Desert Island X: Group 4 Listening Thread

[iron yuppie]

Cobbler: The intro you wrote is helpful, because it contextualizes the list nicely. You get the feel of a rager and then the heady but somewhat subdued aftermath, especially at the very beginning and very end. I commented on a few of the transitions and discovery tracks earlier; the only place I think the list runs into some flow issues is between LC and Passion Pit. Those tracks, and Wilco in particular, don't seem to fit the general mood established at the beginning. On the whole, like with PFan, you get the sense of a slice of your life, if only for a brief time.

 

[cobl04]

Cobbler: The intro you wrote is helpful, because it contextualizes the list nicely. You get the feel of a rager and then the heady but somewhat subdued aftermath, especially at the very beginning and very end. I commented on a few of the transitions and discovery tracks earlier; the only place I think the list runs into some flow issues is between LC and Passion Pit. Those tracks, and Wilco in particular, don't seem to fit the general mood established at the beginning. On the whole, like with PFan, you get the sense of a slice of your life, if only for a brief time.

Thanks man. Especially liked how you described the ending earlier, I loved the Hopkins/Eno couplet. I ummed and ahhed about the Wilco track. I eventually left it in because of the "there is something wrong with me" line, which was resonating strongly with me at the time.

cobbler:

I loved, loved, loved the first 10 songs of your playlist. That's exactly the kind of music I've been getting into more and more during the past year or so, as you would already know by my posting in the Can You Dance to My Beat thread. The moment the beat drops in the first song is just fantastic. Way better than any of the overblown drops in the more popular dance tracks these days. It all flowed very nicely and yeah, Im going to check out more of Les Sins, Todd Terje, Ben Pearce, Julio Bashmore and maybe a few more from that opening part. More on the rest later.

Thanks man, thought you might. And yeah, these tracks are just so much better than your popular dance music it's ridiculous.

 

[IWasBored]

peef: on paper, your list is begging for a lot of shit talking from me. it's like this place's best loved "indie" bands from the last 4 years compiled in one place (minus a few songs, like heavy metal drummer and through the wire, probably a couple that i can't pick out...but for the most part that's what it is). i held off saying anything til i listened to it, and i'm glad i did. i found myself enjoying it way more than i thought i would, especially the 4 song block from dum dum girls through new pornographers. i can't say i want to listen to any of those songs again, or can even distinguish them from each other, but i really did enjoy them while they were playing (disappointed me when wilco came up). and it goes without saying that worked from a flow perspective. i kind of think going into st vincent and skipping wilco would have worked better. 1st track was cool as shit, and i actually smiled this time while being forced to listen to kanye. as much as i don't like the guy's music, i'm surprisingly ok with pretty much anything off college dropout. i hated that album so much when i was in high school, but i've run into so much more music that's so much worse (never mind how much more worse music kanye's released since then).

solid list, even if i was going to make fun of you for including something off the new u2 album (it's at the end, i just pretended it wasn't there).

 

[PhilsFan]

I have a good reason for having Heavy Metal Drummer in there, but I was battling over whether or not to just drop it for the reason you stated. Anyway, appreciate the comments and glad it wasn't that bad of an experience for you.

 

[IWasBored]

Yeah I know from what iyup said that everything there has personal reasons tied to its presence here. I'm dense as hell when it comes to understanding that sort of thing, though. So I just sort of went off how it sounded and worked musically and stuff (which was well. I like it a hell of a lot better than your last list, and if we were doing rankings I would rank it well).

 

[lazarus]

I don't mean this as backhanded praise, but I admired the construction of Peef's playlist more than it actually hit my pleasure center. I'm not sure that IWB's description of this being a recent indie music mix is quite fair in that it actually sounded very diverse to me, with a healthy sampling of pop acts. And regardless, there's a healthy range between stuff like New Pornographers or The National, and Flying Lotus, Phantogram, etc.

Definitely a few artists I had heard of but will now need to explore further, and a couple I wasn't even aware of. Always a plus.

Extra bonus points awarded for including Honeymoon, one of the standout early Phoenix songs. I miss the band that did that one.

Unfortunately, those bonus points are cancelled out by the inclusion of The Troubles. Not because it's not a great song (it is), or because it's U2 (though I always cringe when a U2 fan includes a song on a mix meant for other U2 fans on a U2 forum), but it bugs me when an album's closing track is used as the finale on a mix (I voiced a similar complaint about CIB using album opener Candy Says at the beginning of her playlist). It's borrowing punctuation from another artist, and I'd prefer that people utilize a song in a new way.

Not a dealbreaker, just a pet peeve. Very good work overall.

 

[IWasBored]

i do think that tacking the troubles on the end is still better than shoe-horning that crystal ballroom thing in like afliktor did. but that may also have something to do with the fact that i liked peef's list, and did not like afliktor's at all.

 

[PhilsFan]

I don't mean this as backhanded praise, but I admired the construction of Peef's playlist more than it actually hit my pleasure center. I'm not sure that IWB's description of this being a recent indie music mix is quite fair in that it actually sounded very diverse to me, with a healthy sampling of pop acts. And regardless, there's a healthy range between stuff like New Pornographers or The National, and Flying Lotus, Phantogram, etc.

Definitely a few artists I had heard of but will now need to explore further, and a couple I wasn't even aware of. Always a plus.

Extra bonus points awarded for including Honeymoon, one of the standout early Phoenix songs. I miss the band that did that one.

Unfortunately, those bonus points are cancelled out by the inclusion of The Troubles. Not because it's not a great song (it is), or because it's U2 (though I always cringe when a U2 fan includes a song on a mix meant for other U2 fans on a U2 forum), but it bugs me when an album's closing track is used as the finale on a mix (I voiced a similar complaint about CIB using album opener Candy Says at the beginning of her playlist). It's borrowing punctuation from another artist, and I'd prefer that people utilize a song in a new way.

Not a dealbreaker, just a pet peeve. Very good work overall.

Appreciate the comments. I really struggle to describe my personal tastes beyond being vaguely "indie," so any outside viewpoint on how diverse my tastes come across is helpful.

As for your last comment, what ended up being the end of this list was not originally intended to be, and I wasn't going to close with The Troubles until later in the list construction when it made the most sense. I understand your apprehension and desire to see people trying to use it in a unique way, but it was never really something I took into consideration.

Also, I didn't mind using a U2 song at all because my list was never intended to be all that "educational" in using the playlist to show people new sounds. I haven't used a U2 song in every list I've done, just when they fit, and I thought this did here. Plus, B&C is really a U2 forum in name only at this point. Including U2 is like including Radiohead or Arcade Fire.

 

[lazarus]

You're right about the taste of this sub-forum, but we're still all here because we got heavily into one particular band. And we've dissected/cockified/heard most U2 songs so much that for me it's hard to get anything more out of them in this format even when they're recontextualized. Plus, many of us have played this album (or its best songs, at least) into the ground these last couple months.

Like, had you put it at the beginning of your playlist I would have been like "Hmm, interesting", but probably would have just mentally tuned out anyway. Maybe with some deep cut from Cocktober it would be a different thing.

Sorry to spend so much time talking about that one track, because on the whole I thought you had many interesting choices.

 

[IWasBored]

I can't say I've spent a lot of time on other "other music aside from the main band this forum is dedicated to discussing" forums because I just haven't gone to any in the last 7 or 8 years or so. But I want to say that when I did briefly, this place was still unique in that b&c thrives unlike many others.

Although we're all silly and behind the times, it's almost 2015 and we're still using a message board.

 

[LemonMelon]

i do think that tacking the troubles on the end is still better than shoe-horning that crystal ballroom thing in like afliktor did. but that may also have something to do with the fact that i liked peef's list, and did not like afliktor's at all.

Man, that was bad sequencing. It was the only song in that section that didn't fit, so it screamed HEY LOOK NEW U2!

 

[LemonMelon]

Personally, I do not care about others deconstructing familiar material. The song goes where it sounds most appropriate. The opener on my list was an album opener, but nobody knew the song so it wasn't an issue. Then I closed with an album closer AND credits song, but it worked there. It didn't even occur to me to move it because why should I? If I'm going to educate, I'm going to use more obscure material to begin with. If I want listeners to feel warm and comfortable, I'm just going for the best song in the best spot. The best lists accomplish both IMO.

I intend to listen to both Cobbler and iYup's lists this afternoon, but may end up listening to Cobbler's later on tonight instead.

 

[iron yuppie]

Personally, I do not care about others deconstructing familiar material. The song goes where it sounds most appropriate.

Same. I thought The Troubles was placed appropriately on PFan's list, even well. It captures the mood of the list, and in that sense it doesn't matter where it falls on its home album.

 

[LemonMelon]

Actually, I'm listening to Cobbler's list now and waiting on iYup's because FUCKING SENDSPACE DAMN.

 

[cobl04]

I tend to steer away from using album openers/closers as playlist openers/closers just because I think it's more interesting to find other tracks and use them as such, but I have no issue with people using tracks we've all heard seven million times.

 

[LemonMelon]

Cobbler wins for best flow ever, but it reaches a point where that becomes a not-so-good thing. I'm on the Kele track and I can't tell a lot of these songs apart so far. It's great background music while I do some writing, but I couldn't pick a favorite. And holy shit, this is Kele?

 

[cobl04]

I was expecting that. Similar to me thinking parts of your list or IWB's list run together. Love that you're enjoying it though and yes, it is Kele, and doesn't that sound fit his voice well. I still need to listen to his album.

 

[LemonMelon]

I love this DJ Koze track, but you probably expected that. This is heading into more downtempo territory now, which is a nice, subtle change. I'm going to start recognizing a lot more songs as I go along. I've heard 4 out of the next 5 at some point or other.

 

[cobl04]

I figured you'd know 95% of the rest of the list

God that DJ Koze album is great.

 

[iron yuppie]

Through five tracks on Aliktor's list, my general feeling is that I should be doing some sort of rhythmic, moderately-paced fist pump for 20 straight minutes.

 

[LemonMelon]

Really, really nice job flowing from dance to hip hop to indie rock. This is a massive step forward for you in terms of flow, Cobbs. The National kind of seemed to be on an island (move them next to Wilco, maybe?), but it's not a dealbreaker.

And you already know I love these songs. Well, except for Chance. I think he's a really poor MC. I was pleasantly surprised by the Something for Kate track, that shit was great.

 

[cobl04]

Thanks man, I really tried to step it up a bit this time out in terms of transitioning between genres. The National probably fit better thematically than musically.

Stoked you enjoyed the SFK track, the guitar is just brilliant.

 

[LemonMelon]

Courtney Barnett was awesome too. This list gets extra points to introducing me to two tracks I really liked.

The ending was a little jumpy, but I liked what you did there overall. The transition into Passion Pit was great. The transition out? Not so much. The transition into Avalanches? Great! The transition out? Not great. But then Immunity into Becalmed was fantastic, so it all works out in the end.

I really enjoyed this list. I could have done with fewer (or shorter) dance tracks, as the list feels a bit top-heavy (if you're going to mix it up, really mix it up, don't tack one list on to another). However, there was not one section I didn't enjoy as a whole. It's you and Padj for my front runners.

 

[LMP]

Cobbler wins for best flow ever, but it reaches a point where that becomes a not-so-good thing. I'm on the Kele track and I can't tell a lot of these songs apart so far. It's great background music while I do some writing, but I couldn't pick a favorite. And holy shit, this is Kele?

It's like an actual DJ set.

Also, "flow" as a descriptor makes my blood boil at this point.

 

[lazarus]

Flow should only be used to describe rappers or menstrual cycles.

 

[LemonMelon]

*wtf?

 

[cobl04]

It's like an actual DJ set.

This is the exact comment I wanted to read for that portion of my list, thank you

Courtney Barnett was awesome too. This list gets extra points to introducing me to two tracks I really liked.

The ending was a little jumpy, but I liked what you did there overall. The transition into Passion Pit was great. The transition out? Not so much. The transition into Avalanches? Great! The transition out? Not great. But then Immunity into Becalmed was fantastic, so it all works out in the end.

I really enjoyed this list. I could have done with fewer (or shorter) dance tracks, as the list feels a bit top-heavy (if you're going to mix it up, really mix it up, don't tack one list on to another). However, there was not one section I didn't enjoy as a whole. It's you and Padj for my front runners.

Thanks a lot man, really. I'm supremely stoked you enjoyed the Barnett and SFK tracks, two of my favourite Aussie artists that I wanted to expose people to, and both are really worth digging into a bit more.

I was pretty damn happy with Immunity/Becalmed.

 

[LMP]

Flow should only be used to describe rappers or menstrual cycles.

Or the state of the spice.

But really though, I'm more taken by the overall vibe or tone of a mix than I am by song-to-song transitions, unless there's a purposeful attempt to match tracks.

 

[lazarus]

Or the state of the spice.

 

[nielsgov]

But really though, I'm more taken by the overall vibe or tone of a mix than I am by song-to-song transitions, unless there's a purposeful attempt to match tracks.

So much this. The transition has to be extremely jarring for me to even notice it in a bad way.