prokofiev works. When he first started doing his chromaticism stuff, it's frequently possible to trace bare hints of "important" common-practice harmony features like V-to-I cadences in a rich matrix of chromaticism. I like that. It pushes the envelope really far into the "weird" but retains just enough relationship to the familiar that I can clearly see the meaning in it.
Debussy's also interesting, as are the other impressionists. I just haven't quite yet figured out the way they do it. But they definitely do something similar, though in a different way.
The tritone isn't really half as dissonant as it is made out to be. It's within twenty cents in either direction of 7/5 and 10/7, the latter especially being a strange but perfectly clear just interval. Whence comes the appeal of the half-diminished seventh chord: 7/6, 7/5, 7/4. Low minor third, tritone, low minor seventh. Or, alternately: 6/5, 7/5, 9/5. Minor third, tritone, minor seventh. 7:6:5:4. 5:6:7:9. Simple.
Possibly the best Swans album since Swans Are Dead, or if we're only counting studio albums than since Soundtracks for the Blind at least. Easily in the top five of their releases. It is basically perfect, at least in the second half, which is wall-to-wall all-time great songs.
^^ Yeah. I don't get how it got hyped so much. And people who overuse diminished seventh chords thinking they're the key to dramatic/creepy/unsettling moods just end up sounding cheesy.
There's some really pretty stuff by Messiaen that basically splashes around tritones as consonances (within his "modes of limited transposition"), and to my surprise, it actually works that way.
Context is key. Messiaen, in particular, saw all forms of harmony as representative of the glory of God and wrote to his sonic climaxes to underline that sense of indescribable universal awe. All intervals, if you boil them down far enough and play them in the right register and timbre or with the right notes, can be concords of a form. His eight-note chord representing the harmonic sequence 4:5:6:7:9:11:13:15 is a perfect example of that in how it smashes key signatures to smithereens yet is inherently pure and, in full orchestral splendour, overwhelming. In strange beauty is the voice of nature, and in the voice of nature is strange beauty.
I finally acquired a copy of Alien Lanes. On "Chicken Blows", Pollard sings "I'm not here to drink all the beer in the fridge," and my immediate thought was LIAR.
First impression of Spiritualized's Let It Come Down: epic.
Talk Talk made some pretty good synthpop before they invented post-rock.
I don't really know why or how to describe it, but it's a feeling of deep satisfaction, combined with a few tinges of nostalgia. Maybe late afternoon sunlight, with a few hints of evening. The movement is not uniformly inspirational like this, but my favorite parts are the exposition and recapitulation (and that's like 2/3 of the piece anyway).
Curiously, I prefer that the first movement be played roughly at the tempo in the recording I linked. There are faster interpretations, but I feel like that rushes the experience. I have a similar opinion of the first movement of Haydn's piano sonata #50 in C major, where I like, say, this recording more than some others. Maybe it's that, with the slower tempo, I get more time to take in those figurations and harmonies and such that I really get the feels from.
Edit: No, Vanilla, "#50" is not a hashtag. ~puts in some hashtag prevention code~
Is there some sort of law that synthpop vocalists have to be bad singers, or pretend to be bad singers?
Wait. Pet Shop Boys. Nevermind.
EDIT: "Final Moment" is so great, I take back everything bad I thought about House of Wires. It's like a big dumb mix of synthpop and 3rd wave ska except not really at all.
Been listening to the collaborative album Sunn O))) and Ulver did together. It's kind of reminiscent of Sunn O)))'s stuff from Monoliths and Dimensions, but there's a lot less metal influences on this record, instead having muted horn sounds, clean(er) droning tones and pianos to fill out the arrangement, though there is still a bit of the metal influences. It's nothing out of the ordinary or surprising, but it's very well done and enjoyable. Definitely worth a listen if you're a fan of Sunn O))) or like ambient drone music.
I don't know anything about tritones, but there used to be a band I liked who were actually called The Devil's Interval.
They're not performing together anymore, but the band members, Jim Causley, Lauren McCormick and Emily Portman, have all released excellent solo projects since then.
During my time away from the interbooglies, I took some time to listen to the Postal Service's Give Up.
It's one of the few "indie classics" I've found myself liking, I particularly enjoy noted standout "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight". Something about that chorus is just really interesting.
Comments
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Hey Jude
A Hard Day's Night
Let It Be
Ticket to Ride
In My Life
Help!
Day Tripper
Something
of course, since this is a no-embeds thread you'll have to find 'em on your own
I consider Tomorrow Never Knows and I Am the Walrus to be my favorites, but those are definitely on the weirder end
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
In addition to many of the songs already mentioned, I like 'Yesterday', which isn't really among their poppier songs but isn't weird, either.
Eleanor Rigby - I like this one. It's basically a classical piece, for what it's worth.
Hey Jude - I don't like this song much; the words don't fit the music very well, and the music takes a few harmonic turns that just don't work very well. And half the song seems to be repetitive audience participation bait.
Let It Be - one of my favorite Beatles songs, for its comforting melody and lyrics.
Nowhere Man - another one of my favorites; has a very catchy melody, along with meaningful lyrics. Especially like that G#m chord's placement.
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - an odd and distinctive song. Not my favorite, but not bad either. The refrain and verse seem oddly disconnected.
Yellow Submarine - not my favorite song but definitely one I like. I prefer the whole movie, though.
When I'm Sixty-Four - another song with a nice catchy melody that I like, along with playful lyrics.
Help! - not the best song, but a fun one to quote as a meme.
Good Day Sunshine - similar to Help!, except less quotable.
Tomorrow Never Knows
I Am the Walrus
A Day in the Life
Here Comes the Sun
Help!
Let It Be
Strawberry Fields Forever
She Loves You
Rain
Don't Let Me Down
Revolution
Please Please Me
She Said She Said
Hey Bulldog
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Nowhere Man
Penny Lane
In My Life
Glass Onion
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
As for my favorite Beatles tunes, my top five are:
A Day in the Life
The medley on the the second half of Abbey road ("You never give me your Money" through "The End")
Within You Without You
Strawberry Fields Forever
Magical Mystery Tour
The harmonic turn that's weird is going from F7 to C7 (the transition between the first and second verses, and again later).
The melodic/rhythmic things are mainly things like the words not really lining up well with the rhythm, and leaving a bunch of phrase-ending syllables in weird off-beats. Also, the melody where the lyrics go "make i-it be-etter" just sounds weird for some reason -- it sounds like something isn't resolving right I think.
It's got a very pretty verse, but the best parts of the song seem to end there.
Also, decided to give Havalina Rail Co.'s music another go, specifically the albums America and Russian Lullabies. So far, I have the same impression of them as the first time I gave them a try, which is that I love their music and they're a fantastic bunch of musicians, but I'm not really a fan of their vocalist and wish they had somebody else singing. Half of the time I'm only indifferent to his voice, but the other half of the time his voice is just grating to me.
can't find the last one on Youtube, so i opted for more creative solutions, which also didn't work.
I think my personal favorite use of harmony comes from unfamiliar or undistinctive harmonies contrasted with familiar and distinctive harmonies.
It's like earlier Prokofiev works. When he first started doing his chromaticism stuff, it's frequently possible to trace bare hints of "important" common-practice harmony features like V-to-I cadences in a rich matrix of chromaticism. I like that. It pushes the envelope really far into the "weird" but retains just enough relationship to the familiar that I can clearly see the meaning in it.
I don't really know why or how to describe it, but it's a feeling of deep satisfaction, combined with a few tinges of nostalgia. Maybe late afternoon sunlight, with a few hints of evening. The movement is not uniformly inspirational like this, but my favorite parts are the exposition and recapitulation (and that's like 2/3 of the piece anyway).
Curiously, I prefer that the first movement be played roughly at the tempo in the recording I linked. There are faster interpretations, but I feel like that rushes the experience. I have a similar opinion of the first movement of Haydn's piano sonata #50 in C major, where I like, say, this recording more than some others. Maybe it's that, with the slower tempo, I get more time to take in those figurations and harmonies and such that I really get the feels from.
Edit: No, Vanilla, "#50" is not a hashtag. ~puts in some hashtag prevention code~
In general, I'm much more interested in electronic music that sounds electronic than in electronic music that desperately wishes it were rock music.
They're not performing together anymore, but the band members, Jim Causley, Lauren McCormick and Emily Portman, have all released excellent solo projects since then.
It's one of the few "indie classics" I've found myself liking, I particularly enjoy noted standout "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight". Something about that chorus is just really interesting.