Rangerland Forum Information

[Sed]

I'm digging the debut effort from The Bait-And-Switch Fucksticks.

[leedsy99]

I'm digging the debut effort from The Bait-And-Switch Fucksticks.

I was debating doing the same joke yesterday too. You hipsters have been too out of control lately. I listen to alt nation, Little Stevens Garage, and check itunes once a week ... and I still can't keep up with you.

You know who I like? Van Halen. "Fair Warning" rules.

[rightbug]

You know who I like? Van Halen. "Fair Warning" rules.

One of my favorite comedy Podcasts is Rock Solid with Pat Francis and Gary Lucy. Each week's episode has a theme and they play clips from songs or artists that fit the theme. The show works because both hosts are really funny and have good chemistry with each other but the "gimmick" is that Gary Lucy stays mostly current on music while Pat Francis loves Van Halen, Cheap Trick and Steeley Dan.

[leedsy99]

Anyone hear the new Cucumber Drone yet? "Heartful of Vinegar" is such a great track.

[rightbug]

I listen to alt nation, Little Stevens Garage, and check itunes once a week ... and I still can't keep up with you.

Just to bust your balls a little, the whole purpose of this thread is to share music with each other. Often I haven't heard of the bands being discussed so I listen to the Youtube clips people post or look them up on Spotify and it either goes into my rotation or I put the name of the person who recommended it onto a shameful list.

So here is some Japandroids for you:

[Mike B.]

Anyone hear the new Cucumber Drone yet? "Heartful of Vinegar" is such a great track.

I suspected that you were fucking with us, but wasn't sure, so I actually Googled that just to make sure.

[leedsy99]

Just to bust your balls a little, the whole purpose of this thread is to share music with each other. Often I haven't heard of the bands being discussed so I listen to the Youtube clips people post or look them up on Spotify and it either goes into my rotation or I put the name of the person who recommended it onto a shameful list.

The lads from AC/DC complained about (and I'm paraphrasing) the death of music coming at the hands of online distribution sites like iTunes. Their take (again paraphrase) is that when music can be distributed cheaply, some of the craft involved is lost and, in turn, the music loses some of its resonance. They have a point. While there is something wonderful to be said for the opportunity out there and the fact that, prior to the modern age at least, great artists were lost to obscurity, I also think that we've traded abundance for quality. I've complained often about this here, under the guise of "Maybe I'm old." But a lot of the suff being recommended here really sucks, and sucks to the point where I question whether novelty is the true motivation.

[Mike B.]

Just to bust your balls a little, the whole purpose of this thread is to share music with each other. Often I haven't heard of the bands being discussed so I listen to the Youtube clips people post or look them up on Spotify and it either goes into my rotation or I put the name of the person who recommended it onto a shameful list.

The lads from AC/DC complained about (and I'm paraphrasing) the death of music coming at the hands of online distribution sites like iTunes. Their take (again paraphrase) is that when music can be distributed cheaply, some of the craft involved is lost and, in turn, the music loses some of its resonance. They have a point. While there is something wonderful to be said for the opportunity out there and the fact that, prior to the modern age at least, great artists were lost to obscurity, I also think that we've traded abundance for quality. I've complained often about this here, under the guise of "Maybe I'm old." But a lot of the suff being recommended here really sucks, and sucks to the point where I question whether novelty is the true motivation.

I think it's funny to hear that the lads from AC/DC were complaining about craft. I like their one song myself, but when I think AC/DC, I don't think, "man, those guys really put a lot of thought and effort into writing their music". If someone like Michael Stipe or Bob Mould said the same thing, I might give it a little more value.

I don't completely disagree with you, though. The advent of digital music has, by drastically reducing the barrier to entry, altered the ratio of noise to quality stuff significantly. There is certainly a lot of truth to the stereotype that indie bands are weird or quirky for the sake of it. And I do wonder sometimes how much of this stuff will still be important to me in 20 years, like how the music I grew up listening to is to me today. Japandroids, probably not. Tune-yards, St. Vincent, maybe.

As you say though, that means that a lot of weird or original artists can find an audience where they couldn't before. I guess I just don't mind wading through a lot of stuff to find music I like. Why not, I don't have shit else to do. Plus, I get a huge kick out of seeing all these bands live, even if I see the occasional stinker, because it's usually an interesting experience in some way. I do err on the side of liking things now, and my tastes will probably become more discerning as the years go on. I think I'm just excited about how many great new ways there are to enjoy music these days.

This post has been edited by Mike B.: Jun 20 2012, 01:08 PM

[Kusand]

The death of music? Holy crap. I don't like most television shows anymore, but I haven't gotten around to calling it the death of TV. I get that you don't dig most of the stuff bandied in here, there's certainly plenty of music I find eye rolling or awful around. But to say that a lower barrier to entry means the loss of "craft?" I thought that the whole punk aesthetic that's so beloved was all *about* a lack of craft, about being louder and edgier and real. Craft has nothing to do with the "resonance" of music. Music that resonates with you can be classical arrangements that took five years to write or three-chord rock anthems that took five minutes.

This post has been edited by Kusand: Jun 20 2012, 01:33 PM

[SorryaboutthatWh...]

The lads from AC/DC complained about (and I'm paraphrasing) the death of music coming at the hands of online distribution sites like iTunes.

I'm not paraphrasing

'Cause I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back, back
(Well) I'm back in black
Yes, I'm back in black

Truly genius work there. I like AC/DC but it's pretty hard to take a band seriously when your first thought of them is Beavis and Butthead, and the second is a grown man wearing black fucking Jorts.

[rightbug]

The death of music? Holy crap. I don't like most television shows anymore, but I haven't gotten around to calling it the death of TV. I get that you don't dig most of the stuff bandied in here, there's certainly plenty of music I find eye rolling or awful around. But to say that a lower barrier to entry means the loss of "craft?" I thought that the whole punk aesthetic that's so beloved was all *about* a lack of craft, about being louder and edgier and real. Craft has nothing to do with the "resonance" of music. Music that resonates with you can be classical arrangements that took five years to write or three-chord rock anthems that took five minutes.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Having tastes that differ from the majority of posters in this thread doesn't make you old but decrying the state of music at a time when there has never been more music, new and old, available at your finger tips does. There has never been a better time to be a lover of music.

[Rocha]

I'm kind of in the middle ground on this. Both sides have a point. This is an amazing time to be a fan of music because of how easily available it all is. From the age of 12 to like 30, one of my most recurring dreams was me in a record store, flipping through the stacks and finding record after record I lusted for. My friend and I took hundreds of day-long trips just to visit record stores -- Princeton, NYC, Philly, etc. It was a major component of my life. Now pretty much anything I can think of is available somewhere (usually blogspot), and usually very cheap if not free and I can get it instantly. It's amazing that the universe of rare and obscure recordings has been pulled out of the hands of fat, rich old dealers with their Goldmine grading books and plastic baggies and their desire to over-inflate the price of everything. This is far less romantic than visiting record stores and browsing through the stacks with the rest of the freaks and stumbling on that rare disc you've been wanting, but still, I'll take the way things are now.

At the same time, I think the ease of releasing and promoting your own music has worsened the signal to noise ratio. Music is one of the most subjective things in the world, and yet, I would agree that there's a lot more crap today. Or mediocrity more specifically. When I try to catch up with new music in any genre, whether by pouring over the rateyourmusic charts, or reading websites, or looking in this thread, so very, very little of it ever strikes me as great. Plenty of good, or decent, but really so few albums I'd label as great. So few albums I think anyone will give a shit about in 20 years. There's a number of reasons for this and it's not just ease of release and reach, but still.

But to swing back to the other end for a minute, a member of AC/DC shouldn't have fuck all to say about craft. Those careerist hacks haven't made a good album since I used to wear the same shortpants that Angus Young still wears now and looks absolutely ridiculous in at age 107. That they're still trudging on today and making the same albums and doing the same concerts they've been doing for 40 years isn't a testament to their longevity and dedication, they might as well have a timeclock on stage and they punch their cards and clock in before their concerts and clock out after the encore.

[leedsy99]

But to swing back to the other end for a minute, a member of AC/DC shouldn't have fuck all to say about craft.

In their defense, they didn't. Their quotes are available via Google. I think their issue is more about resenting their songs bought as singles rather than adhering to the album process. Again, they have a point. Older artists probably remember the creative process album by album rather than as a series of singles. The itunes experience makes the album irrelevant. If given the choice, is anyone paying $1.99 to download "Leper Messiah"?

It was me that made the inference about craft. If I was in the industry, I would wonder how the market has changed now that complete products (records, tapes, CDs) are irrelevant against the single. In the past, one good single around a crappy album didn't sell. Now you can turn a great profit song-by-song. Personally, I miss the album experience. I can't remember the last time I was completely satisfied with an album from start to finish, with the exception of bands that adjusted to the iTunes experience instead of being born into it (an easy example being Foo Fighters).

[rightbug]

But to swing back to the other end for a minute, a member of AC/DC shouldn't have fuck all to say about craft.

In their defense, they didn't. Their quotes are available via Google. I think their issue is more about resenting their songs bought as singles rather than adhering to the album process. Again, they have a point. Older artists probably remember the creative process album by album rather than as a series of singles. The itunes experience makes the album irrelevant. If given the choice, is anyone paying $1.99 to download "Leper Messiah"?

It was me that made the inference about craft. If I was in the industry, I would wonder how the market has changed now that complete products (records, tapes, CDs) are irrelevant against the single. In the past, one good single around a crappy album didn't sell. Now you can turn a great profit song-by-song. Personally, I miss the album experience. I can't remember the last time I was completely satisfied with an album from start to finish, with the exception of bands that adjusted to the iTunes experience instead of being born into it (an easy example being Foo Fighters).

Much as I love great songs, I agree with you about albums. I tend to want to listen to whole albums and I judge an artit's worth not on their latest single but on their latest albums. There have been plenty of good songs this year but not many good albums.

[Charlie]

But to swing back to the other end for a minute, a member of AC/DC shouldn't have fuck all to say about craft.

In their defense, they didn't. Their quotes are available via Google. I think their issue is more about resenting their songs bought as singles rather than adhering to the album process. Again, they have a point. Older artists probably remember the creative process album by album rather than as a series of singles. The itunes experience makes the album irrelevant. If given the choice, is anyone paying $1.99 to download "Leper Messiah"?

It was me that made the inference about craft. If I was in the industry, I would wonder how the market has changed now that complete products (records, tapes, CDs) are irrelevant against the single. In the past, one good single around a crappy album didn't sell. Now you can turn a great profit song-by-song. Personally, I miss the album experience. I can't remember the last time I was completely satisfied with an album from start to finish, with the exception of bands that adjusted to the iTunes experience instead of being born into it (an easy example being Foo Fighters).

Serious musicians still rely on making complete albums. So, Rihanna or Kesha may just release singles, but there are plenty of working bands still trying to construct great albums.

Most of this just seems like someone bitching, to be completely honest. There is so much good, even great music out there.

It's really not that difficult to tune out the bullshit.

[Kusand]

I don't know that I'd agree that albums are worse today than they used to be in and of themselves. I still think that's a long way from the "death of music," though. Sorry, that's just a pet peeve.


Anyway, I think there's definitely a higher signal/noise in that there's just more to listen to for sure, but it's not like Top 40 radio hasn't been making the single format huge forever. There have always been bands with shitty albums that have decent songs. Now you just don't have to buy the whole album and skip most of it or put it on a mix.

I think we're in a very transitional phase of music too. Those are always scary periods for people. I've abandoned music purchasing altogether right now - Spotify is really all I need. On the one hand, I worry my lack of purchasing going to hurt music overall. On the other hand, after I stopped pirating, I found music just wasn't a good buy to fill my time. I mainly listened to NPR because I didn't want to chuck $10 on an album and find out I hated it. When Amazon started to sell a lot of stuff for $5, I got a little happier to buy, but it still wasn't a great deal. But the huge shift on availability and economics is definitely going to *change* music in some way.

[Beamer]

Popular music, at least rock and roll, is kind of dead, but that's been going on for over a decade.

For the rest of music, though, it's a boom. It used to be very expensive to get into a studio, and only some people could do it. Sure, whatever, barrier to entry keeps the untalented hacks out, but in reality it was more just keeping whoever wanted to risk everything, or had a rich uncle, in. Then labels tightly controlled everything.

Now anyone can make music. Anyone can distribute it. The internet lets people find it quickly and spread it word of mouth. It's a golden age of music. Then again, I've basically always listened to small stuff made by some jackass and spread word of mouth, so that much of the industry has shifted towards the model I enjoy best is of course something I dig.

That said, I never bother going into the I'm Listening thread. I don't like the stuff people here like, and too often something sounds like it was written for a car commercial (how do people like Fun!?)

[leedsy99]

Most of this just seems like someone bitching, to be completely honest. There is so much good, even great music out there.

That's not my complaint. I'm forwarding the same old person complaint about the obsession to find the newest music possible over appreciation of the old. I guarantee that if I looked through some people's music catalogue I'd find oodles from these bands du jour but not the REM or Sonic Youth stuff that they blatantly rip off. Again, that's an old person talking. It only bugs me when it comes off as hipster one-ups-manship, as I feel the music thread tends to do.

"Hey, has anyone heard the new Carrot Brigade?"

"I have. They remind me of the debut album of Rodent Kills the Menopause, only with less twang."

"Ugh. RKTM lost it for me after 'String the Lights Here, Darling.' Though I do have respect for their side-project, Hats Buy a Dozen!!!!"

"If you like Hats, you should check out Bran Most's solo album, 'Better Light For Beginners.' It's nothing but Bran pissing on an old wood saw for 90 minutes, but it's got a great atmosphere to it."

So in conclusion, The National sucks. Thank you.

This post has been edited by leedsy99: Jun 21 2012, 10:29 AM

[Kusand]

I'm pretty sure complaining no one appreciates the bands that a band is "ripping off" is hipster one-upsmanship.

"How can you listen to I'm A Crying Fuddyduddy when Grumpy Oldster does everything IACF did, but they did it better and first?"

[Mike B.]

Angry Thirtysomething White Guy is not a good look for you, Leedsy. Come on. Did you really just imply that I'm a hipster? ME!? Law firm guy who wears a shirt and tie every day?

I admitted above that I may be a little too willing to like new material because I'm excited about all the new ways we have to enjoy it. That will probably temper over time. What do you want, exactly? To qualify every band that we mention by first saying that "Man, I still love R.E.M. and Sonic Youth, but I also really like this new album from Japandroids, who totally sound like Husker Du, but I still think they're cool." Or should people only listen to those groups that were at the forefront of this kind of music, even though that was 30-40 years ago?

I also think that you're nostalgic for an era that may not have existed as you remember it. Rock and roll was born as singles music. Then, you're probably right, artists into the late 60s and early 70s started to think more in terms of albums. By the 80s again though, most popular music regressed in that sense because of the enormous amounts of money to be made. How many albums did you buy when you were a teenager or in your early 20s because of that one single you liked, only to find out how terrible the rest of the album was? The digital age has thankfully completely destroyed that business model.

I've also found that, like Charlie said, most of the artists I latch onto make great albums, and not just one or two singles. You have your favorite singles of course, but each of my Top 10 last year were albums that I thoroughly enjoyed from top to bottom. I think it was entirely reasonable to fear that the digital area would disincentivize artists from making albums, but I just haven't found that to be the case.

[Charlie]

Most of this just seems like someone bitching, to be completely honest. There is so much good, even great music out there.

That's not my complaint. I'm forwarding the same old person complaint about the obsession to find the newest music possible over appreciation of the old. I guarantee that if I looked through some people's music catalogue I'd find oodles from these bands du jour but not the REM or Sonic Youth stuff that they blatantly rip off. Again, that's an old person talking. It only bugs me when it comes off as hipster one-ups-manship, as I feel the music thread tends to do.

"Hey, has anyone heard the new Carrot Brigade?"

"I have. They remind me of the debut album of Rodent Kills the Menopause, only with less twang."

"Ugh. RKTM lost it for me after 'String the Lights Here, Darling.' Though I do have respect for their side-project, Hats Buy a Dozen!!!!"

"If you like Hats, you should check out Bran Most's solo album, 'Better Light For Beginners.' It's nothing but Bran pissing on an old wood saw for 90 minutes, but it's got a great atmosphere to it."

So in conclusion, The National sucks. Thank you.

But, rock and roll as you think of it can't really be changed all that much more. There is only so much you can do with that traditional music ensemble. There are plenty of bands still writing really good, new music with it, but don't expect it to be completely original. That's just unreasonable.

If you want to look at who is at the "forefront" of music, you probably won't like what you are hearing. It sure as hell isn't rock. This is a song off one of the most critically acclaimed electronic albums from last year. It isn't really original (finding the source of any music movement is hard) but it is much "newer" than any rock out there.



Like it or not, a lot of the original music being put out there is much weirder than this.

Edit: Also, fuck you. The National are incredible.

This post has been edited by Charlie: Jun 21 2012, 11:14 AM

[Sed]

Just read an article where the lads from Kraftwerk were bitching about the lack of vorsprung durch technik in today's electronic music.

[Charlie]

I'm just going to start posting Skrillex. AT LEAST HE IS ORIGINAL.

[Sed]

I'm just going to start posting Skrillex. AT LEAST HE IS ORIGINAL.

The fact that the track that you just posted contains the letters B-A-N at the beginning of the title should serve as a warning.

[Charlie]

Woooo. ORIGINALITY.

[Beamer]

Ban Skrillex!


It doesn't get old for me!

[SorryaboutthatWh...]

I guarantee that if I looked through some people's music catalogue I'd find oodles from these bands du jour but not the REM or Sonic Youth stuff that they blatantly rip off. Again, that's an old person talking. It only bugs me when it comes off as hipster one-ups-manship, as I feel the music thread tends to do.

This is ridiculous if only because you yourself participated in very heated debates over bands when we've had brackets for music, or threads that talk about top 10 rock bands or some shit, so you know the statement isn't remotely true.

This post has been edited by SorryaboutthatWhoa: Jun 21 2012, 11:27 AM

[LisaLisa]

Just read an article where the lads from Kraftwerk were bitching about the lack of vorsprung durch technik in today's electronic music.

Thx. Now I need to hear Blur. Jerk.

[Knight of Dight]

I disagree with the notion that Itunes did anything harmful to the music industry. In fact, it did more to help the music industry than anything else in the last 10 years. It is by far the best tool any of them could dream of for combating music piracy. Buying CDs is a pain in the ass because it involves driving to the store AND aside from the really mainstream bands, you aren't likely to find what you're looking for outside of an actual music store and how many of those do you still see around? Itunes enabled people to instantly purchase music from their homes, and almost anything you can imagine is available in the Itunes store. Many people want to do the right thing, so when provided a super-convenient way to legally obtain music, they are happy to use it instead of pirating music which is illegal and potentially dangerous.

Also someone mentioned the death of television. I do firmly believe television is dying and "reality TV" is to blame for it. With the exception of a few channels like AMC and HBO, almost every other channel devotes huge blocks of programming to "reality tv" series because they are extremely cheap to produce and for some bizarre reason people gobble that crap up. Even channels you wouldn't even think could do it are doing it, like the cooking channel and the history channel.

This post has been edited by Knight of Dight: Jun 21 2012, 12:36 PM

[rightbug]

It only bugs me when it comes off as hipster one-ups-manship, as I feel the music thread tends to do.

"Hey, has anyone heard the new Carrot Brigade?"

"I have. They remind me of the debut album of Rodent Kills the Menopause, only with less twang."

"Ugh. RKTM lost it for me after 'String the Lights Here, Darling.' Though I do have respect for their side-project, Hats Buy a Dozen!!!!"

"If you like Hats, you should check out Bran Most's solo album, 'Better Light For Beginners.' It's nothing but Bran pissing on an old wood saw for 90 minutes, but it's got a great atmosphere to it."

I take exception to the charge of hipster one-ups-man-ship. I can't speak for others but my intent when posting to the listening thread is to share music that I am excited about in the hopes that other people may also enjoy it. In turn, I receive recommendations from other people in the thread. These sorts of forum discussions are one of the primary ways that I discover new music. Just because you do not share our taste in music and have never heard of the bands we are discussing, this does not mean that our discussions are intended to make you feel ignorant nor are our conversations intended as a critique on your taste.

I've seen similar posts in the music thread on the other forum where I hang out. As here, there are several people over there who share my general tastes and there is a new thread every year for discussing new music (as opposed to our thread here which is for discussing all music, new an old.) Without fail, once or twice a year, someone will wander into the thread and accuse us all of being pretentious douche bags on the basis that they do not share our taste in music and they have not heard of the bands we like. I think this sort of complaint says more about the complainer than the people complaining.

To be clear, their are plenty of pretentious douche bags discussing music on the Internet. (Hello Pitchfork Media!) But the spirit of our discussions here (and on that other site) has always been one of sharing the music that we love. None of us are asserting the superiority of our tastes and, indeed, we are often deprecating about the stuff we post. It's an open thread which will only be made better by people with divergent tastes participating in it as Pete did this morning with his excellent post. Indeed, the few times that you have posted music you enjoy in the thread, I've been excited about your contributions (see songs by The Distillers and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.)

[xcdudesquadloves...]

Hiphop was the death of the music industry, tbh, not Itunes.

What? I just don't even.

[xcdudesquadloves...]

This was not the death of the music industry. The music industry is not dead.

[Knight of Dight]

Also, inb4 someone makes the inevitable "lulz u dun like hip hop cuz u h8 black ppl!1!" comment.

[Tex]

a grown man wearing black fucking Jorts.

you mocked me once, never do it again!
/Princess Buttercup

[Charlie]

Also, inb4 someone makes the inevitable "lulz u dun like hip hop cuz u h8 black ppl!1!" comment.

Dude. You said hip hop was the death of music for no reason other than the fact that you don't like it.

Grunge was the death of music! I don't like grunge. It was the death of music!

Music isn't dead. Let me repeat that. Music. Isn't. Dead.

[Beamer]

Also, inb4 someone makes the inevitable "lulz u dun like hip hop cuz u h8 black ppl!1!" comment.

Dude. You said hip hop was the death of music for no reason other than the fact that you don't like it.

Grunge was the death of music! I don't like grunge. It was the death of music!

Music isn't dead. Let me repeat that. Music. Isn't. Dead.

He also pulled out the "doesn't qualify as music" that I think my dad used on me when I used to blast Guns N Roses b-sides.

[Charlie]

I don't mean to get all music douchey on everyone, but people have been talking about the death of music since Schoenberg (at least).

What is this atonal bullshit! DEATH OF MUSIC.

[Charlie]

Who does John Cage think he is! Death of music!

[Knight of Dight]

Also, inb4 someone makes the inevitable "lulz u dun like hip hop cuz u h8 black ppl!1!" comment.

Dude. You said hip hop was the death of music for no reason other than the fact that you don't like it.

Grunge was the death of music! I don't like grunge. It was the death of music!

Music isn't dead. Let me repeat that. Music. Isn't. Dead.

He also pulled out the "doesn't qualify as music" that I think my dad used on me when I used to blast Guns N Roses b-sides.

Oh, man...

[Knight of Dight]

I'll say it again, lol. I have very poor taste in all forms of media.

See, to me, good music is Nightwish, Kamelot, and Within Temptation.

[xcdudesquadloves...]

Great! I'm glad there is music you like. Don't say hip hop is the death of the music industry because you don't like it. Two totally different statements here:

I like a lot of bands that most people here would not enjoy they include: what you listed. Hip Hop isn't my thing, neither is this weird indie crap you guys are peddling.
vs.
Hip hop killed the music industry. I like [insert bands you said here]. Now THAT'S Music. Hip Hop makes everything else cheap quality and bad.

[Knight of Dight]

Great! I'm glad there is music you like. Don't say hip hop is the death of the music industry because you don't like it. Two totally different statements here:

I like a lot of bands that most people here would not enjoy they include: what you listed. Hip Hop isn't my thing, neither is this weird indie crap you guys are peddling.
vs.
Hip hop killed the music industry. I like [insert bands you said here]. Now THAT'S Music. Hip Hop makes everything else cheap quality and bad.

You have a point.

Okay, I'll recant my statement and just leave it as "Itunes helped the music industry."

EDIT: Hmm, fancy that. After modifying my original post, my entire argument comes across as more sound and thoughtful.

This post has been edited by Knight of Dight: Jun 21 2012, 12:36 PM

[SorryaboutthatWh...]

Also, inb4 someone makes the inevitable "lulz u dun like hip hop cuz u h8 black ppl!1!" comment.

Oh cmon, no one here think you hate black people. It's "the gays" you have issues with.

[Knight of Dight]

Also, inb4 someone makes the inevitable "lulz u dun like hip hop cuz u h8 black ppl!1!" comment.

Oh cmon, no one here think you hate black people. It's "the gays" you have issues with.

What?

Where did you get that idea? I have no issues with "the gays," as you put it.

[teddyc]

I give up trying to keep up with what is "popular". From the stuff I've heard and seen...I'm underwhelmed.

I think music appeal tends to be something that we identify with personally. People loved Clapton and Zeppelin because they could identify with their white boy versions of old blues songs.
The punk movement was based on the anyone can do this mentality. Nowadays, anyone can make their music on a Mac. And the young listeners can identify with THAT in a way that we old guys can't.

So...I drop my line on Spotify and try to find similar artists that are new to me and check out for last.fm recommendations. It works to a degree and I discover lots of good stuff that I never heard before that is more in line with my seasoned tastes.

What disturbs me are people who are completely stuck in their youth. The ones from my age that primarily listen to the Beatles and the Doors. Great stuff of course...but come on! Was life REALLY that great back then that you still play "Bat Out of Hell" ????

There are some folks that are continually driven towards newness and that is cool. But I find that the more I go backwards the more fun I have.

[Knight of Dight]

Pandora is an awesome service for finding music you like. You create a "station" based off a particular artist/song and it plays songs with similar elements. You fine tune it over time by clicking "like" or "dislike" on certain songs, with the "like" function telling it to hone in on songs with similar elements and the "dislike" button blacklisting that song from ever being played again on that station.

It's free with a premium option, although without paying it has a few limitations. You get 40 hours per month of songs, which is more than enough unless you listen to it non-stop, and you have a limited amount of "song skips" each day. Also, they occasionally play advertisements although it seems like the frequency of that corresponds with how many hours you've used up. It seems like you don't encounter ads until you've used up a considerable amount of your hours and the ads become more frequent as you get closer to 40 hours.

This post has been edited by Knight of Dight: Jun 21 2012, 12:53 PM

[SorryaboutthatWh...]

Also, inb4 someone makes the inevitable "lulz u dun like hip hop cuz u h8 black ppl!1!" comment.

Oh cmon, no one here think you hate black people. It's "the gays" you have issues with.

What?

Where did you get that idea? I have no issues with "the gays," as you put it.

Not to thread jack because it was meant to be a flippant joke going back to your feeling "uncomfortable" conversation that get's brought up from time to time, but the most recent example? Your tirade regarding True Blood with Jason and Steve Newlin, referring to the show runner as "a gay" as if it defines him, or he's a thing, as opposed to him "being gay"

I don't think a single person here would have thought you "h8 black ppl" had you not even made the comment to begin with and we certainly wouldn't be having this little side bar.

Perhaps your comments and tone aren't intentional, but you really should think a little bit before you post because it's definitely how it comes off. Take it as advice, not an attack.

[teddyc]

Pandora is an awesome service for finding music you like. You create a "station" based off a particular artist/song and it plays songs with similar elements. You fine tune it over time by clicking "like" or "dislike" on certain songs, with the "like" function telling it to hone in on songs with similar elements and the "dislike" button blacklisting that song from ever being played again on that station.

Pandora has given me some good stuff, but their library seems to be either limited or they are getting paid to push specific artists. Each station I created played the same 40 songs around the foundation of the stations origins. Got monotonous.

I loved Yahoo Launch and had a great database of songs on my station. Then Yahoo ditched the feature. SUCKED.

[Nilan 666]

The new Gojira and Deathspell Omega are really fucking good.

[SorryaboutthatWh...]

Pandora has given me some good stuff, but their library seems to be either limited or they are getting paid to push specific artists. Each station I created played the same 40 songs around the foundation of the stations origins. Got monotonous.

I've had the same problem. It's decent for playing a bit at work and whatnot, but not much else.