OT: The Semi-Annual, Taste Optional Music Thread: Post Your Feel-Bad Hit of the Summer

[Big McLargehuge]

*hides Sufjan Stevens & Neutral Milk Hotel albums behind the Wendy Carlos and Daft Punk*

 

[HandshakeLine]

*hides Sufjan Stevens & Neutral Milk Hotel albums behind the Wendy Carlos and Daft Punk*

Don't get me wrong, those albums sound great, but as Pixies is pointing out, some of them are basically mastered for digital systems/bluetooth, so there's not much advantage to getting them on vinyl unless you like the format, the experience, the vibe, etc.

In my opinion though, stuff recorded in the streaming era sounds perfectly fine on vinyl and on headphones/iphones whatever. Stuff recorded before the 80s generally sounds good on both, but needs tweaking/remastering sometimes for the digital era. But holy crap, lots of the early 80s production when people were just switching over to digital sounds TERRIBLE to me still.

I was thinking about this because my ex-bandmate got me the reissue of the Replacements' Pleased to Meet Me and, while the songs are flat out great, that album still sounds like absolute ass no matter what you play it on.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Don't get me wrong, those albums sound great, but as Pixies is pointing out, some of them are basically mastered for digital systems/bluetooth, so there's not much advantage to getting them on vinyl unless you like the format, the experience, the vibe, etc.

In my opinion though, stuff recorded in the streaming era sounds perfectly fine on vinyl and on headphones/iphones whatever. Stuff recorded before the 80s generally sounds good on both, but needs tweaking/remastering sometimes for the digital era. But holy crap, lots of the early 80s production when people were just switching over to digital sounds TERRIBLE to me still.

I was thinking about this because my ex-bandmate got me the reissue of the Replacements' Pleased to Meet Me and, while the songs are good, that album still sounds like absolute ass no matter what you play it on.

Oh trust me, I get it. I have them on vinyl because I wanted albums that I knew I'd listen to enough to justify the cost. Most of the time I'm listening to those albums I'm actually listening to the digital versions that came with it because there's no real benefit of the record there. Give 17 year-old me enough money and I probably would have been as insufferable as anyone who knew who Sufjan Stevens was in 2004. I'd like to think the fact that most of my favorite stuff was lo-fi would help, but liking lo-fi things has never helped anyone escape the insufferable tag.

Having Daft Punk on vinyl just felt like the cosmically correct way to live.

I haven't bought a new album in a good while now. My music intake has been cut so severely that I mostly only listen when I'm writing, and when I'm doing that I don't want to be listening to something new. Godspeed You! Black Emperor accounts for like 90% of my record player usage.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Speaking of which, Big, have you heard their new one?

 

[HandshakeLine]

Also the new Mogwai album is also really good too. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[pistolpete11]

Oh I'm with you there. Spending half as much on a record player as my parents did on our first CD player in the early 90s is something I wouldn't feel comfortable doing without winning the ****ing lottery. No wonder we couldn't afford anything I wanted as a kid, that damn sound system that we never friggin' used cost as much as a PS5 does today...but in 1993 money. I'm always blown away at how reckless a single mall-based income used to allow a family to be.

My hearing isn't good enough for me to really tell the difference between CD quality audio and full fidelity anyway. I can far more easily justify good (not insane) headphones than anything else geared towards audiophiles...and music isn't among the top 3 reasons I justified those headphones (noise cancelling, easy to travel with, and the ability to both use as wired and bluetooth for editing).

A friend let me use his $1,000 Shure headphones with I don't even remember what FLAC files he had. It sounded so good, it almost made me drop that money....then I remembered I hate wearing headphones and only wear them when I used to be in the office and used to be able to travel once or twice a year.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Speaking of which, Big, have you heard their new one?

Also the new Mogwai album is also really good too. I was pleasantly surprised.

I have so much catch-up listening to do. A new GY!BE album should be enough to get me to finally replace my broken needle.

 

[pistolpete11]

I was thinking about this because my ex-bandmate got me the reissue of the Replacements' Pleased to Meet Me and, while the songs are flat out great, that album still sounds like absolute ass no matter what you play it on.

I randomly watched a YouTube "documentary" last night about how Tim ruined the Replacements. I've only ever really listened to Let It Be so I'm not sure why I watched the documentary, but it was pretty good as far as YouTube documentaries go.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

A friend let me use his $1,000 Schur headphones with I don't even remember what FLAC files he had. It sounded so good, it almost made me drop that money....then I remembered I hate wearing headphones and only wear them when I used to be in the office and used to be able to travel once or twice a year.

I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, I was just in the market for a microphone and glancing at the suggestions I received from some of my industry friends cost multitudes more than the Yeti Nano that suddenly became reasonable in comparison

I've grown to tolerate wearing headphones since moving to LA because of apartment life, but I still hate wearing them. No real choice when it comes to editing, though.

I have and thoroughly enjoy my Sennheiser Momentum 3s, which is an easy recommend for me at the price I paid...which was half of list price. First headphones I've had that don't hurt after extended use. At full price...when you're spending that much you almost may as well go for broke and get the high-end professional shit. I still have to imagine it'd be a better bang for the buck even at full price than getting a pair of Beats would, though.

 

[Gurglesons]

*hides Sufjan Stevens & Neutral Milk Hotel albums behind the Wendy Carlos and Daft Punk*

I like Sufjan. Those tracks on Call Me By Your Name were ridiculous.

Neutral Milk Hotel sucks donkey dick tho.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Neutral Milk Hotel sucks donkey dick tho.

 

[pistolpete11]

I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, I was just in the market for a microphone and glancing at the suggestions I received from some of my industry friends cost multitudes more than the Yeti Nano that suddenly became reasonable in comparison

I've grown to tolerate wearing headphones since moving to LA because of apartment life, but I still hate wearing them. No real choice when it comes to editing, though.

I have and thoroughly enjoy my Sennheiser Momentum 3s, which is an easy recommend for me at the price I paid...which was half of list price. First headphones I've had that don't hurt after extended use. At full price...when you're spending that much you almost may as well go for broke and get the high-end professional shit. I still have to imagine it'd be a better bang for the buck even at full price than getting a pair of Beats would, though.

You got my $30 Amazon brand bluetooth earbuds that I stuff into my pocket beat, so

 

[pistolpete11]

 

[HandshakeLine]

I randomly watched a YouTube "documentary" last night about how Tim ruined the Replacements. I've only ever really listened to Let It Be so I'm not sure why I watched the documentary, but it was pretty good as far as YouTube documentaries go.

I don't know if Tim ruined them, but I've met a few people with that opinion and usually our musical tastes don't align.

Trouble Boys is a great read if you're into the Replacements and want the whole sorrid saga and their problematic approach to recording. Basically, Tim marked the point at where Tommy Stinson and Paul Westerberg wanted to expand their songwriting, and Bob was no longer able to function as a person due to drug abuse and mental illness/childhood trauma. Pleased to Meet Me has the most accessible songs, but the worst production (though Tim's is also pretty heinous). But I like the later period probably because when I discovered them I was also getting super bored with my punk band and the other punk bands I listened to so it was eye-opening to find a band that just didn't buy into the ultra-conservative mindset of early 80s punk.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I might have told this story in the thread but I saw NMH live in London a few years back when they were doing the reunion thing (a friend was a concert photographer and had a plus one) and they played the entirety of Aeroplane Over the Sea. Man, it was super f***ing weird to hear the a sold out venue of 3000+ people sing all these super intensely personal songs about a weird kid's obsession with Anne Frank like they were Billy Joel songs.

I like the album a lot (especially that gnarly guitar sound which is basically just driving a cheap 4 track tape recorder into oblivion), but it never felt like that kind of album to me.

 

[Gurglesons]

I don't know if Tim ruined them, but I've met a few people with that opinion and usually our musical tastes don't align.

Trouble Boys is a great read if you're into the Replacements and want the whole sorrid saga and their problematic approach to recording. Basically, Tim marked the point at where Tommy Stinson and Paul Westerberg wanted to expand their songwriting, and Bob was no longer able to function as a person due to drug abuse and mental illness/childhood trauma. Pleased to Meet Me has the most accessible songs, but the worst production (though Tim's is also pretty heinous). But I like the later period probably because when I discovered them I was also getting super bored with my punk band and the other punk bands I listened to so it was eye-opening to find a band that just didn't buy into the ultra-conservative mindset of early 80s punk.

The Don’t Tell A Soul reissue from a year or two ago proves that they still had killer songs after Tim.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

You got my $30 Amazon brand bluetooth earbuds that stuff into my pocket beat, so

Oi. Earbuds are useless to me. I always thought my ears were pretty normal, but apparently not

Wireless earbuds would have a life expectancy of about 3 days before being lost forever for me...and they'd be insufferably uncomfortable for all 5 songs they'd stay in my ears for.

Which, yes, means I'm the asshole in over-the-ear headphones in public. At least it offers the kind of 'don't talk to me' vibe as an added bonus.

 

[HandshakeLine]

The Don’t Tell A Soul reissue from a year or two ago proves that they still had killer songs after Tim.

Yeah, Westerberg is an amazing songwriter. Also, their live shows from that tour sound GREAT, tons of energy, great cover choices, snotty attitude. I never saw them live, and I kind of regret it.

I really don't get people who wanted like 3 albums full of "Gary Has a Boner" and "Kids Don't Listen".

 

[Big McLargehuge]

I like the album a lot (especially that gnarly guitar sound which is basically just driving a cheap 4 track tape recorder into oblivion), but it never felt like that kind of album to me.

I legitimately can't fathom singing along to anything other than the 2-1-2-3 at the start of Holland, 1945. Yikes.

I wouldn't consider it that kind of album for me either, to be honest, but I do find it to be one of the best albums of its era. Far too heavy for it to be in constant rotation for me, but it is also one of the few albums that I can say I've listened to at least once a year for more than half of my life. Modest Mouse, Pavement, Built To Spill, & Pavement were basically the foundation for my musical taste. Anti-grunge, in a sense. Loathing Pearl Jam is the one constant pre and post "taste" for me

 

[Gurglesons]

Yeah, Westerberg is an amazing songwriter. Also, their live shows from that tour sound GREAT, tons of energy, great cover choices, snotty attitude. I never saw them live, and I kind of regret it.

I really don't get people who wanted like 3 albums full of "Gary Has a Boner" and "Kids Don't Listen".

Btw. All Over But the Shouting is the better book.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Btw. All Over But the Shouting is the better book.

Haven't read it, so it's going on the list of things to buy with my cash money allowance, thanks Uncle Joe.

 

[pistolpete11]

I don't know if Tim ruined them, but I've met a few people with that opinion and usually our musical tastes don't align.

Trouble Boys is a great read if you're into the Replacements and want the whole sorrid saga and their problematic approach to recording. Basically, Tim marked the point at where Tommy Stinson and Paul Westerberg wanted to expand their songwriting, and Bob was no longer able to function as a person due to drug abuse and mental illness/childhood trauma. Pleased to Meet Me has the most accessible songs, but the worst production (though Tim's is also pretty heinous). But I like the later period probably because when I discovered them I was also getting super bored with my punk band and the other punk bands I listened to so it was eye-opening to find a band that just didn't buy into the ultra-conservative mindset of early 80s punk.

I'll have to give some of it a listen. I didn't really give anything by them a shot until I was like 30. I was never really into the punkier stuff to begin with and by that time my tastes were moving even further away from that type of music. And yeah, as a 30-year-old listening to Gary's Got a Boner for the first time...

 

[HandshakeLine]

Incidentally, this conversation reminds me of overhearing a 55+ crust punk with a receding mohawk try to pick up a 20 year old in a beer garden by recommending she come to his squat and listen to "Zee Cashultees" a few years back and I'm getting some major cringe flashbacks.

 

[T1K]

I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, I was just in the market for a microphone and glancing at the suggestions I received from some of my industry friends cost multitudes more than the Yeti Nano that suddenly became reasonable in comparison

I've grown to tolerate wearing headphones since moving to LA because of apartment life, but I still hate wearing them. No real choice when it comes to editing, though.

I have and thoroughly enjoy my Sennheiser Momentum 3s, which is an easy recommend for me at the price I paid...which was half of list price. First headphones I've had that don't hurt after extended use. At full price...when you're spending that much you almost may as well go for broke and get the high-end professional shit. I still have to imagine it'd be a better bang for the buck even at full price than getting a pair of Beats would, though.

Do you have any opinion on Bose QC35 or 700? I’ve heard the 700 is good for work calls, and a lot of people seem to like them, so I am leaning that way since they’re on sale, but I like the look of the QC35 WAY more.

 

[BillPrep]

I could never decide if jeff lynne or art garfunkle had the better 'fro...