Music General Music Discussion Catch-All

[supremebve]

3 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

reads tweet saying “Selena Gomez takes to social media to defend relationship with Benny Blanco”

goes to FauxMoi subreddit to figure out what’s going on

apparently there’s multiple Selena Gomez controversies that may or may not be related, also she’s taking a social media break

I have no idea who Benny Blanco is but he almost has 1980s Jimmy Garvin hair. So I’m sure it’s not his fault.

R.I.P. Carlito.  I can't believe Selena Gomez is dating that piece of shit from the Bronx.

[Curt McGirt]

IIIIIIIII see what you did there. (Spoiler below for people who don't get the joke and want to go try and figure it out)

Spoiler

Why would you want to name yourself after the scumbag villain played by John fucking Leguizamo? That's not exactly like going by the handle of Scarface.

[Curt McGirt]

BTW I looked up the Dolly Parton album and she covers both "Stairway to Heaven" AND "Freebird". I'm surprised she didn't take a whack at "Bohemian Rhapsody" too.

[zendragon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhTvxVxXJLQ

A new version or the version from Horns and Halos?

[Curt McGirt]

I dunno. She could have redone it or just put the old one on there, I just was reading the tracklist on Wiki. And of course she did do Queen, only it was the other song(s) you would expect instead of "Bohemian". 

EDIT: Interesting cover, btw. No patch on the original, but a neat variation.

Edited December 9, 2023 by Curt McGirt

[zendragon]

Tim Minchin: White Wine in the Sun (youtube.com)

Hope you are all having a good holiday season

[odessasteps]

The days when instrumental theme composers got music videos 

 

[Curt McGirt]

I coulda swore until I realized it was Jan running around with the Halliburton trying to escape that it was Clint Howard. 

[odessasteps]

While watching those videos, I learned that civilization cratered in 2005 when the Crazy Frog version of Axel F was number one on the UK pop chart.

 

[Curt McGirt]

That looks like a workout video.

[Death From Above]

https://youtu.be/x0r64WouVqQ?si=ab9h3pxOA5b5a1-C

This is very deep in my brain

[ohtani's jacket]

Billy Joel's An Innocent Man... my mother owned this record, and I used to listen to a lot as a kid. It's Billy Joel cutting loose and writing a bunch of fun songs. Even though the up-tempo numbers are mostly doo-wop, it takes me back to my own childhood. 

Alaska y Dinarama's Canciones profanas... Spanish new wave! Very cool. I've had my fill of new wave this year, but everything sounds better in Spanish.

The Pointer Sisters' Break Out... this was awesome. The remix of I'm So Excited bangs. The Pointer girls can sing and the production is actually good. This was a popular LP at the time of its release that should have more cred than it does. This would rank high on my list of contemporary R&B from 1983.

Amenophis' Amenophis... a holdover from classic 70s German prog. I went through a massive prog phase where I listened to record after record and this gave me flashbacks. Definitely worth checking out if you want to venture past the 70s into the dark era of prog.

Scream's Still Screaming... this is a strong hardcore album from this Virginian group. It's more melodic than a lot of hardcore records, which I guess some people feel a need to defend, but I've got no issues with it. I actually kind of like hardcore punk you can sing along with.

Kissing the Pink's Naked... like the band name. Basically, an "artsy", experimental New Wave/Synthpop record that draws on some unusual inspirations. The vocals don't always work for me, but I can respect the experimentation.

Akira Inoue, Masataka Matsutoya, & Hiroshi Sato's Seaside Lovers: Memories in Beach House... this is so chill, and more than a little cheesy. Everything you want from a city pop record. The obsession with summer and tropical vacations in the city pop genre was so strong you could record an entire album about it, making it almost a sub-genre in itself. This was a nice record, though I did it an injustice listening to it in winter.

Culprit's Guilty as Charged... Not bad! US Power Metal isn't my go to metal fix, but this Seattle group had some serious chops. They could play as well, as evidenced by the prog elements. 

JFA's Valley of the Yakes... this sounds exactly how I'd imagine a 1983 skate punk record to sound like. Very good! 

Flue's Vista... this is a particularly cold post-punk record. The band were from the Netherlands, so I guess that makes sense, right? Some decent hooks and somewhat enchanting.

Marine Girls' Lazy Ways... this is Tracey Thorn from Everything but the Girl. Stripped back Twee Pop. This could have been an indy hit in any decade that followed. Super underrated.

Fungus Brains' Ron Pistos Real World... if you're gonna call yourself Fungus Brains, you better deliver, and for the most part these Aussies do albeit in a quirky Australian fashion.

Le Roux' So Fired Up... This album had me so fired up. I felt like Johnny in Cobra Kai. AOR at its finest. 

Demon's The Plague... Didn't go hard enough. Sorry, you can't call yourself Demon and record an album called The Plague and deliver soft AOR hard rock. Boo.

Magnum's The Eleventh Hour!... another group whose music was too soft for the imagery it used. 

Amos & Sara's Invite to 'Endless Latino'... this was cool. It was basically minimal wave with a Calypso vibe. Groovy. 

Government Issue's Boycott Slab... an earful of DC punk. Pretty cool. I can imagine people leaving it all on the dance floor slamming to this group.
 

[Curt McGirt]

The JFA and Gov't Issue records are fuckin sick. The Scream I can't get down with. I've tried. No problem with melodic hardcore even, it just doesn't click here. 

Demon always had kind of an AOR feel. I recommend their second, The Uninvited Guest, which is awesome (and also the British band Incubus [not the Brazil/FL one] who released an album To the Devil A Daughter that sounds just like them). Actually, I dunno, I don't think I've heard either the first album or The Plague so they could follow the same format. "Don't Break the Circle" is a killer song, in any case. And looking at it man does the art of The Plague look like it belongs on a Crass Records production. 

I KNOW I've heard that Culprit but it's been a long, long time.

Edited December 25, 2023 by Curt McGirt

[ohtani's jacket]

Derribos Arias' En la guía en el listín... kind of meandering Spanish post punk. Didn't do a lot for me.

Sergio Caputo's Un sabato italiano... this was a nice change of pace. It mixed jazz, latin jazz-pop and 50s Italian swing into an excellent jazz pop record. I liked this a lot. 

Rip Rig + Panic's Attitude...  Rip Rig + Panic were Neneh Cherry's band before she became a solo artist. It's basically post punk jazz-funk. Okay, but you can always listen to real jazz funk instead. 

Letta Mbulu's In the Music the Village Never Ends... hey, look! It's a South African boogie record. Not gonna lie, it was fun listening to this kind of soul and contemporary R&B coming out of the Republic. Good stuff.

Todd Rundgren's The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect... I was curious about Rundgren's output in '83. Apparently, this LP was a contractual obligation and was Rundgren half-arsing it in the studio, but as far as half-arsing goes, it's an interesting listen. Not gonna champion it or anything, but it was just as curious sounding as it looked on paper.

Trans-X's Living on Video... this was a fun synth pop, electro-disco album. Made me wanna pop-lock.

P'o's Whilst Climbing Thieves Vie for Attention... boring spoken word crap mixed with weird noises. Awful.

The Undertones' The Sin of Pride... The Undertones were trying to stay with the times with this record. That makes for an okay record from 1983 but an underwhelming Undertones LP. 

Dinosaurs With Horns' Dinosaurs With Horns... speaking of records with repetitive, weird noises. WTF was I thinking listening to this?

Osamu Sato's Objectless... more ambient electronica. I have no idea what I'm doing at this point.

The Comsat Angels' Land... this had some tunes! This was slicker than the bands' fans would have expected, but had some nice pop tunes. The transition from post punk to new wave was a tricky bridge for a lot of UK bands around this time, but this was one of the better efforts, IMO. 

The Call's Modern Romans... now this was an exciting New Wave/Post Punk effort. A number of cracking tunes despite the band not really having a proper vocalist. Very similar to Talking Heads. They had a decent MTV video too for The Walls Came Down. 

Gazebo's Gazebo... Oh yeah, Italo-disco! This was so good. Gazebo was one of the stars of the genre. This was his debut and it was so classy.

T-Bone Burnett's Proof Through the Night... this was a nice slice of Americana. It was folkier than I was expecting, but then I read that he played with Dylan and was the producer of O Brother, Where Art Thou? so that made sense. 

45 Grave's Sleep in Safety... I really wanted to like this as it was interesting looking horror punk, but it wasn't as cool as I'd hoped. 

Kiyohiko Senba and His Haniwa All Stars' Haniwa... wow this was an art pop record that messed with bon odori music. Kind of a head trip for anyone who lives in Japan. 

Maitre Gazonga's Les jaloux saboteurs... feel good music from the nation of Chad! God bless the internet for bringing us music from every square inch of the globe. 
 

[Curt McGirt]

1 hour ago, ohtani's jacket said:

45 Grave's Sleep in Safety... I really wanted to like this as it was interesting looking horror punk, but it wasn't as cool as I'd hoped. 

Awww... this makes me  

Anyway, at least you might like this little radio jingle/cover/reggae song they made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDQxc9QW9V4&ab_channel=TheRaven

[ohtani's jacket]

I will give it another listen for you, Curt!

[Curt McGirt]

I like 'em a fair amount, anyway. Nice surf influence along with heavier, more dissonant stuff, catchy when they're not. Plus, how great of a punk name -- especially for a gothic/horror oriented band -- is Dinah Cancer?!

[ohtani's jacket]

John Cougar Mellencamp's Uh-huh... Mellencamp has a reputation for being a dumber version of The Boss, but he was sincere about it. Authority Song is a kicker, and there are some keen observations about blue-collar, working class life. Better than expected.

Eyeless in Garza's Red Rust September... one of the reoccurring themes of 1983 music has been post punk bands shifting their music in different directions (mostly new wave), but this group in the direction of dream pop. The result was pleasant sounding though a little mild. 

S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe's Aqua City... groovy city pop record. Puts a spin on the beach/vacation theme by concentrating on after dark. 

Triumph's Never Surrender... Triumph were a hard rock band who remained a hard rock band until the end. I can respect that. This was a solid rock album in an era where there weren't a lot of solid rock albums.

The Varukers' Bloodsuckers... this was a very good UK82 record. I wish the vocals had been a bit gnarlier, but loved the guitarwork. 

Fra Lippo Lippi's Small Mercies... on this record, Norway band Fra Lippo Lippi move from a cold, harsh sound to more wistful melodies. Worked for me.

Chakra's Nanyo de Yoisho... it wasn't all city pop and idol records from Japan. They could do weird ass art pop too. I mean it's Japan, what do you expect?

Picture's Eternal Dark... one of the first Dutch heavy metal acts. Broke in around the time of the NWOBHM and have a similar sound. Not a bad record, but could have been a bit heavier. 

Dome's Will You Speak This Word... I should have steered clear of this one. Ambient, minimalistic post-punk. Not my thing.

Yuri Antonov's Your Home's Roof... decent Russian pop. Yes, they had pop music in the USSR.

Rick Springfield's Living in Oz... on one hand, this record is kinda amusing to me as Rick Springfield is trying to create an AOR record about living in Australia. On the other hand, he actually makes a good fist of it, to the point where you kind of end up thinking why not make an AOR about Australia? Screw this cultural cringe. I don't think he ever made another LP like this, however. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Fastway's Fastway... Fastway was formed by ex-UFO bassist, Pete Way, and ex-Motorhead guitarist, Fast Eddie Clarke. Their express purpose appears to be to keep alive the hard rock sound of the 70s. If you like that sound, then this the direction you should head in when the decade flips over to the 1980s. 

The Michael Schenker Group's Built to Destroy... speaking of hard rock bands clinging to life. Michael Schenker is an interesting cat and a brilliant guitar player. I have sympathy for these hard rock acts who struggled with their era passing them by. That is until I listen to some of the metal from this year. 

Ippu-Do's Night Mirage... this was really good! Similar in a lot of ways to YMO. Just a fantastic, otherworldly synthpop album. 

Saga's Heads or Tails... Saga were a Canadian prog band that morphed into an AOR act. Clearly there was an audience for this type of stuff in '83, but it's not me. 

Night Ranger's Midnight Madness... the most unashamedly AOR record yet. The opening track assures me that I can still rock in America. Sure I can, if I listen to some thrash, garage rock or hardcore punk. Jesus, what a pressing concern. God forbid people want to dance. I sometimes think fans forget that the original rock 'n' roll was dance music. 

Plan 9's Dealing With the Dead... this was AWESOME. It was retro-sounding psychedelic garage rock, and it was amazing! Of all the throwback albums from '83, this was the best!

Duet Emmo's Or So It Seems... why did I sync this up? Was it the album cover? Minimal synth, dark ambient industrial sounds... apparently, I've learnt nothing from six months of listening to 1983 music. 

Necros' Conquest for Death... I must have written about this before, but it came up in my playlist and I needed something to cleanse the palate. Fast, furious, with whinny vocals. Love it.
 

[ohtani's jacket]

Cobra's First Strike... Okay, this effing rules. I've officially decided there's Johnny Lawrence AOR and everything else, and this is some sweet ass Johnny Lawrence AOR. Seriously, though, this is a cut above the rest in the AOR genre.

Virus' Agujero interior... Virus isn't the name I'd expect for a pop rock band, but this Argentinian group was pretty tight. 

K. Yoshimatu's Sepia Reminiscence... I love this guy's stuff. Progressive electronic is totally outside of my wheelhouse, but the melodies are so pretty. 

Wild Dogs' Wild Dogs... this was so great. Love the band name, the Adrian Adonis S&M gear they're wearing on the cover, and the proto speed metal sound. One of the best US metal albums of the year, IMO. 

Red's Red... this was an excellent prog rock album that tapped into the jazz fusion sound of the 70s. There weren't a lot of albums that sounded like this in 1983, which is a plus.

Lisa's Lisa...  here's a little gem for you -- a pulsating mix of Hi-NRG and space disco straight from the LGBT clubs to your stereo. "Rocket to Your Heart" is one of the best tracks of the year.

Whodini's Whodini... this wasn't a bad record, but hip hop crews weren't ready to drop a classic album yet. 

Battleaxe's Burn This Town... I've always loved this record and still do. Just pure NWOBHM. I love the album cover so much. 

KaS Product's By Pass... didn't see this one coming. This was a French duo who mixed synth psycho-billy with a little bit of jazz. Unique, cool-sounding record. 

100 Flowers' 100 Flowers... hello, one of my new favorite albums of 1983. This was supposed to be post-punk, but it was so up beat and energetic that it was hard to identify with the typical post punk sound. I guess it was more of an art punk record. In any case, it was great. So many deep cut 1983 albums are a downer, but this was one high after another. 
 

[ohtani's jacket]

Casiopea's Jive Jive... Casiopea are a Japanese jazz fusion group. Probably the most famous Japanese jazz fusion group, actually. They produce a lot of upbeat, feel good music and this record was no exception. Highly enjoyable.

The Great Unwashed's Clean Out of Our Minds... this comes from New Zealand! Specifically, from the Dunedin music scene. Dunedin is what I guess you'd refer to as a college town. Students move from all over New Zealand to attend university there. In the early 80s, a local music scene sprung up that gained some traction overseas. It produced a murky, lo-fi sound that meshed together elements of jangle pop and slacker rock. One of the best known bands was The Clean. The Great Unwashed formed after The Clean broke up, playing the same type of sound as The Clean but a bit more countrified. I may be biased, but as far as I'm concerned it's some of the best indy music on offer from 1983.

One Way System's All Systems Go... this was a decent UK82 street punk record. I tend to prefer the hardcore sound over British "Oi", but this was fine.

Clara Mondshine's Memorymetropolis... progressive electronic with a touch of new age. To my surprise, I actually quite liked this. Nice ambient electronic music. 

The Legendary Pink Dots' Chemical Playschool Volumes III/IV... this was originally a cassette tape release full of demos and earlier versions of later songs, making it essential listening for fans of the group, but not as compelling for the non-initiated. 

Terveet Kädet's Terveet Kädet... this was straight up disappointing. When I hear Finnish hardcore record, I immediately expect it to be the greatest album of all-time or at least the biggest discovery of this week, but this was meek. 

Bodine's Three Times Running... very good Dutch metal record. Reminded me of the Scorpions. Unfortunately, the band broke up after this album was released. 

Survivor's Caught in the Game... it wasn't hard to shift gears and enjoy this, mainly because I think Dave Bickler is a charismatic vocalist. The rest of the band weren't bad either. Deserving of being remembered as more than just the group that did Eye of the Tiger.

Def Leppard's Pyromania... I think this holds up pretty well. I'd actually go as far to call it a solid hard rock album and not just hair metal. 

Molly Hatchet's No Guts... No Glory... solid effort from this Southern rockers from Jacksonville, FL. I had zero expectations going into this and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Gang 90 & Absurdettes' Essa tal de Gang 90 & Absurdettes... this was a Brazilian new wave group that leaned more toward playful, humorous music. Not bad.

Daniel Johnston's More Songs of Pain... I kind of lean towards this guy being a genius. Even though he doesn't really write complete songs, his songwriting is impressive, and I like his lyrics as well. Creating all these amazing songs and recording them in your room is the pinnacle of DIY music. 

Arsenal's Created With Their Own Hands... this was a Russian jazz fusion record. I liked this a lot, especially the more frantic numbers. 

Albert Marcœur's Celui où y'a Joseph... this was a French record. Kind of a mix of avant-prog and art pop. Sounded pretty good to me.

Zoopark's Small Town Called N... Zoopark were one of the founding Russian rock bands. They played a straight blues rock sound. I'm tempted to make a bad joke about Ladas and whatnot, but these guys were really good. This style of music may not have been overly popular in the West anymore, but this record was proof that it still sounded good when the band was tight.

Emmylou Harris' White Shoes... this is another of many cases in '83 of a 70s artist trying to produce a record that sells while all the way alienating parts of their fanbase. Fans of Emmylou Harris won't like this record. Random listeners will probably appreciate it more. It's very much on the pop side of country pop. Still, Harris is a pro and handles the material well.

Nina Hagen's Angstlos... Nina Hagen was the "Godmother of German Punk" and had mostly done new wave material before looking up with Giorgio Moroder on this record. Naturally, that gave her LP more of a dance-pop sound that not all of the critics appreciated. Personally, I thought it was quirky and fun. 

Zelda's Carnival... one of the finest Japanese new wave/art pop albums from the 1980s. Almost like a Japanese version of the B52s or the Slits but more experimental. 
 

[RazorbladeKiss87]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aq45khmI4w

 

 

I don't know why this won't embed but it's a band called Flesh Tape. Really good indie rock. Kinda have some Sonic Youth vibes. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Clannad's Magical Ring... I mostly know Clannad as being the band that did the Robin (The Hooded Man) theme song for the ITV series I loved so much as a kid, but they'd already gained some fame in the UK for producing the ending theme to a mini-series called Harry's Game, set in Belfast during The Troubles. I was expecting this album to be a bit more folky (and ethereal), but there was a steady dose of 80s pop production. Not bad, but not great either.

Anne Clark's Changing Places... fans of Anne Clark tried to convince me that Clark's spoken word was better than most spoken word and that it was poetry. I'm glad they enjoyed it, but I'm not in a hurry to listen to Ms. Clark's other work.

Pablo El Enterrador's Pablo "El Enterrador"... this is a prog-rock band from Argentina. Very melodic and accessible prog-rock, I might add. A pleasant record.

Barón Rojo's Metalmorfosis... this is a disappointing LP. Volumen brutal is a much better record. This LP sees the band move in more of a commercial hard rock direction and the results are average.

Herbie Hancock's Herbie Hancock Quartet... in the same year that Hancock released Future Shock we get this old school post-bop record. I dug this a lot, though people who hate Wynton Marsalis (and there's a lot of them) might shit all over it, but not me.

The Soft Boys' Invisible Hits... this was way better than I remember the Soft Boys being. Maybe I've had a breakthrough with neo-psychedelia or perhaps it's an appealing alternative to the dominant 1983 sound. This is a compilation of unreleased tracks. Gets a bit zany at times, but on the whole I enjoyed it.

Grim Reaper's See You in Hell... I love Steve Grimmett's vocals on this album! People complain about the production, but I'll see them in heeeeeeeeeell.

Moebius' Tonspuren... no, this isn't by the French comic book artist, though it would be cool if it was. This is the Swiss electronic artist, Moebius. I have listened to more beeping noises than I thought possible before starting down this slippery slope of 1983 records. Some of it I've hated and some of it I've enjoyed. This was the enjoyable kind. Happy beeping noises, if you will.

Kip Hanrahan's Desire Develops an Edge... love that album title. This is avant-garde jazz (kind of, it's hard to classify really.) It's pretty low key. The vocalist sounds like Nina Simone without Nina Simone's genius. 

[Curt McGirt]

Good lord did you jump up the pace on this

Bloodsuckers is a fine record but Varukers were more of an EPs band. Another Religion Another War was a MLP and I dunno how they fit into your listening but that is way more Discharge. Bloodsuckers kind of peters out halfway through. 

Wild Dogs are EXCELLENT and their best one is Reign of Terror for sure. 

With you on One Way System (solid but that's about it), Battleaxe (just got into that one), Grim Reaper (I DON'T OWN A COPY! That is insane if you know me. The title track's video on Beavis and Butthead actually got me into '80s metal), Baron Rojo (ehhh... Larga Vida Al Rock'n'Roll is the best one), but you are literally insane not liking the Terveet Kadet self-titled. Maybe it ain't the Aareton Joulu 7'' but "Transvettitti" is one of the best Finnish hardcore songs ever bar none, maybe THE best.