obscure music?

i don't know that seeking out popular music is lame...

anyway M@tt OTM

well, i think there's a big difference between digging deeper for lesser-known music, and using this as some claim to superiority, which is the part i loathe.

what do you consider regular music?

-- Surmounter, Friday, April 11, 2008 8:09 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

like i dunno, regular music that ppl like....like if someone likes classic rock i'd rather just talk about tom petty or aerosmith than be all like DUDE THE SECOND SIR LORD BALTIMORE RECORD IS CREWSH!! DO YOU LIKE DUST??!? or if they like indie music we could talk about like the shins or something instead of whatever wierd shit.

or better yet talk about sports.

Aren't YOU using your viewpoint as a "some claim to superiority"?

well, i think there's a big difference between digging deeper for lesser-known music, and using this as some claim to superiority, which is the part i loathe.

-- Surmounter, Friday, 11 April 2008 20:22 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

How much of that is actually the case though?

Is it just hipsters generally you dislike?

Matt OTM; talking about sports is always better.

not really catsup, i think liking something obscure is just as valid as liking something incredibly popular.

yeah i totally agree matt, i veer away from conversations like that too

i don't know if i want to get into a conversation about hipsters just yet

Aren't YOU using your viewpoint as a "some claim to superiority"?

^^^on the real

but I hate sports!

x-post

all sports?? no way

It's weird too. In my old town I was an obscurantist, where I live now I'm a pop kid. I put some Deerhoof on a mixtape for a friends's party and he wouldn't put it on out of fear. That was depressing.

i really haven't met anyone with truly "obscure" taste who copped attitude because most of the time they were just excited to tell you about cool music you might not have heard before.

the people who the most attitude are the ones who think that if it isn't well known or they haven't heard it before, there must be a reason for that and that reason must be is the music is lame.

honestly there is not a single pro sport that I give a single shit about. playing sports is one thing, watching other highly paid adults to do it = me not caring.

I find that while some people who like obscure stuff or have absurd amounts of knowledge often hold it over people, sometimes they are just stating their interests plainly with no subtext and it's the insecurities of the person who doesn't know as much that caused said person to perceive some sort of arrogance. Not always, but sometimes.

DICHOTOMY

People with specialist subculture knowledge that I find unpleasant and grating:
bikes store employee types / hardcore cyclists

People with specialist subculture knowledge that I find exciting and friendly:
music nerd types

dan selzer otm

do you guys think we can beat the "varied taste" post count

yes otm xpost

nah, Surmounter is still too early in his transformation into The Lex to inspire a true clusterfuck thread.

OTM dan

It's always about insecurities, except when it's one obscure music guy giving tips to another obscure music guy, then it's possible one of them is being obnoxious.

anyone want to throw in a "people who listen to vinyl are just posers that pretend that they prefer it" opinion to ratchet up the post score?

the people who the most attitude are the ones who think that if it isn't well known or they haven't heard it before, there must be a reason for that and that reason must be is the music is lame.

-- omar little, Friday, April 11, 2008 8:34 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i really don't know about this

It's nice to hear some really truly awful shit once in a while too.

-- Mister Craig, Friday, April 11, 2008 4:16 PM (19 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

^^ going in "truth bombs" thread

-- Alex in Baltimore, Friday, April 11, 2008 4:18 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

spoken like a true ebony eyez fan

I don't loathe people who like Janet Jackson, but I loathe people who loathe people who loathe Janet Jackson.

People who like obscure music are dumb and that's why I only listen to Steely Dan and The Eagles.

"Liking" music is so passé anyways. It's all about the indifference now.

People who like obscure music are dumb and that's why I only listen to Steely Dan and The Eagles.

-- ian, Friday, April 11, 2008 4:44 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Well I only listen to ABBA!

Nothing but Beatles for me.

Of course, I never have fewer than 4 albums playing simultaneously in the same room. I'm just THAT into them.

I find that while some people who like obscure stuff or have absurd amounts of knowledge often hold it over people, sometimes they are just stating their interests plainly with no subtext and it's the insecurities of the person who doesn't know as much that caused said person to perceive some sort of arrogance. Not always, but sometimes.

-- dan selzer, Friday, 11 April 2008 20:35 (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

OTM

yes that can definitely be true

Someone accused me of being a snob for saying that I liked a band's first album best.

?? that's just random. what album?

Obscureness is no longer a property inherent to the music itself, dudes. No, it's about how you listen to it. Anything can be obscure if you listen with an appropriately obscure attitude.

My favorite Obscure record was the first, Gavin Bryar's The Sinking of the Titanic.

Obscureness is no longer a property inherent to the music itself, dudes. No, it's about how you listen to it. Anything can be obscure if you listen with an appropriately obscure attitude.

-- libcrypt, Friday, April 11, 2008 4:58 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

QFT; http://advancedtheory.blogspot.com/

My favorite Obscure record was the first, Gavin Bryar's The Sinking of the Titanic.

-- dan selzer, Friday, April 11, 2008 9:01 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

^^^ totally the best LP on Obscure by a long-shot. The other one I like is the Bryars and John White LP "Machine Music."

I have this

http://www.discogs.com/release/27671

I only have Obscure numbers 1,2,3 and 10, and I have 6, Michael Nyman's Decay Music on CD. Had high hopes for that one as I really like Nyman, especially his punkier early stuff, but that one was a bit too "obscure" for me.

I think I've only met one person who fits this cooler-than-thou stereotype. He was roommates with an ex-girlfriend of mine, and he worked at the Univ. of Chicago radio station. She once happened to mention that she liked minimalism, and he said, "Like what?" -- when she said Glass and Reich, he rolled his eyes. Really couldn't deal with that dude. (Weirdly, he later showed up in illustrated form in a Jessica Abel comic book.)

Oh wait, there was also the party I was at with Hstencil and a Pearl Jam song came on and I was like, "Isn't there something so great about hearing these early '90s songs, something kind of nostalgic?" -- and he glared at me and said "No." Haha!

hahahahahaha.

so annoying!

hstencil otm

miss that dude

Pearl Jam is terrible

It's no temple of the dog ;)

"Oh wait, there was also the party I was at with Hstencil and a Pearl Jam song came on and I was like, "Isn't there something so great about hearing these early '90s songs, something kind of nostalgic?" -- and he glared at me and said "No." Haha!"

I can totally imagine saying this.

suzymc

Yeah, I don't even like Pearl Jam, but dude was just so humorless and condescending about it!

never mind. my cack-handed copying and pasting kind of proved your point for you.

"was there a botoh dancer at the show you're thinking of? They did a tour a few years ago that was 100% improvised with a dude in a cage."

Nobody in a cage that I remember, but it's been a couple of years and I am reasonably sure that I was drunk. About the only mental image I can pull is a black woman playing keyboards.

By now I kind of hope that it was a prank pulled by the band, but at the time I remember being fairly annoyed. "I AM A MEMBER OF THE LOCAL PRESS! YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME!"

I do remember that they'd sent me a promo before the show, and that the promo was pretty good. I think I'll go see if I can find them again.

Also Goldberg's pretty much right, aside from the (previously noted) ascribing it as a current phenomenon. But it's kind of weird for me to be around people like that who are WAY into such a tiny slice of music. Like, you know every word on the Arcade Fire album and want to talk about hidden meanings? But you can't talk about, I dunno, Talking Heads, and you get freaked out by the Cambodia Rocks albums? That just seems weird to me, though I understand that I've got a pretty terrible sample set for what's normal regarding music listening.

that is a different sleepytime gorilla museum (?!) then, because they have no keyboard player, and the only woman in the band is Carla Kihlsted, who plays violin.

ctrl-f "challenging"