Interesting Music Related Links.

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Well, if you put that album in the 80s, it's hard to argue with that choice. Incredible album.

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So, Sept. 27 is a really busy day in terms of releases I'm looking forward to.

[ewok20t3]

So, Sept. 27 is a really busy day in terms of releases I'm looking forward to.

Can't wait for the new Mastodon! I hope they change things up now that every hipster-metal band in existence is copying their every move.

[Aaron]

You may remember my regular talk of Relevant Worship, the modern alternative rock worship group from Buffalo (formed out of bands like Adelaide and Elektromat).  They've changed their name to Brothers McClurg and will be releasing an album in the next few months. 

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A short NPR article on Gay Christian musicians.

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I guess I'm going to watch at least one episode of Saturday Night Live this season. 

[murlough23]

I guess I'm going to watch at least one episode of Saturday Night Live this season. 

It'd be worth watching for Alec Baldwin anyway - he's one of their best hosts.

I actually didn't realize 2000 was their first appearance on the show. That's what helped to pique my interest in the band.

[bloop]

Yeah, Mr. Schwetty himself, too! 

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LOL @ "The Lonely Island feat. Thom Yorke"

[murlough23]

LOL @ "The Lonely Island feat. Thom Yorke"

That could be either really awesome or really lame.

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It was never announced that it'll happen. I just found the concept funny. If it did happen, though, they'd need to find some way to make lyrics inscrutable and a bit blue at the same time.

[bloop]

This made me so much more excited for the new Wilco. The "dad rock" was pleasant, well-done and all, but it's nice to see they may be moving on.

[murlough23]

This made me so much more excited for the new Wilco. The "dad rock" was pleasant, well-done and all, but it's nice to see they may be moving on.

They still seem to be enjoying playing their instruments, which is what I figure Sky Blue Sky was about. They're just doing it more aggressively in this little teaser, which I don't mind at all.

[bloop]

That album is good for its songwriting, but it lacked enough excitement for a lot of Wilco's core fans, and I don't think it was as strong or ambitious as the work that came before.

[murlough23]

I guess I care more that the band enjoys what they're doing than whether the "core fans" like it. I figure they had "core fans" before YHF who might not been on board with that album's shift in tone from the previous stuff; they're probably always going to get that.

And yeah, a few tracks on SBS were kinda boring. A few of my favorites even had to grow on me. track for track, it still does more for me than any of the other Wilco albums I've heard, though. But I'm not saying they should stick to that sound. Constant evolution just seems to Wilco's thing, and I've come to appreciate going into their albums with no idea of what to expect. I figure Wilco The Album got all of the revisiting the past out of their system; now they're gonna try something different.

[bloop]

Somewhere in the run from Being There to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is their peak, both critically and commercially, and I don't see YHF as so different that it would throw off a fan of the albums that came before it (it didn't seem to at the time, IIRC. If anything, the storyline from fans was about the label being risible).

[murlough23]

Still. Just because a particular sound or era of your discography was when you were most popular doesn't necessarily mean you should be locked into doing that for the rest of your career.

[bloop]

Sure, and I was much more afraid of them being locked in the present mode than trying their hand at a more ambitious project. Maybe it's another case of my "art is king" bias, but I just can't think of "edgy arty"-types as being or feeling locked into it. It thrives on escape.

All this is to say, I'm not hoping for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Parte Deux, but I am hoping to be surprised.

[murlough23]

Sure, and I was much more afraid of them being locked in the present mode than trying their hand at a more ambitious project. Maybe it's another case of my "art is king" bias, but I just can't think of "edgy arty"-types as being or feeling locked into it. It thrives on escape.

I think part of the reason I enjoyed SBS so much (after finally getting used to it) was the fact that they went low-key and subverted everyone's expectations, but were still making good music for the most part. I still think there was some ambition and experimentation on that album.  should reiterate that I didn't just enjoy it for what it was not.

If they escape from the laid-back roots-rock stuff while not going back to the well of white noise (or at least, not as much), then I suppose we'll both get what we want in a way. It takes ambition to break your own mold, whatever mold that might be. It probably also takes ambition to adopt a genre that's fallen out of favor and do something good with it.

[bloop]

I "get" and respect noise-rock, but it's hard to get right. They did it well where it was used, went a bit overboard with one song in particular on A Ghost is Born, but I think people point to those segments too much when they actually represent a pretty small fraction of what was, even then, a primarily more melodic band (I'd even say the noise angle gets overplayed with Sonic Youth, too. Metal Machine Music was noise. Not much else really is), so I wouldn't mind a similarly well-incorporated ruckus.

[murlough23]

I "get" and respect noise-rock, but it's hard to get right. They did it well where it was used, went a bit overboard with one song in particular on A Ghost is Born, but I think people point to those segments too much when they actually represent a pretty small fraction of what was, even then, a primarily more melodic band (I'd even say the noise angle gets overplayed with Sonic Youth, too. Metal Machine Music was noise. Not much else really is), so I wouldn't mind a similarly well-incorporated ruckus.

Unfortunately I think it's easy to focus on the stuff that you find off-putting. To be fair, I'm not saying that a bunch of people suddenly liked them because they started making weird noises. But I did find that the noise dragged longer than I would have preferred for it to on more tracks than just that one infamous one. I didn't mind it so much when there was still something more "conventionally musical" (whatever that means) going on alongside it; just when it was by itself and creating longer gaps between/within songs, it tended to irritate me.

Honestly, YHF and Ghost had tracks that were dull for the same reason that SBS and The Album did. So it's not like "the noise" was the only thing I disliked about those albums. My favorite track on YHF - which seems to be a generally-agreed upon classic track for Wilco - was rife with noise, it just ran alongside the music rather than independently of it for the most part.

Interestingly, my favorite track on Ghost was a bit like a sneak preview of SBS. And my favorite track on The Album was a not-quite-as-awesome reflection of my favorite track on SBS. I didn't quite put that all together until just now. But there are other runner-up favorites on those albums which run a wider gamut of sounds and styles.

[bloop]

Not a single track from Being There to YHF was dull to me. *shrugs*

Bottom line: the new material seems promising so far.

[bloop]

http://pitchfork.com/news/43577-festival-stage-collapses-on-smith-westerns/

There have been a lot of stage collapses this summer it seems. They do have engineers who work on these things, right? Sheesh!

[murlough23]

http://pitchfork.com/news/43577-festival-stage-collapses-on-smith-westerns/

There have been a lot of stage collapses this summer it seems. They do have engineers who work on these things, right? Sheesh!

Maybe some of those collapses were staged.

[bloop]

I'm less apt to try to get near the stage when or if I ever go to a large outdoor concert again (the last one was Radiohead in 2001).

I could totally believe The Flaming Lips, showmen with their fake blood and so forth that they are, would stage something like that. But, they'd do it in a way that's safe to themselves and the audience.

[murlough23]

I only said that for the pun. I don't think any of these bands would seriously attempt something that idiotic.

It might happen at the Kickspit Under-Underground Rock Festival, though.

[bloop]

R.I.P. Ass Dan (btw, the Gathering just took place. Charlie Sheen was pelted)

It'd be pretty cool if well-engineered and safe. I'm imagining The Decemberists performing The Hazards of Love on a stage that looks like a sinking ship.

[murlough23]

R.I.P. Ass Dan.

It's all good. He's like Kenny; he comes back every episode.

It'd be pretty cool if well-engineered and safe. I'm imagining The Decemberists performing The Hazards of Love on a stage that looks like a sinking ship.

Knowing the country that we live in, somebody would freak out and have a cardiac and successfully sue the crap out of them for it.

[bloop]

Look, a Neutral Milk Hotel-Themed Video Game!

[murlough23]

Interesting balalaika/accordion/beatbox-driven cover of "Blood Pressure". These guys really want to tour with Mute Math, I take it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPL9AXPsyrM

[murlough23]

An article from Paste magazine about underrated bassists. Roy Mitchell-Cardenas from MuteMath made the cut, as did Colin Greenwood from Radiohead. Considering Sting and Paul McCartney are on the list (for being underrated specifically as bassists, not as artists), I figure that's high praise.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2011/10/20-underrated-bass-guitarists-in-popular-music.html

[bloop]

Nearly any good bassist is underrated. I mean, you have your Fleas and Les Claypools, but those are aberrations. It's just an under-appreciated instrument, in general.

[murlough23]

Nearly any good bassist is underrated. I mean, you have your Fleas and Les Claypools, but those are aberrations. It's just an under-appreciated instrument, in general.

It's a difficult instrument to do flashy things with. Unless you're a really inventive musician (and then sometimes even if you are), it's almost a supporting role by definition.

I can say from experience that Roy from MuteMath will always draw his fair share of attention when he whips out the upright bass, though. That is a frickin' cool instrument. (See "Obsolete".)

You know who that list was missing? Whoever played those funky bass riffs on Seinfeld.

[bloop]

Yeah, it's not a bad list.

You know who that list was missing? Whoever played those funky bass riffs on Seinfeld.

Clearly. You had to throw in a "whoever".

[murlough23]

Clearly. You had to throw in a "whoever".

Heh. I guess if you do good work but people don't know or remember your name, you definitely qualify as "underrated".

A lot of these bass players are notably versatile. I know nobody in Radiohead only plays one instrument. Roy from MuteMath covered a lot of the guitar duties on their new record when their guitarist rather suddenly quit on them. And of course Sting and McCartney are among the more famous examples.

I wonder if there's an article on underrated drummers. A lot of bands I can think of where I really love the percussion, I can't necessarily name the drummer off the top of my head.

[Aaron]

Geddy Lee.

[Ian]

I'm moving to Austin next week!  Hopefully that will dramatically increase my concert attendance (haven't been to a show in over to years!  arkansas and iowa are not my favorites, lol)

What do you guys use to track concerts?  Do you just keep an eye on your favorite bands or do you use a website that helps locate them?

[murlough23]

What do you guys use to track concerts?  Do you just keep an eye on your favorite bands or do you use a website that helps locate them?

I follow my favorite bands on Facebook, so at the very least I'm aware of when they're on tour. Then I might need to be proactive and go look for dates in my area on their site.

I've also purchased enough tickets through Ticketmaster that both their main site and various venues where I've previously attended concerts spam me with event Emails, which is annoying, but every now and then a show that I actually care about catches my eye.

Failing all of that, I tend to assume most artists are going to tour right around/immediately after the release of a new album, or later that year. So if they put out something really good or there's a highly anticipated release, I'll probably go check their tour schedule if it's a band I haven't seen live before or haven't seen in a while.

Friends help with word of mouth as well, though cases where they know this stuff before I do tend to be rare.

[Ian]

Whoops I meant to post that in the Concert Journal thread 

Thanks though

[enemy anemone]

What do you guys use to track concerts?  Do you just keep an eye on your favorite bands or do you use a website that helps locate them?

these days I just keep an eye on my favorite bands and subscribe to their email list or to the rss feed of their tour page or website in general. sometimes blogs can be found that keep tabs on upcoming indie concerts in the area, like la-underground.net. I was curious if "cityname underground" is a naming convention for such blogs and did a quick google search and found a similarly-named tumblr blog for Austin.