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 Music

 Author:  Topic:  Posted:
Apr 05, 2002
 Comments:
I'll say now that this isn't meant to be a particularly controversial entry, but I thought I may as well make it

I'm somewhat curious to know what Adequacy contributors listen to. To get the ball rolling, I'll give you a list of artists I've been listening to recently:

I await your responses with interest.

diaries

More diaries by budlite
Strange
A request
I'm considering selling my soul
David Beckham



Neat. (none / 0) (#1)
by derek3000 on Fri Apr 5th, 2002 at 02:42:50 PM PST
I'm always willing to share some recommendations.

    Son House
    Hot Snakes
    The Mercury Program
    Boards of Canada
    Bill Frisell
    Old Man Gloom
    Fontanelle
    Faraquet
    The Fucking Champs
    Dillinger Escape Plan


I'm too lazy to post links, sorry.


----------------
"Feel me when I bring it!" --Gay Jamie

Wow (none / 0) (#2)
by budlite on Fri Apr 5th, 2002 at 02:54:48 PM PST
Of all those, the only ones I've heard of before are Boards Of Canada and The Dillinger Escape Plan, and I don't think I've heard any of their tunes. At least not knowingly. Still, I imagine The Fucking Champs will be quite interesting to listen to :)


 
You're my new best friend. (none / 0) (#16)
by Illiterate Bum on Sun Apr 7th, 2002 at 09:37:26 PM PST
Judging from your other musical tastes, I recommend a group called the Icarus Line. A little like the Stooges, a little like the Jesus Lizard, and a little bit like early Drive Like Jehu. Everyone should love the Icarus Line solely for a certain event that happened at this year's SXSW (which I was proud to witness).

As for my personal listening tastes, however, it's all about Godspeed You Black Emperor!, an ensemble that certain self-proclaimed adults could probably enjoy immensely. Silly name, but music written purely for the sake of music... absolutely beautiful.
-----

"...normal, balanced people do not waste time posting to weblogs." --tkatchev

Godspeed (none / 0) (#33)
by derek3000 on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 02:59:21 PM PST
I drove from Philly to Montreal to see Godspeed in their native environment. They played for about 2 1/2 hours and it was magnificent.

I will check out Icarus Line. Thanks.


----------------
"Feel me when I bring it!" --Gay Jamie

 
ooh, oooh! me too! (none / 0) (#35)
by poltroon on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 03:15:19 PM PST
I love Godspeed... It's weird how one comes across this stuff. For me I just happened to hear somebody mention it to somebody else in a record store, so I thought I'd check it out. And now it's one of those few things I listen too all the time.


 
Godspeed as pure music... (none / 0) (#36)
by poltroon on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 03:40:52 PM PST
Godspeed always makes me envision more than either vocal pop music or instrumental music. It's like a creepy movie soundtrack, and the movie starts to play out in your head. It's those collected voice samples that really set the moods, I think. I guess I think of their music as impressionistic. You get this great specific sense of place from it.


Godspeed as impressionistic... (none / 0) (#38)
by Illiterate Bum on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 08:31:51 PM PST
I completely agree. But for me, it has always been more emotional than anything else. I have never heard another group express so many emotions as beautifully as GYBE. The first movement in their last album, Lift Yr. Skinny Fists..., propels the listener from joy, to sorrow, to despair, and back to a simple, optimistic loneliness (if that makes any sense).

It might interest anyone reading this thread to know that Godspeed is actually working on their new album right now, with Steve Albini producing it. I'm not too much of a fan of Steve's production work, but his on-the-fly, one-take, raw sound might actually work nicely with GYBE's music.

Have you ever heard of Low, one of Godspeed's label mates off of Kranky? Their new album, Things We Lost In The Fire, carries with it this great sense of desolation, creating a sparse, empty, but utterly appealing soundscape that manages to evoke almost a nostalgiac feeling (god, I sound like a music critic, don't I?). You might want to check out the single (and one of my personal favorite tracks) Dinosaur Act.

Oh, and I love your paintings.
-----

"...normal, balanced people do not waste time posting to weblogs." --tkatchev

Well said... (none / 0) (#39)
by poltroon on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 09:24:34 PM PST
I think the emotions their music evokes are why I think movie soundtrack - because of the sweeping transitions. It's just like you said, from desolation to optimistic loneliness (what a perfect way to describe it)... Sometimes I think of a western - a lonely person in a vast landscape.

I have their Skinny Fists album, which is great, but I think one of my most favorite parts is the beginning of the one called "f#a#oo", which goes "the car is on fire, and there's no driver at the wheel". They present you with these horrific scenes which somehow seem stunningly beautiful at the same time.

I'm not terribly familiar with Low, but after just now listening to the Dinosaur Act I realize I've heard it several times on the radio. I'll have to check them out.

Oh, and thanks for saying you like the paintings :)


ever listen to (none / 0) (#41)
by nathan on Tue Apr 9th, 2002 at 05:18:59 AM PST
Stockhausen's Gesang der Jünglinge?

Nathan
--
Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

 
Some Stuff (none / 0) (#3)
by gzt on Fri Apr 5th, 2002 at 05:42:34 PM PST
Listenable stuff (not *great*, but fun)...
The White Stripes (simple)
Dan Bern (fun lyrics)
Jimmy Eat World (popular)
Beta Band
Blind Willie McTell

Other stuff (well-known)...
Mingus
Miles Davis
Pat Metheny
Mozart
Beatles

Yes, music is controversial. Your picks make you a heretic and an infidel.


 
CD's lying around by my computer (none / 0) (#4)
by Anonymous Reader on Sat Apr 6th, 2002 at 02:05:30 AM PST
Blur - Parklife and Blur
Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill remaster
The Kinks - Arthur
Royal Trux - Cats and Dogs
Derek and The Dominoes - Layla remaster
Pegboy - Three-Chord Monte
Skrewdriver - this one "greatest hits" CD this guy I know made - a guilty pleasure
The Staple Singers - Best Of
Game Theory - Tinker To Evers To Chance
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Roxy Music - Country Life
Pulp - This is Hardcore
Archers of Loaf - Vee Vee

There's a lot of CD's lying around my computer. It's a mess over here.


AOL rules! {n/t} (none / 0) (#5)
by derek3000 on Sat Apr 6th, 2002 at 10:40:01 AM PST



----------------
"Feel me when I bring it!" --Gay Jamie

That is relevant because... (n/t) (none / 0) (#7)
by budlite on Sat Apr 6th, 2002 at 11:30:06 AM PST



AOL == Archers Of Loaf (none / 0) (#42)
by Anonymous Reader on Tue Apr 9th, 2002 at 08:12:40 AM PST



Oh, I see (n/t) (none / 0) (#47)
by budlite on Tue Apr 9th, 2002 at 11:57:34 AM PST



 
my favorite (none / 0) (#6)
by nathan on Sat Apr 6th, 2002 at 11:07:04 AM PST
Anyone here familiar with the (extremely obscure) Concerto for Harpsichord and Five Instruments (sounds better in Spanish) by Manuel de Falla?

Nathan
--
Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

No, but the title piques my interest (none / 0) (#10)
by gzt on Sun Apr 7th, 2002 at 01:17:48 PM PST
I'll have to find it somewhere.

Dude, I just came from a friend's recital. There was this one rather interesting marimba piece called, "Mexican Dance #2" by Gordan Stout. Formidable. The past 50 years, percussion music has improved so much...


Instrumental music sux. (none / 0) (#11)
by tkatchev on Sun Apr 7th, 2002 at 01:37:18 PM PST
Really, it does. Don't fool yourself.


--
Peace and much love...




J.S.Bach sux? (none / 0) (#12)
by The Mad Scientist on Sun Apr 7th, 2002 at 03:54:51 PM PST
Phil Glass sux? Ican'trememberthenamebuthisorganmusicrocks sucks too?

Instrumental music *can* suck, like everything. However, there are indices that suggest it isn't so in way too many cases.


Yes. (none / 0) (#18)
by tkatchev on Sun Apr 7th, 2002 at 11:51:11 PM PST
It's pointless. I mean, unlike words or pictures it doesn't actually describe anything. Just rhythmic noise...


--
Peace and much love...




philistine. (none / 0) (#19)
by nathan on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 06:38:35 AM PST
That's like saying that a Kandinsky is meaningless because it's not a picture of some physical object.

Nathan
--
Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

Kandinsky is the epitome of sux. (none / 0) (#21)
by tkatchev on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 07:46:52 AM PST
Kandinsky is useful ONLY in a historical context. His work has absolutely no artisitic or historical value. Basically, the people he drank with fooled around and tried to bring abstract art to its logical, absurd conclusion. It's a cute prank, and makes a somewhat valid point, but absolutely lacks artistic or aesthetic value.

View it as an art-world crapflood.


--
Peace and much love...




hmmm. (none / 0) (#22)
by nathan on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 08:26:30 AM PST
Please support your argument.

Nathan
--
Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

The evidence is the context. (none / 0) (#26)
by tkatchev on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 10:26:21 AM PST
You have to realize that Russian art is meaningless without the spiritual and political context surrounding it. No work of art stands on its own -- all can be classified according to the world-view of the artist that made it. Moreover, all artists belong to a group that shares common beliefs on art and life in general.

In Kandinsky's case, his group was involved very heavily in abstract "modernist" art. The idea was to create something that could serve as a religious / spiritual icon in a wholly atheistic and materialistic world.

The famous "Black Square" is the logical conclusion of that idea, drawn out to its utmost absurdity.


--
Peace and much love...




Neato! (none / 0) (#30)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 11:29:24 AM PST
I've been wondering for a while whether prehistoric cave paintings could be considered "art."

Having someone around willing to stand up and utter a decisive "no" would be at least amusing, though ultimately unenlightening, I suspect.


 
Anyone for Yoko (none / 0) (#34)
by walwyn on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 03:13:52 PM PST
No work of art stands on its own -- all can be classified according to the world-view of the artist that made it. Moreover, all artists belong to a group that shares common beliefs on art and life in general.

I gather your with Stockhausen here.


 
that may have been the idea later... (none / 0) (#45)
by nathan on Tue Apr 9th, 2002 at 11:09:35 AM PST
But that's not how Kandinsky came to create the idea of abstract art in the first place. However he explained it after the fact, it was an amazing aesthetic leap. You have as yet said nothing to invalidate the aesthetic and, therefore, the possible social consequences of abstract art.

Nathan
--
Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

Uh. (none / 0) (#46)
by tkatchev on Tue Apr 9th, 2002 at 11:41:13 AM PST
You are wrong. Here, I'll explain how the creative process works:

You meet with friends, you get drunk and you start making stupid jokes. (In your addled state almost anything is funny if you're in a good mood.) Being an artist and all, you decide to draw something "shocking", but also something that doesn't require much effort of skill. (See the above point about the your addled state of mind.) A short intellectual leap later, you draw a black square and declare it an "atheist icon". (Ha ha, get it?) When your drinking friends in the art circle decide to organize an exhibition, they hang your black square on the wall, since they are your buddies and all and they thought your prank was cute at the time.

That's how the art world works; I see nothing wrong with that. They are only doing their job, after all; it is not the artist's fault that ignorant art snobs wildly misinterpret everything that flies their way. (Especially for art that wasn't meant to be anything more than an "inside joke" for the artist's guild in the first place.)




--
Peace and much love...




listen, you (none / 0) (#48)
by nathan on Tue Apr 9th, 2002 at 12:10:03 PM PST
Are you actually familiar with Kandinsky's personal discovery of the idea of abstraction in art? Hint: he didn't think it up in a bar.

Getting back to the original point. I'm going to quote derek3000 quoting Kierkegaard:
"If it were true, as a conceited cleverness believes, proud of not being imposed upon, that one should believe nothing that one does not see with the sensual eye, then must one first and foremost cease to believe in love."
I'm going to argue that, if we disbelieve in the meaning of some utterance that is unable (and does not aim to) to describe concretely and precisely, we disbelieve in inchoate, but achingly sincere, words of love.

Nathan
--
Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

WTF, nathan? (none / 0) (#49)
by tkatchev on Tue Apr 9th, 2002 at 12:42:38 PM PST
I'm talking about the aesthetics of art, not about semantics here!

I don't see how you go from the discussion of the quality of Kandinsky's work to the discussion of the concept of abstraction.

I'm not arguing against abstractions, I'm arguing about the particular methods used in Kandinsky's most famous works.

P.S. My original point about instrumental music was a value judgement. In my opinion, the "signal-to-noise" ratio of instrumental music is way too low; too many useless motions are needed to get any sort of point across. But then again, I'm culturally biased.


--
Peace and much love...




sorry (none / 0) (#50)
by nathan on Tue Apr 9th, 2002 at 07:11:29 PM PST
By bringing up Kandinsky, I was trying to make the point that abstraction is possible in art, as a justification for instrumental music.

I think we were talking at cross purposes. I'm sorry for getting hot about it.

Nathan
--
Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

 
Decadence (5.00 / 1) (#23)
by walwyn on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 08:27:16 AM PST
tkatchev like most Russians likes his Art realistic.


Laugh all you want... (none / 0) (#27)
by tkatchev on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 10:28:31 AM PST
...but Soviet "soc-realism" had some very impressive impressionist art.

Most of it was bunk, of course.


--
Peace and much love...




Eh! (none / 0) (#31)
by walwyn on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 11:39:34 AM PST
Biscuit barrels for the masses.


 
Who defines... (none / 0) (#24)
by The Mad Scientist on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 09:25:33 AM PST
...the "artistic" and "aesthetic" value?

Any objective criteria, please?


Objective criteria. (none / 0) (#28)
by tkatchev on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 10:29:45 AM PST
Please give me objective criteria why I should pay any attention to your stupid opinions in the first place, OK?


--
Peace and much love...




 
Wrong. (none / 0) (#25)
by jvance on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 09:54:49 AM PST
While Kandinsky did both literally and figuratively suck, much like his brethren at the Bauhaus, he was not the "epitome of sux." That honor is reserved for Piet Mondrian, and if you weren't so wrapped up in your typical Russian over-compensating cultural supremacy posturing, you'd recognize that.
--
Adequacy has turned into a cesspool consisting of ... blubbering, superstitious fools arguing with smug, pseudointellectual assholes. -AR

Oh. (5.00 / 1) (#29)
by tkatchev on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 10:31:40 AM PST
Sorry for not keeping up on the latest trends in provincial "art".


--
Peace and much love...




 
Except "Ma Vlast" and "Hergest Ridg (none / 0) (#20)
by because it isnt on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 06:58:27 AM PST

adequacy.org -- because it isn't

 
Poppycock! (none / 0) (#37)
by gzt on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 07:21:50 PM PST
In certain cultural contexts, instrumental music can be quite descriptive. It's just that, for example, music is better at describing an emotion or a sensation than a specific image or scene.


Historical context (5.00 / 1) (#40)
by walwyn on Tue Apr 9th, 2002 at 12:45:43 AM PST
music is better at describing an emotion or a sensation than a specific image or scene.

That is why tkatchev dislikes music without words: it is more subversive and much harder to censor.


Yeah. (none / 0) (#43)
by tkatchev on Tue Apr 9th, 2002 at 10:28:34 AM PST
'Cause I'm a Nazi and I don't agree with you.

Sieg Heil, or something.


--
Peace and much love...




Don't play dumb, tkatchev. (none / 0) (#44)
by because it isnt on Tue Apr 9th, 2002 at 10:36:07 AM PST
As we all know, you don't have to be a National Socialist to stoop to censorship.
adequacy.org -- because it isn't

 
Not to mention... (none / 0) (#13)
by walwyn on Sun Apr 7th, 2002 at 04:14:48 PM PST
...that only music that is accompanied by a video is worth anything too.

If the words can't express in pictures then it ain't worth a thing.


 
you wouldn't say that (none / 0) (#14)
by nathan on Sun Apr 7th, 2002 at 04:25:44 PM PST
If you knew Falla's magnificent, solemn, profound Concerto per clavicembalo.

What do you have against instrumental music? Is it liberalist?

Nathan
--
Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

 
Im listening to the following (none / 0) (#8)
by Anonymous Reader on Sat Apr 6th, 2002 at 11:31:24 AM PST
Led Zeppelin 1,11,111,1V
Haircut 100 Pelican West
Dr Dre The Chronic 2001
Daft Punk Discovery
Kylie Minogue Fever
Rainbow Down To Earth
Sleeper Pleased to Meet you
Gary Numan Greatest Hits
Paris The Devil Made me do it



 
White Jam (none / 0) (#9)
by walwyn on Sat Apr 6th, 2002 at 06:32:13 PM PST
Captain Beefheart
Soft Machine
Jan Garbarek
Howlin Wolf
Thomas Tallis
ECM Catalogue
Leon Rosselson
Loudon WainwrightFrank Zappa
Kevin Ayers




 
The Soldiers of Allah (none / 0) (#15)
by Anonymous Reader on Sun Apr 7th, 2002 at 05:06:10 PM PST
Have a new The Soliders of Allah have a new album out.

They kuffar are celebrating, thinking they are defeating Islam but they can NEVER STOP ISLAM! I


 
bah, gringo stuff (none / 0) (#17)
by Anonymous Reader on Sun Apr 7th, 2002 at 09:38:01 PM PST
Recent buys: Trio Mocot�, Nha Mita Pereira, Carlos Vives, Sam Mangwana, Angel Viloria, Chico C�sar, Boukman Eksperyans, Willie Col�n, etc.


 
Items currently in my playlist: (none / 0) (#32)
by freshgroundpepper on Mon Apr 8th, 2002 at 02:56:38 PM PST
Lovage
Mr. Bungle
Afro Celt Sound System
The Ananda Project
Silver Mt. Zion
Mum
Soul Coughing
DJ Tiesto
BT



 

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