(no subject)

[skygiants]

Okay, I swear this is total coincidence and just what happens to be up next on my booklogging list, but the book I'm going to talk about today is called Let's Talk About Love . . .? NOTHING TO DO however with my locked post of yesterday. (Which I am actually thinking about unlocking, but enough people have commented with what may be feelings that they don't feel comfortable sharing with the internet that I'm sort of hesitant to change the game - does anyone have strong feelings about it?)

The full title of this book is actually Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, part of the 33 1/3 series of music criticism focusing on single albums, in this case Celine Dion's Titanic-era bestseller. agonistes recommended this book to me EVEN THOUGH I know nothing about music criticism (except what I've picked up from her) and EVEN THOUGH I have no feelings about Celine Dion one way or the other, and she was totally right to do so; I found it completely engaging.

The thing is, the author of this book starts out - as many music critics and self-proclaimed people of taste do - hating Celine Dion music with a disproportionate passion. Which is a phenomenon we're all familiar with; I don't think there's any of us who has not either ranted about "My Heart Will Go On" ourselves, or listen to our friends rant about it. (Okay I guess maybe some of you were too young to really remember Titanic, but that's a depressing thought and I'm going to leave it alone now.) Carl Wilson's project for himself, though, is to go against his instinctive reaction to Celine-bash and try to find out why our cultural Arbiters of Taste have so vehemently dismissed Celine, and why so many people passionately love her anyway - and, if possible, come around to being a Celine fan himself.

The resulting book is a really fascinating look at class, globalization, and cultural capital, not to mention the nature of personal taste, all of it in ways I did not expect. I did not come out of it with a particular urge to download Let's Talk About Love . . . but I did come out of it with a certain degree of respect for both Celine Dion as a musician and Carl Wilson as a critic, and also, an urge to listen to more music.

Therefore, semi-relatedly: guys! Rec me music! It's finally starting to be spring, the season for putting on your iPod and walking places instead of taking the subway everywhere like a slug, and I would love to have some new stuff to listen to. I like songs that are lyrically interesting, but I also like a level of - I guess I would say tunefulness; I do not, for example, appreciate Bob Dylan as I ought. (Or rather, I appreciate him as a lyricist, but I don't particularly enjoy listening to him when I'm walking around town.) I tend to gravitate towards slightly offbeat lady singer-songwriters (Jesca Hoop, Vienna Teng, Thea Gilmore, Neko Case), stuff that has a bit of a creepy folksong vibe, and conversely I also enjoy entertainingly over-the-top alt rock. That said, I also have liked a lot of other things, not excluding pop and country and rap (especially French rap! OH MANAU, so amazingly ridiculous), so please feel free to try and broaden my musical horizons.

Comments

[tiltingheartand]

ThouShaltNot! I would probably, at this point, be more surprised if I had never recced them to you at some point, honestly, but I have suddenly become hooked on them, so. It looks like you can listen to most of their songs from their front page, and (HURRAH; go team them) there's a handy dandy link to the lyrics page as well, which is always nice.

(Also if it makes you feel better I saw Titanic three times in the theaters.)

[skygiants]

Ooh! I have heard one and only one of ThouShaltNot's songs (shockingly, it's the one off the Neil Gaiman CD) but I quite like that one and have been meaning to check them out for some time. Thank you! :D

(I saw it once in theaters and enjoyed it! Then I saw it on an airplane, and then I saw it on a bus, and by that time I was sort of done. *laughing*)

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

Dar Williams, Holly Near, Storm Large, Imogen Heap, Natasha Bedingfield, Nellie McKay... (My woman power list)

[swankyfunk.livejournal.com]

Basically posting a video dump before LJ times out on me AGAIN D:

The Ditty Bops:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxZRtiMbouw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-mif8m6OzA


And Miss Derringer:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeidJVzqFGQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk-djqNJl1w

[skygiants]

I know some of these but not others, so thank you! :)

[skygiants]

THE DITTY BOPS. I heard some of their stuff on Pandora a year or so ago and made a mental note to seek out more and then of course promptly forgot, so thank you for reminding me! :D

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

This post is very relevant to my interests and some of my recent thoughts! Also, some musicians you might try: Creepy folklore vibe: Florence and the Machine Okkervil River (esp. Black Sheep Boy and Black Sheep Boy Appendix; currently I am in love with their new video (http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2011/03/28/134862069/first-watch-okkervil-river-wake-and-be-fine)) The Decemberists, esp. The Crane Wife and The Hazards of Love Martha Tilson Marissa Nadler Female and offbeat, not always the girl-with-guitar or girl-with-piano kind: Natasha Atlas Cat Power (avoid most of the recent covers collections, although the first one is good) Dessa Nellie McKay Alina Simone Sarah Slean Regina Spektor Tegan & Sara (start with This Business of Art)

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

... That had line-breaks when I wrote it, I swear.

[kate_nepveu]

This rec post is likely to be relevant to your interests:

http://kate-nepveu.dreamwidth.org/389503.html

(and also "Folk Bloodbath" for Josh Ritter, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtxKQi5aRyg )

For good walking music, perhaps these Hold Steady songs (rock, offbeat lyrics):

http://kate-nepveu.dreamwidth.org/401524.html

For quirky singer-songwriterness, John Hiatt, who is massively prolific; here's four songs from YouTube that I like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDdkwwiV-is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im-ssehAPgQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbhcXxW4y2U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gcBzqqmOrI

(If you like, I would be happy to make you a personal best-of.)

And more generally, my two most underrated albums are

* The Wallflowers, _Breach_: Americana, pitch-perfect isolation and despair and hope; the first track is "Letters from the Wasteland": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaJsUNH1Rss

* The Afghan Whigs, _1965_: slinky rock about messed-up people, e.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9hLB0p2tFA and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT7Oz8KdXvE

And three songs I like a lot that I happened to have links lying around for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrqgU0Qlba0 -- happy springtime rap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiZHmwzNAqE -- more slinky pop/rock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6sNC_rstIk -- horn section, baby

[ceitfianna]

Do you know Gomez? They're one of my favorite off beat groups and their music always makes me smile.

Also Mary Chapin Carpenter who's an older country/folk singer who I just love. Her songs always make me want to sing along.

[skygiants]

This comment is almost like found poetry! Also I know and love Florence and the Machine, Tegan and Sara and Regina Spektor, but much of this is excitingly new to me. (I've also acquired a few Decemberist songs and enjoyed them yet somehow never got around to buying any albums, so this is a spur to do so!)

[skygiants]

That rec post is indeed relevant to my interests, thank you! And I know precisely none of the rest of these, so I'm going to hugely enjoy trawling through these youtube clips when I get home from work tonight.

(I also would in no way object to a personal best-of.)

[skygiants]

I know one or two songs from Gomez that I don't remember how I acquired (probably off a playlist?), but I like those one or two songs quite a lot! They make for great walking music. :D

[ceitfianna]

They really are, its good bouncy music. Here is a link to all of their How We Operate album. I also have one of theirs called A New Tide.

Another artist you might find interesting is a guy called Ben Sollee, another folksy singer but with some definite humor in his music.

[kate_nepveu]

Well, let me know what you think of those ones and if you like, I can put something together.

[oneechan19.livejournal.com]

You might like Boa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%B4a) (not to be confused with BoA). I first heard them years ago when their song, Duvet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WidfjUJdk_8), was the opening song of the anime Lain and I really liked it.

[skygiants]

Oh, thank you! I will investigate both of these. :)

[skygiants]

Have not heard of them at all, and this description seems like something I might like a lot, thank you!

[oneechan19.livejournal.com]

On a similar note, there's also The Delgados (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Delgados). Their The Light Before We Land (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIfZZ1cQZss&feature=related) was the opening song of the anime Gunslinger Girl.

(I'm trying not to have a theme here, but I can't help it if some anime have awesome British group opening songs.)

[skygiants]

I love "The Light Before We Land"! (And I am totally okay with this theme, for the record.) I actually tried downloading another album of theirs on the basis of how much I love it, but I didn't like anything on the album anywhere near as much - although possibly I just picked the wrong album.

[vivien]

I am in love with two male-female duos right now.

One is from Montreal and called Stars. I bought it because I loved the cover so much, and then I fell in love with it. Here is a song I love called Dead Hearts. Love this album. It's poppy but sweet.

Mr. Viv just got me The Civil Wars, another duo who is being marketed as alt-country, but their album is way more than that, and their voices are GORGEOUS together. Here is a live version of Falling. They might have the creepy folksong vibe for you, especially with Barton Hollow, which is what had Mr. Viv and me going "o.O WHO ARE THEY?!?!?"

Have you ever given The Decemberists a try?

[skygiants]

Oh, fabulous! I have heard of neither of these and am excited for BOTH.

I've got a bunch of individual Decemberist songs, but I've never listened to a whole album of theirs, and have been meaning to for years.

[skelody.livejournal.com]

Hm, Vienna Tengish you say? Well Clara C (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oujkpugIc6o) is another cool azn lady singer with a not entirely dissimilar style. Not the same though, not at all. And I quite liked some of The Hush Sound (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3DEwOgvaJI)'s stuff.

[vivien]

Pleeeeeeease give "The Hazards of Love" a try. It is a concept album - ROCK OPERA! WITH FOLKSY TWIST! - and it is dear to my heart. Here is the first track.

[skygiants]

I am always looking for more Vienna Tengish stuff, so thank you! :D

I also really like what I have heard of The Hush Sound - I've got one album of theirs so far, and enjoyed it enough that I am probably going to be seeking out more.