General Music Discussion Thread (a.k.a. indie lovefest)

[SL__72]

AC last night = way better then the Editors tonight. Still, they played pretty well and it was fun.

[secretprankster]

I still like Graduation a lot, though it's his worst, but was surprised Pitchfork liked it so much. I guess there are no real clunkers but some of the songs are really off. Awesome beats though.

Got Decemberists tickets for November.

[20Five]

I recently have got my hands on the Beastie Boys - The Mix Up disc, and have been pretty much hooked on it for the past few days. These guys have been putting awesome music together for so long, I hope they never stop!

[Claunchy]

Just got back from the National/St. Vincent show.

St. Vincent: Let me preface this by saying Marry Me is in first place on my most-listened to albums on last.fm. I really really love that album.

Anyway, it was just her by herself with a guitar (well, like 4, but only one at a time ldo), some kind of sample-playing machine thing that she kept hitting with a stick, two microphones (one normal, one fuzzy-sounding), and a s-load of various effects pedals. It was pretty crazy watching her keep up with everything, but honestly it might have been a better show if she had a full band with her.

Most of the songs sounded almost nothing like they do on the album because of the limited instrumentation, but she did a really good job with it. She did a cool cover of Dig a Pony too, which definitely pleased my Beatles-loving girlfriend.


The National was [censored] awesome live. Way better than I thought they'd be. They jammed a lot more live than they do on their albums, which was cool. The frontman is way too pretty to have such a cool voice. He should be some grizzled-looking mofo IMO.

Anyway, I give the show an A- all in all, and as awesome as I'm sure they were, I don't really regret skipping Wilco.

[Marwan]

Ted Leo's on tour right now, I'll probably go to the Toronto gig, haven't seen them live before and 15 bucks seems like a steal nowadays. Has anyone seen them live? any good?

Living with the Living, yay or nay? I like it, maybe too many songs about the war.. my fave album is still Shake the Sheets, so damn catchy

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

Ted puts on a great live show, simply by virtue of playing their instruments well and having all the levels set well. It's just like listening to the songs on an album, I suppose, but the energy is always high and that's what makes it so great. Also, you might get to see Ted Leo draw blood from himself if he plays Ballad of the Sin Eater.

For $15, I would definitely go see him. (I think I've seen Ted Leo 3 or 4 times.)

I think Living with the Living is better than Shake the Sheets as a whole, but some of the singles on Shake the Sheets are better than LwtL. Hearts of Oak and Tyranny of Distance are both great too, though.

[nath]

[ QUOTE ]
Just got back from the National/St. Vincent show.

St. Vincent: Let me preface this by saying Marry Me is in first place on my most-listened to albums on last.fm. I really really love that album.

Anyway, it was just her by herself with a guitar (well, like 4, but only one at a time ldo), some kind of sample-playing machine thing that she kept hitting with a stick, two microphones (one normal, one fuzzy-sounding), and a s-load of various effects pedals. It was pretty crazy watching her keep up with everything, but honestly it might have been a better show if she had a full band with her.

Most of the songs sounded almost nothing like they do on the album because of the limited instrumentation, but she did a really good job with it. She did a cool cover of Dig a Pony too, which definitely pleased my Beatles-loving girlfriend.


The National was [censored] awesome live. Way better than I thought they'd be. They jammed a lot more live than they do on their albums, which was cool. The frontman is way too pretty to have such a cool voice. He should be some grizzled-looking mofo IMO.

Anyway, I give the show an A- all in all, and as awesome as I'm sure they were, I don't really regret skipping Wilco.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hot. Good to hear. St. Vincent plays here* at 4 PM and that's some good incentive to check her out.

On a side note, Peter Bjorn & John closed their set yesterday with a cover of "Ever Fallen in Love?" That was the highlight of the day (until the Bjork show).

(* "here" = "Austin City Limits festival")

[nath]

[ QUOTE ]
Ted Leo's on tour right now, I'll probably go to the Toronto gig, haven't seen them live before and 15 bucks seems like a steal nowadays. Has anyone seen them live? any good?

Living with the Living, yay or nay? I like it, maybe too many songs about the war.. my fave album is still Shake the Sheets, so damn catchy

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes. I never miss Ted Leo when he's in town. Gogogo.

And IMO Hearts of Oak >> Tyranny of Distance >>>>>>>>>> Shake the Sheets = Living with the Living

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

Oh yeah, Pitchfork reviewed Real Life by Joan as Police Woman and gave it an 8.1, but I don't think I've seen anyone mention it. It's really a great album.

[NT!]

All,

I have recently started downloading and listening to music a lot again, which is something I hadn't done in a long time.

Here are a few records I have been listening to. A lot of this is not new but whatever, it's indie and it rocks and I haven't seen much mention of these bands:

The Promise Ring - Nothing Feels Good - I re-acquired this album the other day and I just love the living [censored] out of it. Really great up-tempo indie rock from the same guys who brought you Cap'n'Jazz, Texas is the Reason, etc. Irreverent and fun. I saw these guys in concert about ten years ago and they were awesome, very lively, just like you would expect from hearing this album.

Lakes of Russia - self-titled EP - very slow, pretty instrumentals, like a less busy or atmospheric Sigur Ros (sans vocals), or Tortoise if somebody slipped their drummer some ludes and told them they could only use major keys.

Les Savy Fav - Emor (Rome Written Upside Down) EP - great EP from this art-punk outfit, this one is like 7 or 8 years old now but sounds very fresh. Their singer reminds me a little bit of Isaac Brock but without all the irony and cuteness. (I guess a lot of kind of stereotypical indie rock singers sound a little like Isaac Brock so this is a sort of weak sauce analogy.) Anyway these guys anticipated the lo-fi, drum-sampling indie thing quite a while ago but did it without all the crappy 80's dance rock shtick. I like this EP a lot but their sound takes some getting used to, one of those love it or hate it kind of records.

Slint - Spiderland
Rodan - Rusty
Two early-nineties albums that just kick the absolute crap out of anything out there today, these Louisville-based (I know, WTF) bands really set the standard for sparse, angsty atmospheric indie rock. I am just going all 10th grade on the world right now with these records.

June of 44 - Four Great Points
Another one I re-acquired recently and am loving. Jo44 pack lots of midwestern post-hardcore crunch with long, looping jazzy instrumental passages and atmospherics, weird time changes, trumpets, typewriters, etc.

Karate - Unsolved
I have always felt that this Boston 3-piece is the most criminally under-appreciated indie rock band in the universe. The band sounds like a jazzier version of Fugazi in terms of their tight rhythmic exploration, which serves as a vehicle for singer/guitarist Geoff Farina's punchy, strangely catchy vocals and guitar leads. His background in jazz composition is evident in all their music but even moreso in this record.

Anyway this is all old stuff now that I look at it, but going back and hearing this is way better than listening to most of the stuff that I have sampled from recent times. I just heard the new Kanye album and I think it blows goats, very repetitive flows, expensive-sounding production that is totally uninspiring, even more inane lyrics than usual from the biggest ego in rap, etc. No thanks.