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Post by Kapitan on Oct 28, 2021 15:12:36 GMT
I don't know that I'd previously heard of Hurray for the Riff Raff, but I heard this new single today and kind-of like it. It's like an acoustic version of a Velvet Underground/Modern Lovers sound, with a woman in the Reed/Richman role. Can't say I care for her visual aesthetics, but one doesn't listen with his eyes. (Well, except on YouTube, I suppose...)
The album itself is out in February, so that'll have to wait for next year's thread.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 9, 2021 23:15:09 GMT
Heard this song on the radio this afternoon and had to know more. It sounds like the rapper The Streets fronting an old local band from around here ( The Book of Right On), if they decided to sort of streamline the latter's sound to something a bit more listenable. Really like this.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 12, 2021 14:37:40 GMT
Two albums I feel like I've been waiting on all year were finally released today: Silk Sonic's An Evening With Silk Sonic and Courntey Barnett's Things Take Time, Take Time. Why do I feel I've been waiting forever? Maybe because their first singles were released in March and July, respectively.
I've finished my first listen to the former, and it's exactly what you'd think it would be based on the singles. It's a pitch-perfect, brilliantly performed and produced album of '70s soul, funk, and R'n'B. But it's also very much tongue in cheek, almost a goof on the whole thing. I'm not sure how many of the songs will hold up over repeated listenings as much more than funny pastiches, but kudos to Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak on the work.
I've only just begun Barnett's album. I'm hopeful it is better than the uneven material that has followed her brilliant 2015 debut, Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit. At her best, she's really, really good in the vein of a Jonathan Richman or (less angry and depraved) Lou Reed.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 12, 2021 15:21:38 GMT
Art-pop musician Grimes has announced a new girl group, sort of: it's an AI group whose "members" can change over time (including by public vote), and apparently eventually it will be editable in some way by listeners. The first song is " A Drug From God," which is a dance track with these lines spoken repeatedly as its only lyrics:
Money, Power, Beauty, Fame Choose your weapon to beat the game Money is power, and art is fraud And love is just a drug from God
(and then once)
Love is just a drug from God You wanna cut it like casserole oh
She says of the project that NPC are “a vehicle for experimentation in new technologies as they become available such as generative characters and music, diff types of animation, AI-assisted art as well as spiritual technology in that Grimes can create as other people in order to reduce the psychic pain of being in the public eye. NPC will hone the concepts of Art Angels and Miss Anthropocene, finally manifesting the endless characters in Grimes’ head. NPC can do all the things humans cannot. NPC will eventually be playable, customizable, and able to cater to each individual listener’s unique desires. Decentralized Popstardom. Made, not Born."
I can't say the music is my style, but kudos to Grimes for being weird and trying something unorthodox. I guess when you're linked romantically to Elon Musk (or not, I believe they're "semi-split"), you a) have access to a lot of interesting ideas and people, and b) aren't hindered financially to chase the most uncommercial muses.
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Post by kds on Nov 16, 2021 14:50:01 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 19, 2021 12:23:41 GMT
Looking through the new releases today, I noticed something kind of funny. There are new albums out from Robert Plant and Allison Krauss, Brian Wilson, Sting, and Exodus.
I wonder if in our current Year In Review, 1980, you had told someone these artists would all have new albums on the same day in the same year 40+ years later, what they would've thought. Especially since, by 1980, Wilson was considered well past his prime and Plant was a 10+ year veteran.
Would they take the statement as an indicator of true greatness, or of a lack of strong new talent achieving success?
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 19, 2021 13:29:05 GMT
Looking through the new releases today, I noticed something kind of funny. There are new albums out from Robert Plant and Allison Krauss, Brian Wilson, Sting, and Exodus.
I wonder if in our current Year In Review, 1980, you had told someone these artists would all have new albums on the same day in the same year 40+ years later, what they would've thought. Especially since, by 1980, Wilson was considered well past his prime and Plant was a 10+ year veteran.
Would they take the statement as an indicator of true greatness, or of a lack of strong new talent achieving success?
Artists still recording/performing in their 70's and 80's is one of the best...developments...in the evolution of rock and roll music. The only thing to be careful with is the quality, and that will continue to be, of course, subjective.
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Post by kds on Nov 19, 2021 13:37:29 GMT
Looking through the new releases today, I noticed something kind of funny. There are new albums out from Robert Plant and Allison Krauss, Brian Wilson, Sting, and Exodus.
I wonder if in our current Year In Review, 1980, you had told someone these artists would all have new albums on the same day in the same year 40+ years later, what they would've thought. Especially since, by 1980, Wilson was considered well past his prime and Plant was a 10+ year veteran.
Would they take the statement as an indicator of true greatness, or of a lack of strong new talent achieving success?
I think it's a combination of the both the former and the latter. (Sits on a deck chair on my porch with a can of PBR). Let's face it, rock music just isn't the relevant force it used to be, for better or for worse. And I think that comes down to a combination of maybe the genre have gone as gone as it can go and / or the lack of newer talent. Oh, and get off my lawn. I also think that when you did something so well, like Brian Wilson, Robert Plant, and Sting did in their hey day, it's hard to turn it off. On the Plant release, I'm sorry, I don't get it. The first Plant / Krauss album was can popular with fans and critics. Classic Rock Magazine gave it a great review (Plant, Page, or JP Jones could release an album of bowel movement sounds and CR would give it at least an 8/10). I do think there's something to be said for guys like Plant, or Sting, or Ritchie Blackmore, who do their own thing without resting on their past successes, but oftentimes, it's just not for me.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 19, 2021 22:50:57 GMT
On the Plant release, I'm sorry, I don't get it. The first Plant / Krauss album was can popular with fans and critics. Classic Rock Magazine gave it a great review (Plant, Page, or JP Jones could release an album of bowel movement sounds and CR would give it at least an 8/10). I do think there's something to be said for guys like Plant, or Sting, or Ritchie Blackmore, who do their own thing without resting on their past successes, but oftentimes, it's just not for me. I am listening to this now. I don't know whether I ever listened to the first album all the way through, but I have to say I'm quite enjoying this. I saw a video clip that included "Searching For My Love" live and really liked it, which led me to listen to the whole album. I get that it wouldn't be for everyone--and it's certainly very different than most Zep--but I think people interested in a softer, Americana-roots kind of album would like it a lot.
Great musicianship throughout, as well. (The guitar combination of Marc Ribot, David Hidalgo, and Bill Frisell is hard to beat!)
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Post by kds on Nov 30, 2021 16:40:29 GMT
Deep Purple released their 22nd studio album this past Friday, a covers album called Turn to Crime.
In recent years, modern Purple have, to my ears anyone, sounded a bit more like a bar band than the hard rock band they were in the 70s, 80s, or even 90s. That's not really a criticism as I think their last three albums of originals (Now What, Infinite, Whoosh) are pretty good, but they have a bit more of a loose pub rock feel than when Blackmore and Lord were in the band.
This album really backs that up my bar band theory, as Gillan, Glover, Paice, Airey, and Morse put their spin on a dozen songs. I feel like the band is having more fun that the listener, as this just doesn't sound very Purple-ish to me.
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 2, 2021 13:55:20 GMT
It occurred to me over the weekend that I am way behind my typical schedule of winnowing down my best-of playlist for 2021. Usually by now, I'm down to just a few tracks per album, at least for the albums I bought in the first half of the year. This year most of them are still sitting there in the playlist.
I think it's because I haven't been as enamored with this year's music as I usually find myself to be. There has been a good amount of decent stuff, but not as many standout tracks that I can identify after one or two listens as "the ones." It also could be that I've spent a lot more time paying attention to specific other albums, thanks to the time required by the Beatles thread: often I've had those albums playing while I worked, whereas in the past that would've been new music.
Last year was the first year since I began this practice (2012) that I reduced the number of tracks: they had grown annually from 24 in 2012 to 46 in 2019 before dropping to 42 last year. Considering my relative ambivalence this year, I suspect the list may contract again this year. I suppose we'll see ... assuming I get around to actually getting it done.
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 7, 2021 15:55:26 GMT
The album in question will be released in 2022, making it a better fit for the inevitable next-year's thread. But the indie rock/power pop band Superchunk announced a new album, Wild Loneliness, to be released in February 2022. The lead single, "Endless Summer," is out now. I quite like it!
To be honest, Superchunk is a band I have literally never (to the best of my recollection) listened to, despite repeatedly seeing them listed among the power pop/indie bands I do like. It's just one of those things I never got around to.
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Post by kds on Dec 16, 2021 21:01:41 GMT
Here's a Top 40 Songs from 2021 list according to Ultimate Classic Rock. I was a little surprised to see Brian at 23. I probably heard, maybe 10 or so of the songs. I see Mammoth WVH place at #3. I've listened to that album two or three times. I just can't get into it. It just sounds like very ordinary 21st Century radio rock to me. Sorry Wolfie. I've heard the Weezer song, and had the same "meh" reaction that I've had to every song of theirs I've ever heard. Elton and Dua Lipa? Cheers to Elton for trying to stay relevant I guess. The GNR song isn't much to wrote home about. And, while some of these saw official release in 2021, listing songs by George Harrison, Tom Petty, and Prince feels a bit like cheating. I really liked the Alice Cooper and Maiden songs listed. Although, the later I don't even think was the best track on the album. And in further proof that classic rock publications continue to be infatuated with Zeppelin, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss hit the #1 spot. ultimateclassicrock.com/rock-songs-2021/
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Post by kds on Dec 22, 2021 16:58:36 GMT
And here are the top albums of 2021 per Ultimate Classic Rock ultimateclassicrock.com/best-rock-albums-2021/I thought the WVH Mammoth album was too high at #7, but it made more logical sense when I saw The Foo Fighters at #6. While they're not my cup of tea, I think voters / fans who enjoy the works of The Foo Fighters are probably inclined to enjoy WVH Mammoth.
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 22, 2021 19:30:39 GMT
Along those lines, I've been thinking of doing little lists for my favorite albums of the year and most disappointing albums of the year in addition to my typical year-end playlist (which I'm working on now).
The best albums list is going to be disappointing, though, in that I didn't really feel there were many standouts this year. Plenty of songs I liked, but not a lot of albums I'd hold up as favorites. And several that fall into the most disappointing category.
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