Music

[krsmith16]

Recently had a drunken debate with a couple friends about greatest vocalist ever. Somehow David Ruffin did not get mentioned. Dumbass drunks.

So good...

 

[deepdarkblue]

Temptations are one of my top 10 all-time favorite artists. "I Wish It Would Rain" and "Bernadette" by the Four Tops were, imo, the very best of the Motown songs, with "Down in Mexico" by The Coasters as a darkhorse Honorable Mention.

 

[sivartrenrag]

Just now seeing this post... you guys should seek out this album:

https://www.discogs.com/David-Ruffin-David-Unreleased-LP-More/release/1068058

It's incredible. Apparently Motown kept it on the shelf for like 30 years because Ruffin was such a cunt. But whatever, the tunes are great.

 

[rome8180]

I know they're not for everyone, and his voice is admittedly grating, but The Mountain Goats are one of my favorite bands. Was relistening to The Sunset Tree today. Such a profound album lyrically.

 

[sivartrenrag]

I know they're not for everyone, and his voice is admittedly grating, but The Mountain Goats are one of my favorite bands. Was relistening to The Sunset Tree today. Such a profound album lyrically.

Yup - easily one of my favorites. Seen them a few times. Pretty sweet that he lives in Durham. I love the older stuff that he basically recorded on boomboxes, so much raw emotion, and his lyrics are great.

Not really a discussion for this thread, but his first book, Wolf in White Van, was excellent. I haven't read Universal Harvester yet, but it's on my shelf.

 

[sivartrenrag]

Haven't seen them mentioned in this thread, but have any of you guys checked out Future Islands? So fucking good. I think they all went to ECU. Old video, but a really moving performance imo:

 

[rome8180]

I've only read the first twenty pages of Wolf in White Van, but I loved what I read. Had a lot of the same quality of his lyrics. Didn't seem to have a traditional "narrative" per se, but I'm not sure that matters.

 

[rhfarmer]

My friend's band opens for Future Islands all the time, and toured Europe with them.

 

[rome8180]

What band?

 

[childress22]

I've only read the first twenty pages of Wolf in White Van, but I loved what I read. Had a lot of the same quality of his lyrics. Didn't seem to have a traditional "narrative" per se, but I'm not sure that matters.

I liked it, though it was a little bleak for me. So damn well-written, though. I haven't read his second book yet.

 

[childress22]

I know they're not for everyone, and his voice is admittedly grating, but The Mountain Goats are one of my favorite bands. Was relistening to The Sunset Tree today. Such a profound album lyrically.

I've run into awesome stuff on YouTube of John Darnielle and Craig Finn of the Hold Steady (who has a similar lyrical style and tone) guesting on various favorite bands' performances, including Mountain Goats + Finn doing "This Year", which is fun.

 

[rome8180]

Nice. That is one of my favorites of his.

 

[childress22]

Nice. That is one of my favorites of his.

Easily one of the ten best songs that exist.

 

[rome8180]

I've decided Band of Horses is #1 on my bucket list of bands to see live. I think both his voice and the epic nature of the music would benefit from being seen live.

 

[rhfarmer]

What band?

Zack Mexico

 

[torontoduke]

Lousy news

https://exclaim.ca/music/article/ha...f_the_dictators_charged_with_domestic_assault

I really like the Dictators (they have played Toronto a few times in recent years), and I go to Manitoba's for drinks every time I'm in NYC.

Looks like a nasty situation.

 

[skins]

That Future Islands performance is in my top 2-3 of Letterman musical guests.

I really love their second album, In Evening Air. "Tin Man", "Long Flight" and "Inch of Dust" are all fantastic synthpop songs.

 

[skins]

You know this, @skins? I ended up leaving it off the mix because I had too many songs with a similar tempo and beat. But I dig it.

I meant to respond to this earlier. I like that track. I don't mean this in a bad way, but it seems like that channel has a ton of good background music.

I also noticed a few songs from your playlist were on David Dean Burkhart's channel. That guy has been putting out quality custom music videos for all sorts of indie acts for years. Another good channel for more lo-fi stuff is Kegz.

 

[rome8180]

Yeah, this is mostly stuff I work to. My tastes often gear more to odd experimental stuff like tune-yards, but I find that stuff like this is better to work to.

 

[rhfarmer]

So, Future Islands played a gig here last winter at a local bar. The gig was billed as Zack Mexcio with Special Guests. ZM opened, and then Future Islands came on and played all of their new material for the album they put out last year.

Naturally, all the cool kids knew what was up, so it wasn't a secret for long, but it was a really big deal for a local bar that doesn't even have a stage.