What are you listening to at the present? (genres helpful)

[noiseredux]

Whoever thought that trying to confine "Definitive" jazz to 2 CDs was feasible? Sounds patently ridiculous.

yeah, that's Sony for ya.

[J T]

They Might Be Giants: "Here Comes Science"


I haven't listened to this band since the 90s, but when I saw they did an album entirely dedicated to the different branches of science, I had to give it a listen. I think this is meant to be educational for kids, but TMBG are so skilled at crafting punchy pop rock songs with catchy hooks, and they have such a quirky humor, that I found this utterly enjoyable as an adult and lover of science. As an example, listen to I am a Paleontologist to see how great the hooks and song structure are. I imagine montages of Ross from Friends when I listen to this song.

The whole album is great fun and they even do two songs on why the sun is bright, cleverly updating the second song with newer theories regarding plasma (because science self-corrects).

[warlord]

Listening Endless Forms Most Beautiful album from Nightwish. The best album from Nightwish this far.

[IKE/TT]

Mostly classical and movie music. At the time I'm going through the works of Hans Zimmer, John Williams and few other popular film-music composers. Alien 3 soundtrack by Elliot Goldenthal is currently one of my favourites.

[Sano]

100% Clubland

Darren Styles - Save Me

[noiseredux]

I know at least a couple of you here are fans of Phil Elverum (The Microphones/Mt. Eerie). Sadly, his wife is very sick and they've put up a Go Fund Me page for donations.

[weasels]

Veltpunch, Pinback, Nine Inch Nails (don't judge me), DIIV's excellent new album "is the is are", The Mary Onettes, Skywave, and My Bloody Valentine just to name a few.

[ExedExes]

Negativland - I Believe It's L

I'm a fan of sound collages and mashups/edits, they nailed it here in 1997, the album Dispepsi is basically a collection of old Pepsi and Coke commercials, sound clips, and much more. This is the best track on the album.

[noiseredux]

Guru
Jazzmatazz Volume 1
1993, The rapper Guru and jazz music had gone hand-in-hand since day one. His group Gangstarr was no stranger to utilizing jazz samples. And truthfully, his baritone voice was often used like an instrument - Guru wasn't so interested in impressing you vocally; he just wanted to hypnotize you. So said he, it's "mostly the voice." And as the 90's trickled in, it became more and more en vogue to sample jazz, so where could you possibly go next? Well, Guru decided to put together a project outside of the Gangstarr camp and what he did was assemble a wishlist of jazz performers. How about if instead of just sampling jazz records, why don't we get actual jazz musicians to play these new songs? And so "an experimental fusion of hip hop and jazz" was born. This first volume in the Jazzmatazz series if the most heavily leaning on jazz. Guests include Donald Byrd, Branford Marsalis, Ronny Jordan, Lonnie Liston Smith, and Roy Ayers among others. Listening to the record today, it has maybe lost a little bit of its intensity. There's a sort of dated feel to it - as if the rapper and the musicians are all still testing the waters to see how and where they fit. Some sections feel overly monotonous, which is unfortunate as having live band members should have meant room to really improvise. There are a couple of clear standouts here, though. "Loungin'" with Donald Byrd is pretty much an acid jazz classic in my book. "Take A Look At Yourself" is a bit of a lost gem featuring the awesome and always-willing-to-work-with-rappers Roy Ayers on vibes. Although this record doesn't feel so epic today, it certainly was an entry point for some young ears into the jazz world no doubt. And though I wish it could feel a bit more exciting than it does, I can't deny it's ability to get heads bobbing.

[Nemoide]

Jet Set Radio Live - the (unofficial) internet radio station of Jet Set Radio.

It's amazing and I'm obsessed with it.