What are you listening to right now?

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Mon May 22, 2006 4:33 pm

Not for the Radiohead fans who have never liked it no matter how hard they tried.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon May 22, 2006 5:44 pm

Their loss!

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Tue May 23, 2006 5:18 am

The Philly Sound: Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and the Story of Brotherly Love (1966-1976)

A big favorite of mine. I picked up this 3-disc box set through one of those dorky record clubs about ten years ago as a bargain (though now it's $60 used on Amazon-- and at 68 tracks still worth it!). It's a fantastic mix of stuff you probably know and stuff you don't, and is a seriously fun and funky listen. Fab packaging as well, with a great booklet.

I went to summer camp outside Philly four years running and these songs bring me back to hot days listening to WFIL on a charmingly crappy AM radio. But you don't need no stinking nostalgia to enjoy these tunes.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Tue May 23, 2006 12:32 pm

The Transplants - What I Can't Describe.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Tue May 23, 2006 1:50 pm

What irritates me about Radiohead more broadly is how everything they do is considered to be so "important"... does Thom ever play down this supposed importance self-deprecatingly in interviews? Because, really, in the grand scheme of things, are they really that important? Even if something they do IS innovative and important, it can't be THAT innovative and important, surely. They shouldn't take themselves so, so seriously. But they always have to play this game and pretend that they are. It gets so boring, who can be bothered, I tire of the snobbery. I don't have to be party to it by buying into them.

They have been playing the media game very experty all along, and really, without doing so they would have gotten nowhere, it's really part and parcel of their art, this constant creating and controlling of their image, much like Warhol, much like anyone in music increasingly now who comes to be considered "important" or "relevant". There's nothing wrong with that up to a point (especially when you're trying to make your name), but it makes it easy for me to understand why Kid A and Amnesiac came after their deification with OKC. The music's deliberate inaccessibility was more or less a 'fuck you' to the mainstream, which... fine, but my point is that the obsession with their image and its influence on their music should be acknowledged when thinking about Radiohead doing their 'experimental' stuff because that wasn't the only choice they had. In a way, it wasn't brave at that point, it was safe... they avoided vulnerability by being very inaccesible. By design, it was safer for them in terms of their bigger goal of preserving their "importance".

They were in a very enviable position, too, just after OKC. One that musicians dream about. From there, they could have done a lot of different things without compromising themselves or having their previous achievements undermined. The apparent fear of repeating themselves is overstated also, imo. Really, if you're so artistic in the first place, as if you could.

They're a pop act like anyone else ie. their albums are sold to the masses and it comes with a deliberate image (as I indicated above), so if they have ideas why not put them across more compellingly? No, instead he has to moan and mumble unintelligibly and the music has to be so self-indulgent and dreary with the odd slightly more accessible number. It's just playing the snob game to the extreme.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Tue May 23, 2006 2:26 pm

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue May 23, 2006 2:59 pm

I guess I just don't agree that it's self-indulgent, but I can understand how others might disagree. I think that if you took the more accessible moments from Kid A and Amnesiac you would have one hell of an album. Things like "Treefingers" and "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" put some people off (not me), but there are some real gems on these two discs IMO.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Tue May 23, 2006 3:39 pm

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed May 24, 2006 1:04 pm

Having an early peek at The Avalanche, Sufjan Steven's album of Illinois outtakes. Aside from three alternate versions of "Chicago," all these tracks are new. Early favourites include "Dear Mr. Supercomputer" and "Adlai Stevenson." If you like Illinois, you'll definitely like this stuff.. though on first listen it's not as consistantly strong an album.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Wed May 24, 2006 3:15 pm

I'm starting to think this is one of the most high-flown concept albums ever. It's quiet and moving in the way that only she can be (though the whole thing reminds me a bit of Jane Siberry's brilliant When I Was A Boy) but never dull, if you're listening attentively. It really needs the sort of attending to I would have given it as a teen, sitting on the floor reading the lyrics off the back, lights low, concentrating only on that.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Wed May 24, 2006 6:21 pm

Quite possibly, I found I got more out of it on returning to it after initial boredness. It's often a shame that the older you get the more music you have and the less time and the more incidental the listening of it can become. Not all the time. When I hit on something I really like, or by dsomeone who's incredibly important to me, I'll play it loads, e.g. ROTT or Time Being, but there are so many others I need to revisit. Re the lyric reading and the recent discussion of Pulp's We Love Life, I love them even more for instructing the listener never to read the lyrics while listening!

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Thu May 25, 2006 9:26 am

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Thu May 25, 2006 9:31 am

Smiths - You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby

strangerinthehouse · Post by **strangerinthehouse** » Thu May 25, 2006 12:03 pm

I really liked their last album Bows and Arrows so I was looking forward to this one for a while and although it lacks some of the originality and melody of their last two albums it's slowly growing in my head. I like it but I'm still comparing it to B&A.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Thu May 25, 2006 12:44 pm

Going back to my roots...

Bruce - Darkness on the Edge of Town

oldhamer · Post by **oldhamer** » Thu May 25, 2006 2:51 pm

mood swung, I am too listening to Nick Lowe. Lately I've Let Things Slide, from the Convincer, which I got this morning. I'm on a bit of a Lowe mission. I can't afford any of his earlier "classic" albums, so I ordered Rockpile, The Convincer, Dig My Mood and The Impossible Bird. Rockpile impressed me (though I don't really like Dave Edmunds' voice, I'm warming to it), and The Convincer is getting better with each listen.

All I have to do now is find Â£50 for each of his other albums!

Chrille · Post by **Chrille** » Fri May 26, 2006 10:44 am

First listen. Instant like. I'll see what I think of it after several listens.

lostdog · Post by **lostdog** » Fri May 26, 2006 11:55 am

Chrille wrote:

First listen. Instant like. I'll see what I think of it after several listens.

'New Grass' is absolutely beautiful

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Fri May 26, 2006 12:26 pm

Got a copy from a friend of mine and I like it a lot. I wonder if the latest one, Youth, is equally good.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri May 26, 2006 12:44 pm

He played here last night-- hugely popular round these parts. I still can't decide what I think about him and his cultural appropriation, but he's obviously fucking talented.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri May 26, 2006 10:46 pm

Bad Ambassador · Post by **Bad Ambassador** » Sat May 27, 2006 6:43 am

Sorry the image is so small, if you squint you might be able to make this out

Great record though!

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat May 27, 2006 9:59 am

Phwoar! I mean, who's she?

Bad Ambassador · Post by **Bad Ambassador** » Sat May 27, 2006 11:46 am

Well, until recently she was in Ash. Top-notch British solo artist at the moment.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sun May 28, 2006 2:09 am

I see. Wasn't aware she'd gone solo. Rock chick with good looks, who had her guitar nicked:

BASTARDO
Late one day, I led Spanish boy astray
His name was Antonio
Took him out, and of his charms I had no doubt
Stayed drinking Mohitos
Tender in the bedroom is all I can remember
And the way he looked when he moved so near
In my ear, he whispered and shed a tear
Oh my bambino
Tender in the bedroom is all I can remember
And the way he looked when he moved so near
And in the morning when I woke there was no Antonio
Just some money that heâ€™d left for the memory of me
And oh my beautiful guitar, thatâ€™s what really broke my heart
Had been stolen by the two-faced low lothario
One night stand, lover you got out of hand
Oh yeah you went too far
Big mistake, falling for a first class fake
Who left me for my guitar
Tender in the bedroom is all I can remember
And the way he looked when he moved so near
Through my tears, I would have to find my dear
Guano Antonio
Tender in the bedroom is all I can remember
And the way he looked when he moved so near
And in the morning when I woke there was no Antonio
Just some money that heâ€™d left for the memory of me
And oh my beautiful guitar, thatâ€™s what really broke my heart
Had been stolen by the two-faced lothario
Oh my beautiful guitar
On and on I go till I find you
My beautiful guitar
On and on I go till I find you
Oh I know, oh I know, oh I know Antonio
Wonâ€™t be back as I discovered on his track
Heâ€™s gone back to Mexico, oh Antonio
Oh my beautiful guitar
On and on I go till I find you
My beautiful guitar
On and on I go till I find you
And in the morning when I woke there was no Antonio
Just some money that heâ€™d left for the memory of me
And oh my beautiful guitar, thatâ€™s what really broke my heart
Had been stolen by the two-faced lothario
Yeah had been stolen by the two-faced lothario
Yeah had been stolen by the dirty two-faced lover bastardo
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(By the way, it's spelt 'mojitos'.)

Sounds nice, quite power-poppy. I always thought she was American, and she sounds American, but appears to be from London.