Troye Sivan is a better guitarist than Jimmy Page.
― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 September 2018 15:53 (five years ago) link
LOL
― dig me out requiem (Ross), Friday, 7 September 2018 15:55 (five years ago) link
there are more chords, key changes, and tempo changes in The Beths' "Future Hates Me" than there are in the Cardiacs' entire discography
― ilxor-com-dog-meat-drawer-7-840-x-600.jpg (unregistered), Friday, 7 September 2018 16:07 (five years ago) link
king sucks
― dig me out requiem (Ross), Friday, 7 September 2018 16:13 (five years ago) link
I don't want to think about this, fortunately I made a bot for it. let's see what it comes up with:
"Is This It is the sonic equivalent of ghosting."
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Friday, 7 September 2018 16:17 (five years ago) link
There were, at minimum, a couple dozen albums released in '67 which are better than Sgt. Pepper.
― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 7 September 2018 16:23 (five years ago) link
That's not controversial.
― Scottish Country Tweerking (Tom D.), Friday, 7 September 2018 16:26 (five years ago) link
R.E.M. is actually really boring
― Οὖτις, Friday, 7 September 2018 16:27 (five years ago) link
wow, thread finally delivers
― Chesapeake Bae (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 7 September 2018 16:29 (five years ago) link
I liked R.E.M. a lot in high school and they are all smart, nice guys with good taste but man, I just never want to listen to them anymore. Somewhere around Monster I lost all interest. the limited guitar playing and lack of sonic depth, the boring arrangements, the mewling vocals, the poor production choices and terrible mandolin playing and clunky videos, their catalog feels very inert to me.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 7 September 2018 16:35 (five years ago) link
like at best I can muster a "yeah that song's okay" for a number of tracks. but a whole album? ew, just never in the mood.
Most bands are boring tbh
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Friday, 7 September 2018 16:41 (five years ago) link
all bands are excellent
― coetzee.cx (wins), Friday, 7 September 2018 16:43 (five years ago) link
^^^^
― Scottish Country Tweerking (Tom D.), Friday, 7 September 2018 16:47 (five years ago) link
rt
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 7 September 2018 16:48 (five years ago) link
not all bands
― Οὖτις, Friday, 7 September 2018 16:55 (five years ago) link
bandsplaining
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Friday, 7 September 2018 16:58 (five years ago) link
All duos are terrible.
― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:00 (five years ago) link
All bands except R.E.M. are excellent
― Evan, Friday, 7 September 2018 17:00 (five years ago) link
more like blands amirite
― strong deutan (rip van wanko), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:01 (five years ago) link
Any musician who has not experienced - I do not say understood, but truly experienced - the necessity of dodecaphonic music is USELESS.
― pomenitul, Friday, 7 September 2018 17:02 (five years ago) link
I feel like the Eagles worm has been turning for years now, but still no one is ready to say the Eagles are good. Until now folks. The Eagles are Pretty Good
― strong deutan (rip van wanko), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:03 (five years ago) link
― coetzee.cx (wins), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:06 (five years ago) link
All solo artists are cowards.
― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:10 (five years ago) link
lol
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:11 (five years ago) link
All trios are Norwegian.
― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:11 (five years ago) link
All ILM posters are liars
― jmm, Friday, 7 September 2018 17:12 (five years ago) link
― strong deutan (rip van wanko), Friday, September 7, 2018 1:03 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I have a constantly running loop of that lebowski clip in my head, but never more than last night when I was in a duane reade after hell commute that was playing take it easy
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:13 (five years ago) link
jmm otm
― Evan, Friday, 7 September 2018 17:14 (five years ago) link
― strong deutan (rip van wanko), Friday, September 7, 2018 10:03 AM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
"i can't tell you why" is an amazing song but i can't join you here just yet
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:15 (five years ago) link
the eagles are good
i can't tell you why is really good
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:36 (five years ago) link
other eagles songs i like: hotel california, new kid in town, try and love again, take it easy, peaceful easy feeling, witchy woman
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:38 (five years ago) link
The High Llamas were (are?) a million times better than their 'parents', the Beach Boys.
― Daniel Giraffe, Friday, 7 September 2018 17:49 (five years ago) link
that's not controversial, it's just wrong
― Οὖτις, Friday, 7 September 2018 17:50 (five years ago) link
the only good Beach Boy was/is Mike Love.
― omar little, Friday, 7 September 2018 17:51 (five years ago) link
High Llamas relationship to the Beach Boys was always tangential at best (and related to a very brief period/narrow slice of their catalog) and was way over-emphasized in their press materials.
I would take even the low points of M.I.U. over the High Llamas tbh
― Οὖτις, Friday, 7 September 2018 17:52 (five years ago) link
No artist at all has a "New Jersey" - a huge event album that ultimately feels a bit hollow & signals a career decline
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:53 (five years ago) link
You could say that about any band that has the opportunity to develop someone else's idea further, if it works for you.
xps
― Evan, Friday, 7 September 2018 17:53 (five years ago) link
There are a bunch of good Eagles songs. Every one of them was released as a single, so a compilation is all you need. There's not one Eagles album worth listening to all the way through. The Long Run comes closest.
The Beach Boys have, like, two good songs ("Good Vibrations" and "Don't Worry Baby"), and I could happily go the rest of my life without hearing either one of them ever again.
― grawlix (unperson), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:53 (five years ago) link
Can't think of any.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:54 (five years ago) link
Black metal sucks. Even the "good" stuff is bad enough that it's worth handing the whole genre over to the Nazis and walking away. Let 'em have it.
― grawlix (unperson), Friday, 7 September 2018 17:56 (five years ago) link
Does it have to be a controversial opinion that we actually hold or are we allowed to just say something we think might wind people up?
― Daniel Giraffe, Friday, 7 September 2018 18:00 (five years ago) link
Saying a band or genre you don't like sucks isn't controversial or even a wind-up tbh.
― everything, Friday, 7 September 2018 18:01 (five years ago) link
that late-90s Brian Wilson worship was so tiresome
― strong deutan (rip van wanko), Friday, 7 September 2018 18:03 (five years ago) link
Counterpoint: at a Silver Jews show, D. Berman did a sneering routine of saying, "What's the big deal with Brian Wilson? He's so overrated," etc.; which was equally annoying.
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Friday, 7 September 2018 18:05 (five years ago) link
It could have been John Prine who wrote "Margaritaville."
― Pesto Mindset (Eazy), Friday, 7 September 2018 18:09 (five years ago) link
Here's an (actually held) controversial opinion: while I've been into the Silver Jews since I first ran across "The Arizona Record" (filed under Pavement on a rack), and I think they have some terrific records, I also think Berman is significantly overvalued as a lyricist by most fans. He has some good one-liners, but his lyrics tend to be strings of "clever" non-sequiturs that only sometimes land. He's seen as some kind of rock poet.
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Friday, 7 September 2018 18:10 (five years ago) link
― strong deutan (rip van wanko), Friday, September 7, 2018 10:03 AM
We have a daily listening thread that'll prove you wrong.
― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 September 2018 18:16 (five years ago) link
you could make a dud list for most anybody
― strong deutan (rip van wanko), Friday, 7 September 2018 18:18 (five years ago) link
i remember Howard Stern once had a guy on who claimed it was ok to drink your own urine and he did it daily, so they had the guy pee in a cup and drink it to prove it. it was pretty clear he was not very used to drinking his own urine.
― omar little, Friday, 7 September 2018 18:18 (five years ago) link
I just looked up tickets to a Dwight Yoakam show I was thinking about going to — $105 for a general admission lawn spot. And for that I have to put up with the Mavericks, too. Sorry, no thanks.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Thursday, 7 March 2024 20:07 (three weeks ago) link
as long as I can sit down I’m fine. Saw suede and maniacs last year and felt like a damn teenager again singing along to “killing of a flashboy” and “a design for life”
― brimstead, Thursday, 7 March 2024 20:09 (three weeks ago) link
Ended up standing up most of the time (everyone else was too) but it was good to be able to sit down
One thing that improved show-going was smoking bans. I used to have clothes and a coat that were reserved for concerts. Because a trip to a club would cause everything I wore to reek of tobacco for a week.
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 7 March 2024 20:26 (three weeks ago) link
100% agree
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Thursday, 7 March 2024 20:29 (three weeks ago) link
yeah lord do I not miss smelling like an ash tray.
― CEO Greedwagon (Neanderthal), Thursday, 7 March 2024 20:38 (three weeks ago) link
Suede was one of the worst shows i ever saw. after their original guitarist left and they had some clueless kid on guitar. it was sad. because i like suede!
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 March 2024 20:39 (three weeks ago) link
upstairs at nicks in philly used to have a permanent cloud of smoke hovering near the ceiling at all times. it was so gross and i smoked! i would go home with insane smoke inhalation headaches.
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 March 2024 20:41 (three weeks ago) link
man the House of Blues in Orlando has spacing issues, and I saw Slayer there in 1999, bought a shirt and wore it the whole show, leaving smelling of nasty-assed smoke, and was so excited about the show I didn't even wash the fucking thing and wore it to school the next day, friends not coming within inches of me.
then my religious mother threw it away anyway
― CEO Greedwagon (Neanderthal), Thursday, 7 March 2024 20:43 (three weeks ago) link
1000% agree on smoking bans. Having to PLAY pre-smoking ban especially sucked, as you'd be stuck in the venue for even longer.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 7 March 2024 20:45 (three weeks ago) link
Scott, that guitar player has gotten SO MUCH BETTER he was SLAYING all those Bernard butler leads and riffs I tell ya!!!
― brimstead, Thursday, 7 March 2024 20:47 (three weeks ago) link
Man alive otm. My instrument cases probably still retain Camel Light residue from 1994
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 7 March 2024 21:41 (three weeks ago) link
Yes smoking at shows was gross even when I smoked but I was somewhere recently where people were still smoking indoors and I was tempted to buy a pack and do so just because I could.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Thursday, 7 March 2024 22:09 (three weeks ago) link
if I'm somewhere you can smoke indoors there's no way I'm not tracking down a cigarette.
― Swen, Thursday, 7 March 2024 22:26 (three weeks ago) link
might as well at that point
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 7 March 2024 22:54 (three weeks ago) link
My memory of 1990 is that even if you were not smoking, you were smoking
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 8 March 2024 00:08 (two weeks ago) link
I’ve always substituted “chamber music” to describe the broader genre of “classical”— helpful for me because I think of “classical” as meaning Mozart and Haydn, not Mahler or Webern.
But somebody referred to it using the term “sheet music” recently to me and I was kinda charmed by that and I might start doing the same
― a hyperlink to the past (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 8 March 2024 00:30 (two weeks ago) link
I've also heard it called "concert music" and "art music"... I'm a rube so I just call it "classical," tho
― Hippie Ernie (morrisp), Friday, 8 March 2024 00:32 (two weeks ago) link
i always thought of "chamber music" as notated, non-jazz music made by small ensembles (quartets, trios, quintets, all the way up to octets!), but i never thought of big orchestral music as "chamber music"
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Friday, 8 March 2024 00:47 (two weeks ago) link
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Friday, 8 March 2024 02:40 (two weeks ago) link
Yeah chamber music implies an ensemble, but something short of a full orchestra. No one has successfully defined the precise dividing line.
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 8 March 2024 03:23 (two weeks ago) link
you even have chamber orchestras! but generally i think of chamber music as smaller ensembles or soloists. "concert music" is a nice term though
― budo jeru, Friday, 8 March 2024 03:32 (two weeks ago) link
I talked to a lady today whose husband was a hymnologist! what a cool thing. she was trained as a Renaissance and church singer. when they first got married 50 years ago, one of the first things they did together was purchase a harpsichord kit.
― Swen, Friday, 8 March 2024 03:34 (two weeks ago) link
she said they called the constructed harps it their first baby and sent baby pictures to all their friends
― Swen, Friday, 8 March 2024 03:36 (two weeks ago) link
that is really sweet and I will keep an eye out for someone that wants to build a harpsichord going forward
is it controversial that we should bring back the harpsichord
― Florin Cuchares, Friday, 8 March 2024 05:53 (two weeks ago) link
My memory of 1990 is that even if you were not smoking, you were smoking― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin)
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin)
i remember the world i grew up in smelling like cigarettes the way portland today smells like marijuana
is it controversial that we should bring back the harpsichord― Florin Cuchares
― Florin Cuchares
harpsichord is great for loudness wars era music because it doesn't have the whole soft-loud thing that the pianoforte does
― Kate (rushomancy), Friday, 8 March 2024 06:06 (two weeks ago) link
i like the way harpsichord makes you prance on your toes, i feel ever so fancy.
― ... 2024-- there's one clear winner! (Hunt3r), Friday, 8 March 2024 06:26 (two weeks ago) link
the whole soft-loud thing that the pianoforte does
That is literally what pianoforte means, of course. I have an uncle who plays the harpsichord rather well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-7ddjZNxUQ
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 8 March 2024 07:35 (two weeks ago) link
rather well indeed haha
rather jealous, would love to be able to sit down at a harpsichord and just kill it
tried to find a cool live clip of never never gonna give you up but they are all too fast and do not contain the harpsichord riff, wtf Barry White, how are you gonna record the nastiest harpsichord ever and then just skip it live
― Florin Cuchares, Saturday, 9 March 2024 03:27 (two weeks ago) link
Was there ever even a prog rock band that took a harpsichord on tour? Maybe the Savage Rose?
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 9 March 2024 03:29 (two weeks ago) link
mostly just electric piano with harpsichord setting probably.
― scott seward, Saturday, 9 March 2024 04:13 (two weeks ago) link
one of my very favorite 60s band used the rock-si-chord to great effect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfVmk_RliOY
― scott seward, Saturday, 9 March 2024 04:19 (two weeks ago) link
that band is holy to me. i met one of them once (craig anderton) - he was great friends and musical partners with my friend linda cohen who also recorded for poppy records - and i could barely speak to him. he couldn't believe i knew his music. it was like meeting a beatle!
― scott seward, Saturday, 9 March 2024 04:23 (two weeks ago) link
I dont know that band or song yet, look forward to learning.
― ... 2024-- there's one clear winner! (Hunt3r), Saturday, 9 March 2024 04:29 (two weeks ago) link
from the whole baroque pop time, to me the big name is michael brown on the first left banke album... maybe there's harpsichord stuff that's even more classic, but from my knowledge that first left banke album is considered the goat. i actually like the second left banke album after michael brown left better, but i'm weird like that
― Kate (rushomancy), Saturday, 9 March 2024 12:23 (two weeks ago) link
Not at all, second album is great!
― man in suit and red tie raising his fist (Tom D.), Saturday, 9 March 2024 12:28 (two weeks ago) link
not controversial but harpsichords are a fvck to keep in tune if yr just moving them across a room, let alone going on tour with them
― mark s, Saturday, 9 March 2024 12:37 (two weeks ago) link
i tried to tune a guitar the other day and it was ... embarrassing. guess that's what happens when you stop playing for 20 years.
― Swen, Saturday, 9 March 2024 12:39 (two weeks ago) link
Just treat the guitar like a harpsichord - never move it across the room
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 9 March 2024 12:58 (two weeks ago) link
Harpsichords are really difficult to mic up, too. I don’t love them outside of the context of Baroque music, at this point
― a hyperlink to the past (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 9 March 2024 12:59 (two weeks ago) link
what is the controversy level of reminding people that the piano is a percussion instrument?
― Swen, Saturday, 9 March 2024 13:08 (two weeks ago) link
https://i0.wp.com/chicagoreader.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/cage_photo_001.jpg
― mark s, Saturday, 9 March 2024 13:11 (two weeks ago) link
Are clavinets that difficult to keep in tune? It’s like a descendent or cousin isnt it?
― ... 2024-- there's one clear winner! (Hunt3r), Saturday, 9 March 2024 16:10 (two weeks ago) link
Much easier, ime. Harpsichords, traditionally, are made entirely of wood... you can handily lift one on one's own without a second pair of hands. An adjustment in humidity or temperature in a room will cause the wood to expand or contract, requiring a complete re-tune. Clavinets in comparison are really stable. When I was young I played clavinet with a band on a months-long tour and don't remember ever needing to tune it.
My father owned a harpsichord, made by a guy out on the West Coast named Simon Sabathil. He was known for making experimental models of harpsichords... iirc he made one entirely of aluminium, another entirely of glass. I would later learn from harpischord-makers of the more historical variety that Sabathil harpsichords were widely derided. My only experience with one was my father's. I liked it for one reason only, the keybed was piano-scale, instead of the smaller traditional harpsichord-scale, so I didn't need to adjust my technique to play it. It had a heavy metal structural bar (I think it was aluminium, but it might as well have been iron), and required two people to lift it, it was very heavy.
I played one gig with it, in 2006 I believe, and it fell so out of tune by the time the room had filled that it was effectively unplayable. My friend had a studio down the street, and after the gig, we drunkenly decided to move the harpsichord ourselves. It was winter, and the sidewalks were icy. My friend, walking backwards with the tail end, slipped and fell and the harpsichord hit him full on the chest. He was fine, but the whole experience just soured me on ever using the instrument in a live setting again.
Harpsichords use items called "jacks", they sit on top of the key and rise upward to pluck the string with a small plectrum called a "quill". Traditionally, the tiny jacks are made of heavy wood, and the quill is made of hardened leather. The Sabathil did not have wooden jacks or leather quills, they were all plastic and light and unreliable. My harpsichord-maker friends offered to replace my jacks for me with good wooden ones, but I was sour on the thing. I lent the Sabathil to a band who wanted to record with it and never saw it again.
Recording things like harpsichord (or harp) is very tricky, you need the right microphones. I love harp, and have used harpsichord recently on some film stuff, and I bought a couple of active ribbon mics specifically so I can record these instruments. These mics aren't useful for much else except certain pitched percussion (they're reasonably good on marimba, for example).
― a hyperlink to the past (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 9 March 2024 16:37 (two weeks ago) link
I'm listening to La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned Piano 81 X 25, 6:17:50 - 11:18:59 PM NYC right now and his just intonation tuning makes it sound kinda harpsichord-like to my ear.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Saturday, 9 March 2024 20:05 (two weeks ago) link
strings do have a way of sounding good live, methinks
― Swen, Saturday, 9 March 2024 21:14 (two weeks ago) link
i don't have the right magenta lighting in my apt to do that album justice xp
― A street taco cart named Des'ree (Deflatormouse), Saturday, 9 March 2024 21:34 (two weeks ago) link
i actually listened to patt of it on the 7 train a few weeks ago and unfortunately it assumed a cloying indie flick soundtrack quality with those visuals but it was still too mesmerizing to switch it off
― A street taco cart named Des'ree (Deflatormouse), Saturday, 9 March 2024 21:43 (two weeks ago) link
― It was on a accident (hardcore dilettante), Sunday, 10 March 2024 03:10 (two weeks ago) link