The N&G Listening Club V1 - Archive only

I have been behind on this thread for so long and I apologize to those who have picked albums in the meantime while I've not been active here. But I'm working my way through the albums now!

First one, Hiatus Kiayote - Choose Your Weapon (chosen by @Splunders )
My opinion is very similar to others in here on this one. There's some music that I respect more than I like and that's the case here. I could never call this album bad or really speak negatively about it at all because I respect the talent and artistry on display immensely. But it's not something that appeals to me personally, and especially for 69 minutes, I find it hard to keep my interest and attention towards it. There's tons of qualities about it to enjoy but it just doesn't connect with me all the way like it should. But still, a great choice and I don't regret spending some time with it at all!
 
gaporter said:
I have been behind on this thread for so long and I apologize to those who have picked albums in the meantime while I've not been active here. But I'm working my way through the albums now!

First one, Hiatus Kiayote - Choose Your Weapon (chosen by @Splunders )
My opinion is very similar to others in here on this one. There's some music that I respect more than I like and that's the case here. I could never call this album bad or really speak negatively about it at all because I respect the talent and artistry on display immensely. But it's not something that appeals to me personally, and especially for 69 minutes, I find it hard to keep my interest and attention towards it. There's tons of qualities about it to enjoy but it just doesn't connect with me all the way like it should. But still, a great choice and I don't regret spending some time with it at all!
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I will say that several of the recent picks (including the one from today) have been albums that have longer than a 60 minute runtime and those are instantly intimidating to me. I not only prefer shorter albums but I also have a hard time fitting the long ones into my listening schedule.

I've thought about suggesting that the person selected should choose something that's no more than an hour in length, but I also don't want to restrict them from otherwise picking one of their all-time favorite (long) albums.
 
Bohnjaggs said:
I will say that several of the recent picks (including the one from today) have been albums that have longer than a 60 minute runtime and those are instantly intimidating to me. I not only prefer shorter albums but I also have a hard time fitting the long ones into my listening schedule.

I've thought about suggesting that the person selected should choose something that's no more than an hour in length, but I also don't want to restrict them from otherwise picking one of their all-time favorite (long) albums.
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I'm not opposed to longer albums in general, but my feelings are that on a longer album, you need to be able to switch it up enough or keep doing interesting things to where I'm pulled in the whole time, which not enough longer projects do. For an album like Choose Your Weapon, the runtime works against it for me, because it has a consistent sound throughout and doesn't shake it up too much and after a while I just find it harder to stick with it. I definitely prefer shorter albums (my choice for the Listening Club is only 35 minutes) but I can dig longer albums if they go the extra mile to keep it consistently enjoyable.

But yes, I agree, let people choose however long albums they want. I don't want someone to feel restricted in what they can choose for the Listening Club purely because of length. If it's an album that they want to share, that's all that matters imo.
 
So I certainly don't mind this Antarctica album, lots of cool little bits, I wasn't quite expecting this blend of mathy guitars with parts of what you could even call psytrance (I think). It's very moody, and I found that wore a bit thin due to the length. It feels a bit like when they were creating it they took all these sounds and ideas from 80s/90s genres and mashed them together in a futile effort to predict or even define the 'sound' of the 2000s; and for that it feels pretty contrived and it aged instantly.

Looking forward to a second listen with better space around it this time, definitely a 'mindset' album for me, in a way that's hard to understand without having heard it before.
 
BoilerRhapsody said:
So I certainly don't mind this Antarctica album, lots of cool little bits, I wasn't quite expecting this blend of mathy guitars with parts of what you could even call psytrance (I think). It's very moody, and I found that wore a bit thin due to the length. It feels a bit like when they were creating it they took all these sounds and ideas from 80s/90s genres and mashed them together in a futile effort to predict or even define the 'sound' of the 2000s; and for that it feels pretty contrived and it aged instantly.
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You're on point with the mathy guitars, as well as the length.
The leader/singer of this group was formerly of a band called Christie Front Drive, a mid-90's "emo" band alongside peers such as Mineral, Boys Life, and Julia. If you've never listened to any of these bands, then the mathy guitar parts are unexpected and, even if you have, it is quite different to hear them in this context.
I personally don't get the impression that this band was trying to predict anything, so much as they were part of a trend at the time of formerly "emo" bands adopting/experimenting with keyboards resulting with a more "pop" sound. One of the bands that they toured with was a band called The Gloria Record, formerly a guitar-driven band called Mineral, whose sound changed dramatically from the introduction of keyboards and electronics, and they were right at home with bands such as Keepsake and late-era Elliott. Interestingly, to my knowledge, Antarctica was the only band from that scene that took a hard 80's/90's pop influence, which is why they stood out to me then as much as they do today.
I think the length is more due to what happens/happened in their live shows. It very much has an on-stage "let's see where this goes" kind of feel. For fans of this album who saw them live, they will point to this being an accurate idea of what it would be like to hear them live, with the instrumental sprawling/stretching. For some, it works and makes for a pleasant experience, for others less so, I cannot fault you on that. If I were to have seen this band live, I think it would make even more sense. Sadly, I doubt that will ever happen.
Thank you for the consideration/time you have given to this :)
 
Bohnjaggs said:
I will say that several of the recent picks (including the one from today) have been albums that have longer than a 60 minute runtime and those are instantly intimidating to me. I not only prefer shorter albums but I also have a hard time fitting the long ones into my listening schedule.

I've thought about suggesting that the person selected should choose something that's no more than an hour in length, but I also don't want to restrict them from otherwise picking one of their all-time favorite (long) albums.
Click to expand...
gaporter said:
I'm not opposed to longer albums in general, but my feelings are that on a longer album, you need to be able to switch it up enough or keep doing interesting things to where I'm pulled in the whole time, which not enough longer projects do. For an album like Choose Your Weapon, the runtime works against it for me, because it has a consistent sound throughout and doesn't shake it up too much and after a while I just find it harder to stick with it. I definitely prefer shorter albums (my choice for the Listening Club is only 35 minutes) but I can dig longer albums if they go the extra mile to keep it consistently enjoyable.

But yes, I agree, let people choose however long albums they want. I don't want someone to feel restricted in what they can choose for the Listening Club purely because of length. If it's an album that they want to share, that's all that matters imo.
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I grappled with length myself in choosing this.
I'll give you an example: one album I had considered initially and decided against because of length was Appleseed Cast's Low Level Owl. I love it, but it's very dense and clocks in damn near 2 hours. Same thing with Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works or Half Japanese's Greatest Hits.
The shortest album I considered was Arab On Radar's Soak The Saddle, clocking in at about 19 minutes, but if you are not a fan of that style of music it can feel infinitely longer.

With vinyl, I tend to refuse to listen to another album before I completely listen to what I started. However, because this album was never on vinyl, I have listened to it through only CD and streaming, in my car, in my kitchen, at work during a break, etc. In other words, because of it's length and the limitations of my listening environments, I myself find the need to listen to a few songs here or a disc at a time... I actually did just that with Hiatus Kaiyote and it's probably why I enjoyed the album as much as I did.

TLDR; I hear what you are saying, I just hope you find something you enjoy in my pick this week :)
 
I've been lazy/behind on this thread lately - life, you know. I always save the album to my library when available and come to it when I can. Been heavily reliant on my "comfort music" lately and less in the mood for trying new things.

So I'm late but this Pom Poko album is definitely one of my favourite pop albums in a while. Really enjoying it, and keep nudging the volume up. I've always been drawn to Scandinavian artists - there is something in the landscape, the climate, the people, that breeds an organic melancholy, often masked by a defiant upbeat veneer. This certainly has the upbeat/energetic side covered but there is a warmth and vulnerability too. Very cool thanks @kvetcha for the pick!
 
So, this week's album was... ok? I think I would actually love it if the songs were shorter. Most of them are way too long, and they don't change enough to justify to be 10 minutes long imo. It gets a little repetitive at some moments, mainly in the next to last song, the one with the weird title (and it's also the longest track). But if they'd stayed under 5 minutes, I would've like this very, very much. I think it's nice to play in the background while I'm doing something else.

Btw, why is it 3.3770833333 the title on Spotify?
 
Waitressboy said:
So, this week's album was... ok? I think I would actually love it if the songs were shorter. Most of them are way too long, and they don't change enough to justify to be 10 minutes long imo. It gets a little repetitive at some moments, mainly in the next to last song, the one with the weird title (and it's also the longest track). But if they'd stayed under 5 minutes, I would've like this very, very much. I think it's nice to play in the background while I'm doing something else.

Btw, why is it 3.3770833333 the title on Spotify?
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Bohnjaggs said:
Yeah, this is an interesting question... Any idea, @MadLucas ?
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It's actually interesting to me that people keep coming back to the length of these songs. To be honest, I was worried about the length of the album itself, but only slightly.
I have had a few days to consider this, and I stand by this pick. Nobody seems to have any real issue with the songs themselves beyond the instrumental passages, and the basis for any song worth its weight is the composition itself. Perhaps it is because of genre context?
I say that because it's never been an issue for me when I listen to bands that are strictly rock or electronic. One could make a point about song length with any of the following:

Portraits of Past
Melvins
Underworld
Against All Logic
Burial
The Cure
Of Montreal (particularly their latest album)
Orbital
Sunn O)))
Earth
Roni Size
Yo La Tengo
Lightning Bolt
.....................................etc...................

All of these bands have songs that at times have bordered on heroically long. Curious if anyone who listened to this album and has familiarity with any of the bands listed above can chime in here and help me understand the difference. I honestly don't hear it.

Either way, I appreciate that people went out of their way to take the time with this album. It's very special to me and I was happy to share it with you :)

For the record, my second choice was Felt's Forever Breathes The Lonely Word.

Regarding the Spotify listing: I honestly have zero idea why it is listed as 3.3770833333. I am completely lost on that one.
 
MadLucas said:
It's actually interesting to me that people keep coming back to the length of these songs. To be honest, I was worried about the length of the album itself, but only slightly.
I have had a few days to consider this, and I stand by this pick. Nobody seems to have any real issue with the songs themselves beyond the instrumental passages, and the basis for any song worth its weight is the composition itself. Perhaps it is because of genre context?
I say that because it's never been an issue for me when I listen to bands that are strictly rock or electronic. One could make a point about song length with any of the following:

Portraits of Past
Melvins
Underworld
Against All Logic
Burial
The Cure
Of Montreal (particularly their latest album)
Orbital
Sunn O)))
Earth
Roni Size
Yo La Tengo
Lightning Bolt
.....................................etc...................

All of these bands have songs that at times have bordered on heroically long. Curious if anyone who listened to this album and has familiarity with any of the bands listed above can chime in here and help me understand the difference. I honestly don't hear it.

Either way, I appreciate that people went out of their way to take the time with this album. It's very special to me and I was happy to share it with you :)

For the record, my second choice was Felt's Forever Breathes The Lonely Word.

Regarding the Spotify listing: I honestly have zero idea why it is listed as 3.3770833333. I am completely lost on that one.
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I will say that I am not usually a fan of long songs OR albums but there are definitely exceptions. I do like what I've heard of Antarctica so far, and even added a few songs to my favorites but I haven't made it all the way through the album yet.
 
MadLucas said:
All of these bands have songs that at times have bordered on heroically long. Curious if anyone who listened to this album and has familiarity with any of the bands listed above can chime in here and help me understand the difference. I honestly don't hear it.
Click to expand...

Not familiar with all of them, but yeah I definitely know some of the longer tracks you're talking about. I don't see much difference really, except that maybe some of your examples are more dynamic generally.

Listening to Antarctica I found myself very unaware of which track was which, had the album still been 80 minutes long but with more shorter tracks, I can't see that really making a difference.
 
Antarctica...I actually like long songs and albums. I dig this album and have listened to it a couple of times while working. It's a great way to burn through the day. To me it has a definite new wave vibe...something unusual for the turn of the century (IMO). I would have never heard of this if not for this club...so thank you. My favorite song is Absence. On Apple Music, the second to last song is called 7759-60784-1-E. Seems like a filing label system or some spot on the map or something...This would be a great album to listen to for a car/plane trip. The instrumental portions on this are the best part.
 
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Antarctica:

Loving the length of these songs, despite some running 8+ minutes nothing really makes me feel like the were dragging on a song just to keep it going, however I do think they relied on certain riffs a little too much and could've been a little less repetitive on some songs (the velvet flood, return to omma down).

The album creates a pretty chill laid back atmosphere and I find it very easy to listen to, it never gets 'heavy' just a mellow vibe all record long. I consider it a poppy post-rock album that has a consistent flow. Nothing really shocks you.

I think my biggest complaint is that the guitar begins to sound almost the same throughout the entire album.

Overall this is a very solid debut album and I would have loved to see how they expanded their sound on the next release. I think having this album under their belt would have given them the ability to fix the repetition issues.

Favorite Songs: Tower of Silence, Hallucinus, Tektur the water, 7759, Artctikal
 
I can wander down some weird musical roads, but for this thread I'm not gonna do it.

Instead I'm gonna offer up an LP by an artist who's created music that most likely each and every person on this forum has heard before. Depending on your age, odds are your parents are into this one as well. Y'all may have even had a moment of family bonding during vacation or a road trip and sung along to this together in the car.

So...without further ado, I give you the man who wrote and recorded the mega-hit 'Jet Airliner'..............

PAUL PENA!

Wait. Who?

Yes, the mighty Paul Pena. Some of you may know that Paul originally wrote and recorded the Steve Miller staple 'Jet Airliner' but most folks don't. Actually, most folks have no knowledge of Paul Pena at all. And that's why I'm here.

I don't want to get into a lot of minutiae - I feel one of the most fun aspects of this thread is the participant has the opportunity to dig deeper into the artist and discover on their own. With that said, I will give you a few bullet points...
  • Paul was born with a progressive eye condition that left him blind.
  • Paul played some of his first shows opening for Frank Zappa and The Grateful Dead.
  • Stylistically, he's gone all over the place.
  • Later in life, Paul became a Tuvan throat singer. If you have no idea what that is check out the documentary Genghis Blues.
Paul recorded two LPs in his career - a S/T record in 1971 and New Train, recorded in 1973 but blocked from release by horrific management til 2000.

As only Paul's first record is available on Spotify, that's the one I'm featuring.

Why did I choose it? Paul created some passionate music that's gone unheard for a long time. This record is about uncertainty and hope, wandering and wondering. He's varied stylistically - this LP goes from ballad to blues to soul, sometimes within the same song. There are hints of gospel that cozy right up to a pedal steel. It's very organic, and that's something I love in music. As I listen to this record, I hear his influence on many contemporary artists. Plus, I find this to be a great summertime record.

All you 'Jet Airliner' aficionados please note - Paul's original version of that song is on New Train. There's a nice quality upload of that record on YouTube if you'd like to dig in.

So, hope y'all enjoy discovering (or rediscovering) Paul Pena. Some links below for further exploration.

paul-pena-lp-stereo-1971-capitol-st11005-original-funk-soul-folk_43999143.jpg

Paul Pena - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org







 
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I know nothing about music like this, just sounds like '70s soul' to me, not that thats a bad thing. He has an impressive voice. I've never heard of Jet Airliner before so that doesn't really mean anything to me either.

Feels more like a Friday afternoon album to me, so I'm looking forward to that. I'll have to familiarize myself with this and him a bit more before then.
 
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