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

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

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