DISCLAIMER: This would be a Woxy Wombat Woom thread but I don't know if it's acceptable here. Also you will probably not care about this, but I was going to write this anyway and I figure ZXV or someone might read this and be all kind of thoughtful about it.
DISCLAIMER II: There is no tl;dr
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I was thinking about music today at work and where my tastes stand at the moment, A thought brought on by the amazing music of Alt-J. They came out in 2012 but I didn't hear them until the Triple J top 100 this year, due to the fact that in 2012 I was dizzy in the world of Japanese experimental noise rock. I have made quite an effort to listen to different genres and now I don't really know what my favourite bands and preferred music is anymore, and I also have trouble to discern why I don't like music sometimes. For example, the K-pop group KARA is my favourite K-pop group, out of the 5 or 4 that I have actually listened to more than an album of. I think their melodies are the best and when I think about it from a song writing point of view I find their music reasonably impressive. Despite this I can never find an acceptable time to listen to their music and also it makes me feel nauseas.
Step-KARA This song is a good example and also well known. Something about this melody and the singing over it feels painful to listen to, even though I like the energy of the synth and there is nothing wrong with their singing. The transition at 0:33 where the ringing guitar notes start playing over it also feel very Cyndi Lauper-esque to me. The whole bridge makes me feel bad. The chorus is great though, and I really appreciate everything new that happens after the 2 minute mark. It feels like the song is progressing and takes you around a bit rather than leaving you to be content with Verse Bridge Chorus Repeat. On the topic of Cyndi Lauper...Time after Time has to be my least favourite song in the world. It's not necessarily gloomy and dark, a Tool song can have that feel and be fine. It's also not just a sad ballad, because there are other 80's ballads that are okey dokey and Grinspoon also have agreat ballad and it's fine. But I am not sure what is the intended emotion of Time after Time. How are you supposed to feel? The song itself seems completely dead, it's obvious that the chorus is quite sentimental but the echoing of the vocals and the lower tone enunciation of "Time after Time" give me the emotion of being physically ill. And the guitar in it also pains me, the way it is done makes me feel lethargic. That is the emotion it is able to convey to me. The way music makes me feel really can be this particular for me sometimes, and while it doesn't limit what I can listen to it limits what I am able to listen to often.
Fantomas is an amazing band, and while it may be obvious to you just from that video, the reasons why you do not like them, it mostly the pacing and the intensity when it does arrive. Not specific to that song, but in regards to total albums. I find that the intensity of the music is so brutal that it actually diminishes for me at a point, and due to the somewhat all over the place and often times tentative pacing of the albums, it positions me to be an a more thoughtful mood than anything when I listen to it, which doesn't allow me to take pleasure in the heavier parts of their songs as much as I can do so with a band like Helmet. (Exactly What You Wanted - Helmet) Even though Helmet are not as heavy as Fantomas can be, because of the easiness to indulge in the angry riffs I am able to listen to them much more often, 85% of the time that I am angry I listen to Helmet, and even when I am not angry sometimes I do listen to Helmet. I can only listen to Fantomas on very long car trips at night and other times where I am fading in and out of conciousness, and very rarely when I am playing Binding of Isaac.
In regards to that, Igorrr is a band that I listened to before I started playing Binding of Isaac last year, but I guess because of the textures of the music, in that a lot of disgusting body noises and sometimes the sound of flies, as well as invoking a kind of insane emotion as well as being unpredictable, I guess that my mind connects this with Binding of Isaac. I always utilise playing Binding of Isaac as an opportunity to listen to Igorrr. I also find Igorrr very great to jam to because it works with a lot of styles.
In the mean time I've been listening to other stuff that is just amazing and I don't associate with anything, it just makes me feel great and therefore I don't feel any other requirements need to be filled to make it the best thing I can listen to. It's just good forever (Melt Banana - Shield for Your Eyes...), and so on a whim these albums can be the only thing I listen to for a few days because I just get into it and it is suitable all the time. So when I think of what my favourite bands are, at the moment and of all time, I don't know whether this quality of how much I can listen to something should dictate it, or whether it's those albums with those bizarre feelings that they have invoked within me, not very often, but very strongly. For example, I don't remember the last time I listened to Helmet, or what I was doing (but I was probably upset or something). But I remember the last time I listened to Fantomas, was on a 3 or 4 hour car trip to my sisters where I was very dazed and falling asleep to this song on loop at full volume. I didn't even notice it loop and awoke at one point to the finishing moments of the album and it pillaged my body. It was amazing yet that was the only time I have ever listened to the song, or more fairly, the album. There has just never really been a good opportunity and it's the kind of song where the first time is gonna be the best by quite a bit.
I would rather listen to Thrift Shop right now, even though that Fantomas song could be considered one of my favourite songs, depending on the criteria.
These are my thoughts in trying to discern how I rate the bands I listened to up til like 2007, when Tool was probably the darkest and most hardcore band I knew of and thought was good, in comparison to the much vaster array of music I listen to today. This is mostly heavy or experimentalish stuff btw, simply because even though I listen to a lot of genres and I know when to put on some swing, I certainly admit I have preferences.
Helmet and Clutch are probably my favourite bands in regards of how much I could listen to them, even though atm I've listened to nothing but Devo for 4 days. Legit. I really have not felt like listening to Tool for about a year because I feel my best experiences are behind me in some ways. The Offspring are still great Punk and an example of simple riffs but nicely structured songs, great for angst and skateboarding and easy to listen to whenever. But I feel The Offspring and other similair bands that I used to listen to for the same reasons have been outclassed by a newfound love of 3rd-Wave Ska. (Everything Went Numb - Streetlight Manifesto) Streetlight Manifesto are guaranteed one of my favourite bands in all way and alone can provide me the skateboarding music I require. The main reason I listen to The Offspring or The Vines instead are because I feel like something a little bit trashier, whereas Streetlight Manifesto are, to me, totally refined oh my goodness. The lyric matter is also relevant to me a lot of the time which makes it a totally different and more powerful beast altogether, and this mainly because Thomas Kalnoky's (the frontman) lyrics are often a criticism of the things around him and also a lot of the lyrics are depressingly motivational for me.
Anyway the conclusion is that a lot of things I got out of the older music I used to listen to can be found in my more recently discovered music and because it is fresher and also possibly better, I certainly do feel a bit distant from the music I grew up. At the same time, only recently did I decide to listen to the Dandy Warhols album, "13 Tales from Urban Bohemia" a band I've always known of because of my mother. It was only a week or two ago that I realised that this is probably one of the best albums of all time, personal preferences aside I don't see how someone can't realise this is totally amazing in some way.
This album is trashier older and the songs are less genius, but Eve by Speed, Glue and Shinki is an amazing example of it's genre that defines itself; in regards to the "feel" and the "groove" that they were going for, they did the best at that "feel" and "groove". You either get me or you don't on that one but either way, this less polished gem is something that I am less compelled to listen to than the Dandy Warhols album, and the sensation it stirs within me is far less epic and more normal and average, but it is still glorious and I can't dispute it's greatness.
With the multiple experiences each individual album I've listened to has brought to me, it's way too hard to compare anything. Some individual bands bring to me something that I can't really compare too well with other music I listen to. I love Psy-Trance, but I haven't gotten around to listening to it in particular enough to find an artist that brings to me feelings of elation like Galaxy does. It's so easy to listen to and does not require effort but at the same time it can take your mind to another place. A band like Tool or SunnO))) can also take my mind to another place, but it requires more effort on my part and is not quite as blissful.
The only thing I feel I can really judge is the music that has helped me with my life more than any other these past few years, and maybe contrast it with how much Rage Against The Machine, System of a Down, The Offspring and Tool helped me when I was younger.
All those bands are relatively heavy and easy to get into, except for Tool, people often say they are an acquired taste. I was a little bit angrier in Primary School, I guess because the country is ****ing boring, and so it was pretty simple to listen to Heavy Metal which actually makes you feel better because it's more of a release, rather than the breeding and festering of anger which some people think it is.
The music that I have been using to cope this last few years was more helpful for self-realisation and improvement, relating to my existentialist crisis and dealing with more substantial issues in life rather than just dealing with feeling angry for whatever reason. Beck was the artist I went to for many many things, due to his tour of all different genres and emotions over his career. Songs like Loser were great for those times when I just didn't give a ****, and not because I didn't want to care but because I could not find it in myself to be passionate about whatever I was doing in my life at the time. I must have sung along to this entire song a hundred or so times. Beck also has songs that are just amazing in every way, and so while I am listening to an album and getting the overall vibe of the album, it's also spiced up with amazing musicianship and other stuff. Mostly though, I took my own meaning and inspiration from the music, which is what it should be able to do. It shouldn't give the same message to everybody, I feel. It's good if it can appeal in totally different ways to people, which is also why I think vague lyrics are a great tool because the lyrics "I am not a fan or George Bush and I think he did a bad job in America" are not going to be helpful for your experience if you are not listening to the song because you are angry at George Bush. That's not to say political music is bad, I was just trying to think of an example of how an experience can be limited by the lyrics.
Anyway, in my experience, Beck taught me to be happy for the sake of it. There is no reason not to be happy. And while this may have also fueled my existentialism, at least I was happier about it rather than depressed and scared. I was happy about the thought that "what if I just did nothing, and lost everything, and just became homeless or something, is that even the end? If you don't die, when is your life totally over? Does it even matter?" and in fact was high on that thought. And while I have too many straight forward tasks and goals to feel existentialist and gloomy, I still retain the nonchalant ability to move forward and cope and stay totally happy and accept things, thanks to this music. As I said Beck plays a lot of different genres, and even though I do not enjoy his Sea Change album, it can convey similair feelings to his other music and some people may be more receptive to those slower country-ballad-like songs, and I respect that.
Another band, which I discovered through Tak, which helped me cope with last year, was X Japan. The entire Blue Blood album felt really epic to me, and the guitar playing is amazing, which I appreciate especially but I think everyone who likes guitar as instrument can also dig it when a player is truely brilliant. It can be universally appreciated, even if you don't listen to 'that' type of music. Either way, this music is upbeat and motivational, even if it is sometimes dark it mostly just makes me feel sentimental and feel like crying from joy when it does that. The vocalist, Toshi, is amazing. X Japan was my go to for celebration, after exams were done or after a great night or similair event. Plus the pacing of the music makes it good music for me to listen to while I play video games, likewise for Melt Banana. However ocremix songs and DnB music has always been the pump-up music for me when playing video games.
The other music that has been a soundtrack to life is the previously mentioned Streetlight Manifesto. I also include the first Catch 22 album as part of this repetoire of music for clarity (since the frontman of Streetlight Manifesto wrote all of the songs on Catch 22
s first album, before he disbanded from them). Thomas Kalnoky is a ridiculously good song writer and lyricist. His songs are often down to Earth with the right amount of angst, they make you feel ok feeling like you are battling with life and failing, while at the same time giving you strong motivation to step up your game. Even if that's not what the song is about. I feel like this music made me understand life better and make me want to take part in life a bit more, even though it is quite a nitty gritty depiction of life in these songs. The amazing musicianship, great great great drumming and the ska guitar rhythms as well as the emotive brass section make the music totally compelling emotionally without the lyrics as well. This could be my favourite band because of the way the music has related with me and overcome my whole outlook, while being amazing to listen to and still relate to and enjoy even at times like right now where I am just coping with life and not being brought to any state of regret or anger as I just try to get by.
And just for good measure, this song inspired me to write a eulogy from the perspective of J.D Salinger's wife drawing from themes of the short book of poems Sometimes Gladness by Bruce Dawe as my Context Piece for my Year 12 English exam. Just because of the way it made me think and because of how great a song it is.
Here's to Life - Streetlight Manifesto
So that was what I thought about at work today after listening to the most recent addition to my collection, An Awesome Wave by Alt-J, my most recent musical discovery. To me the lead singer is certainly not one of the greatest vocalists I listen to regularly, but he may have the best and most special voice. It strengthens the affects of the music and combined with the drums it makes them a totally different band to what they could be. If this song was just sung by some average indie vocalist and without the rhythm that this guy sings with, and if the drums had a less electronicy-treble sound to them, it would just be quite a decent song of 2012 with an above-average guitar progression for an indie tune. I am not really sure when a song is "indie" to be quite honest, but I use it to describe alternative rock that is not particularly special. Anyway, because of those factors, the song is actually quite compelling at some points. I chose that song because it was a simple choice to explain that. The whole album is amazing in my opinion and is just another album that I think it would be nice if you tried listening to all of it.
I think it would be nice if you listened to the whole albums of any of the songs I linked or of the bands that I mentioned, but only if you're intrigued of course
DISCLAIMER II: There is no tl;dr
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I was thinking about music today at work and where my tastes stand at the moment, A thought brought on by the amazing music of Alt-J. They came out in 2012 but I didn't hear them until the Triple J top 100 this year, due to the fact that in 2012 I was dizzy in the world of Japanese experimental noise rock. I have made quite an effort to listen to different genres and now I don't really know what my favourite bands and preferred music is anymore, and I also have trouble to discern why I don't like music sometimes. For example, the K-pop group KARA is my favourite K-pop group, out of the 5 or 4 that I have actually listened to more than an album of. I think their melodies are the best and when I think about it from a song writing point of view I find their music reasonably impressive. Despite this I can never find an acceptable time to listen to their music and also it makes me feel nauseas.
Step-KARA This song is a good example and also well known. Something about this melody and the singing over it feels painful to listen to, even though I like the energy of the synth and there is nothing wrong with their singing. The transition at 0:33 where the ringing guitar notes start playing over it also feel very Cyndi Lauper-esque to me. The whole bridge makes me feel bad. The chorus is great though, and I really appreciate everything new that happens after the 2 minute mark. It feels like the song is progressing and takes you around a bit rather than leaving you to be content with Verse Bridge Chorus Repeat. On the topic of Cyndi Lauper...Time after Time has to be my least favourite song in the world. It's not necessarily gloomy and dark, a Tool song can have that feel and be fine. It's also not just a sad ballad, because there are other 80's ballads that are okey dokey and Grinspoon also have agreat ballad and it's fine. But I am not sure what is the intended emotion of Time after Time. How are you supposed to feel? The song itself seems completely dead, it's obvious that the chorus is quite sentimental but the echoing of the vocals and the lower tone enunciation of "Time after Time" give me the emotion of being physically ill. And the guitar in it also pains me, the way it is done makes me feel lethargic. That is the emotion it is able to convey to me. The way music makes me feel really can be this particular for me sometimes, and while it doesn't limit what I can listen to it limits what I am able to listen to often.
Fantomas is an amazing band, and while it may be obvious to you just from that video, the reasons why you do not like them, it mostly the pacing and the intensity when it does arrive. Not specific to that song, but in regards to total albums. I find that the intensity of the music is so brutal that it actually diminishes for me at a point, and due to the somewhat all over the place and often times tentative pacing of the albums, it positions me to be an a more thoughtful mood than anything when I listen to it, which doesn't allow me to take pleasure in the heavier parts of their songs as much as I can do so with a band like Helmet. (Exactly What You Wanted - Helmet) Even though Helmet are not as heavy as Fantomas can be, because of the easiness to indulge in the angry riffs I am able to listen to them much more often, 85% of the time that I am angry I listen to Helmet, and even when I am not angry sometimes I do listen to Helmet. I can only listen to Fantomas on very long car trips at night and other times where I am fading in and out of conciousness, and very rarely when I am playing Binding of Isaac.
In regards to that, Igorrr is a band that I listened to before I started playing Binding of Isaac last year, but I guess because of the textures of the music, in that a lot of disgusting body noises and sometimes the sound of flies, as well as invoking a kind of insane emotion as well as being unpredictable, I guess that my mind connects this with Binding of Isaac. I always utilise playing Binding of Isaac as an opportunity to listen to Igorrr. I also find Igorrr very great to jam to because it works with a lot of styles.
In the mean time I've been listening to other stuff that is just amazing and I don't associate with anything, it just makes me feel great and therefore I don't feel any other requirements need to be filled to make it the best thing I can listen to. It's just good forever (Melt Banana - Shield for Your Eyes...), and so on a whim these albums can be the only thing I listen to for a few days because I just get into it and it is suitable all the time. So when I think of what my favourite bands are, at the moment and of all time, I don't know whether this quality of how much I can listen to something should dictate it, or whether it's those albums with those bizarre feelings that they have invoked within me, not very often, but very strongly. For example, I don't remember the last time I listened to Helmet, or what I was doing (but I was probably upset or something). But I remember the last time I listened to Fantomas, was on a 3 or 4 hour car trip to my sisters where I was very dazed and falling asleep to this song on loop at full volume. I didn't even notice it loop and awoke at one point to the finishing moments of the album and it pillaged my body. It was amazing yet that was the only time I have ever listened to the song, or more fairly, the album. There has just never really been a good opportunity and it's the kind of song where the first time is gonna be the best by quite a bit.
I would rather listen to Thrift Shop right now, even though that Fantomas song could be considered one of my favourite songs, depending on the criteria.
These are my thoughts in trying to discern how I rate the bands I listened to up til like 2007, when Tool was probably the darkest and most hardcore band I knew of and thought was good, in comparison to the much vaster array of music I listen to today. This is mostly heavy or experimentalish stuff btw, simply because even though I listen to a lot of genres and I know when to put on some swing, I certainly admit I have preferences.
Helmet and Clutch are probably my favourite bands in regards of how much I could listen to them, even though atm I've listened to nothing but Devo for 4 days. Legit. I really have not felt like listening to Tool for about a year because I feel my best experiences are behind me in some ways. The Offspring are still great Punk and an example of simple riffs but nicely structured songs, great for angst and skateboarding and easy to listen to whenever. But I feel The Offspring and other similair bands that I used to listen to for the same reasons have been outclassed by a newfound love of 3rd-Wave Ska. (Everything Went Numb - Streetlight Manifesto) Streetlight Manifesto are guaranteed one of my favourite bands in all way and alone can provide me the skateboarding music I require. The main reason I listen to The Offspring or The Vines instead are because I feel like something a little bit trashier, whereas Streetlight Manifesto are, to me, totally refined oh my goodness. The lyric matter is also relevant to me a lot of the time which makes it a totally different and more powerful beast altogether, and this mainly because Thomas Kalnoky's (the frontman) lyrics are often a criticism of the things around him and also a lot of the lyrics are depressingly motivational for me.
Anyway the conclusion is that a lot of things I got out of the older music I used to listen to can be found in my more recently discovered music and because it is fresher and also possibly better, I certainly do feel a bit distant from the music I grew up. At the same time, only recently did I decide to listen to the Dandy Warhols album, "13 Tales from Urban Bohemia" a band I've always known of because of my mother. It was only a week or two ago that I realised that this is probably one of the best albums of all time, personal preferences aside I don't see how someone can't realise this is totally amazing in some way.
This album is trashier older and the songs are less genius, but Eve by Speed, Glue and Shinki is an amazing example of it's genre that defines itself; in regards to the "feel" and the "groove" that they were going for, they did the best at that "feel" and "groove". You either get me or you don't on that one but either way, this less polished gem is something that I am less compelled to listen to than the Dandy Warhols album, and the sensation it stirs within me is far less epic and more normal and average, but it is still glorious and I can't dispute it's greatness.
With the multiple experiences each individual album I've listened to has brought to me, it's way too hard to compare anything. Some individual bands bring to me something that I can't really compare too well with other music I listen to. I love Psy-Trance, but I haven't gotten around to listening to it in particular enough to find an artist that brings to me feelings of elation like Galaxy does. It's so easy to listen to and does not require effort but at the same time it can take your mind to another place. A band like Tool or SunnO))) can also take my mind to another place, but it requires more effort on my part and is not quite as blissful.
The only thing I feel I can really judge is the music that has helped me with my life more than any other these past few years, and maybe contrast it with how much Rage Against The Machine, System of a Down, The Offspring and Tool helped me when I was younger.
All those bands are relatively heavy and easy to get into, except for Tool, people often say they are an acquired taste. I was a little bit angrier in Primary School, I guess because the country is ****ing boring, and so it was pretty simple to listen to Heavy Metal which actually makes you feel better because it's more of a release, rather than the breeding and festering of anger which some people think it is.
The music that I have been using to cope this last few years was more helpful for self-realisation and improvement, relating to my existentialist crisis and dealing with more substantial issues in life rather than just dealing with feeling angry for whatever reason. Beck was the artist I went to for many many things, due to his tour of all different genres and emotions over his career. Songs like Loser were great for those times when I just didn't give a ****, and not because I didn't want to care but because I could not find it in myself to be passionate about whatever I was doing in my life at the time. I must have sung along to this entire song a hundred or so times. Beck also has songs that are just amazing in every way, and so while I am listening to an album and getting the overall vibe of the album, it's also spiced up with amazing musicianship and other stuff. Mostly though, I took my own meaning and inspiration from the music, which is what it should be able to do. It shouldn't give the same message to everybody, I feel. It's good if it can appeal in totally different ways to people, which is also why I think vague lyrics are a great tool because the lyrics "I am not a fan or George Bush and I think he did a bad job in America" are not going to be helpful for your experience if you are not listening to the song because you are angry at George Bush. That's not to say political music is bad, I was just trying to think of an example of how an experience can be limited by the lyrics.
Anyway, in my experience, Beck taught me to be happy for the sake of it. There is no reason not to be happy. And while this may have also fueled my existentialism, at least I was happier about it rather than depressed and scared. I was happy about the thought that "what if I just did nothing, and lost everything, and just became homeless or something, is that even the end? If you don't die, when is your life totally over? Does it even matter?" and in fact was high on that thought. And while I have too many straight forward tasks and goals to feel existentialist and gloomy, I still retain the nonchalant ability to move forward and cope and stay totally happy and accept things, thanks to this music. As I said Beck plays a lot of different genres, and even though I do not enjoy his Sea Change album, it can convey similair feelings to his other music and some people may be more receptive to those slower country-ballad-like songs, and I respect that.
Another band, which I discovered through Tak, which helped me cope with last year, was X Japan. The entire Blue Blood album felt really epic to me, and the guitar playing is amazing, which I appreciate especially but I think everyone who likes guitar as instrument can also dig it when a player is truely brilliant. It can be universally appreciated, even if you don't listen to 'that' type of music. Either way, this music is upbeat and motivational, even if it is sometimes dark it mostly just makes me feel sentimental and feel like crying from joy when it does that. The vocalist, Toshi, is amazing. X Japan was my go to for celebration, after exams were done or after a great night or similair event. Plus the pacing of the music makes it good music for me to listen to while I play video games, likewise for Melt Banana. However ocremix songs and DnB music has always been the pump-up music for me when playing video games.
The other music that has been a soundtrack to life is the previously mentioned Streetlight Manifesto. I also include the first Catch 22 album as part of this repetoire of music for clarity (since the frontman of Streetlight Manifesto wrote all of the songs on Catch 22
s first album, before he disbanded from them). Thomas Kalnoky is a ridiculously good song writer and lyricist. His songs are often down to Earth with the right amount of angst, they make you feel ok feeling like you are battling with life and failing, while at the same time giving you strong motivation to step up your game. Even if that's not what the song is about. I feel like this music made me understand life better and make me want to take part in life a bit more, even though it is quite a nitty gritty depiction of life in these songs. The amazing musicianship, great great great drumming and the ska guitar rhythms as well as the emotive brass section make the music totally compelling emotionally without the lyrics as well. This could be my favourite band because of the way the music has related with me and overcome my whole outlook, while being amazing to listen to and still relate to and enjoy even at times like right now where I am just coping with life and not being brought to any state of regret or anger as I just try to get by.
And just for good measure, this song inspired me to write a eulogy from the perspective of J.D Salinger's wife drawing from themes of the short book of poems Sometimes Gladness by Bruce Dawe as my Context Piece for my Year 12 English exam. Just because of the way it made me think and because of how great a song it is.
Here's to Life - Streetlight Manifesto
So that was what I thought about at work today after listening to the most recent addition to my collection, An Awesome Wave by Alt-J, my most recent musical discovery. To me the lead singer is certainly not one of the greatest vocalists I listen to regularly, but he may have the best and most special voice. It strengthens the affects of the music and combined with the drums it makes them a totally different band to what they could be. If this song was just sung by some average indie vocalist and without the rhythm that this guy sings with, and if the drums had a less electronicy-treble sound to them, it would just be quite a decent song of 2012 with an above-average guitar progression for an indie tune. I am not really sure when a song is "indie" to be quite honest, but I use it to describe alternative rock that is not particularly special. Anyway, because of those factors, the song is actually quite compelling at some points. I chose that song because it was a simple choice to explain that. The whole album is amazing in my opinion and is just another album that I think it would be nice if you tried listening to all of it.
I think it would be nice if you listened to the whole albums of any of the songs I linked or of the bands that I mentioned, but only if you're intrigued of course
