Friday Music Day

Friday Music Day — Love

23 Comments

William Miller: So Russell, what do you love about music?

Russell Hammond: To begin with… everything.

What is it about a band or particular song, or just music that makes you just love it?

Obviously for me this is all about Guided By Voices. Why do I have 1000 songs from this cultish band from Dayton, OH? Why will I spend weekends listening to nothing for GBV for hours on end, looking at web sites, books, old YouTube videos and the like?

I wanted to answer that question as part of this Friday Music Day but found myself flustered. All I can say it’s “the music” maaan. Catchy melodies, esoteric lyrics, the sheer volume of songs, the fact that they never hit it big all gets jumbled in a giant vat of greatness for me. So there. I can’t go deeper than that, sorry.

But fortunately someone has. The article in the link pretty much covers it all. Even though it’s two years old, the article has particular resonance since it appears that a version of the band has reformed and will play at least one show this summer. Who wants to go?

http://overblown.co.uk/losing-game-pricks-guided-voices-retrospective/

So why do you love a particular band? Are you more articulate than me? Put it in the lists.

23 thoughts on “Friday Music Day — Love”

  1.     a. Ivory-billed Woodpecker “'Kent' Calls and Social Chatter” (Cornell Essential Set)
        b. Boat-tailed Grackle (Yellow-eyed race) “Song” (Cornell Master Set)
        c. Great Gray Owl “Territorial Calls” (Cornell Master Set)
    1. Andy Stott “Cherry Eye” We Stay Together
    2. Paul Simon “Gumboots”* Graceland
        d. Loggerhead Shrike “'Cheet' Song” (Cornell Master Set)
        e. Fish Crow “Various Calls from a Small Flock Murder” (Cornell Master Set)
    3. F--- Buttons “Rough Steez” Tarot Sport
    4. Moby “Nash” I Like to Score
    5. Ministry “Quick Fix”* Just One Fix

    6. Grimes “Eight”* Visions
    7. Eric Copeland “Everybody's Libido” Alien in a Garbage Dump
    8. Hiyozuki Sawano* “Feuerroter Pfeil und Bogen (Musicbox version)” Attack on Titan
        f. Dickcissel “'Brzzt' Flight Calls” (Cornell Master Set)
    9. Roy Orbison “Dream Baby” The All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison
    T. Current 93 “Idumæa (David Tibet)”* Black Ships Ate the Sky

    *Notes:
    2. IIRC, "Gumboots" is the name of the tune. Basically like a Riddim that a lot of African bands would write their own songs on top of. Much like Shakira's World Cup theme, "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)".

    5. Featuring William S. Burroughs.
    "Your way of life destroyed the Indians' way of life....
    I'm with the invaders, no use trying to deny that....
    Oh we're not united any more than you are....
    Others disagree. Others disagree....
    There is no place else to go. The theatre is closed....
    Smash the control images, smash the control machine."

    6. When I hear this song's intro, I try to force that background to be recognizable German. So I basically want it to be a Grimes/Kraftwerk collab.

    7. Not sure who this should be credited to, so I put it with the show's score composer. Also called "Guren no Yumiya" or "Crimson Bow and Arrow", it's the Season 1 opening theme.

    T. There are nine versions of this Charles Wesley hymn on the album, each sung by a different singer. This one is sung by C93's David Tibet himself (the only permanent member of the band). Other versions are sung by Marc Almond, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Antony [Hegarty], Baby Dee, Clodagh Simonds, and Shirley Collins. Yes, if you don't have this album, you should check it out just for those.

  2. 01. Epica - "The Divine Conspiracy (Live)", Retrospect - 10th Anniversary
    02. Delain - "Here Come the Vultures", The Human Contradiction
    03. Tyr - "Gandkvaedi Trondar", Land
    04. Sonata Arctica - "Destruction Preventer", Ecliptica
    05. Powerwolf - "Coleus Sanctus", Preachers of the Night
    06. Turisas - "End of an Empire", Stand Up and Fight
    07. Sabaton - "Wolfpack", Primo Victoria
    08. Orden Ogan - "The Things We Believe In", To the End
    09. Eluveitie - "Do Ruef Vo De Bärge", Origins
    10. Dream Evil - "Evilized", Evilized

    Also, I found out that power a capella is a thing that exists::

    1. Heh. Germans...
      You must be playing the "Gloryhammer Radio" or thereabouts.

      "Daaaaaanke! Danke Schöööööön!"

      1. It was actually just a "I'm feeling lucky" mix, but I guess Google decided I needed epicness today.

          1. There's probably something to be said here about systemic de-masculinization (which was probably easier with all missing men) of Germany and suppression of pride/nationalism following WWII and the way that has manifested itself in expression.
            But not really being qualified to academically support such an assertion, I'll just fall back on....Silly Germans!

  3. "Breakdown" - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
    "Kid" - The Pretenders
    "Soul Man" - Sam & Dave
    "Heavy Action" - Johnny Pearson
    "Moving Pictures" - The Kinks

    "Sweet Jane" (live) - Lou Reed
    "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" - Warren Zevon
    "Need You Tonight" - INXS
    "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" - Blues Brothers
    "Sabotage" - Beastie Boys

  4. 1. Good Earth -- The Feelies -- Good Earth
    2. Thunder Road -- Bruce Springsteen -- Live 1975-1985
    3. Glad Girls -- Guided By Voices -- Isolation Drills
    4. Moving Furniture Around -- The Handsome Family -- Live at Schuba's Tavern
    5. Jail Guitar Doors -- The Clash -- Super Black Market Clash
    6. Bratty B -- Best Coast -- Crazy for You
    7. Kris Kraft -- Pavement -- Wowee Zowee
    8. Don't Be So Hard -- The Wedding Present -- George Best
    9. Together Or Alone -- Sebadoh -- Bakesale
    10. Shady Acres -- Janis Ian -- Best Of Broadside 1962-1988

    B1. Fire 'Em Up, Abner [Outtake] -- Guided By Voices -- Delicious Pie & Thank You For Calling
    B2. Let's Get Married -- Al Green -- 14 Greatest Hits

  5. Hey AMR, did you see Bottle Rockets and Marshall Crenshaw at The Turf Club April 12?

    Also Bootsy, Eleanor Friedberger at Turf Feb 26.

    In fact there's about 10 shows at the Turf between now and May that I would like to go, schedule will only allow for a few.

    1. I think J & I are going to go to Frankie Cosmos, Eskimeaux, and Yowler at the Entry on April 25. I'm strongly considering a quick overnighter to see Julien Baker at Triple Rock on April 15. I'm definitely going to Savages in Winnipeg on May 22. I think that's it for a while.

  6. I love mixed meter songs -- always have. I have particularly found them good for when I'm on the track. With the lack of a regular beat, I'm not tempted to match my strides with the music.

  7. 1 Hold On - Alabama Shakes
    2 Stop! - Jane's Addiction
    3 Candy's Room - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
    4 Hard Luck Woman - Kiss
    5 Simple Man - Lynyrd Skynyrd
    6 Moving in Stereo - The Cars
    7 Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles
    8 Your Little Hoodrat Friend - The Hold Steady
    9 One Day - Matisyahu
    10 Bad Things - Jace Everett

    My wife just got us tickets to see Nathaniel Rateliff in May. Pretty excited.

  8. The band it's easiest for me to explain my love for is probably the pAper chAse. I have a bunch of things I'm kind of a sucker for: driving rhythm sections, noisy guitars, singers with strange voices, and concept albums. Basically every pAper chAse album is a concept album, and they're about death, the occult, cults... all things I'm pretty interested in. They're seriously the best.

  9. I don't know how to explain my musical preference. I just had students in my office ask what I like musically and I kind of just mumbled something about "rock, but kind of punk, but then I like long post-rock/prog-rock things too that are the opposite of punk, plus a bunch of classical stuff, so you know.... a lot of stuff."

    Maybe the most common thread is that I like music that allows me to get out of my own head and be / experience myself in a different way. Minimalism (both in the classical (Steve Reich/Philip Glass) and electronic (Berlin techno like Ben Klock/T++/Silent Servant) sense) has spoken to me in a really interesting way. It almost lets me drown out myself and be lost in it. (Listen to Jon GIbson - Cycles if you want the perfect distillation of this idea. It's disorienting exactly the way I love in minimalism).

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyZ68lzPiYU

    On the other side of the spectrum, I love a song that I can turn up to painful volume and just get to the point of almost feeling like I'm destroying something (not in a self-harm way, but just as a release). AMR's video for the best of 2015 (Girl Band - Why They Hide the Bodies Under My Garage?) was exactly this. It is a perfect distillation of that urge. And I can't stress enough that I don't think there's anything about myself that I'm particularly trying to "destroy", I just like how music allows me to be different in some way for a little bit. Instead of being reserved and inside my own head, I can be loud and aggressive in a way that I would never be in real life.

    But then sometimes, I think I'm just trying to be weird in my musical taste for the sake of not being the same, which seems like a very adolescent goal. I don't know.

      1. I have listened to that. It wasn't my thing, I don't think - although ambient music is something that I enjoy only sometimes, so I might find myself back there again sometime.

    2. I like music that allows me to get out of my own head and be / experience myself in a different way
      I just like how music allows me to be different in some way for a little bit

      Replace music with books, and this captures a lot of why I read.

      Thanks for taking the time to write up these thoughts, DG. I'm not sure I can articulate my thoughts about music, but perhaps that's because it plays second fiddle (ha!) to books for me.

      1. I have found myself much more musically inclined this year so far than recent times. Where last year I would sit and read until all hours of the night, this year I find myself seeking out new music (or sometimes old music) instead. Interesting how that switch has just flipped.

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