The ever-popular "Currently Listening" thread

Originally Posted by yllaettaevaet
Radiohead/Thom (OK Computer onwards) are my favourite band beside Autechre.

Didn't you like the Bends? I thought that was a cracking album. My Iron Lung is a personal favorite. Just in case you're not won round by that, here is the entire album recreated in 8-bits by some hard working soul:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObjXhl6OaB8

EDIT: ha ha, sorry but I'm loving this - they've also done Hail to the Thief:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diIVUe2lKII

I'll stop now.

I can't get this excellent piece of music out of my head…

"Well, I'm a dreamer … but I'm not the only one …"

( You know, I wouldn't put it here if it wasn't something … extraordinary … )

Jon Anderson, Jean-Luc Ponty and APB - And You And I + Chris Squire Dedication - 2015

also

Jon Anderson & Todmobile - State of Independence

And someone has posted some of the songs from the XYZ demo sessions - Jimmy Page, Chris Squire, Alan White. They sound a lot like Presence to me with the driving rhythm section of Yes (and a Squire vocal). Pretty cool. The first 4 songs from this youtube.

XYZ - After The Crash

Mothra Song Remix

Been listening to a lot of Sun Ra lately. I haven't heard him in many years and I'm loving his and the Arkestra's music all over again.

Also listening to Gil Scott-Heron a lot still, although right now it's mostly Sun Ra and various jazz playlists on YouTube.

Walter Wanderley as well. His albums are just so relaxing to play from start to finish.

Decided it was time to listen to my Rammstein albums again.

Here's Spiehluhr.

Strange and eerie story. In German which works very well (aber nur wenn du Deutsch verstehst?).

pibbur who thinks that The Lion King is probably not the official video for this song.

*delete*

Saw the tail end of this movie the other day. I like this track at the end. Gothic or melodic metal I suppose, reminds me of some bits of Wolves in the Throne Room or even more recent-ish Enslaved (sans the female vocals).



In the film she starts doing a full black metal version but that doesn't go down well with the village locals so she scales it back to this.


-kwm

Hmm. Hadn't heard this one in a while. Really nice 80's nostalgia and a great song to boot.

Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World (ultimate 12 inch extended mix)

and one more

Talk Talk - It's My Life (US Mix)

Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime Full Album

Oh man I so love this song. The walking bassline, organ, guitar, harmonica, rhythm, and lyrics are perfect to me (rather apropos for this week, too). A lot of business bubbling just below the surface in the wall of sound mix.

Talk Talk - Living In Another World

nice live video version

TALK TALK -Living in Another World- (Live Salamanca 1986)

*delete*

Incubus - Morning View Sessions Concert

The Clash - London Calling

Time to kill the mood with my dark heart!

Abyss is a great album, i was hoping CW was going to stay doomy - needless to say, Abyss really lived up to my expectations. Great when an artist does that

Im all about Head on the Door right now, one of those inbetween-albums by the Cure I never got into. I'll always prefer the horn section version of Close to Me over the more minimalist version presented on this release. The death marches of Pornography, or the gothic soundwaves of Faith are pretty different from the bounce between pop sensibility and experimental fun of this album, while it's serious at times it's a far more upbeat affair. Probably why i never much cared for it, but now it's growing on me.

Earlier this year I mentioned the new Dream Theater album, "The Astonishing", wich is a rock opera "set in a dystopian future United States and follows the Ravenskill Rebel Militia in their efforts to defy the Great Northern Empire of the Americas using the magical power of music" [Wikipedia]. This could be either something good, or it could be very cheesy.

It is cheesy. Dream Theater are great musicians, but not very good writers of lyrics. And this is (IMO) clearly beyond their (specifically John Petrucci's) abilities. Emperor Nafaryus, anyone? Ugh!!!

As for the music - I don't like it. Which isn't necessairy a bad thing. Dream Theater fans can roughly be divided into to groups. Those that prefer the clean progressive part of their music, who consider "Images and Words" their best album (besides "Scenes From A Memory"). And those who prefer their metallic progressivity, like me. I consider their best album to be their most heavy one, "Train of Tought" (besides "Scenes From a Memory", everybody likes Scenes). And this album has very little metal in it. So this time the non-metals (not to be confused with the non-metals of the periodic table of elements) get what they want. I'm fine with that, and I could still have enjoyed the album.

But there's more. 34 songs on a (admittedly long) double CD, the longest one being a mere 7 minutes. Ouch!!! And with lots of vocals, there is little room for their instrumental creativity. I miss that.

And the ballads. Lots of them, and by that I mean lots of them. Now a ballad or two is fine, but not 20, especially when the melodies are easily forgettable.

So for me, this album is a huge disappointment, and I rank it among their worst. But I can live with that, as lots of fans, who unlike me have been unhappy with their latest albums (after "6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence"), seem to get what they want now. One might say it's their turn. And kudos to the band for trynig something new.

What has me worried is that this could be the main interest of the band for quite some time. A computer game is in development, release date this month last I checked. And I've heard rumours of a play for theaters (hopefully a bad dream). For all I know, maybe there will even be be a movie (no doubt starring Nicholas Cage and directd by - I don't dare mention his name). So, I fear that there mightl be 5 years or so before we see something non-astonishing-related new material from DT.

Here's


pibbur who despite not being astonished, haven't lost Faythe in the band.

Sounds hideous. I didn't think anyone was making this sort of pretentious toss anymore.

This is how I like Dream Theater:


BTW, some of the comments are actually worht reading. One little explanation may be in order: John Myung, the bass player is quite anonymous and soft-/never-spoken, definitely a shoegazer. Just look at him and John Petrucci when they stand together. A standing joke is that he writes the lyrics for all their instrumentals.

BTW2. In the scenes where you can see Jordan Rudess and his keyboard from above, some of you maybe noticed a square, flat thingy on his right. It's an iPad with the Morphwiz app, created by himself and one Kevin Chartier. It's quite good, methinks, and occasionally he uses it in concerts. You can see him playing it here: http://www.wizdommusic.com/products/morphwiz.html

pibbur who wisely never tries to clap his hands to the rythm of a DT piece.

Originally Posted by Ripper
Sounds hideous. I didn't think anyone was making this sort of pretentious toss anymore.

It happens. Especially in the world of prog music. Not my favourites. There is for instance the "Trans-Siberian Orchestra" mostly consisting of members from "Savatage", who has released a series of rock operas.

And FWIW, it's isn't that much worse than a lot of cheap fantasy-light book series.

pibbur whose favourite concept album is Thick as a Brick.