The Music Thread

[Starmancer]

I think for a forum this size, an all-encompassing music thread would be appropriate.

This is for discussing music as well as sharing, so I guess I'll start with 3 questions:

1) What's your favorite genre and why?

2) What's your favorite song and why? (or you could say your favorite Artist/Band at least, I'm not picky)

3) What song did you last listen to?

To answer my own questions:

I like a lot of genres, but I'd say my faves are a tie between Alternative Rock and most forms of Metal, with my favorite bands being The Killers and Iron Maiden respectively. I like Alternative because it's so diverse. It's pretty much a catch-all for an Rock that's not Pop, punk, Metal, or country as far as I can tell, so naturally you wind up with a lot of different and interesting styles of music just by going off of the Alternative label. I prefer The Killers (at least at the moment) because by the Second album they really have produced a string of great sounding songs with really interesting and meaningful lyrics, which I can really appreciate. Especially when looking at, say, Human, or even Sam's Town, their lyrics are often complex, it seems like every time I listen their songs again I come up with a new interpretation. They constantly keep me thinking, and rarely does the meaning seem to come down to something standard like love or whatever. I love it.

As for metal, I like it because it usually gets my blood pumping, even the slower songs. Something about at least the songs I like tend to feel charged without feeling overly aggressive. Iron Maiden is particularly good about this, especially by The Final Frontier (which of course is my favorite album of theirs). And again, they tend to have really meaningful lyrics, too. I also feel that when they're talking about an issue they present it better and fairer than, say, Metallica does. (I like them, too, but their lyrics can be quite opinionated, IMO)

Anyways, to answer the last question, I've mostly been listening to a bunch of songs from Lapfox, a "label" for a single artist known as Renard Queenston, who uses a dozen or so aliases, each with their own style. I find that a lot of their music tends to be hit or miss, especially since I'm not too big on electronic music, but I've been going through the Mayhem tracks and I've found a few I liked. Rescue really stood out to me, as did The Sound. Push Every Button was quite fun, and Niche is starting to grow on me. I am the Tower was pretty neat, too[/url]. Might check out more tracks later. Of course, I went through a bunch I didn't care for, but I won't post them here.

[Kong Wen]

I don't think I have a favourite genre. I like good music. I'm particularly fond of '60s UK blues revival leading into British Invasion R&B pop-rock, as well as psychedelic pop, the lighter end of progressive & art rock, pop with great vocal and/or guitar hooks.

My favourite bands (whose material I almost universally enjoy) are The Kinks, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Cream... and probably tons I'm forgetting.

I also like a lot of stuff by Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, U2, April Wine, The Who, The Flaming Lips, Camel, Cat Stevens, Neil Young, Jethro Tull, etc. but they all have some stuff (either albums or eras) that I don't like, too.

I'm listening to a lot of Small Faces and ELO's Time lately.

[Starmancer]

You know, I should probably listen to a lot more older music than I do. I can't think of that many songs that came out before the late '80s that I've ever purpisely listened to, yet Kong Wen reminded me of a lot of bands that I've heard some of, either on the radio, TV, or whatever, and never really followed up on them. I guess someday I'll try to look into them, but right now I don't know where to start, plus I still have plenty of recent-ish songs to listen to.

On another note, I've almost done going through the Mayhem tracks (by which I mean I'm getting bored. Lord knows I'll never run out of Lapfox music...) Not a ton of noteable tracks there. I suppose "Tank! Tank! Tank!" and "He Pukes Based Sharks" were okay, but not particularly great. Might listen to a few more, but for now I'm going through Furries in a Blender, which I guess is the more upbeat House style. I've only listened to 4 FIAB songs, but I've liked all of them so far. Then again, I love upbeat music, and House is quickly becoming my favorite electronic style. (though I don't listen to electronic in general enough anymore). "Slow Mover" was pretty neat, supposedly more laidback for the style, but still fun to listen to. "Great Expectations (FIAB Remix)" is the first Lapfox remix I listened to...I normally avoid remixes out of principle, but is it really a remix when they're all made by the same guy? =P Anyways, it's kinda long and I guess repetitive, but it made for great backround music while I was doing stuff. "Carbonate" was particularly nice, Might even say it's my favorite of the bunch. A nice ecclectic mix of sounds that came together to make a joyous sound - reminds me of why I listen to electronic music in the first place. It also has a spacey theme going for it (duh). I can really dig that. And lastly we got "Not Candy", which has a sense of danger to it, like it's trying to be a castle or boss theme (which seems to fit its place in the album, The Violet Kingdom). I like it a lot, gets the heart a pumpin'. Definitely gonna have to check out more FIAB songs later.

[Sharecrow]

Sure, I'll bite.

I, too, don't really have a favorite genre, but I am a pretty avid listener of certain types of metal and of certain types of progressive.

Bands that I qualify as being a fanboy for (meaning that I like generally every thing they have ever done and expect to like anything they'll do), include King Crimson, Ministry, and Lamb of God. Ministry may be my favorite-favorite, but it depends on what day you ask me. Bands I'm huge fans of but not obsessive about include Suicidal Tendencies, Primus, Down, Testament, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Danzig, and Led Zeppelin. Bands that I am a big fan of previous work but that I'm no longer engaged in for one reason or another include Bon Jovi (Richie quit and so did I), Slayer (Jeff passed and so did Slayer), Pink Floyd (I became satisfied), Pantera (Dimebag passed and so did Pantera), Queensryche (I've been a consistent follower but may or may not be done with them due to being satisfied....am not sure), and Tori Amos (I became satisfied).

The best live performance I ever saw was done by Nine Inch Nails. One of the coolest shows I ever got to go to was Les Claypool (was just feet away from him the whole show - amazing). It's difficult to say what my favorite song might be....there are so many that I'm absolutely in love with... Music, I think, is one of those extremely powerful arts because you can let your guard down - when you're listening to a song it is just you and the music. You don't have to pretend or mask your thoughts at all. I suppose most forms of art allow for that, but music has been really important to me in my life - second only to literature.

I recently picked up one of the more recent Morbid Angel albums and have been listening to that quite a bit. I'm also still listening to Devil Driver with some frequency as I finally got one of theirs (though after they left Roadrunner). I heard some of the tracks on the radio and they grabbed me. I got the album and it's a solid go-to for me on my way home. I'll be getting some of their previous work inevitably.

[VictorViper]

My tastes are a lot like Kong's, though I've got a soft spot for the harder edged stuff, too. There's no one genre I won't listen to, but I'm a rocker at heart, and rock/blues/soul from the 60's and 70's comprises my bread and butter. I'm as comfortable listening to 3 minute radio tunes as I am soaking up a dissonant, 30 minute fusion deconstruction.

Among my favourite artists are Ween, Danava, Yes, ELO, Taj Mahal, Baroness, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Camel, Slayer, Aphex Twin/Richard D. James, Squarepusher/Tom Jenkinson, µZiq/Mike Paradinas, Public Enemy, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Tricky Woo... and the list goes forever.

I used to be an avid concertgoer, but age and financial realities have forced a significant drop in attendance the last couple of years. I still try to get out once every other month, but the days of weekly or even semi-weekly shows are over.

I should also note that it is exceptionally rare for me to like a band's entire output, and I prefer most bands' early output to their later works far more often than the other way around.

[Forscyvus]

OH BOY MUSIC.

1)
I'm not exactly sure what my favorite genre is. Alternative is the best catch-all of what I listen to, but to be honest, all I look for is some sort of compositional fortitude. As long as it's not boringly composed, I'll have a good time with it. Things wherein I can find new parts and instruments after tons and tons of listens is good stuff. Metal is good ONLY as flavor and puctuation. Metal bands can largely kiss my ass. Bands that play metal in one or two places per album are A+. I listen to a lot of stuff from Disasterpeace to Janelle Monae to modern alt rock like Muse (although Muse themselves are kind of boring), back to prog-rock giants of the 70s like Yes and Genesis. I also listen to a good chunk of the real classics: Bach and Debussy are particular favorites.

As for lyrics, I really don't give much of a shit unless they're either extremely good or extremely bad. That means when I listen to most songs I just don't really pay any attention to the lyrics.

I suspect I don't care much for lyrics and really like layered compositions stems from the fact that I've got 12 years or so of formal piano lessons under my belt and years and years of choral singing, too.

2)
Even picking one favorite band is hard, but I'll go with Oceansize, a british alt band from the 2000s. I like them because they have a huge range of diversity of sounds they can come up with even though they all sound like Oceansize tracks. I suspect the unintelligibility of the lyrics (due to accent, probably) is actually a big plus to me, so I can more easily just think of the words as sounds instead. This was the track that made me fall in love with the 'Size https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TXpj4JnQRQ.

3)
I'm currently listening to Bombay Bicycle Club's album So Long, See You Tomorrow. 7/10 Not a lot of staying power but some very nice sounds. I tend to consume music in full album format on repeat. Because of this, I don't really have a great breadth of knowledge in lots of genres, but I tend to know any album I claim to know fairly thoroughly.

If there are a few bands I'd like everyone to try, they'd be The Dear Hunter, Oceansize (and maybe it's phoenix-from-the-ashes British Theatre), Disasterpeace, and the 70s prog giants, particularly classic Genesis.

I have a love/hate relationship with prog, because most things that label themselves prog are cheezball and pretentious and REALLY BAD but they don't understand how they're different from Genesis.

[Starmancer]

I suspect the unintelligibility of the lyrics (due to accent, probably) is actually a big plus to me, so I can more easily just think of the words as sounds instead.

Yeah, that's why I like to listen to J-Rock and other foreign bands like Rhapsody. I'm big on lyrics, but sometimes it's better to listen to something and just the enjoy the sound of it without having to worry about what they're saying.

[Kong Wen]

This is the coolest nerd-music thing I've seen tonight: a dude converted an organ into an 8-bit chiptune synth.

[MerlinDrazziw]

1) Genres don't define my music taste. Often I get suggestions of people who heard the music I listen to, but 95% of the suggestions never hit the 'like' mark. Some of my favorit music are from Clannad, Enya, David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, Queen, Kamelot, Lacuna Coil, Lunascape, Arid, Vangelis, Delain, Linkin Park, Fleetwood Mac, Porcupine Tree, OMD, Threshold, and many more. The last few years I've been collecting Arjen Lucassen's work from Ayreon, Star One and other projects. House/dance/etc., R&B and rap are the least likely genres I would listen to (with a few exceptions).

2) Another difficult question, but if I have to pick one it'll be "The Druids Turn To Stone" from Ayreon. Why? Damian Wilson has a great voice and I just like that song. Can listen to it often, but that is so for multiple other songs. Ayreon is currently my favorit 'project' (it's not a band or artist) to listen to.

3) Not counting just listening through one of my youtube playlist to pick a favorit, that would be a song from Linkin Park. At least that was the last song I played while driving home. Had my iPod on shuffle for 4 albums I've got from Linkin Park, so I wouldn't have to choose something else during the drive.

[Kong Wen]

I just finished listening to Tame Impala's debut album, Innerspeaker. I've been a fan of their follow-up, Lonerism, since Vic recommended them to me a year or so ago, but this is the first time I've had the chance to check out their other stuff. It's just about as awesome! There's apparently a deluxe edition with a second disc called "Extraspeaker" so I may try to track this down, as well as a copy of their EP at some point.

Tame Impala is the most recent band who's released something I can listen to non-stop. It would be awesome if they could come do a show in NA.