The ever-popular "Currently Listening" thread

Did one of my occasional tours of my MySpace friends and discovered that Siddal has put up a song for download. I wouldn't call it their best, but even "average" Siddal is well worth a listen when the opportunity presents itself.

"Frozen Garden" by Siddal
 
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video of sort of bizarre duet of Trent Reznor and Peter Murphy doing "Bela Lugosi's Dead"

I think Trent does well, for doing a cover of this in his style of vocals, and it is live, so theres inherent problems with sound in a live venue. This is a very atmospheric song that is very hard to do well, by distilling and encapsulating it like this, there's like 3 or so minutes of lead-in material in the original. It paints a picture in the mind that sets up the entire song's bleak and creepy backdrop. The imagery of two guys on stage in broad daylight, sorta ruins it for me. It's alright, but I wish the roles had been reversed, with peter doing the heavy lifting and trent supporting. In a darker venue too, geez, someone kill the lights!

I also kinda wish that Trent's industrial-type influence would have been present. You know, youre gonna change the song from the get-go, it's gonna sound different anyway, go the distance and make something impressive.
 
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Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek (fourth item in the Myspace player): gimmicky and overwrought. The cover by Sam Lea and friends (first item in the iNspired Player): the greatest thing ever? I think so, but you have to listen to the original first.
 
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Got a friend request from these folks on MySpace. Hadn't heard of them at all, but the tunes are surprisingly decent, so thought I'd share.

"Curtain of Stars" by July Fourth
 
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Heard this one on Vertigo and it really caught my ear. A little more ambient than my usual, but what a voice.

"Tinsel Starred" by Titania
 
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Yes dte, Mandy Cousins has a great voice and gives a clean uncluttered sound, i preferred the Pale Sister track of the four - because the rhythm backing matches her chordal sounding voice.:)
 
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beatles - come together

way too magnanimous and stuff. Toejam football, monkey finger! Feet down below his knees!

always wondered about that rhyme
"hold him in your arms and you can feel his disease..."or is it dis-ease-as,like, not at ease at all??:S and is it the same thing???

Also--who's the original for Bela Lugosi's Dead? There was something strangely David Bowie-ish about the lyrics, if not the vid.
 
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Yes dte, Mandy Cousins has a great voice and gives a clean uncluttered sound, i preferred the Pale Sister track of the four - because the rhythm backing matches her chordal sounding voice.:)

Nice voice indeed, and I agree on the Pale Sister track--but only because I can hear more of the lyrics:). You have to love a band that releases a collection called "Lovesongs of Chaos and Desire."
 
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The original BLD is by Bauhaus, widely believed to be the song and band that kicked off the "gothic" genre of music and what not. It was featured in the beginning bar scene of the vampire movie "The Hunger", and the rest is history. Youre right tho on the David Bowie thing, he's a major influence of theirs, and if you listen to the original, it's plain as day! I spotted a few vids of it and remakes. Needless to say, after listening to the song about 10 times over the last couple days, I'm "Bela'd out" now!

Undead, undead, undead!

Original band doing it, still a shortened version. I dont care what anyone says, I love the 80's

Scene from "The Hunger"

Opera IX cover- cool video, but of course she ruins it ultimately because she cant sing, and has to scream full-throttle thru it.

"The Sims" do BLD

As far as "Come Together" goes, your guess is as good as mine. Some things are just not meant to be understood, methinks ='.'=
 
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I think I liked the Sims video best. :) The models of David J and Daniel Ash were quite good. For that matter, the Peter Murphy wasn't too bad. Daniel did some weird guitar work with Bauhaus and right into Tones on Tail. I always liked that Love and Rockets single, too.

re Titania--I'll never quite understand the dichotomy I've got going on vocals. I don't particularly like instrumentals, and vocals are clearly a make-or-break component of the music for me. And yet, she could be singing the Hokey Pokey lyrics and I wouldn't even notice. I hear the tones, but the words just don't register. In some ways, it's a relief not having to worry about the tortured souls and anguished agony wrapped up in deep prose. You'd think I'd get more excited about Cocteau Twins and Liz Frasier's tonal singing, but I seem to need real words to ignore. Almost like that Cambridge University thing where they showed that you can read a hodgepodge of letters as long as the first and last letters are in the right place, only in reverse.
 
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Have to agree that The Sims video had me actively choking with laughter-thanks for putting that show together, Sammy :)

@dte I know what you mean about the divorcing vocals/lyrics thing. Years back(after the earth's crust had cooled but while the black monolith was still pulsing)I had a friend who was hooked on Joni Mitchell. When you went to her place, that was what was playing--fortunately she had quite a few tunes--but I remember thinking that she really could be singing opera or in a foreign language--the voice is an instrument--but seldom do you really feel it's being played by a virtuoso.
And tho this a rather subdued live cut that doesn't show her range, it's a bit on the dreamy side and you can get the feeling perhaps:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcpCUpjZ6ig
 
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I liked Joni Mitchell's stuff from the early 70's, but it was when she teamed up with a set of jazz mega-stars that she really caught my ear. Particularly the live "Shadows & Light" stuff - you can see/hear a sample here. Jaco is perhaps the best electric bassist ever, Pat Metheny is a tremendous guitarist and composer with a deeply lyrical style, Lyle Mays has been Metheny's co-conspirator for 30 years now, and Michael Brecker (recently died of Leukemia) was a tremendous voice on the tenor sax for many years ... Joni Mitchell is essentially a folk singer, but always saw her voice as more than just a channel for the words ...

Speaking of YouTube, here is an interesting find that shows some music I like - and from SNL, no less. Of course, this is from '79 when they would actually do daring stuff. The sound quality is pretty crappy, but there is some very complex structural stuff going on there - all in the Harmolodic form.

On the subject of 'instrumental' music, if you refer to it as such that is already bad since it implies that there is something 'missing'. Because I firmly believe that it isn't just possible to convey information and messages through music, but that they are more real and deep than those pt across through most lyrics ... but if you can't appreciate it then I think one of two things is going on - either you don't have an ear for music, or the people playing what you've heard lack the ability to put across a message musically.

And I don't mean that as elitist or insulting - most musicians are trained in the 'rock solo' method which is very impressive but limited, and most listeners learn about music through listening to popular songs, which have an extremely limited palette which is subservient to the words of the singer. It is very much like watching War of the Worlds on TV compared to listening to a radio show. Or watching a movie compared to reading a book.
 
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Been listening to "The Plan" by Tubeway Army... basically early Gary Numan. The album is pure guitar, slightly punkish, rock. It's really very good and considering when it was made, I consider the music to be ahead of its time.

Believe it or not, bands like the Foo Fighters, NIN (nine inch nails), and many others have cited Gary as being one of their major musical influences.

narpet
 
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Mike, you elitist insulting bastard... ;)

Your instrumental argument breaks down on two counts. First off, I've pointed out that vocals are merely another instrument for me rather than some grand exchange of words. The "missing instrument" is no different than a song without drums or some such. It can still be done well, but it takes some extra effort to account for the unfulfilled expectation. Second, as a classically trained organist (and a criminally negligent self-taught guitar and bass abuser), I have been exposed to a wide variety of approaches and styles, including the much ballyhoo'd freeform jazz. I don't really fit into the sheep pen.

Some of it comes back to the expectations one has for music. You want music to challenge and inspire you. I want music to make the world go away. Both are valid and appropriate, but will lead to entirely different critical criteria. An A-flat minor 6th backing an F-sharp (probably more appropriate to call it a G-flat, but anyway) lead speaks. To you, it might say, "Here I am. Kinda dissonant, kinda interesting, whaddya think?" To me, it might say, "Here I am. Am I bothering you again?"
 
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First off, I've pointed out that vocals are merely another instrument for me rather than some grand exchange of words.
That is fine, but the term 'instrumental music' is often a euphemism for 'elevator music' by detractors.

I don't really fit into the sheep pen.
I don't get that?

Some of it comes back to the expectations one has for music. You want music to challenge and inspire you. I want music to make the world go away. Both are valid and appropriate, but will lead to entirely different critical criteria.
Sure, just as reading romance novels or pulp fiction of sci-fi novels are an escape compared to reading something like James Joyce. Each medium has its' own things with their own purpose - casual vs. hardcore games as often discussed here, for example.

Also, dissonance for its own sake it is just showy and pretentious, using a tonal mechanism for no good reason. Within the context of actual harmonic structures, though, it is all about the very fundamental and human reality of conflict and resolution ...
 
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sheep--mindless herd with short attention span. Elitist insulting term for "top 40" listeners, common reference on shoegaze forums.

Thing is, (wish you hadn't brought in literary references since I've got a soapbox on that one, but we'll go with it) a Harlequin doesn't have to be a lesser art form. A story doesn't have to be Moby Dick with 7 levels of symbolism (or so the English teachers claim) in order to be skillful, passionate, and artistic. It's just as valid for the creator to have a target audience and aim the work appropriately. While "universal critique" can still be valid, an "enlightened" critic must take into account the target audience. So, while a rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" probably won't get you into the Hall of Fame, a room of 3-year-olds can tell you if it's "good" or not, and ultimately it's their opinion that is most important and most appropriate.
 
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sheep--mindless herd with short attention span. Elitist insulting term for "top 40" listeners, common reference on shoegaze forums.
My disconnect was the juxtaposition of listening 'to a wide variety of approaches and styles' incl. avant-garde jazz with 'sheep'. I understand that you were speaking in a broader context as a reply to my initial message.

Thing is a Harlequin doesn't have to be a lesser art form.
I agree - that was what I was trying say in separating pulp from literature. They have different audiences and aims, but each can be great within their own realm.

It's just as valid for the creator to have a target audience and aim the work appropriately.

Yep - that *was* what I was trying to say ... apparently I was missing the genre wars ;)
 
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How dare you agree with me? Where's the fun in that? :)
 
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How dare you agree with me? Where's the fun in that? :)

OK, then - let me toss out one of those great subjects for the 'relativity debate' :)

I believe that in all fields of art there are objectively great works that are 'better' than others, even if an individual person doesn't like them. For example, Beethovan's 9th or Wagner's Ring or Ellington's Far East Suite are all truly great human accomplishments in the artistic realm, and even if you like Van Halen better, every one of their works is objectively inferior from the standpoint of artistic achievement.
 
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