Desert Island X: Group 1 Listening Thread

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In the middle of Laz's playlist. Just finished the Rilo Kiley song. I love the soul and pop vibe in here. It's infectious. There are definitely bubblegum numbers here (Monday Morning) but I love pop cherry-flavored gum numbers. Just look at my avatar and that you can assume I'd probably think On Fire worked very nicely in this playlist. The Rolling Stones was a nice fit too and I have been a fan of The Lemonheads a long time. The Meters and Warwick were just ok. They didn't stand out or anything. More thoughts along the way...
 
Just finished Laz's part 1. I really enjoyed the 70/80's chill vibe. Sail On Sailor and Tiny Pieces were stand outs for me. I wondered if the Beach Boy's Holland is a good album because I liked that one song. Is it good, Laz? It's a shame they were only really known for Pet Sounds because they have so much to offer. I may be wrong they have another classic album. I don't know much about them but I should explore more.

But overall, really great playlist, Laz. Nice flow and if a playlist puts a groove in my body that's always a bonus.

I'll listen to Part 2 tomorrow then on to IWB's. Looking forward to IWB's Part 1 a lot. I am sucker for that time of music. Who can NOT like Secret Agent Man?
 
I'm a bit late to the party but thanks everyone for your comments so far. :)

IWasBored said:
moved in for continuity's sake:

so yeah. i didn't like padj's list very much last time. this time, this list could take the competition for me. either i was just blinded by the magnetic fields, and that made me like it (because under what other circumstances could i justify saying something positive about a list also containing the b-52s, julliana hatfield, and liz phair?), or it's just what i happened to be in the mood to listen to today (belle & sebastian, husker du, tom waits, and all the stuff not in english was made of win).

i'd be good with never hearing another bats for lashes tune again, but that's really the only minor quibble i had. liked it a lot. :up:
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:up: I'm glad you liked it because while my last entry was more focused on a narrow spectrum of what I listen to, this new one is more representative of my tastes. The Magnetic Fields, as far as I'm concerned, are like the best band ever, so yeah. :)

liamcool said:
For context's sakes, I'm running into these lists as blind as I can. I'm not going "this has seven tracks I like, this is the shortest list" or anything. Picking at random.

So, for Padj's list, dotpoints:

- the Total Control track passed me by when I first heard it outside of DI, but hearing it here gives it new life. Good stuff. Good opener. A little turgid though.

- this is not a good Sad Lovers and Giants song.

- Hey, this is a different mix of The 15th! Amazing song as always. Here's a pickup point?

- Whoa that was a tonal change. (Referring to Caribou.) Not an awful one though.

- Cults aren't bad! They're like a denser, more buried CHVRCHES. Can't hear a word of the vocals.

- I THINK I MIGHT BE SPARKS NEWEST FAN, HEY

- The B-52s are a real comedown after Virginia Plain. :(

- The Warehouse Husker tracks sound much better in isolation - never thought Up In The Air was all that great, but it stands out here.

- There's something about Speedy Ortiz's Throwing Muses' vocals which are incredibly offputting. That kind of whining sound?

- Speed Ortiz is pretty neat.

- Juliana Hatfield is a kick in the arse in the best possible way

- GEMS, however, are the opposite of a kick in the arse.

- The Bat For Lashes song - terrible intro, neat song. Sort of stuttery. Cool stuff. Has too many choruses, though.

- The Paolo Conte song is a perfect counterpart to Tom Waits - keeps the jazzy vibe while dialing down the weird.

tl;dr I liked it! There were some things I didn't like! But overall, pretty good!
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Yay, glad I turned you into a Sparks fan... I think they're a pretty underrated band, a lot of hidden gems in their discography... Kimono My House is maybe my favourite album of theirs.

Joey788 said:
On Padj's list:

I really enjoyed this list. It started really strongly with a bunch of bands I'm unfamiliar with but now need to check out. The transition from Wire into Caribou was unexpected and flawless.

In fact, this whole DI list did a fantastic job from moving seamlessly between genres. Going from Liz Phair and Juliana Hatfield to dream-pop to the rhythmic vibe of the later numbers, wrapping up with classic prog bands was a journey full of unexpected twists that was never jarring. I'd say the only weak point was Roxy Music into Cate Le Bon, mainly due to how abruptly the former ends. Otherwise, awesome set.

Now, on to Laz.
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Thanks :) I really appreciate your comments on the flow, given that your playlist had excellent transitions.

Cute Irish Bono said:
Just finished Padj's playlist.

Thoughts:

I really liked the beginning up until Sparks. Sad Lovers and Giants is a band I have just been getting into. Feeding the Flame is one of their better albums. When Sparks hit the playlists just became a little uninteresting to me because I felt like the playlist got a little repetitive. Then I gain interest again around Stereolab and Husker Du. I am not too fond of too many girl singers but I did like the PJ Harvey and Liz Phair songs. I really enjoyed the Spanish, Brazilian, and Italian influential songs sung in different languages. I try to look at life half full and it just seemed to agree with me musically. But my favorite stretch was Paulo Conte to Jehtro Tull. Great job, Padj. I am in the middle ground which it comes to this playlist. The flow was great and changing of the genres was seamless. I am not big into a lot of female singers but overall, it was quite enjoyable. :)
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Thanks :) Glad you appreciated the foreign tracks. Being half Italian, half Portuguese, I listen to a lot of non-english stuff, but was a little reticent to include them in this playlist. Oh well, it seems that it kinda worked.

cobl04 said:
Gump, I'm really disappointed there's no Courtney Barnett on your list.

Well I'm finished this group. Padj, I enjoyed your list in parts, not overall, I'm afraid. I definitely appreciate your entry because again it's a list that contains a lot of non-B&C touchstones, at least to my ears. Wasn't a big fan of the start, but good god Caribou-Cults might be my favourite 1-2 of the competition so far. Really need to listen to Our Love. Cults was a band I had dismissed a bit but that was a really good tune.

Wasn't much into the next section of the list, but the Cocteau Twins track brought me right back, might need to seek some of their work, and that track up until Tom Waits was pretty inspired, I thought. Unfortunately from then on you lost me a bit again.

Nothing bad on the list - just some sections that didn't do much for me I'm afraid. But overall, it's definitely a :up:
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Thanks Cobl :) Cocteau Twins are really great! I never grow tired of their stuff. This is my favourite track of theirs, I think.
 
So, Joey:

The first part of your playlist didn't do much for me, to be honest. I suppose I wasn't in the mood or something, because I generally like some of the artists involved (Liars, The Horrors, Beck...). The middle was what really caught my attention. Oddly enough, I found a bunch of songs that I had forgotten about and was really fond of when they came out (Fiona Apple, Bat For Lashes, Decemberists, St Vincent), so thanks!! At the end I had definitely become a fan, especially with that U2>NIN transition... God was that good! I'm generally aching to discover new stuff, and that really didn't happen with your playlist because we really have a lot of common ground and I was already familiar with a lot of the stuff you picked, but overall it was a really nice listen, and the flow was really impeccable :)
 
At this point I believe 15 of the 20 participants have acknowledged listening to at least one other list, which seems like a higher participation rate than normal.
 
LMP said:
Then I'm in good company. Very excited to dive into your Alt-Country list, by the way.
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Thanks! Likewise - always enjoy your submissions.

cobl04 said:
Gump, I'm really disappointed there's no Courtney Barnett on your list.
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I actually thought about her, but ultimately decided to stick roughly to the 1995-2005 period. I think she'd be the only post-2006 artist on the list. But I agree that some of her stuff could fit it, next to Neko Case, for example.
 
Other thoughts about Disc 1:

- Loved the Rolling Stones and Luscious Jackson tracks, the latter, especially.
- Thin Lizzy is just the best.
- You actually got me to enjoy something by Steely Dan, good job. Equally surprised to find how much I enjoyed that XTina track.
- Funkadelic always amuse me in the best way.
- When Cobbler said that about the Prince track, I assumed it was going to be some of that early 90s super-funk stuff, so the track took me even more by surprise. Also surprised by BOC, even though I've heard an album or two of theirs.
- Not surprising, the Bash and Pop song, after you gave us a setup for who they are.
- That wasn't what I was expecting Ween to sound like. As others have mentioned, The Lemonheads song is also fantastic.
- Things I didn't care much for: Nelly Furtado, she really just never seems to work out for me. Also the transition from Phoenix to Steely Dan, in what was otherwise a pretty flawless piece of work.

Final thoughts: I liked the two sides of the disc, though I had initially expected it to kinda stay upbeat all the way through. I'm the last person who's going to complain about something getting mellow, though. Anyways, overall, loved it! :up:
 
About halfway through Padj's list. There's some stuff I like and some that's not really connecting, but I appreciate that it's a distinctly different take on some of the typical sounds B&C celebrates.
 
Alright, back to this. Looks like I know a lot more (anything) on disc 2, so let's go!


It was pretty funny, by the by, that I was so familiar with most artists on disc 1, but didn't know a single song on there.
 
Lazarus part 1: This was a pleasure almost the whole way through. The eclecticism and "deep cut" structure made the list consistently novel for me, which also meant that the list kept my attention thoroughly even when a particular song was not resonating with me. The movement between 70s rock and modern pop throughout the first half of the list was impressive, as was the choice of songs showing off unfamiliar styles from familiar artists (the Prince and Beach Boys tracks especially stand out in that regard). Looking forward to the second half.
 
More Random thoughts:
- Opener was really great, but the end of the track was random as hell. Loved it.
- While the opening section were all songs I enjoyed, it wasn't quite doing it for me, for some reason, because I know good and well that on any other day I would've been all over it.
- Stricken City is that band you turned me onto a couple years back, right?
- I clearly need to hear more Eno/Cale.
- Kind of a longer stretch that I didn't enjoy too much from Amy Winehouse until Twilight Singers, just not my cup of tea, I guess. I did really like the Nina Simone track, though.
- Twilight Singers are another band I'll be checking out after this is all done.
- The closer and the song by Sarah Shannon remind me a bit of some of my favorite songs that played on the Quiznos radio, so that made me wonderfully nostalgic.

Overall Disc 2: Really enjoyed certain parts, and while it was totally solid throughout, it didn't quite do it for me the way the first disc did.

Overall for the whole list I loved it, had a great time listening to it throughout my day today. Got a lot of bands to check out later.
 
Joey788.

- Chelsea Wolfe is still kinda horrid. All style and pretension, bad songwriting.

- As someone not super familiar with Bowie, Scary Monsters was pretty freakin' great.

- Savages have a very particular sense of urgency around them. Neat!

- Liars - weirdly dancy? Nowhere near as interesting as their other work, even if it is more listenable than Drum's Not Dead, say.

- Prodigy - groovy. Dude's accent is weird. Sonically really interesting. Is this what most DnB is like?

- So Bjork. This is my first exposure to her. Aside from the Icelandic inflection, this was just another downbeat electronic song. Not great, not bad.

- The Beck song is in a grungey sort of way, really pretty. Especially how it lurches back halfway. Pretty cool.

- HOLY FUCK RADIOHEAD ARE BORING

- EMA is okay. At least there's some rumblings of passion in there.

- Blur - putting an acoustic song behind blankets of fuzz and weird sound effects is a neat little production touch. Unfortunately, the song itself plods aimlessly.

- Bat For Lashes - the strings and drum parts are really super neat. The bulk of the song is piano and voice - its okay but almost deathly quiet.

- The Fiona Apple song is really strangely creepy. Good! Very Joanna Newsom like.

- The segue from The Decemberists to Astronautilis is AWESOME.

- On the other hand, fuuuuuuuuck the Arcade Fire.

- The Nine Inch Nails song was really not what I was expecting - a quite acoustic interlude. Neat song.



I suppose not really my thing. :shrug:
 
Great, now I'm just listening to the whole comp that Warwick song is from, and I love every song on it. And it seems like none of these people have any other music :sad:.

EDIT: OK, clearly exaggerating. I managed to find a few albums to listen to.
 
Just finished up Laz's part 2. The opener is a great opener but honestly, it falls short for me after that until you reach the Au Pairs song. M83 and Los Campesinos personally aren't my cup of tea, sorry. I love New Order but Weirdo didn't do it for me either. But then the Au Pairs until the end is a great long stretch. The Brian Eno and the Stricken City add a wonderful different dimension to the playlist. Then I enjoy how it starts to get kind of jazzy with Amy Winehouse and Nina Simone. How, I wish more playlist had Nina Simone on them! Great closers too.

You will rank high in rating from me, Laz. Good job. :)
 
bono_212 said:
So I just looked Warwick up....is that like, the only song they ever recorded?
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bono_212 said:
Great, now I'm just listening to the whole comp that Warwick song is from, and I love every song on it. And it seems like none of these people have any other music :sad:.

EDIT: OK, clearly exaggerating. I managed to find a few albums to listen to.
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More posts above I'd like to comment on but briefly: a friend of mine played Let's Get The Party Going while DJing at a bar, and I asked him who it was. I had the same problem you did, barely able to find any info or more material.

But that compilation is fucking great. I guess we'll be battling over which tracks to put on future DI lists now...
 
I didn't get to finish it before I left work for the day, but I heard the majority and it was killer. They've got a copy on Amazon that won't cost me too much, I'll be picking it up, because there doesn't appear to be any convenient way to hear it online otherwise.
 
Listened to Joey's list. Thoughts:

-So I have heard every one of these songs at some point. That's not necessarily a bad thing and certainly not your fault, but yeah, not my ideal.

-Not wild about Chelsea Wolfe as an opener, it didn't really bring me into the list the way I wanted it to.

-Scary Monsters is so good.

-Everything flowed very well until Minus, which was a pretty unnecessary addition. Good song, but it may have fit better earlier in the list.

-Two Steven Wilson-sung tracks on the list. Of the two, I prefer Strip the Soul but Index works well thematically with Climbing Up The Walls.

-Blur into Bat For Lashes...not feeling that transition. I had to check the track listing to make sure I didn't mess up the order. Siren Song is amazing though, so I got over it.

-Everything on The Idler Wheel is A+ quality.

-Really good transitions from PJ Harvey through Astronautalis.

-If I never hear Intervention again, it will be too soon. The Marley & Me of indie rock.

-Fantastic transitions from Exit to Strip the Soul. Really top notch, as many have already mentioned. Downward Spiral is a NIN song I don't hate!

Overall, pretty good. Not a lot of surprises for me here, but a lot to like. There were some rough transitions, but tonally it was very consistent and well thought out.
 
IWB:



Great first disc. I knew the majority of songs already, but there were some curveballs thrown in. Hell if I knew another song by Dobie Gray other than Drift Away, for example, and I didn't know that particular Otis Redding song. Just read the back story on it - great stuff.



Morphine seems like a band I should explore further. My only exposure to them was hearing Early To Bed constantly on The River back in the day.



As for Disc 2, I like a lot of these songs, but I do agree with others that it is a bit overkill after a while. I know you like other genres, albeit to a lesser degree, and I think it would have worked better to include some of those in your "Boots" section. It would have given us a broader overview of the type of music you enjoy today (of course, my playlist is all synthpop, which will probably be overkill for people as well).



I want to give a shout out to Cock Sparrer though. Great song, and great album. I have leftover odds and ends of punk and power pop that I want to use if there is ever another Retro Island contest, and I'd include Cock Sparrer on it. Talk about missing the popularity boat though. Not sure why they didn't take off back in 1977-1978, but by the time Shock Troops came out in 1982 or whatever, it was just too late.



So a solid showing for you overall this time.
 
phanan said:
IWB:



Great first disc. I knew the majority of songs already, but there were some curveballs thrown in. Hell if I knew another song by Dobie Gray other than Drift Away, for example, and I didn't know that particular Otis Redding song. Just read the back story on it - great stuff.



Morphine seems like a band I should explore further. My only exposure to them was hearing Early To Bed constantly on The River back in the day.



As for Disc 2, I like a lot of these songs, but I do agree with others that it is a bit overkill after a while. I know you like other genres, albeit to a lesser degree, and I think it would have worked better to include some of those in your "Boots" section. It would have given us a broader overview of the type of music you enjoy today (of course, my playlist is all synthpop, which will probably be overkill for people as well).



I want to give a shout out to Cock Sparrer though. Great song, and great album. I have leftover odds and ends of punk and power pop that I want to use if there is ever another Retro Island contest, and I'd include Cock Sparrer on it. Talk about missing the popularity boat though. Not sure why they didn't take off back in 1977-1978, but by the time Shock Troops came out in 1982 or whatever, it was just too late.



So a solid showing for you overall this time.
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thanks. man, it's really a good thing i went with this than the 4 hour list i was trying to whittle down at one point, if the general consensus on disc 2 is too much of the same (i'd argue a good rather than same, but whatever) thing.


nice shout out on shock troops, that album is awesome and hardly ever gets the respect it deserves.
 
More:
- That was a Wire track I really enjoyed.
- Maybe I should give Caribou another shot.
- This flows really well, I appreciate that.
- I don't know why I don't like Sparks, but I hate Sparks.
- I think Cate le Bon was one of those acts I was really into for like a second and then completely forgot about. To be honest, I can kinda see why that was.
- Husker Du are really awesome. I need to man up and hear more than just New Day Rising cause it's the "accessible" one.

EDIT: I accidentally hit submit on this post. I'm not done, but for the sake of the matter, I'll go ahead and put the rest of my thoughts into another post.
 
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