Listen to an album you've never heard by an artist you never listen to and then tell us about it!

ooh yeah forgotten trip hop. that would be fun. probably.

you guys should bold your titles. i should have done that. so that we can see what people actually listened to. makes sense, no?

Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

My knock against them has always been that they're rhythmically slack and overly busy (isn't there a weird crossover with Pavement fans and jam band fans? My theory is that's why). I can hear why this never would have been my band at the time, I wouldn't have cared about the lyrics or the semi-detached aesthetic.

But this is sounding pretty good to me today, now that I have a lot more reference points for stuff that came before (Lou Reed and VU for sure, which is a recent thing for me) and after. The time is allll over the place, I still kinda hate the drums, but in 2024 it's refreshing to hear a big record that's this loose and live-sounding. The vocals don't bother me (was Thurston a big influence?). The guitars are nice. Tbh it all makes me want to listen to Sonic Youth, they have a great drummer.

I like the second half of Stop Breathin, kinda Radiohead-y for a bit? Gold Soundz is cool, I've heard that. 5-4=Unity is funny, for a band whose weak point is rhythm to do an instrumental where the rhythm is the whole bit. "I need to sleep" is a great lyric.

country does seem more like a singles music for the most part. Certainly with older country I'm more about songs. I love George Jones but I couldn't tell you about any specific George Jones "album" really. I assume by the 80s/90s it was a bit more album-oriented though?

I made it all the way through the Pavement album. There was some actual singing on it. Some of it was even OK. I understand why people thought he was imitating Mark E. Smith, but that was only one song out of 14 or 15 so I don't know why people fixate on it. The particular type of distortion on the guitars occasionally reminded me of the first Stooges album, which was a good choice, and as I said before the drummer was better than I expected him to be. I think ultimately metal has ruined this kind of music for me, because I just don't understand why anyone would write and perform songs that feel so...uncommitted, would be the best word. Like, Rob Halford and Ronnie James Dio and Bruce Dickinson (and their respective bands) gave fully committed performances at all times. And that kind of boneheaded theatricality is the minimum acceptable standard for rock performance, in my opinion. You don't even have to look to metal for comparisons, either. Think of Bad Brains. H.R. was fully committed, 100% from start to stop. This "indie" "rock" idea of acting cooler than the thing you're doing (singing a song), of mumbling and strumming and swaying slowly back and forth (whether they are or not, they sound like they are) is abhorrent to me. It sounded unprofessional in a deliberate way — like, it was sometimes mixed so that the vocals were buried, but not on every track, so the ones where they were seemed like mistakes that they didn't care enough to fix. I will never listen to Pavement again; they are Not For Me.

Dwight Yoakam is playing near me (in Montana "near" means a two-hour drive) in July and I am thinking about going. Tickets go on sale this week. I've always wanted to see him.

def curious what hearing Thievery Corporation for the first time in 2024 is like (xp)

I would participate here — agreed on it being a good idea — but a friend of mine have been doing basically this same thing for the past 6 years (I've got him listening to Aquemini for the first time this week, while I listen to Sinatra's Watertown)

my big one in the coming month or so is to dive into the Bob Marley & The Wailers catalog. that's one of those artists where the people i knew repping it during my younger days had me put that on the shelf.

do yourself a favour and start at the beginning with Marley: the Studio One comp then the Scratch-produced stuff before you do the Island albums

Finally doing a deep dive into Marley a few years ago, after long putting it off, was something I found so rewarding. There is an entire alternate career that could be carved out of his body of work without touching a single fucking song on Legend (which isn't to say all of the songs on Legend are terrible, far from it, but my god he has so many incredible songs in his catalog that you never need to hear those overplayed warhorses again).

i dig the Pavement thoughts. even the negative stuff i get. for me it really is about the guitar sounds. they just hit on something that connects with me in a huge way. and i really like how their albums are produced. especially later. and there is very definite effort when it comes to their presentation and production. the slacker thing almost seems like a front to me from people who really do dig rock deeply and wanted to create something lasting. as far as Matador guitar rock goes, Pavement/Come/Unsane are my pinnacles. they always sound good to me no matter what.

I am obsessed with Mark Leckey’s sets on NTS. I have been listening to one a week and then investigating all this new music I’d never heard of. Everyone should listen to Mark Leckey’s sets on NTS. He is amazing

FGTI I dunno if you've heard it or not but would totally recommend listening to his guest appearance on the Digging With Flo podcast, wherein he plants potatoes and chats about his life. Really good and wholesome stuff:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4UzCXiJuZhloApBPpWX1jM?si=K_nyLn7HRv6QlyyjGoTlJg

Flo has lots of other great guests on that too from the London music/arts scene, i love it!

*end of thread hijack*

I did this when someone ran a poll on the Libertines' self-titled album. I thought it was a self-indulgent mess. Did the same thing with Alice Coltrane's Ptah, the El-Daoud, thought it was tremendous. I would like to have more of the latter experience.

unperson – what do you think of the Germs, or Circle Jerks, or various other punk bands not fronted by H.R., which take some approach to performance (maybe involving a certain detachment, or irony) other than "fully committed" "theatricality"?

Moon Pix became a landmark album for me, I always want drums and guitar to sound like that.

imho Jim White is the greatest living drummer working within the rock and rock-adjacent field

trying to think abt what I should start with here and those Jane Siberry albums are tempting, otoh I already know I would prob like them

i think (GI) is as good as...hmm...name some art that came out in 1979. The Black Stallion? Apocalypse Now? a Cindy Sherman untitled film still? in that realm.

when Jim White came in my store the day after a Xylouris White show around the corner all i did was grill him about Nina Nastasia. he was cool with it. he loves her too.

I made it all the way through the Pavement album. There was some actual singing on it. Some of it was even OK. I understand why people thought he was imitating Mark E. Smith, but that was only one song out of 14 or 15 so I don't know why people fixate on it. The particular type of distortion on the guitars occasionally reminded me of the first Stooges album, which was a good choice, and as I said before the drummer was better than I expected him to be. I think ultimately metal has ruined this kind of music for me, because I just don't understand why anyone would write and perform songs that feel so...uncommitted, would be the best word. Like, Rob Halford and Ronnie James Dio and Bruce Dickinson (and their respective bands) gave fully committed performances at all times. And that kind of boneheaded theatricality is the minimum acceptable standard for rock performance, in my opinion. You don't even have to look to metal for comparisons, either. Think of Bad Brains. H.R. was fully committed, 100% from start to stop. This "indie" "rock" idea of acting cooler than the thing you're doing (singing a song), of mumbling and strumming and swaying slowly back and forth (whether they are or not, they sound like they are) is abhorrent to me. It sounded unprofessional in a deliberate way — like, it was sometimes mixed so that the vocals were buried, but not on every track, so the ones where they were seemed like mistakes that they didn't care enough to fix. I will never listen to Pavement again; they are Not For Me.

― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Thursday, 7 March 2024 19:14 (seven minutes ago) link

I feel like a lot of these reflections on indie rock as a whole are 80% an uncharitable caricature and 20% true, but I'm not going to be the guy to drag you kicking and screaming through indie recommendations. Also there are so many sounds underneath the vague "indie rock" umbrella that it's easy to make it mean whatever you want it to.

I've never listened to Moon Pix or a Cat Power album so maybe I will do that next.

xp Yeah I feel like unperson is taking “indie rock sucks” as a starting point, and then trying to retrofit based on that (which is part of what my earlier comment was getting at).

I used to hate Pavement but I came around on them a while ago. You have to let go of what you want them to be and let them be what they are. They don't "groove hard." That's not what they're about. Their rhythmic approach is more like a piece of driftwood on a creek, just lazing along.

unperson – what do you think of the Germs, or Circle Jerks, or various other punk bands not fronted by H.R., which take some approach to performance (maybe involving a certain detachment, or irony) other than "fully committed" "theatricality"?

I hate the Germs. I love the Circle Jerks (saw them on their 10th anniversary tour, which I feel like was billed as a farewell, ha ha). I have also seen Keith Morris with OFF! and would never describe him as uncommitted or ironically detached/distanced from what he's doing. He's a flamethrower.

Do the Pavement dudes come from money? Because I feel like there's a class-based element to my hatred of "indie" "rock", like the music lacks energy because the musicians can just go get jobs at their dads' investment banks if it doesn't take off. Whereas metal bands mostly come from nothing (yes, Lars Ulrich was a rich kid, but James Hetfield absolutely was not) and need the band to succeed if they're going to eat that month. And that tension is audible in the music.

i don't know if i'll talk about it here but i definitely want to listen to more 20th century classical that i haven't heard. i think i appreciate it more now. i used to think a lot of it was too tedious but now that i am old and tedious its just right for me. i've been listening to Elliott Carter all day. i just got some great stuff in. your berg and your webern and your wolpe. tons of those cats.

but i'll totally talk about taylor swift here. maybe.

I think Malkmus was pretty much ordinary middle class. Not sure about the other guys.

one of them was a bartender after pavement.

re Neutral Milk Hotel

I guess I can’t blame this band for the future inane campfire indie to come.

ha tbh I have only listened to that album once, hated it, and I did think "so it's all this guy's fault"

xxxp I mean, what do you think of Bo Diddley? He's pretty slack & relaxed sounding... (and he rules)

I guess if you're using metal as your gold standard of what rock music should sound like, then you're not gonna like a lot of it... but I think you're pointing to qualities in "indie rock" that are present in tons of rock music generally.

by coincidence I listened to a Genesis album (Selling England By The Pound) the other day. the only Genesis I've ever heard before are a couple of the 80s hits and I Can't Dance was all over MTV when I actually watched MTV with any regularity. it was ok! might try a few more

this probably doesn't count because I love Art Bears but I have never listened to Slapp Happy for some reason. I will get on that

i don't think i've ever listened to a Kansas album.

I think you're pointing to qualities in "indie rock" that are present in tons of rock music generally

True. I feel very strongly that rock music should actually rock. When it doesn't, I get upset.

i don't think i've ever listened to a Kansas album.

The first five Kansas albums are all great. They rock. Plus violin solos.

lol what, that would not be my characterization of Bo Diddley.

xo

What's the best Paramore album? I don't think I have ever deliberately listened to Paramore, and they seem like a part of a whole style that is just a blank space for me.

xp How would you characterize him? He's loose! I'm listening to him right now, after S&E – I think they're aesthetically complementary.

Like tell me this isn't in the same musical universe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kMX9TGiQb0

the indie slacker aesthetic probably owes something to the original "hipsters" who were mostly white middle-class kids trying to act like black bluesmen and rock and rollers, so there is sort of a throughline there.

I would just be very bored with rock 'n roll if it all tried to "rock hard" like Judas Priest or something... but at least unperson is consistent I guess (and to be clear, I don't think it's a crime to be turned off by Pavement).

What's the best Paramore album? I don't think I have ever deliberately listened to Paramore, and they seem like a part of a whole style that is just a blank space for me.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, March 7, 2024 3:01 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i am having such a difficult time answering this question. anyway it's not their best imo but if you want the core, the heart sound of paramore, before they started changing things up a lot, brand new eyes

i listened to a bunch of paramore during the pandemic.

I've never listened to Moon Pix or a Cat Power album so maybe I will do that next.

I am very partial to Cat Power's The Greatest, although it was departure from her earlier work.

that live video where she sings that song that she's never done live omg what is that song? its nuts. i guess it fit my mood at the time.

Morrisp -- tight, syncopated, uptempo, and high energy! It rips.

There’s something smarmy about SM’s songwriting voice that keeps me from loving them, but I like them, I like him.

otfm

would amend to "i like them more or less, i appreciate him"

i've never listened to a cat power album but i think i'm good there for awhile. i think i do want to try some current pop people i've never listened to. there are only all of them as far as whole albums go.

I watched that recent Joan Baez doc despite never having listened to one of her albums and it made a pretty big to-do about Diamonds and Rust as a career high point for her. Which turned out to be an excellent suggestion because that album is tremendously lovely.

I really like What Would The Community Think by Cat Power but her other stuff I'm not really into, like Moon Pix is OK but I wouldn't actually put it on ever

I've been a longtime lover of Joni and obviously she's leaps and bounds ahead of Joan from a musical standpoint but in both cases the crystalline singing goes down very nice.

Cat Power's album from last year covering Dylan at Royal Albert Hall is outstanding. I didn't discover it until the very end of 2023 or it probably would have made my lists.

I feel allergic to Joan Baez's voice. I've never been able to get through an album.