Bands you keep trying to like but can't get into

just Turrican doing his thing from what I can tell xp

my comment was in earnest btw, I love the stones & charlie watts specifically

i'm not worried, i just think it's weird
is "being wrong about how rhythm works" his thing? that's weird!

Not going there!

LL I was not being serious up there

charlie watts is a hero for refusing to play the hi hat & snare at the same time. he put more swagger in the backbeat than anyone.

― :∵·∴·∵: (crüt), Tuesday, May 21, 2019 10:32 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Swagger? He looks stiff as fuck when he's drumming, and you can hear it.

itt turrican finally unmasked as Kenny Jones

i can see why you might think that re: stiffness, but i disagree.

Kenney Jones was a great drummer, particularly on the stuff Small Faces did for Immediate.

I'd rate Kenney Jones, Mitch Mitchell and Mick Avory all higher than Ginger Baker, actually.

Kenney Jones is a seriously great drummer.

keep trying to like turrican but can't get into it

he just hits that one note constantly

No rhythm either

Just bashin away

Charlie Watts drumming is cool because it sounds like someone getting beat up in a really systematic but bluesy manner

someone getting beat up in a really systematic but bluesy manner

That's actually the perfect description of the time Watts decked Mick Jagger in 1984.

("Don't ever call me your drummer again. You're my fucking singer!")

I'll take this over anything Cream recorded...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPL1NwQAY0

It pains me to say it at the moment, but Cardiacs. Love the idea of poppy prog (or proggy pop, if you prefer), but really not getting it in this case.

I really want to get into Afrobeat as I love the idea of it and it's nice to have on in the background, but every time I sit down and try and actively listen to a Fela Kuti track I get fidgety around the three minute mark.

― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap)

I've since rectified this opinion.

My problem with Fela is that I get into it and then get curious about the lyrics and end up finding out about some social issue in Nigeria for an hour. Wait, that’s not a problem.

But I can’t get into Phoebe Bridgers.

XXXP - Anagram, perhaps try some Cardiacs adjacent stuff like Kitten Pyramid, Army of Moths or Slunq.

Thanks, I'll give those a try.

Haha, I thought Kansas and Styx were poppy prog. I'm starting to dig into this manic avant-prog-punk band, though. I found Guns a little easier to digest at first than Sing to God.

Cardiacs were never prog-proper tbf (with a few exceptions), they're much more of a psychedelic art-punk-pop group, and I'm not convinced the bands MN suggests are as proggy as you're after either

Cardiacs-influenced prog-pop that doesn't shirk the pop or the prog, and is awesome:

Major Parkinson - Blackbox https://majorparkinson.bandcamp.com/album/blackbox
Lost Crowns - Every Night Something Happens https://lostcrowns.bandcamp.com/album/every-night-something-happens

I mean, <3 Army Of Moths but they're basically a Britpop band with especially grandiose ideas

But you should check it all out obviously!

That Major Parkinson album especially is such a cool synthesis of campy, synthy Full Pop with winding, segueing, modular, callback-strewn Full Prog, will def call out to the Steven Wilson fan in you

The record I was going on about on the Thinking Plague thread also recommended FFO Steven Wilson and maybe Bent Knee I would say, but it's not out until 30th August now apparently.

The Cardiacs don't seem poppy to me, though, except in the broad sense in which Mr. Bungle is also pop music. Do people really hear them that way? From descriptions, I was expecting something hookier but I am getting into them when I listen for everything that's going on compositionally. It seems something like an aggressive postpunk take on RIO?

yeah i think when people use "poppy" talking about the Cardiacs all they really mean is "short songs"

It could certainly seem a little perverse as a description but it depends how you think about pop. Then again stuff like Gina Lollabrigida and A Wooden Fish On Wheels seems like pop songs to me. Even more so a things like Odd Even, Bellyeye, Flap Off You Beak, Manhoo. like half of Sing To God. If that's RIO it's even more obliquely so.

I mean, "Long Distance Runaround" seems closer to pop music in the first place? I don't require poppiness by any stretch and am liking them, tbc, just not sure that approaching it as poppy prog sets up the most helpful expectations.

After the death of Tim Smith (RIP), my brother - who is a full on progger these days - posted a live track on Facebook which was a kind of anthemic three chord number and is literally the only time I've managed to listen to a Cardiacs track all the way through. Then I made the mistake of listening to some other stuff from the same concert... egads, no no no.

So okay, not a band, and not a controversial one at that, but I legit cannot get the Taylor Swift love that seems to have infected critics' minds, as well as the minds of many here on ilx. I've listened to the records— they're just *not that good.* Her voice is *thin*. The lyrics are *bad*. The production is okay, sometimes, but nothing to write home about. I just don't get it.

xp - i gave up on trying to like them a while ago -- i hadn't even thought about this "obligatory liking" for years until the dude died, and then I recently recalled my attempts at trying to like that band and the acceptance that I did not like them. ... Any fraction of guilt I might have had for being incapable of like cardiacs totally evaporated -- as a white woman, I have enough to feel guilty about as it is, liking or not liking some cult band a lot of my friends like? nahhh

xp Have you listened to Red? What comparable pop/rock(/country) artists are you a fan of?

I agree her voice is thin, and her lyrics aren't consistently great (though they're by no means "bad") - but her songwriting is very strong and the records are among the best in her particular category, that's why people like them so much?

I think I've only heard one Cardiacs song and it didn't do much for me. I guess this is as good a time as any to listen to On Land and in the Sea, if only because it's shorter than Sing to God.

"You were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter/And my Daddy said 'stay away from Juliet'" is p solidly "bad" imo.

I think Cardiacs are one of those bands where you should know right away if you're gonna like them or not. I mean I'd encourage anyone to listen to a few songs before making that determination but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone who thinks the band is "just okay" or prefer to pick and choose...you either get em or you don't, and the elements that turn people off are the same ones that make folks like me so rapturous about them. I'd say the same about Magma. If you hear MDK and just don't like it, then there's not much point in proceeding.

and yes, they do sound like pop to me...but like, several pop songs mashed together into one. I think their songs are legitimately catchy! nearly all of them!

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone who thinks the band is "just okay"

Three tracks in, this is my current feeling. Neutral-positive more than anything.

Fwiw, I was unsure about Sing to God and imago recommended Guns when I asked if they had something that was a little less hyperactive, which I did get into more easily - but that took a few listen too. xp

"You were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter/And my Daddy said 'stay away from Juliet'" is p solidly "bad" imo.

I can't personally rep for much pre-Red (though I like a few songs). If that is all someone has listened to, I would say – jump forward to Red.

(Also, you can probably pick out a "bad" lyric or two for any prolific artist!)

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone who thinks the band is "just okay"

"just okay" is pretty much my opinion tbh

t. swift litmus test is if you think the first line of "tim mcgraw" is bad, it's probably not gonna get any better for you

of course i am infected with taylor swift brainworms

but i def acknowledge "her voice is thin," hard to go back to her earlier records for this reason. her vocals have improved a lot over the past decade

oh but i see table has heard the records, so i'm probably not going to convince them!

well I'll be damned

maybe with Cardiacs its less 'are they good' and more 'do you like what they do'; I would guess that people who don't like the band or think they're "just okay" aren't into a lot of similar bands, to the extent there are even similar bands to them

Well I don't like prog much, that's true, partial to a bit of Magma though.

"You either love them or hate them" is rarely true about anyone tbh.