Quality Music Snobs's topics - tribe.net

Rediscovering "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"

2008-05-16T14:19:22Z

fantastic! Best Genesis album ever.....

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 8 replies

Guilty Pleasures

2008-05-15T17:10:20Z

I have found that I am no longer able to listen to Judas Priest in public. I can't resist singing out loud and gesticulating wildly as Mr. Halford did. Thanks for listening. I knew you guys would understand.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 45 replies

The Super Furry Animals

2008-04-30T11:11:56Z

Well, we've all been ranting about bands we hate... i thought I'd put in a rave for a band I love

These guys are amazing... their first album in particular still blows me away every time I listen to it

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 10 replies

Fave Clash Album

2008-03-10T17:28:00Z

Okay, I've been in a total Joe Strummer mode lately. Just read "Let Fury Have the Hour" (a compendium of essays about Joe, the Clash and, well, stuff) which has driven me back to the Clash records. I can't decide if I like The Clash or London Calling better. (Super) Black Market Clash is close behind 'cause it's so stinking weird, then Sandanista!

Also, L-O-V-E the Mescaleros!

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 6 replies

Elephant 6 radio station on Pandora

2008-03-01T22:33:15Z

Link:

http://www.pandora.com/stations/da92abde2eeea0da4800ae0b88874c15425ba2910f7abf8b

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 2 replies

Control

2008-01-19T13:27:34Z

Go see it.... now. Not later, now!!!

Fantastic!! I was riveted for the entire 2 hours. This could so easily have been botched, but the whole thing fell into the right hands. And the role fell to the right actor. Kudos to you, Sam Riley.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 7 replies

Mekons

2007-12-19T18:53:57Z

Anybody have any recommendations? Favorite albums? Hated albums?
I'm a blank slate when it comes to Mekons, but I just read an article in the August issue of "Paste" that makes me think I'd like them.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 2 replies

i come here often and I wonder if....

2007-12-04T18:19:12Z

Radiohead's "In Rainbows" is quality music for a snob.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 8 replies

Nomadiqa Ethnic Fusion Album Release

2007-11-30T11:19:43Z

Hi Folks,
We recently released our debut album. It's a mix of electronic and arabian styles with some eastern european influences also.

There's four full tracks available to listen online.

http://www.myspace.com/nomadiqa
http://www.nomadiqa.com

Have a listen and see what you think. Sorry for the self-promotion.

Many thanks,

Nomadiqa

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

Yo La Tengo

2007-11-06T17:59:07Z

I got totally lucky the other night and scored a pair of tickets to the Yo La Tengo show here in Seattle Tuesday night. I found them quirky and delightful as ever (though others have lukeish-warm reviews: http://seattlest.com/2007/10/31/its_a_weird_thi.php#more)

Has anyone heard the new album? It's getting even less warm, luke warm reviews.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 3 replies

http://www.last.fm/music/Synchromystickz

2007-11-02T18:13:34Z

http://www.last.fm/music/Synchromystickz

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

Sonny J

2007-11-01T22:09:32Z

British autumn surprice, dance on the leaves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9e_4A7EKoA&eurl

http://www.myspace.com/sonnyjmusic

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

The Woodentops!

2007-10-30T23:10:25Z

*sigh* One of those totally under rated Brit pop bands from the 80s/90s.
I just love the waterdrop sound they have in this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWALNsuz7TU

Well! Word is they are releasing a new album!
http://www.myspace.com/thewoodentops
http://woodentopsmusic.com/woodentops.html

(Forgive me for cross-posting. I only posted in one other tribe which has low volume anyway!)

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 2 replies

some albums i've enjoyed..

2007-10-23T19:42:55Z

#1 Dead Can Dance by Dead Can Dance
#2 Mezzanine by Massive Attack
#3 A Radical Recital by Rasputina
#4 Homogenic by Bjork
#5 Vespertine by Bjork
#6 Telegram by Bjork
#7 The Velvet Underground & Nico by the Velvet Underground
#8 The Mask and MIrror by Loreena McKennitt
#9 Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart
#10 Spleen and Ideal by Dead Can Dance
#11 Wave of Mutilation by The Pixies
#12 Judgement by VNV Nation
#13 Hyaena by Siouxie and the Banshees
#14 Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails
#15 Aeon by Dead Can Dance
#16 Life's Too Good by The Sugarcubes
#17 Carnival of Souls by Miranda Sex Garden (although I need to hear more to really decide..)

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 28 replies

RIP Hilly Kristal

2007-09-01T03:53:45Z

Hilly Kristal...founder of CBGBs passed away

http://music.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=273833&GT1=7702

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

My Favorite Music Blog...

2007-08-30T22:27:24Z

...is Motel De Moka. Each entry is a comprised of a great picture, sometimes an essay, but always a fantastic playlist of the lounge, groove, krautrock variety. Check it out --

http://www.moteldemoka.com/

What's yours?

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 4 replies

rip Lee Hazelwood.....

2007-08-19T18:58:45Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK94tGIb7kQ

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 4 replies

Rihanna

2007-08-17T23:37:49Z

Ok, so I bought this cd based on my immediate love for the Umbrella single and lo & behold - the album is solid all the way through!

There seems to be an eclectic mix of styles on the disc - which I love - and even the "confessional" song doesn't come off as lame as Rihanna talks about some fears, hopes, etc. Sometimes when my girl Mary J. Blige does that stuff I'm like - OK on to the next song - but Rihanna's voice is low and soft in the mix and shrouded by cool effects. There's a great song that kind of reminds me of M.I.A. a teensy bit. Shut Up & Drive sounds like something Shania Twain would've done about 10 years ago, but somehow even that works.

I'm actually suprized that I like it so much - all the way through. I was expecting a couple awesome singles and some filler for the rest but I am quite impressed. A great pop record, with cool beats and SO many hooks.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

au revoir simone

2007-07-28T04:20:50Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFG-cUQ1a8k

add some violin and itd be near perfection!

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

Corrine Bailey Rae

2007-07-25T08:25:24Z

For Xmas I bought myself a bunch of Nina Simone cd's to add to my already large collection, (I'm a huge fan) and I also bought the Corinne Bailey Rae debut cd.

It's nice. I like it.
It doesn't break any new ground, it doesn't rattle any cages, it's not saying anything I haven't heard before, BUT...I like it.

It's...comforting, easy...limber.

There's my review!

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

mp3 source?

2007-07-25T08:22:51Z

So, my favorite mp3 download site, www.allofmp3.com, seems to have finally succumbed to the pressures of of the US government over copyright infringement. Bummer, dude. I already miss the $2 albums they offered. *sigh*

Anybody have a site they really like for buying and downloading mp3s?

btw, I hate drm.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

elvis update

2007-07-20T03:49:29Z

ok, i dunno if i necessarily expect anyone here to really care about this, but some of your responses have got me to thinking a little.

i mentioned before that my dislike of elvis could just be a personal bias. so i was thinking about that a little, & it seems this bias is just something i've held onto for long enough that i don't even remember the reason. i'm still not a fan, though i think i'll give him another chance.

but the bias, i'm thinking, is one of those things like where you get used to thinking you don't like someone & then you continue to not like them w/out any real reason. anyhow, yeah, i'll give him another listen. for that matter i'll even concede that there are a few songs of his that i like.

i still disagree w/his being titled the king of rock & roll. i know that's not his doing...that title might even be the entire basis of my bias against him...so...i guess it...um...might be possible...that...uh...i may've been...uuuummmmmmm...wrong.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 5 replies

The Polyphonic Spree

2007-07-20T01:06:48Z

I saw them last night at the Showbox in Seattle. I'd seen them about 3 years ago and was floored. I was even more floored this time around.

Total spectacle. I've seen hundreds of bands, but noone puts on a show like these guys. I've never seen anything remotely close to it. They are definitely a band for which it's all about the live show.

Sadly, with a 27 piece band, they can't afford to tour often. I believe this is the first time they've been in Seattle since I saw them back in December 2004.

I'd see them again tonight if I could. And tomorrow night, and the night after that, and the night after that, etc, etc

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 13 replies

elvis

2007-07-13T15:29:02Z

(presley)

anyone else think elvis is at least partly to blame for everything bad about music today?

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 21 replies

Strawberry Jam

2007-07-12T16:28:55Z

four new tracks from the new Animal Collective album, Strawberry Jam --
http://www.die-monster.com/?p=165

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

Some Reviews

2007-07-11T03:27:55Z

I posted these in another place,but that tribe seems cold to the touch...so here goes...

Cinematic Orchestra"Ma Fleur"

So what if the first track sounds "coldplayish"(and I despise coldplay),it is still a thing of beauty,a piano driven ballad that sets us off onto a musical journey through a steady yet somehow varied trip through a delicate sounding work that is better heard as a whole.A female vocalist takes over most of the vocal duties after the short intro ballad,and her vocal interplay within the framework of this chamber pop/orchestral pop album works quite well.I honestly have only listened to this a couple times,but I am sure it will be listened to quite a lot over the next few months.The mood is more of an autumn record,or even winter,so surprised by the odd timing of summer release for this,but what do I know?
I am also surprised that is is on ninja tune,since correct me if I am wrong,but I thought Ninja Tune was a more electronic/dance/rap type label.

Boris with Michio Kurihara"Rainbow"

After "Alter"the Boris/sunn o)))collaboration that sounded like a freight train to sabbathville(or maybe sleep/electric wizardville?) roaring,or should I say crawling through the synapses,this is indeed a left turn into another part of the Psych world,a mix of acid rock guitar lick fueled tunes to gentle psych(almost bordering on folky)female vocal enhanced numbers this is a serious ode to late sixties early seventies acid rock,but the kind that you may have never heard on the radio.Put this on and you will just want to stop what you are doing and roll another one,or two.....(funny thing is I do not do drugs or drink,so why do I like this type of stoner fodder so much?go figure)

Grails"Burning off Impurities"

Sounding like a hash induced stoner jam with slight middle eastern tinges thrown in this thing just oozes a resinated sound that makes you want to just sit on a persian rug somewhere in a smoke filled room hitting the hookah.All instrumental,it flows along without ever entering "jam band" territory,just good old fashioned stoned out bliss rock.

Panda Bear"Person Pitch"

A guy I work with at a record store has an amazing knowledge of music,but it is very narrow and shallow,hence he gets upset by the fact that people keep comparing the vocal work on this album to Brian Wilson or the Beach Boys,but I swear(and having read other reviews,I am not alone)this sounds like the Beach Boys filtered through a pop cheese cloth,the music is a strange trippy pop,one that hisses and seethes along like it is sent through a wash of static,and the the aforementioned "beach boys vocals"bring it to another place entirely.

Panda Bear is one of the Animal Collective group if you did not know,and while I have had trouble getting into them so far,I love this piece of pop acid trip,it sounds old and new at the same time,which is no mean feat.Check it out.

Twilight Sad"14 Autumns & 15 Winters

What if My Bloody Valentine took a more twee pop approach and had a singer with a with a thick Scottish brogue and a wall of sound approach to sound?It would be this...my description may not be perfect,but what the hell,I like this album ,from start to finish it never lets up on the sonic onslaught of noise pop .(and yes,I realize My Bloody Valentine already had a wall of sound approach to their sound)

fennesz/sakamoto "cendre"

This cd has been played a lot as I drift off to sleep lately.Ambience with a sparse piano tinkle woven throughout.It is like the aural equivalent of listening to someone absentmindedly plink a piano through a guazey wall of fog.I love this cd to death,and it definitely one of my top picks for the year,and I do not see it going anywhere from that list all year.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 7 replies

Shhh!

2007-07-02T20:22:59Z

Here's Spoon's new album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga --

http://www.theassclowncircus.com/

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

Could This Be The Next British Hullabaloo?

2007-06-23T08:15:04Z

Bats For Lashes - What's A Girl To Do?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1wnOUH2jk8

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 3 replies

Does Mark E. Smith Exist Outside The Fall?

2007-06-15T17:13:32Z

I asked this question in The Fall tribe and got no response. Mark is doing the first non-Fall project I've ever heard of though, Von Sudenfed.
Anybody heard the album yet?
There was a review in the NYTimes last week (look for it soon before it gets archived!) that was generally positive. There are three tracks up on MySpace too.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 8 replies

Soul

2007-06-10T00:04:36Z

So I am a huge fan of soul, its the reason I bought turntables.

I have been reading this book, "Last night a DJ saved my life", which documents the history of DJ'ing, and there is a section devoted to an original style of soul called northern soul.

Anybody else gotten into this yet? I have been downloading some stuff listed in the book, and I really like it.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 9 replies

Warm & Scratchy

2007-05-24T18:25:49Z

Not content to rest on its underground music purveying laurels (ie Dangerdoom), the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim has released Warm & Scratchy, a free downloadable album of songs by some of indie-rocks best and brightest, such as TV On The Radio, The Rapture and Broken Social Scene. Boy do I sound like a commercial. I swear they're not paying me! Check it out--

http://www.adultswim.com/williams/music/warmandscratchy/

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 5 replies

Need a hand...

2007-05-17T21:48:03Z

Hey all, I am part of a cabaret troupe in tucson, AZ.
In the next show, I am doing a neo-burlesque piece in nothing but electrical tape. I have done the number before to Deftones "Change" (Aucustic version), and to Portishead's "Roads". However, this time around I am changing the piece up a bit. Two audience members will be onstage peeling the tape off of me. I think I need a song that has the same sort of feel, but is more uptempo. Or the same tempo, but less morose. Any thoughts?
Thanks so much,
dre

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

The Lily Allen Bandwagon -- Everybody Jump On!

2007-05-01T14:47:49Z

When I first heard about Lily Allen, she had two strikes against her. 1. She came to fame via the dreaded MySpace, 2. She's the latest in the seemingly unending summer-next-big-thing British chicks, like M.I.A. and Lady Sovereign (who I both like, so go figger).

But after listening to her mixtapes, I must admit, I'm hopping on the bandwagon. She's sort of CocoRosie meets The Specials, or The Streets meets Ashley Simpson. As unappealing as that might sound, I have to say that her two mixtapes are some of the best sh*t I've heard in a while. If nothing else, she's got good enough taste to know who to try and sound like.

Take a listen, at the bottom of this review are mp3's of her two mixes. Hop on, while supplies last --

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/lily-allen-alright-still/

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 23 replies

Best Music On Campus

2007-04-29T15:31:09Z

I’ve been following the Best Music on Campus contest and I’m really excited about the last 15 bands. There are some really good bands that represent all genres. I’d have to say Blue Sky Tomorrows is my favorite.
http://www.bestmusiconcampus.com/

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

Hip Hop Snobs

2007-04-12T00:27:52Z

That's right! I'm a hip hop snob, if it's bangin' on constant rotation on Hot 97, it's probably garbage. 99.9% of commercial rap sucks, and like most things that suck these days, it's mostly the fault of big business and the South. Man, I hate the south!

But there are a few bright spots -- the 19 albums a year put out by Kool Keith and MF Doom, El-P's Def Jux label, the UK grime scene.

Any hip hop snobs out there? What are you listening to?

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 73 replies

Bjork Trickling Out Volta Teasers

2007-03-30T15:31:18Z

Bjork Trickling Out Volta Teasers
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/42003-bjork-trickling-out-ivoltai-teasers

Anyone fond of those Kid A blinking bear bits that MTV played back in the day might get a kick out of this. In anticipation of Volta's May 8 unveiling (May 7 overseas; both via One Little Indian/Atlantic), someone from camp Björk is posting little teaser videos and sound clips on the interweb that contain music and lyrics from the album, as confirmed by a Björk spökespjerson.

As reported on Seattle weekly The Stranger's Line Out music blog, a YouTube user called "VoltaVideos" posted a clip called "Earth Intruders"-- also the name of the first single from Volta-- a couple days back. It features some abstract, pulsating images, some music that might be construed as the "universal tribal beat" Björk recently discussed with Pitchfork, and the closing text, "we are the earth intruders."

Not long after that, web-trollers stumbled upon a mysterious MySpace profile belonging to one Gerome Voltaire of "itshardtofindabandname" from Iceland. The page includes four audio clips, each clocking in under 20 seconds: "Thereza Is He", "Denoisering", and the identical, percussion-heavy "O Is for All Ages" and "Oh It Is".

The MySpace also includes two videos similar to the "Earth Intruders" clip. One titled "V" depicts a jittery, out-of-focus image that bears striking resemblance to that colorful flaming Björk photo up there. It includes the words, "did I imagine it would be like this?", set against a lush, ambient track that's soon invaded by light percussion.

A second MySpace video, titled "o", features the same tribal drumming audio as the "O" and "Oh" clips and depicts the statement, "I have been filled with steam/ for months/ for years" atop what appears to be a close-up of another Björk photo.

"What I'm presenting here at the moment," writes the enigmatic Gerome on his MySpace, "is something I recorded at some listening session in Reykjavik with an Icelandic artist, which I then cut up and added noises and images to. I hope she doesn't mind." We'd wager that she probably doesn't.

Assorted videos in the same vein have since appeared on YouTube, including a clip titled "save?" that one might interpret as addressing the heated topic of abstinence: "should I save myself for later/ or generously give?"

So do Timbaland or any of Volta's other guest stars factor into any of these? Your guess is as good as mine. Either way, the rich, relatively organic-sounding (by Björk's standards) tidbits of sound here have us pretty durn stoked.

Catch Björk's stage spectacle, intruding on an Earth venue near you soon.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/42003-bjork-trickling-out-ivoltai-teasers

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

SouthbySouthweststraveganza!

2007-03-22T13:03:57Z

For those of us not lucky enough to have attended the indie music fest in Austin, here's a page with dozens and dozens of mp3's by many of the bands who played this year's SXSW --

http://music.for-robots.com/archives/001906.html

Which ones are your favorites?

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 3 replies

Rehab: The Amy Winehouse Story

2007-03-22T13:01:48Z

This year’s British Wundergirl is the drug-addled, Bono-bashing, soul sensation, Amy Winehouse, and spoiled-celebrity tom-foolery aside, I have to say I’m really impressed. Her new album, Back To Black is actually her second, but this material is less jazz influenced than it’s predecessor and has a sound more reminiscent of 50’s and 60’s doo-wop girl groups that’s really on the money. The single “Rehab” is just fantastic, check it out–
http://theyellowstereo.com/?p=513

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 4 replies

Food Pyramid

2007-03-21T12:44:21Z

I'm going free mp3 crazy!!!

Because I was informed that the copy of Nellie McKay's "Food" on the SXSW post doesn't work, I went a'looking for a replacement and found this, a collection of awesome food related songs by McKay, Zappa, Tom Waits and more. This is really fun --

http://www.selective-service.net/?p=100

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

Real Hip-Hop (poetry vs breaks)

2007-03-19T11:41:55Z

http://www.myspace.com/kpknowledgeispower

I have new songs.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

Iranian hard/progressive rock, Arashk

2007-03-19T09:04:18Z

Hi,

I am Salim, a composer in the Iranian hard/progressive rock band.

We have just released our first album Abrahadabra and I would be very thankful if you spend some time listening to it and share your opinions.

The interesting point here is that actually I have always had problems in defining this album's musical "style" for others... So maybe you could help!!

However that this "problem" may somehow be normal as my own musical taste is extremely versatile!

Cheers,
Salim
Arashk Band
www.arashkband.com

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

Intro - Aloha from Maui

2007-03-17T00:19:26Z

Aloha from Maui! Always looking for new interesting friends to network.

Old-school singer/guitar-player, now performing mostly solo playing classic '60-'70s rock, reggae, R&B, blues, Western ballads,with a twist. I also play sitar, tabla, flute and keyboards.

Demo videos online at... www.thatother.com/video
Mp3 demos at... www.esnips.com/web/joshua-tunes

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

Antony & the Johnsons

2007-03-13T00:46:52Z

Thanks to myspace for doing something other than reuniting me with my old friends - turning me onto some cool music!

I had never heard of this "band" before, but one night I was bored and just keot clicking on interesting pictures in my friends' friends lists and happened upon Antony & The Johnsons. Thank God.

The music is pretty classical, piano, cello, etc. slightly morbid, subversive lyrics and the most awesome, soulful, sad, angelic voice I have heard in a long time.

Anyone into this? I went nuts and ordered everything available online and I have been listening to it all, nonstop.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 3 replies

Besnard Lakes

2007-03-09T05:42:52Z

I am quite liking the new Besnard Lakes...Are the Darkorse cd...kind of like a rocking Low with Beach Boysish harmonies if that makes any sense.

And if you like Twee pop in the Camera Obscura/Belle and Sebastian vein(i.e. Pleasant pop with sweet girlish vocals )check out the Postmarks self titled release.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, are you the destroyer?

2007-03-06T20:25:30Z

By far one of the best albums of the year...and will rank in the top ten by december. I love this album. Highly listenable...wonderfully imaginitive...greatly crafted. I've been in love with this for the past two months. mmmmmm.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

Turntable-less no more...

2007-03-01T19:20:26Z

Well, for a lot of reasons I won't go into, and circumstances beyond my control, I have not had a turntable for about 4 or 5 years, though I have about 200 vinyl albums.

I finally got one yesterday and it's the best investment I've made in a very long time.

The only investment I've made that is better is the vacation trip I am taking next week. ;)

Anyway, I listend to "Avalon" (all the way through) for the first time in years... mmmmmmmmm

Plus CCR "Willie and the Poor Boys", side 1 yes, yes, yes...

And pulled out all my 5 album sets--and I have a lot of them "No. 1 Songs of the 60s"; Greatest Hits of the 70s"; "Legendary Soul Classics", etc etc

The albums I used to use to make mix tapes... some of them I bought just for one or two songs I wanted....

I listened to Clarence Carter "Patches", Arlo Guthrie "City of New Orleans", Orleans "Still the One", Spinners "Rubber Band Man" and etc etc

What a flood of memories came back from the time when I first purchased these records back in the 80s

Tonight I dig into my Kinks collection (I own every album up to 1980, but have only 3 of them on CD)

My new turntable.... hurrah! *laughs*

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 25 replies

The Eraser - Thom Yorke

2007-02-28T17:01:13Z

I just got this cd after of reading SO many glowing reviews and I must say I'm kind of disappointed.
To me, it is sounding like someone tripping out with their AcidPro program and sing/talking a lot of stream-of-consciousness stuff, and I have to say..."Been There, Done That!"
I AM a Radiohead fan...not a huge fan but I have like, three of their albums and have also liked what Mr. Yorke did with U.N.K.L.E. back in the 90's, (Rabbit In Your Headlights, anyone?) So the way the reviews were going for this solo album I was really expecting something totally mind-blowing.
So far I like "Atoms For Peace". The sequenced keyboard balances nicely with Thom's wandering, sometimes falsetto delivery. "And It Rained All Night, " is also quite good. "Harrowdown Hill" is my favorite song so far...Well, let's be honest: all the songs are good...and by that I mean that none are BAD at all. The album actually reminds me a lot of mellow Massive Attack songs - like these could be the lost tracks off the newest cd or something.
Truthfully, the album seems to pique my interest after about track 6...so I guess it would be the "second half" that kind of gets into it's own momentum and then keeps it flowing. If this were an old-school vinly record, then I'd be stuck on side two for sure.
I am not completely dismissing this record. I am just saying that I guess I had higher hopes for it than it actually delivered. I will continue to listen to it and see where it leads me...down the rabbit hole or to the resale bin...we'll see.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

The Shins Newest

2007-02-07T00:05:58Z

I recently purchased The Shins newest cd entitled "Wincing The Night Away".

I'm sure most of us can recall Natalie Portman telling us that the Shins will "Change your life" in the movie Garden State, and the ensuing debate on whether or not the band was actually capable of such a feat. While I'll admit I had the cd of ehr refernce long before the movie came out, but it DID actually come kind of close to changing my *perspective* on life.

I hadn't heard anything so original since I heard the Smiths for the first timne as an only-halfway-jaded youngster of 13 waaaaay back in the early 80's. DO NOT GET ME WRONG - I am not attempting to compare the Smiths with the Shins but the fresh feeling is undeniable. I am not ashamed to admit that the feeling I get from this newest disc is not unlike the open and inviting feeling I got from the Smiths back in my teen years, when I felt like someone included me in his own personal majestic mealncholy and I felt at home.

I'll say it is a catchy album, full of good, sing-songy choruses and replete with obscure and vastly interpretable lyrics that invite innumerable theories. There is also the undeniable quality of the production, because having listened to this cd on a moderately-priced boombox and finding the sonic quality SUPERIOR - I can only surmise that the engineers deserve an applause. You can hear every bubbly note, cool stroke and sharp tap like you were in the studio. It's a lush, yet "juicy" sound. Of course the musicians are to thank for all of those tasty noises but I do want to thank the engineers for not clouding those nuances!

The vocals and lyrics of this album sound much more immediate and personal, even though they are still quite obtuse and esoteric. The feeling is there. If you've ever had this particular brand of melancholy tempered with a *slightly* too-smart-for -your-own-good sensibility, then you'll probably get the gist of this record.

As far as the first Shins cd, while they may not have changed my lfe back then, they have indeed plante the seed that readied me for this cd, whilst changing themsleves...and the resulting cd, "Wincing The Night Away" is fast becoming a contender for a life-changer in my book.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 2 replies

Halley

2007-01-25T21:34:22Z

Years ago when I was using a p2p site that has closed down when the furor over music downloading began(and then came back under a different name as a pay service)I was turned on to a band out of Austin called Halley(this particular p2p site was great that way,it had groups you could join and then turn each other on to music by posting files to the members of a particular group)anyhow,the music grabbed me,it was just so accomplished for a first album,a blend of my bloody valentine wall of noise with a sprinkling of godspeed you black emporer spoken samples spread throughout and an incredible closing 12 minute track that slowly builds to a glorious finale complete with heavenly chorus and then a false ending that sneaks back in 30 seconds after you think it is over...there are still plenty of reviews of this cd on the net..
Halley
Forget the Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us CD
Hooked on Sonics
RECOMMENDED!!! You've heard Halley before. That time you put your CD changer on random, and you heard a cut from The Sophtware Slump, which was then followed by a song from OK Computer, followed quickly by one from Pygmalion, you heard Halley. In the space between these three bands and their you will find Halley, making music, and filling that sonic need you have for beautiful sounds. That description is too easy, as you still haven't quite heard Halley, because they sound like none of those bands.

It is very rare indeed for a band to hit a home run with their debut release. Austin, Texas' Halley have managed such a feat. From the first guitar twiddles of "Adventure of George and the Robbers (record player pt 1)" to the final, epic "Kites Are Slow Downers," Forget the Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us never ceases in its overall purpose. Subdued yet loud; restrained yet noisy, Halley offer nothing but contradiction--beautiful, sweet contradiction. While their excellent use of quiet and loud is on a level not seen since Loveless, please don't sell Halley short by using the term "shoegaze."

See, Halley realized that the key to making a good record was time. Forget The Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us was recorded over the past year and a half, and the effort put in definitly shows. Whereas their contemporaries (such as they are) have taken up a rough, muddy, improvised type of sound, Halley chose to make their sound as grand and as beautiful as possible. The final results? A breathtaking debut album that doesn't reek of amateurism or cause dismissive press-corps thoughts of "well, it's okay, but let's wait until the next record to fully appreciate the band's style"

We think they've succeeded. Take one listen to Forget the Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us, and you will, too. With the end of the year comes year-in-review lists and best-of lists. There's a struggle, to be sure, to fill the list this year. Good, overwhelming, and powerful records have been few and far between this year, and Forget the Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us is a last-minute rookie contender for all of your end of the year lists.

Forget The Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us-sublime, quiet, and epic, coming through the night and shining big and bright. Like the comet, indeed.

Anyhow,after years of only having this on mp3,and searching in vain(their website is now sadly defunct...which I guess means they are no more)I found a new copy of this cd for 9.99 at a local record store....if you can somehow hear this,give it a listen...it is one of my favorites,and sadly,I do not think many people got to hear it.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 2 replies

I bought the new Melvins

2007-01-24T21:45:27Z

and it fucking rocks!

That's my review, by john

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 3 replies

I'm 1 1/2 year too late...

2007-01-21T02:37:04Z

..but 'discovered' yesterday Antony and the Johnsons. Auw auw so painful in beauty.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 2 replies

Kristin Hersh: Learn To Sing Like A Star

2007-01-17T14:53:14Z

Kristin Hersh
Learn to Sing Like a Star
(Yep Roc)
US release date: 23 January 2007
UK release date: 29 January 2007

by Michael Metivier

I wouldn’t put it past a clueless record executive to advise 20-year recording veteran Kristin Hersh to “learn to sing like a star”, but red heaven help them if they actually did, potentially inspiring the title of her seventh solo studio album, and her first since 2003’s The Grotto. The equivalent of telling chef Bobby Flay to study the art of White Castle Chicken Rings, steering the gravel-voiced artist behind Throwing Muses, 50-Foot Wave, and a solo catalog that includes “Your Ghost”, “Gazebo Tree”, and “Your Dirty Answer” down the primrose path of Liz Phair and Jewel before her could only have ended badly. Assuming any truth in that perverse imagined scenario, Learn to Sing Like a Star is the sweetest revenge, further cementing Hersh’s status as one of “alternative” rock’s most valuable all-time players, a songwriter—and yes, singer—of enduring worth to popular music.

With her solo records spanning from the sparse, now-classic Hips and Makers, to a mail-order only release of Appalachian murder ballads and lullabies, to the woozy Howe Gelb- and Andrew Bird-abetted Grotto, one might expect her first release for the Americana-rich Yep Roc stable to continue in stride, but Learn to Sing Like a Star brings the rock of her two aforementioned bands, and how. “Getting up is what hurts,” she roars on “Day Glow”, putting the acoustic guitars to bed in favor of an electric’s percussive throb, strings provided by the McCarricks, and Muses drummer David Narcizo. The song builds, dies down, then swirls up again in a tuneful fury. The opener, “In Shock”, is similarly nervy, backed by rapid-fire piano thumping. “Bitten by a dream state / You are fearless / And your empty arms / Waiting for no one / You wanted to be wanted,” Hersh drawls and rasps about attitude, image, crushes with eyeliner, perhaps.

The album as a whole seems similarly concerned with personality, and personality conflicts. “Sugar Baby” alternates jittery acoustic strumming with watery effects-laden electric wiggles as Hersh sings, “You’re a sight / You look like someone dressed as you.” “Your messing with my head makes a terrible noise,” she sings on the jaunty “Wild Vanilla”, before the wonderfully bizarre admission, “You make the gypsy in me horny for the flower garden.” Such back-and-forth dysfunction recalls the thorny days of mid-’90s confessional rock, which was 90% tiresome, but Hersh’s work comes off neither petty nor petulant. She is the wise, wild woman of the neighborhood, fucking shit up and then putting it in context. Learn to Sing Like a Star is punctuated by several shreds of song that break the flow of anxiety with somber solo guitar (the most excellently titled “Christian Hearse") and empty hall piano ("Piano 1"). Though wordless, these are the vestiges of the more reflective, off-kilter storytelling side of Hersh’s catalog.

“Vertigo” is the album’s highlight, representing in four quick minutes the breadth of Hersh’s various styles and talents. A bit of minstrel-folk guitar plucking weaves in and out, harking back to cuts like “Teeth” and “Heaven”. The song is then drawn into edgy, staccato, beat-driven territory. Violins saw through the air like insect wings. The two sections eventually merge, with Narcizo’s drums underlining both the glossy, baroque guitar figures and the suddenly mellifluous strings. It’s the type of song that can only be written and arranged with considerable experience and exacting knowledge of one’s strengths. Pulling together the dramatic and aggressive tendencies of literate post-punk with a deep love for folk tradition, “Vertigo” ranks amongst Hersh’s best and most original work. Likewise, the closing “The Thin Man” is a beautiful slow-builder that incorporates chant-like backward piano and Peter Buck-style “soloing”, taking traditional rock instruments and turning them inside-out, fusing old with new to make an improvement on new. When you can do that on your own terms, why would you ever want to sing like a star?

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/9668/kristin-hersh-learn-to-sing-like-a-star/

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

Year end top tens?

2006-12-29T04:44:20Z

This tribe has been pretty quiet as of late,thought I would wake it up,I have a box of unopened cds next to me,that I will be listening to over the next week or so while I am on work hiatus,and adding some or not to the few I have in mind for my own top ten list,I know the holidays have some of you busy,but let's get some lists up here over the next few weeks.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 8 replies

James Brown is dead.

2006-12-28T08:55:01Z

Dead like fried chicken :)

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 5 replies

Dead Moon dead?

2006-12-13T19:46:38Z

Personally, I think we haven't seen the end of Fred, Toody and, aw, crap, I can never remember the drummers name. But it's still troublesome to think I may never see them perform again. Zoinks! They're an insti-ma-tution!

http://localcut.wweek.com/?p=1028

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 9 replies

Schizophrenia and more...

2006-12-11T20:38:46Z

Two great YouTube videos...

Young@Heart sing 'Schizophrenia' by Sonic Youth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBeFL3qI-n8

Whisper Pitch by Stereolab
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r2j9Oz4UjI

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

Best of 2006

2006-12-08T16:47:12Z

It's here, the Devastator Jr. Awards 2006--
http://rateyourmusic.com/list/DevastatorJr/the_devastator_jr__awards_2006_/

Rate Your Music Too!

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

Connecticut's For F*cking!

2006-12-04T17:55:14Z

from my blog...

Connecticut’s For F*cking!

As you might well imagine, there weren’t many perks to growing up in Connecticut, most of them having to do with being wedged between Boston and New York. But apparently I’m an idiot, because according to Jesus H. Christ and the Four Horsemen, a hilarious new band, there’s a whole lot of f*cking going on in the ol’ Constitution State. Where the hell was I?

In any event, here’s a link to the aforementioned, I’m positive soon-to-be-smash-hit, by Jesus H. Christ and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, “Connecticut’s For F*cking”. Enjoy!

iguessimfloating.blogspot.com/200...html

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

Beck: Bum Fuck Iowa!

2006-12-03T23:38:05Z

Howdy neighbors!

Using this ingenious method of Googling mp3's as detailed in Nerdy Music Swapping Junkies( http://tribes.tribe.net/nerdymusicjunkies/thread/80db5579-65fd-42a5-b0a8-8e272f8eee6e?newpostingid=82bbec28-70d6-453d-9d69-a8dd4dad346a#82bbec28-70d6-453d-9d69-a8dd4dad346a )

I discovered this hilarious early demo album by the world's funkiest Scientologist, Beck. It's called "Bum Fuck Iowa", and features classic hits like "Fuck You Up And Get High" and "Satan Was Way Cool".

Free mp3's ripe for the pickin'. Act now while supplies last-- http://www.rexella.org/mp3s/beck%20-%20buck%20fuck%20iowa/

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 45 replies

Pavement : Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition -- Review

2006-11-30T19:53:04Z

Pitchfork go all weepy eyed again, but this time, it's understandable, Pavement ist rad. I'm going right out to get this, most brilliant of all stupid albums, right after I rock the vote...

Pavement
Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
[Matador; 2006]
Rating: 9.3

Stephen Malkmus writes in the liner notes of the expanded 2xCD reissue of Wowee Zowee that many of his friends like this Pavement record best. In 2006, that's not a crazy notion: Wowee Zowee was Pavement's White Album, a little bit of everything thrown together, and as with the Beatles' double, its adherents prefer the band at its loosest, funniest, and most willing to do whatever pops into their heads.

But I wonder what S.M.'s friends thought when WZ was released in April 1995. Press reviews at the time were mixed, and a lot of Pavement fans were disappointed. After the faintly commercial move of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, with its alt-rock hit single and coherent set of fully realized songs, Wowee Zowee seemed a retreat, a record that took the slacker ethos to heart and didn't bother much with songwriting. It possessed none of the key virtues of their first two full-lengths. Slanted and Enchanted, like the singles that preceded it, was unfocused but filled with mystery, a cloudy shape outlining a great band in the process of becoming. And CR, CR was clear and direct, bursting with melody, the sound of vast potential and supreme confidence fully realized. But Wowee Zowee was scattered, jokey, maybe even trivial; the band had tipped its hand and some were seeing a bluff.

But further listens and passing time improved the sound of Wowee Zowee. The original A, stretching from "We Dance" to "Serpentine Pad", may be the best album side they ever managed. And the strangely effective construction of Malkmus' songs bring to mind a question that wasn't asked the first time around: What if he wasn't screwing around, but instead was bored with where he'd been and looking for a new songwriting language? He found one, at any rate, and it all centered on his guitar. Malkmus never played better than he did here, though he didn't solo much. Instead, he let the guitar serve as the duet partner that Spiral Stairs never was, using breathtakingly melodic lines to serve as a chorus of sorts on "Black Out", "Grounded", "Pueblo", and "Flux=Rad"; all have a guitar part at their center in a place where another songwriter might have put a vocal hook.

The best songs on Wowee Zowee are slower and more meandering than what came before, and only give a passing glance to things like chorus, bridge, or meaning. As far as the latter, Malkmus was obviously picking words mostly by how they sounded, which by and large worked out great. An occasional line pops out and you're not sure if it's great or terrible-- "Pick out some Brazilian nuts for your engagement/ Check the expiration date, man, it's later than you think" from "We Dance" springs to mind, sung in a faux-Brit accent reminiscent of the Frogs-- but you wind up remembering those phrases, and the melodies in which they're wedged.

There are a few throwaways-- don't have much use for "Extradition", "Fight this Generation", and "Western Homes"-- but such goofs were part and parcel with Pavement, at least up to this point. Their final two records would contain only fleshed-out songs and are accordingly less favored by fans. Wowee Zowee was also the first and only time Spiral Stairs had a song ("Kennel District") that, though much more conventional, was every bit as good as anything Malkmus managed.

As with the reissues of their first two records, this edition of Wowee Zowee comes with non-album B-sides rounding out the first disc, and a second CD of outtakes, radio shots, live songs, and compilation tracks. With the main album including an additional half-dozen songs compared to its predecessors, the quality of the B-sides is suspect compared to previous Pavement reissues-- though "Kriss Kraft" and "Mussle Rock (Is a Horse in Transition)" (the second best song Spiral Stairs ever wrote) are easily good enough to fit on the album proper, and the entire Pacific Trim EP borders on great.

Disc 2 is a tougher slog. Some of the compilation tracks are good-- "Sensitive Euro Man" from the I Shot Andy Warhol soundtrack has an easy tunefulness, and "No More Kings" from the Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks compilation reveals Pavement as the primo interpreters of Generation X arcana, making the educational cartoon song sound like something the band wrote, thick with a playful sense of nostalgia. But I can't imagine why anyone would prefer alternative versions of songs like "Kris Kraft", "I Love Perth" (both live in BBC studios), "Heaven Is a Truck", or "Best Friend's Arm" (live in Australia). But these misses are keeping, I suppose, with the spirit of Matador's ambitious reissue project, so we have to take the bad with the good. And when you're talking Pavement in 1995 and 1996, there's no question, you're talking very, very good.

-Mark Richardson, November 06, 2006
http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/39532/Pavement_Wowee_Zowee_Sordid_Sentinels_Edition

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 3 replies

Waits on TV tonight

2006-11-27T23:49:51Z

Through the grapevine I heard that Waits is on Letterman tonight.
Also heard that he's on The Daily Show, maybe tomorrow.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

Bollywood For The Skeptical

2006-11-27T17:02:46Z

I posted this elsewhere, but what the heck, let freedom ring!

Bollywood for the Skeptical --
http://www.davidboyk.com/bollywood/

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

Radiohead Marching Band

2006-11-14T20:03:53Z

I would totally do this if I had a marching band!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ljx-2fDixA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpsTW-UUTkA&NR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5uzaNJYzKE

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

Bishop Allen!!!

2006-11-13T15:08:12Z

need I say more? good gawd they're good... I just saw them live tonight WOW!

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 2 replies

Quite possibly the most entertaining record review ever

2006-11-04T16:26:17Z

One of the most entertaining and succint reviews I've ever read.

http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/38853

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 4 replies

The Fall Quote Generator

2006-11-01T19:38:50Z

"Winston Churchill had a speech imp-p-p-pediment/ And look what he did/ Erased half of London..."

Fun for children of all ages, it's The Fall Quote Generator--

http://members.tripod.com/~GColeman/quote.html

"Turn that bloody blimey space invader machine off!"

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

50 Albums That Changed Music

2006-10-29T04:14:12Z

As it appears that this Tribe has been slumbering lately (and who can blame it given the weather) I'm posting The Observer's Top 10 Albums That Changed Music, which contents that although the Album Chart, celebrating it's 50th this month, tracks the history of pop, only a select few records have actually altered the course of music. For the other 40, here's the link: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1821196,00.html

1 The Velvet Underground and Nico
The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)
Though it sold poorly on its initial release, this has since become arguably the most influential rock album of all time. The first art-rock album, it merges dreamy, druggy balladry ('Sunday Morning') with raw and uncompromising sonic experimentation ('Venus in Furs'), and is famously clothed in that Andy Warhol-designed 'banana' sleeve. Lou Reed's lyrics depicted a Warholian New York demi-monde where hard drugs and sexual experimentation held sway. Shocking then, and still utterly transfixing.

Without this, there'd be no ... Bowie, Roxy Music, Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Jesus and Mary Chain, among many others.

2 The Beatles
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

There are those who rate Revolver (1966) or 'the White Album' (1968) higher. But Sgt Pepper's made the watertight case for pop music as an art form in itself; until then, it was thought the silly, transient stuff of teenagers. At a time when all pop music was stringently manufactured, these Paul McCartney-driven melodies and George Martin-produced whorls of sound proved that untried ground was not only the most fertile stuff, but also the most viable commercially. It defined the Sixties and - for good and ill - gave white rock all its airs and graces.

Without this ... pop would be a very different beast.

3 Kraftwerk
Trans-Europe Express (1977)

Released at the height of punk, this sleek, urbane, synthesised, intellectual work shared little ground with its contemporaries. Not that it wanted to. Kraftwerk operated from within a bubble of equipment and ideas which owed more to science and philosophy than mere entertainment. Still, this paean to the beauty of mechanised movement and European civilisation was a moving and exquisite album in itself. And, through a sample on Afrika Bambaataa's seminal 'Planet Rock', the German eggheads joined the dots with black American electro, giving rise to entire new genres.

Without this... no techno, no house, no Pet Shop Boys. The list is endless.

4 NWA
Straight Outta Compton (1989)

Like a darker, more vengeful Public Enemy, NWA (Niggaz With Attitude) exposed the vicious realities of the West Coast gang culture on their lurid, fluent debut. Part aural reportage (sirens, gunshots, police radio), part thuggish swagger, Compton laid the blueprint for the most successful musical genre of the last 20 years, gangsta rap. It gave the world a new production mogul in Dr Dre, and gave voice to the frustrations that flared up into the LA riots in 1992. As befits an album boasting a song called 'Fuck tha Police', attention from the FBI, the Parents' Music Resource Centre and our own Metropolitan Police's Obscene Publications Squad sealed its notoriety.

Without this ... no Eminem, no 50 Cent, no Dizzee Rascal.

5 Robert Johnson
King of the Delta Blues Singers (1961)

Described by Eric Clapton as 'the most important blues singer that ever lived', Johnson was an intensely private man, whose short life and mysterious death created an enduring mythology. He was said to have sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in Mississippi in exchange for his finger-picking prowess. Johnson recorded a mere 29 songs, chief among them 'Hellhound on My Trail', but when it was finally issued, King of the Delta Blues Singers became one of the touchstones of the British blues scene.

Without this ... no Rolling Stones, Cream, Led Zeppelin.

6 Marvin Gaye
What's Going On (1971)

Gaye's career as tuxedo-clad heart-throb gave no hint he would cut a concept album dealing with civil rights, the Vietnam war and ghetto life. Equally startling was the music, softening and double-tracking Gaye's falsetto against a wash of bubbling percussion, swaying strings and chattering guitars. Motown boss Berry Gordy hated it but its disillusioned nobility caught the public mood. Led by the oft-covered 'Inner City Blues', it ushered in an era of socially aware soul.

Without this ... no Innervisions (Stevie Wonder) or Superfly (Curtis Mayfield).

7 Patti Smith
Horses (1975)

Who would have thought punk rock was, in part, kickstarted by a girl? Poet, misfit and New York ligger, Patti channelled the spirits of Keith Richards, Bob Dylan and Rimbaud into female form, and onto an album whose febrile energy and Dionysian spirit helped light the touchpaper for New York punk. The Robert Mapplethorpe-shot cover, in which a hungry, mannish Patti stares down the viewer, defiantly broke with the music industry's treatment of women artists (sexy or girl-next-door) and still startles today.

Without this ... no REM, PJ Harvey, Razorlight. And no powerful female pop icons like Madonna.

8 Bob Dylan
Bringing it All Back Home (1965)

The first folk-rock album? Maybe. Certainly the first augury of what was to come with the momentous 'Like a Rolling Stone'. Released in one of pop's pivotal years, Bringing it All Back Home fused hallucinatory lyricism and, on half of its tracks, a raw, ragged rock'n'roll thrust. On the opening song, 'Subterranean Homesick Blues', Dylan manages to pay homage to the Beats and Chuck Berry, while anticipating the surreal wordplay of rap.

Without this ... put simply, on this album and the follow-up, Highway 61 Revisited, Dylan invented modern rock music.

9 Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley (1956)

The King's first album was also the first example of how to cash in on a teenage craze. With Presleymania at full tilt, RCA simultaneously released a single, a four-track EP and an album, all with the same cover of Elvis in full, demented cry. They got their first million dollar album, the fans got a mix of rock-outs like 'Blue Suede Shoes', lascivious R&B and syrupy ballads.

Without this ... no King, no rock and roll madness, no Beatles first album, no pop sex symbols.

10 The Beach Boys
Pet Sounds (1966)

Of late, Pet Sounds has replaced Sgt Pepper's as the critics' choice of Greatest Album of All Time. Composed by the increasingly reclusive Brian Wilson while the rest of the group were touring, it might well have been a solo album. The beauty resides not just in its compositional genius and instrumental invention, but in the elaborate vocal harmonies that imbue these sad songs with an almost heartbreaking grandeur.

Without this ... where to start? The Beatles acknowledged its influence; Dylan said of Brian Wilson, 'That ear! I mean, Jesus, he's got to will that to the Smithsonian.'

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 23 replies

PUNK is coming AGAIN!

2006-10-29T03:35:27Z

for you quality fanzine/magazoon snobs: New issue out soon. nice piece on Johnny Heff of the Bullys: punk rock's first hero. Also more hilarity and levity from the usual gang of boy scouts.
www.punkmagazine.com
Nuf sed,
a Friend
(your denmom that is)
NB: Johnny Heffernan of the Bullys was a fireman: he ran like a champ into tower 1 on 9/11/01.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 4 replies

Best Show of The Year!!!

2006-10-24T15:58:41Z

Ok guys, I know the year's not up yet, but let's talk anyway. What was the best live show you've been to this year? For me, it's a toss up between--

Broken Social Scene at Webster Hall (NYC)

and

Spankrock with special guest M.I.A. at McCarren Pool (Brooklyn)

How about you?

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 7 replies

LA Punk photos

2006-10-21T17:16:51Z

Back in 1981-82 I was a photographer/writer for a punk rock magazine/fanzine called Being There. While they never got around to paying me for anything and it went out of business before the second issue came out, the business card they gave me was enough to get me in for free to a ton of shows at the various venues -- The Whiskey, The Starwood, etc. in Hollywood. Recently I've started a long, slow process of scanning the negatives I took back then into my computer. I've posted a handful of photos to my Flickr gallery. If you have any interest, please take a look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanpfd/sets/72157594329353660/detail/

-Alan

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 3 replies

Heavy metal vital statistics

2006-10-12T15:37:53Z

I ran across this site last night and was up unitl 4:00 a.m. reading through it. It's a groupie's guide to the proportions of all your favorite heavy metal musicians. Utterly hilarious with a tinge of pathetic around the edges. At last a reason to be glad that I didn't become a rock and roll star.

http://www.metalsludge.tv/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=54

-Alan

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

Rock show at the Concert-Ga-Bo!!!

2006-10-12T15:29:45Z

Going to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! tonight at the Showbox in Seattle, WA. (capacity 1000) Hooray!!!

Just over a year ago I saw them at the Crocodile (capacity 300ish).

what a difference a year makes

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 10 replies

Love "Forever Changes"

2006-10-12T04:03:45Z

got in the way back machine yesterday and listened to this gem of an album. Still sounds great to me

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 4 replies

Benton Harbor Blues Video

2006-09-23T12:50:39Z

As big a cheerleader I am for the Fiery Furnaces, I'm also the first to admit they're not the easiest band to get into. Their music can be maddeningly baroque, smashing everything togethor from blues, prog rock, jazz, electronica, and even hip hop beats into a demented Barnum & Bailey circus train wreck. Most people either love it or hate it.

That being said, this song and video from their latest album, Benton Harbor Blues is uncharacteristically elegant and restrained, and maybe a nice introduction. Check it out --

http://www.thefieryfurnaces.com/video.htm#

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

The Buddha Machine

2006-09-11T23:50:19Z

Anyone check this gizmo out?Simple little plastic ambient sound box,just got mine in the mail today,and I am thinking it will make a nice white noise type generator for when I am sleeping in the daytime(since I work nights)to help drown out minor outside sounds...need to play with it more...novelty or genius?toy or creative marketing?.....what do you all think?

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 19 replies

Sleater-Kinney Disbands

2006-09-10T05:49:58Z

This was totally news to me. Good for them for going out on top of their game. Too bad for us fans!

http://www.seattleweekly.com/music/0633/barstool.php

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 6 replies

What Made Milwaukee Famous

2006-09-01T18:12:54Z

Just wanted to put this on everyone's radar.

www.whatmademilwaukeefamous.com (three songs for streaming).

I grew up singing in talent shows and musicals with the lead singer/guitarist. They just released their first albulm on Barsuk last week (Home of They might be giants, john Vanderslice, and Death Cab)

pretty ecclectic shit, I thought some of you might dig it.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 3 replies

American Analog Set

2006-08-31T13:21:58Z

Okay, I see some familiar faces 'round here and lotso new ones. As I've said to many of you before, since moving to SF and getting into obsure german minimal tech (don't ask,) I'm not as indie proficient as I used to be BUT.....

I had the good fortune of visiting some good friends in Silver Lake (hipster LA) a few weeks back and they stacked my I-Pod so as to ensure I don't fall behind. THE POINT:

Is it me or does this band just sound like a Yo la Tengo retread?????

I actually dig it. In the way I dig interpol regardless of their joy division likeness... just wondering if you guys felt similarly. and yes, their one of my newly acquired bands.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

Love Will Tear Us Apart (Again and Again and Again)

2006-08-29T23:34:34Z

It’s the future, 2006, and I am your very own George Jetson. I get my meals from the foodarackacycle and get paid (though not very well), to sit here all day pushing buttons, and then have the nerve to complain about my sore button-pushing finger. Ahh well, where’s Uniblab when you need him?

Anyway, here’s something my little finger just found. A billion and one covers of Joy Divisions classic “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, by many many bands famous and not so – It’s a veritable cornucopia of misery and self-pity. Enjoy-- http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/2006/05/love-will-tear-us-apart.html

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 2 replies

GREAT BANDS....and Their WORST albums.

2006-08-28T22:24:24Z

list em.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 23 replies

When excess isn't enough

2006-08-27T16:21:49Z

Right across the street from my house is a place called Bookoff that sells used stuff. It started as a used book store, but now they sell used DVDs, video games, CDs and god knows what else. Well, I was on my way to the supermarket when I noticed a sign on the door saying that there was a sale on used CDs. In addition to tons of Japanese pop CDs, they also have a large collection of Western popular music, much of which they were selling at between $1-$2.50 each. I took a quick look around and bought twelve albums. Once I got home, I decided there had to be more, so I went back with a pad of paper and noted down every interesting looking CD I could find, and while I was at it, bought six more albums. Then I went home and spent three hours on Allmusic.com checking to see if any of the titles had good reviews. Finally I went back a third time and ended up buying another 50 albums. I really need to be institutionalized. The result is that I ended up with two albums I already had, three albums that I am very embarrassed to own (guess what they are and win a prize) and 63 other albums that it will take at least a year to listen to. I think this is the music addiction equivalent of passing out drunk in the gutter. I've hit rock bottom, I need help.
-Alan

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 7 replies

Megatop Phoenix

2006-08-27T11:29:27Z

Does anyone have a copy of this hard to find cd, tape or vinyl by Big Audio Dynamite?
I would be willing to negotiate for a burn, dub or purchase!
Cheers!

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 3 replies

NPR: All Songs Considered

2006-08-24T18:36:11Z

How the hell did NPR get so hip?

Here are a bunch of great live recordings by some of today’s best indie bands.
So far my favorites were Neko Case, Man Man, and of course, them durned Fiery Furnaces. Check it out!

http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/#top

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 2 replies

New here

2006-08-24T17:51:01Z

Hi, I'm Alan and, man, is this the place for me. I've got 28,791 songs in my iTunes library in about two dozen genres from Alternative to Zydeco. I'm never quite sure how to answer when people ask me what kind of music I like. I mean, basically, I like it all. Yoroshiku.
-Alan

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 15 replies

Idlewild

2006-08-17T16:16:27Z

One reason not to hate myspace is that they let you listen to music. Here's the new outkast, due in stores 8/22:

http://www.myspace.com/outkast

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 4 replies

Broader Than Broadway (Lost track)

2006-08-15T08:58:51Z

I post this question already on jungle/drum n bass tribes but unfortunately no one could help me. Maybe I have more luck over here:

It must be around the mid nineties I heard a fantastic (ragga) jungle version of Barrington Levy - "Broader than Broadway"/ "Here I come". Anybody knows who did it?

Thanks
s

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 2 replies

Who wants CDs?

2006-08-12T14:29:27Z

I have CDs to give away,posting at my cost. QUALITY music. Whoever wants them write to: starcrazy969@hotmail.com Tha

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 0 replies

RIP Arthur Lee

2006-08-07T14:00:27Z

Sad to have to report as there was a benefit for him just this June.

http://lovewitharthurlee.com/

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 1 reply

New York Dolls reunion album

2006-07-27T23:51:40Z

I've always been a huge NY Dolls fan.Too Much Too Soon is one of my all-time favorite albums. So when I saw the new Dolls album on sale at Tower Records in LA. I grabbed it. I've only listened to about half of it so far and my first impression is that it sounds more like a David Johansen album than a proper Doll album, but it definitely doesn't seem to suck. More when I get the chance to listen more carefully.
Anyway, what really frustrates me is that when I bought the CD, they gave me a wristband that would get me in on Friday when the Dolls play at Tower Records. And there was no way I could stay in LA until Friday. Damn!!
-Alan

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 4 replies

Favorite back to back songs on an album

2006-07-27T14:53:57Z

This was the subject of a recent mailing by my local cd store,and I thought it might make for an interesting subject here....

One of my favorite back to back song thing is on Enos Here Come the Warm Jets....

The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch/Baby's on Fire,the way they segue is a nice transition to me,and the fact that I do enjoy both songs a great deal helps.

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 17 replies

The Madcap's last Laugh

2006-07-11T21:39:04Z

Syd Barrett died. I didn't see cause of death in the obit.
" . . . his death brings to an end one of the most enigmatic and saddest stories in rock’n’roll."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2265488,00.html

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 4 replies

Gram Parsons

2006-07-05T19:24:42Z

Anyone seen Fallen Angel, the new bio/doc on Gram Parsons? I thought it was very well done and really tried to capture all points of view. I'm curious to know what others think about it?

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 6 replies

Damn, this band was once great!

2006-07-01T01:57:33Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTHgr19CaRk

posted in Quality Music Snobs - 3 replies