Today, I'm Listening To ...

[JDoors]

Disturbed? Uh, no. Maroon 5? A few REALLY good songs (don't know if any good ones are on that particular CD though). All-American Rejects? Heard the name but never, to my knowledge, heard them. And frankly, every time I've listened to your Japanese-sourced music it all sounds the same, like the wails of someone stomping on the toes of Japanese school-children.

My playlist, taken off the L-M shelf:

LCD Soundsystem (sorta electronic)

Leftfield (definitely electronic)

Les Paul (Guitar Hero!)

The Mamas and the Papas (60's pop)

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris (not sure of the genre)

Michael Bublé (Swing Baby!)

[Honda_Boy]

What's wrong with Disturbed

And my J stuff is all pretty different. A lot is kinda goofy and I probably never would have liked a lot of it if i had never seen the animes they are from but some of it is genuinely good. abingdon boys school, well if their English was better (they've done a few english songs) I bet they could gain some popularity in the US. They are a genuinely good rock band. Shimamiya Eiko, she has a damn fine voice (she's not high pitched). Kawada Mami just does really good stuff. KOTOKO has an very unique sound. There's a bunch of others that are just actually good. Some however, the main reason I like it is simply the animes they came from.

[isteve]

I Like Disturbed and Maroon 5. Not a fan of the J-rock, pop or whatever it's called. It all sounds like if Paul Shaffer joined a 80's hair metal band with a singer from a early Bond movie. Of course to each his own. I like the newest Slipknot cd so what do I know.

[Honda_Boy]

Again, that's gross generalization of the "genre". It's like saying all American music is the same. Like I said, there are actually some genuinely good groups/artists.

[JDoors]

What's wrong with Disturbed ...

A little too hard-core for my taste, at least, to listen to for any length of time. I only have a couple of CDs that can be pigeon-holed into anything resembling that genre and that's enough of a "fix" for me. I wouldn't be against anyone sending me free CDs of Disturbed (hint-hint).

I totally understand the connection between watching anime and lovin' the music in it. In previous posts I stated the reason I chose a particular CD was solely because I heard a song from that artist in a movie I had recently watched.

Today is ELECTRONICA DAY! All electronica, all day! (My avatar's lovin' it!)

[Honda_Boy]

Yeah, often the anime is why I like a song but singles usually have a second and sometimes a third song. Often I will like that song as well. Like the Charmmy Queen songs I listed. The first one was the theme but it's actually pretty goofy. I like it cause it reminds me of the funny anime it's from. However the second one, I don't think ya'll would like it but I found the flow of the song to be unique and interesting.

One anime theme I have was actually part of an album. The group was called the Boom Boom Satellites. I actually really liked most of the songs on the album. I actually had a friend who doesn't watch anime listen to it and he loved it. It also helped that despite the fact the group was Japanese, they sang in English.

[JDoors]

I was at a friend's house and he just bought a bunch of music. He said there's one he wanted me to hear, knowing I'd get into it (we've known each other for thirty years), but he didn't want me to know who it was at first. Hey, I'll play along! He played a song ... Umm, Bryan Adams? No. He play another one ... Umm, new Aerosmith? No. John "Cougar" Mellencamp? No. One after another, song after song, each sounded great (I knew I'd want the CD), but I had NO IDEA who it could be. Each song had some similarity to an artist I know (mostly artists I know and own), but I couldn't pin down who this was.

It was Kid Rock.

Say WHAT?!?

His wife had been on a trip and her friends played Kid Rock as they cruised through Arizona, and she loved it. I'm not sure how she convinced my buddy to purchase Kid Rock (he did know one song from listening to country stations), but I'm glad she did! I'd watched a Kid Rock video or two months or even years ago, for whatever reason, and didn't care for any of it. This ... this was great! I was under the impression he was sort of a rapping country-ish artist, and there IS one rap-ish song (but the lyrics are great, so I like it) and one WAY country song (again, great lyrics redeem the barefoot twang), but the rest of the CD is awesome.

Both of them were a little uncomfortable with a couple of songs that have foul language, but that doesn't bother me (C'mon, how old is The Who's Who Are You?, with the lyric, "Who the f* are you!?").

So I'm listening to Kid Rock. And ... he rocks!

*****

Forgot to say, BONUS: I don't hate Kid Rock's politics, as I do many other artists! Yippee-kai-yay!

Edited April 22, 2009 by JDoors

[isteve]

There is a reason Kid Rock sounds like everyone else he samples their music. Kid Rock is a smart guy and knows what sells he picks a hot style country, classic rock, hip hop, grunge and makes something to please everyone.

[JDoors]

Makes sense, though I've been noticing more and more that new artists I've found, in general, sound similar to someone else (is that a sign of old age? Like saying, "Gosh-durnit, all new cars look the same!"). One of the songs on this CD starts off with an EXACT duplication of a riff from a song I'm familiar with (that was one of the songs my buddy played to "throw me off").

Today, off the A-B shelf:

Alan Parsons

The Art of Noise

Audioslave

Basement Jaxx

Billy Joel

[Honda_Boy]

Figured out how to rip the music from a game I was playing (Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia) so I've been listening to that. It's some of the best music I've ever heard in a game. Very pretty vocals (in the songs that have them that is).

Unfortunately installing the .adx plugin for Winamp causes my Winamp to stop functioning so I have to use my .afs extractor to listen to the music. I can't seem to find a (free) way to convert the .adx files to .mp3. If I could find it for a reasonable price anywhere, I'd try to get the sound track but the places that I found it, it was outrageously priced.

[isteve]

Just listened to some All American rejects and now some Mazzy Star.

It's not a age thing, all new cars do look the same. Or maybe it is a age thing.

[JDoors]

Off the D-E shelf (selecting this way makes for an, err, 'interesting' mix of genres):

Dream Theater (I STILL can't believe how awesome Systematic Chaos is)

Emerson, Lake & Palmer (which, coincidentally, Dream Theater apes occasionally)

Emmylou Harris

Enya

The Fray

George Thorogood & The Destroyers ("Get a haircut and get a real job! Get it together like your big brother Bob! Clean your act up, and don't be a slob! GET A HAIRCUT AND GET A REAL JOB!")

As for cars being the bellweather for ageing, when I was a kid I could name every car; make, model and year, with just a glimpse. My dad said, "They all look alike nowadays, not like they used to." I couldn't believe it! Every car, every YEAR, was entirely different from another, what was he talking about? And when I looked at old cars (the kind with pontoon fenders), THEY all looked alike to me! So I decided that's when you know you're old, when current cars look the same.

And I do think that's happening with music. New stuff "reminds" me of old stuff all the time, at least, bits and pieces do, here and there (well, obviously when they sample or do a remake, but I mean guitars, drums, synths, etc.).

[isteve]

I think what happens is that what young kids (future musicians) listen to right now will be the style when they are making the hits.

So people like Kid Rock, Nickelback, Theory of a Deadman were growing up mainly in the early eighties so they sound a little like what was popular then. The eighties bands listened to Zeppelin, Hendrix, Sabbath. We have a few shifts in music when people get bored, the band members get old and a music style becomes cliché. Things like Punk, Indie, Rap show up become popular until they become cliché. Then back to the rock basics. I think that is why bands like AC/DC, Areosmith and Ozzy still sell out tour dates because they still "although different styles" stick to the basics.

New sedans, do look alike. Maybe it's not age.

[JDoors]

Good points about influences and longevity! Makes sense.

I've seen side-by-side, side-profile pictures of identically colored sedans and, wow, I could only make out one or two. I'm gettin' old, maybe, but SO many cars nowadays seem IDENTICAL in side profile, the only major differences are in the front and rear clips. And boy, once someone comes up with something different (not necessarily "new"), EVERYONE copies it. For example, pointless fender bulges are all the rage right now, or headlights that swoop up and over the front fender, coming to a dangerous-looking point.

Maybe that "influence" and longevity thing applies to car design too. Obviously, for example, many cars have been influenced by the BMW 'kink' to the rear side-window (I'd guess 80% of cars have aped that), and some designs or styles just never go out of style (or come back IN style).

[Honda_Boy]

I love Eurobeat/Dance/Trance/Techno/House a lot and I found some some songs in my StepMania Otaku Dreams Anime Songs folders and right now:

DJ Bouche - God knows... Euro Mix (God knows... is originally performed by Hirano Aya, which her vocals are left in the song)

[Carnevil]

Street Sweeper Social Club - Clap For The Killers, The Oath, Fight! Smash! Win!

Maroon5 - Wake Up Call

[isteve]

Just downloaded a bunch of songs from Seether's Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces. Been hearing most of these songs on the radio for months now. Careless Whisper cover I didn't know I was hearing Seether.

[baker7]

Today, I'm listening to a bunch of stuff from my 80's collections:

Greatest 80's Collection (8 Discs) Box Set

More Greatest 80's Collection (8 Discs) Box Set

Brian

[JDoors]

The 80's were totally RAD man!

That's a lot of 80's music though.

[Honda_Boy]

MELL - Rideback

[JDoors]

Off the M-S shelves:

The Moody Blues (forty years old, and I STILL enjoy it)

Pink Floyd (my favorite PF album, but pink-o-philes' least-liked, The Division Bell )

The Rolling Stones (best of -- covering the 70's and 80's)

Styx (the REALLY early recordings, like from when they were still playing high school auditoriums)

Suzanne Vega (the one with her one huge hit, 99.9 degrees -- What? You don't remember it?)

[JDoors]

Off the "Various Artists" shelf, sub-category of "Movie soundtracks and songs 'inspired by the movie'" (I am either freakishly organized, or I have FAR too much time on my hands):

Dead Man Walking (Never got around to seeing the movie, but GREAT artists, Springsteen, Cash, Suzanne Vega, Lyle Lovett, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with Eddie Vedder, etc.)

The Matrix (Some pretty harsh music here)

Permanent Midnight (again, didn't catch the flick, but great music)

Spawn (SAW THIS ONE in the theater when it was released, it was GREAT)

Tomb Raider (Tons of my favorite artists)

[Honda_Boy]

Got a sound track yesterday. Came with a game of mine but I'm not listening to it till I play the game. It's Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica. I also have Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia but I don't have the sound track. I bought it used off eBay without the artbook or sound track. With the extras, it was $120 even for used copies so I got a one without the extra stuff used and it still was $62. Now I want that dang soundtrack cause I LOVED the music in it. BTW, I got Ar tonelico II new. It's only $40. The first one must be rare and sought after or something.

Edited May 17, 2009 by Honda_Boy

[JDoors]

Wow, forty to a hundred-and-sixty bucks ... for a soundtrack? And here I get upset when I have to fork over ten bucks for a CD.

A-B shelf, "Best Of" disks (all seem kinda old, but I guess "new" artists wouldn't have "Best Of" compilations anyway):

Ace of Base

Asia

The B-52's

Black Sabbath

Blondie

[Honda_Boy]

Naw, if you can find the game with the artbook and sound track, it was $120. Just the game by itself was only $62. BUT I can probably find the sound track and artbook by themselves for a relatively reasonable price.

Edited May 18, 2009 by Honda_Boy