Music you pretended to like

martin

----
This thread's also reminded me of an annoying ex who was convinced I just pretended to like things. She'd go "All that stuff by Wounded Nurse and books about German terrorists, you just have them around because you think they're cool and to impress people." I remember thinking, how many people do you think traipse through my fucking flat? And of course I think they're cool. But no, sure, it's all a pose...I hide my Snow Patrol CDs under the bed and cradle them when the goth chicks in the Myra Hindley T-shirts go home...
Think Luke mentioned some conspiracy blogger who was obsessed with Liz Fraser from Cocteau Twins.
He did a good breakdown of the lyrics of "Five Ten Fiftyfold", linking them to SARS! But...I'm not in a position to take the piss, seeing as I spent March-April 2020 caning that tune while reading The Wasteland and watching rolling pandemic updates. I honestly believe Head Over Heels is a precog concept album about Covid, esp. that song and Glass Candle Grenades. I was drinking a lot at the time, though.

Scritti are one of those bands I actually do want to like but they're just way too parodic. It's this stumbling bloc I can't get over.

Like this
Totally agree, that song is ABYSMAL. But some of the early stuff is OK, esp. the one with the news footage about the strikes and Carnival kicking off, or the one off the St Pancras EP (@subvert47 knows what I mean)

By the way, I always thought Gang of 4 on Cheeseburger were singing "Sieg heil, I'll put food on the table / I won't see my daughter go to the reds!" Turns out it was See how I will run the table / I won't see my dollar go where they rig it. Crap band anyway, IMO.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
This thread's also reminded me of an annoying ex who was convinced I just pretended to like things. She'd go "All that stuff by Wounded Nurse and books about German terrorists, you just have them around because you think they're cool and to impress people." I remember thinking, how many people do you think traipse through my fucking flat? And of course I think they're cool. But no, sure, it's all a pose...I hide my Snow Patrol CDs under the bed and cradle them when the goth chicks in the Myra Hindley T-shirts go home...

Was ripped from a different angle - for refusing to engage with Neil Diamond on the piss, couldn’t even half pretend. The more I resisted the more she dialled up the shite - Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville

Jimmy repeats the word floating and if you’re extremely, liver-damagingly drunk, it can take on a weird, warping, echoey effect in blizzard psychological chaos. Before you reach the precipice where only damage occurs, beyond the singularity blackout recipe, you’ve maybe 90mins of euphoric pseudo inspirational insights to crest, reigns in hand like a charioteer

You think hmmm, this Buffett cunt’s not wrong, alcohol is a floaty liquid, a floating liquid too. You inquire, cracked with thick ethanol blood, if he has anything else tune-wise? No. This is the only one. Stop trying to be cool with your vvvvv<<<{{§¥§¥§¥§}}>>vvvvv drug music, time for Sinatra
 
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mvuent

Void Dweller
I've never understood the Trout Mask Replica thing. To me, the absurdity or deconstruction or whatever is at the heart of its appeal, is nothing but homely indulgent jest. It's a funny swear word or a that uncle who could burp the alphabet.

Whereas something like this


is much more interesting, a real look into the abyss, a complete breakdown of the self.
being funny is less interesting than looking into the abyss? what if both qualities were present at once? tmr is aggressively stupid but it's poetic at the same time. sometimes the jester is the most interesting person in the court.
 

version

Well-known member
Was ripped from a different angle - for refusing to engage with Neil Diamond on the piss, couldn’t even half pretend. The more I resisted the more she dialled up the shite - Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville

Jimmy repeats the word floating and if you’re extremely, liver-damagingly drunk, it can take on a weird, warping, echoey effect in blizzard psychological chaos. Before you reach the precipice where only damage occurs, beyond the singularity blackout recipe, you’ve maybe 90mins of euphoric pseudo inspirational insights to crest, reigns in hand like a charioteer

You think hmmm, this Buffett cunt’s not wrong, alcohol is a floaty liquid, a floating liquid too. You inquire, cracked with thick ethanol blood, if he has anything else tune-wise? No. This is the only one. Stop trying to be cool with your vvvvv<<<{{§¥§¥§¥§}}>>vvvvv drug music, time for Sinatra

There's a fishing documentary called Tarpon with a decent Jimmy Buffett soundtrack; nice and lazy with shimmering shots of the Key West waters.

 

entertainment

Well-known member
being funny is less interesting than looking into the abyss? what if both qualities were present at once? tmr is aggressively stupid but it's poetic at the same time. sometimes the jester is the most interesting person in the court.
well for one thing, is it really funny? like actually laughing funny? it's "humorous" sure, but those kinds of words are just excuses.

the whole dada thing just registers as a sort of comfortable weirdness. for weirdness to have any value, it has to engage itself with some deeper level of "normalcy," everyday ways of being and seeing and constructing onself. the role of irony is to pull these taken-for-granted expressions out of their context and show them to be contingent and constructed so the deeper foundations are called into question. weirdness has to be existential, in another word.

when you are weird like trout mask replica is weird, saying all these absurd subversive things, then there is a claim involved that you have taken a step outside of everyday reality. otherwise what are you really doing? and to me there's is something in the music that doesn't hold up to that. something in the voice particularly I think. but also in the ambition of the music. yes it sounds strange to the ear but in another way it's still safe and normal. emotionally it just continues to feel sort of grounded in everyday expressions. so the weirdness becomes sort of shallow to me.

whereas the Buckley album, there is another wheightlessness to it completely. it sounds to me is someone who has really taken that step, cut off his footing in everyday normalcy, and is floating freely. the weirdness becomes psychedelic.

 

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
Do you hate all of it? Even Kicker Conspiracy or Bend Sinister?

Hate is a strong word. I just don't like most of the stuff with Brix. Okay, I do have This Nation's Saving Grace.

Brix isn't on Kicker Conspiracy. That's still just Craig Scanlon.
 

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
Scritti are one of those bands I actually do want to like but they're just way too parodic. It's this stumbling bloc I can't get over.

Like this


Green Gartside is the squarepusher of post-punk and synth pop don't deny it @blissblogger

Although one could argue that isn't necessarily a bad thing, inherently.

I like early Scritti; i.e. before Green kicked the rest of the band out and tried to make pop records. I wasn't interested after that.

An example of early Scritti...

 

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
But some of the early stuff is OK, esp. the one with the news footage about the strikes and Carnival kicking off, or the one off the St Pancras EP (@subvert47 knows what I mean)

yes :)

By the way, I always thought Gang of 4 on Cheeseburger were singing "Sieg heil, I'll put food on the table / I won't see my daughter go to the reds!" Turns out it was See how I will run the table / I won't see my dollar go where they rig it. Crap band anyway, IMO.

Nice to see you're getting into the spirit of this thread (y). I like the first GO4 records very much (with the exception of the first LP anyway). Just listen to Andy Gill let rip on this...

 

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
I think I pretended to like nick drake then got cross and pretended not to and then pretended again to be polite and now I don’t know if I like him or not. I think I probably do.

Pink Moon is great. As for the others, who tf thought it was a good idea to drape strings all over them? :rolleyes:
 
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entertainment

Well-known member
I don't think Trout Mask is all that weird. It's just a blues record really, albeit taken in some modernist direction.

As for Tim Buckley, I've always preferred Lorca... 😉

I've never listened to it Lorca actually. Will give it a try. As I recall it's the proverbial "transition" record, between early convention and later experimentation right?
 

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
I've never listened to it Lorca actually. Will give it a try. As I recall it's the proverbial "transition" record, between early convention and later experimentation right?

Pretty much, yes. Starsailor is a more complete, better realized album, but the title track from Lorca is just superb.
 

mvuent

Void Dweller
in my opinion, the problem with starsailor is that the whole dada thing just registers as a sort of comfortable weirdness. for weirdness to have any value, it has to engage itself with some deeper level of "normalcy," everyday ways of being and seeing and constructing onself. the role of irony is to pull these taken-for-granted expressions out of their context and show them to be contingent and constructed so the deeper foundations are called into question. weirdness has to be existential, in another word.

when you are weird like starsailor is weird, saying all these absurd subversive things, then there is a claim involved that you have taken a step outside of everyday reality. otherwise what are you really doing? and to me there's is something in the music that doesn't hold up to that. something in the voice particularly I think. but also in the ambition of the music. yes it sounds strange to the ear but in another way it's still safe and normal. emotionally it just continues to feel sort of grounded in everyday expressions. so the weirdness becomes sort of shallow to me.
 

DLaurent

Well-known member
Whitehouse. Ok I kind of like it but never enough to really listen that much. There's an element of pretence to listening to it but I think that's part of the point? Same with noisy stuff like Merzbow. Can't name much other music like that mind. I think I might have pretended to like some recent rap music, a kind of last gasp attempt at being cool or relevant before realising I'm not into it.
 

blissblogger

Well-known member
This is the only thing on Trout Mask I ever feel like playing


Otherwise it's Clear Spot all the way. And "Booglarize You, Baby"


Vocally Beefheart's whole thing is based in Howlin' Wolf. It's so much more enjoyable when the group, whether out of desire to make it or just avant exhaustion, relax into being an off-kilter white blues-boogie band, a bit to the left of the Groundhogs.
 

woops

is not like other people
Whitehouse. Ok I kind of like it but never enough to really listen that much. There's an element of pretence to listening to it but I think that's part of the point? Same with noisy stuff like Merzbow. Can't name much other music like that mind.
trust me theres a whole different universe of it out there, masonna, aube, CCCC, hijokaidan, incapacitants and a loooooot more

i agree though you often ask yourself why am i listening
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
trust me theres a whole different universe of it out there, masonna, aube, CCCC, hijokaidan, incapacitants and a loooooot more

i agree though you often ask yourself why am i listening

weirdly for me the noise stuff is some of the stuff where it's most clear why i'm listening. coz for me there's no point in putting it on unless I'm in a very specific mood where you listen to it closely and get something out of it. you can't just chuck it on in the background because it's just annoying in that circumstance. but it does definitely force you to think 'why am i listening to this'.
 

woops

is not like other people
there was already a FUCK of a lot of harsh noise music before it went "mainstream" in the 0s now there's wayyy more
 

version

Well-known member
Russell Haswell's done some good noise stuff. Hanatarash have some tunes too. And the eMego stuff like Pita.
 
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