Best Ever Albums

Re: In the Future When All's Well

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 19:23:33 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/10/2012 23:23

AgainstMeAgainstYou wrote:

I'm writing an album I intend to become massive from. It's not revolutionary and it won't create a genre, but it's got such a mix and something for everybody on it. Basically, there are at least 50 different artists who influenced this album, and what I hope to accomplish is say, catch a Nirvana fan, or a Green Day fan, with the first song, and as the album goes on possibly get them interested in some of the other genres that are featured on it. Similarly, I could catch a Dream Theater fan with one of the three suites on the album, and possibly get them interested in the other songs.

Everything from pop rock, to ballads, to jazz/fusion, to grunge, to punk rock, to progressive rock and progressive metal can be found on this. It's a weird mix, and I really don't want to give much more away about it, but if I manage to create it and finish it in the way I've envisioned it - so far the first track is finished as far as writing it goes, I just need to record it - I seriously think it will change things.

As I said, musically, it's not revolutionary, but we could see a revival of the narrative concept album - I really don't think there's been an outright fantastic one since The Downward Spiral - and also see songs that are longer than 10 minutes, even 20, along with double albums, being better-recieved by the general masses than they have.

However, that's ambitious. I'm an ambitious but realistic person, and while I aim for a goal that high, I know fully well how it could blow up in my face. My ambitions aside, I do think the 2010's will have the proverbial "year zero". Something's gotta happen, whether I do it or someone else does, soon.

Look, I have familiarity with what you are saying and I have had hopes of creating a great album for many years. I used to think the answer was to combine every genre under the sun and that way everyone would like it. When I say "everything" I really do mean I was trying to cram in as many genres as possible no matter how thin the connection.

But then I thought one day... hasn't pretty much every new band who has come on the scene tried that? Has pretty much every Middle of the road, Toploader and new NME hotshot thought they were being original doing that? What about being rigid and setting up boundaries? Through some strange logic you could end up more outside the box than people who say they are completely free from it. Have you ever heard of the idea that greatest way to keep a prisoner is not by making the thickest concrete wall possible but instead by making them think they are completely "free"? So by thinking you are in a huge field of many artists, what if you end up limiting yourself as much as others than came before you?

I have decided never to be 100% sure I am outside the box because chances are I will be back in it again. My idea is to limit myself, fence myself in a certain area, create a catchy name for it like "punk" (to sell trousers haha!) and then stay inside for a while... just a while. That way while limiting myself I can say "I put these boundaries here, they were my own" and while I won't be completely free, I might be much more free than others who think they are completely free.

Don't take it all too seriously though, I could be wrong about everything 🤣

Re: In the Future When All's Well

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 19:01:04 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/10/2012 23:01

Jhereko wrote:

I think the biggest musical shift over the last ten years has been an almost complete homogenization of genres across the board. You yourself say "Labels like "Rock", "indie" "punk" etc should be locked in the past" and I think to a degree they have been. It's almost impossible to use a single genre label on an album anymore. Anyone who is still in a genre 'camp' as such is way behind the times. And you see this particualrly with Classic Rockers and Metalheads who want to hold up their form as some kind of truth in music 🤡 .

Some may not think it's a good thing but I can generally only see it being a good thing. Complete artistic freedom. And that's a big enough shift for me to be satisfied at least.

It's logical conclusion is often of course...Crunkcore.... 😨 but uh every massive shift has its problems.

When I was in my first years of school I used to have painting... lessons. Well it wasn't a lesson as such but instead every child had a plastic thing which held many little cups of paint. The teacher would give us a bunch of colours in each cup and then we has a big paper which we would paint on. I remember one time we were told to paint things we liked to do at home. I wasn't really sure what to paint and I didn't feel like doing the Lego, pogs or these things that were like K'nex but instead had hundreds of little cylinder bumps that you connect together to build things. They had this thin yellow pieces which look like french fries and you had these smiley heads you could connect to them and... seriously what were they called, Google is giving no answers! Anyway, I didn't know what to paint. So I choose one of the many toys that I didn't play with to paint. It was this big plastic drum that I got who knows when. You didn't actually play the drum with it but there was all these buttons at the top that made sounds to amuse a kid. So anyway I made a picture of me playing the drum and some other toys were scattered around as well. It wasn't a very good painting but hey... they gave a kid a bunch of poster paint and they had been alternating between which colours to use. What were they expecting, y'know? So anyway, at the end the teacher got her assistant to write down what we had been doing at the bottom of the painting. I don't think they trusted the kids hand writing. So the teachers assistant saw each of us in turn. When they came to me and asked what I was doing in the painting I said "I was playing with my drum". They didn't hear what I said so I said it again. They still didn't hear me and I thought that I wasn't speaking quiet. I tried explaining many times, thinking that I was speaking louder each time but she still was looking at me with a blank look. Something happened, a few words exchanged with the teacher and they got my brother in the class (who was in the year above) to ask what I was saying! They thought I was too shy or something to speak to anyone but him. I said to him that I was playing with the drum but he just gave a blank stare and he didn't understand what I was on about either! I don't know much of what happened after that but in the end the teachers assistant wrote on my painting "Michael is drawing". I mean... I didn't say that at all! 😲 And for some reason I didn't complain when it had been put there. Perhaps I wasn't speaking up? But I swear I was. This is one of the only memories I have of 'Reception' at school. What if it wasn't a memory at all but instead a a dream mistaken for a memory? That could be the case... if it wasn't for the painting stuck up on my bedroom wall for the next 2-3 years with the gross inaccuracy beaming down at me! 😠

Anyway, when I was using the paint sometimes I would stick as many different colours as I can in one pot to try and make a super colour and to experiment what would happen. I would always end up with this brownish grey colour. One which looked as dull as cement. If as you say "Rock", "indie" "punk" etc are becoming homogenized into something and nothing can really be called only one of them any more, could it just end up making something equally as boring? Could this "artistic freedom" turn out to be a trap that keeps things from moving forward as some might think "Everything has been tried before"? I would like to see a new camp altogether, not something made from a stew of everything else.

Re: In the Future When All's Well

videoheadcleaner — Mon, 6 Aug 2012 03:44:20 GMT

Author: videoheadcleaner

Posted: 08/06/2012 07:44

Dubstep or future garage like Burial and Clubroot are taking ideas from ambient music of the past but making it fit into a contemporary atmosphere. Dubstep (or Brostep) as developed by Skrillex and other North American artists is hitting a younger market but I don't see it taking off.

To go back to the initial idea of this thread, I don't see people cutting off from the basic genres of music like punk, rock or pop. It will be post-pop or future rock, just to make it easier for the consumer. Unless genres like field recordings or wonky start to dominate, we won't deviate from these foundations of genre making.

In regards to albums making an impact, A Rush Of Blood To The Head is the first one that comes to mind from recent history. Although not groundbreaking or hugely innovative, Coldplay tapped into a niche that the consumer wanted; piano rock with an 'everyman'-looking frontman that both genders could love. On the other hand, innovative and genre-changing albums have been sighted but not mainly by the pop consumer. Albums like Merriweather Post Pavilion or Ys would not be known by your average listener. For some, these albums changed how they looked at music (eg. when I discovered Absolution and found more to music than generic pop/rock).

I don't exactly know what I am ranting about but I just think we put pressure on new artists to be the next big thing (in Aus I think we do).

Who knows? Maybe Macintosh Plus might become groundbreaking one day?

Re: In the Future When All's Well

Xavygravy — Mon, 6 Aug 2012 03:02:36 GMT

Author: Xavygravy

Posted: 08/06/2012 07:02

Like Hayden said, I think this massive change in music is electronic/dance music such as dubstep and techno. It's really taking over within mainstream pop music, as well as serious albums. I really don't know enough about this, but I think Kid A contributed a lot to the shift from rock 'n' roll towards electronic music or music with significant electronic elements.

In the distant future, I really can see music just being a bundle of scientifically-perfected sound waves that give the most pleasurable response within our brains - something like in Brave New World. If music is for our enjoyment, then will all the music of the past become nothing but superseded historical artifacts?

Re: In the Future When All's Well

Anonymous — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 21:47:27 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/06/2012 01:47

Hayden wrote:

Eek gawd. 🤡 Come on, really? Funeral, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Ys, Sound Of Silver, Hospice & I Am A Bird Now are all groundbreaking albums.

One of them is.

Re: In the Future When All's Well

AgainstMeAgainstYou — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 21:32:17 GMT

Author: AgainstMeAgainstYou

Posted: 08/06/2012 01:32

I'm writing an album I intend to become massive from. It's not revolutionary and it won't create a genre, but it's got such a mix and something for everybody on it. Basically, there are at least 50 different artists who influenced this album, and what I hope to accomplish is say, catch a Nirvana fan, or a Green Day fan, with the first song, and as the album goes on possibly get them interested in some of the other genres that are featured on it. Similarly, I could catch a Dream Theater fan with one of the three suites on the album, and possibly get them interested in the other songs.

Everything from pop rock, to ballads, to jazz/fusion, to grunge, to punk rock, to progressive rock and progressive metal can be found on this. It's a weird mix, and I really don't want to give much more away about it, but if I manage to create it and finish it in the way I've envisioned it - so far the first track is finished as far as writing it goes, I just need to record it - I seriously think it will change things.

As I said, musically, it's not revolutionary, but we could see a revival of the narrative concept album - I really don't think there's been an outright fantastic one since The Downward Spiral - and also see songs that are longer than 10 minutes, even 20, along with double albums, being better-recieved by the general masses than they have.

However, that's ambitious. I'm an ambitious but realistic person, and while I aim for a goal that high, I know fully well how it could blow up in my face. My ambitions aside, I do think the 2010's will have the proverbial "year zero". Something's gotta happen, whether I do it or someone else does, soon.

Re: In the Future When All's Well

Anonymous — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 21:31:50 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/06/2012 01:31

Hayden wrote:

Eek gawd. 🤡 Come on, really? Funeral, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Ys, Sound Of Silver, Hospice & I Am A Bird Now are all groundbreaking albums.

Hardly for any of those. On a musical level its mostly familiar structures being kinda creatively used. I like most of those albums though.

Perhaps the idea of the big out of nowhere change in musical direction is a bit of a myth? Like the punk explosion was preceded by all sorts of in hindsight "punky" stuff. And the grunge/alternative thing was just the spreading of a lot of 80's ideas into the mass public mind. If you do enough research generally music appears to evolve more slowly, with occasional moments when something is picked up commercially and treated as if it was new. Early rock and roll and late 60's stuff might be an exception.

We shouldn't worry about some big new movement. If it happens soon it happens soon if it doesn't it doesn't, there will always be some good new music. Or maybe something is brewing under our noses but were all too stupid to see it.

Re: In the Future When All's Well

HigherThanTheSun — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 21:26:57 GMT

Author: HigherThanTheSun

Posted: 08/06/2012 01:26

Hayden wrote:

Eek gawd. 🤡 Come on, really? Funeral, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Ys, Sound Of Silver, Hospice & I Am A Bird Now are all groundbreaking albums.

And I think 'dubstep' is that 'thing that came out of no where' unfortunately. 😐 But yeah, something new would be cool. 😄 Post-Psychedelic or sumthin like that.

Not sure I agree, don't even particularly like half of those albums. The rest are good, great even, but hardly like they're starting a new genre or anything. I'm talking about a new artist coming along like something you've never heard before (but that I actually love), I don't know like Joy Division, or Stone Roses, or Nirvana or Massive Attack or something like that. At the end of the day Funeral is just a very good indie album and ABDTF just a very good rap record, original yes but I wouldn't really call them groundbreaking.

Trouble is I don't have a clue what I'm looking for, I'm not a musician so I'm not going to the one making it, just praying that someone else can.

And yeah I think we can all do without dubstep in our lives.

Re: In the Future When All's Well

Hayden — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 20:56:25 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 08/06/2012 00:56

HigherThanTheSun wrote:

I think there's been great albums released in the past ten or so years but nothing I would call truly groundbreaking. Naming my favourite ever artists there wouldn't be any who's debut was released in the last decade.

To have something brand new come along in a similar way to how hip hop came from absolutely nowhere, would be great.

Re: In the Future When All's Well

Anonymous — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 20:48:00 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/06/2012 00:48

I think the biggest musical shift over the last ten years has been an almost complete homogenization of genres across the board. You yourself say "Labels like "Rock", "indie" "punk" etc should be locked in the past" and I think to a degree they have been. It's almost impossible to use a single genre label on an album anymore. Anyone who is still in a genre 'camp' as such is way behind the times. And you see this particualrly with Classic Rockers and Metalheads who want to hold up their form as some kind of truth in music 🤡 .

Some may not think it's a good thing but I can generally only see it being a good thing. Complete artistic freedom. And that's a big enough shift for me to be satisfied at least.

It's logical conclusion is often of course...Crunkcore.... 😨 but uh every massive shift has its problems.

Re: In the Future When All's Well

HigherThanTheSun — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 18:14:37 GMT

Author: HigherThanTheSun

Posted: 08/05/2012 22:14

I think there's been great albums released in the past ten or so years but nothing I would call truly groundbreaking. Naming my favourite ever artists there wouldn't be any who's debut was released in the last decade.

To have something brand new come along in a similar way to how hip hop came from absolutely nowhere, would be great.

Re: In the Future When All's Well

junodog4 — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 17:43:31 GMT

Author: junodog4

Posted: 08/05/2012 21:43

I think you're right, but be patient... major shifts in culture require time. Less so today with our globalized, technological world, but that makes us even more impatient.

Re: In the Future When All's Well

Anonymous — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 17:22:21 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/05/2012 21:22

Does no one want to talk with me? 🙁

In the Future When All's Well

Anonymous — Fri, 3 Aug 2012 17:38:36 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/03/2012 21:38

I tried making a thread about the topic here before but it never came out right. I couldn't get all my points in order and it didn't make sense. For that reason everything here will be short.

I want a new chapter in music. I want a new scene that is exciting. All this emphasis on bedroom artists in this decade and the one after is boring me. Artists should be aiming to be the best in the world. Labels like "Rock", "indie" "punk" etc should be locked in the past and things should move forward. Forget the "spirit of rock n roll" I want to have the spirit of something else. Something that hasn't been named yet.

Great music albums have been released in the past decade but I am missing something. Maybe the rocky waters of the world's economy is only making me more disgruntled? I don't know. The majority of great albums being released are big artists from the 90's and early 00's doing good with their trade while most of the newer/debut artists are completely divided on their own rocky outposts in the ocean.

For this thread, let's have a sit around the camp fire talk about a possible year zero in music coming in the 2010's. Try and keep it positive... or make a case how I should be more positive. What ever you choose.

P.S. I didn't say new music was bad. Individual albums are great. It's just that... I feel an absence of something.