iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
A few superb transitions, LM: R.E.M. into The Chills and Destroyer into Prefab Sprout.
Desert Island X: Group 2 Listening Thread
- Thread starter LemonMelon
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The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
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LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
I wish more people were into them. NSW was a fan.
I try.
Thank you, that was the tricky part for me this time around. I didn't want people to get bored with too much of either. It could have been an Awesome 80s Hitz comp you buy at a gas station or the playlist of some nerd trying to impress everyone with music knowledge, but I definitely think it's neither of those things.
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bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
The Sundays are a band that I have a weird relationship with. It's like, today, when I see a band with the perfect description to my tastes, and then I listen to them and it's like, oh, this is good, but I'm probably never going to hear this again. And I have no idea why I do that.
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LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
They're the Smiths and Cocteau Twins stirred together slowly at a simmer. Utterly charming if not quite as great as either band.
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OP
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LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
My playlist apparently killed Gump and iYup. They're in U2 Heaven now.
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
I really don't have much to say about Travis' list, because...come on. There are like five songs I don't know on here, and then the rest of the list is basically just a play-by-play of my all-time favorite songs. Flow is great, only thing I absolutely hated with every fiber of my being holy shit kill it with fire was the song by The Associates. Holy shit, if I never hear that again, it'll be too soon.
Loved the list!
Loved the list!
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LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
It's called a palate cleanser. 
No, seriously, I love that song. Musically, it's pure joy. The vocal could have been toned down, but it's my favorite song by a band I recommend, so it needed to be there.
No, seriously, I love that song. Musically, it's pure joy. The vocal could have been toned down, but it's my favorite song by a band I recommend, so it needed to be there.
IWasBored
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Thanks for the feedback, and I'm really glad that the Tina Turner > Big Country thing was immediately noticed, I couldn't resist.
As for the end,the intention had been to ease out of what had been a pretty hi tempo list through something that was sorta the same as the beginning, but a little less pure moods. It does end up being a really quit fade out, so I can see it not working. But, I definitely tried to do too much, so if that's the only thing that failed to hard, I'm not too upset.
The Pillows are fantastic, just for the record. They did the soundtrack for the Anime FLCL, but don't let that make you think they're a JPop band. That song is pretty indicative of their sound.
Don't get too excited about Blue Sky Black Death, yet. They are hip hop producers, but their last two albums have been all instrumental stuff. Glaciers was one of my favorite albums last year, and Noir was also in my top ten the year it came out.
"Failed" in regard to the ending would be a bit harsh. Don't think I meant it that way, it was just kind of like the musical equivalent of ...
Ok, so The Pillows yes, Black Death thing probably not so much. Although if instrumental in a vein similar to the track you included, then maybe I should consider checking those albums out. There's a weird line that I'm not 100% sure where to draw it in terms of instrumental type stuff. Or I just don't know the genre names to be able to really do it. Dubstep can die in a fire, oonts=go fuck yourself. But I can't say post rock guitars is where that line is, because I like me some pretty-sounding more electronic stuff sometimes.
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
Yeah, it's hard to really define. Like, Glaciers is listed as "Downtempo, Dream Pop, Instrumental Hip Hop, Cloud Rap" but there's no actual rap on the album, it's all, if I remember correctly, instrumental. Noir on the other hand, has the same tags (minus dream pop), and also contains a lot more vocal sampling, like what's featured in the track I used on my list. I'd say you'd be safe giving at least a few songs from Noir a try, if you enjoyed that song. If you like dreamier stuff, Glaciers is really good, but completely different from what I've experienced from them otherwise.
Before that, I'm less familiar, but I know they have an album that's listed as Trip Hop that I really want to hear, and their really early stuff has MCs featured over the beats, so...
Before that, I'm less familiar, but I know they have an album that's listed as Trip Hop that I really want to hear, and their really early stuff has MCs featured over the beats, so...
liamcool
Blue Crack Addict
The Associates freakin' rule. Just sayin'.
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LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
They really do.
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
I just don't know a lot of music that makes me wanna die while I'm listening to it. Just sayin'.
liamcool
Blue Crack Addict
Someone hasn't listened to Pornography recently then.
bono_212
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IWasBored
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Cloud rap wtf
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
I'll have more thoughts in a bit.Bono212, I loved that opening duo. The gradual build to the main part of the list was very smooth.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
LemonMelon: this is going to be a hard list to beat. As usual the flow is superb and the theme executed in line with your stated aims. The list also held my attention for its entire 2:30 or whatever runtime, which I can't say that any other list of that length has done since I've been involved with DI.
The best stretch for me began with The Sundays and ran through the end of the list. These were almost all bands I was not familiar with, but the vaguely new wave-post punk hybridization running throughout definitely piqued my curiosity. In some ways it felt like a Chameleons album with a slew of guest singers - that's definitely a compliment.
My only critique would be with the over-familiarity of a few of the tracks toward the middle - given your extensive musical knowledge, I know you could have been more creative than Melt with You and Love Will Tear Us Apart. Both strong tracks, no doubt, but that was the only point where I was thinking the choices were obvious. Overall clearly I'm feeling strong about this list.
The best stretch for me began with The Sundays and ran through the end of the list. These were almost all bands I was not familiar with, but the vaguely new wave-post punk hybridization running throughout definitely piqued my curiosity. In some ways it felt like a Chameleons album with a slew of guest singers - that's definitely a compliment.
My only critique would be with the over-familiarity of a few of the tracks toward the middle - given your extensive musical knowledge, I know you could have been more creative than Melt with You and Love Will Tear Us Apart. Both strong tracks, no doubt, but that was the only point where I was thinking the choices were obvious. Overall clearly I'm feeling strong about this list.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
Bono212: another long list that manged to keep me interested throughout the vast majority of its runtime. If I'm honest, in the past I've felt your lists were a bit haphazard in terms of style and flow, but this one, especially in the first half, was laser-focused. Tracks 1-12 especially held together beautifully and gave me a couple new acts to check out (Tycho and CunninLynguists).
The middle waned a bit for my tastes, partly because I'm not a huge fan of the slacker-rock or whatever you want to call it of acts like The Replacements and Dismemberment Plan, but also because it contrasted sharply with the smoothness of the opening segment. The ending recovered nicely, though: I wasn't particularly looking forward to Pavement and Big Star, but both were subtle tracks that enveloped the excellent Yo La Tengo track nicely. Also the Big Star song was exponentially superior to September Gurls, which is now striking me as odd as the default choice for that particular band on radio etc. But I seem to be the only person on earth who doesn't rate Big Star in the pantheon of great bands, so my opinion shouldn't hold any water there.
The middle waned a bit for my tastes, partly because I'm not a huge fan of the slacker-rock or whatever you want to call it of acts like The Replacements and Dismemberment Plan, but also because it contrasted sharply with the smoothness of the opening segment. The ending recovered nicely, though: I wasn't particularly looking forward to Pavement and Big Star, but both were subtle tracks that enveloped the excellent Yo La Tengo track nicely. Also the Big Star song was exponentially superior to September Gurls, which is now striking me as odd as the default choice for that particular band on radio etc. But I seem to be the only person on earth who doesn't rate Big Star in the pantheon of great bands, so my opinion shouldn't hold any water there.
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
I don't care much for then, either, if I'm being honest. When I like something of theirs, though, it's about the same as the way I feel about The Replacements and I'm just all over it. Kangaroo sounds nothing like anything else they did, to my knowledge, so I wouldn't be surprised if you don't know it, that it comes as a shock.
cobl04
45:33
where the FUCK have I heard Boards' of Canada's Nothing is Real before. I recognised it immediately... but I'm pretty sure I only listened to the album once, so it seems odd that I would so immediately recognise a song.... urghhhh this is going to annoy me.
thoughts on your list in about halfa, nie.ls
thoughts on your list in about halfa, nie.ls
IWasBored
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September Gurls is the reason I haven't heard much other big star (aside from things people put on DI lists that aren't it). I mentioned it before, a couple RMTs ago, that it's sort of like our life is not a movie or maybe (although I've gotten past that and listened, and greatly enjoyed, other okkervil river), in that I like it too much. Any other song, even a decent one is going to make me think "well this is alright, but why am I listening to this when I could be listening to...instead?" Kangaroo certainly fit that description, except that I was obviously listening to it because it was the last song on 212ers list.
cobl04
45:33
Alright, Niels. Also thoroughly enjoyed your list. Opening tracks were solid without being spectacular, and though I'd heard both tracks many times before Flux and Stylo was still a killer combo. Have never liked The Streets, Mike Skinner always to me sounds like he's trying way too hard to emphasise the fact he's British and the crooners he picks for his choruses almost always suck. So did not like that song. Te Quiero had a nice beat under the surface, but it got a bit too into the style of EDM that I don't like. Would I be right in saying that Stromae is some sort of massively successful eastern European EDM artist? Like, a Tomorrowland regular?
I don't sound very impressed so far but from pretty much RTJ onwards it was so great. Banana Clipper is fucking baller, Can't Tell Me Nothing has never been a fav Kanye song of mine and I thought you could have picked a track with a bit more aggressive production to come out of Banana Clipper, but it still worked and segued well into ATLiens, which is one of my favourite hip-hop songs ever. Just so good. Outkast>Massive Attacks is something I've fiddled with in the past but I don't know if I could have pulled it off as well as you; Risingson was perfect in the next slot.
From then on I didn't know a single track (aside from the Boards of Canada one, still have no idea why I recognised it) but I thought it was just brilliant. LM made a similar downbeat/ambient list a couple of DIs ago which was really great but what I loved about this was that it was quite dark, subversive and also kept the beats in, which ambient sometimes does not do. Piezo stood out as a great song, and I loved Endless Summer as well, was quite beautiful. Rise into Trentemoller was a nice finish, although I was expecting the Trentemoller song to pick up with a hard thumping beat towards the end, as I've kind of lumped him in with the Tiestos and Deadmau5s of the world. That woulda been cool but still a good song.
so yeah overall very cool very sw I like it
I don't sound very impressed so far but from pretty much RTJ onwards it was so great. Banana Clipper is fucking baller, Can't Tell Me Nothing has never been a fav Kanye song of mine and I thought you could have picked a track with a bit more aggressive production to come out of Banana Clipper, but it still worked and segued well into ATLiens, which is one of my favourite hip-hop songs ever. Just so good. Outkast>Massive Attacks is something I've fiddled with in the past but I don't know if I could have pulled it off as well as you; Risingson was perfect in the next slot.
From then on I didn't know a single track (aside from the Boards of Canada one, still have no idea why I recognised it) but I thought it was just brilliant. LM made a similar downbeat/ambient list a couple of DIs ago which was really great but what I loved about this was that it was quite dark, subversive and also kept the beats in, which ambient sometimes does not do. Piezo stood out as a great song, and I loved Endless Summer as well, was quite beautiful. Rise into Trentemoller was a nice finish, although I was expecting the Trentemoller song to pick up with a hard thumping beat towards the end, as I've kind of lumped him in with the Tiestos and Deadmau5s of the world. That woulda been cool but still a good song.
so yeah overall very cool very sw I like it
IWasBored
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I started listening to Niels' list the other day, but then people we play video games with came online and were talking too much for me to be able to hear, and I had to pause it about 3 tracks in. I'll wait til a) I'm not only my phone and b) I've heard the rest, in the event I change my mind, but I was going to say something about how see, this is decent. It's nothing I'll ever go out of my way to listen to, but it's a perfect example of how electronic music can exist and not be shitty.
More later.
More later.
liamcool
Blue Crack Addict
I'm up to "Drive" on Lemel's list. Man that's a weird song for The Cars. (or maybe I'm just ignorant, having only listened to their first album.)
The first six songs are artists I like a bunch, but definitely not songs I'd pull out to listen to. Running Up That Hill is a great tune, but I think True Faith kind of sucks. So maybe my impression was tainted by that.
I was not expecting the Duran Duran song or the Madonna song to be as good as they were. There's some really cool changes in the former, and the latter drags, but drags beautifully.
I might have to check out New Gold Dream now, as well. Not as bombastic as I was expecting. Which is good.
The first six songs are artists I like a bunch, but definitely not songs I'd pull out to listen to. Running Up That Hill is a great tune, but I think True Faith kind of sucks. So maybe my impression was tainted by that.
I was not expecting the Duran Duran song or the Madonna song to be as good as they were. There's some really cool changes in the former, and the latter drags, but drags beautifully.
I might have to check out New Gold Dream now, as well. Not as bombastic as I was expecting. Which is good.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
I'm struggling to find a similarity between these two bands. DP are so locked-in and precise, and the Mats are known for being loose and DGAF.
They're worlds apart lyrically as well.
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LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Haha, yes. This justifies all the work I put in.
And I agree that there's nothing "slacker" about The Replacements or Dismemberment Plan. Sloppy, maybe, in the case of the former.
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LMP
Blue Crack Supplier
Been listening to LM's list in the car throughout today. Like Florida State, I wasn't crazy about the first half -- an hour of mostly unabashed '80s synth-pop didn't work for me. But that second half has some deeper cuts and settles into a nice mellow groove that I quite liked.
bono_212:
I loved the opening section. The chill, downtempo vibe was nice and it was also stacked with great tracks. CunninLynguists and Vangelis are two artists I need to hear more of now and I was already a fan of Massive Attack, Air and Outkast. The more poppy tracks were fun as well, apart from the Katy Perry song which has a rather ordinary beat and a not so great hook. Hearts On Fire was another highlight. I remember going wild to that song when I saw them live last summer and it was awesome. In general, everything from song 1 to 15 was great.
It got a lot more hit-and-miss from there on out though. Couldn't get into the Tina Turner and Big Country tracks and I'm just not familiar with any of The Replacements, Undertones etc. so most of those tracks kind of bled together for me. I do remember liking AFI and The Japandroids (the only band I was familiar with) so I'd probably enjoy it more with repeated listens.
The ending was strong as I enjoyed everything from Pepper onwards. I should listen to more Moby, Pavement and Eels. The more laid-back parts of your playlist clearly suited me better.
I loved the opening section. The chill, downtempo vibe was nice and it was also stacked with great tracks. CunninLynguists and Vangelis are two artists I need to hear more of now and I was already a fan of Massive Attack, Air and Outkast. The more poppy tracks were fun as well, apart from the Katy Perry song which has a rather ordinary beat and a not so great hook. Hearts On Fire was another highlight. I remember going wild to that song when I saw them live last summer and it was awesome. In general, everything from song 1 to 15 was great.
It got a lot more hit-and-miss from there on out though. Couldn't get into the Tina Turner and Big Country tracks and I'm just not familiar with any of The Replacements, Undertones etc. so most of those tracks kind of bled together for me. I do remember liking AFI and The Japandroids (the only band I was familiar with) so I'd probably enjoy it more with repeated listens.
The ending was strong as I enjoyed everything from Pepper onwards. I should listen to more Moby, Pavement and Eels. The more laid-back parts of your playlist clearly suited me better.
