Your musical "blind spots"

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the only classic rock you really need to check out:

status quo - dog of two head

bread - manna

new york dolls -s/t

the climax chicago blues band - plays on

three man army - a third of a lifetime

chicken shack - imagination lady

groundhogs - hogwash

bullangus - s/t

thunderclap newman - hollywood dream

randy pie - fast/forward

chilliwack - dreams, dreams, dreams

tucky buzzard - s/t

lodi - s/t

the trashmen - surfin' bird

status quo - on the level

christopher cloud - blown away

the misunderstood - before the dream faded

scott seward, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:17 (six years ago) link

Thanks!

I googled a few that I thought you threw in there as jokes.

Evan, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:19 (six years ago) link

actually, just listen to this song and then you are done and you will know everything:

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

scott seward, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:19 (six years ago) link

bullangus - s/t

You made this one up, didn't you?

Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:22 (six years ago) link

haha no that's real i've heard it! middling thud

brimstead, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:22 (six years ago) link

wake me up when The National write a song as good as this one. I'M SO SURE I WILL NEVER BE WOKEN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYfQ1RWdQ5c

scott seward, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:27 (six years ago) link

Can

flappy bird, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:39 (six years ago) link

Can rule and you drool! like a big drooling flappy bird!

no, but seriously, listen some more.

scott seward, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:46 (six years ago) link

I know. I've literally never heard a note by Can. i'm just gonna buy those 3 classic LP's next time im at the record store im sure i'll love them

flappy bird, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:46 (six years ago) link

the only classic rock you really need to check out:

No Croce, no credibility.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:51 (six years ago) link

I feel like I've considered house/techno a musical blind spot of mine that I've been trying to fill up for years now. I thiiink I'm making progress - the new avalon emerson ep is cool! - but I still feel super green to it all

josh az (2011nostalgia), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:52 (six years ago) link

i don't mess with jim croce

brimstead, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:52 (six years ago) link

Can was a blind spot for years, and took quite a few tries for me to get started, tbh. Got into other krautrock first (Neu!, AR and Machines). Some days they're my favorite band ever now. Even the late stuff!

Mungolian Jerryset (bendy), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 19:14 (six years ago) link

they are the best band. black sabbath, can, and funkadelic the only classic rock anyone needs.

scott seward, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 19:20 (six years ago) link

How soon we forget Bullangus.

Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 19:22 (six years ago) link

Bullangus, we hardly knew ye

Neil S, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 19:24 (six years ago) link

I think that was the root of the problem for Bullangus.

Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 19:25 (six years ago) link

languishing in the "where are they now" file, are Bullangus

Neil S, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 19:26 (six years ago) link

languishing in the "you made them up, didn't you" file,

Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 19:27 (six years ago) link

It used to be soul but I am slowly mending that. Same with funk, is Gil Scott-Heron funk? I love his music. Rap is a big white square on my musical landscape. Digital electronic music as well. But I do not really want to change that. I have much more blind spots than known places.

Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 22:14 (six years ago) link

My blind spot is this really obscure thing I’d never normally come across anyway.

Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 22:15 (six years ago) link

But real answer = country, metal, classical, dubstep, opera, old rock n roll, blues, folk... fucking shitloads.

Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 22:16 (six years ago) link

Many. I've always openly acknowledged them. A few of the biggest:

Elvis, electric blues, Van Morrison, the Band, funk, Otis Redding, Randy Newman, Gang of Four, PJ Harvey. They're not complete--there are songs here and there I like--and occasionally I'll have a breakthrough (I was listening to and enjoying a lot of Van Morrison a few summers ago for something I was working on). But generally speaking, I wish I could hear what other people hear.

(I won't list stuff that I don't like and have no desire to ever like.)

clemenza, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 23:34 (six years ago) link

Can is another one for me. I think when i tried them out in the past they end up sounding rather different to how I expected so I'm generally quite thrown by it all

Fox Mulder, FYI (dog latin), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 23:52 (six years ago) link

The Grateful Dead
The Doors
Zappa

Oh wait

Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 9 November 2017 00:38 (six years ago) link

i really want to get to know middle eastern pop music more. i just kind of plow through spotify playlists and cherry pick the tracks i like. sort of know some of the big names, i think.

brimstead, Thursday, 9 November 2017 01:48 (six years ago) link

There were some great articles a while back by John Doran and Yousif Nur at the Quietus all about that. They were very in-depth and I must confess I ended up being daunted by the task of tackling them, despite being really interested

Fox Mulder, FYI (dog latin), Thursday, 9 November 2017 10:58 (six years ago) link

Opera and metal (perhaps it's the bombast) - Dylan and Springsteen - Ocean and Swift - UK indie from the second half of the 80s, particularly Gen C86 - chillwave.

mike t-diva, Thursday, 9 November 2017 11:45 (six years ago) link

The ones I created for myself yeah.

Late 50s-early 60s jazz - I've heard quite a lot of forward-thinking jazz albums, but I lack the backbone behind that. Same with soul for that matter, I have some highlights but not a broad picture.
Some of the more straightforward pop. Again, same logic, you are attracted or shown to the more elaborate albums, and you miss the elephant.
There are days I wish I knew everything about the dancehall / pop rap / r&b and everything that falls in-between.
Brazilian music classics. More generally the world songbook.
A lot more from those genres that produce long spiritual pieces (from soul-jazz to rock to carnatic music).
And many others where I could dig way further (punk, new wave / synthpop, power pop).
Etc

Nabozo, Thursday, 9 November 2017 12:36 (six years ago) link

So 'musical blind spots' is a more diplomatic way of saying you don't really care for a given artist/album/genre.

pomenitul, Thursday, 9 November 2017 15:13 (six years ago) link

Opera and metal (perhaps it's the bombast)...UK indie from the second half of the 80s, particularly Gen C86

I could see not being into one or the other of these categories, but both/all? Leaves me with the question, what exactly do you listen to? Or, what qualities do you seek out in music? "I don't like all that bombastic shouting, but I don't like mumbly diffidence either..."

grawlix (unperson), Thursday, 9 November 2017 15:17 (six years ago) link

Yeah I mean, if it isn't either of those specific things then what's left... sports talk radio?

Evan, Thursday, 9 November 2017 15:28 (six years ago) link

So 'musical blind spots' is a more diplomatic way of saying you don't really care for a given artist/album/genre.

― pomenitul, Thursday, November 9, 2017 7:13 AM (eighteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Are there any styles or groups that you wish you knew more about, but for whatever reason you don't ?
Are there any styles or groups that you wish you knew more about, but for whatever reason you don't ?
Are there any styles or groups that you wish you knew more about, but for whatever reason you don't ?
Are there any styles or groups that you wish you knew more about, but for whatever reason you don't ?
Are there any styles or groups that you wish you knew more about, but for whatever reason you don't ?
Are there any styles or groups that you wish you knew more about, but for whatever reason you don't ?

brimstead, Thursday, 9 November 2017 15:32 (six years ago) link

Haha, now I feel like an idiot. Alright, I'll go put on my dunce cap.

pomenitul, Thursday, 9 November 2017 15:33 (six years ago) link

"I don't like all that bombastic shouting, but I don't like mumbly diffidence either..."

This is not all music

Master of Treacle, Thursday, 9 November 2017 15:36 (six years ago) link

To those who are allergic to operatic singing, is this also unpalatable to you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3l61P8j9rg

pomenitul, Thursday, 9 November 2017 15:40 (six years ago) link

Come to think of it, 'allergic' and 'unpalatable' are inappropriate adjectives in the context of this thread so let me rephrase my question: does this make you want to overcome your 'blind spot' for operatic vocals?

pomenitul, Thursday, 9 November 2017 15:51 (six years ago) link

I'm hoping that Lonely Child turns out to be the piece that will convert the world to classical vocal music.

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 9 November 2017 16:15 (six years ago) link

LOads of metal stuff, though do like Slayer and stoner stuff.
A lotof electronic dance music, though certain parts o9f it I might get into if I was introduced to it.
BUt Techno, d&b, and whatever other nightclub/rave stuff has largely escaped me. I do like a bit of Acid House and Arthur russell and things.
& do love dub, r'n'b and soul and things so may just be unfamiliarity.

commercial country, countrypolitan and things that distance country from being a white blues.

Not really getting to hear too much new commercial pop so not sure about that. I know taht there have been people I've known over the last 10 or 15 years who were very into current stuff. But I don't listen to the radio much even though I'm currently working in a college/community radio station. But most of what I hear is stuff that is being played in the office i do most of my work in.

Classical I should get a lot more familiar with too. But there is only so much time and a lot of music out there.

I'm mainly into psychedelia, other 60s & 70s stuff, bits of jazz, early blues and other roots music, pre-50s country, African stuff, Krautrock and various other bits and pieces so not sure I'd have time to be into everything in my blindspot anyway.

Stevolende, Thursday, 9 November 2017 16:21 (six years ago) link

whenever I go to pub trivia the music questions are invariably about 90s pop which is pretty much the only musical domain where I know less than the average person

ciderpress, Thursday, 9 November 2017 18:19 (six years ago) link

Definitely UK dance scene for me. Drum and Bass, Footwork, Garage, Wonky, 2step, grime... it’s not that I don’t like them, but that I don’t really understand them. I don’t know if it’s because I come from a latin background but the UK Bass sound is a bit stiff and awkward to my ears, I’ve no idea how to even attempt to dance to any of those genres and music-wise they’re not particularly interesting to me to listen to it without dancing.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 9 November 2017 19:06 (six years ago) link

At any rate there are times where I feel like I’m missing out and wish I understood what’s it all about so yeah they’re a blind spot for me.

Also Metal in general but I’m trying and finding stuff I love. There are variations I hate like grindcore but I don’t think those count as blind spots since I’m willfully ignoring them.

There’s a lot of modern classical which I’d love to get into but it seems like too much work. You can’t just dip in by listening to one single song and choosing to keep on listening or nlt like in other genres, you have to listen to the full composition and I don’t think I have the time to even start.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 9 November 2017 19:12 (six years ago) link

Genre specifical year-end lists are my favorite part of the year because that’s how I find those blind spots without listening to 100 jazz records or 100 modern classical.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 9 November 2017 19:15 (six years ago) link

It's weird because Drum & Bass is *the* most immediate music afaic, especially some of the more heavy or euphoric strains. Blind spot is still modern country, sensitive us indie too, just find these boring, nothing to connect to.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 9 November 2017 19:28 (six years ago) link

two years pass...

Just remembered one this morning: I am way into Faust, have gone down many forking paths of Cluster side projects, adore the Neu! discography, am pretty well-acquainted with the classic Can albums, am somewhat less familiar with but have dipped into the works of Tangerine Dream, Amon Düül, Popol Vuh, etc.

OTOH, I kinda know that one song by that one band where they say 'Trans-Europe Express' over and over.

I probably have some work to do, huh.

Drive Like a Demon From Steakhouse to Steakhouse (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 14:24 (four years ago) link

yeah the señor coconut catalogue contains wonders

'Sly Cooper' Movie Breaking Into Theaters In 2016 (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 14:26 (four years ago) link

Yellow Magic Orchestra, except for a few Ryuichi Sakamoto things.

Chris L, Tuesday, 7 January 2020 14:27 (four years ago) link

Most modern pop and R&B, with a few exceptions.

pomenitul, Tuesday, 7 January 2020 14:35 (four years ago) link

Yeah, that was amply demonstrated when I was invited to add music to the Spotify playlist at a NYE party and realized I didn't recognize a single one of the contemporary pop songs on display (I went with the 1980 Yarbrough & Peoples smash 'Don't Stop the Music', a favorite of today's youth).

Drive Like a Demon From Steakhouse to Steakhouse (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 14:39 (four years ago) link

hah, I always assume everyone on ILM knows more about contemporary pop and RnB than me as a sort-of default.

YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 15:17 (four years ago) link

I like country too but never listen to it. Such good songwriting.

Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 22:30 (four years ago) link

I don't think I've ever heard YMO either--is BGM the best place to start?

rob, Tuesday, 7 January 2020 22:33 (four years ago) link

probably Solid State Survivor, its their most well known and accessible

BGM is their best album IMO but it took me a while to warm up to it - very murky and strange.

frogbs, Tuesday, 7 January 2020 22:40 (four years ago) link

Their earlier stuff is more, I don't know, proggy? I agree about BGM. I also really like the actual songs on x∞Multiplies.

Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 22:44 (four years ago) link

it might be interesting to do a similar thread but about music you consider yourself to have true expertise over.

sometimes I feel like every genre is a blind spot to me. 90s and 2000s IDM, which I feel I know a lot about, still has a huge amount of artists I've never heard.
New wave, well I know the big players and the classic cuts, but I'd be lost if someone were to ask me to deep dive into the more obscure acts..

YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 22:49 (four years ago) link

cool thanks, I'm going to try Solid State right now.

dl, I also never feel like an expert even in genres I have spent years listening to. on the plus side, I have also never felt burdened by completism

rob, Tuesday, 7 January 2020 22:57 (four years ago) link

I've always been fascinated by people who have a very specific knowledge of one style of music. like people who collect Northern soul or dj a certain style of tech-house.
my friends who run a soca night and radio show, I would say are experts on the genre and go deep on Dennery from St Lucia and know their power soca from their I don't know what.. They do listen to other stuff and I love that music but man, talking to them you realise you're just skimming the surface

YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 23:02 (four years ago) link

classic soul that isn't Stax or Motown. Never got the "digging for obscure 45s that sound like the Delfonics and cost $600" bug I guess. I like many of the Numero comps covering this ground when I hear them, though, and may someday decide to follow some of those threads all the way to debtor's prison

If you're not hung up on the whole 45 thing, there are loads of great non-Numero CD comps out there collecting the rare and not-so rare non Motown & Stax stuff that won't break the bank. Start with Brit labels like Kent and their parent Are.

a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 23:08 (four years ago) link

*"Are" = Ace, yes? - https://acerecords.co.uk/soul-1/14?various=1

Don’t yell ‘Judas!’ in a crowded theater (morrisp), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 23:11 (four years ago) link

Yeah ACE. Stupid phone.

a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 23:20 (four years ago) link

Probably Berlin School electronic, which just seems to me like the shovelware of genres. I find a record I kind of like and immediately find out the person behind it has done 100 that sound the same but different that week. I _like_ "the same but different" but I just throw up my hands at that point and say "fuck it".

I kind of wish I was more familiar with the Great American Songbook. It really belongs to an earlier generation.

revenge of the jawn (rushomancy), Wednesday, 8 January 2020 00:33 (four years ago) link

Post-70s Jazz

Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Wednesday, 8 January 2020 13:54 (four years ago) link

y'all they're not blind spots if you don't want to correct them, that's just you not liking something

american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 8 January 2020 14:01 (four years ago) link

Per my revive, I take 'blind spot' in this context to mean 'something that, given my general musical inclinations, I should really have checked out by now but have been unaccountably circumventing to an extent which some might call perverse'.

Drive Like a Demon From Steakhouse to Steakhouse (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 8 January 2020 14:14 (four years ago) link

I don’t have blind spots. I just don’t feel I have much musical knowledge. I tend to skip from one thing to the next. No really extensive mastering of the history. I know a lot of names/genres but rarely delve into a genre deep enough. :-((( And especially these days I obsess over a few songs. Atm Ann Peebles’ Playhouse.

nathom, Wednesday, 8 January 2020 22:01 (four years ago) link

Pat Metheny's catalog is a huge blind spot for me. I own Zero Tolerance For Silence, of course, but have never really listened to more than a few minutes of anything else. Might try to fix that this year.

shared unit of analysis (unperson), Friday, 10 January 2020 18:10 (four years ago) link

If you have never heard Song X, that might be a place to start. I love some of the mellower stuff like New Chautaqua and As Wichita Falls ... myself but I'm not sure about your taste wrt that sort of thing.

Un sang impur (Sund4r), Friday, 10 January 2020 18:17 (four years ago) link

my big one is Rush, I'm a huge prog head and I like a lot of Rush's singles but just never really felt like listening to a full LP

frogbs, Friday, 10 January 2020 18:46 (four years ago) link

You might wanna just write off Rush. In my experience Rush live > Rush on record, and it's not close. I was always OK with whatever songs got radio airplay but didn't need to hear more, but then I saw them live in 2011 and 2013 and was stunned by how much I enjoyed it. But I still never listen to their albums.

shared unit of analysis (unperson), Friday, 10 January 2020 19:27 (four years ago) link

At least listen to Moving Pictures and A Farewell to Kings before making that call. (If you're going further, maybe try Hemispheres if you want them at their proggiest.)

Un sang impur (Sund4r), Friday, 10 January 2020 19:36 (four years ago) link

Oh, another one for me: Harry Nilsson. Almost every music fan I know can speak knowledgeably about the man's entire discogarphy, but all I know are the obvious big songs ("Without You," "Coconut," "Everybody's Talkin") "Me and my Arrow," and Pussy Cats (the latter of which I bought because someone told me it was "his Like Flies on Sherbert")

Paul Ponzi, Friday, 10 January 2020 20:43 (four years ago) link

well shit, hope he didn't take it personally

frogbs, Friday, 10 January 2020 21:38 (four years ago) link

frogbs, hemispheres is up there with close to the edge, relayer, and thick as a brick

reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 10 January 2020 21:39 (four years ago) link

alright, y'all have convinced me. especially given what just happened :/

frogbs, Friday, 10 January 2020 21:42 (four years ago) link

re: Pat Metheny - I don't know that much of his stuff but the Offramp album is seriously great

doorstep jetski (dog latin), Saturday, 11 January 2020 08:08 (four years ago) link

If you like that, try the other 'mellow' ones I mentioned.

One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact (Sund4r), Saturday, 11 January 2020 14:41 (four years ago) link


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