What music are you listening to #64: And rock 'n' roll was in his soul, and music was a friend

[Chukchi Husky]

Avantasia - Master of the Pendulum

 

[H4run]

 

[cardgame]

let's slow it down

 

[H4run]

I like the whistle of boiling water in the background, it fits nicely with the blues.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Doom Side of the Moon - Time

 

[H4run]

As you walk away
The Hollywood wind's a howl
As you walk away
The Kremlin's falling
As you walk away
Radio Four is static

 

[EgonSpengler]

Paste Magazine, 13 Oct 2020 - "The 50 Best New Wave Albums"

 

[elmurcis]

I *love* this young (14y) singer for awhile but this (released just yesterday) is just too good.

 

[Zkribbler]

Asked what her style of singing is, Allison replied "Granny chic."

 

[EgonSpengler]

Nightwish recently posted a high-quality version of their 2015 Wembley Stadium performance of "The Poet and the Pendulum."

It's the band's magnum opus, and I recommend it even if you aren't a fan of metal or of symphonic metal. Doubly so, if you're not familiar with the genre, and you want to take the band or the style of music out for a test-drive (I'm new to the genre myself, not quite ready to call myself a devotee). It's a long one, 14 minutes, and is almost a mini-opera. I recommend headphones for a proper soaking. I also recommend the YouTube video of the performance over the studio cut (for one thing, it isn't Floor singing on the album version).

I think I've watched it 15 times, and it's so complicated I have to pay attention to different parts of it each time. It uses the tried-and-true "loud, quiet, loud" format, both over the course of the song and even within its 5 'acts', and the orchestration and arrangement are both very good (at least, they are to someone whose background is in rock and who isn't very familiar with orchestral music). I bet if you chopped this song up into 28 30-second segments, there'd be something in each one to talk about and marvel at. Floor Jansen's vocals are so stellar, I'd feel dumb even trying to describe them. I didn't even notice how good the rest of the band is until the 10th time I listened. Last night, I was struck by the bass line Marco is playing during his vocal segment (which I unfortunately cannot hear right now, on these idiotic little speakers on my work computer).

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Oceans of Slumber - The Banished Heart

 

[shadowplay]

 

[EgonSpengler]

The Warning son tres hermanas de Monterrey, Mexico. Tienen 20, 18, y 15 anos, y el Enero pasado, ellas representaron dos noches en The Whiskey en Los Angeles. ...and that's about stretched my command of Spanish to its limit. And I had to look up 'performed.' I think the drummer might be one of the most engaging drummers I've ever seen. You don't see many drummers who sing, and she really engages with the audience. They posted a cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" when they were 15, 12, and 9, respectively, that's gotten 21 million views. It'll be interesting to see how they develop in the next several years. I wonder if they'll be applying to any of the big music schools.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Broken Peach, a cover band from Spain, are strangely compelling.

A mashup of Michael Jackon's "Bad" and Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters" for Halloween:

Spoiler :

A rock version of The Weather Girls' "It's Raining Men."

Spoiler :

It looks like they do a Halloween vid every year.

Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus":

Spoiler :

Danny Elfman's "This is Halloween":

Spoiler :

These people are weird. I like them.

 

[H4run]

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Epica - Spiderman Medley

 

[EgonSpengler]

Was watching Heilung perform over the weekend. They're sort of a Northern European, Iron Age folk band, I guess. They use a lot of archaic instruments, probably hand-made, and old languages, and use a lot of droning sounds and repetitive percussion, which I find hypnotic. If you're into droney, psychedelic metal bands like Boris, Sunn, or Nadja, but you want the "Viking D&D" version instead of the distorted electric version, this might be your band. This particular song starts with over 7 minutes of chanting, but I wanted to include it because I find Maria Franz's vocal section captivating. If you get tired of the chanting, skip ahead to 7:45; she hits some notes that, if I wasn't looking at her, I'd think someone was playing a flute. Part of that is because she doesn't use very much vibrato (and when she does introduce it, starting around 9:05, it's creepy as f ).

And then I decided to try Franz's other band, Euzen, who could hardly be more different from Heilung. On their first album, Eudaimonia, I think I hear some Bjork influences, maybe some Kate Bush. (Funny coincidence, that album title. Wasn't someone on this site talking about eudaimonia recently? The concept, I mean, not the album.) But on Metamorph, they remind me strongly of Pixx (Metamorph predates Pixx's Age of Anxiety by a couple of years, I just happened to hear the latter first).

 

[Gorbles]

Alternating between a lot of bands, bit of Halestorm, bit of The Pretty Reckless, some Panic! At The Disco. Back on a bit of a binge of The Heavy, too.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Alternating between a lot of bands, bit of Halestorm, bit of The Pretty Reckless, some Panic! At The Disco. Back on a bit of a binge of The Heavy, too.

There's a band I'd forgotten about. I liked Great Vengeance and Furious Fire, particularly when they were possessed by the spirit of Curtis Mayfield. There was that moment when those British bands were doing really authentic-sounding homages to classic American soul. Not covers, mind, but original songs. And some of them were pretty darned good. When I first heard Duffy doing "Mercy", I swear to God I was like, "Hunh, somebody dug up a Martha & The Vandellas B-side and put it on the radio. Cool."

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Epica - The Phantom Agony