This doesn’t “belong” on the blog, but The Darjeeling Limited‘s soundtrack had reminded me of a couple of great Kinks songs, and I spent some few months if they would ever release those tracks on iTunes (rather than forcing me to buy the whole album) or if the Kinks catalog would ever free up. Yesterday I gave up, and downloaded the whole old album: Part One Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround. And goddamn it is a great, great album, every song a wonder.
What have you been listening to?
If you had an eMusic account ($9.99 a month for 30 free downloads), you would have paid far less for the soundtrack. Interestingly, I’ve been listening to The Kinks for the play I’m directing (particularly “Dedicated Follower of Fashion”). The new R.E.M. album is quite good. The new Mountaing Goats disc is also good. I’ve also been listening to old Heaven 17, new Bon Iver, new Magnetic Fields, new Destroyer, Kate Nash, The Racontuers, The Teenagers, Vampire Weekend, Black Mountain, the soundtrack to There Will Be Blood, new Radiohead and other stuff.
I had forgotten about eMusic. (I got the Kinks for free anyway, but I should still check that out.)
Vampire Weekend, the Heavy, She and Him, some of the new Gnarls Barkley, much of the new REM, ELO’s “Do Ya,” School of Language, Heavy Trash, Ben Folds’ “There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You,” Louis XIV.
I really like Vampire Weekend. nice record. Long live “rock is dead.”
Gutter Twins, which is Greg Dulli (Who’s been on a roll of good albums) and Mark Lanegan Who’s been on a roll of good collaborations)
The Wombats are ok. Dreamers by John Zorn is quite nice and listenable. I also like the Darjeeling OST, particularly one of the S. Ray title tracks, which I think he also composed.
I acquire a LOT of music, and don’t always process it properly, so I get a bit lost, but when I get home, I”ll mention a few other records I’ve liked lately.
Also: My short take on the Stones/ Scorsese movie:
http://blogs.laweekly.com/play/rolling-stones-scorsese-and-bl/
My longer take is that there’s no excuse for Scorsese shooting this thing like he did, as if it was going to play on TV instead on a huge IMAX screen. It makes zero sense. Instead of trusting our own eyes to race around the screen following Jagger and Woody and the background singers, we’re forced to look at the fillings in Mick’s teeth. Scorsese wants to be a collaborator with the Stones on stage instead of a documentarian. It’s a strangely obvious failure, as is the first full half hour where he pretends the Stones are still “dangerous and unpredictable” b/c they won’t give him a set list, and the terrible use of old footage played solely for cheap laughs that give nothing of interest or are in the least bit insightful.
ugh.
I just lost a long comment about the stones/scorsese movie.
I blame arnab.
you didn’t lose that comment, mark–the anti-spam plugin flagged it! it’s back now.
Wow. Nice save!
This thread reminded me of a question, or really a hunch, that occasionally suggests itself to me. Are musical tastes more subject to age cohort effects than movie tastes? In other words, are people of different ages as likely to enjoy the same music as they are to enjoy the same movies?
Of course, any answer will be a generalization, and some of us are hipper than others. But it always strikes me that I can talk easily, using seemingly shared categories and values, about movie choices with anyone from college students (or before) to my retired parents, but that musical tastes seem to be much more segmented. Perhaps it is the delivery system — different age groups get their music in different ways, from different sources, while most of us still go to the multiplex — but I have hunch there is something deeper to it than that.
Or maybe this is just a roundabout way of avoiding having to own up that I’m currently listening to old Pet Shop Boys.
Are you also wearing your Members Only jacket?
I think you partly and smartly answered your own question in para 2.
Other potential factors:
–Radio niche marketing coupled with radio and music industry conglomeration/condensation. On the one hand, you can gravitate toward a station that fits your tastes (and hear nothing but); on the other hand, the dial seems smaller and smaller, dominated by the Clear Channels. It’s hard (unless you’re lucky enough to have a college or, as here, a great NPR station) to hear different things, new things, non-mainstream things.
–That’s probably true with films, as well, but television (and supercable) busted open access to some variety, then video opened further, and with the rise of Netflix it seems our access to a great variety of films is greater than ever. Even my dad and mom, simply surfing around, might come upon and experiment with a strange book or movie. I would argue that Amazon and online access has done similar things to book-buying, allowing at least the possibility of access to a far greater range than the big-chain stores ever used to offer.
–Why hasn’t mp3 access done the same to music? Or Amazon, even? It’s gotta be at least in part the answer you gave: how we access. It might also be a testable empirical change: I’d bet that most people stop buying music, or the same quantities of music, as they get older. (Whereas book-buying and movie-going patterns probably don’t so substantially decrease or change.)
Why? Well, I don’t keep rereading my books, and I only rewatch some movies. But I can listen to songs, albums, music over and over. Do I need more music? It’s far easier to convince myself to buy a new book than new music. So we might just stop because music is a more recyclable commodity?
If you are happy with your music library, why not listen to the Pet Shop Boys till eternity? Many (a lot) of Americans really couldn’t tell you a word about music released after 1981 (classic rock or is it calcified rock). I think 89.3 The Current to be a damn fine mix of contemporary and old school pop, rock, hip-hop and folk. And it streams online for free (and if you are wondering what that song is you can find it on their site). And what about Pandora, an online music generator that records your favorite bands, songs, etc., and then provides you with a “station” that works to introduce you to new bands whose sound is similar to your “likes” (and if you don’t like a song just tell them and they will strike it from the playlist). That’s pretty cool. Billy Bragg has a new disc coming out–Mr. Soul & Justice–and it may be all you need for the next few weeks.
i did a show on the college radio station’s “dj for a day” program in february. i’ll be doing it again this saturday at noon (central time). i think it streams live from the website. college radio is one way of keeping in touch with new music–though the problem often with college radio is the non-music programming (i do hope none of my students who may be involved with such are reading this). the current is pretty good–it took me a while to realize this is the local npr station, as the dj’s don’t have the world-weary, terminally hip demeanour that kcrw taught me to associate with public raido music programming.
my playlist in february was skewed heavily towards short songs, as i was trying to jam as many songs into the 60 minutes as possible. so there was a fair bit of punk and early hip-hop. this week’s set will be a little mellower, and also contain my first and abiding true love: hindi film music.
the feb list:
I’m pretty lazy about finding out about new music. The Oberlin College station can often be good, but their DJs often seem more obsessed by 1980s Brit-pop than I am. And just how often can you listen to Josh Ritter (admittedly an Oberlin alum)?
I listen a lot online to the shows that Bob Boilen does previewing new music for ‘All Songs Considered.’ The latest has a wonderful eight minute cut titled “Touch me I’m going to scream” from My Morning Jacket, and some disappointing new Portishead.
Lutefisk?!
minnesota tribute.
I take it back. The Portishead album, ‘Third’, is really pretty good and gets better the more I listen. Same goes for the recent Gnarls Barkley: ‘The Odd Couple’.
i knew there was a thread somewhere where shine a light had been mentioned. i wish i could have found it before i had netflix send it to me. or that i’d bothered to read reviews on metacritic. if i had, i would have found out that it is not a documentary but simply a concert film. then again, since scorsese made the last waltz i might have got it anyway. unfortunately, this one is not a particularly good concert movie.
i agree with mark’s assessment of the stupidity of the use of the early footage and the lame attempts to inject tension into the “process” bits. the only parts i really liked were the bits where we got to see the band and associates tuning up for the show, interacting with celeb special guests etc.. the scene where hillary clinton’s mother is introduced to the stones is great. there should have been more of that. instead we get the stones going through not particularly great versions of their catalog. i will say though that they are incredibly vital for their age, and i don’t think the label of geriatric rockers really works. jagger has more energy than i had when i was 16 (which is the last time i had energy). and keith richards is still in the top 10 list of “coolest men alive”. (one weird moment though when richards gives buddy guy his guitar–seemed like some sort of homage but the moment had a weird energy.)
Buy @#%&*! Smilers. Now.