q: what are you listening to?

i need some new stuff.

lately I’ve been having a hard time getting excited by music, new or old. I’ll put on something I haven’t heard before & think to myself, ‘this is really good.’ but I’m left with a feeling of oppressive blahness that I can’t shake off no matter how much I’m digging the music on an aesthetic level. I may as well be listening to Train’s “Drops of Jupiter” for all the thrill I’m getting from it all. eh, I’ll snap out of it soon enough.

that said, Tom Zé’s Danç-Êh-Sá album (the studio version, not the later live album) is a heartbreaking work of staggering dopeness.

YouTube Video

Open

all i am hearing these days is public radio podcasts. i feel like my parents or something.

i never listen to anything anymore. i need new speakersssss

what happened to your magical speakers, harble?

i threw them out when i moved. 7 years is long enough! i wanna get some real good ones but i gotta wait until i start making some real good money

Play

Barbara Morgenstern

43

2 Play

Otis Redding

21

3 Play

Carla Thomas

19

4 Play

Booker T. & The MG’s

18

5 Play

Project Pat

17

6

WFMU and Trouble

16

7 Play

William Bell

14

8 Play

The Staple Singers

13

8 Play

Jorge Ben

13

10 Play

Rufus Thomas

i guess that means i listen to mostly

stax singles

project pat <3333333

wfmu

barbara morgenstern

i have some speakers (computer ones, not good music ones) but i haven’t unpacked them bc i don’t have a desk/table on which to put them

i suppose i should use a box as a speaker stand bc these laptop speakers are oh so queit!

i have been listening to paul simon, maxwell, sorcerer, linda lewis, talk talk and mungolian jetset

tbh i dont really even know what kind of music you like tza except like opera i guess

i never listen to new music anymore ever

Gogol Bordello is a huge fav of mine right now—so insanely raucous! but I spent lots of last week listening to various sopranos singing Purcell’s When I am Laid in Earth (aka Dido’s Lament), which led me to the East Village Opera Company and their rave-y disco popera versions.

i hope they were actually mezzos singing it bc it is one of the best mezzo/alto arias and i hate hate hate it when sopranos try to steal good mezzo rep (they have enough leading shit of their own!). one of my favorite dido recordings is the first one i ever heard, by boston baroque. period instruments yeah. evoc makes me lol.

max, i don’t even know what i like anymore.

I’m not sure—they sounded awfully soprano-y (Shannon Mercer for one, I think she’s def soprano). R has a vinyl recording of Janet Baker though and that is awesome.

I was also listening to mad amounts of Ewa Podles (fab Polish contralto who sang Julius Caesar here 2(?) years ago)—all these German lieder. And large quantities of horn concertos for possible inspiration—didn’t quite work, v. depressing to hear all that facile grace and solid centered tone and know you are just going to blat and gasp and split and waver all over the map.

been thinking baout this question a lot. i’ve been listening to new stuff nonstop the whole year. all the old stuff i’ve been downloading i’ve been putting into a future file called Next Adventure Songs. that’s where the brazilian and the african and the old rock songs and sublime frequencies go, for now. when i’ve got the time to explore, not long now.

there have been lots of great recent songs. i never know anything about who’s behind the songs though. just love them and play them. last.fm does a good job keeping track of this:

Kyle Hall – I<3 Dr. Girl Friend, Osborne – Fire, Polly Scattergood – Please Don’t Touch (The Golden Filter Dub), Sofrito Specials presents – African Disco Power (Sofrito Edit), The Detroit Experiment – Think Twice (Henrik Schwarz Remix), Matt Hughes – Can’t Talk Now, Burial & Four Tet – Moth, Allure – Champagne, Hess Is More – Yes Boss (Pocketknife Remix), Downtown Party Network – Days like these

it goes on and on. there’s a lot of sorting and sifting done but seriously these and 50 more are songs of the year, top 1%.

good full length albums are so much harder to come by. keeping it together for an hour, staying interesting, is a tough go for me. here though:

Céu—Vagarosa

YouTube Video

Open

it’s in the bebel gilberto pantheon so there’s some cheese involved but it has a place, sweet smooth brazilian.

Moritz van Oswald—Vertical Ascent

it’s very very beautiful, this record. pattern 1–4. pure mood. it’s worth knowing that they come from the world of dub techno but that’s a starting point. it expands and contracts like a balloon.

YouTube Video

Open

Andres—II

funky and short

Sylvain Chauveau—Touching Down Lightly

modern classical? i guess that’s what u call it. sad grey morning music.

been listening to primal scream some. and la roux. she’s my guilty pleasure.

mostly though, it’s been a lot of dj mixes. since i feel like i’ve fallen behind picking out new songs for DJing, i’ve been turning on mixes and letting them go. there’s so much great stuff out there but it’s hard to recommend. i’ve been loving mixes 108–115 bpm. slow is where you gotta go. real songs. the odd old sweetie.

the list doesn’t make that much sense to me either. who the hell are these people? i know like 1/3 of them? but they are laying it down. i am happy to up the best of these if any1 is interested.

the danger with dj sets as i’m reminded listening now is that you’ll get the odd enya remix thrown down.

somebody’s playing ‘Summertime’ on a french horn, up the shore. that’s what i’m into.

WOAH

maybe i will wade through some of that tomorrow! would be happy to listen to things u up, too!

this is a mix i dlded bc someone recommended it and i am quite happy with it but i don’t really know what it is: http://www.littlewhiteearbuds.com/lwe-podcast-23-aki-latvamaki/

here is another mix someone recommended for the gym: http://www.sundtrak.com/2008/05/moulinex-libere-la-femme-vol-ii.html

it was ok. not amazing. but ok.

my last.fm right now reveals how lame i have been with listening lately :(

in may/june i think i listened to buckingham nicks like 30 times.

also jaq, ewq podles is awesome!

last night i got nostalgic and listened to

YouTube Video

Open

and some other stuff i used to play/sing.

with my list i’d start with the albums. (there’s always this line of thought i have to follow, i’m sure we all do: do i post stuff that i am into or what other people might like? how much of each?)

i like this song today

YouTube Video

Open

skip to 1:30

YouTube Video

Open

i listened to touching down lightly. i really liked it, especially how the gaps between ‘touchdowns’ seemed timed so perfectly as though they were meant to embrace and incorporate the sound of a passing bus or hum of a ceiling fan into the music. i would be interested to read about the harmonic structure and time theory (for lack of a better term) behind its composition. it made me feel wistful and heartachey, a sort of visceral experience. i like the idea of being strongly affected by music but i also feel a bit uneasy and emotional now. perhaps this is a good thing.

there was a feeling of suspension, but also a hyper-awareness of the senses, especially aural and tactile. how do they do that?

it’s because nothing resolves. and you lose what you think the resolution is supposed to be while you wait and experience the gaps.

metaphor for life?

i need things to listen to

actual good music tbh:

YouTube Video

Open

(ignore the dumb irrelevant slideshow if you can help it)

my favorite podcasts: a list

fresh air

wait, wait... don’t tell me!

real time

all songs considered

nyt music popcast

downtown soulville

radio lab

mudd up

npr pop culture

npr driveway moments

the moth podcast

this american life

downtown soulville

<3

I never actually bother to, er, podcast a podcast. I just stream ’em online while I’m surfing the net & don’t download them for the car ride or anything. NPR’s Science Friday is good for this.

yes i am a downtown soulville subscriber already!!!!!

my other favorite wfmu shows are this is the modern world with trouble and give the drummer some but i haven’t listened to them much lately.

i do not know those!

i love podcasts because i spend a lot of time walking around or on the bus. in ny i had a 40ish min commute, and before that an hour commute each way, so they came in super handy. rip bryant park project!!! <3

i wanted a good cooking podcast but the splendid table lady made me want to track her down and shove a stick of butter up her nose she was so awful. do you know any good ones?

oh yeah neither of those come in podcasts but they are on 9–12 EST on thurs and fri respectively. i usually end up listening to them when they’re archived though.

i do not know about cooking podcasts

oh yeah i used to also listen to stochastic hit parade sunday nights but i became angry when the dj played beirut several shows in a row (it’s mostly contemp. classical). and i sometimes listen to reggae schoolroom on sunday mornings but i can only take so much reggae

more like reg gay

ray gay

hi here are a couple of DJ sets. very accesible fun disco and pop

Classixx on kcrw

Greg Wilson - ETA 1 Under The West Way

thanks, dude. are either of them good for a jog?

if u a slow jogger, yeah

txs jergins! I’m downloading the first mix now & trust that it’ll be

. are these your own sets or someone else’s?

i downloaded this morning but i didn’t listen yet!

i am a pretty slow jogger (lolnoob) so maybe they will work—also one of them started playing upon download completion and i thought i heard strawberry letter 23 mix so <3 <3 <3

I heard Yacht about 5 minutes into the first mix so double <3 <3 <3

jergins has the WORST taste in music mostly horrible, gay, homo, house, music

Q: What are you listening to?

A: Carole King.

Q. How come I’m such a whitebread yuppified babybooming motherfucker lately?

A. Not even jergins can help me now.

A. Not even jergins

A. Not even jergins

A. Not even jergins

A. Not even jergins

A. Not even jergins

A. Not even jergins

A. Not even jergins

A. Not even jergins

can chan marshall help? has she done a carole king cover yet? it could be a transitioning thing for u.

unreg is my guy

jergins..., I know.

so it that Cat Power covers album any good?

get a room u 2

the first one is pretty good. the second one is iffy at best.

yeah. ijust put moon pix and what would the community think on the bigpod. it’s been a while but i’m looking fwd to hearing them again

uh oh, now i’m gonna go on a cat power binge. this could be dangerous!

iirc “nude as the news” is one of my favorites of all time. i don’t know why. i’m not a huge cat power fan to begin with.

listening to it for jergins right now

i still have a flame gun

for the cute, cute, cute ones

aw

i thought of this thread just now because i watched “it felt like a kiss” by adam curtis and it briefly mentions “he hit me (it felt like a kiss)” (written by carole king)

it’s rare i can drop an early 60s song on lxy that she doesn’t know; this one gave her a case of the WTFs the other day

oh hai listened to the céu bubuia and <3 <3 <3 now listening to whatever is up on last.fm. good call, jergs!

I’m not the type to go on Cat Power binges, but I just listened to ‘Bathysphere’ by Pram right after listening to “Bathysphere” by Cat Power, and I damn near had a mystical experience throughout. both tracks came out in 1998 too — eeeerie!

have you heard bathysphere by smog?

nosir. will it freak me out?

it just might.

myra lee <3

btw unreg did you listen to bathyspere bc if not pls do asap thankig u

I did! I like the even-handed duality of the low and high ends, with the tuba and low harmony vocals combining to form the low end, and the guitar and high harmony vocals filling in the high notes. neither of the vocal tracks is obviously set up as the lead vocal (they’re mixed at about the same level/volume), so you can mentally follow one or the other each time you listen to the song. Cat Power’s version is less complex harmonically, so it’s more sonically & emotionally direct to my ears. I’m no muso, so I’m not sure if I explained that too well. great song though.

forgot how much i love downtown soulville, it is a lot

i just remembered last year on my birthday i had wanted to request a song on downtown soulville but you have to do it way ahead of time. this year i want to do it and i don’t know what to request that isn’t totally gay. can anyone help?

the california raisins song

you make me feel (like a natural woman)

i wonder if mr finewine look intersting

he looks like a nice guy.

yeah he seems like a nice guy. i might ask him to play trouble child again but he played it on january 2, 2009.

too soon

well 2 weeks ago he played something he played on that same show. i think that’s a sign.

stroking ur goatee, requesting ur song

i think he might do it! he seems to be open to playing whatever the hell he wants whenever the hell he wants (like his whole ‘guess what you might not think it’s soul but i do and it’s my show HAH’ thing).

new flaming lips! it is great so far (like 2 songs in)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113403123

i’ve been obsessed with the best show on wfmu lately.

today on shuffle as we drove through the mountains a reggae version of country roads came on and we sang along. it was a moment.

LOOOVE Podcasts. they are the only thing i can add to IPHONE on the go w/o plugging in. max have u checked the ben manzone podcast series? i D/Ld them but haven’t yet.

i don’t think i have heard that show in a long time. downtown soulville has podcasts though!

harbl did you make a request? when is your birthday?

jergins, i LOVVVVVVE podcasts, too!!!

i know i’m an npr whore but this is a pretty good set:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113499115

and includes the awesome hazlewood/sinatra ‘some velvet morning’!!!

my bday is the 29th. i think that’s a thursday so ds would be the 30th. i didn’t make request yet!

oops i forgot to make a request

anyway, A: ghostdini wizard of poetry ^_^

is it too late now? do it anyway!

i still don’t know what i want

good ted talk

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html

it made me dream about playing. i think i will play today.

this week’s search engine podcast is worth a listen. ignore the crappy title (the blogfather part II) and enjoy. i love mysteries

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/33619

accidentally started listening to accidental christmas mix

oops!

it just kind of happened!

listened to a bunch of foreigner this week lol

i listen to dancehall all the time everywhere but not by choice. same

6–7 songs over n over

i am listening to miley cyrus

again not by choice

A. Not even jergins can help me now.
A. Not even jergins
A. Not even jergins
A. Not even jergins
A. Not even jergins
A. Not even jergins
A. Not even jergins
A. Not even jergins
A. Not even jergins

New Tokyo Jihen mini-album coming soon:

http://forums.electricmole.net/showthread.php?t=1824

Hopefully it won’t be as disappointing as, ah, the last three albums they put out. Much debate about the “color bar” TV theme. (Does this mean they are going on hiatus?)

I like how this thread was turned into something more legitimate than when I started it. Feel free to also discuss what you are listening to, but then there are already some active threads for that.

Apropos: I moved into a new apartment this summer, with a little more noise insulation from my neighbors (and nobody above or below me). I expected to go through at least big chunks of my CD collection that I hadn’t been listening to, but that hasn’t happened. In fact, I find myself looking at big chunks of it and wondering why I even have it. Maybe there is wisdom in having very impermanent copies of things. It’s not as though I have the money to keep my CDs freshly reflecting what I actually currently like and care about.

Still really liking this Kimbra album. A lot of the time I like the sound of her lyrics as sound. Also, I imagine this will be laughed at by the really experts on what can be done in a studio, but I think the production keeps things interesting. Least favorite track is probably “Plain Gold Ring.” I don’t know the Nina Simone version, but Kimbra probably shouldn’t try being Nina Simone, even for a song.

I can sort of see why people find Kimbra boring, and yet, I’m not sure I feel defensive about it. (What, if anything, am I saying?) Also, I think she has a good sense of rhythm in her delivery, for this type of music.

She’s going to be working with these big commercial producers for her next album aimed at a U.S. audience, and I will never like anything she does again.

Anyway Shiina Ringo. This is kind of Shiina Ringo doing Shiina Ringo again, thank goodness:

YouTube Video

Open

Still haven’t managed to hear the third song from this EP in full, which means I have been lazy.

It’s another ornate mid-tempo big band track. Primary rhythm instrument is banjo.

Karen Stackpole with Die Elektrischen—Machine Shop

Perfume—JPN

Roedelius Plays Piano—Live 1985

Biber—Violin Sonatas / Sonata Representiva (Romanesca)

Jean C. Roche—Songs Through The Seasons

Louis & Bebe Barron—Bells of Atlantis

Roberto De Simone—“Secondo Coro Delle Lavandale”

Ranta / Lewis / Plank—Mu