Playing music when you have people over

I think in all the years of having various people over to drink/smoke at our house, I've got this dfown to a fine art. It's not that simple though. I used to just whack on whatever music I'd be digging that day, be it Emperor or Autechre or what-have-you and of course it can have negative effects on your guests. I have friends who will complain very vocally if the music doesn't suit them.

One guy detests anything heavy, loud or abrasive - it practically gives him a headache (he even got moody when I put on "Tusk" for fuck's sake) - so metal, drum'n'bass, hardcore hiphop are out. Another bunch are hardened metalheads who like nothing better than listening to music that sounds like someone dropping sheets of glass in a church. So it can be pretty difficult if I have different groups of people over.

Of course you could let them put whatever they want on, but... but it's my house and my stereo so nerrrrr!

Anyway, I'm not sure how much of a question this is, but I'm interested in hearing of your thoughts and experiences more than anything else.

was recently thinking of starting a thread asking what are people's go-to songs/albums/artists when people of almost every conceivable musical persuasion are over. like, what appeals to the widest range of people? Such occasions happen rarely for me, more often there's 2 or 3 different types of listeners over and it's fairly easy to find some common ground.

classic r&b and soul is the only answer

jimmy smith type organ jazz or even jackie mittoo is great for this

TRUTH BOMB

also: reggae

"donuts" has been my go-to dinner party soundtrack for the past year.

I put on stuff like Count Basie or Duke Ellington a lot when people come over. Now that so many of our friends have kids, it works well for that, too. Classic R&B is a good idea though.

xx

mellow jazz stuff, old-timey country, and reggae seem to have near-universal appeal

i find that John Zorn and Masada works well. I basically hate the feeling that the music is either too distracting or is somehow supposed to be a showcase of my tastes.

you throw on some bob marley shakey

now that I think about it, I don't really own any 60s r&b. seemed so ever-present growing up I've just never bothered to buy any of it apart from a few specific things (Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, etc.)

nothing wrong with Bob Marley btw

country teasers works for just about everybody

what music do you play when you want guests to leave?

what music do you play when you want to coax strangers into your house?

http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu92/damien_stone/williamhung.jpg

maybe a cliche, but I've cleared rooms using Merzbow. It works well in institutional settings.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vCRme2cixyU/RfEWXe0BZmI/AAAAAAAAAM4/tVK5CAS9cCI/s400/Bert%2BKaempfert%2B-%2BA%2BSwingin%C2%B4%2BSafari.jpg

last week r kelly 'happy people' worked perfectly

always put on chillwave, bros

if I ever get into a jam, I always reach for my Colonna

http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu92/damien_stone/jerry-colomma.jpg

also the first telefon tel aviv album is my standard for background/chillout/chillin

xp

there's this one chick called sade. you can thank me later

^people have told me to "turn off this boring stuff before I fall asleep" wrt sade. disgusting savage obv.

never invite anyone over that has different music taste than you

i mean is there any other way to choose friends?

invite the deaf

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

some savage will no doubt complain about dudes voice

i've been thinking of starting a "rolling music you play while entertaining company" thread for years every time we have people over for dinner, but then the CD player out in the living room got jammed up. so maybe i'll take the iPod dock from the bedroom out there and make some playlists, i guess.

never invite anyone over that has different music taste than you

― full government name (cutty), Tuesday, April 13, 2010 1:09 PM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

true, just go over to your friends place and make fun of their music

What m@tt said upthread. I love playing mod jazz, like Oscar Brown, Jr. Mark Murphy, or Andy Williams. I wish I had more records in this style. To me it's the perfect cocktail, dinner music.

Just play the hits.

always put on chillwave, bros

its my dearest hope yr posting in complete earnest here

n.e.way music is gay just jamm lol youtube vidz

Jazz and old r&B and soul have the advantage of being offensive to nearly no-one yet warm and accessible in a way that much classical isn't for example. I rarely have a lot of people over unless were'cooking/dining so that's what usually goes on unless I'm listening to old French pop or something.

its my dearest hope yr posting in complete earnest here

not completely ;)

My go-to album is Protection by Massive Attack.

i play whatever the fuck i want, and people like it

I force people to like my shit. I get in their faces and bark at them till they submit to my tastes.

^^^ this applies more to having people in your car. and make it real loud. ministry "thieves" always works.

that's prurient xp

lately i've been playing a lot of rap, and generally the ppl i have over don't really listen to that kind of thing very much, so it keeps it interesting

Billie Holiday for older people, Of Montreal or Girl Talk for the more adventurous

this thread reminds me that I actually intended to switch my goto away from Massive Attack to Black Moth Super Rainbow but never did

Jazz and old r&B and soul

^^^ Definitely this. Can't tell you how many times I've just put 5 discs from the first Stax box on shuffle. Great mix of hits and obscurities.

Yeah, I've also done the box set shuffle thing with swing, 50s rockabilly, Sinatra and new wave hits. Louis Prima and Cab Calloway also do well. As for more recent stuff, Neko Case seems to get universal approval.

My parents put on David Gray and George Benson when they have people over.

jackie mittoo is a great call.
booker t and the harder they come are safe bets too.

i play whatever the fuck i want, and people like it

― la senora (surm), Tuesday, April 13, 2010 2:35 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ewww

To be honest though, the DJ's on XM radio have yet to play something I did not like. The same cannot be said for college radio, more specifically, Radio 1190 CU Boulder. Twats.

XM Radio isn't radio, it's like a whole different thing.

i've turned on Pandora when I have people over but it just ends up bugging me -- maybe not my guests, I don't know. Like the Alex Chilton "station" kept playing Band of Horses! Ugh.

I just figured the OP had tossed any remote chance of playing "real radio" out the door, should've clarified.

Though admittedly unless it's something like a dance party, advertisements are great conversation pieces as well.

tom petty on xm radio station "deep tracks" is pretty dope

like, he djs

i just let people put on what they want that way they wont start complaining to me. and if they do then i can put something on to save the day/night

Al Green, Lee Morgan, John Martyn, Meanderthals, Ali Farka Toure/Toumani Diabate, Lindstrom & Prins Thomas, N'Dambi, Vampire Weekend, Blue Note comps, Mastercuts comps, Stax/Atlantic comps, this Spotify playlist, Harvest Moon, Solomon Burke, Tinariwen, Marvin Gaye, Van Morrison, Earth Wind & Fire...

I'm sure that there's plenty of interesting discussion on this thread, but the one thing that jumped out at first skim was:

http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu92/damien_stone/jerry-colomma.jpg

which lead me to this: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/02/old_bug_eyes_je.html

colonnic arrogation

"Let it Bleed." If they don't like it, they weren't my friends in the first place.

^ yes.

For me, "Colossal Youth". Who doesn't like that record? And if they don't like it, it's easy to tune out.

on that note, the XX seems like it'd be inoffensive and groovy.

X = bad for company
xx = very good for company

in the same vein, stars would be a good, safe choice, too.

actually, i've gotten away with playing interpol's debut at a get-together.

for a more upbeat gathering that's not exactly a full on dance party, i've played quik solo albums

this question is moot anyway because within five minutes of arriving one ofyour guests is going to start ipod djing anyway

real talk

Help me with a playlist of uncool post-college soft rock one hit wonders from about 97/98.

^ That thread has actually many songs I have in a playlist somewhere that I play when I have a bunch of different sorts of people over. I'd rather call it uncool billboard hits 1997-2010. There's so many hit crap from so many genres in there that eventually someone in the room will say 'that's a good one'.

Also Daft Punk.

Most Stereolab can cover a pretty wide crowd.

would send me running for the hills. which may be what you want, who knows.

We had friends over for dinner on Sunday, so I played a playlist of songs that evoke sundayness; Lambchop, Velvets, etc etc.

pretty much anyone visiting my house more than once will be subjected to mag-amplitude

or even once

soul jazz comps, as mentioned above, definitely.

I played an early ska compilation "Music Is My Occupation" the other day and it seemed to go down well with all my guests, who were from different generations.

Ditto "Du Chant A La Une" by Gainsbourg - bouncy, fun and tasteful (though the brass got a bit overpowering at times)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B5-1oeewfB8/Sdi9o4VGm7I/AAAAAAAAFvQ/53WRRMIhy20/s400/Inkraut1blog.jpg

"soul jazz" guaranteed to ruin my night.

I thought the Band's recent-ish box set would be a great choice for this until I tried it a year or so ago and it was just too rowdy (!) for the crowd I had over b/c it wasn't really a dance party, too uptight; kinda not sure I really "get" grown-up parties.

I just get people to pick something blind off the shelves using a numbering system (eg 2 / 5 / 20 = column 2, shelf 5, cd or record #20). That way if they pick Xenakis or Quella Vecchia Locanda or whatever they have only themselves to blame.

this is a pretty good alternative to the standard jazz playlist/background music for get-togethers:

http://wallydiallo.free.fr/afrique/07/img/395033458.jpg

I never play music (when friends are over). Easy.

Dinner Party.

Host: Does anybody mind if I play some Coldplay?
Guests: Oh no, lovely...
Host: Oh Good! (produces acoustic guitar)

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s236/mezxspectrum/cool6bw.jpg

So.... just jazz and soul then? I kind of agree - reggae is always good too. What about slightly rowdier affairs? Also - loudness - crank it up, or wallpaper levels only?

Boards of Canda comes on a lot. Sebastien Tellier as well

I used to do the blind-picking thing; letter, then number (the shelves are alphabetical) and if the number is higher than the CDs in the letter you go into the next letter by what's left over.

xpost: For relatively rowdier affairs, I tend to play cosmic/nu-balearic comps (eg Milky Disco, Future Disco, Disco Kosmische, the Fred Deakin 2CD set from a couple of years ago (*)), or old disco/80s boogie comps (eg the four Disco Discharge 2CD sets). But TBH, it never gets very rowdy round our place these days.

(*) As a result of which, the Fred Deakin CDs were played during the 2008 Turner Prize dinner. *beams smugly around the room*

Reader's Digest figured this out for us all eons ago with nifty box sets like Mood Music For Dining (10 records for, I swear, 19 cents at Salvation Army!).

http://web.mac.com/scrancer/iWeb/luckyfindtwo/eleven/BC5D8834-A2BE-431D-85D7-7F1C145D86B6_files/moody.png

The great thing about this particular set is that it come with a sliding Pleasure Programmer for your various dinner needs: Two's Company; With A Beat And A Bounce; When The Boss Comes To Dinner; For The Young In Heart; Soup To Nuts; Coffee Break #1; Coffee Break #2; After-Dinner Mints; The Party's Over; All Alone; etc.

http://web.mac.com/scrancer/iWeb/luckyfindtwo/eleven/BC5D8834-A2BE-431D-85D7-7F1C145D86B6_files/slider.png

And just look at all these other boxes!

http://web.mac.com/scrancer/iWeb/luckyfindtwo/eleven/BC5D8834-A2BE-431D-85D7-7F1C145D86B6_files/welcome.png

Yeah, jazz/soul/bossanova/Afropop is usually my go-to when we have people over for dinner. (I think one time I put on Django Reinhardt, and when my friend showed up, she said, "This is, like, ideal dinner music.") If we're just hanging out, then it doesn't matter as much.

I think it is part of my discomfiture at "adulthood" or perhaps at "how adulthood is framed by the ruling-ish class in the USA" or some other bullshit like that, that the phrase "This is, like, ideal dinner music" gives me the willies.

Yeah, there's a certain amount of play-acting involved in situations like that.

Xasthur

http://www.dementlieu.com/users/obik/bigblack/discog/images/hammer1.jpg

I totally need to hunt for that Reader's Digest comp! I see those boxes in thriftshops everywhere, but have only ever bought a Gilbert & Sullivan one.

If you don't hate the whole retro-lounge thing (or it isn't played out with you or your friends) this Karminsky comp is a great EZ/brazilian/Latin mix, which inspired me to create several of my own:

http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/pop_albums/cov200/dre400/e405/e40520wbvry.jpg

http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/pop_albums/cov200/dre400/e405/e40520wbvry.jpg

I just put on iTunes on random and them let people use the iPhone remote app to vote on the songs they want to hear. Sure I'll hear Stay Fly every time, but that's not so bad.

i tell the band to play a little quieter and stick to the classics

http://www.memorabletv.com/a/abigails-party.gif