What Are You Listening To Right Now? II

The Batlord · 06-25-2015, 02:38 PM

I generally couldn't give a **** about Jimmy Buffet, but I just got back from a ten mile bike ride through deadly heat and humidity, and I'm now drinking a cold twelve pack of Yuengling and trying to relax to the max, and this is hitting the ****ing spot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

It sounded like you were trying to say that you loved it without directly saying that. I think. I don't know what was going through my head at the time.

I was saying that it wasn't enjoyable to listen to as music (in the general sense), but as a full sensory experience it's pretty fantastic, even if I wouldn't want to listen to it regularly.

**Frownland** · 06-25-2015, 02:48 PM

^white people alert.

One of TH's threads has me listening to this.

The Batlord · 06-25-2015, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

^white people alert.

Tell me you can't get down with "Margaritaville" or "Cheeseburger in Paradise" when you're drunk in a bar in the summer. Especially if there's a beach in your line of sight. Jimmy is just so inoffensive that you can't actually hate him, and in the right mood, it's relaxing, feel good music, like watered down reggae for crackers who don't like reggae.

As opposed to other dad not-rock like Elton John or Billy Joel, who have no place or time for the most part.

That's pretty much what I'd call Jimmy Buffet TBH: not-reggae for white people who aren't dreadlock-wearing stoners.

Quote:

One of TH's threads has me listening to this.

I can never make up my mind up about this album. I was listening to it last night, and I can dig it for that first track, cause there's that pulsing, cascading rhythm that's oddly beautiful, and there's always something new happening that catches your ear, before dying a quick death, only to be replaced by something else in your other ear (when on headphones). So for a while it's... I won't say great or anything, but at least it's engaging (even for a Philistine like me).

But I can only focus on it for so long, and then it just starts making me feel claustrophobic. About halfway through the second track (forty minutes or so in) I had to turn it off, cause it was making me feel genuinely queasy. I like music that can provoke non-positive emotions, and even psychosomatic reactions, but I can only take so much of it, depending on the reaction. (That's actually the only the reason I can take Merzbow on the odd occasion I can quasi-enjoy him; the mid-nineties stuff I've heard from him is so sonically all-consuming that it overwhelms the thoughts in your brain, both conscious and subconscious, somehow quieting your mind, almost like reverse meditation.)

Still, I'm happy that Metal Machine Music exists (much like almost all of Diamanda Galas' music). In a way, it's actually more intense than a lot of Merzbow, just because so much is happening at any one time, and even though it kind of bleeds together, if you're actively listening to it, it never seems to repeat itself.

Edit: I think I might start my own Love/Hate kind of thread, just for recs of avant garde stuff that I would otherwise never listen to. Give me all the **** that Trollheart tells people not to send him, regardless of whether or not you think I might enjoy it. You and Grindy would get your evil thrills out of it, I imagine.

lj39 · 06-25-2015, 03:09 PM

Collective Soul - Smashing Young Man

**Goofle** · 06-25-2015, 05:54 PM

wut

Machine · 06-25-2015, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goofle

wut

Wasn't that mentioned in the description of the new Lil Ugly Mane album?

**Goofle** · 06-25-2015, 06:06 PM

Yeah, just read it after posting in the other thread.

Sequoioideae · 06-25-2015, 07:46 PM

**Frownland** · 06-25-2015, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Tell me you can't get down with "Margaritaville" or "Cheeseburger in Paradise" when you're drunk in a bar in the summer. Especially if there's a beach in your line of sight. Jimmy is just so inoffensive that you can't actually hate him, and in the right mood, it's relaxing, feel good music, like watered down reggae for crackers who don't like reggae.

As opposed to other dad not-rock like Elton John or Billy Joel, who have no place or time for the most part.

That's pretty much what I'd call Jimmy Buffet TBH: not-reggae for white people who aren't dreadlock-wearing stoners.

Unless it's played at a volume where I can tell that there's music playing but I can't make out the music, I will always hate Buffet. His music is so ****ing obnoxious. I might be a little bit biased since my first exposure to him was when I was 13 and my grandpa took me to see him live at some restaurant in Florida. I don't like most reggae to begin with, why would you expect me to like that old fart's watered down bull****? **** him.

Quote:

I can never make up my mind up about this album. I was listening to it last night, and I can dig it for that first track, cause there's that pulsing, cascading rhythm that's oddly beautiful, and there's always something new happening that catches your ear, before dying a quick death, only to be replaced by something else in your other ear (when on headphones). So for a while it's... I won't say great or anything, but at least it's engaging (even for a Philistine like me).

But I can only focus on it for so long, and then it just starts making me feel claustrophobic. About halfway through the second track (forty minutes or so in) I had to turn it off, cause it was making me feel genuinely queasy. I like music that can provoke non-positive emotions, and even psychosomatic reactions, but I can only take so much of it, depending on the reaction. (That's actually the only the reason I can take Merzbow on the odd occasion I can quasi-enjoy him; the mid-nineties stuff I've heard from him is so sonically all-consuming that it overwhelms the thoughts in your brain, both conscious and subconscious, somehow quieting your mind, almost like reverse meditation.)

Still, I'm happy that Metal Machine Music exists (much like almost all of Diamanda Galas' music). In a way, it's actually more intense than a lot of Merzbow, just because so much is happening at any one time, and even though it kind of bleeds together, if you're actively listening to it, it never seems to repeat itself.

I compare a lot of music to Rorschach tests, especially since I recently learned how to spell Rorschach, but I think that description applies to MMM quite well with all the stuff you mentioned in regards to how much it changes. I used to not be able to listen to it all tbh, there was a certain very high pitch that really irritated me. It's different now since I'm more used to very harsh music, but even when I didn't like it, I could still appreciate the process that went into making it and the story behind it. These days I can listen to it all and kind of get lost in it. In a weird way, it reminds me of John Coltrane's Ascension because both albums are like getting lost in some weird kind of maze for an hour or so. I can definitely understand why people hate it, but damn do I love that ****.

Here's Ascension for some reference

YorkeDaddy · 06-25-2015, 10:18 PM

Music that's designed to be as laidback as possible: Frown labels obnoxious

Music that's designed to be as abrasive as possible: Frown does not label obnoxious

06-25-2015, 02:48 PM	#14372 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	^white people alert. One of TH's threads has me listening to this. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

06-25-2015, 03:09 PM	#14374 (permalink)
lj39 Music Addict Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Floating at the bottom of a pint Posts: 162	Collective Soul - Smashing Young Man