rocktastic!

Arrrr! I had to do stuff in meatspace today, so this is neither as long nor as thorough as yesterday's S marathon. If it's not enough for you, needy readers, add your own in the comments. You can type way faster than I, anyway. Doooo iiiiiit...

Rachmaninov - spell as you like. I'm not adding many classical composers because I have no classical wisdom and rarely an experience to share - haven't caught Mozart on tour yet - but some are still worth mentioning. Sergei is one in my book. To start, I have an incredible soft spot for piano compositions, which I will explain later. Then, much to the chagrin of probably everyone reading this, I don't really care about "pretty" classical work. Probably because of the bro's piano tendencies, I typically prefer to ditch the artsy, happy-go-lucky stuff for something fast, busy, and minor, or somehow off-key (slight pun intended).

Now that I've explained, I need only provide one descriptor: Rachmaninov is fury in piano form.

Radiohead - ok, yes, Radiohead has been insanely popular in both the popular and underground realms for many years now, with music everywhere on the spectrum between acoustic and extraneously electronic. You probably know them and love them. For me, they occupy a very special niche in my music collection: sleep music. It takes just the right sound to be sleep music, rather than just boring; Radiohead hits it perfectly, being relaxing, yet amusingly engulfing enough to envelope me in a trippy slumber. This is a difficult accomplishment.

Of course, there are a few songs that I will actively choose to listen to: for example, "The National Anthem", "My Iron Lung", and "15 Step" are mesmerizing.

Also, as Jo might recall, Radiohead on shuffle makes interesting statements out of song titles. For example, "Anyone Can Play Guitar", "Just" "I Can't", "Creep". Thanks, Randomhead.

Rage Against the Machine - probably the second-most angry group I know, only because every now and then they covered a neutral-attitude song. Definitely the most obscene lyrics, though; no contest on that one. In other words, I heart. Further, they deserve an inordinate amount of musical cred - their bass player can actually find that elusive thing they call "the pocket"; guitarist Tom Morello has mastered both groove and playing guitar with pencils and screwdrivers; and front man Zack de la Rocha can do timing, obscenities, flag-burning, the "lead singer dance", sarcasm, fat rhymes, more obscenities, and even wit, all at once. Too bad they had to break up - you can only be that serious for so long, I guess.

The Raincoats - I think "Lola" qualifies as educational, and should be included in elementary-level spelling lessons. Just ignore what the song is really about. Pathetic fact: I knew Weird Al's parody, "Yoda", long before I heard the original song. Que triste.

Rammstein - angry-sounding Germansanity! These growly, deep-voiced yellers have unfortunately defined the stereotype for anything Deutsch. If you actually listen, though, the music is complex, clever, quite varied, and often pretty strange. I only understand a few lines here and there, but they're not always angry... Just most of the time. For a quick potshot, they sound like morons when they sing in English. But I can't rip on them so hypocritically, since I would sound infinitely dumber trying to sing in colloquial German.

The Ramones - proof that three chords are sufficient, and sometimes overkill. Punk legends.

Rancid - standard punk. Only worth a mention from me because of "Maxwell Murder", a mostly-incomprehensible <2min track with a lightning-fast bass solo.

Rasputina - precisely not what you would expect from two girls on cello and a wood-block-addicted drummer. To summarize most effectively, consider that they opened for Les Claypool when I saw them in STL in 2006. That hint means "go listen!"

Ravi Shankar - known for his work on the sitar. He released stuff like "Sounds of the Sitar", but sorry, Ravi, that should be singular.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - more pop from jl?? You know them from "Give It Away" and "Californication", no doubt, but to me they are not pop, but fizzled-out 90's funk, with groovetastic tracks like "Mellowship Slinky in B Major" (extra points for putting the song's key in the title), their cover of Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster", and - here's a shocker - "Funky Monks". Unfortunately, Blood Sugar Sex Magik is the only album I can stand; the rest are devoid of funk. Ick.

It would be absurd of me not to mention their astronomical bassist, Flea. I'm not about to do any research, but he must have had both classical and "something fast" [alitrans] slap/pop training, because he can do it all. He's not quite as machine-gun as Mr. Wooten, but he also doesn't use Victor's complicated multi-slap and multi-finger-pop techniques - it's raw, unadulterated spspspspspspspsp...

Reel Big Fish - a seminal pop ska band, covered extensively by that mess that called themselves Six Ways 'til Sunday. Over the course of their albums, the gradually drifted away from ska towards rock with occasional horns, but oh well. Their lyrics are also generally focused on high schoolish issues, but oh well again. It's all loads of fun. "Sell Out" and "Beer" are great, even though they were completely out of that 6WTS front man's vocal range. Contrabass voices don't do high tenor very well. Again, ask expert saxophonist The Jod about these guys - both RBF and 6WTS.

Regina Spektor - folk/anti-folk? I appreciate all of her solo banter, as well as her duet with Ben Folds, "You Don't Know Me", on his most recent album, Way To Normal. Emily would probably deny it, but to me that song sounds like something she and I would do... She would likely deny this, too, but we were a pretty good harmonic pair back in the day; see Cake for details. Anyway, I'm running out of time, so end gush.

The Residents - loosely counts as "music". They made most of their bizarro instruments. For bonus points, Primus covered them all over the place. "Hello Skinny/Constantinople" (medley) and "Sinister Exaggerator" can be found on Primus albums, and live, Primus typically inserts "Hello Skinny" in the otherwise-empty interlude section in the middle of "Too Many Puppies". Also, in "The Air Is Getting Slippery" (on Pork Soda), Les says "me, I'd rather play Residents [...]" But I repeat, most would not consider The Residents to be "music".

Rick James - go ahead, make the jokes. He's a super freak. I don't even know what genre(s) to put on him. Not to be confused with Richard D. James of Aphex Twin.

The Ripple - "Ain't nothin' going on but a funky song." I wonder what genre they fall into.

Rob Zombie - the solo work of the front man from White Zombie. Songs like "Superbeast" are slightly angry, but most of his songs, such as "Living Dead Girl", are intentionally funny goth metal. To stick tongue further in cheek, see if you can find the video for that song. Also, look for a tour of his comically-themed house, as well as further insight to his entertaining personality, on an episode of MTV Cribs. He likes dead stuff.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band - "jam-band"/funk with an overload of slidey lap steel guitar. That's about it.

Roger Miller - HILARIOUS 50's-ish country. I won't even try to describe further, just observe that he has songs entitled stuff like "Dang Me". Also, he sings along with his guitar solos, or even in place of a solo. Weirdo.

Rogue Wave - more yummy "indie pop", sort of. Thanks, Mandy!

The Rolling Stones - ugh! Why, when there is so much better classic rock out there??

Roni Size - one of the kings of both dance beats and messed up electronica. All you need is a quote:

"Use your cloaking device? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... I didn't think so!"

Rush - Geddy Lee, bass deity of the past few decades. Also, weird song deity. You might know them from "YYZ", a song of torture in one of the Guitar Hero games. In the classic rock world, you might also recognize "Tom Sawyer" or "Workin' Man", among others. Deliciously weird.

Geddy Lee signed one of Les Claypool's basses.

RZA - I know approximately nothing about these guys, and I don't care that much, either. I only mention them because "RZA" is a friend's name for another friend.

Bien, c'est tout. Rocket.

some bands...

S = (lots of bands)/(not many hours)

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Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs - a rare two hit wonder! Somehow they hit it big with "Little Red Riding Hood" and, of course, "Wooly Bully". Endless proof that dumb = catchy, or complete nonsense in the case of the one about discourteous sheep??

One of my earliest memories is of a commercial for "Night Court" featuring the big bald guy dancing around to The Sham's pseudo-lyrical number. Such a valuable growth experience.

Also, as I seem to be pointing out as often as possible, the one with the comprehensible story could almost always be found in the van's CD changer...

Santana - as in Carlos. Many accuse him of selling out by calling in guitar solos for everyone under the sun, but pragmatically, he's freaking amazing! He's another musician who can't seem to play a wrong note. We did "Smooth" in jazz band, but I think I was the only one who liked it. Pues, busca "Oye Como Va". You should listen how it goes.

Sausage - Gentlemen, start your engines! It's the first of a zillion bands upon which I shall elaborate that include my real musical obsession, the wonderfully bizarre bassist Les Claypool.

With that fanfare, I anticlimactically point out that Sausage's lone album is, umm, boring. It's Les and two of his earliest cohorts playing mostly empty-sounding, overly long, and insufficiently odd concoctions. There are two significant highlights, though. First, the title track "Riddles Are Abound Tonight" is a live staple with almost every Claypool side project, and definitely better live. Second, the album includes "Toyz 1988", which is a ridiculous whammy-and-tap remix - or maybe the original version? - of "The Toys Go Winding Down", which appears on Primus' album "Frizzle Fry".

To quote Ray while typing away at work, "uhh, can I have something else?"

Scott Joplin - irritates me. Sorry; like Nickelback, it's all the same. He gets a mention for creating the ragtime genre, but he can stay in that era.

Seeed - electroreggae? Works for me!

Sepultura - this is the angriest music on the planet. Fast, angry guitar. Angry chords. Angry solos. Angry drums. On the occasion that you can understand his angry yelling, it's angry lyrics. Grrr!

Sex Pistols - some of the original punks, and pretty much mandatory for any punkollection. Plus, he rhymes "anarchist" with "antichrist". I won't get into it here, but Sid Vicious and friends have an interesting backstory, mostly of drugs, almost dying, and not actually knowing how to play any instruments.

Shi-Yue - screaming Japanese girl on top of noise guitar. Think injured cat. Yet, this is the kind of stuff I like.

The Shins - what, jl likes something semi-popular?? They have a light, happy sound, and their front man has a unique-but-frighteningly-pleasant voice... It's one of the few groups I can actually identify on Indie Pop Rocks! The deal was sealed en mi corazón when I found their cover of a song from The Postal Service. Sigh...

Shirley Bassey - did the theme songs for three James Bond Movies. She was probably popular for actual good music too, but the Bond themes are much more worth mentioning because of their over-the-top horror. "Golllldfingaa... wah waah wahh!"

Shizuo - noise noise noise! He/they? is/are a founder of the Digital Hardcore genre, and if you recognize that term, you're already disgusted. If you're not familiar, lucky you. Also in digital hardcore are EC8OR and Atari Teenage Riot, among very few others. The bro Tim and I are literally the only people I have ever run across who actively choose to listen to this. So, enjoy.

Shocking Blue - accredited with "Venus", and not much else... Worth mentioning because they did that song without knowing any English. They're sort of obviously Scandanavian when they say "joor desire" instead of "your desire". I don't know any other Shocking Blue songs, but I assume they gots da skilz.

Simon and Garfunkel - you know who they are. I feel obligated to mention them, but I don't really have any S&G stories; add some in the comments!

The Sims [soundtrack] - sorry, not even a band per se, but mad props to who ever did this stuff for creating the multi-genred tunes and wordless lyrics to several squandered years of my life.

Six Ways 'til Sunday - ha ha, so once upon a time there was this rumored ska band that really just hung out in one of the members' tool sheds, bothering to play music just often enough to make the neighbors angry... Anyway, they were good except for the front man, they wrote maybe two songs and covered about two more, and you should ask jarmstro about them.

Skinny Puppy - mandatory non-pop industrial rock. If you don't know what industrial rock is, just move on.

Slayer - the metal band, known for being in some ridiculous hurry! They'll throw together a song with seven verses, nine chorus repeats, and five separate guitar solos, and it will come out at less than two minutes. For an example, see "Dittohead". To their credit, they're waaay good at shred metal guitar, their drummer can play an album's worth of kick drum in one song, and their lyrics are even clever every now and then.

The Slits - more girls yelling. Can't get enough, it seems. Thanks, mle!

Slowdive - did a catchy song entitled "Alison". I'll tell you someday...

Smith and Reno - the musicians who recorded "Dueling Banjos" for the movie "Deliverance". Ironically, it's a banjo and a guitar, not two banjos. However, this song has been getting musicians to play together for ages, and isn't that what it's all about?

Snoop Dogg - love or hate him all you want for his completely fam-unfriendly lyrics and ho-bsession, Mr. D-To-The-Double-G deserves just as much respect as love or hatred. First of all, he knows his roots: check out his collaborations with, covers of, and covers [of his stuff] by the founders of funk, rap, nonsense; George Clinton and the rest of Parliament, for example, appear on several of his albums... Wow.

Second, Snoop has created his own language. Ever heard him called "Snoop Diggity"? Has anyone inserted gratuitous z's in words you otherwise know, i.e. "Fo shizzle!" or "the K Grizzle Fizzle" (aka Kyle Griffith (ok, maybe I'm the only one who calls him that))? It's Snoop's invention, and we're all grateful.

To summarize both of these Snooproperties, I provide this quote from Bootsy Collins (Parliament = funk) in a Fatboy Slim cover (electronica) of Steve Miller Band's "The Joker" (classic rock):

"[...] fo' shizzle dizzle, my nizzle fizzle bizzle"

What does that even mean?? It means Snoop is omnipresent and omnipotent.

Snow Patrol - slightly dark, yet still happy "indie pop", whatever that is. I don't think sing-songy people with acoustic guitars can avoid the happy vibe.

Soft Cell - pathetic confession: I knew about their 80's hit "Tainted Love" first from one of the Coneheads movies, then from Marilyn Manson, both long before hearing the original version. For shame, jlaz, for shame.

Soul Coughing - somewhere along the line, a few of the best groove jazz musicians on the planet bumped into one of the hipsterest beat poets on the planet, and Soul Coughing was born. My bro introduced this group to me on one of many unfathomably long trips from Carlinville to Indianapolis; we listened to their second album, "Irresistable Bliss", three times in a row, conveniently on my other bro's new bass-heavy truck speakers. I was addicted. Then we listened to their super mega 100% weird first album, "Ruby Vroom". I was in love.

This is still one of my favorite bands. This is why I have an upright bass. This is why I think counting to 100 by 5's is a perfectly acceptable set of lyrics. Most importantly, this is one of the reasons why I will play bass again.

Soulard Blues Band - genuine St. Louis blues! There's a reason why the hockey team, as well as a Glenn Miller song, has that name, after all. For your daily geography lesson, Soulard refers to a huge load of local stuff in the STL area.

The Sounds - they're not living in America, and they're not sorry. I don't know where they are living, though, and I'm not about to do any research. Any help? They sound quasi-Scandanavian, but who knows. Anyway, fun sing-songy girl punk, I say non-sexistly.

The Specials - real ska. Nothing more, nothing less.

Stabbing Westward - cool enough to be the subject of a Wesley Willis song! Maybe that's not a sufficient condition for coolness.

The Stampeders - known for the oldies-trippy, banjorrific "Sweet City Woman", and special to me because [permanently my secret]

Stan Kenton - jazz musician whose group cranked out the most joyously dissonant rendition of "The Peanut Vendor" I've ever heard. Not high-school-jazz-band-ooh-they're-pretty-bad dissonance, either... It's cold, cruel, calculated chromatic crackpottery. Translation: certified jlink tasty.

For those who are jazz novices but nerd experts, "The Peanut Vendor" (not Mr. Kenton's version) is the song playing at the end of Office Space, when Milton is chillin'/complaining on the beach. Ha, now you have an excuse to watch that whole movie!

Stanley Clarke - one of the earlier slap-n-pop jazz/funk bassists. "If This Bass Could Talk," he writes, it would probably say "ouch!"

The Staple Singers - dare I say, a staple of funk's beginnings. I'm not particularly attached to them (har har), but you can't deny the funkdamentals.

Steppenwolf - you know, "Born To Be Wild", "Magic Carpet Ride", and an assortment of lesser-known classic rock/oldies tunes. A+ for blurring the line between popular and psychedelic.

Stereo Total - crazy girls, and a guy I think?, singing what sound like children's songs in English, German, and French! Emphasis on "sounds like". Songs include "I Love You, Ono", "Tout Le Monde Se Fout Des Fleurs", "Sous La Douche", and "Partir Ou Mourir"... I don't recommend translating those for your kids. Leave it to the mle to supply the best foreign nonsense :-)

Stevie Ray Vaughan - the quintessential blues guitarist. When I went sailing with the Scouts down around Key West, my boat's megahippie captain played nothing but Stevie Ray concert tapes and John Denver albums. If only I had known enough to appreciate the mastery... Of the Stevie Ray solos - forget John Denver.

For bonus points, this is the same megahippie who taught me how to play the didgeridoo, and how to circle-breathe (poorly) on said tube.

Stevie Wonder - golden across several decades and genres. Direct your questions about ebony and ivory straight to him, as he's Misstra Know It All (not to be confused with Mr. Knowitall, who's waiting for P day... and nobody will get that reference). Personally, I think it's a superstition: the writing's on the wall.

Styx - mostly famous for epic ballads like "Come Sail Away" (or was that Eric Cartman?), but who cares? By the magical illogic of popular music, "Mr. Roboto" somehow was a smash hit. The most pathetic/awesome part is that everyone knows it. Domo arigato, offensive-to-Eastern-culturo.

The Sugar Hill Gang - the only SH-Gang song I know of is "Rapper's Delight", which is - surprise! - a rap among three or so DJs that starts out with an extremely groovy bass line and catchy, witty banter among the emcees... And over the course of OVER FIFTEEN MINUTES, degrades to stories about Superman and dinner at a friend's house. The bass line never degrades, though. In my glory days of wasted time, I had this whole monster memorized; now I can't think of much more than something about Kaopectate.

The Sugarcubes - pre-Björk Björk. Approximately unlistenable, and I already mentioned that I enjoy stuff like Shi-Yue and the whole digital hardcore genre.

The Surfaris - hyah, wipeout. Appears to be what they did with the rest of their songs?

Suspended - Illinois Wesleyan's male a capella group. As a music and theatre school, you can safely guess that they were pretty good. Live performances were hi-qual too, as they joked around the whole time, and IWU was small enough that everyone knew everyone else. Weee.

My apologies to A Touch Of Class, IWU's female a capella crew - I never had the chance to see/hear!

The Sword - impressive hard rock/not quite metal, with some bizarre borderline-fantasy themes. Gots da skilz, ey do. Props to the S-bro for exposure, although they were apparently in one of the Guitar Hero games as well.

System Of A Down - no, that's not correct capitalization, but oh well. They're closer to pop than I usually get, but I heart the stuff that was too nuts to play on the radio. Bonus points to front man Serj Tankian for collaborating with Buckethead; anti-bonus to jarmstro's bro for playing that same SOAD song on the keyboard in the shed, quite ad nauseam. Meh. Any tales from the gallery - probably those approximately my age?

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Done. I didn't even proofread that mess... Anyway, there are my 2300+ words. Now add yours!

trop

This collection of t* artists should help you realize that I can't possibly list even all of my favorites (or least-favorites), let alone every t* band that has ever existed... When I miss your favs, don't get mad - tell your own stories in the comments!

The Tallywood Strings - a bunch of cellos and such, covering pop albums symphonically (and sans lyrics). That's just a guess, as I'm not about to do any research; I just know that they remade Radiohead's "Kid A" (the whole album, not just the song). While it's semi-interesting for the first few listens, it's really just sleep-inducing - even more than the original Radiohead album. Not that "sleep-inducing" is a bad characteristic, though. Yet I do prefer Radiohead's bizarro electrosamples, instrumentation, and "huh?"-inducing lyrics.

Ted Heath - I don't know if Ted's the one playing it, but I'm all about his music's heavy emphasis on the bari sax in fun big band/jazz tunes. "Big Deep" is one of the best tracks. Lots of honk on the bari, as it should be, rather than trying to be smooth and elegant. Disclosure: after figuring out rather quickly that I was horrible at keyboard bass, I picked up bari sax in high school jazz band.

The Temptations - worth a Motown mention. I thought I had a story, but I guess it was just my imagination.

Tenacious D - a hilarious break from my typical playlists of "real" or "good" music. Sometimes you have to do things gently, discreetly...

That 1 Guy - one of my newest obsessions, as you may read in one of my posts from last October. He is deliciously strange - think of Ween-like lyrics (catch Ween on the W post from a few days ago) on top of a complicated, one of a kind Whamola-like contraption. He's quite the one-man band.

That 1 Guy stands alone as the only [relatively] big-name artist I've met before hearing any of his music, or knowing anything at all about him - rather serendipitously, we talked for a minute back in September while I was waiting in line for the concert featuring him and Buckethead; I didn't even recognize him until he said who he was. Crazy. He was in a hurry, or else I would have badgered him for autographs.

Thelonious Monk - pushing the jazz envelope. Not much else to say.

They Might Be Giants - yet another strange ska-ish band with almost big band instrumentation and an endless supply of creativity. A reasonable example of their style is the theme song to "The Oblongs", to be found on Cartoon Network's late-nite Adult Swim. More important, educational, and comical, though, is their rather famous cover of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)". Go listen to that, then wait for Matheatre to come around in a few days. Trust me, it's worth it.

The Thompson Twins - 80's heaven! Lies, lies, lies, yeah. Let Kyle tell the stories about these guys. They're nicked from ole Saigon.

Tokens - who in their right minds would come up with something as genuinely messed up as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"? Oh, apparently these guys.

That song was most definitely a staple for bombin' around in the van. Too bad most of you missed out on those likely-embarrassing times... It doesn't get much better than pulling up to a stoplight with a van full of high schoolers wailing this song with the windows down.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - these guys were just barely before my time, so they're worth a mention, but I'm relying on you to tell some worthwhile stories in the comments.

Tom Waits - I'm mostly familiar with this barely-comprehensible growl-crooner for his vocal contributions to Primus on "Tommy the Cat" and Coattails of a Dead Man"... Dig through jarmstro's blog for analysis from an expert.

Tommy Roe - an oldies guy, basically a one-hit wonder with "Dizzy", which I don't think was really even a hit. It's a little bit catchy and has an avant-garde (at the time) use of strings, but the real highlight is a music theory "feature".

Often, songs will change keys about 2/3 of the way through in order to add energy, cheat to make the song longer, or just for kicks. "Dizzy", however, means business. I listened and counted: in two and a half minutes, "Dizzy" changes keys SIX TIMES. That includes twice in the first few measures, before he even starts a verse! What's worse is that each change is upward, so the song just gets higher and higher, rendering the song unsingable. With six changes, the song moves up at least half an octave (maybe more - the piano's in the other room, and my name's not Jana), so if the beginning is in a comfy singalong range, you don't stand a chance of keeping up - literally - by the end. That is, unless you're Mr. Roe, apparently.

Tony Orlando - if you even recognize who this is, you're probably thinking something about tying yellow ribbons, right? Though I spent several years with a radio that only picked up the St. Louis oldies station, I have heard that song a total of zero times. In contrast, I quite enjoy his collaboration with this mysterious "Dawn" character, the fruit of which being the light-hearted, sweet, yet absolutely hilarious love ditty "Knock Three Times"... One of the earliest uses of sound effects instead of lyrics on record, I believe. Also responsible for a fair amount of ceiling damage and plumbing issues, no doubt. I have to stop writing and listen to this song (another "bombin' around in the van" essential, btw).

Tool - for when you need something angry and cryptic to sleep to, I guess? None of the songs I actively like are clean enough to mention here. Their front man, Maynard, could use a little work on varied syllable emphasis.

Tower of Power - tower of funk power! Their live recordings are nothing short of addictive. Even normal people, i.e. not me, are willing to groove along with them on loop.

The only non-gushing story I have is pretty weak - one of the Tower's biggest hits is "What Is Hip?", which is groovalicious and a lot of fun on their live albums. Contrast this with commercials for HAP, consisting mostly of people asking, "what is HAP?", and then having experts explain/advertise. Observe pun. Ok, maybe it's only funny to me. For the gold medal, I still don't know what HAP is. All I know is that what is HAP today might become passé...

Tracy Chapman - confession #1: I am one of the few on the planet who dislikes this excessively well-written, genre-defining, passionate folk stuff. Tough luck, mom. Confession #2: I love "Give Me One Reason", and it's one of the few songs I learned to play (and can still play) on the acoustic guitar. Oh, irony.

Trashmen - haven't you heard about the bird? Everybody knows that the bird is the word!

Why is it that irritating = catchy?

A Tribe Called Quest - ah, rap from the days of yore, when it was about random stupidity instead of crunk stupidity.

Troggs - simple = catchy as well, off in the one hit wonderland.

Trout Fishing in America - courtesy of one of my high school English teachers, I bring you extremely intelligent, yet agonizingly catchy lyrics about Napoleon and vegetables, spoken/sung over barely enough guitar and bass to define a chord. I may be off my dot, but I've listened to these four or so songs enough that every word is permanently etched into my brain...and that I can still keep up with "Proper Cup of Coffee". I thank and blame you, Mr. Oser (and I apologize for my intentional abuse of punctuation and pronouns). PS, van-cruising classics.

Tsunami Bomb - screaming girl punk, except when it's sing-songy punk. If you would like them, you're probably already famliar... Thanks to Em/Bill for this one.

Turf Surgery - speaking of Emily and Dirty B (and friends), here they are! I unfortunately was never around to see them live, but you can catch them on MySpace. You might simply label it "punk" if Emily couldn't play so many instruments.

Twista - quite the fast rapper, plus some decent beats. Brings back memories from freshman year of college...

Type O Negative - the gothiest of goth metal, combined with intentionally laugh-out-loud lyrics. They sound angry and evil until you notice they're covering "Day Tripper" or "Summer Breeze". Then they sound like you're playing records at half speed. At the end of a live show, their front man (Peter Steele) would often pull the strings off his bass guitar. As a bass player, I can confirm that this is a difficult task. He would also occasionally play a full-size classical upright bass horizontally, like an electric bass... Hmm, something else I may or may not have done on a regular basis (bassis?)...

The bro and I joked that this was the only band we could truly sing along to. His voice is subterranean. Both Tim's and Peter's, for clarification.


Whew! That's it for today. Comment away.

um, anyone?

The u-calm before the rst-storm...

U2 - these guys (Bono) are (is) frantically and illogically rich and famous without my help. Let's keep it that way.

Überzone - the electronica/DJ squad to beat, and one of my closest bonds and memories with the bro. Thus, I don't care if you like them, as I would prefer to keep them to myself. However, not liking them is difficult. To summarize their greatness, here's a quote from Tim:

"Can you imagine, an Überzone remix of an Überzone song? The world would simply blink out of existence."

De veras, they're that good. I got a kick out of TV news the other day, too - they were televising British PM Gordon Brown's address to the US Congress, and he kept mentioning his strong feelings about and the importance of "faith in the future"... Which is the title of Überzone's most popular album. British politicians have good taste, eh?

Please don't complain or accuse if I don't mention whatever band/group/artist - add them in the comments!

v* monologues

The Vapors - I think they're [catchily] "Turning Japanese", I really think so... And I'll leave it to you to solve what that song is about.

VAST - Visual Audio Sensory Theater, that is. Airy, rockish tunes with copious strings and electronic sprinkles. Occasionally there's something thumpy/groovy, but sadly, these skilled musicians produce the kind of music you put on as background you don't have to pay attention to.

Also, pals, I bought your stuff on CD - shouldn't you be AST?

Verve - remember their borderline lite rock smash, "Bittersweet Symphony"? Go ahead and mock me because I honestly still like that song, but the rest of their collection is nonexistent. Not to be confused with...

The Verve Pipe - some punks from the Motor City. I haven't listened to them much, but their name confuses me to no end.

Victor Wooten - best technical bass player I know. Some musicians are incapable of playing a wrong note. He is one of them. Further, one of the mock rumors about him is that he has eight arms/hands; listening to any of his music, you'd believe it. Check out "Me and My Bass Guitar".

Back in 2005, we saw him in Springfield, IL. Several times before and during the show, we had to evacuate the building for fire alarms; on one evacuation, he brought out a bass, someone came up with a practice amp, and everyone gathered around while he played right there on the sidewalk. Amazing. We schmoozed for a while after the show:




He signed my socks. This is not just an unbeievable musician, but also an incredible human being. There's so much more to say, but let's move on.

Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey - here we have the duo of the aforementioned VW bass fiend and Mr. Bailey, who plays a six-string fretless bass, similar to what I preferred to play (as well as that Claypool guy).

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Interjection: what the heck is so special about "six-string" and "fretless" on a bass guitar? Typically, a bass has just four strings (EADG, like a mandolin or the lowest four on a standard guitar). A six-string bass adds another string lower than the lowest (B) and one higher than the highest (C). Musicians, observe that they're all tuned to fourths, unlike the six strings of a standard guitar. While the extra strings make playing (and muting) more complicated, it's a tradeoff for a wider range and quite increased versatility to play without having to fly up and down the fretboard all the time. There are even songs you simply can't play without the extra strings. I might explain the convenience further...some other time.

Then "fretless" refers to the [lack of] little metal bars up and down the neck of a guitar or bass that ensure that you play notes in tune with a bit of wiggle room for finger placement. A fretless bass, just like upright basses and violins and cellos and such, doesn't have these metal bars. Thus, to stay in tune, the player has to be insanely accurate with finger placement. As an aide, electric fretless basses usually have lines on the neck where the frets would be - classical stringed instruments don't even have this convenience, so playing is entirely skill and guesswork (or laden with masking tape). The obvious disadvantage here is that most people think frets are the best thing since sliced bread, so getting rid of them seems nuts. Also, it's basically impossible to play chords even remotely in tune without frets. However, I argue that ditching frets is the most liberating experience in the world of guitar. (Actually, I started with a fretless, so I more accurately argue the inverse...)

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Anyway... This is really interesting instrumentation because they produce "normal" jazz/rock with just basses. Most often, Victor is absolutely wailing away at the melody while Steve plays both the bass line and rhythm guitar part on his sixer - walking up and down on the lowest strings and playing mini-chords on the highest two. Pretty complicated, but it truly sounds like they have an extra person playing backup guitar along with them. Then sometimes they will trade roles - Victor will take the role of bass, playing some incredible slap-n-pop foundation, while Steve solos away in the higher registers, sliding all over like you're supposed to when you don't have frets. Either way, it's always technically impressive fusion, jazz, or pedal-heavy instrumental rock. Look for their version of "A Chick From Korea".

I'd like to pretend that Nate, Mike and I sounded even half this good with the same instrumentation. In reality, though, it was more like Mike rocking away on drums, Nate playing equally as good but more thumpy/trippy than Victor on the 4, and me being aimlessly slidey and ashamed on the sixer. But someday, Nate, we shall do it again, and I shall not suck.

Violent Femmes - "college rock" meets country, before "college rock" existed. Best part: often at concerts they would have random people play backup brass and sax without sheet music, practicing, or even a set list. Consolation prize: their catchy "Blister in the Sun" has the same story as The Vapors' "Turning Japanese". Worst part: their front man sold out said song for TV commercials and such without consulting with, or even mentioning such to, the rest of the band. Bad form!

who are these people

W* band overload! Here goes.

War - you know, the "Low Rider" guys. They were semi-prolific, but the rest of their hits are basically not-quite-satisfying recreations of the "Low Rider" groovefunk. As extra credit, though, the "Low Rider" bass line is how I learned the safe notes to hit when playing in a minor key... Musicians know what I'm talking about. Valuable stuff. For extra extra credit, the Beastie Boys sample various chunks of that song throughout their "Licensed to Ill" album. Weee.

Weather Report - possibly the original fusion group? They cranked out gobs and gobs of mind-bending jazz (the definition of fusion, as far as I can tell) throughout the 70's and 80's with a large, constantly-morphing pile of virtuosos, basically starting by playing nonsense and gradually turning it into frighteningly well-written and complicated songs. To me, their highlight was having crazy, drugged bassist Jaco Pastorius play with them for a while. Jaco = ridiculous; I'll tell you more when we get to the J day. I could theoretically worship most of the musicians that ever appeared on the Weather Report roster, but I sadly don't have any knowledge/appreciation of virtuosity on the bongos...

Ween - the W stands for weird. Throughout their slew of albums, they satirically cover quite a few genres, from country to hard rock to "are you kidding me, someone actually published this nonsense?" For example, take "12 Golden Country Greats", which is actually just ten decent country/bluegrass tunes about who knows what. Contrast with "GodWeenSatan: The Oneness", a collection of 29 tracks of screaming about bees and weasels. It may be hard to believe, but all of these albums demonstrate quite a bit of creative talent. They opened my mind even further, and as you will see, I listen to some extremely odd "music". "Help me scrape the mucus off my brain," they request...

Weezer - a [pop-]grunge staple, though their front man/vocalist is a little short on testosterone. I appreciate that he says "unngh" constantly. However, I like his emo glasses more than I like almost all of their music...

Wes Chapman - wicked, sort of classical solo acoustic guitar. Read that again. 'Nuff said.

Wesley Willis - roamed the streets of Chicago with strong vocal cords and a Casiotone keyboard, "singing" about schizophrenia, bus rides and Coke machines. I refuse to pin a genre on his work. Also, to keep this blog kid/work/grandparent friendly, I don't think I can quote many lyrics... However, I recommend ditching this blog, heading to your favorite music repository, and checking out songs like "Termites Ate My House Up", "Rock N Roll McDonald's", "Kris Kringle Was a Car Thief", "Jesus Is The Answer", or my favorite, "I'm Sorry That I Got Fat", as well as any of the myriad less appropriate ones. Is it possible to be a Casiotone expert?

Tale of jealousy: my bro got to see Wesley in concert, including talking to him, getting autographs, and doing the famous/infamous headbutt. The days of Willis were better times indeed. "Diet Pepsi - uh huh!"

The White Stripes - another slightly generic grunge staple. I'm not extremely familiar, but they're slowly growing on me, heavy-handed bass lines and all.

White Zombie - can't go wrong with almost-shock rock. The bass lines are surprisingly complex, considering she usually only uses one string! "More Human Than Human" was one of my first exposures to music that isn't all hunky dory like the Beatles and most oldies in general... Defined/ruined my musical tastes for probably the rest of my life. oops.

The Who sold out, and that's ok with me.

Wilbert Harrison - a 12-bar wonder of "oldies". Also a one hit wonder, as far as I can tell, cranking out "Kansas City" and not much else. That's fine. In high school pep band, we usually played that one at approximately double speed... Not much time to breathe on the ole bari sax.

Wild Cherry - play that funky music 'til you die. 'Til you die? Yeahh, 'til you die. If you actually listen to the lyrics to that song - not likely - it tells this really weird story about some loser who finds funk and it changes his life, or something to that effect. Not really worth the research to spoil an otherwise simple, fun little ditty.

Willie Nelson - ohno, jlink mentions a country artist?? Surprise! Shotgun Willie is full of sarcastic/tongue-in-cheek mockeries of even his own musical style, which is pretty much mandatory for me to tolerate country. I like "Sad Songs and Waltzes", later covered by my beloved Cake.

Wilson Pickett - the wicked one. Na, na na na na, na na na na na na na na na na, na na na na...

Wings - eewww.


Contribute!

xenophiles

Pobrecito solitario x.

XTC - these guys are so 80's they started in 1978. I only know about them because of their album "Drums and Wires", from which Primus covered two songs. D&W is comical - bask in the glory of awkward, goofy "strange girl" songs like "Helicopter", or slightly frightening, still goofy songs like "Scissor Man", and everything 80's in between. "Snipping snipping snipping goes the scissor man \ maybe you are in his book of names" goes the song about a mystical vigilante who cuts up kids who don't behave... Play that one for your elementary schoolers.

Any X* artists to contribute? Pretty please?