What are you listening to right now?

[yamahonkawazuki]

i know dammit the wonder cat likes to catch bugs. picture this 16+ lbs with the finesse of nothing pouncing paws out, WHAM and munch.  althewhile queen (another one bites the dust.) is playing.
Aaron

[qcbaker]

Empire Ants (ft. Little Dragon) - Gorillaz

[yamahonkawazuki]

i watched last of the mohicans..  am running its KILLER soundtrack through audiosurf.
Aaron

[Watcher]

Japanese pop...


Don't judge.

[ShowBizWolf]

Martina McBride... Independence Day

[barry905]

Genesys - Foxtrot.

[89gS500_Kirk]

At work listening to "The Taz Show"

[yamahonkawazuki]

listening to last of the mohicans on loud volume  while preparing homemade redneck jalapeno poppers for church get together. ( jalapenos filled with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. lol)
Aaron

[qcbaker]

Alive 2007 - Daft Punk, which if you don't know is a recording of the final show of their "Alive" tour, in Paris. Listening to this album makes me realize that I literally would drain my bank account to see Daft Punk live.

[mr72]

I literally would drain my bank account to see Daft Punk live.

Is there such a thing as "Daft Punk live"?

smh

BTW, today I was listening to, and seriously enjoying, "Rubber Soulive". That's a great record.

Been spending a lot of time listening to the Amazon Prime Music "Cool Jazz" station. Inspired by the music on Amazon's "Bosch" TV show, which is a really good collection of straight-ahead jazz. I mean, I was a jazz major after all.

[yamahonkawazuki]

Queen "flash"
Followed by fat bottomed girls
Aaron

[qcbaker]

Is there such a thing as "Daft Punk live"?

smh

Lol, yes. When they play live, they don't just press play and let their pre-recorded stuff play. They have a large array of effects boards and stuff and they do mashups and remixes and stuff that they create on the spot. You're a musician, I'm surprised you wouldn't know how a true live EDM show works...

smh

As for what I'm listening to today: "Surf Wax America" - Weezer

[mr72]

Lol, yes. When they play live, they don't just press play and let their pre-recorded stuff play. They have a large array of effects boards and stuff and they do mashups and remixes and stuff that they create on the spot. You're a musician, I'm surprised you wouldn't know how a true live EDM show works...

Triggering prerecorded music and adding effects, even if done in real time, doesn't qualify as "live music" to most musicians. I mean, human beings playing musical instruments usually is the starting point. But you said "live EDM show" which I guess doesn't suggest it's live music.

Being from Austin, the "Live Music Capital of the World", I may be overly sensitive to this kind of thing. Real musicians playing music is a dying art. "Artists" like Daft Punk are not helping keep it alive, and may be actually helping kill it. So maybe I'm just an old guy wishing for the old days when people played music on instruments and got paid to do it.

And BTW I wouldn't single out Daft Punk here. 99% of what's on pop radio is killing music as we (used to) know it. I jokingly call it "music substitute".

Right now what's playing for me is Buddy Guy. I listen to blues about 30% of the time. The rest of the time is jazz fusion, straight ahead jazz, latin jazz, and very rarely I'll get in a mood for a certain pop/rock/country artist and play a bunch of that stuff all day like U2 or Brad Paisley. I work from home in my home pub most of the time. I can play music all day while I work.

[qcbaker]

Triggering prerecorded music and adding effects, even if done in real time, doesn't qualify as "live music" to most musicians. I mean, human beings playing musical instruments usually is the starting point. But you said "live EDM show" which I guess doesn't suggest it's live music.

Being from Austin, the "Live Music Capital of the World", I may be overly sensitive to this kind of thing. Real musicians playing music is a dying art. "Artists" like Daft Punk are not helping keep it alive, and may be actually helping kill it. So maybe I'm just an old guy wishing for the old days when people played music on instruments and got paid to do it.

And BTW I wouldn't single out Daft Punk here. 99% of what's on pop radio is killing music as we (used to) know it. I jokingly call it "music substitute".

Lol, people said the same thing about electric guitars and keyboards. Just because its a new type of "instrument" doesn't mean there isn't composition or skill in the music. Do you consider Van Halen's "Jump" not to be "real" music because it uses a synthesizer? I'll get off your lawn, I guess lol.

Daft Punk are incredibly talented composers and artists. To suggest otherwise is simply ridiculous. I wouldn't call myself a "musician" per se but I do play guitar and bass guitar. Daft Punk's live performances totally qualify as "live music" to me. Like I said, they aren't just sitting up there with a laptop pressing play, like club DJs often do. They're actively mixing everything and creating beats on the fly. Plus, their newer music relies heavily on people playing traditional instruments as well (Basically all of Random Access Memories is accompanied by session musicians). Some of their music can be a little repetitive, but remember that at its core, its music that's meant to be danced to in a club and/or remixed. If it's not your cup of tea, that's cool, everyone has their own preferences. But to say is isn't "real music" or than Daft Punk aren't "real musicians" is hipster nonsense.

There are a lot of "DJs" out there who definitely just load up FL Studio and crank out a few basic beats and at their "shows" they are basically just hype men for their own music. But not all electronica artists fit that mold, and Daft Punk in particular are about the furthest from it. And I won't disagree that most "pop" music has no soul, but sometimes music doesn't to be that deep. Sometimes you just want to dance to something catchy. I don't think that makes it "killing music."

Right now what's playing for me is Buddy Guy. I listen to blues about 30% of the time. The rest of the time is jazz fusion, straight ahead jazz, latin jazz, and very rarely I'll get in a mood for a certain pop/rock/country artist and play a bunch of that stuff all day like U2 or Brad Paisley. I work from home in my home pub most of the time. I can play music all day while I work.

I'm not an enormous Blues or Jazz fan myself, but I can appreciate the artistry involved. Music wouldn't be what it is today without Blues and Jazz.

Playing for me right now: "Cowboy Song" - Thin Lizzy. This song has, IMO, some of the most beautiful guitar solos ever performed. The tone they got that Les Paul to have in this song... Simply breathtaking.

[mr72]

Lol, people said the same thing about electric guitars and keyboards. Just because its a new type of "instrument" doesn't mean there isn't composition or skill in the music. Do you consider Van Halen's "Jump" not to be "real" music because it uses a synthesizer? I'll get off your lawn, I guess lol.

Well the electric guitar was like 75 years ago so it's hard to argue that anyone alive today said it wasn't a musical instrument. And to suggest a synthesizer, which has a keyboard, especially played in the early 80s before sequencing and preprogramming MIDI loops and patterns is not a "musical instrument" is asinine. Really, nobody would ever suggest this is a valid argument.

But DJing is not musicianship, period. That doesn't mean musicians can't do it, or if one does it it disqualifies the as a musician. I mean, I'm a musician and I sometimes ride a bicycle. Does that mean I'm not a musician, because I'm a cyclist? In other words, playing music on an instrument is not the same thing as playing prerecorded music on a playback device, even if it's done so creatively or interactively.

Daft Punk are incredibly talented composers and artists. To suggest otherwise is simply ridiculous

Pretty sure I didn't suggest that. I don't know anything about them. Just that in a live setting, what they do is not the same thing as playing live music.

If it's not your cup of tea, that's cool, everyone has their own preferences. But to say is isn't "real music" or than Daft Punk aren't "real musicians" is hipster nonsense.

Yeah, again, that's not what I said. And I didn't say it's not my cup of tea either. Be sure you're getting offended or bent out of shape about what I actually said. Easy enough to do, since it's written down I just re-read it to make sure.

And I won't disagree that most "pop" music has no soul

I don't think it "has no soul". That's kind of a subjective thing. I think it requires no musicianship or musical skill, and therefore it is not really music in the traditional sense. It might be entertainment, and at some raw technical level you might say it is "music" but it lacks a fundamental human element that makes music an artform. Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Lady Gaga, etc. I wouldn't know because I tune out as soon as I hear it.

A Sony A&R guy told me, way back when I was 18, when you sign a record contract you become "soap"... that is, popular music is a product not unlike anything else. They craft the most profitable and salable product they can with the absolute minimum of cost and risk. It's only very rare for an artist to "break out" and be successful without conforming first to this mold. I've seen this machine chew up and spit out talented musicians time and time again... I did own a record label and recording studio for about six years and we had our share of artists with the same experience.

Anyway, whether you like to listen to it or not (and I certainly have listened to my fair share of it), it's not in the same kind of league as a Miles Davis record or seeing Herbie Hancock play live. You just can't compare them. There's something fundamentally different.

Speaking of which I think it's Stan Getz on right now.

[qcbaker]

Well the electric guitar was like 75 years ago so it's hard to argue that anyone alive today said it wasn't a musical instrument. And to suggest a synthesizer, which has a keyboard, especially played in the early 80s before sequencing and preprogramming MIDI loops and patterns is not a "musical instrument" is asinine. Really, nobody would ever suggest this is a valid argument.

I admit, I was taking the piss a bit there.I didn't really think you would take that part seriously lol

But DJing is not musicianship, period. That doesn't mean musicians can't do it, or if one does it it disqualifies the as a musician. I mean, I'm a musician and I sometimes ride a bicycle. Does that mean I'm not a musician, because I'm a cyclist? In other words, playing music on an instrument is not the same thing as playing prerecorded music on a playback device, even if it's done so creatively or interactively.

I disagree. I think making music, no matter how its done, is musicianship. A musician is one who makes music. DJs who dont just press play at a show are making music, ergo, those DJs are musicians.

Pretty sure I didn't suggest that. I don't know anything about them. Just that in a live setting, what they do is not the same thing as playing live music.

I mean, you say that you didn't suggest that, but when your comment refers to Daft Punk as "Artists" with quotes around it like that, you do suggest that you don't think what they do is art. And you literally said that you think an EDM show isn't "live music". So... you DID suggest that.

Anyway, in a live setting they are remixing their previously recorded audio with new audio that they are creating on the spot with synths, mixing boards, and the like. That, at least to me, is "creating music". So, what they do is "playing live music." If they were simply going up on stage and playing the same audio that's on the record, then I would agree with you. But that isn't what Daft Punk does at their live shows.

Is this not "real" live music because the guitarist overlays what he's currently playing with "prerecorded" audio?

Obviously this is "real" live music. But, at least to me, the only difference is that he's using a guitar and loop pedal and Daft Punk is using a mixing board that happens to contain bits of audio recorded before the performance.

Yeah, again, that's not what I said. And I didn't say it's not my cup of tea either. Be sure you're getting offended or bent out of shape about what I actually said. Easy enough to do, since it's written down I just re-read it to make sure.

Yeah, again, it pretty much is what you said... See:

Real musicians playing music is a dying art. "Artists" like Daft Punk are not helping keep it alive, and may be actually helping kill it.

You literally imply that Daft Punk are not "real musicians". If that wasn't your intent, fine I guess? But, it seems pretty hard to argue that that wasn't what you were suggesting...

I don't think it "has no soul". That's kind of a subjective thing. I think it requires no musicianship or musical skill, and therefore it is not really music in the traditional sense. It might be entertainment, and at some raw technical level you might say it is "music" but it lacks a fundamental human element that makes music an artform. Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Lady Gaga, etc. I wouldn't know because I tune out as soon as I hear it.

I disagree that it requires no musicianship or musical skill to create pop music. As an analogy (and because I've been binge watching Game of Thrones lol), if a blacksmith makes 1000 swords for an army, and one sword for himself, none of the 1000 swords will contain the artistry and creativity (or "soul", if you will) that the one he created for himself has. But, it still took his smithing expertise to create each of those 1000 swords. A lot of pop music is much the same: manufactured as a "product" rather than a work of art. But, it still requires musicianship to create. I do agree about the "fundamental human element" bit, though. That's sort of what I was referring to as "soul".

I do like Lady Gaga though lol. I won't defend her in the same way I will Daft Punk, since some of her stuff (especially her older music) feels "manufactured" in that way, but I do enjoy a good portion of her music in spite of that.

A Sony A&R guy told me, way back when I was 18, when you sign a record contract you become "soap"... that is, popular music is a product not unlike anything else. They craft the most profitable and salable product they can with the absolute minimum of cost and risk. It's only very rare for an artist to "break out" and be successful without conforming first to this mold. I've seen this machine chew up and spit out talented musicians time and time again... I did own a record label and recording studio for about six years and we had our share of artists with the same experience.

No disagreement here.

Anyway, whether you like to listen to it or not (and I certainly have listened to my fair share of it), it's not in the same kind of league as a Miles Davis record or seeing Herbie Hancock play live. You just can't compare them. There's something fundamentally different.

I'll agree that you can't really compare them, but not because one is leagues better than the other. I think you cant compare Daft Punk's live show and Miles Davis' or Herbie Hancock's live show the same way I don't really think you can compare Chuck Berry to Amon Amarth (Swedish folk/Viking death metal band). They're just too different to really make a valid comparison. Doesn't make one have more artistic or musical value than the other.

Currently listening: "Friday I'm In Love" - The Cure

[rscottlow]

Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory...RIP Chester 

They were my favorite band in high school, and the first band I ever saw in concert back in 2004. I don't usually get upset about the passing of celebrities, but wow, this one really hits home.

[Watcher]

Two Steps From Hell.

Specifically 'Lost in Las Vegas'

If you want to hear an orchestra take on Techno YouTube that song!

[yamahonkawazuki]

Canned  heat - Goin up the country
Aaron

[barry905]

I haven't heard that in decades - great choice. Jethro Tull, Aqualung (the CD, not just the song).