I've tried a couple of times to like Phoebe Bridgers. Her albums are a style I like (sort of a female Elliott Smith), but I just find them boring and can't make it to the end.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 11:09 am
by mister d
Try Julien Baker?
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:46 pm
by govmentchedda
I really think boygenius may be the apex of all of their stuff thus far. Well, that album (maybe it's just a long EP), and Kyoto. I fucking love Kyoto.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:48 pm
by brian
Maybe you should listen to Punisher in reverse order then, because "I Know The End" and "ICU" rock 10x harder than anything Elliott Smith ever did.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:57 pm
by brian
And I'd say Better Oblivion Community Center (Phoebe and Conor Oberst) is at least as good as her solo stuff and boygenius.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:55 pm
by govmentchedda
brian wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:57 pm
And I'd say Better Oblivion Community Center (Phoebe and Conor Oberst) is at least as good as her solo stuff and boygenius.
Yeah, I'll give you that.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:56 am
by mister d
Echo & the Bunnymen would have been bigger if their name weren't so stupid.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:37 pm
by EnochRoot
mister d wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:56 am
Echo & the Bunnymen would have been bigger if their name weren't so stupid.
Nah. FM radio was garbage in the 80s, and the only satellite radio systems piped music into restaurants.
They were huge in England because music is better appreciated over there.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:22 pm
by mister d
But bands of that era did and have gotten big. They'd be bigger with a better or more simple name. Their name is "shite".
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:26 pm
by A_B
mister d wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:22 pm
But bands of that era did and have gotten big. They'd be bigger with a better or more simple name. Their name is "shite".
If only they had fought some foo in their younger days they would have been hits.
Well that, and having a member of an already megafamous band as the front man.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:42 pm
by mister d
The search says I've done this in real life and not here, but that's another one on the list: If the Foo Fighters were exactly the same in every way except Nirvana never existed, do they ever get noticed or huge?
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 4:04 pm
by EnochRoot
mister d wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:22 pm
But bands of that era did and have gotten big. They'd be bigger with a better or more simple name. Their name is "shite".
So...what other post-modern/alternative bands out of early 80s England enjoyed greater success stateside during that timeframe? The Cure? Who else?
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 4:39 pm
by mister d
The Smiths?
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 4:42 pm
by mister d
I don't know how narrow you're defining the genre, but anyone from like Depeche Mode through New Order? A shitload of british bands still got pretty huge during that era, no?
We had this mate who kept suggesting all these names like The Daz Men or Glisserol and the Fan Extractors. Echo and the Bunnymen was one of them. I thought it was just as stupid as the rest.
When we have time travel, the same band is going to come out as Glisserol and they're going to be atleast one tier up in popularity and then I'll totally call you out here.
mister d wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:22 pm
But bands of that era did and have gotten big. They'd be bigger with a better or more simple name. Their name is "shite".
So...what other post-modern/alternative bands out of early 80s England enjoyed greater success stateside during that timeframe? The Cure? Who else?
Not sure about the 80s, but Foghat in the 70s and Bush in the 90s were English bands that did way better in the US than in their homeland.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 4:52 pm
by EnochRoot
I'm guessing as a 12 year old boy, Matt Berninger was taking notes on how he would sing if he grew up to have a booming baritone voice like Ian McCulloch. And lo and behold, he did!
Very similar sounds between Echo and The National. I'd cede that The National's Bryan Devendorf is on a whole other level drumming-wise than anybody Echo & the Bunnymen employed though. That guy's good.
mister d wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:22 pm
But bands of that era did and have gotten big. They'd be bigger with a better or more simple name. Their name is "shite".
So...what other post-modern/alternative bands out of early 80s England enjoyed greater success stateside during that timeframe? The Cure? Who else?
Not sure about the 80s, but Foghat in the 70s and Bush in the 90s were English bands that did way better in the US than in their homeland.
Bush's first LP was an ode to Alice and Chains' style of grunge. I guess England preferred their own Oasis & Blur around that time.
Didn't know Foghat scuffled in England though. Slow Ride was a staple of FM AOR my entire youth though.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:09 pm
by P.D.X.
I'd put Depeche Mode and New Order in a different bucket than E & the BM. But I would put E & the BM in the same one as Simple Minds and Tears for Fears.
Not that that solves anything.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:10 pm
by mister d
EnochRoot wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 4:52 pm
I'm guessing as a 12 year old boy, Matt Berninger was taking notes on how he would sing if he grew up to have a booming baritone voice like Ian McCulloch. And lo and behold, he did!
Very similar sounds between Echo and The National. I'd cede that The National's Bryan Devendorf is on a whole other level drumming-wise than anybody Echo & the Bunnymen employed though. That guy's good.
To clarify, my point is not at all to critique them, its the opposite. I think quality versus reputation, they skew heavy on the former.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:12 pm
by P.D.X.
I mean, 'Duran Duran' comes from freaking Barbarella.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:18 pm
by A_B
I should be clear: never heard of the bunny people.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:22 pm
by mister d
P.D.X. wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:12 pm
I mean, 'Duran Duran' comes from freaking Barbarella.
But it doesn't sound as stupid. Maybe this is a better way: If The National were the exact same but named "Bernsy and the Double Brothers", they would be far less popular.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:25 pm
by P.D.X.
Sure but the Frontman and the BackingMusicians naming format is anachronistic from the get-got. Wasn't so much in the 80's.
EnochRoot wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 4:52 pm
I'm guessing as a 12 year old boy, Matt Berninger was taking notes on how he would sing if he grew up to have a booming baritone voice like Ian McCulloch. And lo and behold, he did!
Very similar sounds between Echo and The National. I'd cede that The National's Bryan Devendorf is on a whole other level drumming-wise than anybody Echo & the Bunnymen employed though. That guy's good.
To clarify, my point is not at all to critique them, its the opposite. I think quality versus reputation, they skew heavy on the former.
I didn't think you were.
They were one of those early to mid 80s alt bands out of Britain like The Cure, The Teardrop Explodes, Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Joy Division / New Order, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan...who drew their inspiration from David Bowie.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:56 pm
by mister d
One on the list I’ve never heard of so that’ll be my first listen tomorrow AM.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:18 pm
by EnochRoot
The suspense is killing me!
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 9:23 am
by mister d
I regret to inform you it was “not my thing”.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 1:24 pm
by sancarlos
Nice article on bands based in red states trying to influence the political tides.
Listened to the new Lana Del Rey album. It's very Lana Del Rey. Good, but not her best work, probably,
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:19 pm
by DaveInSeattle
The Hold Steady posted a playlist of songs that influenced or are mentioned on their new album...
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 4:45 pm
by Shirley
The Echo and the Bunnymen talk in here got me to fire them up on Spotify today. One of those bands I know, but have never intentionally listened to. I played the album that's supposed to be their best, Ocean Rain. It has a few good songs, but there's also a LOT of crap on there. Reading about them, the lead singer sounds like an asshole who tried to start a feud with Bono and U2, implying they were only way more successful because they sold out and toured the US.
I decided to cleanse my palate with a different 1984 album - Reckoning. Just no comparison. Reckoning is fucking brilliant.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 4:53 pm
by P.D.X.
Your album assessment is probably correct but The Killing Moon slays.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 5:25 pm
by EnochRoot
Shirley wrote: ↑Mon Mar 29, 2021 4:45 pm
The Echo and the Bunnymen talk in here got me to fire them up on Spotify today. One of those bands I know, but have never intentionally listened to. I played the album that's supposed to be their best, Ocean Rain. It has a few good songs, but there's also a LOT of crap on there. Reading about them, the lead singer sounds like an asshole who tried to start a feud with Bono and U2, implying they were only way more successful because they sold out and toured the US.
I decided to cleanse my palate with a different 1984 album - Reckoning. Just no comparison. Reckoning is fucking brilliant.
Ocean Rain isn't the best intro to Echo & the Bunnymen. The second side of that LP is brilliant, while yes, the first side is mostly meh.
YMMV, but I like Porcupine and Heaven Up Here a bit better than Ocean Rain. Porcupine specifically. That's the Echo LP to form an opinion about the band, IMO.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 6:20 pm
by brian
Good pandemic-related jam here. Like if Japandroids were from Texas instead of Canada.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:01 pm
by Pruitt
P.D.X. wrote: ↑Mon Mar 29, 2021 4:53 pm
Your album assessment is probably correct but The Killing Moon slays.
Even thinking of that song takes me back to a very, very bad time of my life. My first broken heart...
Haven't listened to them in many. many years. Used to love "The Cutter," but just thinking about them bums me out.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:02 am
by A_B
I know he's persona non grata these days, but my twitter feed is filled with eric clapton because it's his birthday. And so many people are choosing "Wonderful Tonight" as a clip to include. He's got some bad songs, but I dislike that one with an irrational hatred.
Re: Getting the spins
Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:54 am
by Giff
brian wrote: ↑Mon Mar 29, 2021 6:20 pm
Good pandemic-related jam here. Like if Japandroids were from Texas instead of Canada.
YES! They opened for Lucero and made a big deal about my Murder By Death shirt since they were label mates at the time. They're one of my current favorite bands and Twitter follows.
Also, realized yesterday I'll never hear "Chicago" without thinking of mister d.