Music Music Music

[Phoebe]

Great list!!! I've been deep into Pneuma from the (still feeling "new" to me) Tool album. It's to that point now where each song needs to get multiple repetitions (i.e. dozens, hundreds?) so it can be truly understood. In a general way I'm still feeling like I'm over Maynard's particular vocal stylings and ideas, but I think of this particular song almost as an old Christian hymn, which is pleasantly amusing, so... I still loathe the high pitched noises in fear inoculum and cannot listen to that part, period. But at the end of the day you have one of the greatest drummers in the world accompanied by one of the most creative guitarists, so there's really not much way it can go wrong. The beauty and power and patterns are just spectacular.

[akiva]

The music in this song is superb--it turns a somewhat petty list of complaints into a soaring statement of artistic independence.

Whoah
Have we done something wrong?
Whoah
Complete control--even over this song

[Phoebe]

A good one, ya! I have another one for you I was listening to with my kid because he was raised to recognize a great song:

[Phoebe]

Apparently pneuma is going to be the second single from that Tool album, and hilariously when it appeared on the radio today the caption said "pronounced new-ma"!

[akiva]

I may have posted this before; I don't remember. Oh well.

Know what you want
Now to find out just what you'll be settling for
The time passing faster than ever before

[poorpete]

Rock Hall class of 2020 are out, and the joy of seeing some great people get in is clouded in an absolute stink of only one woman getting in (and she dead).

Whitney: great, fine, wonderful singer, R&B legend. I Will Always Love You is amazing. It's just not enough. And since all inductees get to vote on future hall of fame ballots, this adds 0 women to the voting rolls. Enraging. Rock hall to women (and to black men too btw, see Biggie and Tupac but not LL): die first and then maybe we'll consider you.
T-Rex: great, they were a solid, influential band
The Doobie Brothers: I'd have been fine if they were snubbed, but I do like them. Blackwater is one of my all time favs.
Depeche Mode: good, fine, I like them, sure, have them in.
Nine Inch Nails: not my fav, but totally worthy. Trent is very very good so good for him.
Biggie: great, again not my fav, but absolutely worthy.

Bagh. I'm tempted to blame 2020, but this shit has been happening forever and the patriarchy don't give a shit about what year we're in.

[poorpete]

After reading this profile, I figured it's time for me to finally listen to Suzi Quatro.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/suz ... 54606.html

And I like it. I was expecting a Runaways sound (and you can hear her influence on them) but much more glam than I expected, which is totally my jam.
After one listen to a greatest hits, this one stands out


Update: I've heard "Stumblin' In" before! Thank goodness I've heard at least one.

[poorpete]

So I'm finally figuring out what I want to do for a 2020 music project which is listening to 52 artists I'm relatively unfamiliar with and to gamify it, deciding which one is my new favorite.

I'm creating a list but Suzie Quatro is added. So is The Platters, which I've been listening for the last few days.

Platters reminds me of the news from last month that Billie Eilish doesn't know who Van Halen are, to which people used to scoff at her, but I told a friend, it's like people in the 90s going "You don't know who The Platters are????" Like, who cares, this is absurd, maybe she will discover them and maybe she won't. I'm nearing 40 and still got so many blindspots as does EVERYONE!

Anywho, figured it'd anyways be a good moment to actually check out The Platters, and of course they're very good. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "Great Pretender", and "Only You" are classics, that take me back to my youth watching films about other people being taken back to the 50s.

And I'll never say no to a solid version of Harbor Lights

[Phoebe]

Yessss... This is the pick me up I needed after watching parts of the impeachment, which was not worth watching and getting depressed about. There's still beauty in the world.

[poorpete]

I'm still moving around these, but expanded my list to an easy 64: here's my list so far,

Group 1: The Platters, Aterciopelados, Bon Iver, Suzie Quatro
Group 2: Duke Ellington, First Aid Kit, Todd Rundgren, Carole King
Group 3: Wilson Pickett, Bomba Estéreo, Talib Kwelli, Tori Amos
Group 4: John Coltrane, Amerie, Gustavo Cerati, Cocteau Twins
Group 5: Bo Diddley, Jorja Smith, Tool, L7
Group 6: The Coasters, Ibeyi, Merryl Haggard, Brandi Carlile
Group 7: Raphael Saadiq, Angélique Kidjo, Patti LaBelle, Kylie Minogue
Group 8: Paul Robeson, Rihanna, Florence + The Machine, Emmylou Harris
Group 9: Sam & Dave, Sade, Herb Albert, Tegan and Sara
Group 10: LL Cool J, Sarah Vaughan, Vampire Weekend, Joanna Newsom
Group 11: Chic, Ma Rainey, Sparks, Allison Miller
Group 12: The Meters, Missy Elliot, Traffic, Kacey Musgraves
Group 13: Fela Kuti, The Shirelles, John Prine, Margo Price
Group 14: James Brown, Alice Coltrane, The Cure, Thalía
Group 15: Eric B and Rakim, Grace Jones, Nine Inch Nails, Patti Smith
Group 16: John Legend, The Chantells, Men at Work, Bette Midler

Three or four of the artists I don't think I've heard one song of (eg. Gustavo Cerati, Angelique Kidjo)
Almost half I've heard a few songs. (eg. Sam & Dave, Bo Diddley)
The other half I've listened to one album of plus or minus a few radio hits (eg. Carole King, NIN)
Five I've heard two albums of (John Legend, Missy Elliot, Emmylou Harris, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane) but their output is huge enough that it shouldn't matter.

[akiva]

There's nothing wrong with her than a hundred dollars wouldn't fix.

[poorpete]

The intro to Clap Hands has been my ringtone for the last ten years. Family gets confused when the actual song plays.

[akiva]

That’s one of my favorite Waits songs.

[akiva]

It's actually less than this now, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

I looked at the clock on the wall
It said 3 minutes to midnight

[poorpete]

[akiva]

Been listening to a World War I podcast, and this is used as the theme.

[Phoebe]

Enjoying the invention of computahs!

[poorpete]

I've started my 64 musicians. All said and done it might end up being 80, as I keep adding, and feeling bad about who I delete, which then I'll break into 16 groups of 5, at which point, I'll pick 4 after listening to the 5 for a few weeks (probably three).

Part of the first group is the Aterciopelados, a Columbian band I've been aware of for almost 20 years, having their album Gozo Poderoso appear in the college radio station I worked at, and I've been listening to off and on since then. There a few songs in there that are timeless, El Album being their big "hit" but I love their first track "Luz Azul"


Then, because of the state of music and my finances back then, I didn't get to hear anything by them for another decade. And then I forgot I could hear more. So here we are, where I'm finally listening to more of their stuff, and I love it. They have a fun and warm style that I dig. I've been listening to their 2006 Latin Grammy-winning Oye on repeat this weekend. There's a bunch of standout tracks, but I'll highlight the weird hook-filled "Don Dinero" -- sometimes good sometimes bad when you can sing along to a song on the second listen, and I do wonder after I hear it another gazillion times if it'll become a "Who Let the Dogs Out"-style bad earworm.

[akiva]

I kind of forget how great this song is. Definitely not about me.

[Phoebe]

But is he being sarcastic? Or are you? Or both? Or neither? I have nothing useful to contribute and should just purge myself by listen to everything you and Pete are posting instead. I did hear a fabulous klezmer type clarinet/cello/piano trio but was driving and can't find the playlist now. Boo. And then 400 times a day the radio serves me the same song, which I'm pretty sure is just Pachelbel's Canon reworked, but that's partly why it's so catchy and hard to dislodge!
Oh sorry, I was going to link to their vevo but I cannot do it because his bearded face closeup is so distressing. Yikes.