Bands you keep trying to like but can't 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.