Same, I have a playlist full of songs from games that I’ve played like Nier automata and Undertale. Used to think people who liked video game music were cringey until I started playing video games myself and found the songs very catchy
He’s incredibly good at turning experiences into words. Allentown is still relevant today, the way he wrote it it just describes so many peoples American experience.
But he did that a lot. Where I think he’s best with it is more emotional songs, he really captures whatever emotion he’s getting into words well. Like, Captain Jack does a good job of telling the story of someone in small town America, but I always heard it as a song about depression. All this stuff is happening around you and you’re just kinda there for it, not really feeling much of anything.
Or how he captures that nervous feeling about meeting a girl for the first time in Get it Right the First Time. He is so good at getting emotion into music.
I recently started listening to classical and boy does it require a completely different listening approach! I’m listening almost exclusively to Mahler’s No.5 since my attention fades away after the first movement and I need lots of listening to know what’s actually going on
Mahlers 5th is good, but I think his 4th is better.
But my personal favorite is Beethoven’s 5th. I used to HATE that symphony when I was a kid, my grandmother loved it and it bored me to tears.
Turns out the version she had on CD that she always listened to was the worst recording you can find of it. It was WAY too slow, it made the whole thing drag on. That symphony works best when it’s damn near rushing. When I got back into classical a few months back I found the Berliner Philharmoniker playing it directed by Simon Rattle, and the sprint through that symphony, and it works SO MUCH BETTER. It was very clearly intended to be played fast, so many of the parts feel way more interesting and there’s sections where each part of the orchestra feels like it’s tripping over the others to be heard.
Since you look much more knowledgeable than me, could you help me understand how to navigate the overwhelming amount of different versions for every piece of music? For now I’m completely ignoring who’s playing and conducting and sometimes I timidly try to listen to another version, usually just to come back to the comfort of the first version I listened
Usually I try to listen to a few different versions until I land on one that really clicks with me. It takes a little bit to really understand what that means. To me the orchestra is less important than the director. The music is always the same, but the director decides which parts will pop out the most, how fast the tempo is, and how he wants the orchestra to play parts.
I literally picked it because I thought the album cover was interesting because it had some color. A lot of classical albums are committed to black and white for some reason.
Googling a piece can help, especially if you search for like “beethoven 5th best recordings.” You’ll find a lot of opinions out there, and it can help you get a starting point for a given piece to go from.
If you find yourself wanting to go to a more “comfortable” version, it means something in the recording you’re listening to isn’t clicking with you. That’s OK! Try to identify what it is that makes you not like that recording, and what the one you prefer does differently that makes you prefer it. It helps to write it down; if you make posts here or on Mastodon that may help a lot with articulating what you do or don’t like (and boost engagement).
Seemingly “simple” things like “i think this section is too fast” or “the version I like has the horn section louder here, but this version focussed on the windpipes” really influence how you hear the music and make a big difference, and are completely valid reasons to prefer one recording over another.
Yes! I absolutely love the Toh Kay albums. I’ve listened to his entire discography, including Smiles for Macavity and the demos. I haven’t heard a single thing that I dislike from him!
almost exclusively electronic music, just can’t seem to get enough of it. (ambient, downtempo, drum & bass, dub, electro, glitch, goa trance, house, idm, psybass, psychill, psytrance, synthwave, techno). I’d be happy to try to give recommendations of any of these if you ask.
also love funk like Parliament/Funkadelic and some electronic focused jambands like STS9 & Lotus
What are some of your ambient recommendations? I was just listening to Tim Hecker’s Konoyo, also dig stuff like Global Communication, Boards of Canada, Grouper, Human Mesh Dance, Stars of the Lid, Biosphere.
Really into a electronic psychedelic cumbia genre that goes by Psicodelica Selvática (and other names) : Dengue Dengue Dengue!, Chancha Via Circuito, Yeahman, Son Rompe Pera, El Remolón’s Selva really hits the spot too.
I prefer my ambient to have a psychedelic aspect to it instead of just pure drone, so probably my favorite ambient artist is Ishq, namely his albums Orchid, Sama, And Awake, Bloom, and Lotus. Sinepearl and Chandanam are also artists that have a similar sound to Ishq. also check out Woob’s Repurpose album
getting into more of the psybient/psychill genre than pure ambient, mostly everything on Ultimae Records is gold imo (Solar Fields, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Cell, H.U.V.A. Network, Sync24, etc.)
Folk, Folk-Rock, Folk-Metal, Classical, Progressive Death Metal, Grindcore, Melodic Black Metal with Death influences, Industrial Metal, Industrial Rock
Also, quite some metal outside those genres, but those would be the main ones. Oh, and some almost metal K-Pop (e.g. Dreamcatcher) via my wife ;)
I run away from Rap, RnB, most electronic music (Some few exceptions, and I also like the freaky stuff like Gabber and faster up to speedcore or terrorcore) unless it’s mixed with metal.
For metal, we have the link between them: Ministry who are pretty much for metal what KMFDM is for Rock Just One Fix 1992. Quite different is Dutch The Monolith Deathcult who are one of the few Industrial Death Metal bands Wrath of the Ba’ath 2008. Hanzel und Gretyl are a military party industrial metal band ;) Fukken Über Death Party 2006 (Note: they use Nazi Germany sound samples and imagery, though satirized). Pain’s Shut your Mouth 2001 is one of my all-time favorite songs and videos
Have you heard Metempiric by Knoll? One of my favourite bands around right now. I guess they’d be described as blackened grindcore. Intense, extreme, and beautiful record.
I just discovered them recently on a spotify suggestion. So glad. Sometimes things just work out. It’s a numbers game. I’ve probably turned away 95% of what spotify recommends. I’ve had premium for a decade and the discover weekly playlist is still hit or miss. Sometimes I see a pattern, like every other week there may be a good song.
I meant S-tier as in ranking. If you look at tier lists on the internet, they will often rank things using letters. I was basically just saying that I consider them to be bands of the highest tier, I’ve attached a link to show you what I mean.
Heavy Metal. Most things with screaming/growling that has actual lyrics are gold to me. Ice Nine Kills manages to blend that with my love of the horror genre, and discovering them felt like finding a new home.
Artists: Blockhead, Wax Tailor, RJD2, Abilities, Mos Def, Gift of Gab, Sage Francis, Wu-Tang Clan, Eyedea, Aesop Rock, MF Doom, Run the Jewels, Tonedeff, A Tribe Called Quest, Cunninlynguists, Nas, Substantial, The Roots, Dead Prez, Black Star, Digable Planets, PackFM, Talib Kweli, Smif-n-Wessun, The Notorious B.I.G., Warren G, Immortal Technique, Big Pun, Murs, Hieroglyphics
Post-Electronic Pop/Rock type shit? Dream Pop? Indie Pop? I have no idea.
Artists: Elder Island, Haelos, Alex Winston, London Grammar, Maribou State, MS MR, Warpaint, RY X, Rhye, Parra for Cuva, Bleachers, Zero 7, Aurora, Phox, Lucius, Alt-J
Folk, Folk Rock, Americana
Artists: James Taylor, Bon Iver, Simon & Garfunkel, Cat Stevens, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Brandi Carlile, Patty Griffin, Peter, Paul and Mary, Willie Nelson, The Lumineers, Of Monsters and Men, Lord Huron, Hozier, Shakey Graves, Nanci Griffith, Ray Lynch, Neil Young, Daughter, The Milk Carton Kids, I’m with Her, Nickel Creek, Punch Brothers
Progressive Rock (Maybe kinda, sorta Metal?)
Artists: Porcupine Tree, The Pineapple Thief, Gazpacho, The Flower Kings, Kolm, Steven Wilson, Airbag, Lunatic Soul, Riverside, Soen, Haken, Blackfield, King Crimson, Leprous, Pink Floyd, Rishloo, Katatonia, Dredg, Rush, Opeth, Rpwl, Jethro Tull, Chroma Key, Karnivool
But I’m going to do a shitty job recommending music, since you listed the artists who do like dnb electro… Which is an area that I’m almost totally clueless. But to take a shot in the dark, UNMD. It’s frenchcore techno so it’s a bit different. Maybe look at psy techno since it has the same kind of beat whilst keeping some the melodic parts of electro.
Sorry that was awful. But alot of the artists I listen to have really fat melodies which is like the exact opposite of what your looking for. Although I do like some of the artists you listed, so I’m gonna mix those into my playlists. So thanks I guess
Edit: I looked through your post history, defo look into psy techno.
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