Friday Music Day

FMD: Learning

89 Comments

I have been exposed to so much new music here, through FMD and the DJs (to whom I sincerely apologize to for my very uneven listening and voting. Y'all put in so much work. Don't think it goes unnoticed or unappreciated) I'd say the top three (in no particular order) favorites I've found via the Basement are:

  • The Hold Steady
  • Sturgill Simpson
  • Dinosaur Jr

Have you found anything here that is now indisposable?

89 thoughts on “FMD: Learning”

  1. Mags, your comments fit in perfectly with my list. As I was typing it up, I was thinking about how much it reflects the influence of the WGOM on my listening habits.

    1. “King of Carrot Flowers, Pts 2 & 3” Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane over the Sea
    2. “Bear” The Antlers Hospice
    3. “Fancy” Yeah Yeah Yeahs Show Your Bones
    4. “At the Carnival” Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s Animal!
    5. “Crazy” Patsy Cline The Ultimate Collection
    6. “Poison & Wine” The Civil Wars Barton Hollow
    7. “You Lit Up the Night” Ha Ha Tonka Buckle in the Bible Belt*
    8. “You’re Damaged” Waxatchee Cerulean Salt
    9. “The Bullpen” Dessa A Badly Broken Code
    T. “The Avalanche” Sufjan Stevens Illinois

    *coudn't decide whether to lowercase "up;" I'm terrible about prepositions that also function as other parts of speech, though I think I ended up making the right call here (see also "over" in the album name for 1)

    1. Top three not on this list:
      -Lydia Loveless
      -Sturgill Simpson
      -Mitski

      (how does a person do proper bullet points?)

      1. <ul> *Starts unordered (bullet point) list*
        <li>Bullet Point text here</li> *li meaning "list item" repeat as necessary*
        </ul>*ends unordered list*

        Make sure you type the < and > with your keyboard. Don't use the ones in the button bar. Those are used to make them appear as text, not count as actual coding.

        2. Thanks to both of you! Now I just need to come up with another reason to include bullet points in an LTE.

      2. These would be on my list with so many others. Off the top of my head (and list). I'd add Joanna Newsom, Japandroids, Kye Kye, Lion Or Gazelle, and EMA (okay, not all of those are indispensable, but they're all caused by the .org's influence). Bunch of others too.

    2. I would have done it differently if I thought about it (but I don't always). It's not the intransitive "Lit Up", but transitive "Lit".
      Consider fictional songs entitled "Turned on the Light" vs. "You Turn Me On"

      Æsthetically, I like the capitalization used there and after the Aeroplane.
      But I also have æsthetic preferences for keeping "is" and "are" uncapitalized.

  2. 01. “Occident” – Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
    02. “Please Please Please” – Shout Out Louds – Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
    03. “Partner In Crime” – Lion Or Gazelle – There’s Blood In Fire
    04. “Lisa Says” – The Velvet Underground – VU
    05. “I’m So Tired” – The Beatles – The Beatles
    06. “In Metal” – Low – Things We Lost In The Fire
    07. “Trees & Trust” – Kye Kye – Young Love
    08. “No More Words” – Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi
    09. “Neuromancer” – EMA – The Future’s Void
    10. “Rockers East Vancouver” – Japandroids – Post-Nothing

  3. I'm in my car so infrequently, but I've heard this track on the local university station a few times, and I think it's captured a nice Paul Simon solo feel:
    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok5nbv7-gSI

  4. Goodness, that would be a list. Here's an incomplete list of things I've been exposed to via WGOM. Like hj said, not all indispensable, but all things I enjoy.

    Dinosaur Jr.
    Joy Formidable
    Pixies
    Replacements
    Heartless Bastards
    Fuck Buttons
    The Black Keys
    The Drones
    Sunn O)))
    The Knife/Fever Ray
    Japandroids
    Larsen
    Meat Puppets
    METZ
    Puscifer
    Sleigh Bells
    Sonic Youth
    Andy Stott
    Swans
    Viva Voce
    Wye Oak

      1. Yeah, I could add Joy Formidable, Heartless Bastards, and Sleigh Bells from this list (still not sold on TVotR, but close). I'm not going to include the Replacements because while the .org tipped me over the edge on them, it was a long time coming.

        If I went through my full library, I could add a lot more for sure.

        1. My library is about 50/50 stuff outta this place. I stopped at three because it would have been too much typing.

  5. 1. Sly & Robbie “Destination Unknown (Morning Chrorus Remix by Rockers HiFi)”* Dubmission 2: The Remixes
        a. Blackpoll Warbler “Song” (Cornell Master Set)
    2. Tranquility Bass “Gone with Yesterday” Heartbreaks and Hallelujahs
        b. Red Crossbill “Calls” (Cornell Essential Set)
        c. Tufted Titmouse “Song” (Cornell Master Set)
        d. Northern Shrike “Calls and Song” (Cornell Essential Set)
    3. Kacey Musgraves “Follow Your Arrow” Same Trailer Different Park
    4. Lorde “Ribs” Pure Heroine
    5. Eric B. & Rakim “Paid in Full”* Paid in Full

    6. Chatham Rise* “Here” Chatham Rise EP
    7. Bonnie Stillwatter* “The Devil Is People (The Cheech Wizard's Hemiolic Chantey At The Edge Of The Anthropocene Epoch)” The Devil Is People
        e. Boreal Owl “Song” (Cornell Essential Set)
        f. Tricolored Blackbird “Song” (Cornell Essential Set)
    8. Emot “Onion Face” Make You Electric
    9. Aaron Dilloway “Untitled 8” Psychic Driving Tapes*
    T. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy “Grand Dark Feeling of Emptiness”* Ease Down the Road
    B. Grimes “Flesh Without Blood”* Art Angels

    *Notes:
    1. A Sly & Robbie "Dub Version" of "Chill Out" by Black Uhuru, then remixed (reremixed?) by Rockers HiFi.

    5. I recently had the idea to take the acapella and make sets of rhymes for kids:
        Plan/Hand
        Spent/Lint
        Residence/Presidents
        Stick-up kid/Things I did
        Roll-up/Hold up
        Nothing funny/But the money
        Learned/Earn
        Righteous/Might just
        9 to 5/If I strive/Stay alive
        Whistling this/Man, do I miss
        A paper/A tape of/Big plate of
        Fish/Dish/Wish
        Getting paid/That I made
        I got pull/Paid in full
    But there are miles between idea and execution.

    6. BiL's shoegaze/drone band. Quite Gas-y.

    7. "Bonnie Stillwatter is a conceptual collaboration of artistry and friendship between Will Oldham (aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy), experimental rock group Watter (featuring a member of Grails), and Stillwater Artisanal, a nomadic brewer that mixes equal parts art and alcohol". The Cheech Wizard is Bundy K. Brown of Tortoise and Gastr Del Sol.

    9. Psychic Driving sounds like a lot of fun.

    T. To preserve his AAABCCCBDDDB rhyme scheme, Oldham uses "hoid" for "heard" and "woid" for "word". Which sounds silly but is not. There's no irony there, as if that's the natural word to use here.

    B. This should have been released in June or July. It'll be too old next summer.

    1. Nothing in there I've picked up from the WGOM, but Will Oldham feels like a bit of a hybrid. My early explorations on him were encouraged herein.

    2. Rhyming in songs fascinates me. It's possible to get away with all sorts of things that seem like they wouldn't work--so much is in the execution.

      1. Like Coil rhymes "Vultures" with "Future" and "Failed to release us" with "Amethyst deceivers".
        Yep, I got a bird and a mushroom in there.

  6. * The Old Laughing Lady - Neil Young - Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968
    * Let the Devil In - TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
    * They Say - Scars on Broadway - (self-titled)
    * Ode to Isis - ...And They Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Worlds Apart
    * Cold Comfort - Yvette - Process
    * The Sublime is Disappointingly Elusive - The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
    * Hands - The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
    * I Wanna Be a Bear - Descendents - Milo Goes to College
    * Special Thing - Viva Voce - Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
    * Welfare Mothers - Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps

  7. The new(ish) Jason Isbell is getting a lot of rotation lately. I really dig this tune in particular

    httpv://youtu.be/D8qTsRO8xt8

  8. 1. Trap Soul Door -- Guided By Voices -- Sandbox
    2. Star Sign -- Teenage Fanclub -- Bandwagonesque
    3. Sensitive Euro Man -- Pavement -- Wowee Zowee
    4. Low Down -- Tom Waits -- Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
    5. Lethargy -- Guided By Voices -- Propeller
    6. King Of Fools -- Social Distortion -- Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell
    7. Grace Cathedral Hill -- The Decemberists -- Castaways and Cut-Outs
    8. Blue Eyes -- The International Submarine -- Band Safe at Home
    9. Dreamworld -- The Wedding Present -- Saturnalia
    10. Shaking Through -- R.E.M. -- Murmur

    B1. Rhinoceros -- Smashing Pumpkins -- Gish
    B2. 1,000,000 -- R.E.M. -- R.E.M.

    I'd say Joy Formbidable and Mitski for sure.

    Saddened/Thankful that I haven't turned anyone on the a GBV obsession.

    1. There was a song that came on my Spotify radio from GBV and I thought, "I'll remember that title." Well, I didn't and the catalog is just massive, as you well know. Still sorta bummed about that one.

  9. Approximately 100% of the songs I have grabbed in spotify would not be there but for my WGOM exposure.

  10. I'm not sure why I so rarely comment on FMD since I love both music and the WGOM, but I'll bite on this.

    I have some bands and soloists I've grabbed from here, like Skyclad and Colin Stetson. My habits these days come from Pitchfork more than anything, but the ones I want to call out more than any are Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention.

    E-6 threw both of these out there. He played a live version of "Crazy Lady Blues" by Denny once, and another time when I was bored and asked for a suggestion he mentioned Fairport Convention. From there I followed E's advice and ended up finding other gems like James Carr and have since made a point to check out anything he's suggested.

    I'm not sure why our tastes line up so much, but damn, man, it's been helpful.

        1. Ha! That is definitely a believable fact. I, of course, have expanded none of my horizons, but I'm perfectly comfortable with my rather narrow music preferences.

    2. From here... Colin Stetson and Mitski for sure. Sharon Van Etten. Angel Olson and Sturgill Simpson. Courtney Barnett and Natalie Prass.
      Zack sent me to HEALTH (after I gave up), Colleen Green, Fear of Men, and Chromatics.
      DG has sent me to Holocene, Three Trapped Tigers, some house, and some modern classical that has interested me, but little has stuck with me.
      E6's mixes gave me some good things too, but I haven't expanded from those particular songs. And Deathprod, which I'm still listening to.

      I've listened to Arcade Fire, Wilco, the Beatles, Radiohead, Haxan Cloak, Joy Formidable, Wye Oak, Deadbeat, and TV on the Radio because of this site, but my mileage varied.

  11. I'd say about half of my catalog comes directly from music discussed here. Another good chunk comes from going down Spotify rabbit holes of similar artists or streaming stations based on artists from here.

    SMD List:
    1. Jack White - "Love Interruption" - Blunderbuss
    2. Diarrhea Planet - "Ugliest Son" - I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams
    3. The White Stripes - "In The Cold, Cold Night" - Elephant
    4. Fountains of Wayne - "No Better Place" - Welcome Interstate Managers
    5. Built To Spill - "Tomorrow" - There Is No Enemy

    6. Sufjan Stevens - "Adlai Stevenson" - The Avalanche
    7. Drive By Truckers - "Sounds Better In The Song" - Decoration Day
    8. Wilco - "Muzzle of bees" - A ghost is born
    9. The Shins - "Bait And Switch" - Port Of Morrow
    10. Soul Coughing - "True Dreams Of Wichita" - Ruby Vroom

    From this list - DP was all WGOM (I would intentionally avoid them due to the name of the band if I hadn't heard about them here). I listened to more of Wilco, Sufjan, and Fountains after discussions here. I don't remember for sure, but wouldn't be shocked if the Shins are there because of WGOM (indirectly possibly). I even think I first discovered Drive By Truckers from a Pandora station with seeds from WGOM.

    I even have a little GBV in my collection, though it has yet to pop up in my random lists. Probably better it hasn't - that might appear to be naked pandering for a rad list designation.

  12. On a hike this morning I heard Wilco's "One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)" and was reminded that I was walking my dog (coincidentally on a Sunday morning) about two and a half years ago listening to that song when I got the call that my grandmother had passed away. One of those associations that will always be with me.

  13. I wanted to weigh in on this topic, but wasn't around Friday/this weekend. I feel like I haven't been overly influenced by this site in my musical tastes, which I consider quite odd, since I've been influenced in a lot of other ways. Part of it is I think I just have quite different tastes (I'm sorry guys, Courtney Barnett is awful. She'd be great at a poetry slam, but as a musician? C'mon...), and part of it is that I feel like I'm way to slow on discovering new music these days. I just don't have the time and energy to put into it that I once did, and I feel like there's so much content on here that I don't know where to start (for example, I have yet to listen to this Mitski fella). Maybe I'm just starting in the wrong spots and I've been unlucky.

    Anyway, I was already thinking that, when the time comes for my FMD month, I wanted to really get into specific recommendations from the site. Because I still feel very, very behind.

      1. Not the best place though. Mitski's not established enough to tour with a big enough band that can adequately get her sound across. Also, she sucks at guitar (sorry, Mitski, but learn something other than dropped-D). I think live performances are more for established fans than winning converts.

        I'd definitely recommend the studio tracks first.

        1. I think live performances are more for established fans than winning converts.

          I'd agree with this for just about every artist.

      2. I didn't hate either of them. I could see Townie growing on me, though I generally like my guitar a bit tighter than even the studio version had.

    2. Courtney Barnett is awful.
      False! Barnett would have been huge if she came out in 1995 instead of 2015. Think of all those third- and fourth-wave Grunge bands of the time that she is way better than.
      Sponge, Candlebox, Collective Soul, Bush*, Seven Mary Three, etc. I prefer not to go on.
      *Bush was the best of this era, and even though I liked them (first album only: Steve Albini made them sound awful and I gave up), I realized at the time that they were 30%-50% ridiculous and just a pale imitation of some bands I'd liked more, but who were dead, junkies, about to break up, or off at war**.

      **With ticketmaster.

      1. Sponge, Candlebox, Collective Soul, Bush*, Seven Mary Three, etc. ... ahhh, now you're speaking my language!

          1. wuz joak ... intentional misreading but I'll happily proclaim that I enjoy(ed) singles from all of these bands, and even have a Bush-seeded Pandora station.

            1. *repeats call for standardized internet sarcasm symbol*

              Sorry, gotta side with AMR on this one. All those bands (in my eyes) were... not good.

              What was Sponge's song again?

              1. httpv://youtu.be/MqKcUS2Npic

                That opening guitar riff still gets me going, though I can agree that they weren't "good," especially when directly compared to STP/PJ/Nirvana/Soundgarden/AliceInChains/Mudhoney/BabesInToyland/Pixies ... they were probably more on par with Silverchair/Everclear/Fuel/Toadies/etc. even so, they still have a place in my rotation.

                  3. Nah, I'd still say it was "Plowed." They were just about equally huge hits at the time, although it seems "Plowed" gets considerably more play at this point.

                    I'm rather surprised they're still together. I actually was supposed to see them at the height of their popularity with a friend who had free tickets through school, but he ended up rear-ending a bus thanks to the previous night's snowfall (with me in the car), essentially blowing our ride to the show. Not a big regret, really, though the subsequent whiplash was horrible for a couple of days.

                    3. Agreed that "Molly" was the bigger of the two. Also, I always heard the second line as "Cigarette stains on your ass", which never made sense to me.

                  5. The whole Rotting Pinata album was awesome. Twas one of my favorites of the Nineties.
                    Plowed was their first hit, Molly was second. Plowed gets more play nowadays, but I think Molly was the more pop-y of the two, and probably crossed over a little better.
                    The Wax Ecstatic album was okay, not nearly as good, but I still enjoyed most of the songs. I Am Anastasia may have been released as a single (not a popular one though), but that was my favorite one on the album. Couple songs about drag queens too... Weird.

                    And someone mentioned Toadies. LOVED that band. Hell Below/Stars Above - killer follow up to Rubberneck, got very little airplay (Push the Hand was the only single)

      2. Linking her with that selection does her no favors, and reinforces my stated position.*

        Apologies to Can, in light of his comment below. I might like a song here or there, but the grouping as a whole doesn't do it for me.

          1. We'd have known not to listen to that because we knew she was awful? Surely it works in reverse too? We know they were awful, so let's not give in to her.

              1. I'll admit to not understand where Phil's coming from on this. There are plenty actually awful groups that I feel you're completely justified in shoving your flag in the sand and proclaiming just how completely terrible they are for their repeated crimes against good music. And there are some that just aren't quite your cup of tea. Ms. Barnett certainly falls in the latter.

                In any case, I'm not going to get too worked up about it. He's free to go ahead and keep throwing those stones from his glass house.

                  1. Exactly!
                    Major difference for me, sonically, is the tightness and precision of Florence vs. the "what do you mean you can tune a guitar" messiness of Barnett.
                    Major difference for me, lyrically, is I'm interested in what Florence is saying vs. the "here's an absurdly poetic way of saying nothing" of Barnett.

                    Obviously plenty of people are going to like Barnett, and I'm not going to change any minds there. But I'm still having fun throwing these particular stones.

                    2. Okay, so I picked up How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful after liking a song played here. And . . . I don't love the album. I'm not going to argue that it's bad music, but if I had to sum up my impression of it, it's just a bit too slick for my taste. (That said, the other adult in my household seems to like it, so I guess I got my money's worth after all?)

                      I'm not intending to throw fuel on this particular fire--part of what I like about this place is the variety, even when some things other people are into aren't my cup of tea.

                    3. Admittedly, there is plenty of Florence that I don't enjoy. But the ones that hit for me hit really big.

                2. I don't have a problem with someone saying that Courtney Barnett sucks. I'm mainly just indifferent to her but I can see where he's coming from.

  14. I didn't participate on Friday/over the weekend because I was busy driving through the back yards of citizens along the I-94 corridor on my way to central ND. Each town I passed with resident citizens, I was thinking about each of you, wishing I had time to set up a visit.

    Off the top of my head, these come to mind:
    Sturgill Simpson
    Joy Formidable
    Ha Ha Tonka
    Lydia Loveless
    Joanna Newsom
    Ramona Falls
    St Germain
    Sigur Rós
    Sturgill Simpson
    Wye Oak
    Kurt Vile
    Heartless Bastards
    Alabama Shakes

    Also, although I'd heard and owned music from these bands, I know I bought Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath, Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen and Rolling Stones albums that I hadn't heard/owned on the recommendation of various folks here.

      1. heh - good catch.

        I've been a Ween fan for more than a decade (so not a Citizen introduction), but I know this place has a few Boognish aficionados - see here for an amazing announcement.

        1. I put in for the ticket lottery. The last time I saw them (my 4th) was in 2008 at the Roy Wilkins, which was a terrible show because it's a terrible venue. I'm happy that likely will not be my last experience seeing them.

          Though, this made me think, and I think seeing Ween at the Hollywood Bowl would be just about my dream show. I saw Basement Jaxx & Bootsy Collins there this summer (a weird lineup, I know) and my god what a beautiful venue.

          1. I think my dream show would have to be at Red Rocks. Neil Young was playing there a couple summers ago and seriously considered flying there just for the show.

            (By seriously considered, I mean that I said "That would be awesome!" and then woke up to reality of having 3 kids.)

            1. My aunt and uncle live really, really close to Red Rocks. I've wanted to see a show there ever since we visited them in 1992, but the only times I've been back to Denver since has been waiting in the airport for delayed Frontier flights! I'm hoping I'm heading back in February.

          2. You and I have been to a show together! Well, we were at the same show at the same time anyway.

            The first date my wife and I went on was with a group of friends to their First Ave show in 2003. Saw them at least twice more before the Roy show, but it was Ween, so venue be damned, we had a blast.

            Alas, I don't believe a trip to the Rockies is in the offing.

            1. We've been to a few then! I was at both First Ave shows in 2003, and the show at the State Theater in 2006. That first show in 2003 was the best one I saw. The building was nuts.

              I was in a bad mood before the Roy show, unfortunately: I was supposed to meet a friend to sell him my extra ticket, and he didn't show up until 30 minutes after he said he would, so J & I ended up way in the back of the room next to a bunch of jerks. But I mean. They were good. I was just hoping it would've been more fun, is all, since I talked them up to J so much!

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