Bands you keep trying to like but can't get into

A.C. Temple, but I don't expect that to spark much discussion.

...and I'm pretty sure there has to be another thread or so on this, since I usually bring up Live Skull, who I'm still not into.

Tom Waits. I've given up.

mmm...arcade fire....

Have you heard Positraction, dlp9001? (Maybe I've asked you that before...)

2x-post

Tom Waits. I've given up.

Oh my god, I thought I was the only one...

Positraction is great indeed.
i love live skull,but i have a friend who desnt get them either,he says the sound is too "goth" for him.
what an idiot.

"Tom Waits. I've given up.

Oh my god, I thought I was the only one..."

thirded, though i didn't try too much

Waits 4th'd

I tried a little, but goddam, if you have to try that hard...

(I don't mind him on film)

The White Stripes. I try and try, and even enjoy it here and there, but part of me really dislikes their sound. Also the Pet Shop Boys. Not big on Waits either. Although he mixes in nicely on Dr.Yo.

I have Positraction on my iPod, and definitely keep plugging away at it. I think it may be production that's keeping me from liking Live Skull...it's very frustrating as I keep expecting them to click some day and they never seem to. Oh well, I rarely give up on bands that seem intriguing. Right now my NY post-No-Wave guitar bands ranking is something like Dustdevils>Band of Susans>Rat at Rat R>Swans>Sonic Youth and I'm probably forgetting someone. Magic Dirt figure in somewhere, but they're not from NY.

xpost.

the two that I regret not liking are Husker Du and Public Enemy. they sound so awesome, but i just can't..

oh and Everything But The Girl. or as I call them, Slow And Horrible Death By Brunch.

I tried Tortoise four times, but nothing, well except maybe for Dj'ed.

Boredoms. They're okay, but I always feel like that time could be better spent listening to something else similar yet better.

The Fall. A lot of Bowie. All of New Order. Teh Beatles.

XTC and Dinosaur Jr, chiefly.

also modest mouse,and yeah huskar du..

xpost - Dinosaur seconded. I like a few things here and there that they've done, and I've had You're living all over me since high school. I tried listening to it the other day, and besides the first track (which I really like) and Lou's song (I like the mopey early Sebadoh/Sentridoh Freed Weed, etc. stuff), I've never really been able to get into it. I don't think they're overrated, though, it's just one of those things that I can't really get into.

xxxpost the Fall definitely. Though I've admittedly only tried with one album, This Nation's Saving Grace, but it has never worked for me. But perhaps I should give the other stuff a listen.

"But perhaps I should give the other stuff a listen"

no perhaps - have to!

For a while it was the Boredoms, but now I just like them! Sonic Youth have taken their place.

I wonder why we pick specific bands to try to like. I know the bands I try to like are usually canonical ones, but there are certain canonical bands that I dislike and have not bothered giving a second chance to.

btw,if the search function worked ok - there are several threads on the subject

"I wonder why we pick specific bands to try to like"

there are some people with similiar music taste like mine, but they also like this one band that i don't get.
usually i try to like this band, cause it doesnt seem logic that i don't like them.
but who says life and taste in music make sense anyway..

zeno -- I know I could just look at a Fall thread, but what's an album I should check out if I didn't totally like TNSG? They have an awful lot of stuff...

you can't go wrong with slates, man

try a compilation of "the early years" and "the woonderfull and frightning world" which is like TNSG but with a better,cleaner,more accesible production.
if you don't like those 2, give up.
(and if you do - the next step is hex enduction hour, which is a more "difficult" classic)

that's pretty good advice!

my stock answer to this question is, and probably always will be:

Manic Street Preachers

I did try to search for a similar thread but without a unique keyword, nothing...

Tom Waits - I'm in that boat, too. This year, though, I made some progress with the 3 disc box he recently put out. The Orphans tracks, in particular, are really good. But not enough to make me own him.

The Fall took me years to go from hate to total and complete love, and I also started by getting into the poppier Beggars Banquet years, working backwards and then forwards again.

Sonic Youth also fall into this category for me, though I like alot of their work but I just don't love them and find their records inconsistent.

I don't like It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back at all, but the other Public Enemy stuff I've heard leads me to believe that I might still be able to get into one of their other albums.

"Sister Ray" and The Velvet Underground & Nico are so boring that I have no desire to listen to VU ever again. I remember one time when the stretch from "I'm Waiting For My Man" to "Heroin" sorta clicked with me and I 'got it', but the next time I listened to it it was gone again.

Three letters: G.B.V.

Joy Division & Pere Ubu. I understand their importance, but neither are any fun.

hey wait a damn minute. pere ubu are, at their best, a surreal experience.
secondly, the sounds that Allen Ravenstine produces are flat out kooky.
i wouldn't expect Dadaesque art to be "fun", but it can be entertaining as hell if you're in the right mood.

one of the most spine tingling solos i've ever heard is on the song "final solution" - not "feel good" stuff, but, like it or lump it, as powerful as anything ever recorded, imo

try a compilation of "the early years" and "the woonderfull and frightning world" which is like TNSG but with a better,cleaner,more accesible production.

On CD, Wonderful & Frightening World has always sounded really murky to my ears (though it is perhaps my favorite Fall album). If you're not averse to a career-spanning comp, I think 50,000 Fall Fans actually does pretty well.

I can't quite get into Van der Graaf Generator and am not sure why. It might be something about Peter Hammill's voice, sort of over the top or harsh. I like early Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, some Gentle Giant; being into the proggy stuff as well as later punk/post-punk, by which standards it seems like VDGG was more admirable than other prog, it seems like I should like them, but not much luck so far. He to the He I somewhat enjoy.

Three letters: G.B.V.

At their best, GBV create fantastic 3 minute pop songs that stick in your head. Unfortunately, most of their albums are chock-a-block full of song snippets and other failed experiments, making it hard to get to the nuggets. A friend of mine, a huge GBV fan, skimmed the top for me and culled out all their best stuff, and it's a joy to listen to. He recently lent me _Bee Thousand_ and I found listening to it a chore just to get to the good bits. So I can understand your feeling - find a friend who's a GBV fanatic and have 'em make you some compilations!

Spoon... such a goddamn impenetrable band.

Wilco - 'Summerteeth' to be specific.

On paper it should be so easy. But stick it on my stereo and my hand immediately reaches for the skip button.

Three letters: G.B.V.

Seconded. Bought three of their records before I finally admitted to myself that I just don't want to listen to half-completed demos of half-written songs.

I'm amazed that everything I was gonna submit has already been mentioned.. either we've all been lulled into quietly putting them into "the canon" without thinking, or we understand why they're vital yet it just misses the mark on a personal level.

My vote goes to the latter.. they're all pretty inventive.

So for me, again..
Public Enemy
Pere Ubu
G.B.V.
Husker Du
Bowie
XTC
Tom Waits

And I try three or four consecutive Animal Collective tracks at least once every two months. Never sparks anything.

The Fall took me years to go from hate to total and complete love..

Spoon, totally. Sometimes nice to hear on a jukebox, maybe on a soundtrack. Perfect incidental indie.

The Replacements

Yeah I finally clicked with The Fall about a year ago. No idea what happened there, it just made a great deal of sense one day. And this was after a couple years of trying to like them.

Pere Ubu and Tom Waits both way OTM, for me.

Broken Social Scene. Another Arcade Fire I'm afraid.

You know, I see a lot of bands being named here that I completely love (Hüsker Dü, The Replacements), but I totally understand how someone can be "eh" about 'em.

Spoon, the Arcade Fire, and the Fall. yeah, not an original bunch to pick, but those really ARE the ones that first pop into my head.

"Wilco - 'Summerteeth' to be specific.

On paper it should be so easy. But stick it on my stereo and my hand immediately reaches for the skip button.

"

yeah,otm.but only about that particular record.

pere ubu is hard to get into,and i can't say i'm always in the mood,but if i am - they are great experience.

plus, i can't get a alot of the progressive 70's stuff that is now quite trendy,maybe cause i grew up on 3 minutes songs,it's too pretentious and ridicules to me sometimes.

oh,and though i love "Can",some of their suppose to be "classic" stuff is boring.

90% of all popular music released in the past five years

"90% of all popular music released in the past five years"

how old are you?

really, who tries with that stuff?

I'm 25 years old. I listen to the radio. I go to the clubs. I read the Rolling 2007 Best Singles Thread. I look at the Billboard Hot 100. I know what the kids like. I try to get into it, really I do, but most of it just doesn't sound all that good to me.

the beach boys.
i keep trying the various reissues that arrive on the doormat, but no.
still cant stand'em.

galaxie 500

People are "trying to like" the Arcade Fire? Seems to me that with them, what you hear the first time will be all you'll ever hear.

With the Arcade Fire - I like the idea, but everytime I hear them I feel like I am listening to my Mom's new-wave tapes, driving around in the streets of my 80's childhood. Am I wrong?

arcade fire suck ballz, your mom totally had better taste in new wave

arcade fire are pleasant and have some good songs. but the singer's overearnest and much of the stuff is pretty thin. there's probably really not much to "get" as far as they're concerned...

Cosigned on Husker Du

rolling stones
led zep
kinks
the who

most 60s british bands
i like a handful of each of their songs but by and large i just dont like them

Bowie & Pere Ubu - I recently got their box sets from the library (again). I like Bowie's singles and his Berlin period but I can leave the rest. Pere Ubu's early material (singles and first album) are very good as is half of the next couple of albums but I can't get past Dave Thomas's voice - much as folks say about The Fall. I think it'll click one day.

60s UK bands - I like all the singles but I never, ever have the desire to hear The Kinks, Who, etc. Frankly I prefer covers by my favorite artists - Robyn Hitchcock's Dylan covers made me appreciate him as a songwriter much more than proper Dylan albums.

Nuggets is a box I listen to every couple of years. I like much of it but don't love it the way some do. Messthetics is my Nuggets.

Pavement.

Flaming Lips.

zappa, my bloody valentine, genesis, dylan, talk talk, coltrane. respect what they're up to, like some of their stuff, appreciate their impact/influence/what i've learned from paying attention to the people into them, but still feel more obligated by the politics of taste, rather than compelled by how much they rule, to keep trying them out

animal collective. the only way I could really like them is if they did the exact same thing they do now, except they dismember and eat Mike Love (of the Beach Boys) on stage. 'cause they sound like the Beach Boys, if the BBs were, er, tuneless idiots or perhaps just vegetarians who can't cut it. I realize this is perhaps contrarian, but I've tried, like the thread title says.

Tom Waits, too. Tried, respect the dude in his film roles and he's a funny interview. But his music just makes me sleepy.

Stars. I want to like them. I have all their discs, and I love some of the elements to their music (the 80s influences, mostly), but there's something about them that prompts me to reach for the skip button a lot when they come up on the iPod.

Even though they have some absolutely ripper songs, i can see why some people like them but i just cannot absorb what music they are making. Public Enemy are an incredible band. What they did for music in 1988 was unbelievable but the Bomb Squad's production has aged terribly since the release of 'It takes a nation of millions to hold us back'. I still cannot handle the production including that of 'Fear of a Black Planet'.

Soz, the first band i'm talkin about is the White Stripes.

The Doors. I got "Waiting for the sun" and like the singles, and so on.

I think they are underrated if anything, but I can't really got into em.

Pavement seconded. I've tried so hard, because I hear people I respect gushing over them non-stop.
To a lesser extent, Sonic Youth for the same reason.

lots of the bands already mentioned, like pavement, the fall, tortoise, even aphex twin to quite a large extent

but the one i'm most dumbfounded by is lightning bolt. there's no WAY i can dislike this band, in theory, but their music doesn't really make me want to carry on listening :-/

Pavement
PJ Harvey
Hendrix
The Smiths (I like some of their material but most of it is just boring)
My Bloody Valentine
Underworld
Lots of heavy metal
The Orb

The White Stripes. Sorry, but I just cannot for the life of me stand more than a few songs.
I feel like I should love this band based on my musical/listening tastes, but I find them so boring.
Yes, Jack White is a recording machine and super cool, but yeah, I don't get the overall hype of this band. Ever.

New Order!

xp: Yeah, I got out a bunch of their albums from the library after listening to Jack White's episode of WTF this summer. He seems like a great guy, but the music is so plodding and generic to me.

Scott Walker, idgi

^co-sign. Never tried very hard, though.

me too. i find scott walker's shtick just repulsive. i find hinmtotally unbearable. he seems to take himself so bloody serious when he sings.

I don't think there's much to get with the White Stripes. I don't like them as they're just not interesting enough, on all fronts.

i agree concerning the white stripes. they always make the same song which is a super simple song. i always thought jon spencer was so much more interesting in doing this kind of blues rock but somehow he didn't have the same success.

Scott clicked for me a few years back but it did take repeated exposure.

New Order is a band that I like bits and pieces of but own no albums.

I bought one of their records on an ilxor recommendation that it was as good as Disintegration or Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. I didn't agree at all.

Opeth.

Scott Walker takes himself so seriously when he sings?

Ulver. I listened to 3 late-period albums without liking any of them before admitting defeat. I like the early black metal stuff though.

here's a short list of shit i've tried my damnedest to like:

Burial - yuck. what do people see in this?
MIA - this takes terrible crap to another level
Radiohead's OK Computer - this seems largely mediocre with a couple exceptions. how is this one of the greatest albums ever?
Afghan Whigs - I feel like I should like this, but I don't
Camper van Beethoven - no thanks
Smiths - 90% of it could be great but is ruined by Morrissey
Galaxie 500 - i like a lot of stuff by other groups that sound like them, but this band is just mediocre
GBV - with a couple small exceptions, this does nothing for me but i feel like it should in theory
Tom Waits - generally sounds phony and annoying and I can't get into him
Tortoise - plodding and boring
The Fall - liked the A sides but cannot get into the albums
White Stripes - dull as shit
Tribe Called Quest - i like jazz, i like hip-hop, i like other groups that combine these things, but I have no use for this.

Scott Walker, yeah. but not his 60's stuff.
Radiohead
arcade fire etc

The Doors
Pink Floyd.

I think this means I'm a bad person

both of those took me a long time to get, but now I love them both!

They seem like they should work on paper, given the amount of similar stuff I listen to, and yet....

Too many attempts to count and lots of money spent trying:

John Fahey / most Takoma stuff in general
Ricardo Villalobos
Anything Charles Mingus did with a group larger than a quintet

but David Bowie owns this thread for me

okay the mingus thing is kinda crazy. i would say the bowie thing is crazy too but what the hell i don't care if you listen to bowie. maybe you'd like the man who sold the world though you like freak folk shit. or at least diamond dogs for heaven's sake how can anyone not love diamond dogs?

I like a lot of Bowie stuff - Low especially - but I just don't really get the slavish devotion. But it's all relative - I own more records by the people I listed above than most self-proclaimed 'fans' of these folks probably do.

Mingus...man, I love his playing. I love him in small groups. I even love his autobiography. But when it gets even remotely 'chamber,' I can't hang. My wife's a fanatic, so it's not a question of exposure.

richard strauss

Cheap Trick always seem like they should be right in my sweet spot but i've had trouble finding any affection for anything besides the big undeniable hits

see its just that mingus wrote so much amazing stuff for big(ger) bands. some of my favorite jazz. saw the mingus big band at fez many times years ago and even that could shake the friggin' rafters. i love the workshop/big band stuff. i kinda love it all though. even his solo piano album.

i seen some of the beast minds of my generation etc ect ah boollocks

you just need to listen to this whole album really loud on good speakers. on vinyl. stoned. and drunk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQdq8bZOhmU

rachmaninoff
mendelssohn

basic channel

well since people keep mentioning classical bands, i mentioned on the classical thread that i keep trying bruckner symphonies and man i just can't get in there. his church-y stuff is fine by me.

threads you keep trying to like

Cheap Trick always seem like they should be right in my sweet spot but i've had trouble finding any affection for anything besides the big undeniable hits

yeah there's this certain corner of '70s rock that friends of mine slightly older than me are way into that I like ok but can't get that enthusiastic about

Cheap Trick, The Cars ...

even Springsteen to some extent

I mean I like The Boss but I'm not even close to a super fan

ita about springsteen and cheap trick but the cars are like the platonic ideal of a band for me.

so many bands tried to be the cars and hardly any of them could ever be the cars. good bands even. but that is some hard to duplicate stuff. their songs were carved in ice. they weren't messing around.

cheap trick are just, man, they just nailed it. american glam + power pop + hard rock roots, i can never say no to that.

but i'm kinda old...

The Roots (besides that mid-'00s Game Theory/Rising Down twofer) put me to sleep.

Scott I am with you on Bruckner
I listen to a Flaming Lips once a year to see if I've changed and it's always as awful as before-- until, that is, that six hour song! which rules! and I futilely recommended it to other Lipsophobes
I was like this with a lot of music but I eventually got it, Ludacris i.e., but I can find something to like abt just about everything

Kate Bush
Neu!
Love
Laurie Anderson

Neu! too for me.

Cheap Trick always seem like they should be right in my sweet spot but i've had trouble finding any affection for anything besides the big undeniable hits

I've just accepted that they were a singles band. It happens.

Van Morrison is another one for me, although I think all the Jann Wenner types finally stopped trying to guilt everyone into liking him about 15 years ago.

i think wedding dj's (white ones) still bust out "brown eyed girl" when they want the parents to dance.

I keep trying to like Hate Eternal, but I just don't. Their songs are so boring. But Erik Rutan does such an amazing job producing Cannibal Corpse albums that periodically I think, "There's got to be something good about his own band" and I revisit one of the albums and...nope, Hate Eternal still suck.

hah, yeah. cosign on hate eternal.

Afghan Whigs

mussorgsky

I was kinda waiting for this thread to line-up with the Joy Formidable thread, but yeah... them.

Grizzly Bear / Other Lives / Deerhunter - my bandmates love these bands, but they just sound so nothingy to me - like pale imitations of whatever continuum Animal Collective and Arcade Fire were on up to eight years ago.

Nick Cave - I like a lot of things like Nick Cave, but I find him overbearing and not that interesting either.

thread split about halfway between cloth-eared idiots and people stressing about not liking some shit

Grizzly Bear / Other Lives / Deerhunter - my bandmates love these bands, but they just sound so nothingy to me - like pale imitations of whatever continuum Animal Collective and Arcade Fire were on up to eight years ago.

Can't stand any of these bands, including AnCo and Arcade Fire. Sometimes, someone I respect - a poster or some other musician - will namedrop them in passing and I'll go listen to like 15 seconds of a youtube of one of them. Invariably, it does not cause me to waver in my contempt for this garbage. I don't know if that counts toward "keep trying to get into".

I liked the first Arcade Fire album - it had some solid songs on there - and my Animal Collective fandom has been on a steep decline since 2004's 'Sung Tongs' to the point where I can't really bear to listen to their last one at all. The other bands I mention are by comparison all surface, no feeling. The textures are imitated, but that's all - I don't hear anything to come back to at all.

Every time I have to check the iPod to see what the hell that awful track was that just came up on shuffle, it's always Brian Eno. Guess I'll persist, maybe listen to some of his albums on the proper hi-fi at home but maybe it's just not destined to be for me and Eno. Of course, it's totally wrong of me not to like Eno, right?

I've listened to four different Grateful Dead albums trying to find an 'in' but I've got nowhere beyond finding the odd song quite pleasant.

Jefferson Airplane

I don't know if this counts but... Even though I purchase albums recommended to me, new hip-hop albums I like seem to get fewer and farther between as I get older.

One thing you notice though is that a disproportionate number of the aforementioned bands have the most obnoxious fans

Every time I have to check the iPod to see what the hell that awful track was that just came up on shuffle, it's always Brian Eno. Guess I'll persist, maybe listen to some of his albums on the proper hi-fi at home but maybe it's just not destined to be for me and Eno. Of course, it's totally wrong of me not to like Eno, right?

― Supposed Former ILM Lurker (WeWantMiles), Thursday, January 24, 2013 8:07 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Pretty wrong, although you're talking to someone who named their cat Eno. But there's so much variety in his catalog--which records come up on shuffle? His stuff works best as album-length listening IMHO.

"I'm forever near a stereo saying, 'What the fuck is this GARBAGE?' And the answer is always the Red Hot Chili Peppers." -- Nick Cave

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/files/original/Pot-calling-the-kettle-black-734818.jpg

Scott Walker, idgi

― sleeve, Wednesday, January 23, 2013 3:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

first immediate skip on the ilm top 77 spotify list

youse are missing out. but maybe try Scott 4 and then Nite Flights before Bish Bosch.

Can totally see why some people can't get into Scott Walker

I always get him confused with Scott Wyland.

I always get him confused with Scott Wyland.

― how's life, Thursday, January 24, 2013 9:55 AM (44 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/Scott-Weiland_Christmas-300x300.jpg

Funnily enough he had a jolly Christmas number on his last album too

why is nick cave always near a stereo that's playing the red hot chili peppers? or is that just a dream he has a lot?

I'm always near a stereo playing Nick Cave listening to the Chili Peppers.

it is hell

i can't take nick past the mercy seat.

Definitely feel no love for Animal Collective. Seems like my grandma's idea of what psychedelic music should sound like. I guess that doesn't really make any sense, does it?

I'm trying to get in to them at the moment - well, I'm listening to them

... vocals are uh a sticking point

Sung Tongs. Ignore most of the stuff after that.

That's the one I'm trying to listen to

I guess Sung Tongs is kind of nice. They've taken a huge turn for the worse since then.

they are just horrible.

Suicide.

I know how important and influential they are, particularly on bands/artists I do like, but...nuthin'.

Put "Cherie" on a loop, keep going until you get it

What albums have you tried JF? The second one is somewhat less famous, but it is a lot poppier and somehwat less psychotic - might be more up yr street?

Oh, I went through a spell in the late 90s/early 2000s where I collected everything there was (napster!) and I keep going back to it every once in a while to see if it will stick this time. It never does. I've finally decided to give up.

I like some of Martin Rev's solo stuff, though.

Suicide is boring. IMO.

mussorgsky

― the maybe of bâcon (clouds), Thursday, January 24, 2013 5:39 AM

Just go and watch Boris Godunov, or get a good dvd. Original version if possible, not the Rimsky remix. If that doesn't sway you, nothing will.

Beefheart. Mad respect for what he did and all the artists he influenced, and I do like a song or three, but my attention span for his brand of weirdness is just not very great.

But persistence pays off sometimes - with Beefheart, it took aclimating to things similar to him as well as people he influenced to finally make the jump into his world. It's hard to approach music that doesn't fit the core of what we like, but it can happen.

Not a band exactly but I have been introducing myself to Joni Mitchell, and uggggh Heijera is killing me. That fretless bass takes me right out of whatever I could possibly get out of her singing. I've tried a couple of times now, but I think I'm going to have to shelve it and maybe circle back in a few years. Or burn it.

I don't fuck with Heijera, and I like both Mitchell and Jaco. It should work for me. It totally doesn't.

RE: Beefheart: he takes time to get into, but is ultimately pretty rewarding.

Between first hearing Trout Mask in high school, owning and selling Shimy Beast, and just giving Lick My Decals another spin in the last month, I've spent decades with Beeheart. Ten minutes into any album I want to hear something else.

Shimy. Beeheart. Learn to type, me.

Scott Walker takes himself so seriously when he sings?

"it is dark and gothic, like coming straight from the graveyard. as if he got buried alive and is now speaking from inside his coffin."

yah, he's awesome!

Not a band exactly but I have been introducing myself to Joni Mitchell, and uggggh Heijera is killing me. That fretless bass takes me right out of whatever I could possibly get out of her singing. I've tried a couple of times now, but I think I'm going to have to shelve it and maybe circle back in a few years. Or burn it.

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, January 24, 2013 1:50 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I went through something similar, though it was with her Mingus album. There's fretless spilled all over that thing, and I barely made it through one listen. When I tried Hejira (on the basis that it's supposedly Prince's all-time favorite record), I recoiled at first, but subsequent listens put the fretless into perspective, if that makes any sense. So it might not happen soon, but it'll happen.

xp Seward OTM. I read that as praise for Walker's singing.

yeah I haven't gotten into Scott Walker a ton but what I've heard I like, maybe because there's an echo of Nick Cave to the tone of his voice that's v familiar to me. The showiness is appealing, sets him apart in a way that I enjoy.

swans

Scott Walker, idgi

― sleeve, Wednesday, January 23, 2013 4:25 PM (Yesterday)

TBH I think his recent popularity comes from the rationale of "This art is over my head, so I should probably respect it" which I feel like is how most people kid themselves and each other in respect to most avant-garde art.

i like the last scott walker albums cuz they are so freaky! i love freaky sounds. the new one is just, man, ain't nobody doing that shit like that. i freaked maria out a bit when i put the new one on one night. i think they hold their own in the tradition of art songs/avant garde. they are more like francis bacon paintings then anything else.

dan: maybe try some more "fun" beefheart - safe as milk or clear spot.

plus if you smoke pot and play them they will make you feel like you are on acid. that might be good or not depends on who you are.

i think what disturbs me most about scott walker is that his voice is so unmusical. he doesn't make the slightest effort to sing. he always seems to recite some weird, modern poem. my life left is too short to get spoiled by scott walker's personal exorcisms. i don't think it would be a good idea listening to his music on pot. i never tried acid but i think you are right scott. it would be a nightmare. like if you have smoked weed in a place where you do not want to be and you want to go home but can't.

Scott Walker, idgi

― sleeve, Wednesday, January 23, 2013 4:25 PM (Yesterday)

TBH I think his recent popularity comes from the rationale of "This art is over my head, so I should probably respect it" which I feel like is how most people kid themselves and each other in respect to most avant-garde art.

There's no more truth to this than there is to the idea that most people (with your take on avant garde art) don't understand it or are embarrassed to give credence to something that seems pretentious, finding it easier to laugh at it rather than try and comprehend it.

I mean, alex in mainhattan's view on SW is nothing like mine but I completely respect and understand it; it doesn't seem to be indulging in the snide pastime of, 'Christ, other people are so dumb.'

Anyway, Tronics. I just think it's awful. Don't know why this guy/band has become such a big cult thing over the last year or so.

Queensryche

It's so very easy to not like them

Prince

Scott on Scott is OTM upthread. Walker himself doesn't consider himself an avant-gardist, although it's clear he's not doing pop the same as anyone else. It is freaky, disturbing music. Even though my initial reaction is to be repulsed or frightened, I still find myself strangely fascinated by it. How do you get a string orchestra to sound like like a blooded face sliding down reinforced glass? What the heck are those machete noises? Feed WHAT to a shrunken face? What is he doing NOW??
It's not the kind of thing that you'd wanna listen to all the time (although I have been listening to Bish Bosch loads lately). Maybe you have to have a taste for the macabre, which not everyone does, in the way that a lot of people just don't enjoy horror movies.

people could always start here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjjN5VB6R3c

or you might try the bloodcurdling...DEVIL SURFER!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI2L0YI83rs

David Bowie

Actually I find Scott Walkers music fun usually, but at the same time kind of novelty. I was kind of using him as an example to vent a little about avant-garde art in general. Was unfair but I figured since he was brought up here...

Hejira hate makes me sad.

Another vote for Safe As Milk and against Scott Walker

you gotta at least admit that he wrote one of the best 70's pop songs about american torturers in latin america.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmRVU-MEXU0

as much i like and admire scott, gary might have actually made my fave post-walker bros. album...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNRHq2Qo4hM

post-tg stuff like uhh psychic tv i guess? heard a chris and cosey track once too *shrugs*
coil (although the last time i tried it kinda sunk in and i was pretty blown away, though i haven't felt the need to dive in again after this)
4ad in general, notably cocteau twins (notable exception: kristen hersh / throwing muses who i only discovered recently and love)
most shoegaze and britpop (been a long time since i tried, don't care anymore)
i tried ariel pink once or twice, that guy can lick my balls.

i guess the answer is 80s goth.

yeah, cocteau twins otm for me. i like the idea of them more than the execution.

einsturzende neubauten. blixa annoys me to no end, and i get the sense of this sorta european dissafection holding them back as a group even in their most radical moments. i just can't deal with that.

disaffection lol

I forgot one: Gojira. Yawnfest.

Hi,

I am currently 'trying again' with Mark Hollis' solo lp.

Cheers,

MG

afghan whigs. i like "turn on the water" and "debonair" but the rest is unlistenable.

you gotta at least admit that he wrote one of the best 70's pop songs about american torturers in latin america.

Indeed. Also, the best pro-socialist/anti-Stalinist song with scat singing ("The Old Man's Back Again").

wow. surprised no one has brought up dylan.
hejira hate not only makes me sad, i find it unfathomable.
tom waits has always been a love him or leave him thing -i get why others love him, but i still prefer to leave him.
i guess i don't have anyone to add...
i can totally dig the white stripes sometimes. lots of raw pain.
def agree that all bowie is not created equal...
ok, well -goth. refuse to even try.

I was just about to say Dylan

What's wrong with fretless bass?

There are a few canon bands/albums I've always kept trying and trying to love, or even like, like Van Morrison "Astral Weeks", or Slayer "Reign in Blood", and I look forward to the day those albums finally click for me

I always liked Black Sabbath and The Stones but I don't think I'll truly love either until I own a car with a tapedeck

Hejira was one of those albums I got into a song at a time, took quite a while. I still wouldn't put it on a par with Hissing or Court & Spark, which are both all-time favourites for me.

'astral weeks' took me like a decade to really love but it's totally worth it

While we're at it, I'll cop to not "getting" about 75% of the singles on ILM's best of 2012 list.

I'm going to try the Smiths again pretty soon. So far, all I've got for them is the title track from The Queen Is Dead.

While we're at it, I'll cop to not "getting" about 75% of the singles on ILM's best of 2012 list.

Fleetwood Mac. I feel kind of alone in this regard, I grew up hearing their stuff on the radio but it seemed kind of bland and faceless to me, and now the things I see them routinely praised for just seem like things that Steely Dan did better.

Have you tried Fleetwood Mac v1.0

ie Peter Green? Not even really the same band/music at all so it's kinda moot that you'll still dislike Stevie/Lindsay
but a fun + worthwhile sidetrip

I got some early Mac records from my mother-in-law but they didn't leave much impression on me. granted I think I only listened to them once.

shakey - give bare trees a go

Shakey, do you know the song "Hypnotized?" Start there, imo (Bob Welch, so between the Green and the Lindsey eras.) Not "better" than Steely Dan, but similar lush sonics, off-kilter lyrics and expert playing by all concerned.

Or, what M@tt said works too.

marnie stern

Another one: Meshuggah. Try as I might, I cannot make fandom happen.

Welch-era Mac is definitely the way in

no, it's not. That's just something people say to make themselves feel better about owning Welch-era records.

i enjoy them a lot

Shakey, do you know the song "Hypnotized?"

hmm yeah this is pretty good

B bbbb

B bbbb

Whoops.

otm

B bbbb

Grim Reapah!!!

Welch-era Mac is definitely the way in

Yes! Future Games is probably my favorite Mac record. Danny Kirwan is super-underrated.

I'm going to try the Smiths again pretty soon. So far, all I've got for them is the title track from The Queen Is Dead.

― cloacachella (how's life), Sunday, January 27, 2013 8:37 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Loading The Sound of the Smiths onto my iTunes for listening on the commute tomorrow morning, courtesy the local public library. Here we go again, I guess.

i'm kinda with shakey on FM but i should probably give them another shot. i do dig 'go your own way.'

Still don't get the welch-era love on this board. I mean, those records are nice I guess.

you're nice i guess....NOT

(j.k. you are probably a very nice person but bare trees rules dude)

"Sunny side of heaven" is cool. I'll try it again some day.

John Cale

Simon and Garfunkel....I give up--that shit is too twee for my taste

There's always a sense of trepidation when I'm about to listen to music by reprehensible people that I might like it, but every time it's been pretty disappointing (and also very relieving!)

This doesn't work with food, though.

The Fall, The Smiths, The Clash, also John Cale as mentioned above

Although I was really into the record he did with Terry Riley for a while

second Marnie Stern, Meshuggah also. And Hella. And Mick Barr, and all that tech guitar stuff.

John Zorn

Talk Talk

re: hella, maybe try playing it at 3/4 or 1/2 speed?

^^^great endorsement

2/3 speed, sheesh

Although I was really into the record he did with Terry Riley for a while

yeah, church of anthrax is great, velvets are great, I love some of the albums he produced, but I just don't get what people see in his solo recs. and on paper they seem like exactly the sort of thing I would like.

i'm going to try the Smiths again pretty soon. So far, all I've got for them is the title track from The Queen Is Dead.

― cloacachella (how's life), Sunday, January 27, 2013 8:37 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Loading The Sound of the Smiths onto my iTunes for listening on the commute tomorrow morning, courtesy the local public library. Here we go again, I guess.

― how's life, Monday, February 11, 2013 6:47 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

best way into the smiths is louder than bombs

it took me a long time to get into the smiths (louder than bombs was my first cd by them, and it didn't do the trick for me, so i understand).

gateway for me was looking up 1984/85 live performances on youtube and just being overwhelmed by the presence of morrissey

like this performance of still ill: youtuuuuuuube

2013 will be the year that I completely give up my indie guilt

or actually, this one from 1983 features taller hair aka is better: youtuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuube

the smiths are so divisive that I can't imagine feeling guilty for not liking them. I love them but it's easy to see how people would be put off by morrissey.

XTC and Dinosaur Jr, chiefly.

― Z S, Monday, July 9, 2007 3:44 PM (5 years ago)

5-year update:

i'm a pretty big fan of dino jr now (to the extent of volunteering to run the dinosaur jr tracks poll when it arrives sometime in 2042), xtc i've come to terms with. i really like about half of drums & wires and black sea, and some of english settlement. i feel like i understand where they're coming from a lot better now, even if i'm not a megafan.

i will return with another update in 2018

no one should feel guilty for not liking anyone. and yeah, they're pretty divisive i guess. the thing is, morrissey used to actively annoy me. just his voice, his way of picking a single key pitch for each phrase and running around and over and under it, always returning to it. seemed really amateurish and gimmicky. now i love it. that's his thing. now it sounds amateurish (in an endearing way) and unique and distinctive.

xposts i mean check out 1:35 into this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouRD7yuGOFc

how can you not appreciate the impact on someone's life like that

this thread was the inspiration behind my overrated bands thread

it is a good thread, but i thought it capable of improvement, as has been shown

dude writes hilarious lyrics. and genuinely affecting lyrics. i'll forgive him for anything for "is it really so strange?" and "this night has opened my eyes"

ok, worst persuasive argument ever (i blame the whiskey). but for some reason seeing the visuals and the context helps me to appreciate some kinds of music. i need to see the tall hair, the flowers flying everywhere, adoring boys, johnny maher floppy hair, little glances between band members, the vibe of the room, the sense of a "moment", cheesy at that is, and suddenly listening to the smiths isn't just some fingerpicking and morrissey flitting around a key pitch, but something more lasting and important that i can sense every time i listen to them

no one should feel guilty for not liking anyone.

maybe not guilty, but if you keep trying to like something and you can't get into it then there must be something that's making you feel like you should be into that artist. maybe not guilt but the feeling that you're missing out or that you want to understand what other people hear in the music.

for some artists I like, if somebody says for example "I hate the smiths" I just think well yeah, they're not for everyone, nbd. but if someone says "the beatles suck" I think that they're trolling or they're an idiot who doesn't know anything about music.

I don't know, maybe it's just me. have we ever done a thread on litmus test artists? there are artists I love but I don't care if other people like them or not, but then there are artists that are like a litmus test and if you think they suck I know I can't trust anything else you say. anyone else feel this way sometimes?

and I guess I started thinking about this because a lot of the artists mentioned in this thread seem like they fall into that category where nobody would blame you if you don't get it. it seems like even the most die hard scott walker fans would realize that his voice is pretty over the top for example. so I wonder where this desire to keep trying to like them comes from.

like this performance of still ill: youtuuuuuuube

― Z S, Monday, February 11, 2013 10:45 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is a perfect example of why I can't get into them -- starts out very promising, cool bass and guitar parts, but then morrissey comes in with his awful, meandery non-melody. I almost can't tell smith songs apart because of his singing.

but for some reason seeing the visuals and the context helps me to appreciate some kinds of music

this has happened to me a lot. the visual side is definitely the easiest way to get a feeling of the music's social and historical context in a visceral way.

I can't imagine trying to get into morrissey after the age of 16

Tbh, I like the Smiths (less than I used to) but I don't always know what to make of Morrissey's performances in those early live clips. Hurting 2, if you really want to give the Smiths a try, you might want to start with later material. I think Morrissey's vocals are a little more musical. If you've already heard The Queen Is Dead and don't like it, though, it might not be worth it to keep trying.

xpost

I'd probably say 20 but yeah.

captain beefheart but i think i'm getting really close to getting into them

why do you feel like you need to be into beefheart? what similar stuff do you like?

this is maybe my favorite song ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfdtB_4aCDo

The Kinks, Big Star

Derek Bailey, David Murray

and I guess I started thinking about this because a lot of the artists mentioned in this thread seem like they fall into that category where nobody would blame you if you don't get it... so I wonder where this desire to keep trying to like them comes from.

I've been wondering the same thing tbh.

xposts

i'm working on the kinks right now. what helped for me was holding off on the supposed masterpieces and just putting things like Kinda Kinks and Face to Face on as i do my day to day stuff. takes the pressure off of trying to understand their genius or whatever. same strategy worked for fleetwood mac.

big star clicked for me one day when i was just obliterated, wasted. reminds me of tonight! but it was Third that made sense, first. i listened to it maybe 5-6 times straight that night and was convinced that it was a monumental achievement. after that their first two records seemed like the easiest thing in the world to enjoy.

the only reason I try to get into any of these bands is because good friends whose taste I respect a lot like them, so I figure "maybe there's something there that I'm missing"

big star -- there's nothing I DISlike about them, but it's just that, they always seem so inoffensive to me, and it's hard for me to hear what people get excited about.

that's funny, I just listened to #1 record & radio city today for the first time in ages. I have to be in that kind of melancholy mood. it took me a while to get into big star too, mostly because I was focusing on third, which I still have never gotten into.

I think kinks are similar in a way. if you have a taste for a kind of maudlin form of rocking out then songs like Waterloo Sunset or Get Back in Line and Life is White or Daisy Glaze have a sort of epic appeal

kinks & big star are both basically for nostalgic sad sacks

lol but no

I kind of feel that way except I feel bad saying that about my friends who like them

why not? they both have a real emotional tug to me, and are somewhat nostalgic (big star's beatleisms, kinks village green, etc) and are at their best when they're combining that kind of power ballad level of emotion with rocking out.
xp

that wasn't a criticism btw, I was trying to explain the appeal!

I'm also a bit drunk and have been listening to total eclipse of the heart a lot lately so take that into account

what i like about the kinks, their best stuff anyway, is that they sound so casual and fun and even occasionally kind of half-assed and goofy, but the more you listen to them the deeper and sadder and more profound even the simplest songs start to sound. i liked them OK without ever being a huge fan from ages 15-25, but over the last few years they've become one of my top 5 bands. davies creates such a complete and detailed world without ever seeming to really try that hard.

I like Meshuggah, Mick Barr, and John Zorn, but they don't strike me as things that I would recommend to you based on what I know of your tastes, Hurting 2. (Maybe some Zorn, e.g. Masada or the klezmer-influenced jazz stuff.) Do you like any metal?

what i like about the kinks, their best stuff anyway, is that they sound so casual and fun and even occasionally kind of half-assed and goofy, but the more you listen to them the deeper and sadder and more profound even the simplest songs start to sound.

yeah, there's a detached quality that I find appealing. that feeling of being sad, but resigned to your fate. big star have a similar thing imo.

why do you feel like you need to be into beefheart? what similar stuff do you like?

i find it interesting enough to keep trying it and not appealing enough to listen to it for long sessions (maybe a track or two before i get annoyed/distracted)

complex w/out being appealing yet, but i think getting more compelling all the time

I like some metal. I mean, you know, Metallica and their whole era of metal, which was in the ether when I was a kid. And, weirdly, some very hard stuff like Lamb of God.

About all the Smiths stuff upthread, no amount of bad dancing or.bad hair or "funny" lyrics or fan hugging is going to get me into Morrissey. This time around I'm trying it from the Johnny Marr angle. His guitar playing has never really called out me, but there's a lot of praise for it, both on here and in interviews with other musicians. M

I keep trying with Beefheart too. He fits with things I like (when asked about favourite music I've sometimes found myself saying, "The Fall, Can, Beefheart" before catching myself), people I like (and whose taste is sympathetic) like him, I enjoy reading about him, vaguely feel "this is my kind of thing" while listening, but then it just never quite comes together for me – I don't really want to listen to it ever.

Even writing this I'm thinking "surely I like Beefheart? Am I sure I'm not really into him?" Maybe he's someone I'll just get really really into sometime in the future. That seems plausible.

I still haven't heard Beefheart yet. It's interesting that you lump him in with The Fall and Can thoug

I still haven't heard Beefheart yet. It's interesting to me hat you lump him in with The Fall and Can though, because I really love Can but I can't stand (and have given up on even trying to like)The Fall.

Whoops

Anyway, listened to about half of the first disc of that Smiths comp on the way in this morning. Mare still didn't make too much of an impression on me. There were a few places where I could tell he was coming up with some crafty arpeggios and stuff, but mostly it juat seemed like average moderately chorused strumming. Anyone want o point me toward some choice examples of Made fretwork?

Marr, not made.

Probably "This Charming Man", for a kickoff.

Anyone want o point me toward some choice examples of Made fretwork?

Best Johnny Marr songs:

1. The Headmaster Ritual
2. What Difference Does it Make? (Hatful of Hollow version)
3. This Charming Man
4. Some Girls Are Bigger than Others
5. How Soon is Now?
6. Girl Afraid
7. Bigmouth Strikes Again
8. Back to the Old House (Hatful of Hollow version)
9. Sweet and Tender Hooligan
10. That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

Hell yeah! You just had that list ready to go, didn't you? Thanks. I'll concentrate onsome of those.

The live version of Some Girls Are Bigger than Others might be the best example of all. If you don't like this then you will probably never enjoy The Smiths that much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAzmQbfZoIg

One of my housemates who's a bit of Mark E Smith type character listens and sings along to the Fall every Saturday and Sunday morning, I'm slowly becoming a convert, I love that 'Spoilt Victorian Child' song especially.

I keep trying to like Talk Talk, I love Bark Psychosis, and I get the connection, but 'Laughing Stock' for example, just washes over me, doesn't really hold my interest like I feel it should.

I keep trying with the Mark Hollis solo album. It's nice, but I keep wandering off to other discs though.

I also like Marr's accompaniment work on "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and, though it's a little simpler, I think he's quite effective on "William, It Was Really Nothing".

In my experience, having that breakthrough moment with The Smiths isn't gonna happen by focusing in on any particular song or performance, but ignoring them and letting them surprise you. One day you'll be in the right mood and "Ask" will come on and you'll be shell-shocked

goon otm - I swore for years that I hated the Smiths and then I saw David Tennant sing 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side' on that awesomely terrible Blackpool tv show and I was hooked.

Also it helps if you think of Morrissey as a comedian-who-sings rather than a singer-with-wit

that Still Ill live clip is awesome, andy rourke was such a tight bassist

if you can't do the smiths just listen to monochrome set instead.

Bryan Ferry's voice in general. I'd rather listen to early John Foxx (the first two Ultravox! albums) and Japan/David Sylvian. I rate Roxy Music highly as a band, but I'll never like Ferry's voice.

http://pitchfork.com/news/49567-watch-johnny-marr-tell-the-story-behind-the-smiths-heaven-knows-im-miserable-now/

Ace timing, pfork.

i don't get funky house

that's the impression he gives me. why can't he just sing normally, unmannered and natural? by changing his voice he wants to achieve something. the only thing i can imagine is that he wants to appear more serious, more important, someone to be respected. but for me he comes over as a fake, actually quite laughable and phony. the more i think about it the less i understand why he sprechsings like he does.

yeah I mean why do mbv have to distort their guitars so much so you can't hear individual notes,and why do they obscure what they sing like that. they ae fakers but they are only doing this to be respected!

I'll tell you there is only one way to sing, this stretching of your voice thing is crazy. Like how much more impact would Diamanda Galas have if her words on the Armenian genocides could be heard properly instead she is so avant-garde with her voice and fucks around with microphones so much I MEAN WHY I DONT KNOW.

She's just trying to impress people/showing off...

Derek Bailey! And, to be even more controversial, Albert Ayler!! Two exclamation marks reqd. for that one.

Husker Du (or anything else by Mould)
Replacements (or anything else by Westerberg)
Manics, Oasis, Blur, etc
Post-1975 Dylan

The White Album, The Wall

Replacements (or anything else by Westerberg)

haha yeah if you don'd like the replacements i don't think westerberg solo stuff is gonna close the deal

Westerberg solo stuff -- many other artists evolve their sound over the years; Stephen Duffy's solo material is far better than that when with Lilac Time, Nick Cave better with the Bad Seeds than with Birthday Party, Julian Cope better solo than with Teardrop Explodes.

agreed, but i don't think that's the case with mr. westerberg

i always think i should be more into roxy music, but i can't quite connect with them.

ha it does seem like something you should like tbh

Surely you've heard Ferry's cover of "Like A Hurricane"?

yeah, i mean, i'm OK with them, they're just not a band that i've come to love. maybe it'll happen one day...

have you heard "the right albums"?

[/zappa]

haha, i'm pretty sure i've listened to everything up to avalon. think i generally like the band, just don't really respond to ferry's thang.

and now, for my sins, i'm trying again -- stranded!

i think "for your pleasure" is the rockist's rockist's roxy album of choice

there's a certain coldness/emotional vacuum at the heart of Roxy, it's all very arch and performative and you kinda have to dig that. that being said I think what converted me to them was early Eno-era tv clips

specifically this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF2YP1CFAnc

I mean, Ferry's vampire gigolo moves are pretty funny here

it's all very arch and performative
yeah why can't these british guys just rock out, you know? like americans, like black sabbath.
but seriously, i think my fave thing of theirs is avalon, because it kinda points in the direction of robyn hitchcock's more shiny surfaced 80s records.

huh that wouldn't be the first connection I would make. now, Japan and Duran Duran otoh...

early japan is basically a roxy tribute band

yeah why can't these british guys just rock out, you know? like americans, like black sabbath.

hahaha. In a recent BBC doc about Brits playing in the US, Ian Anderson said that, as Tull openers, Roxy Music didn't go over in the US because they were too arch/arty. Which, you know, coming from a flautist fronting a band with a member dressed in a bunny suit...

it was kinda weird how well Tull did in the u.s.

yeah why *those* particular prog-hippies got over is kind of inexplicable

I still haven't heard Beefheart yet. It's interesting that you lump him in with The Fall and Can thoug

― how's life, Tuesday, February 12, 2013 6:13 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I still haven't heard Beefheart yet. It's interesting to me hat you lump him in with The Fall and Can though, because I really love Can but I can't stand (and have given up on even trying to like)The Fall.

― how's life, Tuesday, February 12, 2013 6:15 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Got about halfway through This Nation's Saving Grace again this morning. Still nope.

The Feelies.

Been trying, and failing, for a long time.

Mogwai

I used to be a kneejerk smartass about hating Mogwai. Like, whenever someone would even mention liking them in passing, I'd go nuclear. Now the hate's worn off and I can enjoy (later) Mogwai in small doses. Still not a band I go out of my way to hear.

I can't imagine ever getting worked up about Mogwai but rock music has to have vocals, sorry Mogwai

Flipper

Grateful Dead

Henry Cow

Bands

Call the Cops I call first dibs on all the records that you don't want anymore

Count me in with the Mogwai thing.

Swans. Never in the mood.

The Fall. Normally an ILX poll makes me more enthusiastic about an artist but still the only Fall album I like is the Best of the Fall, mainly for the atypical pop moments that proper fans don't like.

Call the Cops I call first dibs on all the records that you don't want anymore
--gotta lol geir (NickB)

Ha. You're on.

awesome.

i'm not big on mogwai anyway, but flamboyant goon tie's proposal of a mogwai with vocals is waaaay worse, so just count yr blessings flambo.

There are a number of mogwai songs with vocals

But thankfully it's a small number.

Henry Cow

This would be my pick as well. Same goes for Art Bears actually.

Oh no I never suggested anybody in Mogwai should sing! I can't even listen to Tortoise, there is no place for instrumental post-rock in my heart :(

I looooove Art Bears but liiiiiike Henry Cow

The Fall. Normally an ILX poll makes me more enthusiastic about an artist but still the only Fall album I like is the Best of the Fall, mainly for the atypical pop moments that proper fans don't like.

― Deafening silence (DL), Friday, November 8, 2013 9:59 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This^ It's things like The Chiselers and Hit The North I like, but Mr Pharmacist? Noooo....

not sure there's such a thing as a "proper" Fall fan, and anyway so far as I'm concerned I like "pop" Fall as much as the "weird" stuff. Mt Pharmacist seems an odd choice for "weird Fall" anyway as it's a cover version.

Bach Chamber Choir
Badfinger
Ballin' Jack
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
Bearfoot (Canadian band)
Beefy Red
Beggars Opera (band)
Betsy & Chris
Black Sabbath
Black Widow (band)
Blue Mink
Bones (band)
Brinsley Schwarz
Bronco (band)
Brother (Canadian band)
Brotherhood of Man
Brownsville Station (band)
Brutus (Canadian band)

not sure there's such a thing as a "proper" Fall fan, and anyway so far as I'm concerned I like "pop" Fall as much as the "weird" stuff. Mt Pharmacist seems an odd choice for "weird Fall" anyway as it's a cover version.

not sure there's such a thing as a "proper" Fall fan, and anyway so far as I'm concerned I like "pop"

Fall as much as the "weird" stuff. Mt Pharmacist seems an odd choice for "weird Fall" anyway as it's a cover version.

― I like to think I have learnt a thing or two about music (Neil S), Friday, November 8, 2013 12:14 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Uh, no it's not weird Fall, it's just the song I associate with them more than any other. Like DL, the only album I can bear to listen to is the best of really. Always amazed how many songs I know by them are covers - Ghost in My House, Why Are People Grudgeful etc...

I keep trying to get into Drexciya and losing interest midway through listening.

one of those bands where their biggest hits were covers - ghost in my house and victoria xp

xxp Ah okay gotcha. the covers are some of their best stuff IMO, no shame in only liking them if that's your bag! People who think they're a proper fan because they "prefer the early demos" are history's greatest monsters, pretty much.

http://www.thediamondauthority.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Diamond-Wedding-Bands.jpg

I really don't get why ppl wear these things on their fingers

Drexciya maybe benefit from a "best of" approach, a lot of tracky numbers in their catalogue, not that i don't love all of it

xp By "proper Fall fan" I mean people who voted in the poll and chose a lot of stuff from 1979-83. I prefer later songs like Hit the North, Bill Is Dead, High Tension Line, Telephone Thing and the cover versions, so I tend to feel like a part-timer.

I'm a big Fall fan but wouldn't claim to have deep knowledge of all of their records, for some bands I think it's okay to accept that you won't hear every note they ever played.

No! You must hear every note they have played and then poll them. Once a month. In a different order slightly.

okay boss

is that why they call them new order?

always different, always the same

peter hook and yr granny on bongos

I hear Hooky's looking for work these days

Boards of Canada. I love the idea of all this occult stuff lurking in their music, but when I actually listen to it all I hear is pleasant, drifty ambience.

They're definitely a magic-eye band.

Expanding head band

heeeey... I just 'got' the pun in that band name.

I've never gotten into Boards of Canada either. I liked that one tune on the first album with the crazy chopped human voices, but otherwise I don't get why their simplistic, quasi-nostalgic IDM-with-breakbeats is so different compared to other IDM-with-breakbeats acts who've done similar things, only with more innovation and originality.

tbf you don't get lots of things

/Henry Cow/

This would be my pick as well. Same goes for Art Bears actually.
--my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram)

I love Art Beats, though.

Bears fuck

in the woods

Well yeah, but with BoC I at least tried. I even bought the album!

(x-post to NV)

i think there's a difference between "i don't dig this" and "i can't understand why it's popular" tho

Well, I bought the album because of the hype, but found it only mildly interesting (except for that one song, I think it's called "Telepathic Workshop" or something), because it didn't sound so special or unique as the reviews had made me think. So in this case "I don't dig this" and "I can't understand why it's popular" are interconnected.

Well yeah, but with BoC I at least tried. I even bought the album!

LOL, had visions of Tuomas sitting down to listen to a Blue Oyster Cult album

I really want to get into Afrobeat as I love the idea of it and it's nice to have on in the background, but every time I sit down and try and actively listen to a Fela Kuti track I get fidgety around the three minute mark.

well get up and dance then

Yeah I'm the same as chap about Fela. It didn't help that someone I know (who is, admittedly a terrific funspoiler when it comes to music) said it sounded like music for home improvement show segues and now i can't get that notion out of my head.

i'm the same with boards of canada. don't get it. so many cool krautrock/techno/ambient records i've never heard so i'm not really gonna spend too much time trying to understand why people think they are so special. maybe someday i'll hear something by them that will blow me away. i never say never.

Boards of Canada. I love the idea of all this occult stuff lurking in their music, but when I actually listen to it all I hear is pleasant, drifty ambience

Exactly - I like their first two albums a lot (and haven't heard the others) but both have patches where you kinda forget the music's even on. I dunno why they're so much bigger than say, The Black Dog (who are great IMO). I think it would be a lot spookier if people didn't talk about how spooky their music was all the time.

i asked mark richardson on facebook what he meant by this in his pitchfork review of BOC but he never answered me:

"The Scottish brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin didn’t invent a new sound, but they did take various strands of music floating around and pull them into one place and essentially perfect them."

because i really wanted to know what music they had "perfected".

i think sometimes artists hit upon a set of tunes or even extra-musical vibes that resonate hard with enough people to break out of the genre they inhabit. not sure it's analyzable much, it's the "X factor" of fable really, but it's usually recognizable when you see it.

Yeah that's the way I feel about some of the bands I really like. for example YMO is a band that people on here seem to "get" well enough but I read a lot of people think of them just as dudes who made video game music 10 years before video games. Or Gentle Giant (to name a band that I kept trying to get into, couldn't get into, then really got into) as just "overcomplex" or showy and nothing else. I'm not a part of the BoC fandom, but I'm glad it exists!

I looooove Art Bears but liiiiiike Henry Cow

― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, November 8, 2013 11:43 AM (2 hours ago)

Yeah, count me in with the Art Bears fans who don't get Henry Cow tribe. With the notable exception of 'War'. I'm going to try again soon, though. Theoretically I *should* like at least a bit more of this stuff.

I like Mogwai's first record but they never improved, really.

Beefheart is a borderline case for me. I genuinely love Safe as Milk and Clear Spot, the rest is a bit beyond me much as I've tried.

if you like those you might like lick my decal off, baby and unconditionally guaranteed.

I'd like to think I'm a proper Fall fan, and I love their poppy stuff

But I guess I think of them as sort of a catchy poppy band in their own weird way

I prefer their 80's records like Bend Sinister or Frenz Experiment to poorly produced or more raw ones like Dragnet or Room to Live

Telephone Thing was the song that got me INRI them! I'm an Extricate defender.... Hillary off that is really catchy DL you should listen to that.

i am totally a brix-era fall fan. the only records i own by them.

LOL, had visions of Tuomas sitting down to listen to a Blue Oyster Cult album

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Blue Oyster Cult actually have a song somewhere called 'Telepathic Workshop'.

Television, Radiohead, and Steely Dan immediately come to mind. All of these are bands that maybe once a year I'll think, maybe I'll put something on and I'll suddenly 'get it.' And every time, I put something on and think, HOLY CHRIST THIS IS TOTAL CRAP.

I just deleted all my radiohead albums the other day! I had given them a number of chances, but they're just consistently sub-mediocre to me.

I came close to pushing the button on Television too, but I don't feel like I've given them enough of a try.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Blue Oyster Cult actually have a song somewhere called 'Telepathic Workshop'.

"Flaming Telepaths" for sure.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/Workshop_of_the_Telescopes.jpg

And "Workshop of the Telescopes"!

xpost

yeah i forgot about that one for a minute

Are BoC BOC fans?

i like the two long Television songs. other than that, i don't really care about them. that debut just doesn't do it for me like it does it for other people. same with Young Marble Giants debut. and i usually love stuff like that. oh, and the Slits! i've listened over the years and i never want to go back to them. or own their records. i guess that's the true test for me. if i have the records. i don't own any records by The Clash. or The Band. i always sell Flamin' Groovies records too when i get them. never keep them. people love them.

yeah, i have the same thing with The Clash and Flamin' Groovies. the Flamin' Groovies aren't exactly dominating top 10 lists or anything so it's not too noticeable, but the main one is The Clash. i just don't get it. they're good and everything but i don't understand how they apparently blow minds.

The Clash are my answer to this question too.

Talk Talk are my perennial answer to this but I've given up on trying to get into them and have turned to judging people who love them. Oh you like Laughing Stock? And this is your new record? Is that the sound of you shoving the piano? And you recorded it to tape? You don't say.

Television and The Clash for me too. I currently have marquee moon on my ipod, hoping that hearing songs from it in fresh contexts via shuffle will change my mind. Until last night I was mystified by James Blake's appeal but I saw him play last night and it was amazing.

Yeah I can't get into James Blake, who on paper would be right up my street. haven't tried that hard though.

Tried a few times with MBV, but never got beyond Only Shallow being interesting but not really for me

!

this thread jesus

FTGI, this kind of surprises me.

What do you think of These New Puritans?

why do you all keep trying to like things that you seemingly have no realistic prospect of liking, or in some instances seem to have an emotional investment in not liking them and being seen not to like them

Well, most of my best friends loved MBV and raved about them in the 90s, and I tried really hard to get into them for that reason.

i never give up on bands i'm supposed to like

you never know...took me forever with the fall actually, now i love them, same with bitches brew, etc etc

Iggy Pop

It we're being honest, I never got into classical music and this bothers me

if you are 15 years old and you 'loveless' is overrated pretentious rubbish then yes maybe you should play it a couple more times just in case in turns out not to be overrated pretentious rubbish

serious concerted attempts to enjoy things that you ought reasonably to enjoy because you like other similar things is also to be encouraged

if you just play television once every year to to affirm your cool belief that they are shit then you are a fucking imbecile

afghan whigs

treeship - this helped get me into 20th century classical, fun read (though i think TRV KVLT classical O.G. killa bobby johnsons think it's breezy slop for dilettantes, which is probably why i like it)

http://www.therestisnoise.com/

Yeah don't reckon anyone's doing that.

xxpost

Television, Radiohead, and Steely Dan immediately come to mind. All of these are bands that maybe once a year I'll think, maybe I'll put something on and I'll suddenly 'get it.' And every time, I put something on and think, HOLY CHRIST THIS IS TOTAL CRAP.

― Poliopolice, Friday, 8 November 2013 15:37 (1 hour ago)

if you just play television once every year to to affirm your cool belief that they are shit then you are a fucking imbecile

your armchair psychoanalysis is both reductive and absolutely ridiculous.

It we're being honest, I never got into classical music and this bothers me

― Treeship, Friday, November 8, 2013 11:55 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ditto, except for it bothering me. I can't recognize well-known Mozart pieces as Mozart, and I know shit about Beethoven. Could probably pick Bach out of a crowd.

I love 20th century formal concert music, though (Webern, Schoenberg, Ligeti, Nono, others). But most everything I've heard before that leaves me completely cold.

you should not take things you read on a message board so personally. you might end up irrationally angry about things that don't matter all that much.

you were the one that used all caps

If you've ever been listening to something and suddenly "get it," there's no reason to think it wouldn't happen with something else. Christ, you're so sour. xps

agree w/Johnny Fever, this has happened to me dozens of times which is why i tend to keep stuff around even if i don't like it initially

tbf using all caps is only a MODERATE STEP ON THE INTERNET INTENSITY SCALE!!!

Television, Radiohead, and Steely Dan immediately come to mind. All of these are bands that maybe once a year I'll think, maybe I'll put something on and I'll suddenly 'get it.' And every time, I put something on and think, HOLY CHRIST THIS IS TOTAL CRAP.

― Poliopolice, Friday, 8 November 2013 15:37 (1 hour ago)

so either you grant that person the interpretive charity that their interest in that music is sincere and that do try insofar as possible to approach that music tabula rasa

or you use every other piece of evidence in that post to assume they are just another entitled pleb who gets upset when some band doesn't do the thing they want them to do and uses it to affirm their own cool totally not deluded incisive tastemaker cred

eh. we're on a message board, and I'm being a little dramatic. does everything here have to be spun into an academic paper?

i probably would have hated half of what i listen to today, if you asked me to listen to it 10 years ago. some people establish their taste and preferences early on and have a consistent, reliable listening niche. other people need time to wrap their heads around stuff, or to listen to related music that sorta unlocks the mystery.

sorry i am being dishonest, i didn't approach that post tabula rasa because i considered other poliopolice posts in getting to the conclusion of this three-line academic paper

or you use every other piece of evidence in that post to assume they are just another entitled pleb who gets upset when some band doesn't do the thing they want them to do and uses it to affirm their own cool totally not deluded incisive tastemaker cred

The fallacy of your reasoning is that you believe that one person's dismissive comment about 3 bands that happen to be well-liked in certain circles reflects some overall pattern in his tastes. You are looking at a single data point. I probably go along with the crowd on a lot of stuff, but that's not what this thread is about. Did you happen to read the thread title?

listening to gaucho now

this is such a stone groove

arguing on the internet is like playing chess with a pigeon. you make a move and then the bird just flies away, taunting you, and then later when it comes back you're not even sure if it's the same pigeon or not. and the true identity of the bird doesn't even matter because it's not making a move, it's just waddling around eating food.

afghan whigs

― |citation needed| (will), Friday, November 8, 2013 8:56 AM (2 minutes ago)

for me, too. weird cuz i seriously dug (and still enjoy) a couple early tracks: "hey cuz" and "white trash party". several close friends of mine are huge fans, so i try when subjected to find something appreciable. i can't. they sound like a sweaty blanket.

Is Nilmar the pidgeon or is Poliopolice the pidgeon?xp

Maybe they are both pidgeons, playing chess against one another without making moves.

treesh do you think that if you were to spend some time attempting to understand and/or like classical music that it would yield any results? if so then i would suggest doing so because there is a lot of amazing music there

I agree with reckless. Never play chess with a pigeon. They're scared of the rooks and they just shit on the bishop's head..

some things just don't hit you right away. and sometimes you actually have to work at something. figure it out. try and hear what other people are hearing. i go back to stuff all the time time just to check my reaction RIGHT NOW. as opposed to last year. or the year before that.

there is so much music you need to take your time with. and what you don't love at 20 might save your life when you are 30.

something like the clash, i totally get why people love them. i liked the jam when i was a kid for a lot of the same reasons that clash fans love the clash. and i LOVE the clash hits. i've said that on ilm a bunch. i love hearing should i stay or should i go or whatever on the car radio. but that's as far as my interest goes and i've heard them plenty.

i put on a Grin album about an hour ago. probably 20+ years of me trying to like Grin and Nils solo. never happens. so boring. i think that might be my last try.

yeah to be abundantly clear i approve of that very strongly but it requires a large degree of negative capability and a certain humility which isn't suggested by expulsive ranting in block capitals

the only thing that interests me about these discussions is thinking about why we'd make ourselves "work at" appreciating particular pieces of art. we take a leap of faith that some art others have promoted is worth our efforts; and this is really an act of trust in others over ourselves. and why make that act of trust? I think it's that we admire those others and want to be like them; because we're not going to get anything out of them for trying and failing. and anyway there's no need to work at it if you're just going to lie about appreciating it anyway.

guys, guys, no need to pick one post to death, we should appreciate Poliopolice's body of posts as a oh fuck it FP

What's especially weird is when you grow to love something for the same reason you were initially repelled by it. The latest example I can think of is Poliça whose heavy autotune sound I kind of miss on their latest album.

http://i.imgur.com/v0w0Uck.jpg

i am a huge fan of opera now. you don't think i had to work at that?

x-post

man i think opera is the one thing i'll never get, just instinctively drives me up the fuckin wall, like nails on chalkboard....

have you been to an opera performance or just listened to the music?

something like the clash, i totally get why people love them. i liked the jam when i was a kid for a lot of the same reasons that clash fans love the clash. and i LOVE the clash hits. i've said that on ilm a bunch. i love hearing should i stay or should i go or whatever on the car radio. but that's as far as my interest goes and i've heard them plenty.

― scott seward, Friday, November 8, 2013 12:28 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Had you heard the Jam before the Clash? Like, years before? I'm curious only because friends (actually, our dreadlocked pal) tried to get me into the Dead Boys and the Rezillos because I love the Clash (and the Jam). But they only struck me as "sure, that's fine." They didn't knock me for a loop, but maybe they couldn't have because I'd already spent decades absorbing the Clash, so the Rezillos weren't going to be revelatory.

have you been to an opera performance or just listened to the music?

― Tip from Tae Kwon Do: (crüt), Friday, November 8, 2013 11:46 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

just listened sometimes to whatever randomly comes up on our local public radio classical station

and i bought a mozart opera once by mistake because it was an super audio CD at a garage sale & my CD player plays those and i never had one before so i just wanted to see what it would sound like (but i thought it was just a regular mozart jawn when i bought it)

Mozart was my jam when I was 9 (probs Amadeus related) along w/ Michael Jackson and Lionel richie and billy Joel. Moved away from all that music for a time, me re-entry gateway drug into classical were various soundtracks and more modern classical. Been kinda working my way back from the 20th century.

see that's the funny thing about something like opera or even classical or jazz. people who don't like it will have to listen to a lot of it to end up liking it! i mean you just kinda have to in order to educate yourself and find different styles/periods that you enjoy more than others, etc. you aren't really going to hear the music any other way. really hear it. its like learning a language. you gotta dive in.

The Jam is a good example, actually. I remember a WFMU show from long ago where the idea was "Make Me Like The Jam" and I totally sympathized. I like the theory of the band, but the albums have never done much. It's weird when you "should" like a band but don't.

FTGI, this kind of surprises me.

What do you think of These New Puritans?

I love them! except when they're cribbing from Talk Talk (which is 1/3rd of their new album) (I love 2/3rds of that album)

peter gabriel :(

just can't do his voice. Someday.

i used to not really be into queen. it took an incredible karaoke rendition of "don't stop me now" for it to really "click".

flaming lips

^ me too. Thought Soft Bulletin wasn't bad, kept hearing raves about the early stuff, but it struck me as almost aggressively unremarkable.

something like the clash, i totally get why people love them. i liked the jam when i was a kid for a lot of the same reasons that clash fans love the clash. and i LOVE the clash hits. i've said that on ilm a bunch. i love hearing should i stay or should i go or whatever on the car radio. but that's as far as my interest goes and i've heard them plenty.

i think the problem is that ppl have come to associate digging the clash exclusively with being an over-the-top 'clash fan' -- they're the only band that matters, blah blah. but the actual band are way more interesting than that imo. most of the clash's actual music -- especially past the first album -- is nothing like what you'd expect from their image.

I kept trying and failing to like Flaming Lips, then I finally succeeded with their 6-hour song from last year, yaaay

i think one thing ilm has taught me is that i have the capacity to get into any type of music, esp if it's for the sake of sweet sweet challops

treesh do you think that if you were to spend some time attempting to understand and/or like classical music that it would yield any results? if so then i would suggest doing so because there is a lot of amazing music there

i think i am capable of becoming obsessed with classical music, yes. it's a matter of never putting the time in.

u got time bro don't rush it, get into something cooler instead while you're still young IMO

nothing cooler than early xenakis

A band that I finally fell in love with after years of re-evaluation is Talking Heads. I never disliked them or anything, but just did not love them. (I still only really love the Eno-produced albums.)

I don't keep trying to listen to music that I immediately hate, but sometimes if there is a group I am luke warm on, I'll keep going back to them - hoping they'll stick. For me I'd say the music that I keep coming back to; hoping that it will finally click and make me fall in love with it, is Detroit techno as a whole. The closest I've come is older Richie Hawtin, and recent Robert Hood. It is something I am kind of ashamed of, being a huge fan of most of the music it influenced.

I kept trying to like The Band and I didn't get it for ages but now I do

i kinda liked this album when it came out i bought the tape and played it and was like yeah sonic youth live skull i like all that so i have to like this and then i forgot all about it and i was playing a vinyl copy today and was all BEST ALBUM EVER!!! cranked it way loud on the foghat speakers in the store and man oh man what a record. new favorite band. i think there are even posts by me on the CLASSICAL thread where i'm like yeah they were okay but no big deal....

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zuG0ti72Nz4/TxmT2CCthZI/AAAAAAAADVg/j7pGPohsfSo/s400/Band_of_Susans_Love_Agenda.jpg

i still don't really like The Band though. but i haven't tried that hard with The Band. never listen to their albums, just sell them.

this is my jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgOBUdzjN0

i keep trying with The Passage. old cherry red band. playing them now. have played them on and off for years and just can't grasp their weirdness. for some reason. i'm all for weirdness. i had this problem with eyeless in gaza.

yeah the guitar sound on that band of susans album is just wow. vinyl is the way to go that's all i know.

the residents have eluded me so far

have you tried meet the residents? have converted a few with that one, it's pre-electronics era so very organic sounding.

i like the residents in theory. i've owned their records, but i hardly ever played them. i think i just kinda admire them more than anything else. they were fun to see live though. saw them in philly on that icky flicks tour.

sun city girls another group i have owned multiple albums by and i hardly ever played them and i always sold them just like i sold any residents albums i had. because they are both really easy to sell. i even proclaimed sun city girls the best rock band on ilm once when i was drunk. must have been playing a good one. would probably keep a copy of horse cock phephner if i saw one cheap. always liked that one a lot.

yeah horse cock phepner is real good. I made a run at listening to their entire discog, never made it all the way thru but HCP, torch of the mystics, and funeral mariachi are the keepers. grotto of miracles is pretty damn good too iirc.

it took forever for post-mooney can to click for me

I still don't understand the jesus lizard apart from "here comes dudley"

thanks skott & edward for your boundless enthusiasm, I am getting hold of that Band of Susans record, they are indeed great

yeah they put out some good stuff for sure! but again i think i like them more in theory. and they are definitely a band you are supposed to love and adore and all that. if you run with certain smelly crowds. residents and SCG both give me the curdled zappa vibe sometimes though. that snide thing. and i don't dig that sometimes. i prefer straight-up anger. and the "comedy" doesn't thrill me like zappa's "comedy" doesn't thrill me. weird dudes all though. that's for sure.

Ha! I was just listening to Band of Susans shuffle on Spotify and really enjoying all of it. Never have heard them before today.

goat. that's all i really need from jesus lizard at this late date. one of the best rock albums of the 90's. every song is great. and another album that you need to play really LOUD. so good.

ha truth bomb re snide zappa chills

still, stuff like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24qySJQjIdE

there is one song on Love Agenda where just the bass comes in and its one of those godhead bass moments. loud heavy bass in your face. its a great album experience. both sides are really strong.

will rep for Liar, that's nearly as good as Goat I think, but yeah Goat kick's arse

goat and liar are the two I own! gave up after that. have listened to the other records here and there, but eh. I'm a scratch acid man.

listening to band of susans again. "1-2-3-4!" *DEMENTED GUITAR SQUALL*

love it! that's one of my favorite parts.

Goat is like top three albini for me and i just love all those songs so much. fuck a grunge, that album is so strong. CATCHY heavy songs that are funny and cool. talk about a great bass sound. and i am lifetime scratch acid fan. Goat would go with me on my pigfuck desert island along with Beserker.

I still don't understand the jesus lizard apart from "here comes dudley"

― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Friday, November 8, 2013 1:36 PM

finally, somebody who understands my indifference to this allegedly excellent band

scott the only JL thing I have ever liked is their Chrome medley, I guess I should check out Goat.

i like the stuff they put out on 45 a lot. i like the album before Goat too. Head. wheelchair epidemic cover might be my fave, but i liked the chrome one a lot too. and the trio cover.

yeah Albini nailed it with Goat, the dirtiest fuckin' basslines EVER

the residents have eluded me so far

― lorde willin' (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, November 8, 2013 3:15 PM (52 minutes ago) Bookmark

same here. and I have like 12 of their albums. There's just so much plodding and wonking.

favorite love agenda track, one of the best songs of the 90s, so great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3wI7bTowIA

i like the stuff they put out on 45 a lot. i like the album before Goat too. Head. wheelchair epidemic cover might be my fave, but i liked the chrome one a lot too. and the trio cover.

― scott seward, Friday, November 8, 2013 2:00 PM (1 hour ago)

http://cs312620.vk.me/v312620264/1fdb/ljF0Tody0LE.jpg

i featured Band Of Susans in the new arrivals video i made for the store tonight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds70r8nXv_0

The sudden BoS love is making me very happy. They've held up really, really, really well. I'd pretty much kill to see a reunion show, since I was stupid about them back when they were around.

Eskimo is a good Residents album for avoiding the snidey vibes scott was talking about

The first Band of Susans album is fantastic too - the one with the blue cover and Hope Against Hope on it. I think I actually prefer it to Love Agenda. Not massively into their other records but those first too were fucking sweet.

two not too