"What are you listening to?" Thread

[DrJonAngus]

I truly apologize for the extremely lengthy nature of this post. I've noticed a lack of a music based thread, so I figured I'd start one where we can all talk about music.
Right now, I'm listening to a lot of U.K., King Crimson, Frank Zappa, and Hiromi Uehara. For now, I'll just discuss the band U.k. since not many people are aware of this band.

U.K. is a late 1970s progressive rock band consisting of John Wetton on bass (from Asia, Roxy Music, King Crimson), Allan Holdsworth on guitar (from Soft Machine, Bruford, Tony Williams Life Time, solo work, and a lot of professional work with other musicians), Bill Bruford on drums (from Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Bruford, Earthworks), and Eddie Jobson on keyboards and electric violin (from Roxy Music, a very brief run with Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull, Curved Air, UKZ, and solo work). To me, this band is a culmination of some of the best musicians on Earth. The one problem is that U.K.'s life span was short lived and their best work, consequently their work with a guitarist, can only be found on their self titled album U.K. and various live recordings floating around on Youtube. Two other problems are this band may not appeal to a lot of people because it is very instrumental/keyboard heavy in a large portion of songs and the vocals are a bit iffy with many people due to John Wetton's leaden voice. Anyways, the positives of this band:

1. The bass/guitar/keyboard all fall together to sound really cool
2. John Wetton has, in my opinion, the best damn bass tone out there and really tears it up
3. The drummer Bill Bruford is a technical genius when it comes to drums and really adds to the progressive rock style music
4. Eddie Jobson happens to not only be insanely good at playing the keyboard, but he is also a God on the electric violin. The keyboard and violin playing really add to the music and give it a unique feel.
5. The band has fucking Allan Holdsworth! This man is just a God among guitar players! He is very technically skilled and is cited as an influence to various guitarists, such as Eddie Van Halen. The way his notes come out in the songs can be simply stated as they occur in very quick flowing streams like on a saxophone, which is what he decided to go for in playing guitar.
6. They are especially tight in their live audio recordings and improvise, which leads into some great music

I can basically sum up this band as a brief experiment among many talented musicians that lead into something pretty interesting. I highly recommend them as they are one of my favorite bands and may appeal to some of. All of their songs are available for a listen on Youtube, but I highly recommend the instrumental called Forever Until Sunday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62n1KORX ... re=related

[DR EGG]

It's a total guilty pleasure, but I hope someone reading this gets as much joy out of it as I have. I've been listening alot to 'bubblegum dance', a genre that blew up overnight (in Europe), was featured in the early DDR games, and quickly winked out of existence in a span of 3-5 years. It's like Europop and Bubblegum Pop had an extremely cute baby, which fell down some stairs and died when it was only 5 years old. It existed around the late 90s and the best bands are broken up or dead.

Best examples of the genre - The Sailor Song or Cartoon Heroes.

[Jakanden]

My gym/workout playlist consists of (on Random): Testament, Five Finger Death Punch, Brutal Legend OST, Sepultura, Fear Factory and Amon Amarth.

Outside of the gym I don't really listen to any music as I am either listening to a podcast or an audiobook.

[DrJonAngus]

It's a total guilty pleasure, but I hope someone reading this gets as much joy out of it as I have. I've been listening alot to 'bubblegum dance', a genre that blew up overnight (in Europe), was featured in the early DDR games, and quickly winked out of existence in a span of 3-5 years. It's like Europop and Bubblegum Pop had an extremely cute baby, which fell down some stairs and died when it was only 5 years old. It existed around the late 90s and the best bands are broken up or dead.

Best examples of the genre - The Sailor Song or Cartoon Heroes.

DOES NOT COMPUTE I listened to that one Cartoon Heroes song and though "Holy crap, are those the people that do Barbie Girl?!" You also reminded of what could be considered Euro techno during the early 90s. I liked the band the Shamen in particular because some of their music sounded like the music from Streets of Rage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Mzr_A-Q0I
With music, I always hope there is somebody out there who enjoys the same stuff as me though. I like tons of 70s rock/progressive rock that most people seem to know nothing about. I guarantee somebody here likes Europop/ Bubblegum pop though.

[bokista]

It's finals time, which means I need some studying music. Recently it has been:

Chrono Cross Soundtrack
Halo 3 ODST Soundtrack
Christmas NiGHTS Soundtrack (to get in the holiday spirit)
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden (a must listen)

On the non-studying side:

Wale - Attention Deficit
Miike Snow - Miike Snow
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Tell 'Em What Your Name Is

[DR EGG]

Wow, you can really hear some of the tracks from Streets of Rage in The Shamen's songs! I can't find an exact match, but it sounds extremely similar. "Move Any Mountain" to Opening Theme (:10 in)

[Jakanden]

Well on that subject: http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3177237

[Juese]

Thank god they put the Rick Ashley song on there. That drives me nuts every time.

Yeah Zappa!

Been pretty metal-icious lately. Brutal Legend, Devil Survivor, the new Dethklok album have been in steady rotation. Also finally re-got the Six-String Samurai soundtrack. Still fantastic, still reminds me of wheelchair races in the undisclosed location.

[DrJonAngus]

Yeah Zappa!

It's pretty cool, there is a science teacher at my high school who is a giant Zappa fan. My friend introduced me to the teacher and he offered to burn me a copy of all his Zappa CDs. Zappa is genius!

[Alula]

Also amidst finals, so music is important.

My favorites to listen to right now...

System of a Down
Dethklok
Metallica
Pantera
A Pandora station I made off of Clutch
Annnnnnd Eric Hutchinson (one of these things is not like the others....)

I especially enjoy System of a Down because when I need a study break I can just stop and really listen to the lyrics. They make me smile.

[4]

i've been going back to my two personal favorite bands Godspeed You Black Emperor and Wolf Eyes.

if you have the time, i couldn't recommend Godspeed's album Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven more. my favorite album of all time, and four tracks of absolute perfection. the first half is a great build up to the spine tingling and powerful climax that the second half provides. and it all ends on such a hauntingly beautiful note. the third track Sleep is definitely noteworthy, and i'm uploading it now. it's a fairly lengthy song, but more than worth the journey if you have the time to sit and become immersed in it. i uploaded it here.

Wolf Eyes on the other hand is just sheer unadulterated noise. an experience unlike any other live that just can't be replicated at home. if you're a fan of the hard stuff(and i do see a couple metal bands being mentioned), give them a whirl. don't expect any type of melody though. an example awaits the brave here.

[shadowdancer21b]

I have recently discovered a metal band called "Masterplan". I quite like them. Very high-energy stuff.

[It's Raining Ben!]

I've been unable to listen to music at work the last couple weeks, but when I do...
Arcade Fire
Metric
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Good, The Bad and The Queen
Belle and Sebastian
Blonde Redhead
MGMT
Rattatat
Modest Mouse
Peter Bjorn and John
Thr Grammar Club

My workout music is limited to a few songs from Daft Punk and The Flobots

[Captain Celaeno]

I listen to alot of different stuff. But, the more recent listens are,

Florence and the Machine
The Ting Tings
Vast (latest album)
Midnight Juggernauts
Arcade Fire
and some Aquabats

[King wiL]

My gym/workout playlist consists of (on Random): Testament, Five Finger Death Punch, Brutal Legend OST, Sepultura, Fear Factory and Amon Amarth.

Outside of the gym I don't really listen to any music as I am either listening to a podcast or an audiobook.

Nice. thats a pretty sweet list

My listening is mainly consisting of:
Lamb of God - my favourite band, cant stop listening to the latest album "Wrath" it's great
DevilDriver - pretty much everything by them is awesome. not really listened to much of "Pray For Villains" yet.
Down, Clutch, Led Zeppelin and the Persona 4 OST lol.

but i generally listen to the various Podcasts i get when i'm out and about and then just hit shuffle when i want music. then constantly skip till i hear a song i feel like listening to.