Music Music Music

[Stan]

Ever wondered what AC/DC's Thunderstruck would sound like on a banjo. Wonder no more.

[Phoebe]

I have wondered but the results were not good. It needed to be JUST the banjo, alone! My goodness. And he needs to have better rhythm. And clothes - any clothes, really, but clothes needed.

While things are going this direction... the artistic oeuvre of Charlie Puth fills me with a boiling rage I can't quite explain. Pure unfiltered rage. The sound of his falsetto cracking makes a shiver of horror pulse through my whole body. The latest song inflicted upon us via radio clearly says You Just Want to TOUCH it. What's the problem with that, I asked? So s/he wants to touch it. Does everything have to be that deadly serious? No: supposedly he's saying "attention". Sorry, I have ears. You can explain it away later if you want but we all know the truth.

[poorpete]

243 - Tracy Chapman

30 years on and these songs sounds like they were made for today's injustices. Her talk of the black/white divide is potent, and even ones not about it still resonate. Take my fav, "Behind the Wall," a song about domestic violence, but is also about police brutality in a way, as their inaction allows the abuse to continue. I'd rank this up there with the best acapella songs I've heard.

[poorpete]

Justin Timberlake - Future Sex/ Love Sounds (250/365)

A delight. The Tim-baland-berlake combination is a great match. The song below is a great example, and then suddenly goes all Interpol at the end, and I love it even more.

[Phoebe]

This stupid crap is the catchiest thing ever (), it sticks in your craw and everywhere else you can stick it, but as noted above, given the skin-crawling vocal stylings, it merely calls to "attention" the ginormous pool of unadulterated, frustrated rage that dwells deep within your heart like you were Sandpoint and Alaznist suddenly stirred in his slumber.

[poorpete]

259. Kesha - Rainbows

Rooting for this to be Kesha's next single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewHNDdfgJWY
(link because the image cover is NSF most Works)

I enjoyed her album, this being the first I've listened to anything of hers, but has that Sia/Beyonce/Tay Tay thing goin on. This song, in particular, is one swear word away from something I'd happily share with my daughter. Also loved "Woman", which I'll share with her when she's like fifteen, and sad it didn't chart well, but I assume we'll be hearing it on future soundtracks and bachelorette parties.

[Phoebe]

I'm sure my kids are going to want to hear this one soon! They love Kesha, not entirely sure why. I'm so impressed by the way that you're already into the mid-200s! One of the most interesting obvious things I learned from trying this challenge is how little time I actually ever alight in one place, with enough calm that I can deliberately pick out music to play for some period while I'm working. It has to be not in the office, since I don't want to retaliate against the bad musics of others with musics of my own (you can hear everything), and it has to be not when other people are around making so much noise that I can't hear. One of my best bets is during weekend housework and cooking. If I'm in the kitchen or laundry for a couple hours, I can get in a few albums.

Also interesting: I used to listen mostly to albums because first, there were cassette tapes you played back and forth, over and over, occasionally FF through the disliked songs, and there were vinyl records that if you were going to bother to put on, you were going to listen to fully. I used to like the "random" shuffle with CD player, but more often just listened to the whole CDs straight through. The new era of music delivery and consumption has meant listening mostly to snippets here and there, be it with Pandora or YouTube or SoundCloud or now Amazon. Actually getting Amazon Prime has done more to restore Full Album listening than anything, since I can get access in a convenient way to a whole unit of music.

[Phoebe]

While full albums are an impossible dream at least . If he's bad I don't want to know. I love this song. There's a particularly well-timed moment in the video, and of course one of the best lines (What in the world is in that case, what you got in that case?).

[poorpete]

When I came up with the 365 album idea, it came from people doing 365 movies in 365 days which I knew was impossible for me to accomplish as my free-time is majority kids time, so I considered how I can occupy my non-kids task time and realized I
Wash dishes ~20 min a day
Sit down at work in silence ~6 hours a day
Walk/drive to and from home ~ 1.5 hours a day
I'm pretty impressed you'll be 100+ with your schedule!

These are prime audio-entertainment times, so I knew I could probably complete the task, even though it's meant cutting back considerably on podcasts.

I'm having a bit of trouble trying to figure out what challenge I want to do next year. I'm thinking it'll either be songwriting or trivia based, but, for a nerd pride goal we might all be able to accomplish, I was thinking also:

2018: Listen to 52 albums from 2018. And we have a weekly post-thread listening party, were an album is chosen (one can be listened to on Spotify definitely and Amazon Prime preferably) and we all listen during the week and comment about it. I think we can mix with other people's tastes here, but we'd hit all the major releases too (aka, for this year, listening to Kendrick, Lorde, Taylor (november), U2 (december), Kesha, LCD Soundsystem, and Arcade Fire would be a must).

[Phoebe]

Bah I'm listening to Blurryface and it's old news but I looooooves it. Tear in my heart? Fairly Local? Ya.

[Phoebe]

Just Dance, because people keep playing it over and over again for their Just Dance game. My God this is the first time it has ever occurred to me that those are the same names. I basically should not have any responsibility for decision-making about any matter whatsoever. People, try to have some mercy on me when I'm stupid, because I'm a person who takes several years to come to the realization that Just Dance 2014 and Just Dance the song have the same name.

[poorpete]

We have Just Dance 3 I think, it's soooo much fun, and where I first heard Janelle Monae.

272. Marc Ronson - Uptown Special
Producer albums are usually miss or miss. The thread of production style is usually not enough to make a cohesive album, and the mix-match of collaborators doesn't help -- and usually these collaborators don't give their A game. So, knowing Uptown Special had one super-famous biggest hit of the decade song, but the album itself wasn't widely acclaimed made me worried it'd be a poor to underwealming listen. The opening track, a drudge featuring Stevie Wonder did not inspire confidence (though I do like hearing its good Little Stevie harmonica solo). But otherwise, the album, a mix of rock and soul, is surprisingly solid. I think a key part, maybe inspired by Daft Punk's multiple collaborations with Pharrell and Niles Rogers, was featuring the featured artists on more than one song. Bruno Mars worked on two, Tame Impala's Kevin Parker worked on three, Stevie on two... made it feel more like a group collaboration.

As for picking a favorite new-to-me track (aka favorite non-"Uptown Funk" song), it was surprisingly easy. There is a clear #2 (though "Leaving Los Filez" is solid), and it's the other Bruno Mars collaboration, with Mystikal....

[Phoebe]

I think I've recommended something like this here before, but in case not, when that Cake by The Ocean song comes on your car radio, you have to dig down deep and get fully into the Animal character from The Muppets, and then start singing it in his voice. You may need to embellish some lyrics because this is about cake the food. This is going to do you a lot of good in your life.

[poorpete]

273. Sampha - Process
Can understand how this won the British Mercury Prize as it has emotion, poetry, hip beats, and creative and meditative electronica. There's nothing, nothing to dislike about this album. Might not be my fav of the year, but it's certainly a completely solid piece of work and the world is better for its existence.

Feels like picking this song is a cheat, as it's the most stripped down of all the songs. But damn, if this isn't a weeper about his late-mom and how to stay grounded with music, I can't stop listening to it.


Those keys. That ONE key. So perfect in its imperfection.

[mimekiller]

I can dig this country jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5RDEXpc8OY

[akiva]

And he can see no reasons
'Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to die?

[Stan]

One of my favorite Tom Petty songs.

[poorpete]

Petty was great. Wildflowers is a classic, endlessly listenable album. Never heard a bad Petty song. Dang.

And yet another attack of people, mostly in their 20s, enjoying music. 4th in under 2 years. What a terrible day.

Let's all try to get to a higher place...

[poorpete]

276. Allman Brothers - At The Filmore East

Haven't listened to much Allman Bros or blues in general since since high school. Huh. Forgot that, yes, a 19-minute long blues songs can actually be great.

[poorpete]

You know that bible quote, referenced in Amazing Grace? "I once was blind, but now I see." That's how I feel about Kayne West's "Late Registration." Oh, this is why we put up with Kanye!

Take a Bond theme, an Outkast reference, another top-tier rapper, a good message,and Jon Brion's perfectly cinematic production, and you got yourself one of the greatest rap songs I've heard ever ever, ever ever, ever ever.