New song "Fragile" from Jon Anderson + Rick Wakeman + Trevor Rabin.
Haven't heard it yet, but the response sounds good. I'm impressed that we finally got something from these guys, as they have been kind of touring as nostalgia for the most part. But maybe this will mean a full album at some point.
also who plays the drums?
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Saturday, July 28, 2018
OT: HBO's Westworld (+Movies)
I just finished watching Season 2 of Westworld on HBO.
I don't think I wrote about or made a podcast about Westworld, not even the movie or sequel. Maybe a podcast, I forget. Even if I did, I likely didn't upload it.
So, long explanation as short as possible. I meant to, but not until the last few months, finally watched Westworld the movie and the sequel Futureworld. I enjoyed both, especially the original. Richard Benjamin, James Brolin and Yul Brenner are all really good in it. No resolution really for Dick Van Patten's character, but so be it.
It influenced a ton of stories, namely in Hollywood and Scifi. Terminator especially, among some others (Blade Runner in some ways, Jurassic Park of course being that Michael Crichton directed it).
Futureworld with Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner I then checked out and while I didn't enjoy it as much as Westworld, I still found it good, and an interesting sequel. The use of reporters going to the park and the park having Space shuttle trips. And then people being replaced by robot copies, etc.
It's not a bad sequel, especially as far as sequels go.
I have not, but still mean to even check out the short-lived TV Series in the early 80's Beyond Westworld. Although the only places it seems to be available are on Amazon (and not available with Prime), or by going through like ioffer or ebay I guess. And I've heard it's not great. It has Connie Sellecca in the cast. But it only lasted 5 episodes, and was a bit different than even Futureworld. But I would still like to see it soon. But I may not have a choice but to buy it online.
So then I finally last month checked out the HBO Re-imagining show, Season 1 DVD from the library. And I binged through it in less than a week. Good show! Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton, Jimmi Simpson and among the other cast, Evan Rachel Wood and Tessa Thompson who I have liked their past work for the most part, that I have seen.
And Season 1 I guess I enjoyed overall, even with the budget, stars, and interpretive story from the original. Overall it seemed to work. I really liked Jimi Simpson, as I have liked the stuff I've seen him in the past (Psych namely). Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins and Jeffrey Wright.
And Thandie Newton's character Maeve maybe stood out as much as anyone. The way her character is empowered and takes over, she was definitely one to care about, and root for, even how in the finale she goes back to save her daughter (written in her code, from a distant past story).
Was it confusing? maybe somewhat, especially when they reveal a few things in the last few episodes about Bernard/Arnold and William/The Man in Black.
So now having seen the 2nd season, they seemed to have the Hosts takeover and confuse us on who may be a host, and who is not.
I can say this though:
I enjoyed the Shogun world episodes and the Ghost Country (Native American) episode quite a lot. I enjoyed the Lee character for comic-relief.
And I stuck on Ed Harris's Man in Black side, and the various versions of Bernard that was portrayed, both in and out of the Cradle.
And I actually kind of liked the introduction of William's daughter, along with that simulation thing/idea of Delos trying to become immortal, and with a glitch.
But here's where the show started to get to me:
The lead (or 1 of the leads) character of Dolores and/or Wyatt played by Evan Rachel Wood, I didn't love in the 1st season, although I suppose she was tolerable. I never felt strongly for her, although I do like how she gains sentience or whatever. But, the way they had her character become so ruthless and combative just lost much if any connection for her.
And even worse, Tessa Thompson's character of Charlotte honestly has been incredibly annoying and cold from the 1st scene she was in. For one, there's no reason to see her as an authority really. She's too young really, and I just don't buy her in that role. And the 2nd season she seems to be even more annoying and full of herself and a control freak.
I honestly was hoping Dolores would have been able to kill her with the electric saw.
But then the way the season ends with Dolores dying and then I guess having her consciousness in a Host version of Charlotte, after Charlotte is shot and killed...no no no no!
blech.
It's like doubling the poisons, and combining the 2 worst characters on this show into one.
I mean I guess I will watch Season 3 and see if Tessa Thompson can change my mind, but having her act like Evan Rachel Wood's Dolores character just..at best is the lesser of 2 evils.
Plus the confusion is through the roof about timeframes of clips, where and when things happened. Are they in the Cradle? is it in the past or Future? is it in the Hosts minds? Whose a Host?
William cannot be a host at least in many of the stories he is.
I mean do the Hosts age? I assume they don't. Why he can't be, and nor the daughter.
1 theory I read is the extra scene with William with his daughter (who supposedly he shot) it is in the distant future, and it's actually a future Host version of William and presumably, the daughter who is interviewing him.
I mean this show is like Lost or BSG in a lot of ways, I just kind of feel they are raising too many questions and definitely not answering the ones raised and asked frequently.
Or it just feels excessively Self-Indulgent.
Will they base a lot of Season 3 in The Valley Beyond? The Cradle? is this The Matrix? and will there be Soul transferring up the wazoo? lol. That is where it fully loses me. I really don't know if I will buy into having Cast Members portraying other roles..it's just excessive and maybe okay for 1 episode, but how many and for how long?
I dunno, it's a big mess in so many ways. And it makes the original film start to seem like it will dwarf the end result with this.
Kind of how I felt about True Blood by jumping ship by the 3rd season. The story and plots just got way too contrived and out of whack, I didn't feel it was worth investing my time with it.
Whereas Breaking Bad or Babylon 5 (or Deep Space 9 of course) were more or less the right length and never got too excessive, self-indulgent or contrived really.
And for one, how many characters were killed off Season 2 of this show?..Lee, Angela, Elsie, Clementine? Hector, even Teddy in some ways. Armistice..a bunch of others. Emily, William's daughter included.
I mean sure, if they are hosts or the virtual/matrix/cradle etc they can all comeback ala Anthony Hopkins did, but at some point it's going to feel almost pointless to care for if they live or die I guess.
I guess I still enjoy this show, and will watch Season 3, but it is frustrating and longing for the show to end sooner than later.
that all being said, I would consider this among the better shows currently on television still, and I am glad I finally have seen it
I don't think I wrote about or made a podcast about Westworld, not even the movie or sequel. Maybe a podcast, I forget. Even if I did, I likely didn't upload it.
So, long explanation as short as possible. I meant to, but not until the last few months, finally watched Westworld the movie and the sequel Futureworld. I enjoyed both, especially the original. Richard Benjamin, James Brolin and Yul Brenner are all really good in it. No resolution really for Dick Van Patten's character, but so be it.
It influenced a ton of stories, namely in Hollywood and Scifi. Terminator especially, among some others (Blade Runner in some ways, Jurassic Park of course being that Michael Crichton directed it).
Futureworld with Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner I then checked out and while I didn't enjoy it as much as Westworld, I still found it good, and an interesting sequel. The use of reporters going to the park and the park having Space shuttle trips. And then people being replaced by robot copies, etc.
It's not a bad sequel, especially as far as sequels go.
I have not, but still mean to even check out the short-lived TV Series in the early 80's Beyond Westworld. Although the only places it seems to be available are on Amazon (and not available with Prime), or by going through like ioffer or ebay I guess. And I've heard it's not great. It has Connie Sellecca in the cast. But it only lasted 5 episodes, and was a bit different than even Futureworld. But I would still like to see it soon. But I may not have a choice but to buy it online.
So then I finally last month checked out the HBO Re-imagining show, Season 1 DVD from the library. And I binged through it in less than a week. Good show! Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton, Jimmi Simpson and among the other cast, Evan Rachel Wood and Tessa Thompson who I have liked their past work for the most part, that I have seen.
And Season 1 I guess I enjoyed overall, even with the budget, stars, and interpretive story from the original. Overall it seemed to work. I really liked Jimi Simpson, as I have liked the stuff I've seen him in the past (Psych namely). Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins and Jeffrey Wright.
And Thandie Newton's character Maeve maybe stood out as much as anyone. The way her character is empowered and takes over, she was definitely one to care about, and root for, even how in the finale she goes back to save her daughter (written in her code, from a distant past story).
Was it confusing? maybe somewhat, especially when they reveal a few things in the last few episodes about Bernard/Arnold and William/The Man in Black.
So now having seen the 2nd season, they seemed to have the Hosts takeover and confuse us on who may be a host, and who is not.
I can say this though:
I enjoyed the Shogun world episodes and the Ghost Country (Native American) episode quite a lot. I enjoyed the Lee character for comic-relief.
And I stuck on Ed Harris's Man in Black side, and the various versions of Bernard that was portrayed, both in and out of the Cradle.
And I actually kind of liked the introduction of William's daughter, along with that simulation thing/idea of Delos trying to become immortal, and with a glitch.
But here's where the show started to get to me:
The lead (or 1 of the leads) character of Dolores and/or Wyatt played by Evan Rachel Wood, I didn't love in the 1st season, although I suppose she was tolerable. I never felt strongly for her, although I do like how she gains sentience or whatever. But, the way they had her character become so ruthless and combative just lost much if any connection for her.
And even worse, Tessa Thompson's character of Charlotte honestly has been incredibly annoying and cold from the 1st scene she was in. For one, there's no reason to see her as an authority really. She's too young really, and I just don't buy her in that role. And the 2nd season she seems to be even more annoying and full of herself and a control freak.
I honestly was hoping Dolores would have been able to kill her with the electric saw.
But then the way the season ends with Dolores dying and then I guess having her consciousness in a Host version of Charlotte, after Charlotte is shot and killed...no no no no!
blech.
It's like doubling the poisons, and combining the 2 worst characters on this show into one.
I mean I guess I will watch Season 3 and see if Tessa Thompson can change my mind, but having her act like Evan Rachel Wood's Dolores character just..at best is the lesser of 2 evils.
Plus the confusion is through the roof about timeframes of clips, where and when things happened. Are they in the Cradle? is it in the past or Future? is it in the Hosts minds? Whose a Host?
William cannot be a host at least in many of the stories he is.
I mean do the Hosts age? I assume they don't. Why he can't be, and nor the daughter.
1 theory I read is the extra scene with William with his daughter (who supposedly he shot) it is in the distant future, and it's actually a future Host version of William and presumably, the daughter who is interviewing him.
I mean this show is like Lost or BSG in a lot of ways, I just kind of feel they are raising too many questions and definitely not answering the ones raised and asked frequently.
Or it just feels excessively Self-Indulgent.
Will they base a lot of Season 3 in The Valley Beyond? The Cradle? is this The Matrix? and will there be Soul transferring up the wazoo? lol. That is where it fully loses me. I really don't know if I will buy into having Cast Members portraying other roles..it's just excessive and maybe okay for 1 episode, but how many and for how long?
I dunno, it's a big mess in so many ways. And it makes the original film start to seem like it will dwarf the end result with this.
Kind of how I felt about True Blood by jumping ship by the 3rd season. The story and plots just got way too contrived and out of whack, I didn't feel it was worth investing my time with it.
Whereas Breaking Bad or Babylon 5 (or Deep Space 9 of course) were more or less the right length and never got too excessive, self-indulgent or contrived really.
And for one, how many characters were killed off Season 2 of this show?..Lee, Angela, Elsie, Clementine? Hector, even Teddy in some ways. Armistice..a bunch of others. Emily, William's daughter included.
I mean sure, if they are hosts or the virtual/matrix/cradle etc they can all comeback ala Anthony Hopkins did, but at some point it's going to feel almost pointless to care for if they live or die I guess.
I guess I still enjoy this show, and will watch Season 3, but it is frustrating and longing for the show to end sooner than later.
that all being said, I would consider this among the better shows currently on television still, and I am glad I finally have seen it
Thursday, July 26, 2018
Get Well MICHAEL NESMITH!
7/26/18
Rollingstone Article
QUADRUPLE BYPASS SURGERY.
😨😱😲
😥😌😌😌😌😌😌😌
I guess the news last month when the tour dates got postponed was more serious than he wanted to let the public know.
It's a relief, and this procedure took place last month. I just hope going forward with the tour dates still makes sense.
6/21/18
I never got around to writing a review of the Mike and Micky show in Chicago 1-week ago tonight, which the wife and I saw, was a good show, and Mike especially seemed to be in very good spirits.
And this tour, had never happened before with just Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz together only.
edit: the story on ultimateclassicrock via TMZ may not be completely accurate.
There's also planned a 1st National Band tour in September, which includes Chicago. Nesmith also is scheduled to make an appearance at at least 1 of the Comic-Cons, maybe next month? I forget.
Oddly enough, the 1st National Band live album which comes from the LA Troubadour show the wife and I were at.
See here (the show I and my wife attended)
Anyway, this puts a big of a damper on everything with Nez and even the show to an extent we saw. He didn't lose consciousness at least, but it certainly is alarming. His health is obviously is most important.
The Monkees Tour twitter mentions planning to reschedule the shows, which hopefully they can, but if they can't, I and I'm sure most fans would just wish him a full recovery.
I do wonder if this tour would have been best to be short/shorter. Kind of like what Rick Wakeman has said about doing short tours or special one-off shows.
Please Get Well Nez! If you and Micky aren't able to makeup the remaining shows, that is okay. And sadly, even if you can't make Comic-Con or the 1st National Band dates in September. Your health is more important.
edit 2: Andrew Sandoval on Facebook (of Rhino Records and sort of an official/unofficial manager for The Monkees), confirmed a few details. Nez was never at The Keswick, there was no soundcheck.
I am sorry to report that the final 4 dates of The Monkees Tour will be postponed till January. Michael Nesmith has not been feeling well and will be recuperating in the meantime. We will return to the good clean fun as soon as possible.
Rollingstone Article
QUADRUPLE BYPASS SURGERY.
😨😱😲
His doctors weren’t sure about sending him home even after
a month, but he convinced them he’d heal faster in his own environment.
“I think, candidly, I’m back to 80 percent,” he says. “I feel like I’m
increasing exponentially daily, or at least by orders of five or six
percent at a time. I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. My
thinking is clear and I know who I am and where I am. It all feels like a
natural healing process.”
Things are going so well that he’s going ahead with a
previously planned First National Band tour that kicks off September 7th
in Houston and wraps up September 23rd in Ridgefield, Connecticut. He
played a short California club tour with a new incarnation of his pioneering country rock band earlier this year,
but this is his first nationwide tour with them since their 1972 split.
“Most of it is sold out, so that was really encouraging,” he says. “I
thought the First National Band was just marginal and had been tossed
away by the Monkees powers and nobody liked them.”
😥😌😌😌😌😌😌😌
I guess the news last month when the tour dates got postponed was more serious than he wanted to let the public know.
It's a relief, and this procedure took place last month. I just hope going forward with the tour dates still makes sense.
6/21/18
Unfortunately, due to health issues, tonight's show and the remainder of The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show have been canceled. Michael & Micky look forward to rescheduling these shows as soon as they can. pic.twitter.com/m0SgUaxQOz— The Monkees (@themonkeestour) June 21, 2018
I never got around to writing a review of the Mike and Micky show in Chicago 1-week ago tonight, which the wife and I saw, was a good show, and Mike especially seemed to be in very good spirits.
And this tour, had never happened before with just Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz together only.
edit: the story on ultimateclassicrock via TMZ may not be completely accurate.
There's also planned a 1st National Band tour in September, which includes Chicago. Nesmith also is scheduled to make an appearance at at least 1 of the Comic-Cons, maybe next month? I forget.
Oddly enough, the 1st National Band live album which comes from the LA Troubadour show the wife and I were at.
See here (the show I and my wife attended)
Anyway, this puts a big of a damper on everything with Nez and even the show to an extent we saw. He didn't lose consciousness at least, but it certainly is alarming. His health is obviously is most important.
The Monkees Tour twitter mentions planning to reschedule the shows, which hopefully they can, but if they can't, I and I'm sure most fans would just wish him a full recovery.
I do wonder if this tour would have been best to be short/shorter. Kind of like what Rick Wakeman has said about doing short tours or special one-off shows.
Please Get Well Nez! If you and Micky aren't able to makeup the remaining shows, that is okay. And sadly, even if you can't make Comic-Con or the 1st National Band dates in September. Your health is more important.
edit 2: Andrew Sandoval on Facebook (of Rhino Records and sort of an official/unofficial manager for The Monkees), confirmed a few details. Nez was never at The Keswick, there was no soundcheck.
I am sorry to report that the final 4 dates of The Monkees Tour will be postponed till January. Michael Nesmith has not been feeling well and will be recuperating in the meantime. We will return to the good clean fun as soon as possible.
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
REACT TO: Radical Research: Episode 10 GINNCORE
I want to say before getting into the Reaction-To, I am really glad they made this podcast about this style of rock music as I wish more podcasts, youtube videos, articles and discussion took place about it.
And I do enjoy both of their opinions and these discussions as I not only have checked out this one, but a few older ones (the 1 on Italian prog for example, and Ulver both were enjoyable discussion topics).
Radical Research Episode 10 Podcast Link
Cave In
Glassjaw
Mew
The Mars Volta
Deftones
Coheed and Cambria
Three
dredg
Fair to Midland
mentioned but not in detail:
Circa Survive
Jolly
dismissed:
System of a Down
Oceansize
Protest the Hero-too metal/metalcore?
I could make this an extensive criticism if I wanted to and found the time, and even the fact they recorded their longest podcast at nearly 2 hours for this topic, but I will try and limit this Reaction-to as much as I can (or maybe do a 2nd? lol..more likely a spinoff and/or a podcast of my own which could go on for 2 hours as well, but I probably would burn out after no longer than 45 or 50 minutes only due to the fact I was just talking to myself for that long).
First off, I agree on the time frame for the most part, as the bands and this very hard to describe style of Rock and Pop music really came to be in the 2000's. Now semantics of course, but like words like "pretentious" and "listens"..using the term "Oughts/0ughts" is frankly poor use and rather annoying. It is only 1 level removed from "naughties/noughties/n0ughties" blech.
For the love of God, please Call the fucking decade "THE 2000's/TWO-THOUSAND's."
But of course they won't and so much media won't maybe for decades to come when they finally get it.
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2nd point, "Ginncore" while they explained how the term came up per Hunter Ginn's name and they couldn't really find a good word describe these bands. I guess based on that, the style could be just called Allmediareviews-Rock or Allmediareviews-Rock for the 21st Century, lol.
It's purely arbitrary and more or less in no way describes the bands sound or even aesthetic really other than the word "core" referring to coming or having elements of Hardcore Punk Rock.
The bands also that fall-into "Ginncore" and don't? So Deftones, Glassjaw and Circa Survive do but System of a Down and Oceansize do not? eh, okay.
I would argue being "progressive" or even having a "prog rock" sound/style/influence etc, SOAD and Oceansize find that territory A LOT MORE than those 3.
Cave In? meh, maybe. I can follow why some consider them having progressive elements, I just never could get fully into them. I recall liking either 1 of their EPs, or a few of the songs some of the Kaddisfly fans suggested. But then when I checked like Jupiter it may have been, I was a little underwhelmed. I dunno, they may be a band I could check out again and enjoy more.
I do like some of the names they brought up, the DNA having Faith No More and Jane's Addiction. And even Jeff's point about bands from the late 70's like 10cc, Crack the Sky? (I should hear more from them I guess) and some others who combined pop/power-pop with progressive and/or art rock well.
I.e. bands who weren't pure prog rock, but used it within their songwriting to be melodic and yet artsy.
Those traits didn't begin with Radiohead and Tool really..look at King's X or Jellyfish or Kevin Gilbert or XTC or Tears for Fears (even U2 in some ways), and yes, go back to the 70's, even some of the 60's to a point.
Art-Pop-Rock?
Maybe 1 good way ti describe this stuff is "Art Pop/Rock?"
and for the 2000's, call a lot of it Heavy Art Pop-Rock?
dunno.
The names they included, The Mars Volta, dredg, Three, Coheed, Fair to Midland, and Mew even who maybe a bit of an outlier among that group, all fit/make sense. However maybe not now, but later tonight, I will try and come out up with 10 or maybe even 20 others that I would consider essential among this stuff.
anticipate an EDIT?
I think 1 or 2 that totally would make sense are Oceansize and The Dear Hunter (and TREOS even). Why they didn't mention The Dear Hunter? maybe they don't like or even know them. And I suppose they also have found more attention in the 2010's (TWENTY-TENS) I guess. But this decade, they can be argued to among if not the most important band in this style (Heavy Art Pop/Rock or my term PCR=Progressive College Rock.......or PCPR= Progressive College Pop-Rock ?).
Also the lack of "Post Rock" (and "Math Rock") is surprising, but perhaps they will do another podcast about that or the umbrella of this style.
Okay, so I've selected 10-15 bands/artists of both decades this Century beyond the 6 names they included in their podcast that I consider essential (dredg, The Mars Volta, Mew, Coheed, Three and Fair to Midland).
Obviously there are many others I could include (The Decembersists, Karnivool, 22 and many more).
I guess I think of these artists as important and at least somewhat prolific other than say The River Empires
edit:
2000's (Two Thousands)
Anathallo
Apes and Androids/Call Florence Pow
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Kaddisfly
Kiss Kiss
Muse
Oceansize
Ours
Porcupine Tree
Pure Reason Revolution
2010's (Twenty-Tens)
Anathema
Bend Sinister
Bent Knee
The Family Crest
Foals
Kimbra
Major Parkinson
Pepe Deluxe
Janelle Monae
The Reign of Kindo/Kindo
The River Empires
Small Leaks Sink Ships
Steven Wilson
And I do enjoy both of their opinions and these discussions as I not only have checked out this one, but a few older ones (the 1 on Italian prog for example, and Ulver both were enjoyable discussion topics).
Radical Research Episode 10 Podcast Link
Cave In
Glassjaw
Mew
The Mars Volta
Deftones
Coheed and Cambria
Three
dredg
Fair to Midland
mentioned but not in detail:
Circa Survive
Jolly
dismissed:
System of a Down
Oceansize
Protest the Hero-too metal/metalcore?
I could make this an extensive criticism if I wanted to and found the time, and even the fact they recorded their longest podcast at nearly 2 hours for this topic, but I will try and limit this Reaction-to as much as I can (or maybe do a 2nd? lol..more likely a spinoff and/or a podcast of my own which could go on for 2 hours as well, but I probably would burn out after no longer than 45 or 50 minutes only due to the fact I was just talking to myself for that long).
First off, I agree on the time frame for the most part, as the bands and this very hard to describe style of Rock and Pop music really came to be in the 2000's. Now semantics of course, but like words like "pretentious" and "listens"..using the term "Oughts/0ughts" is frankly poor use and rather annoying. It is only 1 level removed from "naughties/noughties/n0ughties" blech.
For the love of God, please Call the fucking decade "THE 2000's/TWO-THOUSAND's."
But of course they won't and so much media won't maybe for decades to come when they finally get it.
. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . ,.-‘”. . . . . . . . . .“~.,
. . . . . . . .. . . . . .,.-”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .“-.,
. . . . .. . . . . . ..,/. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ”:,
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. . . . . ../.`~,. . ..`-.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..\. . /\
. . . . . . \`~.*-,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..|,./…..\,__
,,_. . . . . }.>-._\. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|. . . . . . ..`=~-,
. .. `=~-,_\_. . . `\,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\
. . . . . . . . . .`=~-,,.\,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\
2nd point, "Ginncore" while they explained how the term came up per Hunter Ginn's name and they couldn't really find a good word describe these bands. I guess based on that, the style could be just called Allmediareviews-Rock or Allmediareviews-Rock for the 21st Century, lol.
It's purely arbitrary and more or less in no way describes the bands sound or even aesthetic really other than the word "core" referring to coming or having elements of Hardcore Punk Rock.
The bands also that fall-into "Ginncore" and don't? So Deftones, Glassjaw and Circa Survive do but System of a Down and Oceansize do not? eh, okay.
I would argue being "progressive" or even having a "prog rock" sound/style/influence etc, SOAD and Oceansize find that territory A LOT MORE than those 3.
Cave In? meh, maybe. I can follow why some consider them having progressive elements, I just never could get fully into them. I recall liking either 1 of their EPs, or a few of the songs some of the Kaddisfly fans suggested. But then when I checked like Jupiter it may have been, I was a little underwhelmed. I dunno, they may be a band I could check out again and enjoy more.
I do like some of the names they brought up, the DNA having Faith No More and Jane's Addiction. And even Jeff's point about bands from the late 70's like 10cc, Crack the Sky? (I should hear more from them I guess) and some others who combined pop/power-pop with progressive and/or art rock well.
I.e. bands who weren't pure prog rock, but used it within their songwriting to be melodic and yet artsy.
Those traits didn't begin with Radiohead and Tool really..look at King's X or Jellyfish or Kevin Gilbert or XTC or Tears for Fears (even U2 in some ways), and yes, go back to the 70's, even some of the 60's to a point.
Art-Pop-Rock?
Maybe 1 good way ti describe this stuff is "Art Pop/Rock?"
and for the 2000's, call a lot of it Heavy Art Pop-Rock?
dunno.
The names they included, The Mars Volta, dredg, Three, Coheed, Fair to Midland, and Mew even who maybe a bit of an outlier among that group, all fit/make sense. However maybe not now, but later tonight, I will try and come out up with 10 or maybe even 20 others that I would consider essential among this stuff.
anticipate an EDIT?
I think 1 or 2 that totally would make sense are Oceansize and The Dear Hunter (and TREOS even). Why they didn't mention The Dear Hunter? maybe they don't like or even know them. And I suppose they also have found more attention in the 2010's (TWENTY-TENS) I guess. But this decade, they can be argued to among if not the most important band in this style (Heavy Art Pop/Rock or my term PCR=Progressive College Rock.......or PCPR= Progressive College Pop-Rock ?).
Also the lack of "Post Rock" (and "Math Rock") is surprising, but perhaps they will do another podcast about that or the umbrella of this style.
Okay, so I've selected 10-15 bands/artists of both decades this Century beyond the 6 names they included in their podcast that I consider essential (dredg, The Mars Volta, Mew, Coheed, Three and Fair to Midland).
Obviously there are many others I could include (The Decembersists, Karnivool, 22 and many more).
I guess I think of these artists as important and at least somewhat prolific other than say The River Empires
edit:
2000's (Two Thousands)
Anathallo
Apes and Androids/Call Florence Pow
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Kaddisfly
Kiss Kiss
Muse
Oceansize
Ours
Porcupine Tree
Pure Reason Revolution
2010's (Twenty-Tens)
Anathema
Bend Sinister
Bent Knee
The Family Crest
Foals
Kimbra
Major Parkinson
Pepe Deluxe
Janelle Monae
The Reign of Kindo/Kindo
The River Empires
Small Leaks Sink Ships
Steven Wilson
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Radical Research Podcast (Metal, Prog, Misc)
http://radicalresearch.org/
This is a relatively new Podcast that I recall hearing about a few months ago, but didn't manage to check out until this past weekend.
And their latest episode, number 10, is about "Ginncore" or my favorite description, progressive college rock (alt/alternative prog, new-prog, indie-prog). I.e. bands/artists who were influences or share some common traits to the likes of Radiohead, Tool, Sigur Ros and The Mars Volta among others.
This podcast has 2 music fanatics like myself, Jeff Wagner who wrote the progressive metal book a few years back Mean Deviation, and Hunter Ginn.
Jeff now works for the progressive rock record label Inside Out music along with writing other books. He previously was the editor of Metal Maniacs magazine for 5 years.
Hunter Ginn, I honestly don't recall all that much about, but I stumbled across a post he made about the podcast on one of the handful of Perpetual Motion message boards.
edit: he is a journlist who writes about Metal, but I'm not certain for what/where. Metal Archives? maybe among other sites. He also is the drummer for the prog band Canvas Solaris.
The 2 of them both love music, Metal, Prog and other types. And very much into the obscure and ALBUMS more than just individual tunes.
So I haven't listened to it yet, but their 10th episode was just uploaded today (7/24/18) and is their longest at nearly 2 hours long.
I haven't listened to it yet unfortunately, but I will share it:
Ginncore Episode aka HEAVY progressive college rock
If this is as focused as I imagine it is, I'll likely post a REACT-TO entry soon (maybe tonight or
tomorrow).
I'm sure there will be a lot of bands that won't be brought up, and some I may be surprised were (like The Deftones, Glassjaw and Failure per from what I've heard of all of them, I don't know if I would consider them progressive rock really. Glassjaw though were lumped in with Kaddisfly and Fair to Midland at 1 point, but I sensed they really were much closer to purely Post-Hardcore punk rock than the progressive styles of The Mars Volta, Kaddisfly or Fair to Midland).
Also given the 2 people from this podcast are consumers of large amount of progressive rock, and namely MODERN progressive rock, some of the folks I know on other sites/platforms that would be cool to see interact with them perhaps (beyond someone like Greg Massi of The Color of Air podcast/Baliset and other bands along with formerly of the bands maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot. Who had Jeff Wagner once on his podcast).
It would be cool to include the likes of:
Josh Rundquist (That Drummer Guy)
Jordan Blum (Popmatters, Examiner?, The Prog Report, + others)
Neesh (Neeshcast)
Lorenzo Barbagli (altprogcore)
Roie Avin (The Prog Report)
Anil Prasad (Innerviews)
Notes Reviews (YouTube)
It would be great to get some kind of collaboration or roundtable discussion like The Prog Squad did (and maybe still do under Mark Ashby's Progtopia podcast now).
But time/timing and desire may never see that happen. But in the mean time, Radical Research is a cool new podcast that is doing that, and I suppose 1 part is the METAL DNA of both the hosts. Which is just 1-part, but
This is a relatively new Podcast that I recall hearing about a few months ago, but didn't manage to check out until this past weekend.
And their latest episode, number 10, is about "Ginncore" or my favorite description, progressive college rock (alt/alternative prog, new-prog, indie-prog). I.e. bands/artists who were influences or share some common traits to the likes of Radiohead, Tool, Sigur Ros and The Mars Volta among others.
This podcast has 2 music fanatics like myself, Jeff Wagner who wrote the progressive metal book a few years back Mean Deviation, and Hunter Ginn.
Jeff now works for the progressive rock record label Inside Out music along with writing other books. He previously was the editor of Metal Maniacs magazine for 5 years.
Hunter Ginn, I honestly don't recall all that much about, but I stumbled across a post he made about the podcast on one of the handful of Perpetual Motion message boards.
edit: he is a journlist who writes about Metal, but I'm not certain for what/where. Metal Archives? maybe among other sites. He also is the drummer for the prog band Canvas Solaris.
The 2 of them both love music, Metal, Prog and other types. And very much into the obscure and ALBUMS more than just individual tunes.
So I haven't listened to it yet, but their 10th episode was just uploaded today (7/24/18) and is their longest at nearly 2 hours long.
I haven't listened to it yet unfortunately, but I will share it:
Ginncore Episode aka HEAVY progressive college rock
If this is as focused as I imagine it is, I'll likely post a REACT-TO entry soon (maybe tonight or
tomorrow).
I'm sure there will be a lot of bands that won't be brought up, and some I may be surprised were (like The Deftones, Glassjaw and Failure per from what I've heard of all of them, I don't know if I would consider them progressive rock really. Glassjaw though were lumped in with Kaddisfly and Fair to Midland at 1 point, but I sensed they really were much closer to purely Post-Hardcore punk rock than the progressive styles of The Mars Volta, Kaddisfly or Fair to Midland).
Also given the 2 people from this podcast are consumers of large amount of progressive rock, and namely MODERN progressive rock, some of the folks I know on other sites/platforms that would be cool to see interact with them perhaps (beyond someone like Greg Massi of The Color of Air podcast/Baliset and other bands along with formerly of the bands maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot. Who had Jeff Wagner once on his podcast).
It would be cool to include the likes of:
Josh Rundquist (That Drummer Guy)
Jordan Blum (Popmatters, Examiner?, The Prog Report, + others)
Neesh (Neeshcast)
Lorenzo Barbagli (altprogcore)
Roie Avin (The Prog Report)
Anil Prasad (Innerviews)
Notes Reviews (YouTube)
It would be great to get some kind of collaboration or roundtable discussion like The Prog Squad did (and maybe still do under Mark Ashby's Progtopia podcast now).
But time/timing and desire may never see that happen. But in the mean time, Radical Research is a cool new podcast that is doing that, and I suppose 1 part is the METAL DNA of both the hosts. Which is just 1-part, but
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Muse - Simulation Theory (2018-2019)
Muse Wiki
That's the title per that link, and it's been confirmed to be released in November (why it's release date comes next year/season and not the current one).
The tracks shown there, are all likely to be on this record.
Dig Down
Thought Contagion
Something Human
The Dark Side
Algorithm
Pressure
unknown
unknown
unknown
unknown
unknown
This new song/video for "Something Human" looks like a Love-Letter to the 1980's. Werewolf, VHS Tape and case along with a place to return it resembling Blockbuster Video.
The Werewolf thing is the 2nd song/video that reminds me a little of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.
This is is a 1980's Thriller/MJ/8Back to the Future overt homage, but still kind of done well.
That's the title per that link, and it's been confirmed to be released in November (why it's release date comes next year/season and not the current one).
The tracks shown there, are all likely to be on this record.
Dig Down
Thought Contagion
Something Human
The Dark Side
Algorithm
Pressure
unknown
unknown
unknown
unknown
unknown
This new song/video for "Something Human" looks like a Love-Letter to the 1980's. Werewolf, VHS Tape and case along with a place to return it resembling Blockbuster Video.
The Werewolf thing is the 2nd song/video that reminds me a little of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.
This is is a 1980's Thriller/MJ/8Back to the Future overt homage, but still kind of done well.
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
MINUS THE BEAR: Rest in Peace
So to see Minus the Bear finally call it a day, I guess does not come as some highly surprising shock.
They seem to kind of plateau maybe a couple of years back on a commercial level.
And musically? while I wish I could say they were making music I loved recently, I can't totally say that. At the same time, I guess I can admit to enjoying some of the songs from Infinity Overhead and OMNI.
VOIDS? I'm guilty to having never checked out largely due to reading comments about it not straying all that much from their recent records.
Of course the deal for me with Minus the Bear:
I could never fully get into them until 2007 with Planet of Ice, which is their most prog-rock like. I read more than 1 thing with the members saying they were listening to a lot of King Crimson when they wrote it.
They combined college rock, with mathrock and some pop sensibilities on it, that seemed to really work.
I recall going back to their previous records Menos el Oso and Highly Refined Pirates, and even an EP or 2, and finding more to like than before.
Although the issue with the vocals being soft, or something, I still think exists, but it doesn't bother me as much.
I guess I cannot forget seeing them live. I saw them, 3 or 4 times. I can't recall.
The 1st time was with The Helio Sequence at First Avenue. And while they were good, THS were better. Honestly MUCH better, and this was on the Planet of Ice tour in 2007.
Anyway, then I saw them again, I think in 2008 with Annuals at The Varsity Theater. Annuals I had seen a few times before and were really good (group drum jams included), and like The Helio Sequence, Annuals were better, lol.
I don't remember when I saw them again after that, but one other time was with my gf I want to say in 2012 at The Varsity Theater again, with The Velvet Teen. And while I'm not sure if TVT like Annuals and The Helio Sequence, out-staged them, I can saw I went to see TVT more.
I mean I can't say I'm happy they are ending, but at the same time, I'm not depressed. I would be up for seeing them 1 last time at The Varsity Theater on 10/15, although as it turns out, it is the same night I was thinking of seeing The Church at The Turf Club.
also a note, they mentioned Planet of Ice, Crimson and progrock when they guested on Live from Daryl's House, which I recall they did a cover of something off Sacred Songs, the album Daryl Hall made with Robert Fripp.
RIP Minus the Bear. Someone said Foals may not be around without them, which if so, I am grateful. It just adds to the list of bands what I might look at the "Golden Era" of progressive college rock in the mid-late 2000''s until today, who are gone.
RIP.
Facebook Post
Friends,
After almost two decades of writing and touring the world together, we have decided to close this chapter of our lives as Minus the Bear.
What started as a silly inside joke inside the dingy confines of Seattle’s original Cha Cha Lounge back in 2001 quickly snowballed into years of adventures, creativity, and friendship. We could have never predicted the wild journey about to begin. We’ve accomplished so much over the past 17 years, and we are grateful for the experience.
Undoubtedly we owe all of these adventures to you, our fans. Without all of you, the memories of traveling the world, exploring different cultures, and witnessing the delight of your beautiful faces singing along wouldn’t have been possible. Your support weathered us through storms that easily could have scuttled the band. Throughout the years, it’s you who kept us going. We cannot thank you enough.
This Autumn we head out on our final tour in support of our upcoming 4-song EP “Fair Enough” courtesy of Suicide Squeeze Records. You can hear the title track and read our interview here: https://bit.ly/2utoQ1d
These final shows are a celebration for the community of fans who gave us so much through years of dedication. We’ll be digging deep in the MTB catalogue and we are honored for the opportunity to play our hearts out for you one last time.
Love,
Alex, Cory, Dave and Jake
They seem to kind of plateau maybe a couple of years back on a commercial level.
And musically? while I wish I could say they were making music I loved recently, I can't totally say that. At the same time, I guess I can admit to enjoying some of the songs from Infinity Overhead and OMNI.
VOIDS? I'm guilty to having never checked out largely due to reading comments about it not straying all that much from their recent records.
Of course the deal for me with Minus the Bear:
I could never fully get into them until 2007 with Planet of Ice, which is their most prog-rock like. I read more than 1 thing with the members saying they were listening to a lot of King Crimson when they wrote it.
They combined college rock, with mathrock and some pop sensibilities on it, that seemed to really work.
I recall going back to their previous records Menos el Oso and Highly Refined Pirates, and even an EP or 2, and finding more to like than before.
Although the issue with the vocals being soft, or something, I still think exists, but it doesn't bother me as much.
I guess I cannot forget seeing them live. I saw them, 3 or 4 times. I can't recall.
The 1st time was with The Helio Sequence at First Avenue. And while they were good, THS were better. Honestly MUCH better, and this was on the Planet of Ice tour in 2007.
Anyway, then I saw them again, I think in 2008 with Annuals at The Varsity Theater. Annuals I had seen a few times before and were really good (group drum jams included), and like The Helio Sequence, Annuals were better, lol.
I don't remember when I saw them again after that, but one other time was with my gf I want to say in 2012 at The Varsity Theater again, with The Velvet Teen. And while I'm not sure if TVT like Annuals and The Helio Sequence, out-staged them, I can saw I went to see TVT more.
I mean I can't say I'm happy they are ending, but at the same time, I'm not depressed. I would be up for seeing them 1 last time at The Varsity Theater on 10/15, although as it turns out, it is the same night I was thinking of seeing The Church at The Turf Club.
also a note, they mentioned Planet of Ice, Crimson and progrock when they guested on Live from Daryl's House, which I recall they did a cover of something off Sacred Songs, the album Daryl Hall made with Robert Fripp.
RIP Minus the Bear. Someone said Foals may not be around without them, which if so, I am grateful. It just adds to the list of bands what I might look at the "Golden Era" of progressive college rock in the mid-late 2000''s until today, who are gone.
RIP.
Facebook Post
Friends,
After almost two decades of writing and touring the world together, we have decided to close this chapter of our lives as Minus the Bear.
What started as a silly inside joke inside the dingy confines of Seattle’s original Cha Cha Lounge back in 2001 quickly snowballed into years of adventures, creativity, and friendship. We could have never predicted the wild journey about to begin. We’ve accomplished so much over the past 17 years, and we are grateful for the experience.
Undoubtedly we owe all of these adventures to you, our fans. Without all of you, the memories of traveling the world, exploring different cultures, and witnessing the delight of your beautiful faces singing along wouldn’t have been possible. Your support weathered us through storms that easily could have scuttled the band. Throughout the years, it’s you who kept us going. We cannot thank you enough.
This Autumn we head out on our final tour in support of our upcoming 4-song EP “Fair Enough” courtesy of Suicide Squeeze Records. You can hear the title track and read our interview here: https://bit.ly/2utoQ1d
These final shows are a celebration for the community of fans who gave us so much through years of dedication. We’ll be digging deep in the MTB catalogue and we are honored for the opportunity to play our hearts out for you one last time.
Love,
Alex, Cory, Dave and Jake
Friday, July 13, 2018
Capital Cities - Venus & River [1B] (2018)
Great new banging tune!
Capital Cities are pretty consistent. Catchy, melodic, memorable. The use of horns or horn textures always seem to work with their music.
When their next full-length is coming? I dunno. But they keep making great singles that I wonder if it's not too far away.
The Swimming Pool Summer EP from 2017 was rather good, and the singles "Vowels" and "My Name is Mars" also carried the same melodic, catchy, upbeat vibe.
I keep thinking about River Phoenix and his movies when hearing this. I love how they use 80's references in their songs, or just have an 80's vibe at times.
Thursday, July 12, 2018
The Mercury Tree - Cryptic Tree [EP] (2017-2018)
New EP coming from The Mercury Tree on July 27th, which per bandcamp/below, is the 1st of a couple of releases expected in 2018 from The Mercury Tree.
Interesting how this release includes the service of an additional guitarist Igliashon Jones who has his own music as well, linked below.
https://themercurytree.bandcamp.com/
1. Change All Your Passwords
2. Diffractions and Halos
3. Cold Flame
4. Huntress
5. Soaring Xenharmonic Plantain
A leap into the deepest, heaviest depths of microtonality we've yet tackled. A collaboration with microtonal composer Igliashon Jones (Cryptic Ruse, City of the Asleep) using 23- and 17-note equal divisions of the octave.
Stay tuned for the new full-length Mercury Tree album coming this fall! Also, check out Igliashon's other work here:
cryptic-ruse.bandcamp.com
cityoftheasleep.bandcamp.com
credits
releases July 27, 2018
Igliashon Jones - guitar, synths
Ben Spees - guitar, synths, vocals
Connor Reilly - drums
Oliver Campbell - bass, vocals
Engineered by Ben Spees at College of Wizardry & Bongo Fury
Mastered by Julian Silva
Interesting how this release includes the service of an additional guitarist Igliashon Jones who has his own music as well, linked below.
https://themercurytree.bandcamp.com/
1. Change All Your Passwords
2. Diffractions and Halos
3. Cold Flame
4. Huntress
5. Soaring Xenharmonic Plantain
A leap into the deepest, heaviest depths of microtonality we've yet tackled. A collaboration with microtonal composer Igliashon Jones (Cryptic Ruse, City of the Asleep) using 23- and 17-note equal divisions of the octave.
Stay tuned for the new full-length Mercury Tree album coming this fall! Also, check out Igliashon's other work here:
cryptic-ruse.bandcamp.com
cityoftheasleep.bandcamp.com
credits
releases July 27, 2018
Igliashon Jones - guitar, synths
Ben Spees - guitar, synths, vocals
Connor Reilly - drums
Oliver Campbell - bass, vocals
Engineered by Ben Spees at College of Wizardry & Bongo Fury
Mastered by Julian Silva
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Bent Knee + Bubblemath + Gatherers 7/10/18 @ 7th St Entry
So I should include a review here for this show last night Tuesday the 10th of July at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis.
1st off: live reviews are done as often as I can, but sometimes they just don't manage to happen like the Chromeo show a few weeks back. Raphael Saadiq perhaps on the 20th among some others may happen hopefully. Maybe movie screenings like Whitney or the Muse one tomorrow night 7/12.
But this was the 2nd Bent Knee show I've seen in basically 1-year (July 24th last year was the other), and while that show was a huge deal for me to finally see Bent Knee, and also cool to see local band Air Lands with them (and have Sarah from Cloud Cult sit-in); this show included Bubblemath of course, 1 of Minnesota proggiest of prog bands.
Great double bill, and Kai especially is a Bent Knee fan, etc he hosted them last year.
So those 2 along with Gatherers from NJ (not Gatherer, RIP, see previous entry), who I'll say, while I don't know if I'll be pursuing their music necessarily, but they seemed to capture the Post-Hardcore energy and sound well. And a few moments the guitar textures had me turn my head. As I told them, I'm sure some new fans will be made between their and Bent Knee's fan bases.
Bubblemath, played 30 minutes and 3 songs. 2 new ones not on either album. "Refused" in particular I enjoyed, namely the last 1/3 or maybe even half of. Which I told Kai, a lot of their music I tend to focus on the sections in the songs/pieces at times. But also, that tune and the 2nd tune "Everything" are both new, and for some reason the mix for them was not as clear as it was for both Bent Knee and even Gatherers I think.
"Routine" is an epic like the other 2, and from Edit Peptide. And I liked maybe even more than at the show I saw in 2017 at The Triplerock Social Club (RIP).
At any case, 3 songs, 30 minutes. Other than mix/sound issues, it was great to see them again and the 2 new songs are for their next album which I guess is planned to be recorded soon = late 2018 or 2019 release? let's hope.
Bent Knee: the set list I have below likely isn't fully accurate. I'm unsure based on some of the songs they played I didn't recognize and the set lists from setlist.fm vary. They didn't play an encore, and the list below has 12 songs, which I'm thinking they didn't play quite that many. Maybe 8-10?
edit: I think it was 9 songs, as I thought they mentioned the drummer who filled in had to learn "9 songs from their set list" or something.
Land Animal, Hands Up, Leak Water for sure.
Anyway, apologies for the slightly guesstimated set list.
Bent Knee were still really fun, energetic live. And their drummer Gavin Wallace-Allsworth had to leave the tour on June 23rd, after an accident in San Francisco where he broke his foot. But thankfully he had surgery, and is recovering well I guess .
The drummer that filled-in, I forget his name. It may have been Gatherers drummer Adam Cichocki? I forget. But I guess he learned their music really fast, and while they do miss Gavin, the drum work was still excellent last night.
But with the new songs being played and speaking to Ben Levin, they have a new record in the works, which doesn't surprise me, but definitely is one to look forward to. They are prolific, but from album they don't seem to lose any quality in their songs, which says a lot. I see Shiny Eyed Babies, Say So and Land Animal all pretty close, and all having many outstanding tracks that have moments I look forward to and love.
2019 new Bent Knee? let's hope.
Also I picked up the Say So double vinyl, which I hope to show on YouTube soon.
And I met a bunch of really cool fans including this guy Pete and 1 of his sons, from Eau Claire, WI. Also a musician named Mage? who takes a ton of inspiration from Bent Knee and is from MN I guess, but is going to College in LA.
Bent Knee
Bone Rage
Time Deer
Leak Water
Hands Up
Garbage Shark
Golden Hour
Terror Bird
Land Animal
1 of these may have been played:
Holy Ghost
Mother's Day
Give Us the Gold
Being Human
Bubblemath
Refused
Everything
Routine
Gatherers
no set list found
1st off: live reviews are done as often as I can, but sometimes they just don't manage to happen like the Chromeo show a few weeks back. Raphael Saadiq perhaps on the 20th among some others may happen hopefully. Maybe movie screenings like Whitney or the Muse one tomorrow night 7/12.
But this was the 2nd Bent Knee show I've seen in basically 1-year (July 24th last year was the other), and while that show was a huge deal for me to finally see Bent Knee, and also cool to see local band Air Lands with them (and have Sarah from Cloud Cult sit-in); this show included Bubblemath of course, 1 of Minnesota proggiest of prog bands.
Great double bill, and Kai especially is a Bent Knee fan, etc he hosted them last year.
So those 2 along with Gatherers from NJ (not Gatherer, RIP, see previous entry), who I'll say, while I don't know if I'll be pursuing their music necessarily, but they seemed to capture the Post-Hardcore energy and sound well. And a few moments the guitar textures had me turn my head. As I told them, I'm sure some new fans will be made between their and Bent Knee's fan bases.
Bubblemath, played 30 minutes and 3 songs. 2 new ones not on either album. "Refused" in particular I enjoyed, namely the last 1/3 or maybe even half of. Which I told Kai, a lot of their music I tend to focus on the sections in the songs/pieces at times. But also, that tune and the 2nd tune "Everything" are both new, and for some reason the mix for them was not as clear as it was for both Bent Knee and even Gatherers I think.
"Routine" is an epic like the other 2, and from Edit Peptide. And I liked maybe even more than at the show I saw in 2017 at The Triplerock Social Club (RIP).
At any case, 3 songs, 30 minutes. Other than mix/sound issues, it was great to see them again and the 2 new songs are for their next album which I guess is planned to be recorded soon = late 2018 or 2019 release? let's hope.
Bent Knee: the set list I have below likely isn't fully accurate. I'm unsure based on some of the songs they played I didn't recognize and the set lists from setlist.fm vary. They didn't play an encore, and the list below has 12 songs, which I'm thinking they didn't play quite that many. Maybe 8-10?
edit: I think it was 9 songs, as I thought they mentioned the drummer who filled in had to learn "9 songs from their set list" or something.
Land Animal, Hands Up, Leak Water for sure.
Anyway, apologies for the slightly guesstimated set list.
Bent Knee were still really fun, energetic live. And their drummer Gavin Wallace-Allsworth had to leave the tour on June 23rd, after an accident in San Francisco where he broke his foot. But thankfully he had surgery, and is recovering well I guess .
The drummer that filled-in, I forget his name. It may have been Gatherers drummer Adam Cichocki? I forget. But I guess he learned their music really fast, and while they do miss Gavin, the drum work was still excellent last night.
But with the new songs being played and speaking to Ben Levin, they have a new record in the works, which doesn't surprise me, but definitely is one to look forward to. They are prolific, but from album they don't seem to lose any quality in their songs, which says a lot. I see Shiny Eyed Babies, Say So and Land Animal all pretty close, and all having many outstanding tracks that have moments I look forward to and love.
2019 new Bent Knee? let's hope.
Also I picked up the Say So double vinyl, which I hope to show on YouTube soon.
And I met a bunch of really cool fans including this guy Pete and 1 of his sons, from Eau Claire, WI. Also a musician named Mage? who takes a ton of inspiration from Bent Knee and is from MN I guess, but is going to College in LA.
Bent Knee
Bone Rage
Time Deer
Leak Water
Hands Up
Garbage Shark
Golden Hour
Terror Bird
Land Animal
1 of these may have been played:
Holy Ghost
Mother's Day
Give Us the Gold
Being Human
Bubblemath
Refused
Everything
Routine
Gatherers
no set list found
GATHERER (NZ): Rest in Peace (+ Last Song/Video "High Notes")
This sucks and I really ought to write an extensive tribute/homage to this band Gatherer, from New Zealand. A progressive band that of all people, Kimbra recommended, likely largely due to she comes from New Zealand herself and knew them due to that.
I suppose I'll just say, their debut from 2012 So Be It is awesome. It's one of the best albums this decade, especially being a debut album. "Regular Frontier" and "Thrive" among the rest of it, are favorites. And the production is incredibly clear and pristine.
Gatherer found this way to be really heavy, loud, and complex, yet still have dreamy soaring melodies. And the guitars and syncopation was really unlike any combination I'd heard before.
And as they described below, they refused to cater their music to trends.
Heavy Hail their 2nd album from 2015 I recall liking, but my memory was it being a little hit and miss. It used more electronic sides, which I recall the production was quite dense. I wonder if I went back to it now, if I might appreciate it more than I did initially back then as it probably has been 2015 or 2016 when I last gave it a go.
Their new and last song "High Notes" video below) I am enjoying, in a bittersweet way.
Also I think it's worth adding how their previous name/incarnation "This City Sunrise" I also really love, and may be 1 of the best or rarest examples of 'Core music that actually works without the vocals bugging me enough. In fact I grew to enjoy them, almost as much or in different ways than I did with Gatherer.
I forget, but I thought the 2 This City Sunrise EP's I found online to purchase on CD, but never got around to it.
WHY I didn't hear about this until now? (July 11th, per the news/new video+track came out April 3rd), I don't religiously read FB and Twitter feeds (myspace sadly had that setup much better with a blog subscription, etc).
The New Jersey band Gatherers (formerly Gatherer but added the s after the same name of the band New Zealand), I saw last evening with Bent Knee and Bubblemath, and seeing them/thinking about Gatherer from New Zealand, got me curious what they may be up to.
But not shocking, another one goes by the wayside, despite support from Kimbra. O well, maybe Gatherer at the time their music came out, were a bit too unusual to be appreciated. But maybe in the coming years their music will still be discovered.
What the members do next? I dunno. Maybe a reunion of course someday, or other projects perhaps.
In the mean time, I hope to find some other music that pushes boundaries and struggles to resemble other music out there, while maintaining quality songwriting the way Gatherer did.
Facebook April 3rd, 2018
High Notes - Gatherer from Greg Cooper on Vimeo.
I suppose I'll just say, their debut from 2012 So Be It is awesome. It's one of the best albums this decade, especially being a debut album. "Regular Frontier" and "Thrive" among the rest of it, are favorites. And the production is incredibly clear and pristine.
Gatherer found this way to be really heavy, loud, and complex, yet still have dreamy soaring melodies. And the guitars and syncopation was really unlike any combination I'd heard before.
And as they described below, they refused to cater their music to trends.
Heavy Hail their 2nd album from 2015 I recall liking, but my memory was it being a little hit and miss. It used more electronic sides, which I recall the production was quite dense. I wonder if I went back to it now, if I might appreciate it more than I did initially back then as it probably has been 2015 or 2016 when I last gave it a go.
Their new and last song "High Notes" video below) I am enjoying, in a bittersweet way.
Also I think it's worth adding how their previous name/incarnation "This City Sunrise" I also really love, and may be 1 of the best or rarest examples of 'Core music that actually works without the vocals bugging me enough. In fact I grew to enjoy them, almost as much or in different ways than I did with Gatherer.
I forget, but I thought the 2 This City Sunrise EP's I found online to purchase on CD, but never got around to it.
WHY I didn't hear about this until now? (July 11th, per the news/new video+track came out April 3rd), I don't religiously read FB and Twitter feeds (myspace sadly had that setup much better with a blog subscription, etc).
The New Jersey band Gatherers (formerly Gatherer but added the s after the same name of the band New Zealand), I saw last evening with Bent Knee and Bubblemath, and seeing them/thinking about Gatherer from New Zealand, got me curious what they may be up to.
But not shocking, another one goes by the wayside, despite support from Kimbra. O well, maybe Gatherer at the time their music came out, were a bit too unusual to be appreciated. But maybe in the coming years their music will still be discovered.
What the members do next? I dunno. Maybe a reunion of course someday, or other projects perhaps.
In the mean time, I hope to find some other music that pushes boundaries and struggles to resemble other music out there, while maintaining quality songwriting the way Gatherer did.
Facebook April 3rd, 2018
Hey team, we're gonna keep this brief.
We would love to introduce you to our latest and last song, 'High Notes'.
The last few years have been a whirlwind for us as we grew into actual adults and became really hungry for something fresh. With so many years of brotherhood, loyalty and history under our belt we dug as deep as we could to find a new way to do this thing, but as we reached the home stretch we ultimately discovered that our hearts just aren't beating to the same drum any more.
That's it, really. This is where we ended up. We're immensely proud of everything we've done, we lasted longer than most bands ever do and we have a friendship that is unlike any other. At the end of the day our mission was to be an incredible band that refused to follow trends and we can rightly say we smashed that goal out of the park.
We love all of you. To anyone that believed in us, helped us, sacrificed anything in any way for us - we'll never forget.
Onward and upward!
Gatherer
Clip by Greg Cooper, Art by Pat Fox, music by us.
Sunday, July 8, 2018
Hansa Studios (Berlin): Add PEPE DELUXE to the List!
Facebook Post
As pointed out there and other places, Pepe Deluxe now joins the likes of Marillion, U2, REM, David Bowie, Tangerine Dream, Depeche Mode, In Flames, Iggy Pop and Nick Cave among many others to have recorded in Berlin's famed Hansa Studios.
2012's Queen of the Wave is all-time favorite of mine, so this only adds more anticipation for their next record which it sounds like it could be coming out finally in the near future (2019?).
also neat 90 minute documentary shows a lot about Hansa here:
2012's Queen of the Wave is all-time favorite of mine, so this only adds more anticipation for their next record which it sounds like it could be coming out finally in the near future (2019?).
also neat 90 minute documentary shows a lot about Hansa here:
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Lost in Vegas - Rush-2112 REACTION
A lot of people have seen this already, and I commented on Twitter earlier about it.
I enjoyed this one a ton as I have with all of their Rush videos and many others.
The only issue is the edits for copyright concerns.
I mentioned they should check out the ANIMATED VIDEO that Rush themselves shared a few years ago.
Thanks for making this! This was a ton of fun!, even with having to edit some spots. I would suggest listening to 2112 without edits soon, and actually a great way to do that would be with the ANIMATED VIDEO: https://t.co/NrZTxGxMZU https://t.co/AmGJSGpyhc— AllMediaReviews (@AllMediaReviews) July 7, 2018
And then I added another post on twitter tagging them and Rush that echos a ton of comments in support of them making a REACT TO video for Natural Science.
@lostinvegas83 I will echo many requests in the 2112-Reaction video, for your next @rushtheband Reaction Video, NATURAL SCIENCE. would be awesome. I find it simply a perfectly composed piece of music.— AllMediaReviews (@AllMediaReviews) July 7, 2018
It is awesome they love Rush so much, and some of the comments asked about them reacting to some other names in progressive rock. Yes of course (Roundabout, which might make sense, although someone suggested Heart of the Sunrise which would be my suggestion).
And so I chimed in about Genesis and King Crimson which I thought they may have done a video for 21st Century Schizoid Man, but I'm not sure. They could react to Starless or Red I suppose if so.
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
REACT TO: Rolling Stone's Top 100 Songs 2000-2018 (+A LIST FROM ME)
So Rollingstone.com (and/or Rolling Stone magazine) made a list recently of the "The 100 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century – So Far" list (see towards the bottom of this entry) and of course it's a mostly terrible list. But I thought before going into MY REACT TO List and the RS list, I think it is worth sharing Pete Pardo of Sea of Tranquility on his YouTube channel did one of his "Rants" about not the Top 100 but Top 25 (maybe the top 25 only was shared on Social Media initially?).
I largely agree with Pete Pardo. In 10 or 20 years, a good percentage of these songs, nobody is going to be listening to regularly. And among the things about the list to understand, the list of VOTERS
Bolded = the people I know and actually respect = 6 out of 81?
ARTISTS and EXECUTIVES
Cliff Burnstein, Q Prime Artist Management
Patrick Carney, The Black Keys
Julian Casablancas, The Strokes, the Voidz
Charli XCX
Wayne Coyne, The Flaming Lips
Britt Daniel, Spoon
Diplo
DJ Khaled
Steven Drozd, The Flaming Lips
Paul Epworth
Noel Gallagher, Oasis, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
John Gourley, Portugal. The Man
Thom Sonny Green, Alt-J
David Guetta
Jim James, My Morning Jacket
Jidenna
Craig Kallman, Atlantic Records
Bridget Kearney, Lake Street Dive
Greta Kline, Frankie Cosmos
Avril Lavigne
Dua Lipa
Courtney Love, Hole
Colin Meloy, The Decemberists
M.I.A.
French Montana
Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine
Stuart Murdoch, Belle and Sebastian
Rita Ora
Rachel Price, Lake Street Dive
Quavo, Migos
Mark Ronson
Santigold
Andrew Savage, Parquet Courts
M. Shadows, Avenged Sevenfold
Patrick Stump, Fall Out Boy
Will Toledo, Car Seat Headrest
Justin Tranter
Lars Ulrich, Metallica
Butch Vig, Garbage
Adam Weiner, Low Cut Connie
Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy
JOURNALISTS
David Browne
Andrew Casillas
Cameron Crowe
Anthony DeCurtis
Jon Dolan
Patrick Doyle
Michael Endelman
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Suzy Exposito
Jason Fine
Leor Galil
Sarah Grant
Andy Greene
Kory Grow
Shirley Halperin
Rob Harvilla
Will Hermes
Christian Hoard
Steven Hyden
Maura Johnston
Joe Levy
Alan Light
Kurt Loder
Greil Marcus
Jason Newman
Kevin O’Donnell
Michelle Ofiwe
Jerry Portwood
Justin Ravitz
Isabela Raygoza
Mosi Reeves
Austin Scaggs
Rob Sheffield
Hank Shteamer
Brittany Spanos
Touré
Simon Vozick-Levinson
Barry Walters
Jonah Weiner
Christopher R. Weingarten
Here I will do is come up with 100 Songs that are better and very likely will actually stand the test the time in 10 or 20 years.
edit: 130 songs, lol. As I ended up just thinking of artists with music released since the year 2000, and it ballooned up almost to the point over the last 24 hours, I thought, fuck 100, how about 200 songs and different artists?
But mainly for the sake of just publishing this thing, I am going to stop with what I last counted at as 130.
And I just thought of something, this in a way could be a bit of a precursor to 2 future entries or series.
1 obviously being the Best songs of the 21st Century and even a bit of a guide for those Albums Calendars I mean to do at some point soon from 2001, 2003, 2007-present. Although if I make a fully accurate list of songs, it probably would need to include multiples tracks from many artists.
I also included the year of each track and it sort of gives a little overview of the decade debate of 2000's vs 2010's.
Now the 130 or so tracks listed below, unlike the RS list, ARE NOT RANKED IN MUCH IF ANY WAY. I.E. THESE ARE JUST 130 ARTISTS WITH 1 SONG FROM I LITERALLY JUST THOUGHT OF OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD. AND OF COURSE, THERE'S LIKELY DOZENS OF ARTISTS NOT INCLUDED THAT I MIGHT HAVE WANTED TO, OR COULD AT A LATER TIME.
That being said, if i really wanted to invest the time, it would have been nice to include blurbs, even from 10 or 20 of them, but..time of course. Maybe another time.
And I do think these songs in the 2020's and 2030's will be as if not more worthwhile to revisit than literally 75 or more percent of that RS list. Even if most of them are not "radio hits" or have videos on YouTube that have millions of views, shares, likes, etc, etc.
A lot of great art is found decades if not centuries later. Even from obscure or esoteric artists.
I suppose something to consider doing is making another list like this both in 2020 (for 2010-2019 songs) and in 2025 or 2030 just to see if these songs all make sense to include and what all is added both from the subsequent years until then, and from 2000-present from songs that I hadn't discovered yet. I.e. like how I have been discovering 90's albums from The Spent Poets and Dada which I would never have known about making a Best of the 90's tracks literally 2 months ago, lol.
RANDOM LIST OF MY FAVORITE TRACKS FROM THE 21ST CENTURY (1 PER ARTIST)
dredg - The Canyon Behind Her (2002)
The Mars Volta - Cassandra Gemini (2005)
The Dear Hunter - His Hands Matched His Tongue (2006)
Muse - Stockholm Syndrome (2003)
U2 - New York (2001)
Imogen Heap - The Moment I Said It (2005)
King's X - Vegetable (2002)
Kimbra - Cameo Lover (2011)
Emanuel and the Fear - Jimme's Song (2010)
Fair to Midland - Orphan Anthem'86 (Original Demo) (2006)
Marillion - The Invisible Man (2004)
Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element (2000)
Fates Warning - Still Remains (2001)
Kaddisfly - Via Rail (2007)
The Reign of Kindo - Til We Make Our Ascent (2008)
Zero Hour - Demise and Vestige (2001)
Bend Sinister - Time Breaks Down (2007)
Mew - The Zookeeper's Boy (2005)
Pure Reason Revolution - The Twyncyn/Trembilin Willows (2006)
Oceansize - The Frame (2007)
Major Parkinson - The Wheelbarrow (2014)
Dream the Electric Sleep - Elizabeth (2014)
Under the Influence of Giants - Mama's Room (2006)
Men, Women and Children - Dance in my Blood (2006)
Kevin Gilbert - Water Under the Bridge (2000)
Steven Wilson - Happy Returns (2015)
Porcupine Tree - Arriving Somewhere But Not Here (2005)
Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness (2001)
Spock's Beard - The Great Nothing (2000)
Between the Buried and Me - White Walls (2007)
Three - Amaze Disgrace (2004)
Kiss Kiss - Stay the Day (2007)
Dream Theater - Blind Faith (2002)
Transatlantic - Stranger in Your Soul (2001)
Archive - Again (2002)
Doves - Catch the Sun (2000)
Hotel of the Laughing Tree - Weather Maps for Nikolai (2011)
Pepe Deluxe - A Night and a Day (2012)
Small Leaks Sink Ships - Building Blocks (2015)
Cloud Cult - Running with the Wolves (2010)
The Receiving End of Sirens - This Armistice (2005)
Mutemath - Cavalries (2011)
Umphrey's McGee - Mantis (2009)
Coheed and Cambria - The Willing Well (2005)
Incubus - The Odyssey (2004)
Anathema - Angels Walk Among Us (2010)
Brice Plays Drums - Freight Train Blues (2012)
House of Fools - Need to Be Free (2012)
John Arch - Cheyenne (2003)
Shaman - Fairy Tale (2002)
Anathallo - Without Love (2001)
Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - Pages Written on a Wall (2008)
The Family Crest - Beneath the Brine (2014)
The Decemberists - The Island (2006)
Dirt Poor Robins - Solemn Dream (2013)
Apes and Androids - Riverside (2008)
Ours - Sometimes (2001)
Enchant - What to Say (2000)
Menomena - Wet and Rusting (2007)
Ramona Falls - Spore (2012)
Opeth - The Grand Conjuration (2005)
Burst - (We Watched) The Silver Rain (2008)
East of the Wall - The Apologist (2011)
Bent Knee - Land Animal (2017)
Unexpect - Chromatic Chimera (2006)
SikTh - Another Sinking Ship (2006)
Long Distance Calling - Lines (2016)
Local Natives - Sun Hands (2009)
Foals - Spanish Sahara (2010)
Warpaint - Elephants (2008)
Typhoon - Remember (2018)
Murder By Death - The Desert is on Fire (2003)
Clann Zu - One Bedroom Apartment (2004)
Godspeed You Black Emperor - Storm (2000)
Janelle Monae - Many Moons (2007)
Annuals - Springtime (2008)
Silverchair - Strange Behaviour (2007)
The Dissociatives - Aangry Megaphone Man (2004)
Fjokra - Infinite Loops (2014)
Wolf Parade - Kissing the Beehive (2008)
As Tall as Lions - Circles (2009)
The Velvet Teen - Chimera Obscurant (2004)
Minus the Bear - Burying Luck (2007)
Bloc Party - Uniform (2007)
The Antlers - Atrophy (2009)
Biffy Clyro - Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies (2007)
Neverending White Lights - Our Final Hymn (2005)
sElf - Trunk Fulla Amps (2000)
maudlin of the Well - Gleam in Ranks (2001)
Black Mountain - Bright Lights (2008)
Fields. - Song for the Fields (2007)
The Faceless - Leica (2006)
Time of Orchids -All We Ever Wish (2005)
Aereogramme - Barriers (2007)
Russian Circles - Death Rides a Horse (2006)
Timmy Sean - Can't Stop the World (2010)
Team Me - F is for Faker (2014)
Anakdota - The Girl Next Door (2016)
Battles - Tonto (2007)
OSI - shutDOWN (2003)
VAST - Free (2000)
Everything Everything - To the Blade (2015)
Jazzkamikaze - Music is My Heroin (2010)
The Flower Kings - I an the Sun (Part One) (2000)
Mayer Hawthorne - Designer Drug (2013)
Grimus - The Hell I'm In (2014)
Josh Rouse - Comeback (Light Therapy) (2003)
Gospel - Tango (2010)
Blackfield - Pain (2004)
Woven - Inhale (2007)
Peter Gabriel - Growing Up (2002)
South - Motiveless Crime (2003)
Bruce Peninsula - Steamroller (2009)
22 - Gotodo (2010)
Gotye - Thanks for Your Time (2006)
The River Empires - Three Tigers (2010)
Judgement Day - Peacocks / Pink Monsters (2010)
Pat Metheny - As it is (2002)
Agalloch - Summerisle Reprise (2008)
Protest the Hero - Blindfolds Aside (2006)
Late of the Pier - Focker (2008)
Crotchduster - Mammal Sauce (2004)
The Chap - Proper Rock (2008)
Timbre - Night Girl: Nycteris Sees the Sun (2015)
Brooke Waggoner - Go Easy, Little Doves, I'll Be Fine (2009)
Vennart - Doubt (2015)
Mutyumu - 火焔鳥 / die Ewige Wiederkunft (2008)
Tokyo Jihen - 秘密 / Secret (2006)
Klimt 1918 - We Were Wed By the Sea (2005)
NewVillager - Lighthouse (2011)
The LIST. bolded = songs or artists I like, although many examples the artist has better songs not on the list (Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Coldplay, New Pornographers). And Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" should be higher than so many of these tracks, including Uptown Funk, Happy, etc.
100. "Gasolina" Daddy Yankee feat. Glory
99. "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)," UGK feat. Outkast
98. "Archie, Marry Me," Alvvays
97. "1901," Phoenix
96. "Tighten Up," The Black Keys
95. "Can't Get You Out of My Head," Kylie Minogue
94. "Jesus Walks," Kanye West
93. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)," My Chemical Romance
92. "Stoned and Starving," Parquet Courts
91. "Despacito (Remix)" Luis Fonsi feat. Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber
90. "1 Thing" Amerie
89. "Hate to Say I Told You So," The Hives
88. "Hannah Hunt," Vampire Weekend
87. "We Belong Together," Mariah Carey
86. "I Love It," Icona Pop w/Charli XCX
85. "My Shot," Original Broadway Cast of 'Hamilton'
84. "One More Time," Daft Punk
83. "Lost Cause," Beck
82. "New Slang," The Shins
81. "Hollaback Girl," Gwen Stefani
80. "Ante Up (Robbin-Hoodz Theory)" M.O.P.
79. "Drop It Like It’s Hot" Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell
78. "Young Folks," Peter Bjorn and John
77. "Losing My Edge," LCD Soundsystem
76. "Get Lucky," Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams
75. "The House That Built Me," Miranda Lambert
74. "Letter From an Occupant," The New Pornographers
73. "House of Jealous Lovers," The Rapture
72. "Bad and Boujee," Migos feat. Lil Uzi Vert
71. "Call Me Maybe," Carly Rae Jepsen
70. "American Idiot," Green Day
69. "Thinkin Bout You," Frank Ocean
68. "Springsteen," Eric Church
67. "What You Know," T.I.
66. "Beez in the Trap," Nicki Minaj feat. 2 Chainz
65. "We Found Love," Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris
64. "DNA," Kendrick Lamar
63. "Sugar, We’re Goin Down," Fall Out Boy
62. "Teenage Dream," Katy Perry
61. "Hung Up," Madonna
60. "The Wire," Haim
59. "Bodak Yellow," Cardi B
58. "Ni**as in Paris" Jay-Z and Kanye West
57. "Do You Realize??" The Flaming Lips
56. "Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi," Radiohead
55. "212," Azealia Banks feat. Lazy Jay
54. "Portions for Foxes," Rilo Kiley
53. "Oblivion," Grimes
52. "Chandelier," Sia
51. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," Beyoncé
50. "The Scientist," Coldplay
49. "Sign of the Times," Harry Styles
48. "Happy," Pharrell Williams
47. "Redbone," Childish Gambino
46. "Cry Me a River," Justin Timberlake
45. "Sorry," Justin Bieber
44. "Stan," Eminem
43. "Cranes in the Sky," Solange
42. "Electric Feel," MGMT
41. "Hurt," Johnny Cash
40. "Beautiful Day," U2
39. "No One Knows," Queens of the Stone Age
38. "Formation," Beyoncé
37. "You Want It Darker," Leonard Cohen
36. "Gold Digger" Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx
35. "Blue Jeans," Lana Del Rey
34. "Mr. Brightside," The Killers
33. "Idioteque," Radiohead
32. "In Da Club," 50 Cent
31. "Wake Up," Arcade Fire
30. "Mississippi," Bob Dylan
29. "All Too Well" Taylor Swift
28. "Umbrella," Rihanna feat. Jay-Z
27. "B.O.B." Outkast
26. "Hotline Bling," Drake
25. "Uptown Funk," Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars
24. "Lose Yourself," Eminem
23. "Ms. Jackson," Outkast
22. "Take Me Out" Franz Ferdinand
21. "Bad Romance," Lady Gaga
20. "Rehab," Amy Winehouse
19. "Dancing on My Own," Robyn
18. "Blackstar," David Bowie
17. "Work It," Missy Elliott
16. "All My Friends," LCD Soundsystem
15. "Crazy," Gnarls Barkley
14. "Toxic," Britney Spears
13. "Alright," Kendrick Lamar
12. "Get Ur Freak On," Missy Elliott
11. "Since U Been Gone," Kelly Clarkson
10. "Last Nite," The Strokes
9. "Royals," Lorde
8. "Rolling in the Deep," Adele
7. "Runaway," Kanye West feat. Pusha T
6. "Maps," Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5. "99 Problems," Jay-Z
4. "Hey Ya!", Outkast
3. "Seven Nation Army," The White Stripes
2. "Paper Planes," M.I.A.
1. "Crazy in Love," Beyonce feat. Jay-Z
I largely agree with Pete Pardo. In 10 or 20 years, a good percentage of these songs, nobody is going to be listening to regularly. And among the things about the list to understand, the list of VOTERS
Bolded = the people I know and actually respect = 6 out of 81?
ARTISTS and EXECUTIVES
Cliff Burnstein, Q Prime Artist Management
Patrick Carney, The Black Keys
Julian Casablancas, The Strokes, the Voidz
Charli XCX
Wayne Coyne, The Flaming Lips
Britt Daniel, Spoon
Diplo
DJ Khaled
Steven Drozd, The Flaming Lips
Paul Epworth
Noel Gallagher, Oasis, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
John Gourley, Portugal. The Man
Thom Sonny Green, Alt-J
David Guetta
Jim James, My Morning Jacket
Jidenna
Craig Kallman, Atlantic Records
Bridget Kearney, Lake Street Dive
Greta Kline, Frankie Cosmos
Avril Lavigne
Dua Lipa
Courtney Love, Hole
Colin Meloy, The Decemberists
M.I.A.
French Montana
Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine
Stuart Murdoch, Belle and Sebastian
Rita Ora
Rachel Price, Lake Street Dive
Quavo, Migos
Mark Ronson
Santigold
Andrew Savage, Parquet Courts
M. Shadows, Avenged Sevenfold
Patrick Stump, Fall Out Boy
Will Toledo, Car Seat Headrest
Justin Tranter
Lars Ulrich, Metallica
Butch Vig, Garbage
Adam Weiner, Low Cut Connie
Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy
JOURNALISTS
David Browne
Andrew Casillas
Cameron Crowe
Anthony DeCurtis
Jon Dolan
Patrick Doyle
Michael Endelman
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Suzy Exposito
Jason Fine
Leor Galil
Sarah Grant
Andy Greene
Kory Grow
Shirley Halperin
Rob Harvilla
Will Hermes
Christian Hoard
Steven Hyden
Maura Johnston
Joe Levy
Alan Light
Kurt Loder
Greil Marcus
Jason Newman
Kevin O’Donnell
Michelle Ofiwe
Jerry Portwood
Justin Ravitz
Isabela Raygoza
Mosi Reeves
Austin Scaggs
Rob Sheffield
Hank Shteamer
Brittany Spanos
Touré
Simon Vozick-Levinson
Barry Walters
Jonah Weiner
Christopher R. Weingarten
Here I will do is come up with 100 Songs that are better and very likely will actually stand the test the time in 10 or 20 years.
edit: 130 songs, lol. As I ended up just thinking of artists with music released since the year 2000, and it ballooned up almost to the point over the last 24 hours, I thought, fuck 100, how about 200 songs and different artists?
But mainly for the sake of just publishing this thing, I am going to stop with what I last counted at as 130.
And I just thought of something, this in a way could be a bit of a precursor to 2 future entries or series.
1 obviously being the Best songs of the 21st Century and even a bit of a guide for those Albums Calendars I mean to do at some point soon from 2001, 2003, 2007-present. Although if I make a fully accurate list of songs, it probably would need to include multiples tracks from many artists.
I also included the year of each track and it sort of gives a little overview of the decade debate of 2000's vs 2010's.
Now the 130 or so tracks listed below, unlike the RS list, ARE NOT RANKED IN MUCH IF ANY WAY. I.E. THESE ARE JUST 130 ARTISTS WITH 1 SONG FROM I LITERALLY JUST THOUGHT OF OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD. AND OF COURSE, THERE'S LIKELY DOZENS OF ARTISTS NOT INCLUDED THAT I MIGHT HAVE WANTED TO, OR COULD AT A LATER TIME.
That being said, if i really wanted to invest the time, it would have been nice to include blurbs, even from 10 or 20 of them, but..time of course. Maybe another time.
And I do think these songs in the 2020's and 2030's will be as if not more worthwhile to revisit than literally 75 or more percent of that RS list. Even if most of them are not "radio hits" or have videos on YouTube that have millions of views, shares, likes, etc, etc.
A lot of great art is found decades if not centuries later. Even from obscure or esoteric artists.
I suppose something to consider doing is making another list like this both in 2020 (for 2010-2019 songs) and in 2025 or 2030 just to see if these songs all make sense to include and what all is added both from the subsequent years until then, and from 2000-present from songs that I hadn't discovered yet. I.e. like how I have been discovering 90's albums from The Spent Poets and Dada which I would never have known about making a Best of the 90's tracks literally 2 months ago, lol.
RANDOM LIST OF MY FAVORITE TRACKS FROM THE 21ST CENTURY (1 PER ARTIST)
dredg - The Canyon Behind Her (2002)
The Mars Volta - Cassandra Gemini (2005)
The Dear Hunter - His Hands Matched His Tongue (2006)
Muse - Stockholm Syndrome (2003)
U2 - New York (2001)
Imogen Heap - The Moment I Said It (2005)
King's X - Vegetable (2002)
Kimbra - Cameo Lover (2011)
Emanuel and the Fear - Jimme's Song (2010)
Fair to Midland - Orphan Anthem'86 (Original Demo) (2006)
Marillion - The Invisible Man (2004)
Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element (2000)
Fates Warning - Still Remains (2001)
Kaddisfly - Via Rail (2007)
The Reign of Kindo - Til We Make Our Ascent (2008)
Zero Hour - Demise and Vestige (2001)
Bend Sinister - Time Breaks Down (2007)
Mew - The Zookeeper's Boy (2005)
Pure Reason Revolution - The Twyncyn/Trembilin Willows (2006)
Oceansize - The Frame (2007)
Major Parkinson - The Wheelbarrow (2014)
Dream the Electric Sleep - Elizabeth (2014)
Under the Influence of Giants - Mama's Room (2006)
Men, Women and Children - Dance in my Blood (2006)
Kevin Gilbert - Water Under the Bridge (2000)
Steven Wilson - Happy Returns (2015)
Porcupine Tree - Arriving Somewhere But Not Here (2005)
Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness (2001)
Spock's Beard - The Great Nothing (2000)
Between the Buried and Me - White Walls (2007)
Three - Amaze Disgrace (2004)
Kiss Kiss - Stay the Day (2007)
Dream Theater - Blind Faith (2002)
Transatlantic - Stranger in Your Soul (2001)
Archive - Again (2002)
Doves - Catch the Sun (2000)
Hotel of the Laughing Tree - Weather Maps for Nikolai (2011)
Pepe Deluxe - A Night and a Day (2012)
Small Leaks Sink Ships - Building Blocks (2015)
Cloud Cult - Running with the Wolves (2010)
The Receiving End of Sirens - This Armistice (2005)
Mutemath - Cavalries (2011)
Umphrey's McGee - Mantis (2009)
Coheed and Cambria - The Willing Well (2005)
Incubus - The Odyssey (2004)
Anathema - Angels Walk Among Us (2010)
Brice Plays Drums - Freight Train Blues (2012)
House of Fools - Need to Be Free (2012)
John Arch - Cheyenne (2003)
Shaman - Fairy Tale (2002)
Anathallo - Without Love (2001)
Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - Pages Written on a Wall (2008)
The Family Crest - Beneath the Brine (2014)
The Decemberists - The Island (2006)
Dirt Poor Robins - Solemn Dream (2013)
Apes and Androids - Riverside (2008)
Ours - Sometimes (2001)
Enchant - What to Say (2000)
Menomena - Wet and Rusting (2007)
Ramona Falls - Spore (2012)
Opeth - The Grand Conjuration (2005)
Burst - (We Watched) The Silver Rain (2008)
East of the Wall - The Apologist (2011)
Bent Knee - Land Animal (2017)
Unexpect - Chromatic Chimera (2006)
SikTh - Another Sinking Ship (2006)
Long Distance Calling - Lines (2016)
Local Natives - Sun Hands (2009)
Foals - Spanish Sahara (2010)
Warpaint - Elephants (2008)
Typhoon - Remember (2018)
Murder By Death - The Desert is on Fire (2003)
Clann Zu - One Bedroom Apartment (2004)
Godspeed You Black Emperor - Storm (2000)
Janelle Monae - Many Moons (2007)
Annuals - Springtime (2008)
Silverchair - Strange Behaviour (2007)
The Dissociatives - Aangry Megaphone Man (2004)
Fjokra - Infinite Loops (2014)
Wolf Parade - Kissing the Beehive (2008)
As Tall as Lions - Circles (2009)
The Velvet Teen - Chimera Obscurant (2004)
Minus the Bear - Burying Luck (2007)
Bloc Party - Uniform (2007)
The Antlers - Atrophy (2009)
Biffy Clyro - Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies (2007)
Neverending White Lights - Our Final Hymn (2005)
sElf - Trunk Fulla Amps (2000)
maudlin of the Well - Gleam in Ranks (2001)
Black Mountain - Bright Lights (2008)
Fields. - Song for the Fields (2007)
The Faceless - Leica (2006)
Time of Orchids -All We Ever Wish (2005)
Aereogramme - Barriers (2007)
Russian Circles - Death Rides a Horse (2006)
Timmy Sean - Can't Stop the World (2010)
Team Me - F is for Faker (2014)
Anakdota - The Girl Next Door (2016)
Battles - Tonto (2007)
OSI - shutDOWN (2003)
VAST - Free (2000)
Everything Everything - To the Blade (2015)
Jazzkamikaze - Music is My Heroin (2010)
The Flower Kings - I an the Sun (Part One) (2000)
Mayer Hawthorne - Designer Drug (2013)
Grimus - The Hell I'm In (2014)
Josh Rouse - Comeback (Light Therapy) (2003)
Gospel - Tango (2010)
Blackfield - Pain (2004)
Woven - Inhale (2007)
Peter Gabriel - Growing Up (2002)
South - Motiveless Crime (2003)
Bruce Peninsula - Steamroller (2009)
22 - Gotodo (2010)
Gotye - Thanks for Your Time (2006)
The River Empires - Three Tigers (2010)
Judgement Day - Peacocks / Pink Monsters (2010)
Pat Metheny - As it is (2002)
Agalloch - Summerisle Reprise (2008)
Protest the Hero - Blindfolds Aside (2006)
Late of the Pier - Focker (2008)
Crotchduster - Mammal Sauce (2004)
The Chap - Proper Rock (2008)
Timbre - Night Girl: Nycteris Sees the Sun (2015)
Brooke Waggoner - Go Easy, Little Doves, I'll Be Fine (2009)
Vennart - Doubt (2015)
Mutyumu - 火焔鳥 / die Ewige Wiederkunft (2008)
Tokyo Jihen - 秘密 / Secret (2006)
Klimt 1918 - We Were Wed By the Sea (2005)
NewVillager - Lighthouse (2011)
The LIST. bolded = songs or artists I like, although many examples the artist has better songs not on the list (Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Coldplay, New Pornographers). And Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" should be higher than so many of these tracks, including Uptown Funk, Happy, etc.
100. "Gasolina" Daddy Yankee feat. Glory
99. "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)," UGK feat. Outkast
98. "Archie, Marry Me," Alvvays
97. "1901," Phoenix
96. "Tighten Up," The Black Keys
95. "Can't Get You Out of My Head," Kylie Minogue
94. "Jesus Walks," Kanye West
93. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)," My Chemical Romance
92. "Stoned and Starving," Parquet Courts
91. "Despacito (Remix)" Luis Fonsi feat. Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber
90. "1 Thing" Amerie
89. "Hate to Say I Told You So," The Hives
88. "Hannah Hunt," Vampire Weekend
87. "We Belong Together," Mariah Carey
86. "I Love It," Icona Pop w/Charli XCX
85. "My Shot," Original Broadway Cast of 'Hamilton'
84. "One More Time," Daft Punk
83. "Lost Cause," Beck
82. "New Slang," The Shins
81. "Hollaback Girl," Gwen Stefani
80. "Ante Up (Robbin-Hoodz Theory)" M.O.P.
79. "Drop It Like It’s Hot" Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell
78. "Young Folks," Peter Bjorn and John
77. "Losing My Edge," LCD Soundsystem
76. "Get Lucky," Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams
75. "The House That Built Me," Miranda Lambert
74. "Letter From an Occupant," The New Pornographers
73. "House of Jealous Lovers," The Rapture
72. "Bad and Boujee," Migos feat. Lil Uzi Vert
71. "Call Me Maybe," Carly Rae Jepsen
70. "American Idiot," Green Day
69. "Thinkin Bout You," Frank Ocean
68. "Springsteen," Eric Church
67. "What You Know," T.I.
66. "Beez in the Trap," Nicki Minaj feat. 2 Chainz
65. "We Found Love," Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris
64. "DNA," Kendrick Lamar
63. "Sugar, We’re Goin Down," Fall Out Boy
62. "Teenage Dream," Katy Perry
61. "Hung Up," Madonna
60. "The Wire," Haim
59. "Bodak Yellow," Cardi B
58. "Ni**as in Paris" Jay-Z and Kanye West
57. "Do You Realize??" The Flaming Lips
56. "Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi," Radiohead
55. "212," Azealia Banks feat. Lazy Jay
54. "Portions for Foxes," Rilo Kiley
53. "Oblivion," Grimes
52. "Chandelier," Sia
51. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," Beyoncé
50. "The Scientist," Coldplay
49. "Sign of the Times," Harry Styles
48. "Happy," Pharrell Williams
47. "Redbone," Childish Gambino
46. "Cry Me a River," Justin Timberlake
45. "Sorry," Justin Bieber
44. "Stan," Eminem
43. "Cranes in the Sky," Solange
42. "Electric Feel," MGMT
41. "Hurt," Johnny Cash
40. "Beautiful Day," U2
39. "No One Knows," Queens of the Stone Age
38. "Formation," Beyoncé
37. "You Want It Darker," Leonard Cohen
36. "Gold Digger" Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx
35. "Blue Jeans," Lana Del Rey
34. "Mr. Brightside," The Killers
33. "Idioteque," Radiohead
32. "In Da Club," 50 Cent
31. "Wake Up," Arcade Fire
30. "Mississippi," Bob Dylan
29. "All Too Well" Taylor Swift
28. "Umbrella," Rihanna feat. Jay-Z
27. "B.O.B." Outkast
26. "Hotline Bling," Drake
25. "Uptown Funk," Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars
24. "Lose Yourself," Eminem
23. "Ms. Jackson," Outkast
22. "Take Me Out" Franz Ferdinand
21. "Bad Romance," Lady Gaga
20. "Rehab," Amy Winehouse
19. "Dancing on My Own," Robyn
18. "Blackstar," David Bowie
17. "Work It," Missy Elliott
16. "All My Friends," LCD Soundsystem
15. "Crazy," Gnarls Barkley
14. "Toxic," Britney Spears
13. "Alright," Kendrick Lamar
12. "Get Ur Freak On," Missy Elliott
11. "Since U Been Gone," Kelly Clarkson
10. "Last Nite," The Strokes
9. "Royals," Lorde
8. "Rolling in the Deep," Adele
7. "Runaway," Kanye West feat. Pusha T
6. "Maps," Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5. "99 Problems," Jay-Z
4. "Hey Ya!", Outkast
3. "Seven Nation Army," The White Stripes
2. "Paper Planes," M.I.A.
1. "Crazy in Love," Beyonce feat. Jay-Z
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