What are you listening to II: Electric Bogaloo

Denbrought

Denbrought

The new Murder By Death (concept?) album, The Other Shore, is out. I should have a physical copy waiting for me home.


"The Other Shore" is basically a space western without guns, aliens or battles. It's about a ravaged earth and love that spans an impossible distance. One character flees the dying Earth and the other stays behind, eventually realizing their mistake and boarding a shuttle in an attempt to rejoin their loved one. Most of the story happens during the long journey, where the narrator has (too much) time to reflect on the past. It has manic highs and deep dark lows; brutally raw moments of realization and self-doubt. It's an epic journey that we poured our hearts into.
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checkeredhat

checkeredhat

One of the ways we calm our baby down when she's crying is to play "Tom Sawyer" by Rush. This has in turn meant that more Rush in general gets played in the house. She responds well to most Rush songs. The only one she does not seem to like is YYZ. I guess the Morse code drumming at the start is just too much for her.

But Tom Sawyer calms her down when she's fussy.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

checkeredhat said:
One of the ways we calm our baby down when she's crying is to play "Tom Sawyer" by Rush. This has in turn meant that more Rush in general gets played in the house. She responds well to most Rush songs. The only one she does not seem to like is YYZ. I guess the Morse code drumming at the start is just too much for her.

But Tom Sawyer calms her down when she's fussy.
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Have you tried Floyd, E.L.O., Styx, Emerson/Lake/Palmer, Yes, Journey, or Boston? Just spitballing for when Rush doesn't cut it any more.

--Patrick
 
checkeredhat

checkeredhat

PatrThom said:
Have you tried Floyd, E.L.O., Styx, Emerson/Lake/Palmer, Yes, Journey, or Boston? Just spitballing for when Rush doesn't cut it any more.

--Patrick
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No. We've mixed it up with other bands, for sure. She is a pretty chill baby overall, and seems to like most classic rock, honestly. But she seems to really like Tom Sawyer and I'm not sure what it is about that song in particular that she gravitates to. The only other songs that have the same effect are songs we played to her all the time in the womb- the Star Trek TNG theme, "Kiss the Girl" from Little Mermaid, and "The Gray Havens" and "Concerning Hobbits" from LOTR.

There's no common thread.
 
Gared

Gared

I feel like the entire music industry has been suffering from that phenomenon whereby, upon hearing a word or phrase for the first time, it's suddenly everywhere around you - regarding the phrase "wrecking ball." I hadn't heard it in music until Miley Cyrus, who was almost universally panned for singing a song about a wrecking ball; but now there are like, eight songs revolving around being a wrecking ball, of all different genres. It's really annoying. It's like John Mellencamp - it's a damn good thing he sang Jack and Diane, so every country music artist in the 21st century can sing a song about them too.
 
Wahad

Wahad

I've discovered this concept album called Hadestown (by Anais Mitchell) a few days ago and I can't stop listening to it. It's like a 30s Great Depression re-imagining of the Orpheus/Eurydice myth and it's baller as hell. Apparently it also has a stage production, but the album itself is pretty astounding.



 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
I'm really big into Nothing More right now. I haven't found many of their songs that I don't like and their lyrics are always really great. Here's my two favorites right now and they could hardly be different. The second one legit makes me tear up.



 
checkeredhat

checkeredhat

The Holophonics' ska cover of Sum 41's "Fat Lip" appeals to that part of my brain that is still forever stuck in grade nine. (in halforums terms, that back in the Image board days, when I went by the handle jacobmcpoop)

 
checkeredhat

checkeredhat

Going to see the Planet Smashers play with Big D and the Kids Table, the Gutter Demons, and Doghouse Rose Dec 1st.

I've e seen the Planet Smashers dozens of times at this point and I always love it. A buddy of mine who has never been to a ska show, and had never even heard of punkabilly is coming. So I put together a playlist to hype him up for the show. It's mostly the four bands we'll be seeing, but also with some bands they are known to collaborate with or cover.
 
checkeredhat

checkeredhat

I did the Spotify thing and it said I listened to the Planet Smashers over 40hrs this year
Top bands:
The Planet Smashers
The Interrupters
Big D and the Kids Table
Reel Big Fish
the Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Top songs:
"Babylon"- the Interrupters
"She Got Arrested"- The Interrupters
"Girl Take it Easy"- the Pietasters
"Not Fucking Around"- Big D and the Kids Table
"She's Kerosene"- the Interrupters
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Warning: incoming Trance music geekery.

The Air I Breathe by Richard Durand ft Christina Novelli just got voted "Tune of the Year" on A State Of Trance, Armin van Buuren's pretty-much-genre-defining weekly trance DJ show.

I hate that song. In a genre typified by simplistic melodies and repetitive stanzas, The Air I breathe takes Trance to new lows by having, by far, the most repetitive hook with the simplest melody (and no vocals!) of any EDM track since James Brown Is Dead by L.A. Style back in the early 90s.

And it really is a complete waste of Christina Novelli's talent, whose vocals helped last year's tune of the year, Concrete Angel by Gareth Emery, rise to the heights it did. It's almost painful to watch Air's official video, when the track gets to the hook, and Christina stands there awkwardly shifting in front of the microphone, almost telepathically communicating to everyone, "Uh, shouldn't I be singing something here?"
 
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GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Ok, given that I just blasted the "tune of the year" last week, I guess I should post something about GOOD trance songs I've listened to. Not all of these are from this year, but these are some tracks I actually purchased this year because I decided they were good enough to pay for. And that's a pretty high threshold, if you know me.

The aforementioned Concrete Angel by Gareth Emery ft Christina Novelli.

Another one by Gareth Emery, also Standerwick, featuring HALIENE: Saving Light
Powerful. TENATTATEN

Unbreakable (Extended Mix) by Aly & Fila and Roger Shah, ft Susana.
Aly & Fila are usually pretty good, and everything Roger Shah touches turns to sonic gold. He's definitely my favorite Trance artist. He has his own weekly show on fridays, and I like it better than State of Trance.

Here to Stay by Stoneface and Terminal
The crunchiness is a perfect 5/7.

Aeria by Paul Hided & Leenoox
A little dubsteppy in the second half, but overall a pretty solid track.

Verano by Paul van Dyk ft Austin Leeds
A little older than the other tracks (2012), but it's got such a good porny beat.

Edit: Honorable mention goes to Markus Schulz ft Sebu, with the Festival Remix of Upon My Shoulders.
 
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GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
As I've alluded previously, I also listen to a fair amount of Synthwave. I'd mentioned how much I appreciated that it was being thrust back into mainstream view by the soundtracks of popular media such as Stranger Things and Thor: Ragnarok. I'm a premium subscriber to DI.FM, and I lobbied them for quite a while to add a Synthwave channel, and was very gratified when they finally added it early this year. I really like to listen to that channel while I play Empyrion or Factorio.

What is Synthwave, you ask (even if you didn't)? It's a "revisionist 80s music style of synthesizers and pulsing beats" that conjures images of fast cars, neon, chrome, and retrofuturist tech.

Here's some of my favorite Synthwave tracks.

Protovision by Kavinsky

Overdrive by Lazerhawk

Cybernetic by Grum

Girls With Guns by Hollywood Burns

Turbo Killer by Carpenter Brut

Interceptor by Mitch Murder

NeoTokyo by Scandroid

She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next by Perturbator
 
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PatrThom

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
What is Synthwave, you ask (even if you didn't)? It's a "revisionist 80s music style of synthesizers and pulsing beats" that conjures images of fast cars, neon, chrome, and retrofuturist tech.
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Let's take about an hour (!) to relive what were possibly the best 15 years of Gas' life:



--Patrick
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Watching Kiss play is like eating junk food. Sure, the presentation can be fun, but the product itself is lifeless and empty.

When I was growing up everyone was like, "Oh Kiss is SUCH a hard rock band!" No, no they are not. They are so pop it hurts.
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Dave said:
Watching Kiss play is like eating junk food. Sure, the presentation can be fun, but the product itself is lifeless and empty.

When I was growing up everyone was like, "Oh Kiss is SUCH a hard rock band!" No, no they are not. They are so pop it hurts.
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Yeah, I had a hard time with "Heavy Metal" as a kid. I heard Punk Rock first. To me Kiss was a disco band, that spit blood.
 
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