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Post by andrewwerdna on Nov 13, 2023 0:52:30 GMT -5
This song is sad, devastating, and deeply unsettling. Hard to pick a single song by Scott Walker to say this about, but this really is one of his greatest moments. Doesn't immediately click with me, but it intrigues me because it feels so deep and cryptic and heartfelt. I've never heard of Scott Walker before, but looking him up seems to be a very interesting artist. Is this Tilt album the best place to start? Are there any other albums I should check out for an initial exploration?
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Post by andrewwerdna on Nov 13, 2023 0:53:29 GMT -5
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Post by Mike Moth on Nov 13, 2023 10:44:44 GMT -5
Sometimes it's the tiniest thing in an arrangement that catches my attention and gets the whole piece stuck in my head. Here, it's the little repeating four note phrase that first appears at ~00:35 and continues until the end.
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Post by andrewwerdna on Nov 13, 2023 23:58:54 GMT -5
I like that, definitely has a mood, like stoic in the face of chaos or something. The four note phrase, you mean the quick little drum bit? Yeah, that is cool, and I think works well to have that simple consistent stable thing to cling to in a song like this, with so much harsh startling noise to grapple with.
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Post by andrewwerdna on Nov 14, 2023 0:49:06 GMT -5
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Post by andrewwerdna on Nov 15, 2023 1:26:51 GMT -5
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Post by talvisynth on Nov 15, 2023 18:18:03 GMT -5
I don't know if anyone else here is into this kind of stuff, but I'm having a thing for something that's often called or referred to as "dark country". In general I have a place in my heart for old blues, bluegrass and American sounds, and I guess it was at least partly thanks to the music playing in Sons of Anarchy series that furthermore boosted all this resonating for me. Ofc, it's not something for every occasion, mostly soundtrack for summertimes in my case, but anyways, there's really something in the vibes and melodies that I find very captivating and intriguing.
However, I'm not particularly deep into this genre (if it even is an actual genre to begin with, or is "dark country" used to simply indicate some clearly darker themes/tones, idk) nor written down much of the names there, and usually when this mood hits, it's been just random searches and playlists so far. I think the ones I mostly recognize are Blues Saraceno and Nick Nolan (apparently rather outlaw-themed), whereas Uncle Sinner and Townes Van Zandt take their expression down to darker paths.
EDIT: A couple of edits.
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Post by andrewwerdna on Nov 16, 2023 1:21:43 GMT -5
^ I am interested to hear more "dark country," and also curious how that differs from "outlaw country." I know nothing about these genres but would like to hear more.
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Post by talvisynth on Nov 16, 2023 1:35:55 GMT -5
Now that you mentioned "outlaw country", I'm not sure either tbh. I've heard of that before and could (and probably even should) have actually mentioned it instead, but I guess the playlists that I had rollin' last night simply got me there. Then again, I think I've often seen same songs/artists on both "dark" and "outlaw" titled playlists on YouTube, but yeh, I don't know enough either to say anything for sure. /o\
Edited my previous post for some added remarks.
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Post by antipodeangoblin on Nov 16, 2023 7:58:57 GMT -5
This song is sad, devastating, and deeply unsettling. Hard to pick a single song by Scott Walker to say this about, but this really is one of his greatest moments. Doesn't immediately click with me, but it intrigues me because it feels so deep and cryptic and heartfelt. I've never heard of Scott Walker before, but looking him up seems to be a very interesting artist. Is this Tilt album the best place to start? Are there any other albums I should check out for an initial exploration? His later music isn't always a hit - some people just don't dig it, some people really do. There's definitely no right answer. I'm there 100% for that voice.
Tilt is a good start, as it's the more gentle entry to Scott's later avant garde works, and he's still writing songs. If you're keen to dive in boots and all, I think his album The Drift is where things get quite interesting and less structured - it doesn't resemble dark ambient as such, but I can imagine fans of cinematic dark ambient would appreciate the moods, methods, and design of that album. It has some really visceral moments, and it's definitely worth keeping the lyrics/liner notes handy to understand where he's coming from lyrically. There's a documentary called 30th Century Man which follows him through the recording of The Drift and it's quite an interesting portrait of an artist who was essentially in a 60s boy band that kind of left planet earth, artistically.
Bonus points if you can listen all the way through Soused, his collaboration with Sunn O))). Good luck!
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Post by andrewwerdna on Nov 17, 2023 0:00:05 GMT -5
I listened to The Drift and Soused today. I tried listening to Tilt earlier in the week, but really wasn't feeling it and had to turn it off. That might be because I was listening in the afternoon, which is when I'm least receptive to new music, but listening to Drift and Soused this morning still I found them to be very challenging. I thought Soused was a bit more listenable, since there seemed to be moments of beauty where the tension is released, but by and large all three albums seem like they're meant to be an ordeal. It made me appreciate Farmer in the City much more, because that song is really quite beautiful and accessible compared the rest of these albums that I heard. Still, I think there is a place for ordeal music, and this has the sort of elevated tone that makes such experiences work. It feels very much like confronting the nihilistic absurdity of life or something. I was listening while working, so wasn't able to study the lyrics as I was going, perhaps I will attempt that later. I also am going to make a note to check out 30th Century Man sometime, because this is still very interesting to me, it feels like a puzzle to appreciate this music and I want to solve it. Thanks recommending and for giving this primer.
I've been checking out 80s Japanese goth music the past week or so. It seems like a deep well with loads of cool stuff:
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Post by andrewwerdna on Nov 17, 2023 19:48:03 GMT -5
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Post by andrewwerdna on Nov 19, 2023 3:27:23 GMT -5
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Post by talvisynth on Nov 21, 2023 2:00:29 GMT -5
andrewwerdna : Thanks for posting the alternative/demo version of Black Planet, hadn't heard that one before. \o/ Also that Kleopatra was awesome! Too bad they were apparently a rather short-lived group due to Yugoslav Wars which the video description is afaik referring to. Here's another song from Sierra who's coming to play in Helsinki now on the upcoming Saturday.
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Post by talvisynth on Nov 22, 2023 6:42:16 GMT -5
In Memoriam: Esa Kotilainen (1946-2023), a Finnish synth pioneer who passed away just a couple of weeks ago. Here's the track Matkaaja ('traveller' or 'voyager' in Eng.) from his debut solo album Ajatuslapsi (roughly transl. 'insight/vision descendant', to retain some of the poetic aspect of the original title), year 1977:
Safe final journey to the stars.
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