the only steely dan comparison i would make is the juxtaposition of the really mellow, studio pro lite rock chops with the sorta odd, malevolent lyrics.
sonically songwritingwise, i don't really hear any steely dan
also, he pretty much lets you know that this is an anglophile post new wave patiche thing in the lyrics severeal times, so yeah prefab, jazz butcher, talk talk, blue aeroplanes, all that shit seems way more appropriate
― smang a goon (get it on) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:29 (thirteen years ago) link
tylerw: the vinyl came with a digital DL of the album that includes the ambient track. i am merely bringing that to your attention.
― ullr saves (gbx), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:34 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, the bass lines are gorgeous.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:37 (thirteen years ago) link
Sorry if this was already discussed:
Does the vinyl include a digital download?
― Moodles, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:40 (thirteen years ago) link
it was discussed 2 posts ago!
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:41 (thirteen years ago) link
oh, duh
― Moodles, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:45 (thirteen years ago) link
gbx is the digital download FLAC or mp3?
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:47 (thirteen years ago) link
mp3
320kbps
― ullr saves (gbx), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Curious if the sax in Nick Drake's "Chime of a City Clock" coded as "cheesy" in 1971:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP3eHMWFEkM
― Tyler/Perry's "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" (jaymc), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:57 (thirteen years ago) link
(I would guess not.)
i dunno, but listening to this album and gerry rafferty recently, i have started wondering about how the sax became kinda the code sound for cheese.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:14 (thirteen years ago) link
relevant thread:
why was the saxophone (and especially the sax solo) so ubiquitous in '80's pop/rock?
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:15 (thirteen years ago) link
i was always bummed no one wanted to let me play sax in bands :(
i'm a sax player btw
― ullr saves (gbx), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:18 (thirteen years ago) link
I've always liked this interview with Jim O'Rourke about the cultural associations and contexts of certain musical sounds, as they pertain to his record Eureka:
O'Rourke: ...there are certain songs on the record that mix genres to draw attention to the fact that they are just signifiers of genre. Like Ken Vandermark’s sax solo on "Through the Night Softly." If you take that out of context, you’re going to be wondering, "What is that?"Q: It’s funny you mentioned that, because that’s the moment I’m leading up to. When I hear that solo it sounds like the ending credits on "Saturday Night Live."O’Rourke: (Ecstatic) Exactly! That’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. That’s brilliant. Fantastic. That’s 100 percent what I was going for. I remember recording it and saying "No, Ken, stupider ... stupider." He kept saying, "Aw Jim, come on." But what most people have heard is Pink Floyd’s "The Great Gig in the Sky" from Dark Side of the Moon, which I can understand because the drumming was purposefully supposed to sound like Nick Mason. That’s why I used a different drummer on that song. But it is supposed to feel like "Saturday Night Live." That interests me partially because it’s a cultural reference taken out of its context but also because it’s just stupid. I like stupid stuff. I have to admit it’s also slightly a parody of a Gastr del Sol song for me. The cliched poignant piano on that song is just ridiculous. What is so poignant about a piano humping out a bunch of chords, you know? So that tune is mostly made up of jokes. But it had to work musically of course.
Q: It’s funny you mentioned that, because that’s the moment I’m leading up to. When I hear that solo it sounds like the ending credits on "Saturday Night Live."
O’Rourke: (Ecstatic) Exactly! That’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. That’s brilliant. Fantastic. That’s 100 percent what I was going for. I remember recording it and saying "No, Ken, stupider ... stupider." He kept saying, "Aw Jim, come on." But what most people have heard is Pink Floyd’s "The Great Gig in the Sky" from Dark Side of the Moon, which I can understand because the drumming was purposefully supposed to sound like Nick Mason. That’s why I used a different drummer on that song. But it is supposed to feel like "Saturday Night Live." That interests me partially because it’s a cultural reference taken out of its context but also because it’s just stupid. I like stupid stuff. I have to admit it’s also slightly a parody of a Gastr del Sol song for me. The cliched poignant piano on that song is just ridiculous. What is so poignant about a piano humping out a bunch of chords, you know? So that tune is mostly made up of jokes. But it had to work musically of course.
― Tyler/Perry's "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" (jaymc), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Sax is sometimes seen as cool in dance-punk contexts -- beginning with James Chance, probably, but then recently with the Rapture and Love Is All. But it's a different style of playing.
― Tyler/Perry's "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" (jaymc), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:22 (thirteen years ago) link
well sure. also i think that the main reason that sax/horns don't crop up that often and/or get relegated to specific roles is because they're pretty inflexible, tonally. not in an absolute sense, of course, but every instrument in a trad rock trio/4tet can be run through a crazy signal chain to get whatever quality you want. horns are what they are, for the most part, unless you do some morphine stuff
― ullr saves (gbx), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:28 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTclndT4Ilk
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Song for America actually had people dancing and sexy girl dancing.
awesome! i mentioned upthread that i opened a dj set a few weeks ago with "chinatown" but have been thinking "song for america" would be a great end of the party/ its 5am and we're still dancing song
― gr8080, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 19:32 (thirteen years ago) link
thought i might be sick of this album already but i just checked and nope i'm not
my wife, my 17-month-old daughter and I were all dancing to this record in the kitchen last night
― tylerw, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 19:33 (thirteen years ago) link
awesome!! fuck i wish i had a family to dance with sometimes
― gr8080, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 19:35 (thirteen years ago) link
lol otm sigh
― wow...... hmmm.... crazy...... damn….. (diamonddave85), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 19:43 (thirteen years ago) link
my wife doesn't like this album :( she said it's "embarrassing"
she also does not like steely dan
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 19:44 (thirteen years ago) link
im going to try it out again on saturday night when it gets packed.
― Cultivating a manly musk puts your opponents on notice (chrisv2010), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 19:47 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah it seems tailor-made for that
― ullr saves (gbx), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:59 (thirteen years ago) link
My wife gives this album a thumbs up--says it reminds her of Leonard Cohen.
Every time I listen different lyrics pop out, like "I haven't seen you ages/I still fly into rages at the mention of your name...Christine."
― President Keyes, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:52 (thirteen years ago) link
was listening to Sam Prekop last nite and think that maybe his use of "cheesy" horns and "jazzy" stuff on a successful idie rock record was kind of in this vein
― gr8080, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:58 (thirteen years ago) link
different flavor of cheese imo
― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:00 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah obviously. there was one track that was less funky/jazzy where the horns kind of got spacey that got me thinking tho.
― gr8080, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Uhm ya, my review: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/Destroyer+hits+creative+high/4161000/story.html
― rihanna rennavated my dick (rennavate), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:24 (thirteen years ago) link
― President Keyes, Wednesday, January 26, 2011 5:52 PM (41 minutes ago)
....whiiiiiiiiiiite"
yeah this has always been a favorite line of mine
― fruit of the goon (k3vin k.), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:34 (thirteen years ago) link
Isn't it "Christine White"? I think that's the name of an old Canadian newsperson or something, which is a funny fake name for whomever she was. How true that sentiment
― Iago Galdston, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:45 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i just finished the lyric
no idea who she is tho
― fruit of the goon (k3vin k.), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:52 (thirteen years ago) link
i hate to get all meta, but what other bands/acts generate this many posts before the record comes out, just curious. destroyer is like ilm catnip
― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:05 (thirteen years ago) link
actually it was me grady and a couple other dudes for several weeks until it was obvious this would be a big internet deal, then it got BNM, etc
― fruit of the goon (k3vin k.), Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:07 (thirteen years ago) link
hey i was out there pretty early too! ;)
― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:10 (thirteen years ago) link
nothing tops the rubies thread for sheer volume tho i bet
― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:11 (thirteen years ago) link
ya to be honest there's only been a few of us really in this thread, it's not like the My Big Fantasy thread.
― rihanna rennavated my dick (rennavate), Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:14 (thirteen years ago) link
i don't know that one, will check it out
― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Kanye, I mean.
― rihanna rennavated my dick (rennavate), Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:17 (thirteen years ago) link
haha
― fruit of the goon (k3vin k.), Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:35 (thirteen years ago) link
that killed my buzz for "My Big Fantasy" thread
― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:49 (thirteen years ago) link
can someone explain "MIDI record"
― wow...... hmmm.... crazy...... damn….. (diamonddave85), Thursday, 27 January 2011 02:15 (thirteen years ago) link
I just bought two tickets for the Webster Hall show. Better be better than the one I saw a few years ago!
― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 27 January 2011 02:23 (thirteen years ago) link
if this is in reference to Your Blues, that record's instrumentation consists solely of acoustic guitar and transparently fake-sounding instrument samples that sound like they're MIDI-sequenced
example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTo8fjGUgs4
― ciderpress, Thursday, 27 January 2011 02:33 (thirteen years ago) link
"It's not a war/til someone loses an eye"
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 27 January 2011 03:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, I kind of get where people are coming from with the whole MIDI thing, but realistically, most current music that has electronic elements also have MIDI sequencing. It's a pretty standard thing and doesn't necessarily have a particular sound associated with it.
― Moodles, Thursday, 27 January 2011 04:11 (thirteen years ago) link
Well, yes and no. When one says "It's his MIDI record" they're actually referring to a late 80s / early 90s set of sounds called General MIDI. It was not a sound in itself but rather a set of 127 instruments that would be represented across the board from bargain basement Panasonic digital pianos to the "top of the line" Kurzweil varieties. Consistently 001 would be "Piano", 020 was "Strings", 049 was "Harp", 090 was "Warm Pad", etc. (I am recalling those numbers from fifteen-year-old memory, they are possibly incorrect.)
The General MIDI sound, though not applicable to a single synth, usually describes a sound that could be described as a latter-day version of the Fairlight. You'll hear fake trumpets, fake strings, timpani, etc. It's the sound you hear on karaoke backing tracks, panflute buskers, mattress commercials.
― ARP 2600 vs. Atari 2600 (Ówen P.), Thursday, 27 January 2011 04:50 (thirteen years ago) link
yea i figured as much. though i'd probably call that his .MID albumwhen i think "MIDI album" i think yamaha DX7, tango in the night, early digital recording/production, kaputt
― wow...... hmmm.... crazy...... damn….. (diamonddave85), Thursday, 27 January 2011 05:19 (thirteen years ago) link
i need max on this thread
― gr8080, Sunday, January 9, 2011 6:23 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
omggggggggggggggggggggg this album why does no one tell me about these things
― max, Thursday, 27 January 2011 05:20 (thirteen years ago) link