What kind of music are you enjoying right now?

[Bilbin]

Really getting into this band lately.

[video=youtube_share;9PnOG67flRA]http://youtu.be/9PnOG67flRA[/video]

[wupi]

Right now i'm listening Belvedere. That reminds me i must change my avatar.
[video=youtube;BSJ_6a8O8OY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSJ_6a8O8OY&hd=1[/video]

[keyb_gr]

Here's a brand new track, only posted yesterday:

(The mentioned associations of Ray Of Light-era Madonna and Tears For Fears' Mad World certainly aren't too far off, and I'd also throw in the inevitable pinch of Sensual World-era Kate Bush. I can't for my life remember which other video had a sped-up hair cutting scene in it though, must have been something from the '90s if memory serves. Anyway, the low-light abilities of the camera used here plus shallow DOF suggest either a DSLR or a pro-level HD camera with a fast lens.)

Plus new albums from St. Vincent and Laura Marling on the horizon. *yay* I don't know about you, but there is plenty for me to be excited about this year (after a strong 2009 and reasonably good 2010). Naturally, I'm broke right now. ;-/

[Twitchy]

[video=youtube;eKtZf62BQzM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKtZf62BQzM[/video]

[video=youtube;VezKCkW1o-E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VezKCkW1o-E[/video]

[video=youtube;CK70uJVbJmY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK70uJVbJmY[/video]

[quadibloc]

Here's a very nice performance, again on a Yamaha Electone organ, but not by the young lady in the dragon costume:

And here's an amazing feat - a modern version of a classic TV theme (since the series was long-running, and recently revived) - done on a rather humble platform:

And here's the original (but the longer album version) of a TV theme from the '70s or maybe the '80s...

This one, I know, came from the 1970s, as the pilot episode was interrupted by the announcement of the Camp David peace accords: A fine version from the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

For this one, I'll just go with the original from the soundtrack:

Looking for a Swedish version of this song, I found 31 seconds of a German version. Here is a complete French version instead:

This is apparently from December of 1965, yet it sounds impressive even now...

And here's an artist whose career followed a unique trajectory:

Singing for adults...

and, years later, for teenagers:

[Twitchy]

All this time I had thought that Istanbul (Not Constantinople) was a They Might Be Giants song.

[quadibloc]

All this time I had thought that Istanbul (Not Constantinople) was a They Might Be Giants song.

Oh, well, there are advantages to not being old enough to remember

...actually, this song's initial release slightly (but only slightly) predates my time as well. It was so popular in its day that some really big celebrities covered it:

[keyb_gr]

They must have some pretty strange soil in Sweden - cool electro-pop acts are somehow growing on trees up there. Proof:

Like The Knife if they were big Prince fans or somesuch.

[Ghostpixel]

Right now im really enjoying the mellow sound of singer/songwriter and country

[video=youtube;WUJNwcRO_Ow]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUJNwcRO_Ow&feature=channel_video_title[/video]

[video=youtube;bQotKe73xf0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQotKe73xf0&feature=channel_video_title[/video]

[video=youtube;r6jlJ-8hS7s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6jlJ-8hS7s&feature=channel_video_title[/video]

[Twitchy]

[video=youtube;8mmGxtylQXU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mmGxtylQXU[/video]

[hashbaz]

P.SUS.  Super chill, jazzy, instrumental hip-hop.  Great background music to work to.

[video=youtube;IidlNbX3T-Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IidlNbX3T-Q[/video]

[EverythingIBM]

Damn, I can't stop listening to kraftwerk.

[quadibloc]

I see there are alternatives to the Clavia Nord:

and from a well-known company like Roland, at that. Since the instrument has drawbars, it's clearly not just one or two sampled voices.

However, the instrument has other capabilities as well, as illustrated in this performance accompanied by a live drummer:

This isn't our lady in the dragon costume, but it's still listenable:

and this isn't her either, but it's quite good:

Usually, performances by young children are quite atrocious, but this is an astonishing exception:

Here's another impressive performance, if not quite as astonishing:

Now, let's move on to a professional recording artist.

You haven't lived 'till you've heard this:

However, some of his other performances were less... unusual, and were quite successful:

and, of course,

[Findecanor]

Rymdreglage: A Swedish electronica duo known now mostly for animations in their videos and their music inspired by 8-bit video game music.
They may a ploy out of their silly appearance (fake beards, etc.). A lot of their stuff sounds much like '90s european demo scene music or techno. Much has lyrics in Swedish, but much is available in instrumental versions also.

[RC-1140]

Hi,

Ripster, the thing is, that I can't look at your video, because here in Germany the video is blocked. Details can be seen in this Wikipedia article in the last passage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesellschaft_für_musikalische_Aufführungs-_und_mechanische_Vervielfältigungsrechte

Anyway I'm listening to Parov Stelar at the moment, his music is somewhere between Electronic, NuJazz and Swing, he calls this genre "Electroswing"

[video=youtube;ROwH8ZEST1U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROwH8ZEST1U[/video]

But I really enjoy some Beethoven too!

[video=youtube;UYeW2wCsyxs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYeW2wCsyxs[/video]

greetz,

RC

[mr_a500]

Rymdreglage: A Swedish electronica duo known now mostly for animations in their videos and their music inspired by 8-bit video game music.

I've never understood why European 8-bit musicians always used those intensely annoying high-pitched wobbly sounds. You don't hear it from American or Canadian 8-bit musicians (yes, there were Canadian 8-bit musicians - see swinth below). It's not an 8-bit computer limitation, so why do it?

[RC-1140]

Edit: whoa, two new posts before me posting this! This refers to the post of ripster right behind mine and not on the one about Amy Winehouse!

Haha, I lolled about this one!

But here in Germany Parov Stelar became popular through a TV ad too. Catgroove was used with a dance video of the Youtube user "TakeSomeCrime" to advertise the internet page "mybestbrands.de".
Anyway:
[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 24236[/ATTACH]

But I really like this too:

[video=youtube;6TVE_-QFS9c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TVE_-QFS9c[/video]

It's an interpretation of the ancient Icelandic poem "Hrafnagaldr Óðins". It was created by the group "Sigur Ros" together with Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, who is the allsherjargoði of the Ásatrúarfélagið in Iceland (the chief goði, the leader of the Icelandic Ásatrú association). And with me being Ásatrú this somehow connects me to the gods. (I'm serious about this)

So don't mess with me if you don't want to get a lightning from Thor up your ass! ;-)

[IvanIvanovich]

Nice posts keybr_gr. I hadn't heard Marina had anything new yet, and had never heard of Niki & the Dove. I'll probably wait for more banging electro remixes of both of them though.
As for 8-bit, one of my personal favorites
[video=youtube;qdU49kMuXuE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdU49kMuXuE[/video]
With the lovely hook lifted from Savage's Only You.

And here is a nice Italo/Hi-NRG track from 86
[video=youtube;P2X2VGlcxAI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2X2VGlcxAI[/video]

[quadibloc]

I've never understood why European 8-bit musicians always used those intensely annoying high-pitched wobbly sounds. You don't hear it from American or Canadian 8-bit musicians (yes, there were Canadian 8-bit musicians - see swinth below). It's not an 8-bit computer limitation, so why do it?

In any case, I wonder why you didn't go straight to the good stuff:

or

[mr_a500]

In any case, I wonder why you didn't go straight to the good stuff:

Those are good, but my favourite has always been:

... but I didn't post it because the emulator used doesn't properly do the high pitched bits.

On my Amiga, I set up a high-resolution line-art demo with a SID player playing synth_sample.sid. (like an updated Swinth)

Edit: Apparently, this is the way it was originally supposed to sound - corrected by the original author to run properly in emulators:

[hashbaz]

Anyway I'm listening to Parov Stelar at the moment, his music is somewhere between Electronic, NuJazz and Swing, he calls this genre "Electroswing"

Really digging this, thanks for posting!

[sinis]

[video=youtube;_JjimMO2SdE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JjimMO2SdE[/video]
[video=youtube;9upTLWRZTfw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9upTLWRZTfw&feature=player_embedded[/video]
[video=youtube;iAczi8DsqBQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAczi8DsqBQ[/video]

[woody]

I've never understood why European 8-bit musicians always used those intensely annoying high-pitched wobbly sounds.

I've never understood why SID music is called 8-bit, for starters. Neither the mega-love for constant arpeggios.

Anyway, thanks for the YouTube video. Never knew Glen Bredon was into C64 programming.

[quadibloc]

I've never understood why SID music is called 8-bit, for starters.

The synthesizer chip is analogue, but the computer controlling it is a Commodore 64, based on the 8-bit 6502 microprocessor.

Anyways, I bumped into this

in a YouTube search related to a tweet about Balthor the Defiled... to which Mark Rosewater offered the presumably intended answer.

And then, of course, there's the original:

[woody]

The synthesizer chip is analogue, but the computer controlling it is a Commodore 64, based on the 8-bit 6502 microprocessor.

SID is digital - bunch of counters and simple logic, most probably the noise generator was LFSR. And C64 uses 6510, but since it's 6502 with some I/O bundled in, consider this very mild nitpicking.

The point is, "8-bit music" as used colossaly on the intertoobs couldn't be much more misleading.

[Hanjin]

[video=youtube;TUwRGPxCG_Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUwRGPxCG_Y[/video]

[quadibloc]

It isn't the same, of course, but that reminded me a little of an old melody:

[hashbaz]

SID is digital - bunch of counters and simple logic, most probably the noise generator was LFSR. And C64 uses 6510, but since it's 6502 with some I/O bundled in, consider this very mild nitpicking.

The point is, "8-bit music" as used colossaly on the intertoobs couldn't be much more misleading.

Why is it misleading?  I'd wager most people expect exactly what they get: chirpy synthesized music that sounds reminiscent of old NES games.

[Bilbin]

Digging the melancholic feel, no pinging here though.

[video=youtube;iZGENhajFLQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZGENhajFLQ[/video]

Also tyDi's Shooting Stars album goes off, trance/dubstep.

[vils]

[video=youtube;6TVE_-QFS9c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TVE_-QFS9c[/video]

Tungur knivfur! I liked this a lot.

[RiGS]

[video=youtube;aYFKuU4EbbY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYFKuU4EbbY&feature=player_embedded[/video]

This is so sick and fun at the same time.

[Twitchy]

An ode to one of life's little pleasures.

[video=youtube;lfMmPpNhOVM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfMmPpNhOVM[/video]

[keyb_gr]

^ That reminds me of something...

One of those "Ain't that the truth?" type songs...

Some cool stuff posted here lately. Easy listening with electric sitar, 8-bit tunes, what's not to like?

Recently I found out that UK-based folkie / singer-songwriter Emmy the Great has a new album out, too. Here's a song that evokes a bit of Suzanne Vega, which isn't a bad thing.

Other than that I found some tracks posted from Danielle Dax' elusive 1983 album Pop-Eyes (pretty much only to be obtained via certain shady sources on the intertubes these days), which is a fairly nice experimental post-punk affair if you're into that sort of thing. Here's one of my favourites:

Reminds me of M.I.A.'s "Bucky Done Gun" in a way.

If you like experimental artists with highly varied (and usually listenable) output such as Ms. Dax, check out this young lady from Canada:

...who, incidentally, is reported to have no formal training in music whatsoever (but seems to be doing fine anyway). She opened for Swedish indie-pop singer Lykke Li at some point.

While we're in Canada, here's one of this year's definite hits for me:

(non-smoking break goes here)

I was wondering whether there are any other frontwomen remotely as cool as Blondie's Debbie Harry...

...but didn't find all that many. Maybe the Kills' Alison Mosshart? On the male side, the Cars' Ric Ocasek comes to mind. Looks like coolness is the domain of rock / new-wave and firmly in the hands of US folks.

(fetch another coffee if necessary)

Recently I was shaking my head at some guy's 400+ Youtube favs... now I'm past the 350 mark myself... -_-
Guess this is my theme song:

(BTW, this kind of late-'70s to mid-'80s RnB/disco/funk is just about the best dance music there is, IMO. Check out the related vids.)

Or what about some fine Nigerian disco?

Now once you're done dancing, what about a lighter soulful tune?

And now for some beautiful vocal harmonies out of the late '60s:

From one of those albums that never went anywhere much back in the day due to nothing but bad luck. Reissued a few years ago.

The most well-known song from a lady who has produced loads of beautiful ballads and pretty much nothing else. I guess that was a bit much for most people to stomach....

[quadibloc]

I don't know if this is anyone's cup of tea here, but thanks to one of the videos in the previous post, I happened to click on a related one through which I discovered...

a record featuring the singing of two children that, for some reason, is an extremely rare and valuable collectors' item.

Now then: Nichelle Nichols (Lieutenant Uhura from Star Trek) sang with Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington before becoming an actress. There are records of her singing after she became known through Star Trek. But was her voice ever captured on vinyl or shellac before then?

I figure such records would be collectors' items now if they exit - and they should exist, since most of Lionel Hampton's career and Duke Ellington's career involved them being active recording artists... unless she only sang for them on the road and not in the studio. Any insane record collectors here that know about this? Web searches that I tried before turned up zilch...

Another item I discovered by looking it up out of curiosity after hearing it mentioned elsewhere (possibly NSFW material at this link),

turns out to have been more musical than I would have expected...

[Hydroid]

Had this tune stuck in my head so I decided to put the soundtrack on and feed it.

[video=youtube;s17XDrKuqc4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s17XDrKuqc4[/video]

[hashbaz]

Fat, lumpy beats by "Feed Me":

[video=youtube;Th4XpoWJLvE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th4XpoWJLvE[/video]

Be sure to watch in 1080p, it improves the audio quality immensely.

[Bilbin]

But have you done CosbyDubStep yet?

My oh my, why haven't I heard of it before? Never was a fan of Cosby though, might be my age.

This isn't what I'm listening to, but it's some pretty terrible hip hop that my mate linked me, it's from Australia, 'lad' or 'chav' as you'd know them by I'm guessing.
[video=youtube;_QfsRd0h4Ts]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QfsRd0h4Ts[/video]


On a more serious note, it's extremely hard for me to find any dubstep worth listening to since most of it is absolute garbage.
[video=youtube;GPl9K_cPAPE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPl9K_cPAPE[/video]

[keyboardlover]

Cosby Fan eh? Ever heard of "The House of Cosbys"?

[video=youtube;R6Bao4kbCDE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Bao4kbCDE[/video]

[Arcanius]

[video=youtube;uNfsxeyBMGo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNfsxeyBMGo[/video]

I rather enjoy my FLAC recording of Bernstein Conducting the Concertgebouworchestre, but Dudamel is a great conductor too!
This is real music.

[/HR][video=youtube;rECVyN5D60I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rECVyN5D60I[/video] ALSO THIS.

[Twitchy]

"The border between music and noise is always culturally defined—which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus." from Music and Discourse by Jean Jacques Nattiez

[video=youtube;5-g_s1YtaHM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-g_s1YtaHM[/video]

[video=youtube;AxttAghqrv8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxttAghqrv8[/video]

[video=youtube;ZorRGrDiMsA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZorRGrDiMsA[/video]

[keyboardlover]

[video=youtube;32udqal_lyQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32udqal_lyQ[/video]

[IvanIvanovich]

[video=youtube;9M3ZDK0LGWU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M3ZDK0LGWU[/video]

Love Crystal Castles. That Danielle Dax track was quite good definitely has that baile funk vibe.

[quadibloc]

Here's something completely different:

[itlnstln]

I'm listening to Bobby McFerrin's Paper Music.  I love his rendition of Pavane Op. 50.

[strike]Pavane[/strike] Paparazzi well before Lady Gaga:

Now that I listen to this, the sample might  just be McFerrin's rendition.

[Hydroid]

[video=youtube;9M3ZDK0LGWU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M3ZDK0LGWU[/video]

Love Crystal Castles. That Danielle Dax track was quite good definitely has that baile funk vibe.

Goodness me, they definitely are a lot stricter in Korea when it comes to the music videos than they are in Japan, that's borderline pornography and they ban MVs in Korea that have 0.5 second kissing scenes...o.O

[NewbieOneKenobi]

The delicate humming of my computer under my desk. Most people probably couldn't hear it. I've found, over years, I like it more than the music.

[quadibloc]

I happened to come across a discussion where some people mentioned they liked this artist's early music, although they didn't care for her more recent works... and so I dug around to find some.

Of course, I just don't keep up with the times, and so this is more my speed...

[silat]

[video=youtube;D3iFYtUZgv8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3iFYtUZgv8&list=PL873BE657F2D42BC4&index=156&feature=plpp[/video]

[video=youtube;-ZpVDKZK_Og]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZpVDKZK_Og&feature=autoplay&list=PL873BE657F2D42BC4&lf=plpp&playnext=1[/video]

and finally "GO HITCHENS".
[video=youtube;9V85OykSDT8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V85OykSDT8[/video]

[watduzhkstand4]

hmmm
[video=youtube_share;YWt4wmZ_EMI]http://youtu.be/YWt4wmZ_EMI[/video]
[video=youtube;Rmp6zIr5y4U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmp6zIr5y4U[/video]
[video=youtube;y8Gf4-eT3w0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Gf4-eT3w0&ob=av3e[/video]

[Hydroid]

Of course, I just don't keep up with the times, and so this is more my speed...

I always love listening to music like that for some reason. I think it all came about from Fallout 3. Probably my favourite game of all time and the hundreds of hours I clocked on it with the radio going must have grown on me. Now I always think of the game when I hear anything like that though.