OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
edited October 2019
There's a Dutch show called Beste Zangers that translates as either "Best Singers" or "Dear Singers" (and both are appropriate). The format is interesting: each year they recruit a selection of singers from various styles of music, and each week for the duration of the show one of the singers is honored and the other singers sing their own interpretations of songs that are meaningful to the singer in being honored (so it may mean songs they've written, songs they've performed, or songs that were otherwise important to them). There isn't a competition, other than that at the end of each episode, the singer being honored chooses one performer who touched them the most. They have one week to prepare their selections with the studio band (who are also incredible) and then they perform together in a one hour segment that intersperses interviews and context with the songs. Denise Hofs as provided English subtitles for us, so we can enjoy not just the songs, but also the full interview. It's by turns interesting, adorable, and tear-jerking. The chemistry and gentle friendliness of everyone is beautiful to watch.
I found out about it because Floor Jansen is on the show this year (ex After Forever, ex ReVamp, current front-woman for Nightwish). She of course is incredible in her interpretations of other people's songs:
I'm slowly working my way through the episodes, and while many of the songs aren't in English, the skill and emotion of the singers and the band is palpable and make it all worthwhile. We need something similar here in America.
Orca on
+2
BlackDragon480Bluster KerfuffleMaster of Windy ImportRegistered Userregular
edited October 2019
Agreed, I posted the solo Shallow cover right after that episode aired in the Netherlands, but none of the other awesome shit that went down. I find myself unusually drawn to this one:
Agreed, I posted the solo Shallow cover right after that episode aired in the Netherlands, but none of the other awesome shit that went down. I find myself unusually drawn to this one (snipped to avoid quote spam)
Seeing an opera/classical god decked out in jeans and a cowboy hat doing Your Man is a juxtaposition that my brain still doesn't fully accept.
And it's so well done! Country isn't really my thing, but that performance I find compelling in all the right ways.
+1
KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
edited October 2019
I'm a big fan of Helynt's remixes. They kill it at every front, and Game Chops just released another album by them in the same vein of the '& Chill' series called Super Lo-Fi World. It has a bunch of different game remixes in it and it's sweet.
I'm really enjoying the new Anamanaguchi as well. It's funny I first saw them at PAX East way back in 2010, after playing their lone EP released at the time to death.
I went up to their merch booth after to buy the album and they were super nice to me. Glad to see those guys are doing well.
I'm really enjoying the new Anamanaguchi as well. It's funny I first saw them at PAX East way back in 2010, after playing their lone EP released at the time to death.
I went up to their merch booth after to buy the album and they were super nice to me. Glad to see those guys are doing well.
Yeah, they've definitely branched out/grown beyond just straight chiptune stuff into a more interesting fusion with EDM. Hardly feels like the same band that put out Dawn Metropolis.
Man, there was a Reddit thread on underrated 10/10 songs and ELO's Twilight came up. First time I ever heard it and now I'm diving through a bunch of their discography. So good Such a great song, too.
Cedric & Omar (At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta) with Travis Barker (Blink-182). These songs are still unreleased, which is a real shame because they are KILLER:
Cedric & Omar (At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta) with Travis Barker (Blink-182). These songs are still unreleased, which is a real shame because they are KILLER:
I'm a huge At the Drive-in fan, seeing them a few years ago is easily a top 3 musical experience for me. This shit is great and as totally off my radar but I gotta wonder how they pitched this to Travis Barker.
Like they came up to him one day and said, "Sure you've sold millions of albums and have played in front of huge crowds and made a fortune over the last 20 years, but how would you like to work harder then you ever had before?"
These songs fuck.
RedTide#1907 on Battle.net
Come Overwatch with meeeee
Man, there was a Reddit thread on underrated 10/10 songs and ELO's Twilight came up. First time I ever heard it and now I'm diving through a bunch of their discography. So good Such a great song, too.
I'm a huge At the Drive-in fan, seeing them a few years ago is easily a top 3 musical experience for me. This shit is great and as totally off my radar but I gotta wonder how they pitched this to Travis Barker.
Like they came up to him one day and said, "Sure you've sold millions of albums and have played in front of huge crowds and made a fortune over the last 20 years, but how would you like to work harder then you ever had before?"
These songs fuck.
Relationship of Command is an all time favorite album for me. I saw them a couple years ago too and it was nuts. Based on Travis Barker's various side projects he seems like the kind of guy who's into all kinds of different shit. This was back in 2015 and I don't think there's been any word really since then, I hope the album gets released some day even though I'm sure they're busy with ATDI and supposedly bringing back Mars Volta too. And Travis is probably touring with Blink for the foreseeable future.
I'm a huge At the Drive-in fan, seeing them a few years ago is easily a top 3 musical experience for me. This shit is great and as totally off my radar but I gotta wonder how they pitched this to Travis Barker.
Like they came up to him one day and said, "Sure you've sold millions of albums and have played in front of huge crowds and made a fortune over the last 20 years, but how would you like to work harder then you ever had before?"
These songs fuck.
Relationship of Command is an all time favorite album for me. I saw them a couple years ago too and it was nuts. Based on Travis Barker's various side projects he seems like the kind of guy who's into all kinds of different shit. This was back in 2015 and I don't think there's been any word really since then, I hope the album gets released some day even though I'm sure they're busy with ATDI and supposedly bringing back Mars Volta too. And Travis is probably touring with Blink for the foreseeable future.
Last I checked ATDI is broken up again so I suppose there's more room for antemasque
RedTide#1907 on Battle.net
Come Overwatch with meeeee
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Who knew opera singers could drop bombs? Maria Fiselier just knocks it out of the park with her version of Eminem's Lose Yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YyuIkVSx-8
Getting to hear it in English lets you appreciate how beautiful the lyrics are, which is lost when listening to the original Portuguese.
0
KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
edited November 2019
I saw Tool in Philly at the Wells Fargo on Monday and they were fantastic live. If you have the chance, put up the money, it's worth it. They asked security to have a strict policy on no cameras including phones, so people weren't distracted with their devices until Maynard gave the okay to record the last song (which was Stinkfist). I actually appreciated that because it made me respect the performance and visuals more. They have amazing lighting and background visuals, and Dana Carey is a beast. The set was greatly varied as well with a good mix of old and new, they played Swamp Song (first live performance since 2007) and now I'm listening to Undertow again a bunch.
This is a bit of a hefty post and a very mild sort of puzzle; each song I've linked is a musical clue that can help "solve" the question at the end. And please note that in discussing songwriting/hitmakers, I don't want to diminish the contribution of performing artists in any way. That said....
One of the more amusing things about the music industry is when you pull back the curtain a bit and realize someone you're familiar with in one context is also responsible for writing a pile of recent hits in disparate genre (for other artists). One such hitmaker is Eric Frederic, frontman for "frequently on hiatus" Bay-area rock group Facing New York: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUaOvSoDrKI Get Hot was their second album, released in 2007, and shortly afterwards the band took a break for folks to raise families and finish grad school (etc, etc...); Frederic used this break as an opportunity to team up with drummer Arjun Singh and start making tongue-in-cheek lo-fi pop/funk under the moniker Wallpaper. From 2007 - 2012, much of their output was a lot like attempts at reproducing very specific sounds (e.g. "lets re-rewrite MJ's "Baby Be Mine"), and then slathering it in some Ariel Pink Special Sauce and mutilating it with heavily auto-tuned vocals. It's a bit of an acquired taste, but often super catchy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8HfN9xOwWY
Around 2012 they started getting some attention from Sony (through Epic), who helped them make a couple singles with heroes Too $hort and George Clinton ("Butt 2 Butt" and "Put Ur Attn on Me" respectively): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-amtTkJk10c
Now, I want to point out that since the start of Wallpaper, Frederic was operating under the alias of Ricky Reed, going so far as to have distinct credits for the contributions of both his work as himself and as Ricky Reed. After the previous pair of singles, Wallpaper gets pick up by Sony/Epic and they release one more album, Ricky Reed is Real, which I guess saw some decent play on radio and TV. It pulls a bit harder from his work with various rock artists in the sphere of Imagine Dragons, as well then popular club sounds, and it's much less enjoyable but still pretty interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dE-7-kBxXw
Presumably they toured for a bit (I think they played at one of the early Pitchfork festivals), but the band is shelved and Ricky Reed moves fully into the realm of songwriting. Which brings us to "the now", in which Ricky Reed is a multi-platinum songwriter and 2-time Grammy nominee. Before you go google his credits, I want you take some time to try and guess the "Ricky Reed" hit spoiled below:
According to Spotify Wrapped, my most-listened-to artists of the decade are The National, The Mountain Goats, Big Thief, Pinegrove, and Kool AD. I front like I'm a metalhead, but turns out I'm just a basic indie bitch (with some weirdo rap thrown in for fun (yes, I know Kool is cancelled now, this was from before all that)).
Tyler the Creator is hands down one of the most impressive artists, as someone who started out as an angry kid and blossomed into a LGBT icon, makes amazing music and in general make me smile. I'm also still a big fan of Kid Cudi, got me through a lot of tough times. I've cooled on Drake recently, but his older more ambient sounding albums are still amazing
Tomppabeats is the best lofi producer and I listen to him no lie every week doing chores/cleaning, at work or in the shower.
+3
KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
edited December 2019
My year is pretty biased because I listened to Oh Sleeper and Slipknot's album repeatedly since both have come out, and whenever I listen to The Dear Hunter I end up listening to all of the Acts.
Pretty good list of artists except for Attila which are trash haha. Guilty Pleasure and all that.
In 2015 my most listened to song was liquid swords and artist was John Williams
Lol
poo
+1
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
There's just something incredibly relaxing about sitting on a beach in the shade and listening to a song about the sea (which is what I'm doing as I post this, hah!):
Woo, so, ages ago when AV Club had this thing where artists would come in and do a cover from a list of songs, Wang Chung came in and did Third Planet by Modest Mouse. And then for some reason AV Club took down like all of their videos. Some of them got reuploaded by friendly internet souls, but some of them were seemingly lost to time. Someone on reddit tipped me off that there was this unlisted copy of it! It's not like, an amazing cover or anything, but I still think it's pretty good and enjoy it.
Posts
It showed me recently.
Caroline Polachek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn3cHUtNZKo
King Princess
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLJbYJzD-Y0
A few months ago it showed me
Sunflower bean which I do like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xykuu_pVZak
https://youtu.be/98XRKr19jIE
Here's the first episode for 2019.
I found out about it because Floor Jansen is on the show this year (ex After Forever, ex ReVamp, current front-woman for Nightwish). She of course is incredible in her interpretations of other people's songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M68pe4a_9zk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttfQqnskTO8
What surprised me was how good everyone else was.
Henk Poort's take on Disturbed's cover of Sound of Silence is amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_BJaM-UrXc
Floor Jansen and Tim Akkerman's duet version of Shallow is sublime:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pf7Xd3IVtU
Emma Heesters makes me cry (no seriously, I was literally sobbing after listening to this song an hour ago):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGYtFfgQoSQ
And Samantha Steenwijk just rocks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=von9Dt__PHg
Bonus Beauty and the Beast (classic Nightwish fare) but with Henk Poort playing the part of the Beast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plCScjvDOJM
I'm slowly working my way through the episodes, and while many of the songs aren't in English, the skill and emotion of the singers and the band is palpable and make it all worthwhile. We need something similar here in America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLjqFFUJeSI
Seeing an opera/classical god decked out in jeans and a cowboy hat doing Your Man is a juxtaposition that my brain still doesn't fully accept.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
And it's so well done! Country isn't really my thing, but that performance I find compelling in all the right ways.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hqf5_3tLt0
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOG0JemoTNo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnq1ApucY4g
As is the new Caroline Polachek album. Sounds kinda Imogen Heap-ish on some tracks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3d81NTZt2U
These are fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en1uwIzI3SE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEDDK0XLGfw
I went up to their merch booth after to buy the album and they were super nice to me. Glad to see those guys are doing well.
Yeah, they've definitely branched out/grown beyond just straight chiptune stuff into a more interesting fusion with EDM. Hardly feels like the same band that put out Dawn Metropolis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9RCAjasex4
It's a great song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NocXEwsJGOQ
She's hiding in your Wifi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GahTi1tJHTo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mNMe28rNuc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRkJ-mDED2s
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONxp_lLXWGk
Also led me to discovering the DAICON IV animation, which is blowing my mind a bit. Hand animated by fans and led to them starting Gainax. So cool!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-840keiiFDE
Album update!
https://youtu.be/dEspxEte8S8
https://youtu.be/rOHE4UsXzLU
I'm a huge At the Drive-in fan, seeing them a few years ago is easily a top 3 musical experience for me. This shit is great and as totally off my radar but I gotta wonder how they pitched this to Travis Barker.
Like they came up to him one day and said, "Sure you've sold millions of albums and have played in front of huge crowds and made a fortune over the last 20 years, but how would you like to work harder then you ever had before?"
These songs fuck.
Come Overwatch with meeeee
This is my favorite album! The whole album, Time, is a concept piece on, predictably, time and it's real real good.
Known about the Daicon III/IV stuff forever and it's real good too, yup! It uses two songs actually, 'Prologue' then 'Twilight'.
Relationship of Command is an all time favorite album for me. I saw them a couple years ago too and it was nuts. Based on Travis Barker's various side projects he seems like the kind of guy who's into all kinds of different shit. This was back in 2015 and I don't think there's been any word really since then, I hope the album gets released some day even though I'm sure they're busy with ATDI and supposedly bringing back Mars Volta too. And Travis is probably touring with Blink for the foreseeable future.
Last I checked ATDI is broken up again so I suppose there's more room for antemasque
Come Overwatch with meeeee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YyuIkVSx-8
Trijntje Oosterhuis with a beautiful, soulful version of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MNM_YIfUtk
And Glennis Grace can do justice to Whitney Houston:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u16OsA3_ct4
I tend towards metal more generally, but some of these performers are phenomenal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QN4fSkqTUw
Mash ups you say:
https://youtu.be/o-vHiR-GCzs
This one is more akin to a remix:
https://youtu.be/r7-aduHx5bo
~ Buckaroo Banzai
Also, TIL Art Garfunkel did an English cover of Águas de Marco. It's pretty alright!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A3W5v1dNNI
Getting to hear it in English lets you appreciate how beautiful the lyrics are, which is lost when listening to the original Portuguese.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnP2-Pc-plM
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
they were eating dinner next to me last night
One of the more amusing things about the music industry is when you pull back the curtain a bit and realize someone you're familiar with in one context is also responsible for writing a pile of recent hits in disparate genre (for other artists). One such hitmaker is Eric Frederic, frontman for "frequently on hiatus" Bay-area rock group Facing New York:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUaOvSoDrKI
Get Hot was their second album, released in 2007, and shortly afterwards the band took a break for folks to raise families and finish grad school (etc, etc...); Frederic used this break as an opportunity to team up with drummer Arjun Singh and start making tongue-in-cheek lo-fi pop/funk under the moniker Wallpaper. From 2007 - 2012, much of their output was a lot like attempts at reproducing very specific sounds (e.g. "lets re-rewrite MJ's "Baby Be Mine"), and then slathering it in some Ariel Pink Special Sauce and mutilating it with heavily auto-tuned vocals. It's a bit of an acquired taste, but often super catchy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8HfN9xOwWY
Around 2012 they started getting some attention from Sony (through Epic), who helped them make a couple singles with heroes Too $hort and George Clinton ("Butt 2 Butt" and "Put Ur Attn on Me" respectively):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-amtTkJk10c
Now, I want to point out that since the start of Wallpaper, Frederic was operating under the alias of Ricky Reed, going so far as to have distinct credits for the contributions of both his work as himself and as Ricky Reed. After the previous pair of singles, Wallpaper gets pick up by Sony/Epic and they release one more album, Ricky Reed is Real, which I guess saw some decent play on radio and TV. It pulls a bit harder from his work with various rock artists in the sphere of Imagine Dragons, as well then popular club sounds, and it's much less enjoyable but still pretty interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dE-7-kBxXw
Presumably they toured for a bit (I think they played at one of the early Pitchfork festivals), but the band is shelved and Ricky Reed moves fully into the realm of songwriting. Which brings us to "the now", in which Ricky Reed is a multi-platinum songwriter and 2-time Grammy nominee. Before you go google his credits, I want you take some time to try and guess the "Ricky Reed" hit spoiled below:
Tyler the Creator is hands down one of the most impressive artists, as someone who started out as an angry kid and blossomed into a LGBT icon, makes amazing music and in general make me smile. I'm also still a big fan of Kid Cudi, got me through a lot of tough times. I've cooled on Drake recently, but his older more ambient sounding albums are still amazing
Tomppabeats is the best lofi producer and I listen to him no lie every week doing chores/cleaning, at work or in the shower.
Pretty good list of artists except for Attila which are trash haha. Guilty Pleasure and all that.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
Also, I don't know if I should be embarrassed or not that my most listened to song of the decade was Werewolf Bar Mitzvah. Damn good song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25EYLtqiyTo
Lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyOaQ5riqj8
In a more ambient vibe, We Are All Astronauts is a great band name who also do great ambient songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fFbeSykaJk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmnePfvk4L4&feature=youtu.be
Edit: Huh, I guess it can't be linked/embedded? Tis a sad state of affairs.
Double edit: They also put it in a streamable format! Woo!
https://streamable.com/8qgfq
There is a lot of good metal on here
Most Played: Earth - Full Upon Her Burning Lips
Best King Gizzard Album: Infest the Rats’ Nest
Best Black Metal Album: Mizmor - Cairn
Best Album With Tomb in the Title: Ossuarium - Living Tomb
Best Pop Album Masquerading as A Metal Album: Inferi - End of an Era (Rebirth)
Best Death Metal Album: Witch Vomit - Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave
Best Punk Album: Mannequin Pussy - Patience
Best Folk Album: Big Thief - Two Hands
Most Cinematic Album: Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
Best Album That Sounds Like it was recorded 10 years ago: Vivian Girls - Memory
Best Album to Come from #metoo: Lingua Ignota - Caligula
Best Stoner Doom Album: Marijannah - Instanah
Best Psychedelic Album That Will Make You Wish for Warm Weather: Khana Bierbood - Strangers from the Far East