What are you currently listening to?

[JeremiahPena]

Inspired by the extremely interesting "What are you currently eating?" thread, I figured I would make one based around my greatest obsession, music. I warn you, I may get a bit technical on occasion.

Let us know what you're currently listening to (or have been listening to a lot recently)!

I will begin with the score to The Tempest, by Elliot Goldenthal. This is an absolutely genius score that I have been addicted to ever since first hearing it. For most people it will probably be a very difficult listen, and it's extremely different from what one might expect from a Shakespeare adaptation, but give it a chance and maybe in time it will win you over. Here are some highlights:

"Hell Is Empty" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxbPCyYmqSw An incredibly dark and unrelenting track with thunderous walls of fluttering electric guitar noise, and ending with atonal ambient wailing saxophones (don't ever expect to see those four words in conjunction again).

"Full Fathom Five" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYiNHot6Z3s Some of the most gorgeous guitar soundscapes I've ever heard, gloomy but beautiful, and featuring Ben Whishaw singing original Shakespeare lyrics. The last minute and a half is particularly fantastic with a vocal pedal point (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedal_point) suspended over alternating chromatic mediants (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_mediant).

"Brave New World" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULYoAyCxRME A very ambient piece constructed almost entirely from string harmonics. At 1:04 cellos start doing some harmonic glissandos, one of my personal favorite string techniques. Here's how it's done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awQBh9ADp98 . Finally the piece climaxes with swirling guitars.

[evilkinggumby]

I usually alternate during the day (when I am working) between my Pandora account (which is a mix of hard rock and female singer/songwriters and soundtrack orchestration) and a playlist of music from the command & Conquer games mixed with Jackalope and misc music from the Shin Megami games.

Oh and Epic Rap Battles of History. Cause I love some of the beats, and they always make me smile/laugh.

One thing I've been finding I really like lately is this Singer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jem_%28singer%29

I love her voice, and the funky beats she lays behind it end up being a nifty blend.

Also these guys:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_River_Conspiracy

Which harkens back to what I was into back in my youth. My tastes in music change as time goes on. As a child I was a product of the 80's so loved 80's pop, then got into early (original old school ) rap, then hard rock/metal and then industrial. But I also loved Tori Amos around that time lol.

My music tastes nowadays are not as extreme or aggressive, but I still appreciate throwing down more abrasive music when driving (nothing like driving up next to someone cranking Fear Factory or Slipknot hehehe)

[david]

This thread is well timed because I've been itching recently to expand on my jaded playlist... yay!

@Jeremiah... it's awesome to hear the perspective and comments of a real musician, so I'll put on some headphones, find the pieces on my streaming service and listen to them again properly at a higher quality. This is impressive, rich, deep, cultured, unusual stuff... which bodes very, very well for GOAT's soundtrack

@EvilKing... I'm an '80s kid too... so many great (and awful) tunes! I think I was Ireland's biggest Van Halen fan back then You inspired me to google my way to this NME link and rediscover some great tunes and a whole bunch that I had actually missed completely http://www.nme.com/list/100-best-songs- ... 358/page/1. For sure I'm going to give Jem and Snake River Conspiracy a spin, along with Slipknot and Fear Factory, over the next few days!

As for me, my tastes are fairly eclectic. I recently fell discovered tracks from
- 'Muse - Supermassive Black Hole'... a few years old, but just a great solid rock tune (with a weird video)
- 'Pharrell Williams - Happy'... cheerful and bouncy!
- and I've always appreciated the wild electropunk 'Prodigy' album 'The Fat of the Land' (much more on the wild, hardcore side but the singles are mindblowing).





These days, I use Spotify which is USD 9 a month for all you can eat downloads. Spotify works pretty much seamlessly on my PC and Android phone. I love being able to -legally and instantly- stream and download every tune that I can think of, and browse new music too. But currently, Grooveshark now has a special deal for USD 4 a month... though I haven't tested their app on Android and I don't know a lot about this service.

[evilkinggumby]

hmm thats a pretty wild video, but a kool song. I've heard Muse on the radio at times, but never knew who they were..lol. I guess when they say " that was Muse" I end up thinking they said "music by" and so I kept thinking the song titles were the band..lol)

Good to see I'm not the only one that ended up with an eclectic range because of the 80's. or a sense of appreciation for weird music.. lol

I generally just use pandora because it's free or cheap as hell. I pay for it ($35 USD a year or like $4 a month) but I originally tried it for a while under the "free" service and aside from a few brief radio ads between songs and a few ads on my phone to click through, it didn't bother me. It doesn't let you instantly play a song you want to hear so much as choose bands or styles you like and it'll stream random stuff like a radio station would, but generally geared towards what you'd want ot hear. I also like it tosses in related/similar music to what you want so you get exposed to alternate artists (many times smaller ones not as "pop", like some of what I listed before).

They also don't seem to have 100% of all artists/songs in their catalog, so that can be frustrating. But i can log into it via xbox/phone/tablet/pc and there is a windows vista "gadget" for your desktop but it is only 32 bit so you have to jump a few hurdles to get it to work on a windows 64 bit system. But it works if you do.

One other band to check that is not as well known but pretty unique and interest (sort of what I'd call "texas hard rock" as it has this southwestern flavor to it at times) is Volbeat. The lead singer sounds sort of like a super hero ( reminds me of the voice of Mighty mouse in the intro to Mighty Mouse cartoons of yesterday). Or a slightly better version of Keith Caputo (lead singer of Life Of Agony) . Bit of an odd way that he sings, but it varies a lot between songs and after you get used to it, it's actually a refreshing change. hehehe.

http://youtu.be/G5zdal1MKf0

Also I am a huge fan of kool remixes of stuff so if you guys know of any remixed songs that are official (or not) and kick butt, let me know.Not a huge fan of techno but I do like something with a great beat and the kind of groove you want to nod your head to.

[KwisatzHaderach]

@Jeremiah
I really dig The Tempest track! Thanks for sharing!

@evilkinggumby
Muse is such an awesome band. Just how the singer/guitarist can keep track of all that stuff he is doing at the same time will always remain a mystery to me.

One other band to check that is not as well known but pretty unique and interest (sort of what I'd call "texas hard rock" as it has this southwestern flavor to it at times) is Volbeat. The lead singer sounds sort of like a super hero ( reminds me of the voice of Mighty mouse in the intro to Mighty Mouse cartoons of yesterday). Or a slightly better version of Keith Caputo (lead singer of Life Of Agony) . Bit of an odd way that he sings, but it varies a lot between songs and after you get used to it, it's actually a refreshing change. hehehe.

http://youtu.be/G5zdal1MKf0

Haha, that you should mention them! I've a mate who is super into them and always brags about how he knew them when they were still small and you could meet them in person before and after a concert (he says they [used] to tour Germany quite a lot). I like their idea of "elvismetal" but I never cought on to their music. And my friend tells me their "new stuff" is shite and turned into a commercial blur. But you know how it is with the metal heavy folk: the newer stuff always has to suck, otherwise you're not true metal !

I should know, I once was one myself!
In that sense I'm a child of the 80's as well. During my teens I was totally into the heavy stuff. Metallica, System of a Down, Sepultura, Rammstein, In Extremo, Apocalyptica, some Russian and Polish Metal/Ska bands. From there I moved into the 70's and 60's, all the big names like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Who, Pink Floyd, Steppenwolf, Rocky Horror, Little Richards, John Lee Hooker, Alexis Corner...

Today my tastes are a lot more spread out and don't go so deep anymore.

For a long time I had a repulsion for electric music. I always thought there is so much more someone can pour into music while being in direct control not only over the music's arrangement, but also over the instruments. In recent years I have shifted a little from this view, seeing how much great electronic music is out there. I still keep at listening to bands and albums rather than to playlists though. It's just, once I'm set for a mood, I want to stick with it and not adopt to a new style every few minutes. I still absolutely hate listening to radio!

As you coud imagine I'm slow in picking up new influences. But that doesn't bother me, I think people have become overly obsessed with "owning" music instead of listening to it (sorry the preachy tone).

Anyway, here are my recommendations:

Trentemoller - Shades of Marble
http://youtu.be/7aZyEThH__4

David John - Rust & Steam
http://youtu.be/Dz8NKZztwkQ

Led Zeppelin - Since I've been loving you
http://youtu.be/1PDiMCImMgY

[KwisatzHaderach]

Also you should check out this guy, he's insane!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8S7z71svVs


This is also interesting. While the music isn't really my thing I'd imagine playing one of these things (they are called "Hang") would be great fun. Perfect merge of rythm and melodic instrument.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk3BvNLeNgw

[JeremiahPena]

I've always wanted a hang drum. Unfortunately they cost quite a bit, here's a post on how (not) to get one: http://lostmoya.wordpress.com/2007/08/1 ... hang-drum/

So I've been listening to what may be the greatest animated film score to date, How to Train Your Dragon 2 (previously my favorite was original Land Before Time by James Horner, another excellent listen). John Powell is clearly a genius.

[evilkinggumby]

Love John Powell.

his work in the newer italian job was just right fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_LMZfrBQVE

[Vallug]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6DjyXQl7L8

This band got me through high school.

[david]

@EvilKing... I had a listen to Slipknot, Fear Factory... these were names that I'd heard or t-shirts that I'd seen... of a hardcore genre that was more of a niche in Europe, so it was really cool to have a listen! I liked 'Doc Holliday' from Volbeat, imho it sounds quite similar to Metallica. These days, I do some experimental listening and I'll be sure to let you know if I come across any interesting techno and dance mixes and remixes.... something a bit interesting, fresh 'n funky. Coincidentally, I came across Epic Rap Battles of History about 3 days ago... excellent!

@Vallug... Modest Mouse is another band that I'd heard of, but never heard. I listened to a handful of their top tunes on Spotify: it's so nice to expand my knowledge of different musical flavors

@Kwisatz... Thanks! This is the first time I heard a hang drum, I absolutely love the sound! Listening to the channel more, it would be great to hear a bit more variety between songs though. I might hunt about YouTube a bit more. Being a percussion lover, I totally dig incredibly skilled manic street drummers like in your video... this is also the first time I'd seen a loop station used in a live performance, flipping brilliant

@JeremiahPena... I hugely enjoyed reading that link about the hang drums: what a great story of the pressure between demand and the desire to keep a home-made flavor. Personally, I'm in favor of getting the instrument in the hands of as many musicians, as cheaply as possible, but I somewhat understand the other arguments too. With regard to James Horner and John Powell, I need to take a quiet moment, slip on my headphones and really, really have a listen..

...and now, another one from me, from a British band: New Order... Blue Monday was released in 1982 and considered to bridge seventies disco and modern dance music. It still sounds modern and tight imho

[evilkinggumby]

haha yeah the band "'Orgy' did a cover of Blue Monday a while back, and I caught another band 'Flunk' that also did it with a slightly different edge. fun stuff.

http://youtu.be/aJZTfl3DmCU

http://youtu.be/wbgd2ZpZWBU

Always fascinating how a song can be played so differently.. yet the same.. hehehe.

[david]

@EvilKing... wow, totally different interpretations... I love the Flunk ones (several great and different mixes of this), and I really like the Orgy ones (several really different mixes of this too).

People's creativity constantly amazes me

[puneetheer]

Eminem - The Ringer.

[Gregorylealm]

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[LevT]

Я фанат рока. Только не тяжелого.