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One of the most famous lines from Nick Hornby's High Fidelity is (I'm paraphrasing) "Which came first: the music or the misery? Do I listen to pop music because I'm miserable, or am I miserable because I listen to pop music?"
For many years I was an avid listener of music, and would constantly have my headphones on during my morning commute. I owned dozens if not hundreds of CDs and went out of my way to convert them to FLAC format, under the delusion that I could tell the difference from MP3s with my budget Sennheisers. When I read the above question in High Fidelity, I dismissed it as an obviously rhetorical one: of course I listen to music because I'm miserable!
Somewhere along the way I got out of the habit of actively listening to music in my own time, and rarely sit down to listen to an album from start to finish: most music I listen to is just something to put on in the background while I'm doing something else. And you know what? My subjective feeling of ease and well-being is dramatically improved compared to the earlier periods of my life in which I was an active and compulsive listener of music. There are many possible explanations for this improvement (I'm more physically active; I'm in a stable relationship; I've outgrown my depression; the period in my life in which I listened to music most compulsively was my adolescence, never an easy time for anyone), but I no longer think the question from High Fidelity is a rhetorical one with an obvious answer. Maybe listening to music did make me unhappier than I would have been otherwise.
All that preamble aside, I'm trying to get back into the habit of actively listening to music – not for the sake of enjoyment, but for research. I've been trying to write my next album and the riffs aren't coming as easily as I'd like. Surely part of that is because I'm not listening to music: the periods in my life in which I wrote the most riffs were also the periods in which I was listening to the most riffs. To that end, I drew up a list of albums which I've either been meaning to listen to for years, or which have a sound I'd like to emulate on the next album. I've been listening to them when I can get around to it. In no particular order, here are the ones I've listened to so far, and my thoughts.
were used in the film "Sinister". It only really
works in context, not as a standalone piece.
black metal albums just like this one.
Unlike the Ulver one, this one can stand on its own.
Particularly liked the fourth track.
but I have no intention of listening to this one again.
genre tag, never mind "depressive/suicidal black metal".
The vocalist supposedly said that he wants people
to be so affected by his band's music
that they kill themselves after listening to it
– I certainly would if I had to listen to
boring corny dreck like this for the rest of my life.
The cover art is the most interesting thing about it
or Just Breathing", even if I prefer Jesse Leach as a vocalist.
which was both a forum and published reviews of albums and EPs.
One of their critics reviewed this album
and said something along the lines of
"I know as critics we're meant to be 'objective'.
But it's hard in this case, because
this album is pretty close to the Platonic ideal
of what a black metal album is supposed to sound like".
I finally got around to listening to it
(twelve years after release) and wasn't disappointed.
Jaw-droppingly brilliant.
but even as someone who normally disdains noise rock
and spoken-word vocals I can say it didn't disappoint.
when a recording engineer compared my band to them.
They collaborated with Dragged into Sunlight (immediately below)
on an EP which included samples of actual serial killers talking about their crimes.
It creeped me out, but I wasn't sure of how much of that
was because of the music and how much was the enormously tasteless sampling.
This album employs no such gimmicks, and I can say that Gnaw Their Tongues can produce some genuinely horrific soundscapes.
describes their music as "post-[anything]", that means it's boring.
While this isn't true of every band, it's true more often than not, and certainly true of Isis.
but with production improved just enough that you can follow what's going on.
and decided to check it out. Loved it.
Profound Lore Records is now considered a hallmark of quality,
but this was back when they were still finding their feet as a label and couldn't afford to be so choosy.
that your brain can't really process it all in one go.
had more stylistic range.
I have a very similar experience. Never been depressed but i've found that listening to music while walking around town or doing work decreases my net happiness. Personally I think it's because my train of thought gets derailed several times a minute by catchy lyrics, taking me out of the moment and forcing me to reorient myself each time. Not that I'm walking around in a distracted haze while listening but these microdistractions take a toll on my mental attention.
This could be a symptom of the genres I listen too though, lots of trap, rap, and drill so it's not exactly calming mozart. I do find that while working out this "violent" music actually helps because it takes me out of the direct unpleasant feelings but also keeps my pulse high. I guess dissing the opps is good for preacher curls but not autumn afternoon walks.
I find that I, should I want to do serious creative work and listen to music at the same time, must listen to a piece of music I've entirely memorized. Which is why I tend to prefer simple songs; chiptune tends to do this due to the lack of complex instrumentation, lyrics, and the simplicity of the music brought on by pretending to be limited to only X number of voices at a time. You can do a lot with only 5 voices, but the other way to do it is to listen to something that only really has a few patterns but has a depressing effect.
In that way, the [fact that listening to the music is pleasurable] is decoupled from the distraction of ultimately being distracted by trying to digest its patterns; if the pattern is not digestible, or the instrumentation (generally lyrics but percussion as well) is distracting, it won't work.
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It's you.
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I've had the opposite experience. When I'm miserable I don't have any desire to listen to music, and when I'm in a good mood I'm more likely to want music on. One would think that a compulsive listener such as myself would take advantage of the 8 to 10 hours a day I have available to listen to music at work, but I rarely do. And when I do, it's usually because I have a lot of work to do, there's a long album that's on the list due to completeness but I don't have much faith in and am thus dreading to listen, and I save it for a time when I have a ton of work to do and not a lot of time to do it and hope that the tedium of listening to a long, lousy album dilates time to the extent that allows me to finish in a reasonable amount of time. Worst case scenario, the time evaporates along with the album. It's basically a hedge.
Fortunately I mostly listen for enjoyment, and I try to combine my listening with activities that I find enjoyable as well. The upshot is that if there's something I want to listen to I'd rather save it for when I'm on the bike, or out walking in the woods. I've put entire bands on hold for the winter because I know I'll enjoy them more when exercising outside in warm weather. Typical itinerary, some years back, which has changed only because the music I listen to changes based on what I haven't heard yet: Bike ride, late Saturday morning into the afternoon, maybe I have a picnic to attend later in the day, so I'm on a schedule. Enough time for a 20 mile trail ride. Start with Krautrock, something repetitive to get me in the pedaling rhythm. Then move on to 70s hard rock like Humble Pie or Faces, something a little more exciting, as the heat of the day builds. This is what I'm listening to at the turn around point. Then switch over to something more Americana, maybe Ry Cooder, as it's now afternoon. Totally different if I'm going for a 6 mile walk after dinner, which I was doing every day for a while on the same path: Start with Southern Rock while it's still broad daylight. As the sun gets low in the sky, switch to British Folk, like Dando Shaft or Lindisfarne, and as I'm approaching my car at dusk let things get a bit darker, like early Pink Floyd or Procol Harum.
Have you been following the CAN archive releases? Or perhaps you knew them from the circulating bootlegs, but either way, some amazing stuff in there. The first release, Stuttgart 1975, remains my favorite.
Also, the Beat Club channel out of nowhere 2 weeks ago dropped new CAN footage from 1971: "Halleluhwah". The footage for "Paperhouse" has been around but as far as I know the new one was never previously available.
No. I generally don't follow archives, as I find live albums in general to be superfluous, with certain exceptions (most notably the Grateful Dead). I'll check out the Can archive, though, since you mentioned it. I woul add that I'm one of those weirdos who likes their later period.
If by later period you mean '77-79, you're in luck as 2 releases so far have been from '77. Like the Dead, the Can live shows are very improv-heavy, so they're not typical "louder faster sloppier" live albums.
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What is it about metal that grips you so much? Whenever I listen to modern metal, I bounce off. Between the blast beats and the technical-first guitar style, it feels like it's for the players rather than the audience. What am I missing?
When you say "modern metal", what kinds of bands are you referring to? I think Songs of Blood and Mire is the only one of the albums listed above that came out this decade.
I'm old, so "modern", probably means "post Iron Maiden".
Fair.
It's a difficult question to answer, as the genre has become enormously stylistically diverse over the last four or five decades. Of the nineteen metal albums listed above, I think only five used blastbeats in any capacity, and only seven could be described as "technical" under even the most generous definition of that term. (Paso Inferior sounds downright primitive, like the guitarist only learned how to play the day before.) Maybe if you tell me some non-metal bands you like, I can recommend some albums that might serve as gateways.
Orville Peck is a good example, with the link above being a solid song.
Poor Man's Poison is another, with "Hell's Coming With Me" being their most famous song.
Billy Strings is great. I love the song "Wargasm".
I'm a big fan of Kels, with "Daddy's Got a gun" being a solid example.
The general trend is stuff that's rhythm-forward, with strong instrumentals and a solid groove.
I could see you liking Clutch, Eyehategod or Crowbar, and probably a lot of bands in the "stoner rock/metal" wheelhouse, although I'm not very knowledgeable about that subgenre. Possibly the Mastodon album mentioned above (this song should give you a feel for it).
I have mixed feelings about Clutch. The songs tend to be great, but after a while the vocals feel like they're so redlined that they lose any impact.
I'll give the other two a shot. Thanks for the suggestions.
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“Which came first: the shitty rave music, or the drugs?”
Henry's contempt is so real. I saw a post earlier joking that, with AI "musicians" now becoming a thing, DJs must feel so relieved that there's someone even they can feel superior to.
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