Beautiful Noise

I really want to see this movie about SG.

Kool & the Gang - Too Hot

[link] Top 40 radio played the hell out of this song.  I remember hating it for a while.  But now it's sort of a welcome blast from the past.  It holds up pretty well.
Here's another one I can say the same thing about (I really truly hated this song when it came out)
The Spinners - Working My Way Back To You

Blonde Redhead - Elephant Woman

[link] Although I hear these guys a lot on DKFM, the SG element is only a part of their sound.  As I said in the previous post, there is a more complex element in the songwriting and melodicism. Characteristic of the more retro sounds of the late 90s and oughts in alternative music. Bordering on 60-era jazziness.

Blonde Redhead - 23

[link] Begun in 1993 and still going these days, on 4AD, this band seems a very fitting standard bearer for SG into the future. Vocally, Kazu Makino is multidimensional, having all the standard qualities of a SG female vocalist in spades, along with a more complex 90s alt.rock sensibility, which can be heard in this track.

SIANspheric - Static

[link] I really like the main guitar riff and its variants.  That's where there's a lot of room for many subtle novelties in this genre.  And these guys have capitalized on that here. Aspects of the vocal track are experimental-ish as well. This sound takes me back to the 90s. These guys are Canadian and were active in the late 90s. I would call this High Shoegaze. A sort of perfection of at least some aspects of the original form.

Difference Engine - Simon's Day

[link] Couldn't find any info on this band but they are Kitchens of Distinction-ey. Even in the 90s, the name was a bit of an obvious band name. Proggy in the mixture of time signatures.

Kind of yearning for D&D

It would be great to have a weekly (or even monthly) D&D game (or board game night with Avalon Hill games and the like).  Probably still multiple years away given my current situation.  But I'd like to get back to that (after multiple decades of not having it) eventually.

Airiel - Funerals

[link] Airiel captures the large and magnificent space that SG outlines. The slight unconventionality in the rhythm track and the synthy nu-gaze elements label this material as a significant part of the more recent vanguard. The downtempo sets an ambitious agenda for this canvas as thick swaths of sound are slathered on.

Curve - the Coast is Clear

[link] Straight ahead driving shoegaze rock. Traditional rock chords. A polished later generation that was inspired by the 80s and early 90s stuff but also captured mainstream alt.rock trends (yes I know that is a bit of an oxymoron).

No interest in Glasswort so far

The intro page only has a couple of hits.  I'll probably put the solicitation up once per month on craigslist and the other site and see what happens.

These two should have made my top 100

Sisters of Mercy
Pat Benatar

the list still needs a bit of reworking

another absence

Queen.  Was exposed to them plenty in my youth. Outside "Play the Game" and maybe one or two others, they never did much for me.  Much too orchestral for my liking. I will stipulate that they were/are virtuoso musicians.  Just not among my favorites.

absence of the Beatles

The Beatles are notably absent from that list.  The fact is that they are not a direct influence on my songwriting or musical tastes and I have not listened to them very much (I do not listen to them by choice, ever).  There are probably a bunch of their songs that I have never heard.

There are quite a few other absences that many people would consider glaring, as well.

51-100

(in alphabetical order)

808 State

A-ha

ABBA

Ace of Base

Altered Images

B-52's, the

Bangles, the

Bertoia

Blondie

Browne, Jackson

Buggles, the

Collins, Phil

Costello, Elvis

Dead or Alive

Deep Forest

Def Leppard

Depeche Mode

Dillon Fence

Dire Straits

English Beat, the

Everything But the Girl

Gabriel, Peter

Genesis

Go-Betweens, the

Great Train Robbery, the

Hall & Oates

Idol, Billy

Innocence Mission

Kraftwerk

Lauper, Cyndi

Lemonheads, the

Madonna

Midnight Oil

Missing Persons

Naked Eyes

O'Connor, Sinead

Prince

Rolling Stones, the

Sad Lovers and Giants

Scorpions, the

Scritti Politti

Sherbs, the

Shriekback

Siouxsie and the Banshees

Stewart, John

Style Council, the

Sundays, the

Townshend, Pete

Wang Chung

Yes

My 50 favorite bands/artists

(in alphabetical order; I did this for the Glasswort project)
(bold = the most important influences)

Big Country

Book of Love

Cars, the

Catherine Wheel

Church, the

Clash, the

Cocteau Twins, the

Cranberries, the

Cure, the

Devo

Dolby, Thomas

Duran Duran

Eurythmics, the

Ferry, Bryan

Fixx, the

Go Go's, the

Journey

Lush

Men at Work

Men without Hats

Morrissey

My Bloody Valentine

New Order

Nicks, Stevie

Pale Saints, the

Petty, Tom &the Heartbreakers

Pixies, the

Plant, Robert

Police, the

Prefab Sprout

Pretenders, the

Psychedelic Furs, the

Public Image Limited

R.E.M.

Red Rider

Replacements, the

Sade

Saga

Simple Minds

Smiths, the

Stewart, Al

Sugarcubes, the

Talk Talk

Talking Heads, the

Three O'Clock, the

Til Tuesday

U2

Ultra Vivid Scene

Van Halen

Zebra

New band recruitment project

I've been wanting to form a new band for a while.  I decided to look online for local musicians.  I haven't made a post yet (craigs list and one other site).  I thought I would set up a web page to direct inquiries to.
http://glasswortli.blogspot.com/
This will link to some Megachild and other stuff as well as provide information about me and my musical influences.

Duran Duran - The Reflex

[link] When I saw this video for the first time, I wanted to be a rock star.

The Breeders - Cannonball

[link] Another iconic song by an iconic band during an iconic time for alternative music, the early-mid 90s. This was pretty ubiquitous for a while on college radio and even in the mainstream a little.  Kim Deal continues innovations she started in the Pixies.  It's amazing that a lot of people never "discovered" the Pixies until almost a cultural generation later.  Those of us listening to college radio knew and appreciated them when their stuff was coming out, as well as the material of the various bands that spawned from their members.

The Shins - Phantom Limb

[link] Every once in a while all the hipsters in the alternative music world, get something right.  In the case of this song (and the more I hear, this band), everyone loves it.  It's all about the chord progressions and the transitions between them. The change to the major right in the middle of the main progression is an innovation.  Pretty rare to find novelty in chord progression hooks.

Garage band for iPad

Since my successful but brief foray into garage band a couple weeks ago, I am interested in seeing if I can use it successfully on the iPad.  Am downloading but don't know if I will have time to mess with it any time soon.  I will update the blog with any progress.

House

There's a ton of >1 hr long house mixes of all subtypes on youtube.  Here is one.  Fun listens.

acid house

Found an interesting very short video (from MTV) on the history of Acid House.

Tourist - Your Girl

[link] This was linked to the previous video. Really interesting use of autotune and various other effects. Very smoothly textural. The background synth is soothing. I definitely am interested in exploring their other stuff after hearing this.  Sort of a modern equivalent to Scritti Politti in how they stretch a dance pop sound of the times to a synthetic sound that seems very forward looking.

Metronomy - The Bay

[link] This was linked to the Horrors video in youtube but is quite different.  Synth dance pop.  The first thing I thought of was Pet Shop Boys but there are a lot of other influences in terms of the vocals and lyrical arrangement in here as well, all of similar ilk. You can hear twinges of the Buggles, John Astley, Soft Cell, and the Human League in here as well.

The Horrors - Sea Within a Sea

[link] Abstract, atmospheric alt rock.  The imagery in this video reminds me a bit of some early Simple Minds album covers.  Sort of celebrates the ruin and emptiness of international style architecture and its aesthetic trappings. The sound harks back to early 80s postpunk. The break has some great experimental guitar noises that really expand the impact of the song, after which some Kraftwerk influence comes in.

M83 - Teen Angst

[link] Pulsing and synthy. Not much of a rhythm track except for a creshendoing snare that fades behind the synthwash and vocal air. Definitely a statement about the synth sounds (if I were more of an aficionado I'd know which model and voice it was).

Pale Saints - Sight of You

[link] In my view one of the founders of SG and the 4AD sound that is synonymous with the main thread of late 80s early 90s SG (the first generation of SG). Still a pretty strong postpunk styling.  The vocal has not yet gone completely behind (or wisping above) the guitar noise wall.

Hurrah! - If Love Could Kill

[link] A blast from my mid 80s days listening to WBER in Rochester.  Very sweet alternative pop.

Ivy - Get Enough

[link] Their first single.  From 1994.  This type of sound dominated college radio in that ear.  And I'm nostalgic as hell about it. I had two great stations to listen to: WXDU and WXYC and things were going well with my research. I had recently met the future Mrs. T.  We had it all ahead of us then.

Ivy - Don't Believe a Word

[link] Bouncy poppy shoegaze in the line with early mid Lush and Pale Saints, although brighter than the latter (Cocteau Twins and Sundays comparisons also very valid).

Kitchens of Distinction - The 3rd Time We Opened the Capsule

[link] The kitchens are classic SG, providing a smooth but very drivingly noisy guitar and rhythm bass with the simultaneously urgent and somewhat soothing vocals of Patrick Fitzgerald.  Their Wikipedia page mentions that they have gotten back together and are working on new material.  That's great.

Thievery Corporation - Saudade

[link] Some internet friends were discussing this band.  Very relaxing to listen to. Overlaps with the contemporary/latin jazz side of ambient that I listen to at work.  Really nice.

Boards of Canada - Zoetrope

[link] Contemplative.  Nearly ambient. Stripped down to a synth track; the throbbing is there.

School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep

[link] The Cocteau Twins influence can be heard pretty directly in this. Maybe it's just a New York thing but I can also hear some Laurie Anderson in this.

Coaltar of the Deepers - Aquarian Age

[link] Fast and has a heavy slickness. It's a high speed train. Or a city with all its moving parts moving both past and through you.