bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
I meant to mention, LN7, but thank you for bringing this J. Views track into my life. It's been on repeat over here today.
For the most part, outside of that one, I thought that the transitions were pretty much fine. That actually comes out of the one "failing" this list has for me and that's that the sound is too samey. These are a lot of fairly similar artists and for an extended period of time.
With that being said, I already knew going in I love most of these songs, so of course I had a GREAT time listening to it. The only song I think I didn't like, which took me by surprise, was the Simple Minds track .
I'd definitely like to hear a bit more about your stories behind the songs, I was a little surprised by how short your write-up ended up being. But if it's something you'd rather keep private, I of course understand!
LN7's list:
It's good to know your audience, because opening a mixtape with a really weird and meandering six minute early U2 track might not work in other circles but it works here!
The Killers track that follows is a fun one and fits alongside U2 due to its bombastic nature.
I am not a fan of Twenty One Pilots at all, sorry, but thankfully you have "Heartbeats" by the Knife soon after and this is a modern classic! Hadn't heard it in a long time but it's a great choice.
Twin Shadow and the Walkmen were other standouts on this part of the playlist.
An instrumental Phoenix track!
Holy shit, I had never heard this CHVRCHES cover of Arctic Monkeys. Hmmm. It's cool, I would have preferred hearing the original as I think the vocal delivery on that one is a lot better, but thank you for making me aware that this exists.
The stretch from Zola Jesus -> Modest Mouse is all really strong
"Summertime Clothes" is one of my favorite AC tracks.
And finally, when I first read through your list I saw the National song you were closing with and I had it in my mind that the song was "Hard To Find" off Trouble Will Find Me. So while listening it was a tremendously pleasant surprise when I realized it was actually the title track off last year's album. I like this song a lot more than the one I was anticipating and I think it makes a great playlist closer.
Good shit.
Onto LN7.
Elvis Presley In America will never top any of my U2 lists, but it really is a gem. The second half of the song especially is just great and I wish they’d put something out like that again. The guitars for the last half are excellent as well. The only gripe I’ve ever really had with that song is that some of Bono’s esses are really piercing. But that’s a production thing. The flow into The River Is Wild really works for me, and after my posts about gump’s list, I’ll tongue-in-cheek amend that statement because this is my favorite Bruce Springsteen song. I like the instrumental of Innocence better than the vocals - they weren’t my favorite. The next couple flowed well together but I didn’t care for them. Twenty One Pilots is one of the few bands I actively avoid, and if we are listening to the radio in the car, I will change the station. Just never have liked them at all.
The Instrumental was pleasant and atmospheric. Heartbeat was nice and upbeat. I’m not sure if I’ll investigate The Knife further, but I did like that song. And then Beg For The Night. I love it. Confess was near the top of my album of the year the year the year it came out, and it’s aged very well - I was just listening to this record a bunch a couple months ago and used Five Seconds on my own list. Then as I was listening to Quiet Little Voices, I kept thinking it reminded me of something that The Walkman would release. So when The Rat started then, it was about as perfect as I could imagine. The Rat is one of my favorites by The Walkmen - I only like Heaven better.
And then there’s When You Were Mine. I love this. Never heard of Night Terrors of 1927 but it’s definitely going into my list of artists to check out. Wild Heart is one of the few by Bleachers that I’ve heard. I like everything I’ve heard by them so I think I also need to add them to my list. The next section was solid but lesser than what preceded it. It kinda melted together as I was working. Downtown was my favorite of the group, with the moody atmosphere. Picked back up for me at Can We Work It Out. And I liked the Arctic Monkeys cover a whole lot more than I expected to! Dangerous Days was alright also. Not my favorite.
Half Light II is a song I’d forgotten about. That album is an album I admire so much and I always enjoy it when I hear it, but rarely find myself seeking it out. Return was difficult for me to get through. It felt like a lot longer than it was. Probably one of my personal weakest points so far. Modest Mouse is a band I wish I could like more. To me they’re like Red Hot Chili Peppers in that I almost always like the music but the singer just gets in the way of me really liking it. Reel to Reel was not what I would expect from Simple Minds. I didn’t dislike it, but for me it was just kinda... there. As I type this minutes later I don’t recall it. Probably because it’s onto another song, granted, but yeah. The next one reminded me of some generic 80s synth pop. Usually I like that stuff, but I always have difficulty with different languages in pop music. I mentioned that on Laz’s list. It’s just a me thing. Gaynalk Bhaya is not in a genre that’s in my wheelhouse, but for what it was, it was solid, but not something I’d come back to.
Then we get to Summertime Clothes. Top two Animal Collective to me. Always love it. I’ve never heard of J. Views, but I really like Wild Cub, so I really enjoyed Into the Light quite a bit. Ran was alright, but probably not enough to get me to check Future Island out more. And I did not care for Desire. But then wow! Something To Remember Me By is just about perfect. I listened to an album by them way back and kinda wrote them off as I didn’t care for it much. This changes everything. I’ll have to dig into them for sure. And then the ending with I Am Easy To Find was nice. The National are one of my favorite bands, and although this isn’t one of my favorites by them, the lower bar they set is still higher than most bands in my estimation.
Final thoughts:
I liked this list a lot more than I thought I would on paper. My favorite discoveries are When You Were Mine, Into The Light, and Something To Remember Me By. Favorite section was Twin Shadow->Majical Cloudz.
Least favorite parts were 21 Pilots, Eno • Hyde, and Ought.
Overall very positive about this list. The flow was fairly good - there were parts that jumped a bit but I didn’t make any specific notes about that. Thanks for participating and helping me discover new stuff!
LN7, I am going to come back to your write-up, especially since I requested it!
For now, I'm taking the dog and the baby out for a stroll and taking The Tourist's list along with me.
I started this group off with GAF.
Gaffer! This list is exactly what you called it - "A Bunch of Good Songs"!
This was a super fun of mix of old favorites, new(to me) tracks from artists I'm familiar with, and new discoveries from artists I'm not so familiar with.
Old Favorites - REM, Tom Petty, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles, ABBA, Bruce - all classic tracks. I was particularly tickled you chose that Blondie song because I'd used it myself for the Retro Island Mini-game probably a decade ago.
New(to me) tracks from artists I'm familiar with:
Prince - Starfish and Coffee is stupidly catchy. It's still in my head.
Costello - I feel like I've heard this song before, it sounds very familiar.
Brian Eno - The man is a genius.
The Who - It's The Who!
The Cure - I love the Cure, but I'm not familiar with Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. I know I should be, but I've just spent much more time with Disintegration and Wish. Quality track.
New discoveries from artists I'm not so familiar with:
Manic Street Preachers - One of those groups I should be more familiar with. This track is melodic 90s guitar goodness
XTC - Fun and catchy, melodic, bouncy rhythm.
Big Star - Big Star's praises have been sung here for years, and though I've never really dug into their catalogue, every time I hear a song of theirs, I usually end up liking it. This is no exception!
Great job man, I had a ton of fun listening to this one.
Tourist's list:
First of all, this thing had excellent ***flow*** throughout. Really thoughtfully put together.
The list is populated by a lot of bright, synthy, dancey indie pop songs. This is not my favorite genre, but I still enjoyed it and appreciate being introduced to so many new artists. And there were definitely some standouts.
I totally recognize the Family of the Year song but I can't remember where I've heard it. Might have just heard it on the radio at some point. Catchy.
The Generationals track was one of those standouts.
My ears perked up a bit when the Author track started because the guitar tone was different than anything else on the list...it was crunchy.
Carly -> Gambino is cool. They'd make a good 21st century celeb couple.
Colourist, Wild Nothing, and Twin Shadow were all new tracks to me that I really liked.
Also have to say I love the cover art for your list. Where the hell is that?
Good shit.
Gump part 1: I really, really liked that this took some chances with genre-hopping. The playlists I have heard so far have been pretty conservative in that regard, so hearing some jazz, soul, and a string of hip-hop was refreshing, not to mention directly reflective of your city-scape theme. Loved the transition from Cliff Brown into Beastie Boys - though maybe the lyrics of the BB track are a bit on-the-nose? - and Stevie Wonder into Bobby Womack. Lots to look forward to in the second part, which I hope to get to tonight.
Hey tourist, thank you for your detailed comments. I really appreciate them. I am glad you found some new artists you enjoyed. And if this list (and DaveC's) gets you into Talking Heads, I'll consider it a job well done.
Television's Marquee Moon is as classic as it gets, and I'll definitely suggest that as a first album to check out. The title song is incredible.
Annie Clark (the artist behind St Vincent) is one of the very best guitar players there is, which you couldn't know from the song I selected. But do check out Strange Mercy (Cruel is my favorite song there).
I'm getting more and more into Lana recently. I think her latest album, Norman Fucking Rockwell, is brilliant (it was my favorite album of last year).
Thanks again, really liked reading your comments.
HOLY SHIT THIS IS THE ORIGINAL OF THE NATALIE IMBRUGLIA SONG?! I was surprised years ago when I found out Natalie's banger was a cover but I'd never looked up the original. I had in my head that it would be some niche sixties folk tune or something. This goes hard.
“Surgeon” has her best guitar imo