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What music are you listening to?


Benji

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And finally, a fair bit of Alex Harvey, because I love his voice. Just strained Glaswegian demented mentalism - his pronunciation of "mobile army whorehouse" absolutely makes his version of Jacques Brel's "Next".

My dad used to roadie for Alex Harvey back when he was a student. He keeps telling me to listen to him but I've absolutely no idea where to start.

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To be honest, I wouldn't have a clue either, I've not got too much by him. Songs that I've enjoyed, though, are his versions of "Next" and "Delilah" (miles better than Tom Jones', in my opinion), "Hammer Song", "Anthem" and "Dance To Your Daddy".

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I went through 2 artist marathons today: The first being The Exies. At the end of the fourth album, I was still enjoying it. Then onto the Killers. Hot Fuss, good, but 3 tracks into through Sam's Town, ugh. And even moreso with Day & Age after that. After six months of deliberating time, I've come to the realisation that Day & Age isn't that fantastic.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Torche's "Meanderthal", which after a couple of listens I am very well prepared to rank as the best album of 2008 that I never heard. Rolling, upbeat post-rock/metal with surprisingly indie-like vocals is very different from your average Hydra Head release, and just one more reason to cement them as my favorite record company right now.

Also, awesome cover art!

HYH-152_torche_cover_4C.jpg

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Yeah, I too enjoyed the album as well and surprised the hell out of me as I wasn't really expecting that much.

Though I got it quite awhile ago. :shifty:

Edited by Livid Soprano
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As much as I normally despise indie, I'm digging the Silversun Pickups' "Panic Switch" after hearing a mash-up of it on a Chris Cornell themed mixtape. It's got that distorted grunge sound that I dig.

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Silversun Pickups are basically Smashing Pumpkins for the 21st century. Just not as good. Although they are better than the Smashing Pumpkins of the 21st century.

Of course, me with a didgeridoo is better than the Smashing Pumpkins of the 21st century.

Edited by metalman
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Due to having little else to do, I've been listening to lots of music recently. Which I have decided to (entirely accurately :P) rate out of 10.

News Of The World - Queen (6/10) - We Are The Champions is the only truly great song, lots of filler and quite a lot of rubbish such as Sheer Heart Attack, Get Down Make Love and My Melancholy Blues

With The Beatles - The Beatles (8/10) - All My Loving, Please Mr Postman, You've Really Got A Hold On Me and Devil In Her Heart are all fantastic. Unfortunately overall rating brought down by too many meh songs like All I've Got To Do, Little Child, Hold Me Tight, I Wanna Be Your Man and Not A Second Time.

The New Fellas - The Cribs (8/10) - First four songs - Hey Scenesters!, I'm Alright Me, Martell and Mirror Kissers are excellent but the rest of the album fails to live up to that for the most part. Still not a bad song here though.

The Cribs - The Cribs (7/10) - A very good run of songs from You Were Always The One(best song on the album) to What About Me is let down by a piss poor second half, namely Tri'Elle and Third Outing.

Green River - Creedence Clearwater Revival (8/10) - Consistently good all the way through, though the title track is the only great song. Nevertheless, Commotion, Bad Moon Rising and Lodi are all worth a listen.

Greatest Hits - Thin Lizzy (7/10) - A bit sketchy in places, like their actual career, and they show they are definitely best when they stick to their tried and tested formula. Best songs are Dancing In The Moonlight, Jailbreak, Bad Reputation, The Boys Are Back In Town(obviously) and Do Anything You Want To. However, the best is their live cover of Rosalie which is absolutely brilliant.

Oracular Spectacular - MGMT (7/10) - A very mixed bag. While Time To Pretend, Weekend Wars, Electric Feel and Of Moon Birds & Monsters were some of last year's best songs, 4th Dimensional Transition must surely be one of the worst. Future Reflections is also bad while the other four songs are just average.

Heroes - David Bowie (9/10) - The title track is one of my favourite songs ever, and the other songs on the first half of the album are pretty enjoyable. However, it is the spooky atmospheric trio of Sense of Doubt, Moss Garden and Neukoln that form the core of this album. Furthermore, The Secret Life of Arabia has the danciest bassline ever. It does.

Music From Big Pink - The Band (8/10) - Obviously this album is best known for The Weight, which is indeed one of the best songs on the album, though my true favourites are We Can Talk and Chest Fever.

Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) - David Bowie (8/10) - My favourite of Bowie's inconsistent 80s period. Look out for the alternate version of Space Oddity, Ashes To Ashes and Panic In Detroit.

Grace/Wastelands - Peter Doherty (7/10) - Lady Don't Fall Over Backwards is lovely, as is Sheepskin Tearaway and Broken Love Song. Too much of this album is just...meh though. Definitely Doherty's most underwhelming work.

Help! - The Beatles (8/10) - Suffers from the classic Beatles problem of having too much filler, but is more than adequately saved by the likes of The Night Before, Help!, Ticket To Ride and I've Just Seen A Face

Rubber Soul - The Beatles (9/10) - My favourite Beatles album is packed full of very good songs, particularly Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood, In My Life and Michelle.

Sing The Greys - Frightened Rabbit (8/10) - Frightened Rabbit's worst album still has a number of very good songs, particularly Be Less Rude, Go-Go-Girls and Square 9.

Wall Of Arms - The Maccabees (7/10) - Given that their first album was shit this is a definite improvement. Still, there are no songs here that particularly stand out. Kiss and Resolve, No Kind Words and the title track are worth a listen however, while Bag of Bones is best avoided.

Elephant Shoe - Arab Strap (7/10) - By no means my favourite Arab Strap album, but it should still not be disregarded. Cherubs, Pyjamas and Tanned are my favourites from this.

Midnight At The Movies - Justin Townes Earle (7/10) - A very enjoyable listen, but does seem to be lacking something. Give Someday I'll Be Forgiven For This a listen.

Deaths and Entrances - My Latest Novel (8/10) - Very good second album. I Declare A Ceasefire is one of my favourite songs this year and everybody should listen to it now.

Journal For Plague Lovers - Manic Street Preachers (8/10) - Manics live up to the hype, particularly on the anthemic Jackie Collins Existential Question Time and the...anthemic Marlon J.D. Unfortunately the excellent first half is brought down a little by a second half that tends to slip into cruise control a bit too much at times.

The Spinning Top - Graham Coxon (7/10) Blur man's latest effort is undeniably good but still tends to underwhelm, not really managing to get going until the 10th track. Don't listen to November. It is a bad song.

Quicken The Heart - Maximo Park (8/10) - Maximo Park defy my previous opinion of them to come up with a pretty good album. In Another World is the best song.

Nebraka - Bruce Springsteen (7/10) - More quiet than when he gets the full band out, and sometimes I prefer it this way. Nebraska is such an instance, particularly in the title track and the celebrated "Atlantic City".

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I may be crucified here for liking the mainstream, but I can't get enough of this Veronicas track. Despite probably hearing it over 10 million times over the last year playing FIFA. Still love the song and the intro. Same with La Roux - In For The Kill.

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Hello!

My first post :) the music I am listening to is music from the Japanese artist "Kokia," the theme song "Harmony," from the movie Orgin. Epic film, if you ask me. If you love anime and the bizzare but intriging world between the world of nature and interferance of human interactions to attempt to destruction. The message is heavly stressed, to always protect our world and love it for the way it is. :)

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Another outline of stuff I've listened to over the past week. Because I can. <_<

Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline (8/10) - Where Bob Dylan went "country" and in the process produced a highly enjoyable album. My favourite song is also the album's most famous - "Lay Lady Lay" - but the album is very enjoyable as a whole. Even Dylan and Johnny Cash's ill-fated effort to sing in harmony on the rerecording of "Girl From The North" country is excellent - though the original on the Freewheelin Bob Dylan remains my favourite.

Montée - Isle Of Now (7/10) - Norwegians trying to be Scritti Politti or something here. It is a very enjoyable album, particular in the case of the opener "Entity". However, a weak second half - "Tunnels" and "Secrecy" in particular are awful - lets it down, as does the fact that the album lacks any song that could be described as special. Still worth a listen though, and I put quite a few songs from it on my iPod.

James Taylor - Dad Loves His Work (7/10) - "Her Town Too" is a song I love, and is doubtless my favourite song on the album. However, the likes of "London Town" and "Summer's Here" also contribute towards what is for the most part a solid album.

The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico (8/10) - It is hard to say anything about this album which hasn't already been said so I will keep it brief. "Heroin" and "There She Goes Again" are two of my favourite songs ever, while the rest is for the most part very good also.

Death Cab For Cutie - The Open Door (8/10) - None of the songs here are anything amazing, but they are all very strong and it is impressive that they can release songs as good as these so soon after an album.

Steely Dan - Katy Lied (8/10) - Like pretty much anything by Steely Dan, this is slick, laid back, and great fun to listen to. Particular favourites are "Throw Back The Little Ones", "Black Friday" and "Doctor Wu".

Blondie - Parallel Lines (8/10) - Another very good album. "Hanging On The Telephone" is another all-time favourite song of mine and "Sunday Girl" and "Heart of Glass" are also excellent. Would have been 9/10 but for "Fade Away and Radiate" and "Pretty Baby" which are a bit naff.

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (6/10) - I can understand why this album is revered as much as it is, although it didn't have as great an effect on me. I still found it fairly enjoyable, with the likes of "March of the Pigs" and "Hurt". My favourite song on the album however, is the excellent "Piggy".

The Get Up Kids - Something To Write Home About (8/10) - Despite a less than convincing start, this album really comes into its own following "Red Letter Day", which is also my favourite song on the album.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poorboys (8/10) - "Fortunate Son", "Down On The Corner" and "Don't Look Now" are the key features of a very good album.

The Horrors - Primary Colours (7/10) - Given the sources that were hyping this album(NME) I was a little unsure as to whether it would actually be any good. However, it does live up to the hype for the most part by sounding a bit like a badly tuned Arcade Fire crossed with My Bloody Valentine. Best songs are "Do You Remember" and "Sea Within A Sea".

The Clash - Combat Rock (5/10) - This is perhaps the album where the Clash became decadent and a bit too sure of themselves and released an album that was less than impressive and signalled the beginning of their drastic decline. I know the likes of "Know Your Rights" and "Straight To Hell" are widely acclaimed but they are very average to my ears. This album's one saving grace was the ever-excellent "Rock The Casbah".

The Lucksmiths - Green Bicycle Case (8/10) - In recommending this to me, Australian girl said they sound a bit like the Australian Belle & Sebastian, which was a good enough reason for me to listen to them. She is for the most part right, and after enjoying this greatly I will definitely be looking for some more of their work. "Motorscooter" was my favourite song out of an album full of gems.

Ryan Adams - 29 (8/10) - This album does falter in places but given that I love four out of its 9 songs - the country chug of "29", the acoustic ballad "Night Birds", the alt-country ballad "Carolina Rain", and the clashing "The Sadness" - it is still a very good album.

Idlewild - Post Electric Blues (9/10) - An excellent album, and my favourite of the year so far. Look out for "Take Me Back In Time", "No Wiser" and "All Over The Town".

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The Lucksmiths - Green Bicycle Case (8/10) - In recommending this to me, Australian girl said they sound a bit like the Australian Belle & Sebastian, which was a good enough reason for me to listen to them. She is for the most part right, and after enjoying this greatly I will definitely be looking for some more of their work. "Motorscooter" was my favourite song out of an album full of gems.

I don't think it'd come as much surprise to hear that they're my favourite band. And the Australian B&S comparison is one of the ways I try and introduce them to people, it's a pretty good comparison.

For other albums to look out for, definitely check out "Warmer Corners", which I think is probably their strongest complete album, and "Naturaliste", which has a good overall feel to it...very sleepy and laid back, I first listened to it driving across Yorkshire, and I've always associated it with sleepy country roads and autumn days ever since. Worth checking out their final album, "First Frost" too, it's got some lyrical genius ("California In Popular Song"), as well as the most change to their sound that you're likely to hear anywhere.

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