What Are You Listening To Right Now?
Nov 24, 2013 at 9:27 PM Post #47,733 of 143,136
Tom Waits-Rain Dogs
 
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Steely Dan-Goucho-2,000 remaster
 
 
3 CD career spanning collection
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 And, one of the great hard rock albums of all time:
 
Van Halen Women and Children First-2000 remaster. my favorite VH-heavier and darker than their classic first two..
 
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Nov 25, 2013 at 5:20 AM Post #47,738 of 143,136
 
Club for Five - You're the Voice​
 

 
It was easier to listen on YouTube. They had some video's posted, and I didn't have to sign up for something.
 
Very pretty. I've developed a new appreciation for a cappella, mostly thanks to Pentatonix. I discovered them by way of Lindsey Stirling.
 
The difference I noticed here was the lack of percussion. Kevin Olusola's beat-boxing is incredible, and any sort of percussion like that is noticeably absent. However, they are still quite nice. Curious how both groups do lots of covers, but I have no issue with that.
 
I'm still stuck on playing their Daft Punk medley. Lord, I can't get this one out of my head, LOL.
 

 
Nov 25, 2013 at 6:24 AM Post #47,739 of 143,136
George Frideric Handel: Ariodante, an opera in 3 acts
Ariodante..........Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano
Ginevra.............Juliana Gondek, soprano
Dalinda..............Lisa Saffer, soprano
Polinesso..........Jennifer Lane, mezzo-soprano
Il Re...................Nicolas Cavallier, bass
Lurcanio............Rufus Müller, tenor
Odoardo............Jörn Lindemann, tenor
Freiburger Barockorchester/Nicholas McGegan
 
 

 
Nov 25, 2013 at 7:34 AM Post #47,741 of 143,136

 
Jason Isbell - Southeastern (2013)
 
This album by Jason Isbell, the ex-Drive-By Truckers guitarist, singer, and songwriter; is one of my favorites of 2013. It could be called alt-country or Americana, but there are straight ahead traditional rockers such as the track "Super 8" as well. Most of the album deals with topics related to Jason's recovery from very severe alcoholism. He finds himself recovering and newly married, and so this is an album about rebirth and redemption. It is excellent from start to finish. I give it a strong recommendation.
 
Nov 25, 2013 at 10:23 AM Post #47,742 of 143,136
 
It was easier to listen on YouTube. They had some video's posted, and I didn't have to sign up for something.
 
Very pretty. I've developed a new appreciation for a cappella, mostly thanks to Pentatonix. I discovered them by way of Lindsey Stirling.
 
The difference I noticed here was the lack of percussion. Kevin Olusola's beat-boxing is incredible, and any sort of percussion like that is noticeably absent. However, they are still quite nice. Curious how both groups do lots of covers, but I have no issue with that.
 
I'm still stuck on playing their Daft Punk medley. Lord, I can't get this one out of my head, LOL.
 


 
I did take a look at their YouTube channel but most of the videos there seemed to be live versions which simply didn't sound the same as on the album, and I'm very particular about having proper first impressions. Also, music videos can be very distracting, I find. Additionally not all of the songs on the album appear on their channel, and definitely not in correct running order. Even if they could all be found there, you would still have to figure out the correct order in which to watch the videos to match the order they are on the album and even then the songs that flow gaplessly from one to the next simply wouldn't work because YouTube is incapable of gapless playback of separate videos. I am very much an album person, and listening to the songs individually not in the intended sequence simply is in my opinion a lesser experience. As much as I hate services like Spotify, that is the only way I would personally recommend listening to the album to a person who isn't blindly willing to purchase it in order to hear it.
 
I find your comment regarding lack of percussion puzzling to say the least. Apart from using their bodies as an instrument on a couple of instances, they create all of the sounds with their voice – beats included. I can only postulate you were referring solely to the lack of beatboxing on the album. I find beatboxing to be a bit of an attention grabber and I'm not really sure if it would fit all that seamlessly into their music style. It can work really well as part of electronic music or even jazz for example (check the videos below; the second is more of an album teaser, though), but it definitely isn't often the most subtle musical element you can include as part of a composition.
 
All a cappella groups I know concentrate on covers, and I find this quite natural because for many people big part of the attraction is marveling how well some people can mimic different sounds with their mouth (not for me personally). When hearing a cover version of a song you are already very familiar with, it is easy to instantly compare it to the original in your head. If you were listening to an original composition you don't really have any immediate point of reference to compare it to. I have heard a cappella groups perform very good original pieces, but like you have no issue whatsoever with them doing mainly cover songs.
 
Perhaps it's a personal failing, but I couldn't make it past the 40 second mark on that Daft Punk video. I fail to see based on what little I heard what their arrangement or even adapting it to human voices had to bring to the music. Perhaps that was not the intention to begin with, but in that case I don't see the point of making the music in the first place. Emotion and self-expression are the things I most seek in music (or ability to convey mood at the very least), so perhaps I simply am not part of the target audience.
 
 
 

 
Currently listening to:
 

Clifford Brown & Max Roach - Clifford Brown & Max Roach
 

 

daniwellP - Nyan Cat
 
Even though pop music is one of the few things I have trouble digesting (several sub-genres like art pop, synthpop and things falling under the somewhat elusive "indie pop" category excluded), daniwellP is a true master at his craft, time after time creating catchy, over-cheerful tunes that have a unique style and are simply irresistible. If you are wondering, yes, this is the guy who wrote Nyan Cat but hasn't really gained that much recognition for it despite his name being ultimately added in a certain now-over-one-hundred-million-times-viewed video's description. Check out his YouTube channel for nearly unlimited cuteness: http://www.youtube.com/user/daniwellaidn
 

 

 

Death - Human
 
Still the only Death album of the ones I've heard that has clicked with me. This one is sooo good though.
 

 

Hiroyuki ODA - Thirty
 

 

Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me
 
There aren't that many triple albums out there, let alone truly great ones. This one is both.
 

 

kiichi - 曇日 (Kumoribi)
 
Always so delightful.
 
Nov 25, 2013 at 12:20 PM Post #47,745 of 143,136
Aftershock-Motörhead :cool:
 

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