Author Topic: General Music talk  (Read 83354 times)

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: General Music talk
« Reply #280 on: November 14, 2016, 05:16:50 PM »
Yea, it's great. They have so many fantastic collaborations on this album.

verbALs

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Re: General Music talk
« Reply #281 on: November 16, 2016, 02:00:49 PM »
New Album of the Week; No.8

Babes Never Die- Honeyblood (release date: November 4, 2016)




I don't know what the guy from iTunes was listening to. This is all very sweet, it must the song titles; "Love Is A Disease", "Sister Wolf" and a bit of fuzz on the guitars that get him feeling fired up. This band have a vampiric quality to me that comes from an old song called "Choker"; but this is more "Twilight" than "Let The Right One In". A real teen dream, if you know what I mean.

They have a serious problem starting a song; such a state of affairs that had me pondering what makes a song truly generic. Generic actually meaning something overplayed, unoriginal to me, when it means 'look beneath the ostensible surface, aesthetes!!' when it comes to movies. They lay down a fairly mundane guitar and drum track, sprinkled with iron filings, like I said. On some songs it goes that way till the end; but they have a way of hooking into repeated lyrical cycles, not just in the choruses, that spirals upwards. Going from something akin to Shania Twain twee-rock and ending up in a hypnotic daze is quite a weird concoction. I don't mind if you don't know what I mean, I put a couple of examples in at the end.....I'm not sure if they count as recommendations.

I was also bowled over that they were Scottish because there's a bubblegum pop quality to the vocals, that could only be American. The question of whether they should be affecting that Atlantic hopping quite so readily...well, its been going on a long time, and I'm sorry to say it ends up sounding vacuous at times. It's aimed at like a deliberate attempt has been made at a certain sound but I dunno what it is because I don't really listen to pop radio at all; it could be Milo Cyrus for all I know or care. I can allude to what it sounds like. My opinion of very beautiful women is that they get a free ride through life, because they don't have to try too hard...because men aren't in control of their faculties in front of them (I can anecdotally give examples of this and that's life) ; and these are gorgeous voices not especially stretching themselves plus some fuzz guitar. Yet, sometimes they settle into a groove and it works....as the actress said to the vicar.

Top tracks; Sea Hearts/ Justine, Misery Queen
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

verbALs

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Re: General Music talk
« Reply #282 on: November 24, 2016, 12:33:14 PM »
New Album of the Week; No.9

We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service- A Tribe Called Quest (release date: November 11, 2016)


This generation, rules the nation, with version.

In their own, sample maniplutin' way ATCQ are timelessly melodic and musical, in a similar manner to how The Buzzcocks were 40 years on. Especially Q-Tip has a voice on a 10 year old on a street corner, both "get to school!" and aged street hustler at the same time. They come out of that third wave of hip-hop; post PE and My Adidas and pre-f... the police; floating through a daisy age proclaiming ethnicity without the anger of the former or the rage of the latter. Soulful and mellow. Still. Early hip-hop can be timeless either because they strip all the way back to a kick drum or a snare or because the tunes are melodic. So when they mix up the ingenuous voices, subtler drum patterns and plinky-plonky soundtracks; it's as effective now as it was around 1990.

The whimsical tone, only angry on occasion, helps with the tribute to a lost member who died through illness. A lot of the subtler sounds help the tunes blend into a bigger whole, but, especially the first set is consistently, insistently great. They don't so much go for direct comment on the amazing state of the world and the pressure wave of racism, but they do comment and "We The People";

All you Black folks, you must go
All you Mexicans, you must go
And all you poor folks, you must go
Muslims and gays, boy, we hate your ways
So all you bad folks, you must go


, shows them address current sick circumstances with as much humour as the situation allows.

Q-Tip's a star on his own, but the snatches of Busta Rhymes and André 3000 and some interesting messing around with Elton John's Benny and the Jets (the one The Beastie Boys turned into a rumbling drawl) are a treat; Busta sounding like he's spent ten years gargling single malt whisky. The first block of 8 songs isn't one I'd choose to pick favourites from, as the lighter, sing-song rhyming backed by heavier beats, alternate with growly lyrics and Joni Mitchell dinky tones. Stooping so low as a Musical Youth sample, because their cool enough to pull it off.

Top tracks; We The People...(explicit)/ the whole lot.
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: General Music talk
« Reply #283 on: November 24, 2016, 05:14:08 PM »
Need to give this a few more listens, but I really dug it. Some of the front songs may be a little trivial compared to the back half, but I found them pretty catchy.

St. Martin the Bald

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Re: General Music talk
« Reply #284 on: November 25, 2016, 08:24:24 AM »
Good review but ATCQ's first album rolled out a full 3 yrs after NWA's debut and F the Police.
Playgrounds were raging with gangsta rap when they hit the scene.
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verbALs

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Re: General Music talk
« Reply #285 on: November 25, 2016, 09:50:59 AM »
Ok thanks. I associate them with De la Soul and iTunes biog seems to make the same connection. It's a softer kinder form that Kendrick Lamar has brought back and he appears on ths album as well. It's NWA who I mistake as coming later on; probably because outside of Express Yourself I don't really dig. Love Dr Dre on his own though.
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

St. Martin the Bald

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Re: General Music talk
« Reply #286 on: November 25, 2016, 01:32:37 PM »
Agreed - I always put them and De La Soul along with the the jazz rap of Us3 and the socially conscious stuff from Arrested Development together. I loved that alternative hip hop sound but I think I was always more partial to the east coast vibe. it took me a while to appreciate that west coast style.
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MartinTeller

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Re: General Music talk
« Reply #287 on: November 26, 2016, 12:05:52 AM »
ATQC and De La Soul were both part of the "Native Tongues" collective that also included Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, Monie Love and (I think) KMD. So you're right to group them together, but NWA did predate all of them.

Still haven't listened to the new Tribe yet. I have this odd compulsion to listen to music in the order I acquired it, and there's a lot in the backlog ahead of it.


edit: whoops, it was Black Sheep I was thinking of, not KMD

verbALs

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Re: General Music talk
« Reply #288 on: November 26, 2016, 03:40:48 AM »
Yeah. I can place listening to 3 Feet High And Rising to a long trip (long for travelling across England anyway ;D ) I made in early 1990. Superb album. I don't think they were the first to go down a mellower road in rap but 3Feet is a landmark. When they say something like on the brilliant Say No Go they were wry about it. Wit undercutting anger appeals greatly "Where once clothes made for Oshkosh...nothing but stonewash"). I bet I didn't listen to any NWA till 93 or later; like I wasn't interested. Possibly too much rage given that PE had been reining their anger in to better effect for years before. Art screaming with rage hardly works as well whatever the form (Serpico no/ Dog Day yes, for example). I realise how important NWA are now but I feel it's more to do with what Dre did after for me. But I see what a subjective view this is.

Listening to this ATCQ album I'm more impressed how the first set works so much better than the second set.

How bizarre! 3ft High isn't on Apple Music! Had to resort to dreary old CD digital. How very.

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« Last Edit: November 26, 2016, 04:51:11 AM by verbALs »
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

verbALs

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Re: General Music talk
« Reply #289 on: November 27, 2016, 07:01:56 AM »
Adding Dirty Mind and When You Were Mine to the list of greatest ever starts to albums. In his rock pop phase, Prince was redefining a 30 year old genre.

Also listened to "Around the World..." the end of this phase before he went the full soul brother. America and Temptation; oh my. This is when The Revolution starts to assert itself and Prince learns to play nicely with others.

Yeah I got a USB record player and it's 1987 again.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2016, 07:07:41 AM by verbALs »
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy