What are you listening to?

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Back when hip hop was still hip hop there was Digable Planets.
You may be the only non-member to remember that group. Assuming you're not a former member...:wink:
 
You may be the only non-member to remember that group. Assuming you're not a former member...:wink:
The connoisseurs still rank them among the best 90s hip hop had to offer. Apparently they went on some kind of reunion tour in 2016 and there was a live album in 2017.
 
You may be the only non-member to remember that group. Assuming you're not a former member...:wink:
The connoisseurs still rank them among the best 90s hip hop had to offer. Apparently they went on some kind of reunion tour in 2016 and there was a live album in 2017.
Hmm...that wasn't a denial...
 
You may be the only non-member to remember that group. Assuming you're not a former member...:wink:

Huge fan and whenever they played Bumbershoot at Seattle they attracted big crowds. Blowout Comb is now considered a classic hip hop record of the era, which is widely seen as the Golden Age of hip-hop. One of the band members records as Shabazz Palaces and releases records via Sub Pop.
 
Huge fan and whenever they played Bumbershoot at Seattle they attracted big crowds. Blowout Comb is now considered a classic hip hop record of the era, which is widely seen as the Golden Age of hip-hop. One of the band members records as Shabazz Palaces and releases records via Sub Pop.
There ya go.
 
Thirding the love for Blowout Comb - it's definitely premium golden era hip hop. Just cuz you haven't heard it doesn't mean it's unheard of.
 
Was checking out some ethnic based music. Some pretty cool stuff out there




This one is really out there. Mongolian throat singing, scottish bagpipes and latvian drums


The second one looks like it's Bashkort, or a very similar language - I don't read it but recognise the extended Cyrillic letters. Just shown my wife and she thinks it is Kazakh, or maybe Kirghiz. They are definitely using the same instruments as Bashkort ones. The Kurai is the long flute and has a sound similar to throat-singing through a flute, very distinctive and evocative, you can almost hear the sounds of the wind on the steppe when listening to Kurai music.

Interestingly, my wife says that Tartar music and Scottish Folk music are very similar, or sound very much alike, so Mongolian throat-singing and Scottish bagpipes aren't that unreasonable.

I thoroughly approve of those choices.
 
This one is really out there. Mongolian throat singing, scottish bagpipes and latvian drums
It actually works, but I wonder how that conversation got started. I'm envisioning a three-way tour bus collision.
 
Speaking of Mongolian Throat singing, I recently came across this band...


Edit: One of these days I'm going to actually read that "Learn Mongolian" book I have and be able to understand what they're saying without subtitles.
 
The second one looks like it's Bashkort, or a very similar language - I don't read it but recognise the extended Cyrillic letters. Just shown my wife and she thinks it is Kazakh, or maybe Kirghiz. They are definitely using the same instruments as Bashkort ones. The Kurai is the long flute and has a sound similar to throat-singing through a flute, very distinctive and evocative, you can almost hear the sounds of the wind on the steppe when listening to Kurai music.

I know the third video I posted was Kazak, as someone translated the lyrics in the comments section, and it mentions the Kazaks in the lyrics.
 
Speaking of Mongolian Throat singing, I recently came across this band...


Edit: One of these days I'm going to actually read that "Learn Mongolian" book I have and be able to understand what they're saying without subtitles.


I had watched the second one along with the others. I wasn't sure if that had been posted in the thread before, so I left it out. I was checking out their FB page, it looks like they are in Canada recording their album right now.

I'd love to see The Hu and Bloodywood (from India) play together. That would be cool to see
 
I found out that the Queens of the Stone Age put out an album a few years ago and forgot to tell me. How embarrassing!



Too bad I couldn't find any videos for this album. Still, love the song - the chorus is so pretty amidst the usual QotSA sludgy riffs.
 
Judee Sill was an amazing songwriter. She talks on the Live in London: The BBC Recordings album about playing gospel organ in reform school. She was living in a car with 5 other people in LA when the Turtles offered to record her song 'Lady-O.' She wrote 'Jesus was a Crossmaker' after J.D. Souther broke her heart. Her songs are a lovely mix of the mystical and jaded romance, like a female Leonard Cohen. Sadly, she OD'ed in 79.

 
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Been listening to Led Zeppelin again. I forgot how glorious this chord progression and melody were at certain points:

Listen for the squeaky bass drum pedal, too. This song is one for the people who say Zeppelin are nothing but ripoff artists.
 
This is the bassist and drummer of Sleep post-breakup. Their album God is Great is my favourite.
started listening to these guys since you and amazon recommended them. yea, i dig it. completely. very much into my space. The Druid reminds me strongly of Black Sabbath, which is one of my all time favorites
 
Been listening to Carabao. This is a song about a man who drinks himself to death:



A bit of Rainbow:



And the House of Flying Daggers Soundtrack:

 
Listen for the squeaky bass drum pedal, too. This song is one for the people who say Zeppelin are nothing but ripoff artists.

Adam can probably attest, my hearing is pretty shot these days so I don't think I can pick up a subtle sound like that anymore. Do you know roughly where it lands in the track?
 
This is one that has consistently found its way onto my playlist for the last two decades. The group has just three members- drummer, saxophonist and bassist. From Seattle during the 90s, sorry of an odd mix between punk and smooth jazz,

 
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Though my two primary musical interest are death metal and synthwave, these guys are a guilty pleasure. Total butt rock. Inspired by everything from the blues to Zeppelin and Punk, this band of Finnish sleaze merchants was an influence on pretty much every lipstick-wearing, hairspray-using band from the 80s. Hell, Guns N' Roses practically lifted their entire shtick from these guys. Today they are best remembered (outside of their native Finland, where they are national treasures) for being the band whose drummer was killed by Vince Neil's drunk driving. Ladies and Gentlemen, Hanoi Rocks...





 
AV Club is hit and miss but this band's version of Sweet's Fox on the Run is pretty boss, the lead singer is only 16 btw.



Speaking of covers.

 
AV Club is hit and miss but this band's version of Sweet's Fox on the Run is pretty boss, the lead singer is only 16 btw.



That was pretty good. The fact that it was three females and (I think) a dude drumming reminded me of The Twenty Twos, a band I saw on a side stage of The Warped Tour years ago. I really dig their EP, but they broke up shortly thereafter. Aside from the EP, they had songs on a couple of soundtracks (Grandma's Boy and Elektra, IIRC).


 
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Adam can probably attest, my hearing is pretty shot these days so I don't think I can pick up a subtle sound like that anymore. Do you know roughly where it lands in the track?
It runs through the whole thing, but in the quieter bits it stands out more. Apparently they realised it almost immediately when they got the drum track down. But the take was so good, they left it in.
 
It runs through the whole thing, but in the quieter bits it stands out more. Apparently they realised it almost immediately when they got the drum track down. But the take was so good, they left it in.

Listening for it. I definitely can't hear it, but that isn't saying a whole lot. I also have it coming out of a Bose, not sure if that would impact the audibility of the squeaky bass pedal.
 
Listening for it. I definitely can't hear it, but that isn't saying a whole lot. I also have it coming out of a Bose, not sure if that would impact the audibility of the squeaky bass pedal.
It shouldnt. But it is quite a subtle sound, so it's easy to miss. Turn it up loud and listen on the quiet verses for a faint squeak.
 
It shouldnt. But it is quite a subtle sound, so it's easy to miss. Turn it up loud and listen on the quiet verses for a faint squeak.

Okay. Now I am hearing it. The bose is a bit quirky so I think I was writing off the squeak as something shifting outside in the wind. I was listening for a more rhythmic sound. But the squeak almost sounds unrelated to the strike fo the bass pedal.
 
Okay. Now I am hearing it. The bose is a bit quirky so I think I was writing off the squeak as something shifting outside in the wind. I was listening for a more rhythmic sound. But the squeak almost sounds unrelated to the strike fo the bass pedal.
It really is a weird thing. First time I heard it, I also thought it was something outside. Then I resound the track a bit and heard the same noise again.

For me, it's a perfect example of how perfection isn't always the thing musicians should strive for. Sometimes the imperfections elevate things.
 
It really is a weird thing. First time I heard it, I also thought it was something outside. Then I resound the track a bit and heard the same noise again.

For me, it's a perfect example of how perfection isn't always the thing musicians should strive for. Sometimes the imperfections elevate things.

that is particularly true I think of bands like Zeppelin. When I was growing up playing guitar, a lot of guitarists used to comment that Page is a sloppy guitar player. You do hear him gloss over notes in recordings. But I feel like his strength was always as a riff and melody writer. For me, the imperfections of some of those recordings are attractive. It isn't a total disregard for quality. It is more like an honest performance where the small mistakes are not concealed. Sometimes when I hear things that are too clean and too effortless, it doesn't have the same emotional weight to me.
 
that is particularly true I think of bands like Zeppelin. When I was growing up playing guitar, a lot of guitarists used to comment that Page is a sloppy guitar player. You do hear him gloss over notes in recordings. But I feel like his strength was always as a riff and melody writer. For me, the imperfections of some of those recordings are attractive. It isn't a total disregard for quality. It is more like an honest performance where the small mistakes are not concealed. Sometimes when I hear things that are too clean and too effortless, it doesn't have the same emotional weight to me.

Agree so much with this.

For content, tonight's driving music is The English Dogs, one of the many punk bands who decided to try their hand at metal during the 80s, when thrash was blurring the line between the two. Most of them failed (a blue-haired high school Chum said he hated speed metal because "all of these punk bands are growing their hair out and making shitty music"). The English Dogs didn't. Certainly not a household name, but rather more of a secret handshake among old-school heavy metal nerds. They made two EPs and two full-lengths during their metal period, then split. The 90s saw them reunite as a punk band, and I think a partial lineup recently tried cutting another metal album (I haven't checked it out, I don't want to see people my age making music - or fucking). I haven't really followed them since the good old days, tbh. But their old shit is certifiably classic, for all of its faults (faults common to the genre).



Their second full-length, Where Legend Began, was a fantasy-themed concept album with greatly improved production. It also had one of the worst vocal performances on any metal record. And that's saying something. The vocalist made the mistake of many a metal screamer, in letting his reach exceed his grasp. This guy tried hard, but he's just not a singer. He should have stuck with the first album's growls and shrieks. But the RIFFS, man! The SOLOS! I played this album for some friends BITD, and one said that The English Dogs were a mediocre band with a great guitarist. Which may be true, but saying that about a metal album is like saying a chick ONLY has a great body. That's not exactly a deterrent to me, ya dig?



If I had to pick the best speed metal band from the 80s, I'd definitely give that crown to Slayer, but I will always have love for the 'Dogs.

If anyone cares, all of their metal output has been collected on one CD/digital album calls The Metal Years, available at a decent price.
 
The new double LP by Bell Witch is a damn fine doom album that shows they've found their own unique, haunting sound.

 
It really is a weird thing. First time I heard it, I also thought it was something outside. Then I resound the track a bit and heard the same noise again.

For me, it's a perfect example of how perfection isn't always the thing musicians should strive for. Sometimes the imperfections elevate things.

I was brought up with LPs and Singles, on vinyl, so listening to crackles and hissing was normal for me. A pedal squeaking would have been hidden by the extra noise.
 
A squeaking bass drum pedal does not perfection make.
 
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