So, what are you listening to these days?

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Nothing NSFW here, just the most beautiful song to cross my ear for the first time this year. I have been a bit obsessed of late with Dutch singer-songwriter Anneke van Giersbergen. While Anneke has roots in metal and still goes there sometimes, her work as a solo artist is all over the musical map. Acoustic folk-pop, prog, metal, rock, and so on. She is a frequent collaborator with other artists including one big name Canadian, Vancouver prog-metal prodigy Devin Townsend. She was part of his band Devin Townsend Project and has also guested on his solo albums at times.

However, this song is from another collaboration. In 2006, prog singer John Wetton and keyboardist Geoff Downes, both members of the band Asia, teamed for a second album of their project called Icon. And one of the songs on that album was "To Catch a Thief", written by Wetton and sung as a duet between him and Anneke. Three year later, the song appeared on one of Anneke's albums, now stripped down to a simple acoustic arrangement but still with Wetton as the male vocalist. I'm torn on which version I prefer. I heard Anneke's first and love the simplicity of the acoustic arrangement, but the fuller, proggier band sound of the Icon version has its appeal, too. Regardless, the melody and lyrics are stunningly beautiful in either and I wish this song was better known. I only found it through my engagement with Anneke's music.

So here is both so you can make up your own mind:

Anneke's version from her album Pure Air:


Icon's version from Icon II - Rubicon:


Wetton was a major figure in prog rock from the seventies through to last decade, singing in bands like King Crimson and Asia. Sadly, we lost him to colorectal cancer in 2017.
 
Amyl and the Sniffers. Good to see the 90’s riot grrl vibes coming back. We need it to push the envelope…again. LOL at the first comment “I’m going to tell my kids this was Taylor Swift.”

A few bad words and tough attitude. If that will bother you, don’t watch. She’s making her point.


And more grrl power, Wet Leg. I’m going to be (am) getting into feminist punk. Why not? It’s been awhile. It’s overdue. I’ve been admiring the guys in music, with subversive themes. Time to give the socially rebellious female artists some deserved time. Punk is really about human rights and challenging/ pointing out and expressing anger about failures of the status quo to recognize everybody.

This has been called “post-punk”, “pop-punk”. I think, right now, they’re a (fairly subtle) reaction to incel culture - in my opinion/ observation. It is political for sure. If that also bothers you, don’t watch.

Harry Styles covered one of their songs live (not this one - look it up if interested). He did a good job. It’s a feminist song and he sang it from a female point of view (didn’t replace the gendered nouns). And they’re touring with him.


Rhian, the lead singer, seems so girl next door in the interview. I love it. Nardwuar is so dorky and wholesome yet so bad-ass too. Wet Leg has been around for a few years. I only recently discovered them.

 
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Mendalla said:
Go for it. There's some NSFW stuff in the metal thread, too. Well, depending on what we mean by NSFW. If it's outright porn, maybe not, but if you're just talking the usual for punk (F-bombs and rage), no issue that I can see.
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What’s the political angle of the European metal bands and artists you’re into, mostly, do you figure?
 
Don’t know why I feel guilty for liking this or afraid of being judged by it. It’s conditioning that took place in recent years I think. There’s so much misogyny in music - this is counter to it. Deliberately. There’s something vindicating about it. It’s safely, artistically, expressive of the anger a lot of women feel today. It’s strong. Unapologetic. Maybe it’s Mary Magdelene’s time to shine in her own right, or something like that. It’s telling those preachers “You think I’m the whore of Babylon? Awesome! That’s your problem not mine. I’m a full multifaceted human being who doesn’t need your approval. Byeee.” Just a thought. Not that anyone actually is anybody in the bible. If we’re anything, we’re everybody, and everybody is us. We’re just people, figuring out our problems, in search of a better outcome.
 
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Are people responsible for what they believe and capable for what they do under beliefs that they don't understand to the nth degree?

I can hear folk in the background saying I don't remember that as if innocence will protect them from god declaring: "teach my people".

We wonder what the 'elle happened to that when the some fool said knowledge was evil! Was god suggesting they learn about evil so they could intelligently avoid it ... and what did they do counter to the comprehension? Cut education and all other networked matters connected mysteriously ... a dark network? Unknown matters perhaps ...
 
Luce NDs said:
Are people responsible for what they believe and capable for what they do under beliefs that they don't understand to the nth degree?

I can hear folk in the background saying I don't remember that as if innocence will protect them from god declaring: "teach my people".

We wonder what the 'elle happened to that when the some fool said knowledge was evil! Was god suggesting they learn about evil so they could intelligently avoid it ... and what did they do counter to the comprehension? Cut education and all other networked matters connected mysteriously ... a dark network? Unknown matters perhaps ...
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Is that a criticism of me because of my music/ artistic expression choices? I see these as telling a story about life, like books do.

I’m a bit angry with the world today. Listening to this music helps me get it out of my system instead of burying it. Nobody is required to like it.
 
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Kimmio Laughterlove said:
What’s the political angle of the European metal bands and artists you’re into, mostly, do you figure?
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The ones I listen mostly lean progressive, I find, but most are not outspokenly political even if you hear hints of it in their lyrics. Nightwish doesn't preach in their songs normally (there's "Noise" which criticizes social media culture so they go there sometimes) but there's a general leaning towards music about how we exist in the world that suggests an environmentalist and humanist stance. And their choices in terms of charities they support lean to that as well.

That said, there's pockets of conservatism in metal but there are in pretty much every type of music, even punk.

Many metal bands aren't especially political except at a high level or on broad ideas like "save the environment" but might speak out from time to time. Floor Jansen has posted online for things like International Women's Day and Pride, for instance.

In terms of specific political action, Gojira (the ones who played the Olympics last year) are environmental activists, Within Temptation (Dutch) are advocates for Ukraine and Ukrainian musicians (and other ideas and causes but that's their current focus). System of a Down can be quite political but are mostly a live band anymore. They haven't released a new album in like 20 years. I know there's more but those are the ones that come immediately to mind. The most political bands are in the space where punk, hardcore, and metal overlap, so metalcore, deathcore, etc.

Of course, bands that in specific situations speak to those situations. So Jinjer and No Apologies are both Ukrainian and have definitely incorporated that country's conflict with Russia into their music. Jinjer was even made a cultural ambassador for Ukraine, exempting them from military service so they could keep recording and touring. SOAD (System of a Down) have spoken out about things like the Armenian genocide because they are of Armenian background.
 
There’s no conservatism in real punk. It’s not as much a musical style as it is an attitude. The derelict building Green Day and early bands in the SoCal scene played in had a sign in it since the early 80s: no racism, no sexism, no homophobia. To the east, CBGB’s club was pretty gender bending and inclusive - New York Dolls, Patty Smith, Polly Styrene, Bad Brains and others. They broke racial, gender, and sex stereotypes back in the 70s.


I’m concerned that white supremacy is lurking in some European metal (and environmentalism). That’s why I ask.
 
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Kimmio Laughterlove said:
I’m concerned that white supremacy is lurking in some European metal (and environmentalism). That’s why I ask.
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No more so than in country, I don't think. There's a lot of Trump supporters in Nashville, after all. I imagine you'd find more in the dark underbelly of metal, underground black metal and that sort of thing, than in mainstream metal like I tend to follow. Black metal certainly had a somewhat deserved bad reputation at the beginning but seems to have mellowed with age.
 
Lurking blanches some tendencies to be otherwise ... thus we take off our hats to those with great hair if they are not brutal examples!

God bless the red haired types that fall from the skies of Celtic Dreams ... red brew is good as is the darker version ... and may loosen tongues ... as evidenced by feet up and relaxed after labour! Pedagogy? It is a fete if not a fetish ... something to work towards ...
 
Jazz-pop star Laufey has a lot on the line for her next studio album. After all, the last one landed her a Grammy at the ripe young age of 25 (she's now 26) for best traditional vocal album, a category usually associated with much older music. One of her big influences is bossa nova and that's fully on display in "Lover Girl". It's been out as a single for a bit now, but the official video just dropped.


The video's director, not surprisingly to those of us who follow Laufey, is her Creative Director Junia Lin, aka her twin sister.
 
I might have mentioned her before, but Mary Spender has been coming up in my YouTube recommendations for a long time and I finally bit earlier this year. She's a multi-talented indie artist who sings, writes and is an excellent guitar player (and also plays other instruments and produces). Her music has a smooth, slightly sexy pop sound with blues, rock, and folk influences.


Besides her music, Mary produces courses on various aspects of music (links in the video description) and creates content online on a variety of topics, mostly but not entirely related to music.
 
I saw Dave Hause open for Frank Turner in Peterborough a couple months ago. He played this one on acoustic and had us singing along. It's now out with his full band, and it's so much better that way.

 
Okay, added his latest to my Spotify library. When I searched for him, Frank Turner was the second artist hit after Hause himself. They do track and promote tours so may have picked up that he is touring with Turner.
 
Yeah, they're longtime friends and touring partners. The other ones you'll get recommended include Brian Fallon (solo) and his band The Gaslight Anthem, Beans on Toast, Micah Schnabel, Will Varley, and Frightened Rabbit, who were amazing. The lead singer threw himself off the Firth of Forth bridge a few years ago.

 
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Eminem.

For those who don’t like rap, just think of him as an underrated urban poet. He’s got a big heart, it’s obvious, the more you listen to him, even though he’s a scallywag lol.

Most of the songs are NSFW

He’s got an impressive rags to riches story. I appreciate it, and feel for him more than I used to, years ago. I wasn’t listening closely enough. It’s art. He worked hard for it and had lots of pitfalls along the way. Not everybody’s taste I realize - but he is talented. And his music reflects reality for a lot of people - not a small thing. It’s why he’s such a giant in the music biz - relatability. I stan him ;) (get it? lol)

Sampling Aerosmith. Steven Tyler’s done this on stage with him, too.

 
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I might have posted this before at some point. Kasey Chambers is an Australian country/ folk rock singer. Here she is covering Eminem’s Lose Yourself. He apparently liked it enough to grant her recording rights to it.

 
To “stan” means to admire a celebrity - or to deeply admire anyone really. It’s a pretty common slang word now. It started from Eminem’s song Stan about a dangerously crazed fan, but now has a less intense meaning. He’s so huge he even has a word named after a song he wrote. It’s in standard English dictionaries. And I stan him so much I’m bothering to explain it to WC2 who, I’m guessing, doesn’t really care, lol.
 
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Then there is Stan Rogers ... and roger is Ayes man ... especially on a pirated vessel ... dis Cuss? These go round like "nothing" matters!

Nothing is ah ole thing ... ole stuff trumps all ... overwhelming with past value ... hoarding? Thus Circe ... many shorted ... wee people?

Po' Ethical ... as a great biblical character declared it was the lisp ... mistaken as list ...
 
I have probably talked about Elise Trouw on here before. She a multi-talented musician and singer from the US whose specialty is "looping", that is laying down short riffs on a variety of instruments and using a system called an Ableton to "loop" them (play them over and over) and mix the loops into a backing track. She's done some amazing work, both original and covers, this way. Basically lets her be a one-woman band. Here she teams with another musician named Alex Bone for an original they co-wrote. This one is a mix of looping and live playing, or so it seems. She has been extremely quiet in recent years so I was delighted to see this new track come up today.


She doesn't use them much on this track, but Elise is actually a hell of a good drummer and I've seen some of her tracks where she loops the rest of the instruments, but plays the drums live. I have also seen her sit in with other indie artists on both drums and vocals, no looping involved.
 
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