Seasons and Songs

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Partly inspired by Tom's post about wanting groovy hip-hop songs for summer...

I know that my musical taste goes through seasonal changes along with my moods to the point where I used to joke I was a goth in the winter and a hippie in the summer.

Apart from the obvious Xmas Season rush, do you think that the season a record is released in can affect its sales, its reviews, and even whether you like it or not?

Or just talk about how your tastes change through the year. If they do.

― kate (kate), Thursday, 12 June 2003 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I hate to use my own band as an example, but our PR just mailed us this review:

The Lollies - Taste (Fortune And Glory)
John: Anglophile pop-fans from America making music in the style of Kenickie - fast, silly, girly, acerbic - songs about shagging the boss in the office, abusing indy-cred by modelling for dazed and confused, Beatles-ish piano rattling. This is fun, it's interesting and good and brings a smile to my face. I nod in approval.
Brian: I'll listen to in the summer, loads probably. They should have put back the release. It's great - fun music by clver people. But they're stupid as well. They act dumb but they are really, really clever in reality. It's entertainment, good, funny. It's quite early-90's-indy, but in a good way, better than the bands were back then. Can I borrow it?

http://www.btinternet.com/~brain.love/music.html

The original release date of the album was June. Due to record company and distro fuckups, it wasn't released until November. The album bombed. Would we have stood a better chance if it had come out in June as planned?

Can you think of examples of albums that were sleepers until the season was right for them?

― kate (kate), Thursday, 12 June 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I only listen to most of my Unwound stuff from October through March.

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Thursday, 12 June 2003 15:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I can only listen to Joy Division during the winter, for instance. Maybe the reason that I HATED them the first time I heard them was because I heard them during the summer. The next time I heard them was during a cold and rainy November, and they suddenly CLICKED and I got them.

― kate (kate), Thursday, 12 June 2003 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

90% of my Radiohead listening is done in winter. 90% of my Fela Kuti listening is done in summer.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 12 June 2003 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

beat happening is a total summer band. neil young's "zuma" and "on the beach" are good summer listenin, even though at some points they're quite dark quite dark. low are a winter one. joy division are definately a winter one. i tend to associate records with times of day too. try listening to big black every morning on your way to work, then watch the sparks fly all day

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Thursday, 12 June 2003 15:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Only two people like my thread. Sigh.

Wasn't there a band called the Girl Summer Fun Band or something like that? Implying that the record can only be listened to during the summer?

― kate (kate), Friday, 13 June 2003 07:35 (twenty-two years ago)

The All Girl Summer Fun Band. They're cute.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 13 June 2003 07:37 (twenty-two years ago)

on k records. k's got a lot of stuff for the summer

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Friday, 13 June 2003 08:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I heard they had dumb dumb dumb lyrics so I stayed away. But it's summer again now so maybe I should get it.

― kate (kate), Friday, 13 June 2003 08:04 (twenty-two years ago)

kate, slightly on-topic, here's a thread (in dutch, but you know the language a little bit i believe, anyway, you can focus on the artists that are mentioned) concerning records people like to play in the summer.

― willem (willem), Friday, 13 June 2003 08:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow. I understand more of that than I thought I would.

(I don't actually speak Dutch. I have a passing understanding of Afrikaans, and have picked up a little bit of Dutch because I had a stalker, oops, I mean ex-boyfriend in Amsterdam.)

― kate (kate), Friday, 13 June 2003 08:13 (twenty-two years ago)

the cure's faith album reminds me of winter, probably due to me listening to it as a 14 year old on my first walkman , in winter.

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Friday, 13 June 2003 08:14 (twenty-two years ago)

(@kate: i have an ex-girlfriend in Amsterdam ;)

― willem (willem), Friday, 13 June 2003 08:26 (twenty-two years ago)

The Cure are an archetypical winter band, they really are one of those bands that I can only listen to when it is cold and miserable out. Listening to Faith on a winter's day is like being locked up tight and safe in a warm and dry house while it rages bitterly outside.

― kate (kate), Friday, 13 June 2003 08:30 (twenty-two years ago)

hmm depends really on which Cure album.. Some of their stuff, and not necessarily the most obvious singles/tracks, are def. summer-ish for me.. Some bitter-sweet material- like 'Lament, a few "Disintegration" cuts- are really appropriate for that August melancholia I often get. On the other hand some of their more mental stuff- like the "Top" album or even somentimes "Pornography"- echoes the intensity and heaviness that summer entails

The whole winter/sad - summer/happy dichotomy doesn't hold in my opinion. I see the distinction more along the lines of exuberance Vs. wistfulness.

My only definite seasonal album would be Joni Micthell's "Hejira" on a winter day. Classic

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Friday, 13 June 2003 08:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Disintegration is a PERFECT album for summer nights with someone you love. I cannot stress this enough. The majority of their catalog is very winter-friendly, but this album (and a great deal of Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me too, now that I think about it) are WONDERFUL summer night accompaniment.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 13 June 2003 12:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm listening to Piano Magic and it's such a winter album it's not even funny. Maybe I should put Manitoba (deffo summer) or BOCES back on.

― kate (kate), Friday, 13 June 2003 12:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Nickalicious has a very good point there. And I first heard those albums in late spring/early summer myself.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 14 June 2003 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Seasonally speaking, there were a coupla summers, a few years ago, when -- off radio- & writing duty -- I tended to listen to almost nothing but ol' dub. Suited all them summer moods just fine. Then.

(Now, I was reminded 'bout those dubbed up summers not only by this thread but also by three Scientist & K'Tubby cassettes I got from a friend of a friend in the mail today)

Right now -- a mostly sunny Sat' afternoon -- the nimble Nubian funk of Salamat & Mahmoud Fadl sounds the best possible summer soundtrack I can wish for :-)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Saturday, 14 June 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Wolf Eyes - Winter
Vision Creation Newsun - Spring
Undertones - Summer
Illmatic - Autumn

― ss, Saturday, 14 June 2003 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

six years pass...

listening to the new titus andronicus album & not really feeling it. then i started thinking it was bcuz it doesnt really fit the first warm days of spring weather weve been having.

only stuff that feels right to me right now is krautrock & air french band.

― Lamp, Thursday, 18 March 2010 23:51 (sixteen years ago)

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