Favorite Song?

Chocofreak13 · September 20, 2014, 06:26:48 PM

same here. i've heard a lot of things about Chad Kroger being a douche, but i'm still fond of Nickelback's music. as long as they don't advocate hate speech in their lyrics, i don't really care what they do (except extreme cases, but i've yet to see that).

will update my most recent post later~

Bella · September 20, 2014, 10:57:14 PM

I tend to separate artists from their works, but I do love it when I find an artist (or group) whom I like as a person (or people) also.

Radiohead is probably the classic example of this dynamic for me.

I love that they've managed to avoid essentially every pitfall of stardom. They've been together since they were practically kids, have expressed genuine loyalty to one another, haven't allowed drugs or alcohol to interfere with their craft (although parts of OK Computer were supposedly recorded in a drunken haze...), haven't had any infighting or power struggles, and seem like they're all genuinely nice, normal people (as long as you aren't Noel or Liam Gallagher or Miley Cyrus)...

Say what you will about their music or how "weird" they sound, but the fact they've been together for so long and seem to be sincerely devoted to their art should make you at least respect them, even if you don't like them.

Chocofreak13 · September 23, 2014, 01:12:08 AM

i like AND respect them! : D

was gonna post something, but i have to hold my iphone cord in, so typing's a bitch. so i'll ask a music-related question instead: know any good-yet-decently-priced MP3 players? i'm thinking about getting one for Steve for xmas.

Nichi · September 23, 2014, 06:31:23 AM

My advice would be to track down an older iPod, as IDK if any companies still produce MP3 players these days, besides some cheapy no-name ones at my work :\

Chocofreak13 · September 23, 2014, 03:50:54 PM

he was using a Gigaware. my concern with getting an ipod is that 1, i don't think he uses itunes, 2, they tend to be a bit more expensive than others, and 3, since i'd be buying it used in that case it may either not be supported by current itunes or risks being broken crap. i'm fine with playing russian roulette with my tech, but not stuff i'm giving as a present. :[
(still, it's something to think about...)

i just read something quite sad, but an okay kind of sad: It looks like Evanescence is coming to an end. i can understand why Amy Lee would be alright with ending the group, since i agree with what was said in the article, that the average consumer who thinks of Evanescense thinks of songs like "My Immortal" or "Wake Me Up" or "Everybody's Fool". while they're all great songs, since they came AFTER their establishing period and really sprung them into the stars, it's pretty limiting, especially given the Gothic genres of music have/are starting to die off in the mainstream. sure, you can be a hipster and say "who cares about the mainstream, they're still so jive!", the fact is that it doesn't translate to dollar signs, which doesn't translate to success, which would mean the end of her music career as a whole. combine that with the fact that Amy Lee's style is ever-evolving (paraphrased from her own words) and it's not quite a relief that the band is likely ending, but i can understand and accept it.
what's tragic, though, is that if their earlier works had gotten more recognition in the way Green Day had, this may not have had to happen. their earlier stuff is still Gothic, but extremely varied compared to their later stuff. chorals, orchestrals, rock, grunge, possible pop, etc etc. if their early stuff was more well-known, then them turning to different musical styles may have been more acceptable by the public eye, the way Green Day evolved over time and the public ate it up. All of this leads me to....

Evanescence: 1995 - 2004

Evanescence has always been one of my favourite bands. i spent my preteen and teenage years listening to burned mix CDs of them, Green Day, and several other artists/music styles ranging from Japanese Jazz to Classical. I somewhat regret, though, that at the time i only had access to their first CD, Fallen, as did most every other teenager of the time. It was only much later that, upon torrenting their discography, did i find out that they had more early stuff than they did of Fallen and after. they could take all the old stuff (including demos, covers, alternate versions/EPs, live versions and their first album, Origin) and make a multi-CD epic out of it. by the time i was hearing this, as well, my musical tastes had matured somewhat and while i had nostalgic feelings for Fallen, i quickly found their earlier works to be much more my taste. their sound back then was so multi-faceted and experimental, so raw. it was really a treat to hear all the different versions of Imaginary, find that my favourite one is the Grunge edition one from the Evanescence EP (1998; only 100 copies made), and then lie awake at night contemplating the reasoning behind altering the original lyrics (probably to dumb it down for the masses, honestly). i began filling up my music players with volumes of lesser-known tracks, such as "Listen to the Rain"(Origin; cut), "Where Will You Go" (Evanescence EP, Origin), "Farther Away"(Mystary EP) and "Breathe No More"(Elektra OST, Fallen; cut), reveling in Lee's self-described "finding herself" period. These became my favourites because, while the band may look back at them and cringe a bit, they have such a different (and interesting) sound compared to their actual albums that it was like finding a whole new side to one of my favourite bands. I had found a secret, hidden treasure trove of eargasm-worthy tracks.
Today, they still remain as my favourite stuff. I will always have nostalgic feelings for Fallen (and indeed, a lot of the CD's tracks are still excellent songs that i love to listen to), but the problem with enjoying it was that because the band got so popular, and right at the time when i was in middle school (and my sister in high school), the album got played to death, to the point where, while i was happy to hear them, i got a bit sick of Evanescence in general. (s'why i put the end date a year after Fallen dropped; by that point, i was beginning to gag a little on some of their tracks.)
I will note that, while i think aesthetically The Open Door is a great album, only 2 of the tracks really stuck out to me (my sister on the other hand adored the album and owned a copy, which is how i got the songs in the first place). since this post is based solely on personal opinion, that's why i didn't officially include it.

(i think i'll let the posts be broken up into 3, so i'll do the Puffy post later.)

Nichi · September 23, 2014, 06:41:59 PM

Mmm. I have all their stuff that you sent me :3
(Also, Whisper is one of many songs that will be part of my "Epic Rocking" mix CD, once I begin production of it)

I suppose I may as well share my thoughts on a favorite band of mine; since we're on the subject:

- System of a Down (1998-2005)
To be honest, I didn't really care much for them at first; mostly due to getting them mixed up with Rage Against the Machine, as the two were often mentioned in the same sentence. However, then while I was listing to the radio while playing Mario Kart one afternoon, the song Boom! came on, and was like "hey; this is pretty good". Then, I was riding around in the car with my sister and heard Chic 'N' Stu for the first time, and was like "wait...they're singing about pizza?", and immediately wanted to hear more. This was when I learned that a former friend of my sisters had included MP3s of their complete discography on a DVD-R he burned for her, so I borrowed the disc and copied it all to my hard drive.

Of their albums, since I've already established Steal This Album as my favorite, I'll say that my second favorite would probably be Mesmerize; which was a more-than adequate follow-up (Giving us the song, Violent Pornography; a song I now associate with the mental images of nuns dancing, thanks to Kari). Toxicity and their self-titled albums were also great, and to be honest, probably my least favorite of their albums is what is currently their last album, Hypnotize; which was kinda weak (Given it was produced alongside Mesmerize, it felt like they dumped all the best tracks on the first album). Given the band's back together, it's entirely possible we might finally see a new album from them sometime in the future.

Chocofreak13 · September 23, 2014, 08:42:09 PM

i hope so. also, you're welcome for that image. -w-

Cockleshell · October 14, 2014, 07:06:04 PM

this is currently my craze

http://youtu.be/DECxluN8OZM

also featuring

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_I0DBUA_GI
and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIcZqHuSrEw
and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jha2vbgN2o
and this especially

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSpJKjSm-N4
this as things that i will listen to for hours on end and have the lyrics memorized

Bella · August 20, 2015, 01:33:54 PM

So I'm into Boards of Canada now.

I actually first gave their music a shot a few years ago, enjoyed some of their songs but ended up being creeped out by their music as a whole, stopped listening to it (more or less, there were a few songs I liked), but revisited their work earlier this year with newfound appreciation.

Maybe it was becoming more familiar with their background and influences that allowed me to appreciate their music. TV Tropes describes them as sounding like "the dying sounds of a recently-excavated machine from the seventies" or something along that line, which I think describes them quite well: the warm scratch of vinyl, the static of an untuned radio, constant sampling of vintage educational films and documentaries, human voices woven into beats and the occasional strain of birdsong all make their music somehow warm and organic and nostalgic in ways I've never heard from an electronic band before.

Nostalgic is a word that comes up constantly when people describe BoC, but listeners can't seem to agree on what it gives them nostalgia for, or when. Although BoC themselves are clearly aiming for a 1970s feel (consider their graphic design direction), many listeners agree it's meant to evoke a sense of any past, rather than a specific one. Their music makes me think distinctly of the 1970s, and not a happy, colorful re-imagining of the era but something grittier and more authentic, optimistic but tinged with paranoia and fear, at the intersection of the industrial and natural worlds ... and the otherworldly. There is a heavy helping of the conspiratorial and mystical in every BoC album, with motifs that run the gamut from numerology to cults to numbers stations and subliminal messaging, though whether it's meant to convey a greater message or simply keep fans running in circles trying to decipher it is anyone's guess. (These are the guys who released a track consisting of nothing just to pad out an album to 66 minutes and 6 seconds long just to screw with conspiracy theorists, after all.)

Their music has been compared to the works of Thomas Pynchon, so there's that. (They also remind me of Scarfolk Council in terms of Spooky British Zeerust, so there's that, too.)

If you've never listened to their music before I'd suggest starting with
Rue The Whirl and
roygbiv, though all of Music Has The Right to Children is pretty safe. Some of their
early
tracks are solid too. I may post more about my thoughts on their albums but I don't want to wall-of-text more than I already have.

Chocofreak13 · August 20, 2015, 09:33:40 PM

certianly classier than what i've downloaded recently...

sounds like the type of band i'd like to get into when i get my damn life together.

alfonso_rd_30 · August 21, 2015, 01:52:10 AM

Quote from: Chocofreak13 on August 20, 2015, 09:33:40 PM

certianly classier than what i've downloaded recently...

sounds like the type of band i'd like to get into when i get my damn life together.