LET AK DO THE HEAVY "LISTENING"!!!! (music experts needed!)

[onwardjames]

Hello, friends and neighbors, fellow enthusiasts, guys and girls, and the occasional cat walking on someone's keyboard.

Been wanting to do this thread for some time. Here's the idea -

Most of us have stacks of cds, records, tapes, etc, and probably haven't had time to get to it all. Or perhaps there is an artist you've heard about endlessly, and aren't sure where to start.

Here is the thread that'll simplify your aural challenge.

Select a band/artist/musician that you like, can be ANYONE from any genre, or timeframe, and tell us the FIVE ESSENTIAL SONGS that an uninitiated music lover should hear.

These should represent the best of what that artist/band has to offer. In other words, a crash course. Feel free to explain your selections (OR NOT) and what is going on with regards to the song, etc.

I ask that we please DO NOT POST A YOUTUBE VIDEO for your songs.

EDIT - Loopstick made a fine suggestion, just post the link. Don't embed. Graceful and less cluttered.

GO TO POST #38, if you, like myself, are unsure how to post JUST a link.

Okay, I'll begin. Here's an artist most of you have heard, but perhaps haven't experienced in the right light.

Bjork.

Yeah, I know, she's an odd duck. However, at times, she has the ability to take me to faraway places, with a perspective I've never considered. If you've never given her a serious listen, here's the five songs you should at least give a lunch break listen.

1) Army Of Me - The bassline on this alone is worth the listen. I could elaborate and explain how the first time I heard this, my best friend's sister danced to it in a half-tank top that summer she blossomed, forever changing my attitudes towards her, but...a great song.

2) It's Oh So Quiet - Bjork does big band diva stuff. Awesome, wacky, and fun.

3) Hunter - The lyrics are curious, the bass synth is tectonic, and it blends excellently into the next track.

4) Alarm Call - The little "whoo ooh ooh ooh ooh" she does will stick in your head for weeks. Great melody, and overall, shows what planet Bjork is from (hint - not in our solar system)

5) Earth Intruders - Whoever "Timbaland" is, he sure laid down a funky rhythm on this cut. Bjork doing her primal, woods-nymph thing. Listen how she toys with the melody.

Okay, that's it. Artists can be used more than once (I like discussion) and you can post whomever you like, as many artists as you like.

 

[Johnno_Oz]

I like it!

I'll see if I can come up with some Radiohead essentials. If anyone can recommend some Rush numbers, I'm willing to chase them up.

 

[Lavane]

In the mid 70's there was a one album band called Automatic Man. If you like Si-fi rock you might want to give them a listen. I remembered this one because its one my son dug up out of an old record collection I gave him. "Automatic man, hero of the psychic future!" one of the songs is titled, "Interstellar tracking devices." Get your space rock on with this one!

 

[onwardjames]

I like it!

I'll see if I can come up with some Radiohead essentials. If anyone can recommend some Rush numbers, I'm willing to chase them up.

Both of those bands would be great, since I own lots of their stuff, and have yet to be fully "on board".

 

[Alobar]

This is awesome! I just got Tidal (the $10 plan) and it will be a cinch to load songs into a playlist and then have a listen. Might help if people will list the genre so we don't waste time adding Rap or Metal, country etc.. if we are not into it..
I'll be working up some ideas today...Always looking for new artists to buy material from, and use streaming as a way to audition..

 

[Lavane]

Jean luke Ponte plays an electric violin. I have two of his albums. I bought them after seeing him play with Frank Zappa. Yup, ole Frank corrupted another musician. Ponte was a suite and tie wearing orchestra violinist. But then he met Zappa.

 

[grillebilly]

If you like your indie pop music on the atmospheric side check out Love Tractor. There aren't many good live vids of them but youtube has the studio versions

Amusement Park - sing-along pop
We All Loved Each Other So Much - instrumental
I Broke My Saw - dancing and drinking at 2 am
Night Club Scene - stoner space
Small Town - if they ever played one of their songs on the radio this would be it
Neon Lights - Kraftwerk cover (bonus track)

 

[Alobar]

My first 5
Mary Fahl
Genre: Singer/songwriter Former lead singer of October Project. She is not very well known, but has an amazing, almost opera voice and is a very talented song writer as well. This is a double live album from 2013.
All from the album Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House
#1Siren. About a mythical bird that caused sailors to sometimes go mad, or loose control of their ships and wreck etc. Haunting..
#2 Like Johnny Loved June. About the love between Johnny and June Cash.
#3 Ben Aindi Habibi. (Foreign language)
#4 Dawning of the Day. About the firemen who went into the twin towers on 9/11knowing it was a one way trip. Hard not to have an emotional response from this song...
#5 Us and Them/Brain Damage/Eclipse. A beautifully done remake of Pink Floyd DSOTM!
http://www.musictap.net/2014/10/20/review-live-at-the-mauch-chunk-opera-house-mary-fahl/

 

[onwardjames]

This is awesome! I just got Tidal (the $10 plan) and it will be a cinch to load songs into a playlist and then have a listen. Might help if people will list the genre so we don't waste time adding Rap or Metal, country etc.. if we are not into it..

Thanks, King Alobar, lol. I both like the idea of "genre" and yet, perhaps preconceived notions is what I'm looking to avoid. ??

At one time, there were several genres I avoided. Glad to say most of those bridges have now been crossed, but....to each their own.

Maybe if we do like Grillebilly and sorta point in the general direction of the category?

A great start, folks, and thanks again.

 

[DrumminDaddy]

...If anyone can recommend some Rush numbers, I'm willing to chase them up.

La Villa Strangiato
Xanadu
By-Tor and the Snow Dog
Red Barchetta
Natural Science

 

[ooba tooba]

Cool thread Onward!
I think I'll do Blind Melon here, just because on a few occasions when I've mentioned them I got "the no rain band?"
Paper Scratcher
Wilt
St. Andrew's Fall
Hell
Change
/90s alternative

 

[Alobar]

Thanks, King Alobar, lol. I both like the idea of "genre" and yet, perhaps preconceived notions is what I'm looking to avoid. ??

At one time, there were several genres I avoided. Glad to say most of those bridges have now been crossed, but....to each their own.

Maybe if we do like Grillebilly and sorta point in the general direction of the category?

A great start, folks, and thanks again.

Agreed, genre can be a direction but also a box.

 

[onwardjames]

La Villa Strangiato
Xanadu
By-Tor and the Snow Dog
Red Barchetta
Natural Science

And.....thank you! Only song I know is Red Barchetta, and I like that one.

Cool thread Onward!
I think I'll do Blind Melon here, just because on a few occasions when I've mentioned them I got "the no rain band?"
Paper Scratcher
Wilt
St. Andrew's Fall
Hell
Change
/90s alternative

Since I have their stuff, and no, haven't been turned on just yet, I'll also be spinning these tonight. Many thanks!

 

[ooba tooba]

And.....thank you! Only song I know is Red Barchetta, and I like that one.



Since I have their stuff, and no, haven't been turned on just yet, I'll also be spinning these tonight. Many thanks!

Check out Glitch as well!

 

[jgannon]

Gilbert O'Sullivan:

1) Alone Again Naturally
2) Clair
3) Happiness Is Me and You
4) You Are You
5) If You Ever

I edited this to include the links!

 

[phantomrebel]

Great thread James! I plan to contribute, but still happily at square 1, experiencing Bjork in a different way.

 

[bobsvinyl]

Ronnie Earl is my pick. Incredible contemporary blues guitarist who played with Roomful of Blues and then as a solo artist. I saw him in concert last year and it was a fantastic show. Listen to these if you like the blues and hear a master at his craft. (Totally objective opinion. )

Blues For Otis Rush
Thank You Mr. T-Bone
Blues For the West Side
Rego Park Blues
Blues in D Natural

 

[KevinJS]

Great idea for a thread.

Since @DrumminDaddy beat me to Rush, I have no option but to supply...more Rush

2112 because it's the cat's ass. It is what Rush is all about. If you can get the 5.1 version, it's worth it.
The Garden because if that is the end of Rush it is one hell of a way to go out. Maybe a more beautiful piece of music has been written, but if so, I haven't heard it.
Hemispheres tells a great story, and tells it very well.
Jacob's Ladder is another great piece, supposedly inspired by Smetena's Ma Vlast.
Working Man because it's raw and a great piece of rock. It's also the track that got the band noticed in the first place.

 

[Johnno_Oz]

Radiohead have been together for over 25 years and have produced 9 albums during that time from '93 to the most recent album "A moon shaped pool" last year. Sometimes they can be too clever for their own good which divides the average listener. There's the occasional dissonance in hooks, riffs, background orchestration, vocals and percussion which doesn't always go where you would think they should go.

Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are the main creative drives behind the band, however the band arranges their ideas and all tracks are credited to "Radiohead". Few songs have a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge chorus structure.

I couldn't come up with just five tracks however I'm coming up with 5 of the easier to listen songs that are a little bit melancholic and five challenging numbers for the more adventurous..

First the more listenable.

1.How to Disappear Completely [Kid A]: More of an acoustic guitar number with some string orchestration later in the song. Wistful.

2. Reckoner [In Rainbows]. Great melody, great percussion, soulful falsetto and that wonderful Fender Starcaster. Good system test piece.

3 Codex [King of Limbs]: Piano with some muffled horns later in the piece. It sounds a little bit claustrophobic but a beautiful piece of work.

4. Exit Music for a Film [OK Computer]: Used at the closing credits of Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet. A quiet hushed beginning (as if to escape in secret) building to an emotional crescendo (as things fall apart). Quite a few Radiohead songs start in a hushed manner and end up somewhere forte.

5 Street Spirit (Fade Out) [The Bends]: Beautiful clean Fender Starcaster tone on this track. Thom Yorke said he didn't write this song, it just came through him. " Street Spirit is our purest song, but I didn’t write it. It wrote itself. We were just its messengers; its biological catalysts. Its core is a complete mystery to me, and, you know, I wouldn’t ever try to write something that hopeless."​

And five ones to viscerally challenge you. You may hate these on first listen, I know I did.

1: Paranoid Android [OK Computer]: The boys came up with three songs and wanted to see if they could stitch them together Beatles style.

......it took the band a year and a half to learn how to play the final version in live performance.

“Paranoid Android” has four distinct sections, each played in standard tuning, and a 4/4 time signature, although several three-bar segments in the second section are played in 7/8 timing. The opening segment is played in the key of G minor with a tempo of 84 BPM, and begins with a mid-tempo acoustic guitar backed by shaken percussion before layered with electric guitar and Yorke’s vocals. The melody of the these opening vocal lines span an octave and a third. The second section is written in the key of A minor and begins about two minutes into the song. Although the second section retains the tempo of the first, it differs rhythmically. Ending the second section is a distorted guitar solo played by Jonny Greenwood, which lasts from 2:43 to 3:33. The third section was written entirely by Jonny Greenwood, and reduces the tempo to 63 BPM and changes key to C minor/D minor. This section uses multi-tracked, choral vocal arrangement and according to Dai Griffiths, a “chord sequence [that ordinarily] would sound seedy, rather like something by the band Portishead”.

2: Idiotique [Kid A]. Electronica with all sorts off oddness going on.

According to Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, “Idioteque wasn’t my idea at all; it was Jonny’s. Jonny handed me this DAT that he’d… he’d gone into our studio for the afternoon… and, um, the DAT was like 50 minutes long, and I sat there and listened to this 50 minutes. And some of it was just “what?”, but then there was this section of about 40 seconds long in the middle of it that was absolute genius, and I just cut that up and that was it…”.


“Idioteque” contains two credited samples of experimental 1970s computer music. The first is several seconds of Mild und Leise, a piece by Paul Lansky, forming the four chord progression repeated throughout the song. Mild und Leise is 18 minutes long and through composed. The portion sampled by Radiohead is only heard once in the original piece, very briefly. Also sampled is “Short Piece” by Arthur Kreiger, now a professor of music at Connecticut College. Both tracks were compiled on the 1976 LP First Recordings — Electronic Music Winners, which Radiohead instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood stumbled upon while the band was working on Kid A.


3. Like Spinning Plates. [Amnesiac] Thom Yorke sang the lyrics, played them in reverse and learnt the sounds to make, sang the reversed lyrics, then they reverse looped that. So the lyrics are reverse, reverse, reverse looped......got it? Reverse looping instruments were laid down as well. Sounds something like a Pink Floyd tour bus crashing into a David Lynch filmset.

4. Little by Little [King of Limbs]: If a mariachi band with unusual tunings and meandering riffs, took some acid, put down a drum track, underscored some subtle reverse looping, decided to chill with an English guy singing falsetto but the acid trip may turn bad, this is what you'd end up with. It has an underlying sense of this whole train ride may go south. Rollicking fun.

5. Pyramid song [Amnesiac]. Whoever is playing piano makes it sound like someone trying to remember which chords to play and trying to catch up with the vocals , then the drums come in to the same odd beat. Eerie strings midway. I wrote a couple of weeks back that this is Radiohead's "almost a jazz track". Made me appreciate Phil Selway's skills on the skins.

Edit: Added links​

 

[WillVT]

Ok, here we go...

Tom Waits. One of the only artists/ bands that I never tire of listening too, and I think one of the only artists to continue to be extremely creative throughout his extensive career, from the 70's onward.

I am a sucker for his ballads, and I think for anyone just getting into his work, they are a good place to start. I know some people are turned off by him, but I think he is one of the best songwriters of our time.

It's hard to pick just 5, but these are some of my favorites, and I think they are good safe, listenable intro.

In pretty much reverse chronological order:

Long Way Home -from the album Orphans
Hold On - From Mule Variations
Falling Down - From Big Time (the one studio track from a live album)
Yesterday is Here - From Franks Wild Years
Blind Love - From Rain Dogs.

Enjoy!


Also, I don't think posting videos takes up any AK server space. It's basically just a embedded link. But, I don't really like threads that are filled with videos. I thinks this way here is a much more elegant and readable type of thread.