Music

Favorite Music

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“Oh, I listen to all kinds of music.” Don’t you hate when people give this answer? It answers your question with no answer. I won’t do that here.

I generally listen to alternative rock, but of course, I’m always open to the “everything” that everybody keeps referring to. I lament the disappearance of the piano in popular music. It’s no coincidence that my favorite bands use it extensively.

Take some time one day and download –err, buysome music by these great artists. Or, IM me and ask for them. I respect copyright laws, but I’d be more than happy to guide you someplace that doesn’t.

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Sigur Rós

I never thought The Smashing Pumpkins would be bumped from the top of my list until I heard this band.  The music of Sigur Rós is a delightfully abstract, otherworldly mix of Radiohead and nothing you’ve ever heard before.  Their latest CD, “( )” contains no title, no booklet and 8 untitled tracks that contain occasional lyrics of gibberish.

The point is that words only matter insofar as they add texture to the music.  Instead of conventional songs, the tracks are “cascades of moaning, bowed guitars colliding with low-end keyboards while the lovely, alien-registered vocals of singer Jónsi float on top.”  Memorable, haunting and, at times, melancholy, the pieces become part of a lucid dream that permeates your being while listening.

The specific tracks that catapulted Sigur Rós to the top of my list are “Untitled 1” and “Untitled 8” on (), “Vidrar Vel Til Loftárása” on Ágaetis Byrjun and Njósnavélin (live).

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The Smashing Pumpkins

This band can only be done justice by writers far more capable than myself.  What do I like about them?  Their dazzling angst.  The lyrics that spill out like aching dreams.  Music that evokes emotions such as “being pessimistic and feeling trapped but still wanting to believe in love, in a future, in something.”

I’d always liked their music, but “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” turned me into a die-hard fan.  The Smashing Pumpkins became perfect answer to Nirvana’s lower-than-dirt grunge angst, an alternative for angst-ridden teens who still actually had hope.

R. I. P.  12.02.2000

Favorite songs: Ava Adore, Blank Page, By Starlight, Disarm, Galapogos, If There Is A God (piano version), Mayonaise, Set the Ray, Slow Down, Stand Insider Your Love, The Imploding Voice, The Sacred And Profane, This Time, Try Try Try, Vanity, We Only Come Out at Night.

Honorable Mention…

Radiohead

Radiohead

Counting Crows

Counting Crows

Elliott Smith

Elliott Smith

Coldplay

Coldplay

Our Lady Peace

Our Lady Peace

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Aimee Mann

Aimee Mann

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current Playlist

Aimee Mann – Nothing is Good Enough
Aimee Mann – Red Vines
Aimee Mann – Save Me
Aphex Twin – Hexagon
Aphex Twin – Iz-us
Blind Melon – Three is a Magic Number
Brad – The Day Brings
Bruce Springsteen – City of Ruins
Bush – Speed Kills
Coldplay – Amsterdam
Coldplay – Clocks
Coldplay – Don’t Panic
Coldplay – In My Place
Coldplay – Scientist
Coldplay – Trouble
Counting Crows – Baby I’m A Big Star Now
Counting Crows – Black and Blue
Counting Crows – Colorblind
Counting Crows – Good Time
Counting Crows – I Wish I Was A Girl
Counting Crows – Walkaways
The Dears – End of a Hollywood Story
Elliott Smith – Baby Britain
Elliot Smith – Bled White
Elliott Smith – Bottle up and Explode!
Elliot Smith – Everything Means Nothing To Me
Elliot Smith – Would’t Mama Be Proud
Elliot Smith – Can’t Make A Sound
Elliott Smith – The Biggest Lie
Elliott Smith – Miss Misery
Elliott Smith – Summer of Sam
Everclear – Everything to Everyone
Guster – Fa Far Way
Hans Zimmer – The Thin Red Line (theme)
Linkin Park – Crawling
Marilyn Manson – Tourniquet
Moby – Everloving
Moby – God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters
Moby – My Weakness
Nine Inch Nails – A Warm Place
Nirvana – Pennyroyal Tea (unplugged)
Our Lady Peace – All for You
Our Lady Peace – Julia (live piano)
Our Lady Peace – Naveed
Our Lady Peace – Sorry
Our Lady Peace – Stealing Babies
Pearl Jam – I Got Id
Radiohead – Lucky
Radiohead – Pyramid Song
Radiohead – You and Whose Army
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Can’t Stop
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Easily
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Venice Queen
Schneider TM – Reality
Sigur Ros – Untitled 1
Sigur Ros – Untitled 3
Sigur Ros – Untitled 8
Smashing Pumpkins – Ava Adore
Smashing Pumpkins – Blank Page
Smashing Pumpkins – If There Is a God (piano/vox)
Smashing Pumpkins – Slow Down
Smashing Pumpkins – The Imploding Voice
Smashing Pumpkins – Set The Ray
Spot – Underneath Our Home
Stroke 9 – Letters