Random Music Talk XXIII: Give Me Butt Meat or Give Me Death

[bono_212]

 

[powerhour24]

How cheap are our shows? Uh ... when I saw The National at The Electric Factory (opener: The Antlers, I think it was $25 ($35 with fees). I think the U2 tickets I got at the Linc are like $50? Something like that.

See, you gotta get in on the ground floor with bands for the best prices, the first time I saw The National I think my ticket was like $10, tiny venue, and I was right up on the stage since I got their early (no opening act, big plus).

As for U2 tickets, GA is usually around $50-55, of course then Live Nation rapes you for another $22 or something like that. All things considered, it's the best place to be, and nowhere near the most expensive ticket.


Also, re: Lupe Fiasco, I'd never heard of him when he came to my school in spring 2007, but he made me a fan instantly during his first song, the man knows how to put on a live show, a lot of MCs do not.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Is Australia's economy realllly bad or something? Because it's not just concert tickets you guys seem to have to pay more for. Daniel was just saying the other day new games are like $80, no?

their economy's actually pretty good, i'm not much of an economist but i guess it's probably because they know they can charge these prices. it's just as bad/even worse (factoring in the exchange rate) here in nz, where games are (without factoring the exchange rates) twice as much as i'd pay in the us. not to get into one of those awful gas arguments, but it's $2 a litre here, approx. three litres in a gallon, so roughly $6 per gallon for gas. in usd that's $4.54, which i think only ever cost around that in places like california when the gas situations have been really bad. thank god i don't drive.

anyway, like i was saying i think a lot of it is because aus and nz know they can charge what they do for everything. plus i'm not sure about aus but gst (sales tax, basically) went up here a couple months ago so everything's just a little bit more expensive than it already was. of course this could/would never happen but i think the only way prices would ever drop in this part of the world is if people really made an effort to stop buying stuff in protest. no more starbucks, etc. then there'd be a chance places (especially these global chains like the aforementioned starbucks) might lower their prices, but that's doubtful.

[/whine]

coke is cheap though, we can get it for 50¢ (usd) here which i think is good considering here they use sugar which is more expensive.

 

[cobl04]

Well I'm at a party and With Arms Wide Open and Angels by Robbie Williams came on and I got up and belted out both on the microphone, cos I'm awesome like that.

How's my cred going, laz?

 

[Vlad n U 2]

As far as pop songs go I really like Angels. I don't mind Robbie Williams that much at all, am partial to several of his songs.

Sue me.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

count me in as a fan of angels too

:sues vlad:

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Tripping is also still awesome.

 

[cobl04]

The point was I sang along to Creed's song. Angels is great. I just put on Hey Ya, and I shook my skinny white ass like a Polaroid picture.

Shame the girl I was hitting on missed it.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Friggin' Cobbler.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

The point was I sang along to Creed's song. Angels is great. I just put on Hey Ya, and I shook my skinny white ass like a Polaroid picture.

Shame the girl I was hitting on missed it.

Aw . I would've danced with you .

I love "Angels". Beautiful song. Creed song, meh, but it's karaoke and you're supposed to sing cheesy songs during karaoke moments, so I'll forgive it.

Angela

 

[IWasBored]

Ok, I really, really like this song, but I have no idea what to think of this.

YouTube - (HD) Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Round and Round" 1/19 Fallon (TheAudioPerv.com)

it's so shiney

 

[IWasBored]

95 US dollars for nosebleed seats on the opposite side of the arena when i saw u2. probably while i'm still sore about it, since i don't ordinarily like to drop more than 30 bucks (excluding internet service rape-age charges) on concert tickets. completely possible, since i very rarely go see bands that do arena-sized shows and are likely to charge more than the 20-35 range.



my generalized feelings toward hip hop/rap being pretty well-known, i think, now, not going to bore you with that preface. saul williams tore the place up when i saw him open for nine inch nails, and while his set didn't come anywhere close to the awesomeness that was nin, he was impressive enough that i bought his self-titled album afterwards. i unfortunatly was witness to nas and fabulous live at a university free spring concert one year (i was only there because the dropkick murphys were playing, and unwittingly secured myself a comfortable spot along the barricade early, assuming they'd put them on first and save the rappers that the bulk of the students were there to see for later. they didn't. they put them on last, and standing in front of the giant-ass bass boost speaker things in front of the stage made me vibrate to the point where i thought i was going to puke at one point). nas was incredibly forgettable, and all i can recall was being mildly amused by the fact that he was wearing a belt, but still couldn't keep his pants above his ass. fabulous was downright ridiculous. 6 guys on stage, each of them came out individually, did some bit and then yelled "give it up for fabulous!" another guy would come on stage, do the same, another "give it up for fabulous!" then another would come out...until there were 6 guys on stage jumping around and shit. after the 6th said "give it up for fabulous," no more guys came out, and i never was quite sure which one was fabulous. i thought it was one dude. i was never compelled to actually look into it, so unless one of you tells me that it's 6 guys and not one guy, then for the last 6 years i've had this story incredibly misunderstood. the entire set was one continuous thing, mostly divided up around "when i say [insert word here], you say [insert second half of phrase here]!" "[first]!" "[crowd yells second]" back and forth throughout unimaginative bitches and hoes lyrics. can't remember what the first two exchanges were, but i laughed pretty hard at the "when i say real, you say tall!" "real!" "tall!" one.

 

[PhilsFan]

All my buddies went and saw Drake play here last year, and they said he just played a set of small snippets that all segued into one another. They hated it, and they really were looking forward to that show.

 

[lazarus]

Well I'm at a party and With Arms Wide Open and Angels by Robbie Williams came on and I got up and belted out both on the microphone, cos I'm awesome like that.

How's my cred going, laz?

I like Robbie Williams.

All my buddies went and saw Drake play here last year, and they said he just played a set of small snippets that all segued into one another.

I believe the correct term for that is The Boner Effect.

 

[lazarus]

Others have already answered this, but I'll jump in quick too. Here's an example...I just bought tickets for 3 concerts earlier this week: School of Seven Bells ($12)

You're going to see the single sister version of SVIIB?

I don't think that would cut it for me.

 

[onebloodonelife]

You're going to see the single sister version of SVIIB?

I don't think that would cut it for me.

Eh. I missed the double sister version when they came through earlier in the year. My fault, and now I have to deal with the consequences. Still looking forward to the show though.

 

[If you shout...]

Not sure whether or not this was answered, so I'm sorry for any redundancy. The reason that shows in Australia/New Zealand/Japan/etc. are so expensive is (most) simply because travel costs somehow need to be offset.

 

[lazarus]

Yeah, their sonics were amazing, it's just strange to think of them without the harmonies.

Also, this year's Pazz & Jop poll is out. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's a poll that the Village Voice has been conducting for over 35 years, and takes a large sampling of journalists/critics from both large and small publications/websites that wins up forming a good consensus, with a good midpoint between mainstream and indie tastes. A very good roster of winners, even if there are some missteps (like Arrested Development's debut edging out Slanted & Enchanted):

Pazz & Jop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This year's results, essays, etc.

New York Pazz and Jop

Not that surprising, and this is his third #1, which puts him right behind THE ZIMM's 4 wins. But the Top 10 is very diverse and credible.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

New York Pazz and Jop

That's one of the best year end lists I've seen.

 

[iron yuppie]

What really continues to fascinate me about all of these year-end lists is how divisive Vampire Weekend has been. Individual lists either laud it or claim that it is derivative garbage, whereas all the others in the top twenty or so have been pretty consistently praised.

 

[lazarus]

I'm a little surprised at how Contra placed, even if I liked the album.

I think the old archive is gone, but you can look at all of the old lists on Robert Christgau's site (he ran the poll for many years), as well as his own "Dean's List":

Robert Christgau: Pazz & Jop

There's something weird about seeing classic artist's names on a poll from the same time period. Like that first one, from 1971, has The Who, Stones, VanMo, Lennon, Joni, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Kinks, Sly and the Family Stone, Bowie...and Led Zeppein IV down at #30, LOL.

 

[lazarus]

Man, look at this list from 1975:

1. Bob Dylan and the Band: The Basement Tapes (Columbia) 285 (23)
2. Patti Smith: Horses (Arista) 240 (19)
3. Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run (Columbia) 239 (9)
4. Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks (Columbia) 220 (18)
5. Neil Young: Tonight's the Night (Reprise) 177 (16)
6. Steely Dan: Katy Lied (ABC) 173 (13)

1970's

 

[iron yuppie]

And someone apparently voted for the leaked Mel Gibson tirade against his ex. It placed at #697. Hilarious.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Yeah, people weren't fucking around in '75.

Horses is a monster of an album. Blood on the Tracks is my favorite ZIMM, and Born To Run is my favorite piece of art ever created by man.

So, yeah.

 

[IWasBored]

wow, were the 90s really that terrible?

 

[lazarus]

Christgau remarked on numerous occasions in his essays that the 90's polls were a bit too America-centric with not enough British artists mentioned, so there's definitely a weak spot there.

 

[iron yuppie]

Thanks for posting those lists; they are a fun and often perplexing read. To me, the most dubious number one is Hole's Live Through This in 1994. I know that hindsight is twenty-twenty, but how does one possibly see that album as superior to Portishead's Dummy?

I also had no idea that Neil Young's albums from the 90s were so highly respected at the time.

 

[PhilsFan]

What really continues to fascinate me about all of these year-end lists is how divisive Vampire Weekend has been. Individual lists either laud it or claim that it is derivative garbage, whereas all the others in the top twenty or so have been pretty consistently praised.

I don't dislike it because I think it's derivative. I dislike it because I find it aggressively annoying.

 

[LemonMelon]

I mean, it is derivative, but its influences aren't readily apparent in most run-of-the-mill indie rock, so you don't really notice.

Contra IS aggressively annoying, however. The oouuaooaouaaouaooaouoaoouuhahahhaooouaghhooooo hook of White Sky is the nadir of music in 2010. Doesn't help that its synth line is so rudimentary and boring. Sounds like bad Postal Service/slightly improved Owl City. Giving Up The Gun also has a beat that sounds like something they came up with while trying to figure out what tones their new keyboard had built-in, but the song itself is well-arranged and fully-formed. Run is also a great song.

I feel the debut has better songwriting, while Contra shows them dabbling in genres I actually don't despise. If they somehow merge the two, I think a VW album I like could be on the horizon.

 

[cobl04]

There's something weird about seeing classic artist's names on a poll from the same time period. Like that first one, from 1971, has The Who, Stones, VanMo, Lennon, Joni, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Kinks, Sly and the Family Stone, Bowie...and Led Zeppein IV down at #30, LOL.

i find it very weird that many albums that are lauded as absolute essential, six-out-of-five star, classics today were panned by critics at the time and/or completely failed to sell. i mean you can find albums that were panned by one publication in the year of its release and then 15, 20 years on have re-rated to a five-star classic by the same publication.