Ironman is still my favorite.

Number two, here, boss.

Thanks for reminding me...I haven't gone today...

I really enjoy some Chevelle and 3 Days Grace.

i love me some Queen

Supreme Clientele is my favorite, and it really isn't all that close. It's in my holy trinity of rap albums, with Madvillian- Madvilliany and Jay-Z- Reasonable Doubt. My preferences here might be partly nostalgia, though, since these were the first three hip-hop albums that convinced me of the relative worth of rap in general.

Anyway, if I had to rate my favorite Ghostface discs, one through four, it'd be Supreme Clientele, Ironman, Fishscale, and then Pretty Toney Album. Fishscale is #3, but it's a pretty strong #3, like "ZOSO" is my fourth favorite Zeppelin album, but I still like it 100 times as most anything else.

In any case, I still think Fishscale is a pretty ****ing tight collection. I don't know if there's a noticeably better threesome of songs than R.A.G.U., Shakey Dog, and The Champ. Shakey Dog MIGHT be my favorite Ghostface song ever.


I think I'm gonna put on Supreme Clientele right now, and then Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.

Wang

More importantly, Wilco has a new disc out. When it comes to my favorite bands, I refuse to read reviews until I've decided what I think about the album, in order to avoid some tainting that ruins the experience. After that, I first predict what various online music-mags will say, and then use said reviews to pick up on the little things I may have missed.

Wang

Sweet, what's it called? I'm all over it...

I HATE Jay-Z It's prolly 'cause I'm an over-the-top Nas fan. And maybe some older stuff I haven't heard is good, but every time a video comes on, I go into that old school sarcastic mode no one does any more, where I'm all, "Oh, man, Jigga, his lyrics are so tight..." I guess it's not a good idea to say you're better than Nas if you don't want to be held to it, because I will never be able to take him seriously.

My top 5 (in no real order) have to be Nas - Ilmatic (It Was Written only barely doesn't make this list); Enter The Wu-Tang (I toyed with leaving them off, and going with Cannibal Ox, but another listen wisened me up); Supreme Clientele; Handsome Boy Modeling School - So...How's Your Girl; Black Star (got a problem with this last pick? Keep it under your hat; I have a gun).

Man I feel dirty leaving out so many good ones. I'l never make a list again. For the following reasons:

1)...

New Wilco disc is called "Sky Blue Sky." I listened to it once real quick today, and I'm about to listen again. I'll post my thoughts once I do a little absorption/digestion stuff.

Wang

I'm bogged down, so I'll wait for your word.

Yorke;

I'm still not even sure what to say about Antony and the Johnsons. I really didn't like it for like three minutes, but I think I really do, now. Not something I'll be in the mood for too often, but it's kind of fascinating. What really caught me was Lou Reed on Fistful of Love (I dig Lou a lot). I love that cut.

Is that dude Italian, Dutch or English or just an American with a weird diction or what? Very cool.

Also, I once noted that MF Doom was "God-like." I think Wang corrected me, since, as he'd noticed, Doom was in fact God. I'd like to reiterate that. Doom is God. If listing favorite MCs, I think it goes Nas, Keith, Doom, Del, Ghost. I feel like I'm leaving out someone huge...

I used to love love love wilco in college, but I've kinda stopped listening to them.. the last thing I got of theres was either summer teeth, or the second billy bragg/guthrie collabo. I'd love to hear review of what they've done recently.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was their greatest album, and one of the best albums recorded in the last 20 years.


Wang

A Ghost Is Born is no slouch of an album either. I went to buy the new one last night, but alas the record store closed at 9 instead of 10, and I have to wait now.

Speaking of MF Doom, as mentioned above, I just finished listening to some DangerDoom.

Professor do you wear Reeboks in Heaven?
Professor do you wear Reeboks in Heaven?
Professor do you wear Reeboks in Heaven?
Professor do you wear Reeboks in Heaven?
Professor do you wear Reeboks in Heaven?

yeah.

Radiohead question: I like Amnesiac more than Kid A. Doesn't that mean I'm gay?

On the subject, Hail to the Thief is also amazing. No one ever even mentioned it to me, which I now find shocking. Wolf at the Door is haunting.

(In case you hadn't figured it out, I just launched reinvestigation into my early Radiohead study, and I almost can't believe how great these last two albums really are. Beyond all hype, Radiohead is f-in' spectacular.)

there are individual songs on amnesiac that i think are some of their best ever (pyramid song would probably be my #2 radiohead song behind let down) but amnesiac as a piece of work is pretty disjointed and feels like a B-sides collection, whereas Kid A is a mighty, mighty fucking concept record.


we told you.

i can all but guarantee you that eventually you will like Kid A more, and thus become ungay.

That is how I've always felt about Amnesiac, and I'd venture to guess a lot of people feel the same way. Kid A is my favorite Radiohead record. I'd say Amnesiac is my 2nd least favorite, ahead of Pablo Honey. This isn't counting any of the import EPs or the live record, of course.

Yo. Occasionally I check in on this thread and steal some of your music suggestions without thanking or giving credit to whoever suggests them. So, thanks and good call. But given the recent Radiohead discussion and the fact that last week, for some reason, I decided to listen to all the stuff I have by them...I decided to drop in on the convo.

For me, I really didn't like Amnesiac at first. Of course, I didn't like Kid A at first either. But Kid A grew on me quickly. After listening to it once and then putting it aside for a while, I went back to Amnesiac and started liking it more and more. Now, I love it. I hate trying to rank their albums because it really depends on mood for me - I could argue for why I think Amnesiac is better than Kid A one day, and vice versa the next. I think they're both outstanding albums and am just happy that both exist.

So, that didn't really add anything of substance to the discussion, but I tend to re-discover Radiohead every once in a while and remember how awesome they are and I felt like talking about them for a minute.

In honor of Epic reissuing the core 6 albums of his catalog, I've been listening to Sly Stone a lot the past few days. What a ridiculous talent. Dude got super tripped out eventually, but those first albums are unreal. He bought the mansion owned by John and Michelle Phillips' (of mamas and papas fame) that was rumored to have blood-splattered walls from all the needles that John was using at the time. The fact that Sly was into this idea shows you how messed up he was at the time, too. Sly moved in, built a studio and recorded There's a Riot Goin On mostly by himself, allegedly falling asleep at the console most nights. It's always been my favorite of his. So drugged out and trippy, but even beneath all the drugs he could still build a groove that was disgustingly tight. Fascinating guy. Pretty amazing that he lived through the 70s at all.

Alot of people thought that A Ghost is Born was a let down after YHF, but I thought it was awesome, too.



Yeah, I think whenever I tell people about Radiohead, I inentionally leave out "Amnesiac" and "HTTT." I really believe it's exciting to REALIZE FOR YOURSELF (channeling Mr. Zimmerlin) how awesome the band is, and having it explained to you takes at least a little of the mystery out. I usually tell people to start with The Bends, move on to OK Computer, and then to Kid A. After that, it's kinda fun to feel how alot of Radiohead fans felt, waiting with extreme anticipation for what comes next.

For the record, I liked Amnesiac more than Kid A for awhile- mostly because it's just a little more accessible, and some of the stand-alone tracks are incredibly good (Pyramid song, I Might Be Wrong, etc.)- but MK makes the best point: it feels like a record cobbled together from Kid A discards, because it mostly is. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it. Anyway, KidA pretty much only gets better even after 100 listens, and if you like smoking dope it is pretty much just the best thing ever.

I like Hail to the Thief more than Amnesiac- and as it ages, I think I like it as much as The Bends- but still less than the Big 2. Even so, I heard most of the tracks played live before the album came out, and was in love with a few of them before I bought the CD. It's unquestionably a Great (capital G) disc, and it's amazing that such an immensely popular and critically acclaimed band has managed to put together a five-album string without making a single NON-INCREDIBLE album, let alone without laying an egg. Which makes me nervous for the new one.

God I love Radiohead.


Wang


EDIT- The other amazing thing I forgot to mention: Radiohead's B-sides would absolutely LEVEL almost any other band's total catalogue. There are a million of them, and most of them are amazing. I don't know if all the new-ish Radiohead fans here have ever sat down and listened to all of them (or True Love Waits, the live CD for that matter), but it's the coolest thing ever when you get around to it.

Incubus - Battlestar Scralachtica

qft. i have 4 or 5 burned CDs of B-sides spanning 1993 - present. i've been meaning to get my own server so i can just post links to mp3s for this kind of stuff.

specifically to ddutch: download the airbag/how am i driving ep if you haven't already. "meeting in the aisle" and "polyethylene" are two of their best. meeting in the aisle is super great because it's basically the only song that reveals the direction thom wanted to go; it bridges the gap between ok computer and kid a.
-----

mk's 2 song download recommendations for the day:

1. Sly & the Family Stone - "Thank You for Talkin' to Me Africa" from There's a Riot Goin' On (1971)
Sly takes the hit that was released on 1970's Greatest Hits compilation, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", and stretches it out to 7 minutes of the nastiest groove maybe in his entire catalog. This song sounds like the beginnings of modern HipHop to my ears. If the beat were any slower than this it would probably stop.

2. Sly & the Family Stone - "In Time" from Fresh (1973)
Sly brought in and subsequently kicked out a bunch of musicians to make this album because no one was 'getting it'. On album opener "In Time", an early drum machine brings in the beat and it feels as straight as anything Sly ever recorded. Then at 0:40 when the verse kicks in, the time just falls out, and the groove gets slinky as hell. It's a total jaw-dropper. You can tell that Sly and Miles were pretty much in the same place at this time musically. This album owes a lot to Miles' On the Corner. Again, the focus of this album is remarkable considering Sly's state of addiction. He's one of many musicians (or artists, for that matter) who you have to wonder if the drugs really hurt or helped.

This whole statement is right on.

I love me some old school Three Dog Night too.

This song trips me out every time I hear it; it took me about 2.5 minutes the first time I heard it to realize that it was basically another take on "...Falettinme..." Pretty amazing.

Since I've been thinking about Radiohead all day, I had another thought. (I think that makes two thoughts, as well as two variations of "think" in the same sentence. After this parenthetical, we're up to a total of four. On a roll. I suck.)

There were a few songs from "HTTT" that I wasn't very fond of, and could pretty much take or leave. The one that bugged me the most was "The Gloaming." It just seemed like it could have been a really great song, but they did something weird with it that I didn't like. Until I saw them play it live. It was one of the best songs of the entire set. Radiohead have a good history of taking songs and playing them completely differently live when compared to album versions (see: Like Spinning Plates... not even the same song), almost always with great results. The version of "The Gloaming" they played iN Cleveland- I think it's the standard live rendition of the song- was freakin' awesome.

So, if you get a chance, download some Radiohead concerts, or live cuts. They played a concert at Nimes that has a great version of The Gloaming, if anyone's interested.

Anyway, so that's that.


Today:

Interpol, Strokes, Wrens, Wilco, Spoon, Futureheads, Modest Mouse, and Boards of Canada. I'll probably have my earbuds in all day.


Wang

On the topic of live Radiohead... Idioteque live is one of the best performance of any song by any band I've ever seen.

For me today: The Decemberists. I just put all their stuff on shuffle on the iPod.

I know I've been gushing about Radiohead for the last eleventy-billion posts now, but no shit, right? One of the EVEN MORE amazing things about Radiohead is the utter domination they bring to their live performances. They find new and interesting ways to duplicate the Pro-Tools/Johnny Greenwood studio sounds, and never cease to blow me away. Their depth and breadth of talent and ingenuity is what keeps them so interesting. For me, anyway. Idioteque is a brilliant example of this. Johnny Greenwood is doing all sorts of crazy stuff with wires and plugs, and I can never figure out what's going on, but that's okay.


Wang

In all, I think I have 33 different Radiohead albums, EPs, singels, live records and bootlegs, and b-sides. I think I have everything. That number sound way off to anyone.

Also, I'm going to see the Arctic Monkeys tommorrow (along with Be Your Own Pet). I've resigned myself to the fact that I will like pretty much any band with guitars and an English accent.

I'm getting beyond annoyed with people in the office, so I've switched to my guaranteed feel-good album. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips.

Fight Test always makes me happier.

Oh man, I forgot about TFL. Soft Bulletin is redonkules. I was less a fan of Robots, but it's still good. Also, Fight Test is the theme song from one of the great canceled show of all-time, 3-South.

yeah, Soft Bulletin is the album that got me into The Flaming Lips, and will probably remain my favorite, but Robots is my go to feel good album currently. That, or Jon Brion's Meaningless.

I was laying on my bed with my laptop scrolling through my library trying to find something to listen to, and for whatever reason I was drawn to Person Pitch by Panda Bear. I sat there and listened to the entire album and realized that this is (so far) absolutely my favorite album of the year, and easily one of my favorite albums of the past few years.

that's better (yes I'm like a week too late)



on a different spectrum, should I get Rush's latest effort, Snakes & Arrows?

If you like Rush you won't be disappointed.

Me, too. I like Animal Collective, but I'm not like a mega-fan or anything. So I expected to enjoy this album, but not be bowled over by it or anything. From first listen, I was floored. Probably my favorite album from the past 2 years. I can't think of anything from last year that even comes close.


Wang

I own two cds...the Garden State soundtrack and Santana's Live at Filmore East.

Can I join this thread?

Yes, but you have to review at least 3 Hardcore Jew CDs first. I don't even care what they are, but they'd better be in Hebrew.

You mean like Matisyahu?

He only counts as one, and your review cannot be a grainy picture of a massive dump

Can I count each Beastie Boy separately?

Might I recommend Rise Up! by The Klezmatics?

I don't listen to music that has an exclamation mark in the album or song title.

Yeah, TARGO in my favorite, too. I haven't listened to that stuff since like 9th grade. Maybe I'll break out my Fender Rhodes...

Does that extend to "Clap Your Hands!"?

You know it.

I'm so frickin' T.O.ed; I was going to see Be Your Own Pet and Arctic Monkeys tonight, bet there was a ticket SNAFU.

I forgot that I have a third cd...it it actually is a snafu album.