Giles ,'Sleeper'
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
That's very cool about Kate Bush. Even though The REd Shoes did not rock my socks off after the five year wait.
Yeah, I have all her stuff. Love the early albums even though it was probably Running up that Hill that grabbed me and shook me about and made me go back.
Frankly it was listening to her stuff while really high that made me appreciate it the most.
Hounds of Love has some dark stuff too, like "Waking the Witch." My doctor ex-gf was a huge fan and explained that whole album to me.
"Waking the Witch."
The whole "Ninth Wave" part of the album is just intense. And sonically it's pretty amazing. It's a real trip.
However, the whole Kate Bush oeuvre is very tied to a particular time, place and people in my life, and I can't listen to it without those associations. I would love to listen to it with fresh ears again.
Joe, I got the word on the whale book, but I've been too busy to think of a smart reply. I'll send out notice when the synapses start firing.
Current musical theory, for your discussion:
Most music is bad. Most music that is not bad, sounds exactly like other music that is not bad. Of that music, only the best is worth listening to. Most music that doesn't sound like anything else, is still bad. Only music that does not sound like anything else and is not bad is worth loving.
(And -- Pixies tonight. Yay.)
LJ, that's a Venn diagram that almost makes my head hurt.
However, this statement:
Most music that is not bad, sounds exactly like other music that is not bad.
reminded me of a question (or, really, a few questions) I've been meaning to ask:
Since I'm always behind the musical curve, bands like the Postal Service, Death Cab, the Shins, the Decemberists -- are they all considered one type of music? (Like you could list rockabilly bands, punk bands, and further arcane subgenres, like cowpunkabilly.)
And if they are all, more or less, the same type of music, what would you call it? I mean, if you were trying to tell someone that you like ska, but not punk, or baroque but not classical, what would you call the Postal Service/Shins/Decemberists subgenre?
Since I'm always behind the musical curve, bands like the Postal Service, Death Cab, the Shins, the Decemberists -- are they all considered one type of music?
Yes and no.
Yes in that fans of one might well like the others. I would probably call that genre "indie, " but that's really just an umbrella term for noncommercial rock music not involving screaming. (If there is screaming, it's emo, or possibly metal.)
Also yes in that Death Cab and Postal Service share a somewhat similar sound, and have the same lead singer, Ben Gibbard.
Where the no comes in is that the Decemberists are very different from that -- they're almost, but not quite, like if the Smiths used an accordian and wrote sea chantys -- and the Shins, to my ear, are pretty straightforward pop-rock. (I like them, but have never gotten why they send people into paroxysms of ecstacy. I think they're too pretty for me.)
Teppy, I'd agree with Lyra's categories. Though I would note that if you went into a store that specialized in "Indie Pop" you'd find all of those bands.
Huh. To my ear, they all share a vocal quality that I can't quite articulate.