What MUSIC are you listening to?

I've been listening to Spiritualized's latest album, And Nothing Hurt, on repeat for a couple days now. It doesn't vary the formula significantly (mode one: big sweeping ballads w psychedelic gospel accoutrements, mode two: druggy rockers w psychedelic blues accoutrements), but I think his songwriting is particularly effective this go around. His voice sounds cracked and vulnerable to the nth degree, and his songs have a heartbreaking directness to them that feels right. Fans should be happy, and if you've never listened to them before this would be a perfectly fine place to start. "Let's Dance" is going in my top ten Spiritualized songs fer sure.

I picked up the new album by Nothing. It scratches that metal with shoegaze somehow.

BaronDonut wrote: I've been listening to Spiritualized's latest album, And Nothing Hurt, on repeat for a couple days now. It doesn't vary the formula significantly (mode one: big sweeping ballads w psychedelic gospel accoutrements, mode two: druggy rockers w psychedelic blues accoutrements), but I think his songwriting is particularly effective this go around. His voice sounds cracked and vulnerable to the nth degree, and his songs have a heartbreaking directness to them that feels right. Fans should be happy, and if you've never listened to them before this would be a perfectly fine place to start. "Let's Dance" is going in my top ten Spiritualized songs fer sure.

Yeah, this album is like a fan treat. There's nothing new or different in it, just more of what you came for. I'm okay with that.

I'm not sure any of them crack top ten for me (yet), but "I'm Your Man" and "Sail on Through" have been early standouts to me.

Every year I'm amazed the guy is still alive and I'm beyond surprised to get a new album. I see them every chance I get, which is still "rarely".

Not Sure wrote: I see them every chance I get, which is still "rarely".

I only saw them once, about a decade ago--they must have been touring behind Songs in A&E. Half the band was dressed completely in black, half the band was dressed completely in white. Jason played the entire set in sunglasses (no surprise), and said not one single word the entire set. He gave the slightest of head nods after the last song and threw his guitar pick into the crowd and walked off. It was the best.

BaronDonut wrote:

Not Sure wrote: I see them every chance I get, which is still "rarely".

I only saw them once, about a decade ago--they must have been touring behind Songs in A&E. Half the band was dressed completely in black, half the band was dressed completely in white. Jason played the entire set in sunglasses (no surprise), and said not one single word the entire set. He gave the slightest of head nods after the last song and threw his guitar pick into the crowd and walked off. It was the best.

That's not unusual. I've seen them at least five times going back to 2001, and I don't think I've ever heard a single word of stage banter. They also play exactly the same whether the place is sold out or nearly empty.

I’ve seen them twice. Once opening for Jesus and Mary Chain and Curve. One of the best shows I have ever seen. Every band in top form. This was maybe 1992/93? I believe it was the Lazer Guided Melodies tour. Their set was almost religious...I was up front and the whole floor of the stage was covered with effect pedals. Don’t think I’ll ever forget their performance of “100 Bars” at that show.

The second time they were opening for Souxsie and the Banshees on their last tour.
It was also great, but quite a bit more drugged out.

Great band.

Jesus Christ, I thought I was the only one who listened to Spiritualized & Spacemen 3. Lazer Guided Melodies is basically the soundtrack to my first year out of college.

I just want to say that I love this discussion. I just wish people posted here more often.

Oh. Current listening. I may have mentioned them before here, but The Secret History. “The World That Never Was” is the record. The band used to be called My Favorite and they did some excellent Smiths-y new wave pop back in the mid 2000s before that really became a thing to do. Somehow they recruited Mick Ronson’s daughter to sing. There are a couple of absolutely monster tracks on the record, “My Life With The Living Dead” is The One...it’s got those huge 1980s teenage emotions, a coy sense of melodrama, and some killer lyrical turns. There’s a little girl group, a little glam rock. Excellent stuff.

For some reason Jerry Reed’s “Eastbound and Down” is on the playlist right now. Probably because Burt Reynolds died and it reminded me of how my dad used to play Jerry Reed songs in the truck.

Also listening to “”Daydream Nation” a lot because it’s great.

On the metal front, Rebel Wizard is the best thing I’ve heard in a while. Thin Lizzy influenced black n’ roll. And the recent Deafheaven record of course.

I don’t know what anybody is talking about

Mary, a simple word, are you there in the cold country?
Your eyes so full, your head so tight
Can't you hear me?

Remember our talk, that day on the phone?
I said I was the door and you were the station.

With shattered glass and miles between us
We still flew away in a conversation.

Michael Barnes wrote: It was also great, but quite a bit more drugged out.

Reminds me of S3's perfect mantras:

"Taking drugs to make music to take drugs to."

And my personal favorite (and guiding aesthetic light):

"Three chords good, two chords better, one chord best."

Natalia Kills, Spiders, Mother Feather, Paloma Faith, and Von Iva have been on heavy Spotify rotation for me lately.


Club music isn't normally my thing, but Natalia Kills' album, Trouble, is very enjoyable.

Funniest breakup song ever:



"No Children"

I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come up with a fail-safe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us

I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it's already too late

And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town again

In my life, I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises
We're pretty sure they're all wrong

I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn't over
And I hope you blink before I do
And I hope I never get sober

And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can't find one good thing to say
And I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You'd stay the hell out of my way

I am drowning, there is no sign of land
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

I saw The Mountain Goats 8 or so years ago, which really was just a John Darnielle solo show. I consider myself quite familiar with his catalog, but he only played a handful of songs I knew (he did warn everyone before starting that it would be one for the “hardcores”). He’s the kind of songwriter where you don’t mind that sort of thing. The place I saw him in is a deathtrap waiting to happen in Northhampton, MA, every surface is painted black, it’s below ground with little in the way of windows, and the only light you get aside from the stage is a small lamp run into the room via extension cord. It might sound cool to some, but I’m not joking, someone is going to die in that place someday, probably due to heat exhaustion because there is not nor has there ever been an AC unit.

Anyways, he gets to the end of the set, starts to play but stops and asks the crowd, “Anyone know what fret the capo goes on for ‘No Children?’” The place immediately erupts. He starts over again and every single word of that song is sung by every single person in that tiny room as loud as they could sing it. You could feel the vibrations throughout your entire body, I swear, the place rattled.