What are you listening to?

[Myla Starchild]

Counting Crows - Hard Candy album

[knivesout]

Nick Cave: From Her to Eternity


Mr. Cave at his shouty, noisy best.

[I, Brian]

Nick Cave!!!!!!

Used to be big into him in my teens/early twenties - have you heard any of his Birthday Party material? The CD release of the "Mutiny in Heaven" EP has the other big EP alongside (sorry, forget the name), with a few singles as well (Release the Bats, for example) - and overall presents what is probably their best material - as well as some of the most expressive music I've heard (Mutiny in Heaven as a song is absolute classic). Some superb tracks on it.

The song "From Her to Eternity" is a pretty excellent track - that thumping rhythm, twisted voice, and spooked piano is great. As ever, interesting cover version in Avalanche - Nick Cave really knows how to take cover songs and turn them around (have you heard his rendition of Hendrix's "Hey Joe" on kicking against the pricks?).

Collected most of his other material, but not heard much after Let Love In. Most of it is - unfortunately - on vinyl. When I'm published I'll use my first multi-million dollar advance to replicate my record collection onto CD.

Anyway...currently listening to Gladiator soundtrack. Humming "Tupelo" in my head, tho'.

[erickad71]

Love Gladiator...I could watch it over and over.

[Dead Riverdragon]

Perhaps fantasy fans have a limited musical diet? I've also been listening to a great deal of Nick Cave. I recently picked up Tender Prey on the strength of 'The Mercy Seat', and 'Tupelo' remains one of my favortie mp3's, though I only recently discovered that it's about Elvis. Also listening to a bit of Gladiator ('The Might of Rome' is a fave) but today's writing has mostly been accompanied by Nevermore and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, with a little bit of Monster Magnet thrown in for the kooky parts.

[littlemissattitude]

Originally Posted by Dead Riverdragon

Perhaps fantasy fans have a limited musical diet? I've also been listening to a great deal of Nick Cave.

I don't know...while I have, of course, heard of Nick Cave, I have never to my knowledge heard his music. What am I missing?

[knivesout]

Aha! We do seem a Cave-y lot here.

Brian, I haven't heard his Birthday Party material - yet. After Let Love In, he's had three albums, Murder Ballads (which I rate very highly), The Boatman's Call (a very melodic, introspective album, none of the shouty stuff, but excellent stuff) and the new one Nocturama (which sadly, so far, strikes me as his weakest effort yet).

littlemiss: If you've enjoyed artists like Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, Nick Cave may be something you'd like. His lyrics are intense, powerful meditations on love, sex, death, murder, religion...all the 'core' topics, his voice is deep and varied and the music is spare and very unique.

Dead Riverdragon: Cool! Another Nevermore fan!!!

[I, Brian]

And Leonard Cohen and Monster Magnet get a mention, too.

As for Nick Cave - yes, Mercy Seat is a great song, too. As is Tupelo.

He can be very variable as an artist, but has a real gift for lyrics and musical expression, IMO. He's very good at conveying mood and emotion in his work. When he was f*cked up and trashed out on herion there was a great violence and anger in his music that you just can't hear elsewhere. And his depressed music is truly depressed. Funny, tho' - I often considered his earlier work to be pretty misogynistic and filled with violene against women (heck, Murder Ballads simply took this ethos mainstream, but with less anger and more storytelling). However, even my other half likes his music.

I'm not sure if I'd equate him with the great acoustic work of Leonard Cohen - it's an entirely different ball game. But Cave is/was an innovator.

My favourite Nick Cave album for ages was "Your Funeral, My Trial". I really need to buy some of his earlier work on CD and burn a compilation of the best tracks.

[knivesout]

I'm not sure if I'd equate him with the great acoustic work of Leonard Cohen -

Oh yea, I was just trying to establish a context, and Waits and Cohen seemed closest. 'New Skin For The Old Ceremony' is my favourite Cohen album, btw - his take on Greensleeves, 'Leaving Greensleeves' has to be one of the most disturbing re-inventions of a song ever.

Last night I ran through quite an assortment of stuff- some more Nick Cave, Sonic Youth's Evol, some Joy Division, Sigh's Imaginary Sonicscapes and Stravinsky's Rites of Spring - easily the heaviest music of the lot!!!

[I, Brian]

What are you doing with Joy Division? You're too young to remember them!! Love will tear us apart - great song, and alas, on vinyl as well.

As is my Stravinksi.

[Dead Riverdragon]

I started listening to Joy Division after hearing Love Will Tear us Apart in Donnie Darko, but found the rest of their stuff to be a bit mediocre

[dwndrgn]

I'm listening to a little New Order at the moment. Nice and relaxing stuff. It always reminds me of Paris as that is where I discovered their music. Ah, memories!

[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by Dead Riverdragon

I started listening to Joy Division after hearing Love Will Tear us Apart in Donnie Darko, but found the rest of their stuff to be a bit mediocre

Yes, they were a bit hit and miss - New Order continued this tradition, with some completely uninspired music broken up by such classics as Blue Monday and True Faith.

[knivesout]

Spent most of last night listening to two albums by Tangerine Dream: Phaedra and Atem. Very abstract and strangely lovely music. Tonight I shall even things out and spin some thrash!!

BTW, I'm just out of a long musical slump, when I just didn't want to listen to anything, so I guess I'm packing in as much as I can now!!1

[mac1]

I bought the "Dead Cities" album by "The Future Sound Of London" off the internet. I have spent the last two day listening to that, listening now infact, its amazing. Loads of really dark synth, I think it might acutually be the darkest FSOL album I have heard infact.