Desert Island X: Group 2 Listening Thread

[bono_212]

Would you recommend further listening to said artist?

 

[nielsgov]

Yeah it is.

Spoiler

Lotuk is the title song of their 2008 album. I haven't listened to it that often but I do enjoy it. This song, from the same album, almost made my list instead of Lotuk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcKdYETr7So

This is another great single from an older album, Outsides, but I haven't even heard that yet. Something which I should correct as it's generally regarded as Arsenal's best. The world music influence that's in all their music is much clearer here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_-zAvEAEdM

And finally, my favorite album of theirs is actually their latest Furu. I love this single. Ha, I just noticed it features Gavin Friday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy-HmXmqA8Q

 

[bono_212]

Sweet, I'm all over those right now, and I'll decide which album to listen to first, afterwards.

 

[phanan]

niels:

Very cool leadoff track. As with other playlists, it's kind of nice to hear something new (to me, anyway) when starting off.

The second song didn't really do much for me, but then 3-5 was a great stretch. This was followed by tracks 6-7 which were fair at best, but not particularly interesting. But then came Kanye and Outkast, and all was right in the world again.

So you kind of get the picture so far - the first half was a bit of a mixed bag for me.

But I gotta say, I loved the second part, specifically Autechre, Nautilis, and of course Boards Of Canada. Nice shorter selections mixed in as well, and that whole part just fit together perfectly.

I thought transitions and flow were very good throughout, although I had to pause several times listening to this as I could only do so at home, since Grooveshark is a restricted site at work and I didn't have enough data on the phone to go through it all that way. Those disruptions were a bit annoying but that's more on my end than anything else (all other lists are heard straight through on my iPod at work).

A very cohesive and strong turn from you.

 

[namkcuR]

LemonMelon

Man, what can I say? Yet another stellar list from you. I really love that sound that were aim to pay tribute to here - I've even considered making this kind of a list myself before. There's a great balance here between the familiar and the not familiar, and the consistency in style gives the list a great cohesiveness. Favorite new-to-me tracks include Propaganda, New Order, Erasure, Roxy Music, Pulp, The Bats, Orchestra Manoeuvres in the Dark, and The Blue Nile, while favorite familiar tracks include Pet Shop Boys, Modern English, Joy Division, R.E.M., and of course U2. I loved that you used "Perfect Circle" for R.E.M - from the first time I listened to Murmur, that was the standout track of that album for me.

Great job, probably my frontrunner so far.

gump

I'm not really a 'country' guy, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed your list. It was consistent, cohesive, and concise, and the songs just hit the right the note for me. My favorites were Neko Case, Golden Smog, My Morning Jacket, Old 97's and Uncle Tupelo. That Golden Smog/My Morning Jacket one-two punch was definitely my favorite part of the list, and I thought Anodyne was a pretty effective closer.

I'll probably never be a country guy, but it was great to have a little window into this genre. Good job.

nielsgov

I thought this list started out really strong, and the kind of went downhill for me. I thought the first four tracks, up through Gorillaz, did a really good job setting the mood, but the it went into a hip-hop section in which only Kanye and OutKast really stood out for me. I like the Massive Attack track, but after that, the rest of the list is basically all of this uber-ambient variety, which I don't dislike, but by the end it feels like a little too much of the same, imo. I hate to sound overly critical. FWIW, I really liked the first four tracks, Massive Attack, and Huerco S, and I feel like if the hip-hop tracks were cut out, that the list would have great cohesiveness(as it is, the second half of the list is incredibly cohesive). So, on the whole it was mixed bag for me.


bono_212

I'm going to be honest, as a whole, this list didn't really do it for me. I loved the first two tracks a lot, in fact that whole first section with those tracks, Air, and Massive Attack, got me going, establishing a super mellow, chilled atmosphere, and there's also the Tycho and Memory Tapes tracks that I enjoyed, but Katy Perry sitting in the middle of that section felt like kind of an interruption to me. And then that section of lo-fi type stuff(Replacements, Undertones, Buzzcocks) just isn't my cup of tea - if you're into that, I'm sure those are enjoyable tracks, but it's not really my thing. The good news is that the list finished strong for me. Pretty much everything from Moby onward, I liked. So, on the whole, I feel that the list started and finished strong, but faltered in the middle for me, and it wasn't as cohesive as it maybe could've been. I also don't really hear the 90s influence that much, but that's kind of subjective anyway.

Favorite new-to-me tracks include Vangelis, Blue Sky Black Death, Tycho, and Memory Tapes. Favorite familiar track is Moby(always loved Southside).

It definitely has its moments, but I don't think it's your best DI list.

 

[IWasBored]

taking a break from phanan's list (because i'm not going to have a single nice thing to say if i sit through all that synth pop in one go, sorry) to go back and hit up gump's. this is the weirdest thing. i've heard of absolutely every single band on it, but i don't think (aside from the billy bragg + wilco song, i know that one), i've heard any of these particular songs*.

normally i don't like bright eyes/want to punch conor oberst in the throat, but this song is good. maybe i just heard shitty bright eyes.

and son volt! that's the band i was looking for when i was trying to think of what sun kil moon album i liked. it was never kozelek, it was fucking son volt. doh. although i admit to being a bigger fan of mark linskey's cover of windfall.. i like your list a lot. probably the most now than anyone else's. nice job. would have liked to see steve earle squeak in here somewhere, but that's the worst thing i can think to say about your list.


actually, i knew 3. the ryan adams, son volt, and billy bragg + wilco songs. just didn't recognize the two on paper.

 

[Cute Irish Bono]

Hey, bono_212, I listened to 1/4 of your playlist so far. Just finished the Tina Turner song.

The beginning was ok. I didn't gain a lot of interest until the Massive Attack song. There have been a lot of Massive Attack this DI time around. I need to totally check them out. Moving along in the playlist I really enjoyed Fairground but that Katy Perry song was good but I don't think it worked in the context of this playlist right after Fairground. I see similar song components in those two songs but the two different genres didn't mold together for me, sorry. I think the gem of this playlist is Tycho's "L." Then I enjoyed Tina Turner. I am pop buff.

So overall, there were a lot of songs I enjoyed but not stretches of songs because of flow or song choice. But I still find this playlist enjoyable.

 

[Cute Irish Bono]

I finished your playlist, bono_212.

Thoughts:

I really like your second half better than your first. The flow is better because the genres are more similar in certain sections, so it works. For instance your 70's punk rock section works well when you introduce more modern punk. Then it works when you do the punk to indie rock to 90's rock. You keep stretches of songs in the same genres for a while. Here are the sons that stood out to me: "Teenage Kicks", “The House That Heaven Built,” "Next Year," "Peppers," “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" and "My Descent into Madness."

It ended nicely too. Great job, bono_212.

 

[nielsgov]

LeMel:

I finished your playlist yesterday but hadn't found the time to do a write-up before now. Luckily I took some short notes so I should be okay. So 80's music, needless to say this is a blind spot to me for the most part.

The first three songs were great, especially the Kate Bush track. The New Order and Visage tracks were also stand-outs from that first part. The first 15 tracks are so all have that synthy, new wave sound that's typical of the 80's. There was a good chance of that boring me eventually but you managed to not let that happen. There were a few moments that I didn't like as much. The Duran Duran and Madonna (I didn't know the song and it didn't exactly sound like Madonna to me) tracks spring to mind. I don't know, they sounded a bit cheesy to me but that could be the same pretentiousness cobbler mentioned earlier. I loved Bette Davis Eyes though. Great song that I've heard countless times on the radio without ever realizing that those were the chorus lyrics.

The playlist really picked up from then on. Joy Division was a stand-out naturally and I also liked the Pulp track. I remember you using a song of theirs last year and also liking that so maybe it's time I actually check them out now. The music got a bit less slick for a while and that was definitely a welcome change. There weren't many stand-outs but I did enjoy that part as a whole. I did particularly enjoy the R.E.M. and Echo and the Bunneyman tracks. You lost me with The Chills and The Associates but I loved everything from Crystal Castles to the end. That was easily the best stretch of your playlist. It's always a smart move to end with the best. Bands I need to check out are The Sundays, The Blue Nile and Talking Heads. I also rediscovered Love Comes Tumbling as I barely listen to that track for some (stupid) reason.

Overal I really, really liked your playlist. You managed to keep me interested for 160 minutes to music I'm not exactly familiar with. Didn't have any troubles with regards to flow although I don't pay that much attention to it from song to song. I never do really.

 

[LemonMelon]

Many thanks to CIB, Niels and Nam for their reviews. It's a long list so I appreciate your time. There was a lot of ground to cover and I felt I wasn't doing justice to the era to offer any less than full length.

Unsurprisingly, the race for top 2 in group 2 is extremely close right now. I think the gap between first and last is like 8 points and there are plenty of rankings still to come. It's especially important that everyone from the group vote because that's a potential 8 point swing right there.

 

[Joey788]

gump:

Not really familiar with alt-country/americana, but I enjoyed a portion of what I heard here. The segment from Old 97's to Uncle Tupelo was great, as was Neko Case to the end. I did feel it sagged a bit in the middle though, mainly just cause I wasn't a fan of those particular songs. However, it flowed well and its short length kept me engaged.

 

[Joey788]

nielsgov

I think your list started off really strong. The segment from Arsenal to Gorillaz was top-notch. It started to lose me a bit with The Streets, but picked back up again with the Outkast/Massive Attack combo. Once it got to Boards of Canada though, I lost interest. I'm not really a fan of that spacey, ambient style of music. So some highlights, but it lost steam for me by the end.

 

[phanan]

Catching up with Ashley's list after being virtually non-existent over the holiday break...

A very mellow, almost dream-like quality for the first part, like the smoldering of an upcoming blaze that's about to erupt. In fact, it might have smoldered a bit too long, but I still liked it. You are obviously going to earn high praise from me for leading off with Vangelis, one of my all-time favorite artists. And I loved In The City - I really dig that type of hip hop.

Air is one of those artists that I've never gotten into as a whole. I can only seem to take small samplings from them at a time, but this was a good track.

You then had an 80's twofer of artists I've never been particularly found of, especially Simply Red. I can deal with The Sweetest Taboo at least, probably one of only a couple songs from her that I've felt was ok. But I hated that Simply Red song when it first came out, and apparently that hasn't changed after all these years.

Katy Perry simply cannot sing.

But then you began an incredible stretch. Apparently I need to check out Tycho, cuz that was a standout track. Really, from Cut Copy to Stars was perfect.

One of Tina's best ever tracks follows. A great 80's classic. And that began another impressive run through some old favorites (Big Country (even if it is the edit), House of Love, Undertones, Buzzcocks, etc.) I have several of these artists cued up on an unused playlist for the future.

The latter part of the playlist was a trip down 90's memory lane for me. You get major props for including the original version of South Side, which is so much better than the water downed Gwen version.

I still don't care for Pavement though.

So all in all, a very good playlist, but I'd say it falls a bit below your last effort, but that's ok, because I thought that one was the best you'd ever done. Would have been hard to top that. You certainly came close.

 

[bono_212]

Thanks man . Glad everyone seems to be enjoying Tycho, and I'll admit that it's been pleasing to me, knowing that it's not crazy to love that Turner track.

 

[gump]

Got a little delayed with Thanksgiving and work, but finally finished the two remaining lists on this thread.

Bono_212: I thought your list was remarkably consistent given all the genre hopping. The transitions amazingly strong throughout, so it didn’t feel a stretch to move from, say, Outkast to Sade in two steps. Really good job at that. There was a bunch of stuff that I really liked, especially the final quarter or so (Dismemberment Plan through Yo La Tengo, in particular). I didn’t know Eels and really liked that song – his voice reminds me a lot of Beck circa Modern Guilt. I also didn’t hate the Tita Turner song, which surprised me. In sum, very good job!

Niels: Lots of stuff I didn’t know in the second half of your list, though not all of it appealed to my taste. But I appreciate what you were going for, and that section (the “weird dream” you referred to in the blurb) was my favorite part, even though the best songs were in the first half. I love that Massive Attack appeared in both of these lists, by the way. The Blog Party-Gorillaz, The Streets trifecta was very strong. Oh, I generally don’t pay much attention to the cover art, but loved the photo you had there. Matched the tone of your playlist pretty well.

On to group 3 now.

 

[iron yuppie]

I'm bumping this just to say thank you, LM, for putting "Do You Remember the First Time?" on your list. It prompted me to go back through Pulp's discography - and damn what a fantastic band. His 'n' Hers is especially brilliant: I don't know how Cocker manages to be completely acerbic and heart-wrenching at the same time. He's got to be one of the best lyricists of the last 25 years or whatever.

 

[IWasBored]

Since this is the most recently bumped thread, how's this progressing? Are you still waiting on rankings/points lists from people?

 

[cobl04]

He definitely is yes, I haven't even started on group four yet. Got it all downloaded but that's as far as I've got at the moment.

What's your take LM? Do you have an end date or something?

 

[LemonMelon]

Check the group 5 thread for answers this and many more (maybe one) questions.

Also, awesome that I got you into Pulp, iYup. Of all the bands I want to see live, they've got to be near the top.