Bands that are better 'in theory' than in reality

Really? Captain Beefheart?

Um, yep...I give my copy of Trout Mask a spin every now and again...I really like some of it (Frownland esp.) but I've just never been able to totally dig it (not that I dislike it, but like the thread says I like the IDEA of Beefheart more than Beefheart usually...and I do like lots of Skin Graft/US Mapley type stuff too so it's not really the skronk that throws me)....

I have never heard The Faint....they are like a new punk/gothy type thing, right?

beefheart, I could see that, I love him, but lately when I play those records, not getting as much out of them as I used to

it was only time before someone said this. so, care to explain your reasoning?

it was only time before someone said this. so, care to explain your reasoning?

"Yeah, IN THEORY I like listening to the musical recordings of ever made by human beings in the history of all time"

well, at the time anyway.

that was a cover, right? I have a hard time believing George Harrison would write about how it's gonna take a lot of money to do something, because money is a transitory, relatively valueless commodity. Om...

i'm not a big Beatles fan or anything...but C'MON!

(Although I like him on that one apocalypse track at the end of Mr. Lif's album.)

I can't say I agree with Dog Latin though.

I feel weird posting that since (a) a certain Medicine-man reads this board, plus (b) obviously you know what you mean by "warm" and like Medicine better, which is fair and happy hallelujah. The only thing that kept me from every really loving the hell out of any whole Medicine album (and I got close with Shot Forth Self Living) was that there were always points where things lost their way a little bit, and wound up descending into an uncomfortable murk that I think was meant to be dubby but never quite got me, personally, feeling it. Also I liked it better when Brad sang (high female vox took the thin-treble quotient to almost uncomfortable levels!) and he didn't do it all so often.

I loved two of their other albums but never really got into Vision Creation Newsun.

Should get more Boredoms soon.

early Boredoms perhaps (I dig 'em but don't necessarily want to listen to it - I'll take Ruins if we're talking noise-rock-with-gibberish), later Boredoms are definitely as-advertised

xpost drones, bad music puts me to sleep too. It's very sad; once upon a time, bad music could be gloriously bad. "That one gets *stars* for lousiness," Lester Bangs assured his inquiring nephew. "Oh yeah? Let's play it!" No more (though suggested exceptions are welcome).

Game Theory

not a group, but in THEORY i should probably like SOME u.k. dance music post-pump up the volume. which sounds really sad as i type that. i've tried. lord, how i've tried. i did enjoy some stuff on the faux-italo label Loading Bay. does underworld count? i loved second toughest. probably not though. how you can build an entire genre around one of my fave break beats and not make me want to listen to it...i dunno. again, maybe when i'm older...

(also, the u.k. has LOTS of theories when it comes to dance music and electronic music....and i set my sights on germany instead. or japan. or finland. or detroit.)

pete bellotte still my u.k. dance hero after all these years...

(and hardly anybody loved 80's synth-pop and new wave 12 inch dance music mixes as much as me. i've been a big supporter of the region my entire life!)

I feel you on this point

in some cases its the nature of the faddish beast. i can play a new u.k. house track and it actually sounds like its getting old as its playing.

lol

Oooh I was gonna chime in and say post-"Super AE" Boredoms but yeah, them, and there's been very little Kraut-inspired music in the last 20 years that's lived up to my fantasy version of modern Kraut-inspired music. Wish I felt the same way about Vision Creation Newsun as you Scott. Three drummer Boredoms was one of the most disappointing "right up my alley" shows of my life. Oneida on record is another one, those records should be magic for me but they aren't, but I love them live so much that I'll always come back.

I saw the one of the 3 drummer shows and I liked it a lot but I haven't heard the album of it yet. They don't have nearly as big a discography as I remembered, but there's probably a zillion related bands. Are they still together? On hiatus?

You may dig Rovo. Dunno what it is about VCN you don't like but Rovo are a lot cleaner and let the grooves speak for themselves more. No vocals either if that's (not) your thing.

a lot of those kinda UK jangly 81-85ish bands like orange juice, lloyd cole & the commotions, aztec camera etc

those are not interesting but scottish postpunk is redeemed by the fire engines were excellent

Oooh I was gonna chime in and say post-"Super AE" Boredoms but yeah, them, and there's been very little Kraut-inspired music in the last 20 years that's lived up to my fantasy version of modern Kraut-inspired music. Wish I felt the same way about Vision Creation Newsun as you Scott.

― fgti, Tuesday, 6 January 2015 20:51 (54 minutes ago)

this stuff was some of my favourite rock music when i was a teenager, i havent played any of it for years

i shall go back to it sometime and i suspect i might prefer the heavier, more orthodox (like accelerated amon duul / flower travelling band) super ae to the more cosmic/wacky vision creation which i marginally preferred at the time

I like Boredoms vocals quite a bit. Some of the vocals in Pop Tatari are hilarious.

That's still my favourite over Super AE and Vision Creation Newsun

How we enter into a band's "world", how we are ushered in to their soundscape and spectacle, and how we stay there, has so much to do with our ability to appreciate the way in which their "practice" incarnates whatever "theory" cues up our listening. This sounds horribly circular I'm realizing, but for lack of a better word I find that the music I am most moved by (and likely to find successful in embodying its "theory") carries not only sound but mystique . That ability to convey mystique is contingent not just on the sound, but so much else --
Including our context and our own internal factors. It's fragile, in other words, sometimes alarmingly so. For example, seeing a band live for the first time after much anticipation and previous listening can erode mystique as often as enhance it -- and I'm only talking about shows that are in all describable respects good, even great ones.

Xxxxxp's

Scott I'm moved by your poignant entreaties

all bands are subject to a prior mystique, the mystique of bands

chocolate synthesizer is probably my favorite boredoms, such a bracing record, or maybe super roots 5 but they're fantastic in all incarnations. i haven't listened to them in ages either. all of these bands are great in practice and this thread is lame yall just trippin.

I love Chocolate Synthesizer and Super Roots 1-6 and all noisy Boredoms

not 7? aw

lol, I would say ditto for Magma. Wire was my pick for this thread, there are certainly tunes of theirs I really like, I just like reading about them more than actually listening to them

― Abstinence Hawk (frogbs), Monday, January 5, 2015 10:35 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

do you know their read and burn / send era

― nakhchivan, Monday, January 5, 2015 10:48 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

important post, frogbs take note

Most stuff mentioned is on the music aficianado side.

Critics since the 80s about finding ways to appreciate the super popular (not just any popular, a certain kind of popular), resorting to academicky theorizing. Academics sometimes in on the act. Let's go back to where that started: Madonna was better in Theory.

This whole thing is not really a concern for me. I can't think of any music I'm not particularly interested in where I think, "Yeah, but it should work in theory." I mean, obviously, there's some PART of that theory that I might admire that's not working.

Mocedades. Promised so much, delivered so little.

Ha, thought that name rang a bell! (I Cheated)

Also, Schmetterlinge!

Lol (xpost) no cheating

I didn't get into The Jam at first when I heard a greatest hits collection, I think Snap. Interestingly they clicked when I heard the full albums.

Game Theory were a bit off when I heard them, but I kept listening thru college. Then I lost my tapes and the albums were out of print for a few decades and they really got under my skin. I obsessively tracked down FLACs of everything last year, just before the official reissues started rolling out, ha ha. Hearing the first album and early EPs for the first time, they sound off.

Beach Boys and post-Barrett Pink Floyd used to be big ones for me but I sorta came around. 00s Dylan albums come to mind.

Every Who album after A Quick One.

Theory of a Deadman

Every Who album after A Quick One.

― Fastnbulbous, Thursday, January 8, 2015 9:49 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Actually I think the labored "theories" behind the albums paled in comparison to the music, which was generally excellent.

ctrl+s "British Sea Power"

Ah ok, they've been mentioned already. I love everything about them except for just about everything I've heard

ctrl+f, I mean

sometimes i kinda wish i had saved all the promo e-mails and one sheets that tried to connect ten different genres and sub-genres and groups to one shitty indie rock band. such delusions.

I think the first British Sea Power album was amazing. The other two I've heard were okay but something seemed missing.

This is Dead Can Dance for me. I own almost all of their stuff but I can't seem to get through more than a few songs at a time. Individual tracks see great but whole albums are tiresome for me.

Critics since the 80s about finding ways to appreciate the super popular (not just any popular, a certain kind of popular), resorting to academicky theorizing. Academics sometimes in on the act. Let's go back to where that started: Madonna was better in Theory.

P. sure any theory behind Madonna is even worse than her music.

i have that book of madonna theory. have never read it though.

not this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Madonna-Me-Women-Writers-Queen/dp/1593764294

can't remember the title right now...

Beach Boys and post-Barrett Pink Floyd used to be big ones for me but I sorta came around. 00s Dylan albums come to mind.

I feel the same way about '00s Dylan, and I'd also add '00s Leonard Cohen and '00s Nick Lowe. I like the idea of rockstars 'aging gracefully' and staying relevant 40-50 years into their careers, but for me none of these guys embody that ideal, and their critical acclaims just heightens my disappointment. I'd much rather listen to '00s Scott Walker or Marianne Faithfull or Tom Zé.

(sorry, this is just how I feel)

*acclaim

New York Dolls

No

their albums are actually better than they needed to be! i mean, they could have been as bad as Kiss albums or something. actually, Kiss still rule this thread.

The Clash