What MUSIC are you listening to? ARCHIVE

The thing with corpsepaint and stuff is that they work perfectly on a poorly focused amateur photo taken with a shitty analog camera in a forest or some catacombs, preferably xeroxed three times, and placed on the cover of a cassette demo, in the early 90s. They are absolutely ridiculous in any other circumstances.

Also, don't get me started on the funniest aspect of black metal culture, when the TRVE(TM) black metal fans accuse bands like Liturgy and Deafheaven of being "posers" for not looking and sounding exactly like early Darkthrone and not claiming to be Satanists. Because apparently nothing says "not poser" better than slavishly recycling other people's ideas while wearing costumes and makeup, and pretending to be something you are not.

wice wrote:

Scandinavian blackened crust for the win!

This is just making me want to listen to more Tragedy. Which is a damn fine thing to do.

I've been listening to the new-ish Oathbreaker record a lot lately. They ain't breaking a lot of new ground or anything but it's pretty crushing.

Some of my friends just started a new band Oughts, and the demo has some really awesome bits. Very Dinosaur Jr/Husker Du vibes. Oughts Bandcamp

I've been on a Motown-type kick as of late...Gadys Knight and the Pips, Al Green, Ray Charles, Supremes, Temptations, Marvin Gaye, The Spinners, Aretha Franklin. That and Blues, over New Years there was a Crossroads Festival marathon on one of the TV music stations and that was on for at least eight hours as we took down the tree and packed up Christmas.

EDIT: HA!!! I have Pandora on as I pay bills at work and that Smokey Robinson song "You Really Got A Hold on Me" comes on...Every time I hear the song I flash back to a traumatizing moment of my childhood watching a big letter "U" basically groping and being close to raping Smokey on Sesame Street. Never did Sesame Street creep me out more.

You can't beat Al Green and Marvin Gaye. Two of the finest voices ever in popular music.

I don't think there is a better example of R&B music than "What's Going On". The songs on there are just extraordinary. The arrangements are impeccable. The performances are as good as it gets. And there's an edge to it, especially because at the time he was writing about very topical social and personal issues- not the usual R&B fare at all. I mean, can you imagine any R&B singer of the past 30 years singing about "fish full of mercury"?

I saw Al Green about ten years ago, it was awesome. He came out in a white suit, dancing and just totally into the music after all these years.

You should listen to some Sam Cooke too, some really awesome stuff. And Wilson Pickett. Joe Tex. Early Stevie Wonder. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Great, great music. Such a wonderful heritage of music classic soul and R&B represents. It's a shame most of it from the past several decades has been so terrible.

Randomly was reminded of this song today:



Very dark lyrics about a bad place that most people haven't heard about.

So I love Marvin Gaye, and his albums are more consistent, songwriting, etc, but I think the best R+B singer of all time is Bill Withers. The reason why is that Bill Withers never oversings, or showboats. There is never a moment that I've ever heard, on any Withers album, of oversinging. It's the biggest problem with R+B, in my opinion, this "cred" problem where you have to constantly push your voice to breaking.

Some friends and I have started doing a kinda-sorta music podcast together, so it's pushed me to expand what I listen to, since I'm naturally one to listen to the same kind of stuff over and over.

- Been listening to a lot of The Hives, who aren't really new to me at all. Still a lot of fun though.

- Too True, the new album by Dum Dum Girls is really good. I think a lot of people here would enjoy it.

- One guy on the podcast suggested Haim, and I've had their song "The Wire" racing through my head for the better part of two weeks.

Whatever happened to The Hives, they were a fun act. Had some really good garagey singles- "Main Offender", "Hate to Say I Told You So"...they wore those big ass Hermes belts with the H on them...WHERE ARE THEY NOW

They did the Black & White Album back in 2007, then went dark until 2012. The album they did then, Lex Hives, is pretty good, though I haven't had a ton of time with it.

This will sound hipster-ish of me (said the board game critic), but I feel like the last two albums have a little more muscle behind the production that paradoxically removes some of their power. Tyrannosaurus Hives is a really great album because it just sounds so caffeinated. It's like they need to get they catchy songs out right this moment, and cannot wait any longer. When you start to beef up that sound, it pushes a little closer to jock rock territory.

I like the new(er) stuff, I really do. But it doesn't have quite the same intensity to me.

Having said that, they still have that wonderful rock band attitude, with the uniforms and goofy names and possibly made-up band history. I love that they have a bassist who goes by Dr. Matt Destruction. There's a kind of gleefully dumb quality to their songs that has no patience for subtlety and nuance.

I have been having a love affair with the DFA Remix of Blues Explosion's MARS, ARIZONA.

I saw Blues Explosion once a long, long time ago. Not long after Pussy Galore. Might have been the first Blues Explosion tour, actually. He was TORE up. After every song, he hollered "BLUES EXPLOSION!"

Dum Dum Girls have some REALLY awesome tracks but I can't just listen to any of the records straight through. Just way too much filler that gets away from them having such tight hooks.

I've always really liked the Hives and their not taking themselves so serious made them stand out from the pack of "we're here to save rock n roll" garage revival bands that were just such pretentious dicks about "real rock" that it killed a lot of their appeal for me. Jack White can write some fucking hits, but jesus does he come off like a douche bag sometimes.

I've been listening to lots of hip hop and metal lately, in preparation for some projects I'm working on, but mostly I've been listening to these two weekend warrior cover song artists who sing in a pizza parlour. I'm not kidding.



I just can't stop. That singer sure has a set of pipes on him (and looks just like Louis CK) ... that last chorus gets me every time. I kind of forgot about this song which I did love when I was 10 but I find it aged really well. I actually like it more now than I did at the time.

Right now I'm listening to the Glitch Mob. They are pretty damn awesome.

MattLoter wrote: I've always really liked the Hives and their not taking themselves so serious made them stand out from the pack of "we're here to save rock n roll" garage revival bands that were just such pretentious dicks about "real rock" that it killed a lot of their appeal for me. Jack White can write some fucking hits, but jesus does he come off like a douche bag sometimes.

Jack White definitely has a pretentious streak a mile wide, but I can (and have) spent weeks on end listening to nothing but his music. The White Stripes are basically my favorite band ever, and the second Raconteurs album feels like a checklist of all my favorite rock tropes. His solo album was just terrific too.