Desert Island IX: Master List, Part One

[the tourist]

Update: 14/20 playlists are in right now, and I've already got group 2 set in place. I think I may run this until sometime late next week before starting the next thread up, but I just wanted to let you guys know how far along things are.

Again, if possible, would you be able to send everything we've got non-group 1 so I can load it for while I'm out of town for two weeks? I'm leaving on the 4th at the butt crack of dawn.

 

[LemonMelon]

Done. Check your PMs.

 

[the tourist]

Perfect! Thanks!

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

Update: 14/20 playlists are in right now, and I've already got group 2 set in place. I think I may run this until sometime late next week before starting the next thread up, but I just wanted to let you guys know how far along things are.

Weren't you gonna start the Group 2 thread early this week? This tournament is ambling at a snail's pace.

 

[LemonMelon]

DI8 separated threads by 10 days and this one started on the 25th, so yeah, sometime late next week. Probably Thursday.

You've still got playlists left to hear in this group anyway.

 

[nielsgov]

Could you also forward all the links you have to me, LM? I'm going on holiday in a few days.

 

[nielsgov]

So gump's list.

The first half was my favorite. Strong song selection. I can honestly say I enjoyed each song on there. I'll need to check out more Beck and Broken Social Scene. Props for including the Sufjan Stevens track. It's one of the more underrated albums of the past few years imo. There some really good transitions. Genesis-Fineshrine was an awesome duo for instance. However, there were also a few transitions that weren't as smooth. Chemtrails-Voyeur springs to mind.

The second half started off strongle. Belle and Sebastian is also band I need to hear more of. I'd only listened to the new Phosphorescent album once on Spotify and I'd frogotten how good Sonf for Zula is. One of the best tracks to come out this year so far. The middle stretch (Franz Ferdinand, Friedberger and Bird) didn't do much for me. The last three songs more than made up for that however. Good stuff. I feel the same about the transitions in this half as I do about those in the first. Some good ones, but there were a few I didn't like too much. Overall it was very enjoyable.

 

[LemonMelon]

Could you also forward all the links you have to me, LM? I'm going on holiday in a few days.

Done.

 

[nielsgov]

Thanks.

 

[Mr. V]

Iron Yuppie, yours was a pretty good list all round. I have to admit I found some of the early song-to-song transitions a bit off - but as I previously stated, I'm very, very picky about mine so I think I'm the problem. However, your song selection blew my socks off, I have to say. I was wondering how you'd get from Blondie and The Rolling Stones to Around the World and Get Innocuous in just three steps, but you did it - that whole section was great. Some songs did drag on a bit - but you get that when you have three songs of around seven minutes of length in a row. Prince was awesome, but we already knew that. BTW, Get Innocuous is probably one of my favourite all-time songs. From there it kept getting better. In fact, it was excellent. I hadn't heard any of the tracks from The Knife to the end and I really, really enjoyed it. Much better flow and good vibes. Think just from one listen of that section I'm about to get into a whole lot of new music, which is what this is all about. Well played.

 

[gump]

So gump's list.

The first half was my favorite. Strong song selection. I can honestly say I enjoyed each song on there. I'll need to check out more Beck and Broken Social Scene. Props for including the Sufjan Stevens track. It's one of the more underrated albums of the past few years imo. There some really good transitions. Genesis-Fineshrine was an awesome duo for instance. However, there were also a few transitions that weren't as smooth. Chemtrails-Voyeur springs to mind.

The second half started off strongle. Belle and Sebastian is also band I need to hear more of. I'd only listened to the new Phosphorescent album once on Spotify and I'd frogotten how good Sonf for Zula is. One of the best tracks to come out this year so far. The middle stretch (Franz Ferdinand, Friedberger and Bird) didn't do much for me. The last three songs more than made up for that however. Good stuff. I feel the same about the transitions in this half as I do about those in the first. Some good ones, but there were a few I didn't like too much. Overall it was very enjoyable.

Thanks, Niels. Appreciate your comments. I'm glad you liked Genesis-Fineshrine (I'm also fond of that duo). Voyeur was such a hard song to place, given how it starts abruptly. I wanted to have it there, and ended up accepting that it was going to be a clunky transition.

 

[the tourist]

I'm planning on listening to iyup and joey tomorrow. And then I'll keep my comments to myself about the following playlists until those threads are posted. It'll probably come in a barrage as I'm not planning on being able to be online much at all when I'm gone (staying with the grandparents for two weeks and they only have dial up, so my laptop will be a glorified iPod charger for that time).

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

Okay I just lost my whole post. Let me try this again. Fuck!

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

Wow iron yuppie, your playlist got awesome very fast!!

I have to be honest and say that I still haven't warmed up to the first 3 tracks yet. But starting with Prince, it is one kicking track after another!

- Elton John was quite cool. Hadn't heard this one before.

- The Bizarre Love Triangle remix was interesting but I do prefer the normal version. Felt this one was a bit too extended. Great song, nonetheless!

- Daft Punk was just fucking excellent! maybe my favourite track of theirs.

- LCD Soundsystem was equally fantastic!

- The flow especially in this section has been terrific by the way!

- Really really enjoyed The Knife as well, on first listen too!

- Wandering Star is of course uber cool... almost put it on my own list.

- Burial sounds nice so far.

That's where I am right now... Very cool!

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

And I just finished your list. Enjoyed pretty much everything else as well. That last track by Cut Copy... wow! Nice one.

This might be my favourite playlist so far.

 

[PhilsFan]

Listening to iYup's next. I'm much less familiar with the music on this list than on Joey's. Let's roll.

 

[cobl04]

Thanks, Niels. Appreciate your comments. I'm glad you liked Genesis-Fineshrine (I'm also fond of that duo). Voyeur was such a hard song to place, given how it starts abruptly. I wanted to have it there, and ended up accepting that it was going to be a clunky transition.

Voyeur is on my playlist too... I challenge anyone to make that work seamlessly!

 

[PhilsFan]

Nice work, iYup. This list flows well and has a lot of great artists. A lot of this list contained artists I was familiar with but hadn't heard that particular song of theirs. So it wasn't too out there for me, while at the same time introducing me to new stuff, which I always appreciate. Certainly will lead me into checking deeper into some catalogues, which is for many the whole reason they do this tournament.

If I had one gripe, it would be that the section about two-thirds in sort of dragged for me, from The Knife to Actress. None of the songs are crazy long and none of them are bad in their own right, but it seemed a bit too samey to have five songs like that in a row. Which is a pretty minor complaint, so don't even sweat it.

 

[No spoken words]

Who from his list do you see yourself checking out?

 

[PhilsFan]

Most of it was bands I'd already heard but hadn't gotten to that particular album: Rolling Stones, Depeche Mode, Elton John, etc. Other than that, I enjoyed the Blondie track, which was the first thing I've heard by Blondie. I also liked the New Order track. I have listened to Joy Division but never got around to New Order. Neon Indian is another one I've meant to check out and haven't gotten to.

 

[No spoken words]

Never heard any Blondie? Interesting. Well, glad you're getting exposure to stuff that's new to you, that's awesome and as I've babbled about before, the beauty of these competitions.

 

[iron yuppie]

Never heard any Blondie? Interesting. Well, glad you're getting exposure to stuff that's new to you, that's awesome and as I've babbled about before, the beauty of these competitions.

The first time I felt compelled to check out Blondie was about a year ago, when I heard Rapture in the film Shame (great film, by the way). Before that, I had dismissed them based on Heart of Glass. That was obviously a mistake - the greatest hits collection is loaded with quality tunes.

Glad you folks are finding something to enjoy in my list.

 

[LemonMelon]

Parallel Lines is one of my favorite albums of all time, including Heart of Glass, which I personally think is amazing. I always list Hanging on the Telephone as my favorite cover.

 

[the tourist]

I love Heart of Glass too.

 

[No spoken words]

I love Heart of Glass too.

And my axe.

That song got so much radio play when it came out but I never got sick of it.

 

[Joey788]

Alright, just finished tourist's list. Really enjoyed it for the most part.

That transition from Outkast to Flaming Lips worked far better than I thought it would. Loved Youth Lagoon to Lykke Li but didn't think Melody's Echo Chamber worked as well. Neon Indian to M83 was fantastic as well. It closed pretty well too, with the classic song choices. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable listen!

Iron Yuppie is next.

 

[the tourist]

Glad you enjoyed!

Out of curiosity, was there anything by an artist you'd never heard/heard of before that grabbed you enough to want to listen to more by that artist?

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

Out of curiosity, was there anything by an artist you'd never heard/heard of before that grabbed you enough to want to listen to more by that artist?

I'll answer that question if you don't mind and say:

Beach House - The track you chose obviously made an impression on me, so it is not a bad choice for beginners listen I guess. Curious about them now.

Wild Nothing - Rheya was beautiful, albeit sounding like a throwback to the 80s somewhat.

Tame Impala - Didn't like this track all that much initially but it grew on me a bit on 2nd/3rd listens. But I think there may be better beginners tracks on that album eh? Been meaning to check out Innerspeaker or Lonerism for some time now. Don't know in which century I'm gonna do it.

You know, this whole desert island exercise is indeed very handy to easily (and for free!) get into new music. But everything also depends on the choice of track. You choose a slightly more difficult song deep within the album and people may not be as interested to check said band out.

 

[the tourist]

I'll answer that question if you don't mind and say:

Beach House - The track you chose obviously made an impression on me, so it is not a bad choice for beginners listen I guess. Curious about them now.

Wild Nothing - Rheya was beautiful, albeit sounding like a throwback to the 80s somewhat.

Tame Impala - Didn't like this track all that much initially but it grew on me a bit on 2nd/3rd listens. But I think there may be better beginners tracks on that album eh? Been meaning to check out Innerspeaker or Lonerism for some time now. Don't know in which century I'm gonna do it.

You know, this whole desert island exercise is indeed very handy to easily (and for free!) get into new music. But everything also depends on the choice of track. You choose a slightly more difficult song deep within the album and people may not be as interested to check said band out.

Great! Thanks. I think stuff like this is the whole point of Desert Island. I think a couple fantastic Tame Impala songs for jump-off points would be Alter Ego from Innerspeaker and Elephant from Lonerism. (Though, psst, I didn't use Beach House , but I suppose I left it open to all the way I worded it)

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

Oh! I see that gump chose that Beach House track. Cool.

Oh and also... Lotus Plaza, to an extent. Liked that one.