What Are You Listening To?

March 23, 2004 2:25 PM

What is your favorite album right now? I am looking for something new to listen too and was wondering what people are digging.
posted by Quartermass to Media & Arts (66 answers total)

Blonde Redhead's Misery is a Butterfly
posted by btwillig at 2:38 PM on March 23, 2004

The Decemberists "Castaways and Cutouts." And The Hold Steady's new album.
posted by eastlakestandard at 2:40 PM on March 23, 2004

Anti-Pop Consortium - Arrhythmia
posted by badstone at 2:41 PM on March 23, 2004

The Walkmen - Bows and Arrows
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place
posted by Ufez Jones at 2:44 PM on March 23, 2004

Zero Seven's "When it Falls"
Five for Fighting's "The Battle for Everything"
Maroon 5's "Songs about Jane"
Anything by Avril Lavigne

I'm reintroducing myself to MTV-style pop/rock at the moment. Some of it is quite good.
posted by o2b at 2:46 PM on March 23, 2004

btwillig. thanks for reminding me that this is out. going to see them in Boston in a few weeks. should be good. I'm liking the new Neubauten record. Also coming to Boston in a few weeks.
posted by grimley at 2:49 PM on March 23, 2004

Modest Mouse's The Moon and Antarctica
posted by scarabic at 2:51 PM on March 23, 2004

Ditto on the Hold Steady's album.

Also, the new cLOUDDEAD record is pretty cool.
posted by subgenius at 2:51 PM on March 23, 2004

The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground & Nico
Jay-Z & Danger Mouse - Grey Album
posted by plemeljr at 2:52 PM on March 23, 2004

Damien Rice - O
posted by LeiaS at 2:53 PM on March 23, 2004

Ya, I'm going to see them play in Vancouver on Friday. Also, the new Destroyer is quite good. I've heard that Wilco's latest has been leaked, can't wait to hear that.
posted by btwillig at 2:59 PM on March 23, 2004

Dittos on the Blonde Redhead and cLOUDDEAD

Wilco - A Ghost Is Born (just heard this today... wow)
Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
The Mountain Goats - We Shall All Be Healed
posted by kickerofelves at 3:02 PM on March 23, 2004

Response by poster: I just heard the new Wilco as well. At first I thougt it was some kind of joke or something, but then it really sunk its teeth into me.
posted by Quartermass at 3:26 PM on March 23, 2004

Air - Moon Safari. Relaxing downtempo electronica, great for doing some reading to.
posted by Monster_Zero at 3:27 PM on March 23, 2004

Just picked up the Mekons' new Punk Rock after seeing them last night. Punk fucking rock indeed! I (heart) Jon Langford.
posted by scody at 3:35 PM on March 23, 2004

Five albums I'm almost sick of I've been listening to them so much.

Saetia - Discography
Three Mile Pilot - Songs From a Town We Once Knew
Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
Polvo - Celebrate The New Dark Age
Faraquet/Akarso - 'Limbless' Split EP

Careful: each one guaranteed to rock your socks off.
posted by saladin at 3:36 PM on March 23, 2004

John Wesley Harding, Adam's Apple
Indigo Girls, All That We Let In and their first, eponymous, album
Guadalcanal Diary, Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man/Jamboree (2 on 1 CD)
Ben Folds, Ben Folds Live
posted by eilatan at 3:50 PM on March 23, 2004

mp3s from Mission of Burma - ONoffON
The Books - Thought for Food
Silkworm - Developer
Woody Guthrie - Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti
posted by jessamyn at 3:52 PM on March 23, 2004

I Can't Stop, Al Green. God told Al it was okay to sing secular music again, thank God.
posted by timeistight at 3:56 PM on March 23, 2004

The Coconut Monkeyrocket & Martinibomb SPLIT!

All tracks freely downloadable, catchy and highly addictive.
posted by filmgoerjuan at 3:59 PM on March 23, 2004

decemberists! @whee!

i've been listening to some '90s right now.

golden palominos "this is how it feels"
hum "so you'd prefer an astronaut"
ned's atomic dustbin "god fodder"
8stops7 "in moderation"

and i've been listening to the new static-x "shadow zone"
posted by taumeson at 4:13 PM on March 23, 2004

Recently: Kanye West, Modest Mouse: Good News for People Who Like Bad News (pre-order it with a bootleg), anything and everything Mike Doughty has done since leaving Soul Coughing, The Librarians, This is Rockabilly Clash
posted by yerfatma at 4:18 PM on March 23, 2004

The Essex Green-The Long Goodbye
and pretty much anything by the Lucksmiths
posted by philcliff at 4:39 PM on March 23, 2004

Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Beautiful South -Carry On Up the Charts
Annie Lennox - Bare
Cure - Join the Dots (bsides/rarities)
posted by amberglow at 4:39 PM on March 23, 2004

Duke Ellington - Ellington at Newport 1956 [Complete]. This is the concert that features Paul Gonsalves's 27 saxophone choruses in "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue," one of the greatest moments in the history of jazz. You can hear much of this solo, as well as a nice story about the recording through this NPR link.

also: Arthur Russell - The World Of Arthur Russell
posted by .kobayashi. at 4:48 PM on March 23, 2004

Lotsa good reccos up there already (I'm also a big fan of Air and Zero 7). I was recently introduced to the Mosquitos (catchy Brazilian), and I'm really digging Fila Brazilia (not really Brazilian at all). And Jimi Hendrix.
posted by adamrice at 4:51 PM on March 23, 2004

The new Wilco album (A Ghost is Born) has sunk its claws into me, as well.

Also Drive-By Truckers' Decoration Day (Southern rock the way it's supposed to be)
And I'm still grooving to the Avalanches' Since I Left You
Late at night I've been listening to Andalusia's Around Three in the Morning (if you like Disentegration-era Cure with a little less moping, you'll love this).
posted by arco at 4:57 PM on March 23, 2004

Explorations - Lonnie Liston Smith (jazz-funk deliciousness from the 70's that sounds ahead of its time even now, I love this album)
Verve Remixed - Various (jazz classics remixed by the likes of Thievery Corporation and UFO)
Arabic Chillout - Various (speaks for itself, very good)
posted by biscotti at 4:59 PM on March 23, 2004

(oh, yeah, and the new Magnetic Fields Album, i, is very good, too.)
posted by arco at 5:05 PM on March 23, 2004

Serge Gainsbourg: Histoire de Meoldy Nelson. Hear where Beck stole his Sea Change string arrangements from.

Fennesz: Venice. Mellower than his last, Endless Summer, with vocals one one track.

Dilute: Grape Blueprints Pour Spinach Olive Grape. Guy's gota weird voice, but the music is the msot gorgeous and well-recorded guitar rock i've heard in years.
posted by cathodeheart at 5:24 PM on March 23, 2004

Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone
John Adams - Nixon in China
posted by clockwork at 5:32 PM on March 23, 2004

Franz Ferdinand
and Nina Simone's The Tomato Collection
posted by lilboo at 5:40 PM on March 23, 2004

Modest Mouse's The Moon and Antarctica

Their new album is out in a month and it's really quite a delectable treat.

I also bought Tujiko Noriko's newest album recently, a couple Songs: Ohia discs, the last Explosions in the Sky album, the last Silver Mt. Zion album, and the last Do Make Say Think album.

Some other stuff, too, but my mind isn't very clear right now.
posted by The God Complex at 6:15 PM on March 23, 2004

Jazztronik - Nanairo
Great electronic, future jazz from Japan.
posted by gen at 6:15 PM on March 23, 2004

Most recently:

David Byrne's "Grown Backwards" (as well as "Rei Momo" and "Look Into The Eyeball.")

Liz Phair's "Exile in Guyville" and "Whitechocolatespacegg."

And, of course, the Burt Bacharach Box Set.
posted by adrober at 6:19 PM on March 23, 2004

In the changer in my car right now:

Hendrix - :blues
Oysterhead - The Grand Pecking Order
Tom Waits - Heart Attack and Vine
Tom Waits - Mule Variations
disc 2 of the zeppelin bbc sessions
zappa - one size fits all

Also if any of that sounds good, I recommend Charlie Hunter, my favorite cd is this one.
posted by duckstab at 6:22 PM on March 23, 2004

Seconding Explosions in the Sky. In the words of the American Analog Set, their first record "totally fucking destroys." I missed the boat when GYBE! made it big, and as a result never really got obsessed with their records. I guess Explosions is my own private Godspeed. "The Only Moment We Were Alone" brings true tears to my eyes.
posted by ifjuly at 6:31 PM on March 23, 2004

ditto on the grey album, which i thought i would listen to only once or twice, yet keep coming back to. Also, Kanye West's College Dropout is exceptional in that it doesn't have any songs that suck, although it does have plenty of skits that do, and not a lot of standalone hits. Cee-lo's new album isn't bad either, but it doesn't even come close to Cee-lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections, which is probably the closest thing to, well, perfect that I've ever listened to.
posted by rorycberger at 6:38 PM on March 23, 2004

I Can't Stop, Al Green. God told Al it was okay to sing secular music again, thank God.

Well put, and I agree.
posted by rorycberger at 6:39 PM on March 23, 2004

White Wing : White Wing
Leather Cup Blues Band: Green Wish & Verbs
Firetruck 1789: Hog Fighting Woman
posted by joaquim at 6:43 PM on March 23, 2004

Dylan Live 1966. Picked it up a week ago, and it's probably the best damned rock and roll I've ever heard.

But if you've already heard it, don't miss the old Neutral Milk Hotel album, 'The Aeroplane Over the Sea,' which is one of my favorites of the last few years.
posted by kaibutsu at 7:26 PM on March 23, 2004

dude, arco! where'd you get a hold of the new magnetic fields? thier site says it's not due out until May...
posted by kaibutsu at 7:36 PM on March 23, 2004

where'd you get a hold of the new magnetic fields?

I would tell you but the site doesn't exist.
posted by arco at 7:38 PM on March 23, 2004

In my bag right now:

Deltron 3030 - (self-titled)
Superchunk - Here's To Shutting Up
Elvis Costello - When I Was Cruel
Clash - Story of the Clash, Disc 1
B.B. King - Live at the Regal
Pixies - Death to the Pixies
Lyle Lovett - Live In Texas
Tom Waits - Mule Variations
Gogol Bordello - (two-song sampler)
Treewave - Cabana EP
Belly - King
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
Wilco - Summer Teeth (and where are y'all finding Ghost? Any place where I can easily get it that isn't a pain innee arse P2P?)
Papas Fritas - Pop Has Freed Us
Bettie Serveert - Dust Bunnies
posted by Vidiot at 7:40 PM on March 23, 2004

Pixies - Death to the Pixies

I love the live disc included with that.
posted by The God Complex at 7:49 PM on March 23, 2004

Keziah Jones - Black Orpheus
posted by shoos at 8:09 PM on March 23, 2004

Currently in the changer (and consequently, the iPod):

Minus the Bear - This is What I Know about Being Gigantic
Minus the Bear - Highly Refined Pirates
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place
Murder City Devils - Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts
Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Hearts of Oak

Explosions in the Sky is amazing, as mentioned by Ufez Jones et al above. Both albums I highly recommend.
posted by The Michael The at 8:46 PM on March 23, 2004

I missed the boat when GYBE! made it big, and as a result never really got obsessed with their records. I guess Explosions is my own private Godspeed. "The Only Moment We Were Alone" brings true tears to my eyes.

Meh, who cares when it came out, all the GYBE! stuff is great. I'm only 21 so I didn't hear about the pixies until, well, Fight Club came out, but I still obsess over them regularly and with unnatural fervor ;)
posted by The God Complex at 9:56 PM on March 23, 2004

Warsaw Pack is another really cool hip-hop group. Cannibal Ox and El-P also put out good discs in the last couple years.

I bought a Brian Eno disc a little while ago (Music for Airports) which is interesting. That's not really new though, by any stretch of the imagination.

Uhhh, Rainer Maria and Cat Power (especially Cat Power) are good if you like female vocalists (I adore them)...

Mogwai is always good, from Young Team up on through Happy Songs for Happy People. They've changed their sound a lot over the years, but I'm a fan of pretty much all of it. Some of the EPs, specifically EP+2 (the track Stanley Kubrick is wicked!), are also really good.

That's probably enough for now.
posted by The God Complex at 10:02 PM on March 23, 2004

I'm liking The New Pornographers' "Mass Romantic" and also The Shins' "Oh Inverted World." I only listen to maybe an hour of music a month, max, and only check out new music once every year or so, so my choices may be a little dated. Also, you can't beat Bach.
posted by Grod at 10:24 PM on March 23, 2004

The best recent album in my opinion is The Love Below by Andre 3000. It's other half Speakerboxxx, is almost as good, too.
posted by Slimemonster at 10:28 PM on March 23, 2004

Yes, Grod. If you haven't heard "Mass Romantic", you need to. And I'm not in the habit of making those sorts of declarations.
posted by Vidiot at 10:55 PM on March 23, 2004

getting into fugees - the score.
which is saying something since I don't like most-hip hop/rap.
posted by juv3nal at 2:12 AM on March 24, 2004

The God Complex, did you know El-P had a new cd come out last week? It's in my car right now. Totally different from Fantastic Damage or The Cold Vein. It's all instrumental (except for some samples of his father singing) and it's not hip-hop, exactly...it's a collaboration with a blues band. Pitchfork panned the single, but the album as a whole is pretty damn good, and quite surprising. In other news, El-P's label Def Jux has a kickass new RJD2 cd coming out in May, with a widely leaked promo copy.

I've also been listening to the new Squarepusher album, Ultravisitor. Which is good, but odd, and less structured than Go Plastic! was.
posted by jbrjake at 7:04 AM on March 24, 2004

Wow. This thread makes me feel really, really, really old.

slinks away to listen to . . . oh, who cares? it might as well be a Don Henley album.
posted by vraxoin at 7:05 AM on March 24, 2004

In my car -
Pinback - Blue Screen Life (it's one of the guys from Three Mile Pilot, I forget which one)
Rufus Wainwright - Want One
Final Fantasy VI - Grand Finale
Lemonheads - It's a Shame About Ray
Blur - 13
posted by littlegirlblue at 7:12 AM on March 24, 2004

Jonathan Goldman & Laraaji - Celestial Reiki
David Bowie - Low
posted by Blue Stone at 11:29 AM on March 24, 2004

Regarding the wilco album, Ghost, its amazing.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 12:10 PM on March 24, 2004

The God Complex, did you know El-P had a new cd come out last week? It's in my car right now. Totally different from Fantastic Damage or The Cold Vein. It's all instrumental (except for some samples of his father singing) and it's not hip-hop, exactly...it's a collaboration with a blues band. Pitchfork panned the single, but the album as a whole is pretty damn good, and quite surprising. In other news, El-P's label Def Jux has a kickass new RJD2 cd coming out in May, with a widely leaked promo copy.

Nope, I didn't know. I'll have to check it out when I have some time and/or money.

Just for the record though, I don't think El-P appeared on The Cold Vein (Cannibal Ox album) except maybe in a few guest spots. El-P was the front man for Company Flow, wasn't he?
posted by The God Complex at 12:19 PM on March 24, 2004

I have a 5cd changer in the office and it's pretty random what's in there, it's about half new and half old
(actually, now that I look it's mostly old). Today's sample is this:
Milemarker - Anaesthetic ; Four Tet - Dialog ; His Name is Alive - King of Sweet ; Pernice Brothers - The World Won't End
The fifth disc is a mix of Anna Oxygen and the Badger King that a friend made me until I could order their albums for myself.

(I checked out Explosions in the Sky and I must say I am impressed, also, I checked out Saetia which I can't get into,
but I can sort of see the attraction, I may just be too old)

Should there not be a section of MeFi just for music reviews, seems like they would work well in the standard Post-then-Discuss format, and you could skip the discussions of groups that you know you don't like. I know I would read it.
posted by milovoo at 12:20 PM on March 24, 2004

Response by poster: Milovoo, that is a really good idea. A reviews section in general would be fantastic.
posted by Quartermass at 12:50 PM on March 24, 2004

The soundtrack to the film The Spanish Apartment, which is like one of those crazy mixtapes which can get passed down. Features from Radiohead ('No Surprises') and Mala Rodriguez ('La Cocinera'). Also Sonia & Selena ('Que Viva La Noche') who sound like Tatu if they were possessed by the devil which inhabited Linda Blair in 'The Exorcist'. Creepy.
posted by feelinglistless at 2:17 PM on March 24, 2004

Limbeck, Hi, Everything's Great.
posted by Guy Smiley at 2:47 PM on March 24, 2004

please ignore everyone else and buy syd barretts album "the madcap laughs" - or else there is no hope for you .
posted by sgt.serenity at 6:45 PM on March 24, 2004

If you like heavier stuff, check out the Melvins album 'the Maggot'. If you like slower, goofy stuff, check out the Melvins album 'the Bootlicker'.
posted by angry modem at 8:26 AM on March 25, 2004

The God Complex, El-P was the producer on The Cold Vein, though he's also got a guest spot on like one or two tracks. He was the front man for Company Flow.

From the defjux bio for Can Ox:

El-P of Company Flow fame provides a diverse collection of beats that range from the slow funky "Pain Kill", to the guitar laced "Pigeon", and then in one swift step hits you with the high energy "Vein". the beats bring a heroic futuristic element to all these songs resulting in some of the most epic and interesting production out and further reitterates why he is celebrated as one of the most innovative and creative producers of this day and age. this is the first non co flow full length he's ever produced.

posted by jbrjake at 10:25 AM on March 25, 2004