Best Ever Albums

Re: Foreign language listening

Defago — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 00:02:59 GMT

Author: Defago

Posted: 12/19/2012 05:02

drakonium wrote:

Olsen Olsen is my favourite Sigur Ros song :D

Damn right

Re: Foreign language listening

Zoso — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:34:50 GMT

Author: Zoso

Posted: 12/19/2012 01:34

Does Sigur Ros Count? huhuhu

I listen to a shitload of hindi/bhangra music. I think music speaks better/louder than lyrics ever could anyway so language is of no consequence to me.

Re: Foreign language listening

sheep21 — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:33:33 GMT

Author: sheep21

Posted: 12/19/2012 01:33

I listen to some English music and hae no idea what they're saying.

Re: Foreign language listening

Johnnyo — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:36:24 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 12/18/2012 18:36

My wife is French Swiss so when we are having a music session we play anything & everything so a lot of French & other stuff where I don't understand the lyrics.

Re: Foreign language listening

drakonium — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 16:09:16 GMT

Author: drakonium

Posted: 12/12/2012 21:09

noWaxJim wrote:

[Things noWaxJim said which are to long to be quoted and would make my post unreadable]

I wish I could be born in an English-speaking country -_-'

I still haven't listened to a lot of "foreign" music, but when I'll consider I know "enough" English music, I'll start to make my ears travel around the world, and I think it will be a really, really great experience. And Olsen Olsen is my favourite Sigur Ros song 😁

Re: Foreign language listening

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 09:10:16 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/12/2012 14:10

The vast majority of what I listen to is in English. Similarly the majority of films I watch are English language films (although a much smaller majority). This isn't a conscious decision, it just happens to be what gets publicised and recommended to me - living, as I do, in England. However, if someone whose tastes I trust recommends me a film or an album in a foreign language, I will do my best to watch/listen to it. TBH, I tend to regard foreign language music as I do instrumental music. I just take the voice as another instrument. If I come across translations of the lyrics, I will attempt to read those alongside the music if somebody insists they are an important part of it (as with some of the Yugo stuff in the BYT), but on the whole the lyrics to foreign language albums don't bother me remotely. If it feels good to me, that's all I need.

Re: Foreign language listening

Jimmy Dread — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 04:46:18 GMT

Author: Jimmy Dread

Posted: 12/12/2012 09:46

drakonium wrote:

Well, I've always wandered if the fact that I usually don't understand a single word of what I listen to was the reason I don't like some music as much as I would if I actually understood what the singer was saying (Joanna Newsom, hip hop music in general...).

An interesting point. As a big fan of Joanna Newsom I can safely say that half the appeal is certainly in her wordplay and the imagery she conjures up in her lyrics, and I'd imagine for hip-hop fans it would be the subject matter in their diatribes (and therefore how the listener relates to the emotions expressed therein) that provides the initial hook and excitement, unless you have a penchant for sampling/turntabism/etc.

From a personal point of view I think to pigeonhole yourself to music in your own language means you'll miss out on a massive range of music that's out there. Ironic that I'm writing this on the day that Ravi Shankar's died, but music - like football (or soccer to those from across the pond/Australia) - knows no boundaries. The simplicity of picking up an instrument, no matter how crude, and expressing your feelings through song/noise is a universal art which everyone from Kent to Kathmandu can relate to, and indeed the general gist of the vast majority of music can be picked up not only in tempo of the track, but the emotion of the vocalist. I don't need to understand a word of Sigur Ros' Olsen Olsen, for example, to know it's one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard, both on an emotional level and in terms of musicality.

Re: Foreign language listening

drakonium — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 18:43:32 GMT

Author: drakonium

Posted: 12/11/2012 23:43

Oh, I see we are talking about French people.

Well, I've always wandered if the fact that I usually don't understand a single word of what I listen to was the reason I don't like some music as much as I would if I actually understood what the singer was saying (Joanna Newsom, hip hop music in general...).

I would be very interested in knowing what other people whose English is not native language think about that.

Re: Foreign language listening

Jimmy Dread — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:32:17 GMT

Author: Jimmy Dread

Posted: 12/11/2012 22:32

I couldn't care a jolt what language a record's in - in fact, my chart has a spattering of acts singing in languages I can pretty much only count to 3 in (Os Mutantes, Sigur Ros, Dungen, Catherine Ribiero/Alpes). One of my favourite bands - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - also sound at their most beautiful singing in their native Welsh.

Music sung in languages apart from English has ALWAYS fascinated me. Let's face it, music for the majority of us acts as a form of escapism, allowing us to take our mind off the humdrum of everyday life, screaming kids, paying the leccy bill, a job that slowly kills you, that essay which should have been handed in yesterday. In a bizarre way, lyrics in a foreign tongue just add to the mystique. It's like the best films have endings that are left to the imagination - your mind fills in the gaps, and before you know it you could be listening to a French pop masterpiece and mentally walking through the streets of Paris smoking Gitanes and reading Le Monde (well the cartoon section at any rate).

That's partly why I'm currently spinning this particular gem... Norman and Cellardoor would be tres proud...

Re: Foreign language listening

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:08:40 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/11/2012 22:08

The Poe wrote:

The English language gets boring to me sometimes.

Re: Foreign language listening

Santiago — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:01:09 GMT

Author: Santiago

Posted: 11/22/2012 01:01

Depending on the artist, the lyrics are vital or not. I would say that listening to Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon" and not understanding the words reduces a lot the experience, while if you listen to most Paul Mc Cartney songs, and you don't understand the words, you are not missing much.

Re: Foreign language listening

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:25:05 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 11/21/2012 22:25

The English language gets boring to me sometimes.

Re: Foreign language listening

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 16:20:18 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 11/21/2012 21:20

Not often, but when I do, it's usually Indian/Bollywood music.

Some pretty awesome songs from Bollywood. Look up "Desi Girl" if interested!

Re: Foreign language listening

Norman Bates — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:47:45 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 11/28/2011 21:47

Rikuff wrote:

Tinariwen forever!

Yeah they're great.

Re: Foreign language listening

Rikuff — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:47:15 GMT

Author: Rikuff

Posted: 11/28/2011 21:47

Tinariwen forever!

Re: Foreign language listening

Robert Anton Wilson — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:42:42 GMT

Author: Robert Anton Wilson

Posted: 11/28/2011 21:42

Jackwc wrote:

Crappy 70's pop music was just as crappy as crappy pop music today. ...

Barry Manilow is eternal!!!!

Re: Foreign language listening

Norman Bates — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:38:06 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 11/28/2011 21:38

I listen to all sorts of British or American music a lot. I generally don't get what they're saying. I like it though.

Re: Foreign language listening

Romanelli — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:20:19 GMT

Author: Romanelli

Posted: 11/28/2011 21:20

Jackwc wrote:

Romanelli wrote:

Sad times we live in.

Crappy 70's pop music was just as crappy as crappy pop music today. Actually, I'd say our crappy pop music is slightly better.

I wouldn't blame it on time, this is just what most people like to listen to.
Just like how most people choose not to read books, or watch films without tits or explosions.
It's just how people are, and the sooner we come to accept it instead of mope about all the "sheep" and the "phonies" the better off we'll all be in the end, because there really isn't anything we can do about it.

Yeah, you could be right. But at least in the 70's, it was played on real instruments and they didn't have autotune. But then again, it's hard to say if that's really better or not....

Re: Foreign language listening

Jackwc — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:16:56 GMT

Author: Jackwc

Posted: 11/28/2011 21:16

Romanelli wrote:

Sad times we live in.

Re: Foreign language listening

Romanelli — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:58:28 GMT

Author: Romanelli

Posted: 11/28/2011 20:58

kidamnesiac wrote:

the fact that so many people need to know the lyrics or understand what the singer is singing is 18 percent of the reason popular radio is so fucking horrible. Die motherfuckers.

Um...no.

100% of the reason why popular radio is so fucking horrible is that the majority of the people are sheep and will listen to whatever they're told is good.

If people actually listened to the lyrics of songs by abominations like The Black Eyed Peas or Nickelback or pretty much anything else that's popular, and if they actually did care about those lyrics, popular radio would be a much better place than it is today. The problem is that people DON'T care what they listen to. If you can dance to it, or if it has a hook, or if someone who is considered good looking is supposedly singing it, or if you're told enough times that it's really great, you've got a hit song.

Sad times we live in.