...

[AndyJunk]

Against All Authority "Destroy What Destroys You": Tunes like "Another Fuck You Song", "Walking Revolution", and "Under Your Authority" are fast, hard hitting, and leave you pissed off. This is one excellent album so don't miss out!

-Boris the Sprinkler "8 testicle POGO machine": Many people I talk to think this isn't a very good Boris release. I disagree. Although it isn't the usual geek rock infested mania like the later records, it definitely rocks.

- Groovie Ghoulies "World Contact Day": The Groovie Ghoulies are a pop punk party. Kepi, Roach, and now Panic, and B-Face rock all. This record has 11 great songs

These albums are STILL cool.

-Ryan

I'm gonna go ahead and second you there...along with D4's "Vs. God"

[cdeluxx]

my bland comment of the night is this : i'm  glad there is a breadth of music featured here. my  personal main interest is art rock / no wave / weird punk or whatever but i listen to tons of other stuff  and  i REALLY like  finding bands that sit the  fence  between punk & garage and weirder , freer styles. those "weird punk" bands are really getting me excited  about music again in a BIG way. hearing all these teenaged bands  makes me feel like everything is  new and fresh and i'm not 30 and jadded.  i'm always looking out to hear  new stuff , not to confirm my own tastes.


not too sound too cheesy or anything but  i feel like i'm witnessing (and having a small part of)  a vital , important and exciting scene.

[howard beale]

noone cares how you feel or what you think.

[cdeluxx]

my emotions are bruised.

[howard beale]

[grandmaster satch and the bi-curious five]

not weird, punk, or even young, but still the best album i've heard this year...

[SSR]

And sure there are "good records" in every genre. That doesn't mean I can enjoy a great liturgical chant or free jazz song because they are forms of music that by their very nature don't appeal to me. Same with death metal/thrash/grind, etc. Some people aren't as omnivorously set up as others when it comes to music.

in all seriousness, have you ever thought about taking a music appreciation class?  of course, it isnt a must do, but it certainly gives you the tools to find things in music that you might be missing. some years ago i took one regarding classical music, which i really could have given two fucks about before then, but felt it was important to learn about. i certainly couldnt figure it out on my own. so i went to someone who knew it and could point out shit to me. it made me a lot more open to music and was able to get beyond the "first listen or bust" trap. if you are comfortable there, fine. most people are. that is why pop music is so uhhh popular. but if you want to enjoy music on a deeper level (or anything on a deep level) there is a certain amount of work and guidance that needs to happen.

[SSR]

Let me add something: Many of us went to informal music appreciations classes in the form of record stores. I cant overstate how valuable hanging out in record stores was, as far as me being able to appreciate a wide variety of music. Of course this was these were small mon & pop or used stores with a bunch of losers hanging out talking music or a cool owner who would inquire what you were looking for and throw on something you might like or even just the clerk playing cool shit you never heard. College radio stations serve the same function. And there are forums like this but the record store bullshit experience is something that cant be replicated on line.

[steve]

I took a lot of lit classes in school - and they helped me to be able to look for things, read closely, and enjoy literature more - but I wouldn't want to do the same with music. For me, literature is a form of art that's mainly intellectual. If there isn't a degree of mental pabulum in a novel I don't care how good the prose is. Music, on the other hand, is an emotional, visceral form of art in my mind. Thinking about why something is good and what I should appreciate about it isn't how I want to approach music. I think at that point cognitive concerns - like the songs' place in history, the musicians' intent, the virtuosity of the performance, etc. - begin to supersede the things that make me like music, ie its power to evoke feeling and to put me in a frame of mind beyond thought and into the realm of pure experience. As a concept I can appreciate the work of John Cage, but as music? It does nothing for me and it'd be self-deceptive if I tried to convince myself otherwise. Furthermore, lots and lots of people - some of them not under the influence of drugs even - listen to jam bands, and there is a discerning quality where certain jam bands are judged as better than others. When I hear jam bands - and I once had to listen to an entire Bela Fleck concert on a road trip once - I want to rip my ears off. Why would I try to understand what appeals to fans of that kind of music if I find it so repulsive? What do I really have to gain when there is already more music that I'm currently looking for than I can afford to buy? I'm not like you in that hunting for records in and of itself is not what drives me. I've got a large list of things I'm either curious about or have a strong hunch will provide the same transcendent thrill I get when I throw on the first New York Dolls LP. Those are my priorities. I'm always open to new things as well, provided of course that I enjoy them. For years I thought I hated Can based on their more ambient later work, but recently I heard some early songs that were actually pretty cool. Add early Can to my "to buy list." That's just a drop in what seems like an ocean of stuff I need to buy.


 

[SteveBeat]

I'm gonna listen to some Napalm Death today.  Some people prefer Scum over FETO.  I may be in that camp.  Not sure.

[denkinger]

SSR, leave Steve alone ya fuckface. I don't want that precious Boy's Club vibe ruined so stop trying to Frenchify the little Midwestern goon.

[Swampy]

SSR, leave Steve alone ya fuckface. I don't want that precious Boy's Club vibe ruined so stop trying to Frenchify the little Midwestern goon.

But Steve can't stand the Midwest!  He loves Japan!

[steve]

SSR, leave Steve alone ya fuckface. I don't want that precious Boy's Club vibe ruined so stop trying to Frenchify the little Midwestern goon.

But Steve can't stand the Midwest!  He loves Japan!

It's true. I hate the Midwest.

[SSR]

For me, it is FETO but if someone argued fro Scum, I'd argue not.

Steve - Really, I dont think there is much of a difference in the impact of any art be it music, painting, architecture, or literature. I dont think that some affect you only at a base level and others at a primarily intellectual level. Art can affect one at one level or all levels, it depends on how you approach it and what kind of foundation you have for understanding it. For music to wow me it has to hit on a primal level, actually that is the way it is for all art; however for it to stick it has to have some substance. Black Flag is a perfect example. The immediacy is there, but start to take it apart and you find really remarkable songs and very strange, unique and beautiful guitar playing. Take the depth out of Black Flag and it is still good but not awe inspiring. Free jazz is another example. I had no intellectual grasp of free jazz when I first heard it. What floored me was the energy. It was punk rock jazz. My love for jazz grew with reading more about it, rapping with people who really knew it, and learning to play sax and sitting there with a fake book trying to play songs (which I couldnt do worth shit but it made me understand what was going on and gave me a deeper appreciation for what was going on).  Fast forward to a couple girlfriends ago and me getting into Latin music. In my 20s, the stuff would not have clicked, no mater how raw or primal or catchy. I would have appreciated it for the kitsch angle at best. However, years of listening to music gave me a foundation in which to appreciate it on a primal level. This isnt head vs. heart. It is head AND heart. That is where the best music is whether it be in the form of Odyssey & Oracle or Cyclotron. Not trying to gain a deeper understanding of music limits the opportunities for enjoyment of more music. Resistance isnt futile, it is asinine.

One more thing, the hunt is a drive for me. I love the process of digging, but the payoff is finding those records that floor me. Having a wide appreciation of music makes it so the payoffs come so much more often than the average schmoe.

[Yon Yonsen]

It's pretty funny reading the reviews in the beginning of the thread when the Blank Generation forums and Limewire share group introduced me to shit like the Cleveland Confidential and Bloodstains Across....bands.