Topic: The Music Thread

@LordSteev Oh it’s a strange genre that uses distortion and loads of pedals to create a kinda hazy sound. Bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Jesus and Mary Chain and stuff. It isn’t always necessarily rock either as a lot of the influences are rooted in Phil Spector’s pop productions and it in itself has influenced the early 2010s chillwave and hypnagogic pop sounds like Tame Impala.

@LordSteev Are you a guitarist yourself then? I imagine you must be pretty good. I share your thoughts and feelings about Vinnie Moore by the way.

@nessisonett Thanks for the explanation! Some day, I'm going to have do some real digging into all of these roots/offshoots in the way music has become classified. It seriously bothers me when someone mentions a genre and I have no worldly idea of what they're talking about. At some point, I went through a long stretch where nothing new really moved me and the end result was sadly I don't follow some of this as closely as I used to.

@TheBrandedSwordsman

I still play on occasion, but nothing like I used to. Here's how old I am. Remember the Pretenders? Remember how they were hot, then they were not, and then they were again? When they weren't, they were playing clubs instead of arenas. I was in a band that got to warm up for them at one of their club shows. We were under-age at the time and had to sign a no-alcohol waver in order to play.

At one time, I was a graduate of the 'Hammer on Pull off' institute of higher learning, lol.

Seriously, I think I used to be pretty good, but that came with playing hours a day everyday. I still plunk around on an old SG, but I can't make my fingers do what they used to, and don't devote nearly enough time to it anymore.

How 'bout you, do you play?

@Kidfried Yeah, I’ve listened to a couple of Korean albums over the years of varying styles but that album is just so different from anything I’ve listened to in a long while.

@LordSteev I was certainly born in a different era to you, in that case, but, yes I play, I subscribe to the Allan Holdsworth school of four-notes-per string legato playing, I am obviously not as good as he was, no one ever can be, but I like to think I'm not that bad, probably closer to Kurt Rosenwinkle ,who is also influenced by Allan.

@LordSteev I take it you're not a fan of jazz guitarists though? Although Holdsworth, John McLaughlin and particularly Guthrie Govan should be worth your time as they are all basically shredders most of the time.

@Kidfried Yes! Really looking forward to this album too

@TheBrandedSwordsman

There is no music that I hate, but there are many styles that for whatever reason just don't move me. I hate saying this, because I know some of the most respected musicians across many instruments are Jazz players, but I've never been able to really sink myself into it. Heck, some of the best rock guitarists have some roots in jazz, so it's not like I've never tried to like it. Jazz and Country just don't do it for me. I love classical, love folk, love metal, love reggae, love blues, even monk chants! Sorry man.

@LordSteev Do you like John Fahey and/or Robbie Basho, with regard to the folk, then? And with regard to the classical, how do you feel about Shostakovich and Stravinsky?

Just come across this and abolutely loving it. Gives me Mars Volta vibes

Sounds very cool

@TheBrandedSwordsman

I really like Basho, he seems to fool around a lot with harmonics, and I love how he kind of injects a hint of sadness or longing (melancholy) in to much of what he plays. As for Fahey, nothing wrong with him, but he doesn't really push my buttons. Unique style, uses his right hand more like a banjo player than a guitarist and makes me wonder if he didn't start there.

Don't really know anything about Shostakovich or Stravinsky. For classical, I really like Bach and how sometimes frantic he was. As to which individual conductor or symphony, I don't follow it close enough to know who's best. I'll buy discount Bach albums when I find them, and haven't paid enough attention to who's actually preforming them.

As for classical guitarists in general, can't go wrong with Andres Segovia, I sort of look at him as the "godfather' of classical, many great current players studied under him. I also like Julian Bream and Christopher Parkening, both of who play a lot of Bach, and Jason Vieaux has some real creative stuff, too.

@Jimmer-jammer Hey bro!

I hadn't heard too much Muse, so I looked them up and checked out a few songs, and came away impressed. Listened to a live version of a song named Invincible, thought it was ok, then listened to a live version of Knights of Cydonia, and was just blown away! Loved the composition of that song. Bellamy's got a great voice that at different times reminded me Rob Halford, Geoff Tate of Queensryche, and David Bowie. Listened to a studio track called Dead Inside and thought it was a nice blend of rock and, I don't know, Techno Funk? I like the way he strings songs together, though, so I'll probably pick up an album or two. Knowing what you know about the kind of music I like, which albums would you recommend?

@Jimmer-jammer

I really like Royal Blood, esp. the first album, but when I mention them, no one's heard of them! I was wondering if you could recommend any Muse albums, specifically. But by god, I'm going to check out some of the others you've mentioned, and thanks for that! I bought the first Queens of the Stone Age album, but didn't get into it enough to try any follow-ups. Curious about Them Crooked Vultures; Grohl is a talent for sure, but I found Foo-Fighters to be a bit too radio friendly.

Here's a few newer groups I've found I can tolerate:

Bullet for my Valentine
Greta van Fleet
errr...short list, I guess.

@Jimmer-jammer @LordSteev Surely it's Origin of Symmetry for best Muse album? I really like Absolution and Blackholes & Revelations too though!

I saw them headline Leeds in 2006 and at Wembley are year or so later. Great band.

@Jimmer-jammer Thank you. I'll be sure to check those out next time I go to the music shop. We've got a great one in town, somewhat of a throwback, smelling of vinyl, incense, dust, and maybe something not 100% legal being smoked in the back, lol. They have a great selection, and every time I go in it's just myself and 2 or 3 others in the whole store. Don't know how they stay open, but I support them when I can! Drones will be first.

Also, forgot to agree with you on my last couple of posts, but you're right...Michael Schenker is tragically overlooked as one of the best out there...Just listen to his solo in Hot and Ready on UFO's live album, or Lights out in London...Love some of his MSG stuff, too. What do you think of Alex Lifeson? He's another one I forgot to mention, but I love all that old Rush.

@Thrillho Origin of Symmetry, huh? Like the sound of it. Reminds me of A Perfect Circle, for some reason.

@Jimmer-jammer

Just as a post-script to the above post, I know exactly what you mean when you say the albums have grown on you. While I can find some tunes catchy and love them initially, those also seem to be the first ones that 'wear off'. Some of my all time favorites that have really stood the test of time have been slow burns. The best end up being the ones I maybe wasn't crazy about on first listen, but they keep getting better with more exposure. Deep Purple and Ritchie Blackmore in particular both started out that way for me, and now I have more respect for the subtle things he does while playing than I do for almost anyone else.

@Thrillho Origin of Symmetry’s their best album by quite the margin as long as you ignore the utterly pants Feeling Good cover. To be fair, they did kinda turn into the definition of ‘guitar w**kery’ later on but I quite like their first few albums.