Music Talk

[Martina]

Teena Marie -- wasn't she something?

[Martina]

The Lady Snow mentioned Hal Ketchum on the two-step thread. He is totally not the kind of artist who usually floats my boat. Smooth, sweet, pretty country pop and folk.

But I have always LOVED Hal. He's a good songwriter. Consistent. Some of his songs might on the surface sound like radio country, but they are not. Smarter and not emotionally manipulative. When he writes, he's not trying to create a hit. He is accessing himself, a real person, a good person. And while the experiences he talks about are very common and he is not a genius with words, he still creates original moments. He does have some roots stuff and definitely collaborates with roots musicians, who adore him. But, I guess what I mean is you could miss that it's really good if you just went by the sound.

And I love his mellow personal energy. I was sad when I learned -- many years ago now -- that he has MS. I have only seen him a few times. He is still out and about though he has had years of little to no productivity. He's well loved by his peers, which is pretty rare.

[chefhmboyrd]

this is what i grew up with in my punk days....
late teens early 20s

Bob is awesome, Sugar is awesome

[chefhmboyrd]

[tonaderspeisung]

Originally Posted by Martina

OK, so I am on the PBS site tonight and saw that they had a few episodes of Austin City Limits that you can view. Just four. The episodes featured Cold Play, Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, and Radiohead. My reaction was could you name four more overrated groups? Could you contrive a more perfect list of overrated bands if you tried? Anyway, that's my music comment of the night. Not a very nice one.

The LA Weekly has a list of the "20 Worst Hipster Bands," and Arcade Fire and Bon Iver are both on it. So it's not just me.

Here's the whole list in case anyone is interested. When I saw the list originally, I listened again to a Decemberist record I have. No reconsideration for me. I can see that they think they are clever and that that can grate. But I enjoy them a lot.

20 The Black Keys
19 TV On The Radio
18 Sleigh Bells
17 fun.
16 MGMT
15 Death Cab For Cutie
14 Wavves
13 The Decemberists
12 Pomplamoose
11 Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros
10 White Rabbits
09 Beach House
08 The Airborne Toxic Event
07 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
06 Beirut
05 Grizzly Bear
04 Bright Eyes
03 Arcade Fire
02 tUnE-yArDs
01 Bon Iver

i have to disagree - especially with the arcade fire - seriously any band with a hurdy gurdy can never be overrated.

i notice that a lot of the bands on this list have also been used in itunes ads
i wonder to what extent a band's estimate of merit is dependent on the context in which their music is used

Originally Posted by chefhmboyrd

this is what i grew up with in my punk days....
late teens early 20s

Bob is awesome, Sugar is awesome

bob's workbook is a desert island pick of mine

[Martina]

Arcade Fire is good. As I said, I like The Decembrists. I agree with the LA Weekly re Bon Iver and Bright Eyes tho. A lot of the rest of the bands I don't know or don't dislike. Interesting question re iTunes ads.

[Reader]

Originally Posted by Martina

Teena Marie -- wasn't she something?

HELL YES! She was. She is still on my iPod.

[Martina]

[Kätzchen]

I remember you're forum thread, Martina...
I'm glad you created Music Talk as a forum topic here;
in a way, it kind of reminds me of NPR's Car Talk.

I do love music: Music is my life's blood. It surely is.
Not only do I have an extended background as an
accomplished pianist, but also a small sampling of
singing (vocals, choir, accompaniest, etc).

That was years ago though and although I do still
play the keys, from time to time, I still love to sing;
but not professionally - just for personal pleasure,
I guess one might say. Anyway, over the years,
I have not always liked all music. There are a few
genres of music I can live without and even particular
songs I could live without hearing ever again. For instance,
I am no fan of Melissa Ferrick or her song "Drive." That song
makes me run for the hills (Quick, let's go hunt for moose!). :/

I do have favorites: Blues (SRV, BB King, T-Bone Walker), Jazz (Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Sarah Vaughan), Classic Country/Western (Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty,The Statler Bros)...to name a few. I like artists who seem to escape being placed in any one kind of genre too. For example, Meshell N'dgeocello or even Loose Ends (Carl McIntosh).

My heart loves Soul...

Soul is such an expansive list for me that I cannot even possibly condense it to single post that would do service to the love I feel for Soul music.

But, Aretha Franklin tops that list in my world.

[tonaderspeisung]

i've been trending to the avant garde lately

i don't know what's more fascinating - the mechanical processes used to create the pieces or the aural visions that birthed them

love this


and this is downright unsettling and captivating at the same time

[tonaderspeisung]

last week ac/dc made their catalog available on itunes

will technology make full length albums impossible on a major label

good news - bad news

any recent releases worth a whole cd?

i could recommend
artist: stars
album: the north

i can see some of the slow and textural deep cuts getting lost in a download the catchy single world and that would be a shame

[Kätzchen]

Guess what, Martina?

Have you ever heard of LeRoy Bell? He's a musician from the Seattle area and it just so happens that he'll be in concert at The Aladdin, this Friday.

I happened to accidentally come across him one day, a couple of years ago, while listening to random music videos on YouTube. I like his style or brand of music, although I don't know if a person could actually situate his kind of music in a blues genre or indie or Jazz or even modern day pop genre. What I like about him is that he writes his own music and pens his own lyrics.

Since I discovered him on YouTube, I have since found out that he has recorded some of his music with Robert Lang Studios and that he also appears at The Triple Door on a regular basis (both RLS & TTD are in Seattle). I have yet to buy any of his recordings... mostly because I want to hear him in concert first and also because it's hard to know if I will enjoy most all of his music. I don't do iTunes or MP3s of listen to music other than on a Vinyl disc or on a CD - although I prefer to keep vinyl recordings of music, overall. I know that when I hear him in concert this Friday, I'll have a better idea if I want to splurge and buy a previously recorded CD of music or wait until his new CD comes out or wait to see if he will have an Album of recordings on vinyl. I guess he was on X-factor last fall, but I didn't see it because I don't own a tv (which I miss somedays). I know that he seems like a really nice man who cares about not only the music community in Seattle and other PNW artists; but he also collaborates with other musicians, globally (he was in S. AFrica this past summer promoting a young female artist, recently).

Here's a couple of videos I found of songs I like that he sings. I'm kind of excited to go hear him Friday.... Last time I went to a concert was last summer (actually Fall, Labor Day weekend). I saw Ray LaMontange at The Edgefield: it cost me a small fortune to go, but oh my god, that was a great concert! I hope the LeRoy Bell concert is just as wonderful.