ive decided to keep a list of all the music that im listening too - simply to see if neone has heard of or listened to what i am as well...

lastest band/creator this week - susumu yokota....
album: sakura

tis one of the VERY VERY chilled albums of this time, as virtually all songs dont have a dominating beat - it focuses mainly on the music - which is what it should be.....
just a few notes on different instruments structured logically realy - nothing more....
if ya have herd or listened to him, please chat....

this week i have been mostly listening to...

radiohead. again.

depressing? yer right - listen to the music - ignore words...
KIDA is simply the most advanced album at the moment - as well as amnesiac. Kid A takes a huge amount of listening too to get into, but once your there - tis one of the best of all time...
just a band that shows that the normal is not the way forward - and we should move into somthing new....

if u want an introduction to them, get 'the bends'. thats more like everything else u listen too - and then move onto 'ok computer'.

if however your like me - and u accept nething thats not pop with a open mind - try them - ya might enjoy them!

well till next week....

IMHO Radiohead have gone downhill from being a very promising band. The Bends and Ok Computer were class albums. Their latest offerings, however, are not so great.

Yes, many people argue that it's 'clever' music etc etc but they sound awful. People should concentrate on how the album sounds - not how it was put together.

sounds to me like your afraid of change - do u realy want generic rubbish that sounds like every other song (such as the charts (ie pop)) or would u go for a band that trys to be different and sounds great at the same time?

not a lot of people get on with radiohead - but i think its cause i listen to the music structure and appreciate, i get emotionaly involved - and music which doesnt do that i dont listen to - ie pop. but everyone hears things differently neway - so if ya dont like em - dont listen to me!

My musical taste does stretch to the diverse and non-commercial. However, i admit it's mostly melody driven. I wouldn't say Radiohead sounded great at the moment. Yes, they are trying new things which is a good thing, but i certainly wouldn't say they sounded good and judging by the sales many people agree with me.

But you are right about everyone hearing things differently.

unfortunatly thats what radiohead have NOT set out to do - become commercial. im sure there anti-consumerist veiws aggree with their sales...


just takes a few goes to listen to em - kid a took me around 15 plays to get into it and now i would class it as one of the greatest albums...
but i still havent accepted 'the national anthem'. there is so much musically going on - its going to take me a while.
listen to it with an open mind - like everything - and ya might like it.

pop music is so 'simple', no emotion - just a load of false forcefull rubbish that the normal's listen too. talking about people like steps, s-club 7 etc.
their videos imply what the music is - a load of falseful dancing with fake smiles. i want to move on - hence why i listen to non-commercial music.

but im not going to force opon u and say listen to that and like it - the whole point of this thread was to say 'go have a listen - u may enjoy'. but with a open mind only.

this week (or rather period of time) has been:
orbital: the altogether on dvd

the first album to be 5.1digital, and though i have only stereo - i cant wait to test me system...

but neway - though the dvd has loads of extra stuff - which makes it cool cause half of it is hidden (though once u figure it out it tis easy to find all the stuff) - thats not what im talking about here

the music is progressive electronica which moves along at a smooth 'just right' pace. just about all the songs are involving and emotional which makes this my choice....
the dr who remix is class (though it is hidden - from main menu press left, then left again and hit enter. it is multi angle as well - one of the veiws is of a visuall they use when they are live, and the other is what im lead to believe is pictures of all the people involved...). the later part of the album goes distictly well with the last 3 levels of sonic and nuckles 3 on the megadrive (sorta futuristic effects etc(yer - both carts together btw))...
great stuff..
neways - album choice this time....

Pyramid Song conveyed exactly how I felt on September 11th/12th

Get I Might Be Wrong(live) after OK Computer and work your way backwards. It makes it more accessible.

geez - its been a few mounths since i have updated this but neways - this week - we hit simian

this album - chemistry is what we are - is like a warm blanket... strange eh?

its very enjoyable to listen too, we have lots of different ideas and so much going on that it takes a few listens to get into de beast...

there are a lot of those moments to make your hairs stand on end, as your hit with pure emotion and warmth - ya cant escape...

the music being kind of electronic pop - though its far from pop - its accessable for most people to start getting into alternative music..
great shit....

I have to say National Anthem was one of the first songs I got into with Kid A (although far from the last). The moment I heard that base line/guitar rift (delete as appropriate as I'm not going to claim to know what it is) I new I was going to like it.

You can hear a fair bit of National Anthem in Gomez' latest album.

Pablo Honey and The Bends were great albums, OK Computer was pretty good, but certainly not *the greatest album of all time* as it was almost universally hailed to be...

However since then....whatever you say about the cleverness of the structure etc, where is there any semblence of a tune (i'm old fashioned like that )

And don't waffle about *being afraid of change*....there is plenty of decent music between your S Club 7's and your bleaker than bleak Radiohead outings...

Iain

This week I am listening to

Substance - Joy Division
Substance - New Order
Technique - New Order
Low Life - New Order
Vini Reily - The Duruti Column
A CD compilation of Sex Pistols, Happy Mondays, The Smiths, The Fall, The Undertones and The Wedding Present

(I was going to buy the 24 Hour Party People sound track but decided just to burn some of my old vinyl to CD )

This Are Two Tone (Facists potentially running France is NOT a good thing)
England Half English - Billy Bragg and The Blokes
Various Miles Davies
Is This It - The Strokes

Gotta say - Lowlife is a great album - my first New Order. For an un-New Order album try Power Corruption and Lies - still sounds great (couple of fillers, but the closing 586/The Village and Your Silent Face are fab. Also the single *Lonesome Tonight*

Iain

Ah yes the album that signified the move away from Joy Division. Movement could easily have been another Joy Division album if Curtis hadn't died.

A great album I haven't heard in years, I can feel my CD burner getting some more use tonight.

Lowlife is perhaps my favorite NO album of the lot, for the simple reasion it is possibly the most rounded with no filler on it at all IMHO.

Vex Red - Start with a strong and persistant desire
Barenaked Ladies - Disc One (their greatest hits)
Kevin Hearne - H-Wing

Vex Red are a new and up and coming Britsh act - ballsy guitar and synth - lovely!
Barenaked Ladies - "they did that 'chickity china' song" is how most people know them. I know them as great musicians. Worth a listen. Its Folk/Rock/Pop
Keving Hearne is the Barenaked ladies keyboardist/guitarist who has 2 solo albums out there. H-wing was written whilst he was in isolation during chemotherapy treatment, and named after the ward.

I'll have to hunt this out, what I've heard of the Barenaked Ladies I've liked so..

Agree there - back in the days when albums were limited to 40 mins or so - so you could get 8 great tracks bish bash bosh.

Another from back then would have to Simple Minds *Sparkle in the Rain* Now there's a band that seriously went to pot - from such greatness to such absolute tosh.

Iain

Very true, of course how do you explain away the heap of albums with 1 or 2 good songs and a load of old tash for the rest ?


New Gold Dream was always my favorite Simple Minds album, but boy did they loose it somewhere along the line. To think at one point they were on a par with U2 and now they tout an album of covers on the internet...

..that'll explain why only one other example sprang immediately to mind.

I still have a soft spot for Misplaced Childhood (although that really doesn't count as the whole album is basically the same tune!)

Also A Secret Wish by Propaganda - a true hidden gem of the 80s.

Iain

Propaganda I was only vaguley aware of, so much music and so little time between the drinking

Misplaced Childhood is a place I'd rather not go I'd loose all credibility if I were tio express any liking to Marillion at all, but what the hell up to and including Misplaced .. they did do some fine stuff !

If it's good ie good music you're after, try Andy Kershaw on Radio 3 on Friday night, ¼ past 10. Awesome; varied; exciting; not the usual run-of-the-mill radio o/put.

Give it a go, then tell me what you think.

Is Andy's choice still very much 'World Music' orientated as it was in his days at Rdio 1 and 2 ?

To be honest I always liked what he played and didn't realise he was on Radio 3, never tend to look what they have on

Mainly world music, African, LAtin, Cuban, a bit of rock -eg Neil Young.
He played two versions of I fought The Law last week; one by an african type singer, segued straight into the version by The Clash. V. good too. It al fits together nicely, and at an hour & a quarter it fits onto a mini-disc nicely.

right - this time, its an album that i have almost been listening too constantly since i got it - but its 1 giant leap...

the single is great, because it appeals to a large number of people - kinda a advert for the album - putting robbie and maxi jazz. This i felt dint realy do the album full justice, because i believe the pop fools who buy music because everyone else does will buy it purely for robbie... - but this is not what the albums about.
its about accepting the world and realising that we are kinda in 1st world brackets - and we don’t appreciate it to its full extent.
This happens to be my exact state of mind of the moment - because there is one point where i basically marvelled at the world about 5 months back...
i basically felt this album reflected that, and it shows - because its nice to see some people with a similar opinion....

neway - basically if i explain the concept in a simple, non-naming names way -
2 guys went around the world, turning up on singer’s doorsteps and with their portable studio - they made a tune. So basically it took them 2 years to produce, travelling the world, and writing songs and getting people they have never met to sing on it....
what a great idea! What has resulted from this is an instantly listenable album, but after a few listens u learn to love..
give it a try just under principle - but if ya like music that’s kinda different every song - with a strong multi-cultural image - give it a try.

If you're into World Music it's well worth a look at Radio 3's schedules and their website. Late Junction (Mon to Thurs late eves) and World Routes (Sat lunchtime) are terrific shows with a diversity of musical styles and many surprises, equivalent to discovering a new type of delicious food.

Radio 3 has come on such a long way since the seventies, immersed as it then was in upper middle class accents and rarely venturing outside heavy classics, heavy jazz and depressing drama.

Radio Rob (into yummy world cuisines)