Open Thread: Music Sounds Better With You
Open Thread: Music Sounds Better With You
Let’s talk sad dad music
I’m homeward bound, back on Ryanair’s garishly coloured seats, a pair of little Lego sets in the bag hoping to score a few “dad comes home” points on my return.
Earphones in as the plane doors close, laptop ready to whip out when the seatbelt light switches off. I’m browsing through my Spotify downloaded list—always a good indicator of where your music taste really resides—getting In Rainbows cued up for the thousandth time, hoping inspiration strikes in the air and I can write for a few hours.
This week in the community the dads were talking sacred cows, those bands and musicians everyone adores but you just can’t vibe with. Bob Dylan came up, to which I agreed, but for Nick Cave I felt the opposite. It took a long time—and the haunting 68 minutes of Ghosteen—for it to finally click for me, but I’m glad it did.
Today I want to learn about the music you all love. Feel free to share anything, including but not limited to:
What’s your favourite album of all time?
What are you listening to lately?
Any live shows coming up that you’re excited about?
What are your kids listening to that you like? What that you hate? (I met one dad in London this week, his two year old’s favourite song was The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind) by Kenny Dope and The Bucketheads. Solid choice lil’ lady.)
Who are the musicians that you just don’t get?
Looking forward to reading them all when I land.
Written on my phone on a runway. Any typos are on purpose actually, GarbageDay style.
On a tangent, I can't wait until we can get AI music recommendations (or maybe that already exists, given the recent explosion of AI-powered services?). The closest I got was circa 2005 when I used Yahoo Music. It had a Dislike, Like, and Love buttons (if I recall correctly, and which I believe are a feature Spotify should have) and I discovered a lot of good music I still listen to through its recommendations. I think it was ahead of it's time and was discontinued at some point. As things are today, somewhere out there is life changing music that I'll never listen to.
I've been on a huge Grateful Dead kick lately (early 70s mostly, if anyone cares), but besides that I recently rediscovered Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend. The production is rich and diverse, I'm always discovering new things to love. Also, there's surprisingly little guitar for a rock album!