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

Yeah, there's a lot of Bootsy in there, too, but Bootsy's about 1000 times more fun than Thundercat.

I don't really 'get' Thundercat either but his music is pretty fun

thats what i qualified it with "but anime" which is usually not fun

*why

but thundercat is fun "friends zone" is v funny

I don't hate Thundercat at all, I just love the idea of dollar bin fusion records for hipsters in theory more than in practice

I wasn't trying to say he was bad, otherwise I wouldn't try at all

I don't hate him either, obviously (wrote a cover story on him for The Wire and had a blast interviewing him), I just don't listen to his records that much now that I'm no longer on deadline.

I like Thundercat, but there's a samey-ness to a lot of his music, as well as Flying Lotus tracks where he's featured, that causes me to tune out after a little while.

Scritti Politti. On paper there's a lot to draw me to them - Marxist intellectuals who slid from post-punk to pop? What's not to like? But whenever I try to listen to them, I just... don't enjoy it at all.

yeah wish i liked them more than i do

lol, just put Cupid & Psyche in my sell pile yesterday

"Skank Bloc Bologna" still rules, though, it's on my Wanna Buy A Bridge comp LP and is probably all I need

I'm glad it's not just me. I often feel like I'm somehow deficient for not getting it, but they really don't grab me at all.

i only have Songs to Remember, and about once a year i give Cupid & Psyche a digital spin, but i also have completely failed to get into scritti politti

I love Green Gartside on that Eurythmics song! "Wrap It Up"? His voice sounds like the way velvet looks

The pop stuff is a bit saccharine. I have to be in the mood. But Skank Bloc is so great

In a similar vein (is it acceptable for me to say it?), Prince’s Sign of the Times: the sounds that he uses and that digital bass motif, they all just sound real displeasing to my ears. Also, his vocal performance fails to convince me that he truly cares about the things described in the lyrics. In fact, I’ve tried 3 times to listen to that supposedly universally loved stone cold classic but I’ve never made it all the way through. For the record, I own Parade and think it’s great, a lot of fun, his best album by far in my own unpopular opinion.

oh man I love green’s voice and lyrics so much. Total hero. Took a while for me, though.

oh man I love green’s voice and lyrics so much. Total hero. Took a while for me, though.

cupid & psyche is just a staggering achievement to me, exciting and blinding every time i listen to it, was a huge 420 unlock for me last year.

lol OK OK I'll try again

there might be something to the 420 idea

wait a second, i didn't try that last bit. i feel like an unattempted unlock is warranted before giving up

xp haha, exactly

it's a new option in the toolbelt

The track 'PAs' was my way into early Scritti stuff, such a lovely vocal melody welded to itchy, badly recorded craziness.

derrida is a much more salient reference point re the borderline-religious subterfuge in his lyrics than marxism imo.

c&p made me very afraid there for a while with the synth sound and all but my god the programming is just so idiosyncratic yet perfectly pop it can bring me to tears.

Cupid and Psyche is more of a champagne album

“the sweetest girl” otoh...

oh didn’t see your post map, didn’t mean to neg your 420 unlock!

xp actually I have that 12" as well and am keeping it, forgot abt that one but it's great

it's kind of this essay on why and how commercial pop can be transformative. it's brainy but also surprisingly funny and humble. also the ranking ann version of "flesh and blood" is like super dope and positive. lol.

xp no worries haha

lol, I don't do 420 listens b/c I mostly have a bad paranoid time rather than a fun chill time, but I could definitely see it working.

What's the 420 thing?

w33d

420-enhanced listening can definitely be key in “getting” this or that band. For instance, Grafeful Dead whilst high I was able to find a way in by focusing on Lesh’s basslines. Also, never was able to get into reggae before I started partaking of the herb.

Aha, of course. Getting st0ned and listening to music should be available on prescription.

the 420 unlock is a new discovery in the growing field of pseudopharmamusicology. early evidence indicates that there are certain recordings that, to a degree that surpasses even the expected enhancement while smoking, can be "420 unlocked"

pretty much the entirety of reelin' in the years is like that for me. suddenly i felt "dirty work" more intensely and personally than ever before

lol, I don't do 420 listens b/c I mostly have a bad paranoid time rather than a fun chill time, but I could definitely see it working.
― emil.y, Tuesday, October 6, 2020 12:52 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Glad it’s not just me. Surely there’s an ILX support group thread for people who like the idea of weed but are incapable of not going from zero to dark whenever they smoke it. I do love how music sounds on weed and I seriously envy people who can be blazed all the time while avoiding gazing into the dark abyss of their soul but I inevitably start hearing weird shit in the music (even instrumental music) and having bad thoughts, no matter what strain I smoke. I keep trying indica dominants because I seek couch lock without the accompanying psychedelic nightmare, but after even one normal hit I almost always freak out.

I don't get Scritti Politti either fwiw

I’m 100% with you and emil.y. Every single one of my attempts at enjoying weed was an anxiety-ridden disaster, like downing a dozen ristrettos in 30 seconds.

Also, I’ve never heard Scritti Politti and I’m not sure I want to.

Surely there’s an ILX support group thread for people who like the idea of weed but are incapable of not going from zero to dark whenever they smoke it.

it depends on where you live and the legal status, but i would strongly recommend trying out the many varieties of tablets that are available. you can get them in little 2.5g doses of THC. personally i don't even detect a difference, due to my vast experience in trying to unlock things. but my partner will take one and feel fantastic. it's basically a way to get a reliable measured dose so you know how much feels good for you. you can also get a version of the same tablet that has 2.5g cbd as well. again, i don't notice cbd because i have leveled up too far, but many people love it

Here’s some that I find make mostly unpleasant music to my ears no matter how much I try to get them:

Run the Jewels
Neutral Milk Hotel // Jeff Mangum
Flume
James Blake
Arca
Death Grips
Tyler, the creator

Big Thief. I don't see the appeal at all. In fact I think they are astoundingly awful. Yet I still try to listen to them every six months to see if my taste has changed.

I’d be a fan if it weren’t for her amateurish singing. Faith in one’s abilities helps, but doesn’t quite cut it.

In a similar vein (is it acceptable for me to say it?), Prince’s Sign of the Times: the sounds that he uses and that digital bass motif, they all just sound real displeasing to my ears. Also, his vocal performance fails to convince me that he truly cares about the things described in the lyrics. In fact, I’ve tried 3 times to listen to that supposedly universally loved stone cold classic but I’ve never made it all the way through. For the record, I own Parade and think it’s great, a lot of fun, his best album by far in my own unpopular opinion.

― rattle, Tuesday, October 6, 2020 9:33 AM

i don't think i've ever disagreed (wtf? sign o the times is awesome!) and agreed (parade kicks fucking ass and is also probably my favorite p album) with a single post so vehemently and completely all at once.

i don't know you rattle, but i'm keeping an eye on you.

also, xp re: scritti politti
there's a very strong cupid and psyche fanbase here and that prompted me to go and try to reassess that one and. . . yeah, nah. i guess i still don't get it because it sounds like extremely overproduced schlock.

as for my contribution to this revive, i'm going to mention something timely —and i may have talked about this on here in the past— the replacements. never understood the appeal whatsoever and when i read glowing reviews of them in the past, it seemed like the reviewer was listening to something completely different than what i was hearing on the record. i think what's most puzzling is that the music isn't really what i would consider "bad"; it's just so. . . bland. there's nothing remarkable about it at all. idgi.

Stink is my fave Replacements fwiw, not so keen on everything afterwards

as for my contribution to this revive, i'm going to mention something timely —and i may have talked about this on here in the past— the replacements. never understood the appeal whatsoever and when i read glowing reviews of them in the past, it seemed like the reviewer was listening to something completely different than what i was hearing on the record. i think what's most puzzling is that the music isn't really what i would consider "bad"; it's just so. . . bland. there's nothing remarkable about it at all. idgi.

100%. You want a smart, witty "heartland" rock band that actually, you know, rocks? Try the Georgia Satellites.

pleased to meet meh rocks

PTTM has a couple of good songs, but overall the Replacements were (and remain, though it's a generational thing - as with REM, their influence, and profile among younger listeners, is effectively nil) one of the most bafflingly overpraised bands of their era.

I’ve never been able to get into them, but most ‘80s “college rock” leaves me cold (Hüsker Dü, Minutemen, etc.). R.E.M. are the big exception.