So, what are you listening to these days?

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Like many, I first heard of Kelly Clarkson in 2002 when she was the first winner of American Idol. She's been around on and off since and currently hosts her own talk show while also recording. She packs a terrific voice even if the music hasn't always been my taste. But her new single. apparently the first release on her own label, is a stunner. The belt near the end is to die for. And she's put together a helluva band, too. Just listen to that guitar solo. Need to find out who they are. The video calls them "The High Road".

 
Going through that wickedly brilliant satire of British government, Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister

Such good writing

Hilariously convoluted double speak

Amazing that BBC allowed this

I hear there is also a copy of it, but in Ukraine aboot the corruption in Ukraine gov't, called Servant of the People :3 With you-know-who as creator, producer and star

And why I have put this in listen is I find both BBC series to be mainly dialogue, so, not much need for me to see what is going on
 
Some say dialogue is essence for communication and it can be put down on a medium ... thus powers like possession as an OCD item in their world!

Does generate chaos and irrational moments of inertia ... mental disorder when it sinks in as ... innate? The inside story becoming extant ... like a expletive that the leaders do not like to hear as it expresses Thomas and de alternate 1! The positives believe the thinker to be the negative one ... as they moll ova the idea ...

Tenuous ... neigh misses ?
 
well, i have some new ear worms.

Our granddaughters have moved from kids music to pop tunes.
I was given a few examples and then asked for others from friends with grandchildren.

Now, my ear worm includes Pink Pony Club, APT and Abracadabra
 
I put some songs that had catchy beat, only to hear from the girls -- that's a bad word. "Shutup & Dance with Me" for example.
They are very aware of rude or shaming words, and call them bad words.
(Google Maps voice told me to turn onto Dumfries Rd, and I heard a voice from the back seat say, she said a bad word. Took me until the return trip to realize it was the dumb in Dumfries that was being called out)
 
JayneWonders said:
I put some songs that had catchy beat, only to hear from the girls -- that's a bad word. "Shutup & Dance with Me" for example.
They are very aware of rude or shaming words, and call them bad words.
(Google Maps voice told me to turn onto Dumfries Rd, and I heard a voice from the back seat say, she said a bad word. Took me until the return trip to realize it was the dumb in Dumfries that was being called out)
Click to expand...

Imagine the "n" word in many negative expression like space devoid of lighter matters ... like in halls of polity! Then enigma rises ... and sparks fly in all direction as in the female mystique that has no end ... is something bad there?

Trump declared today to to never say never ... and therein a deux of n's ... and that's the end of that as some philosophies declare that they are set up as a means of end in an ongoing cosmos ... de ontological excess of nothing?

What a donkey ... these follow with a cart usually ... and thus cartier ... God as word chuckles! Isn't that diabolical ... enigmatic even that mortals cannot grasp the entire stretch ... so there it lies!
 
There's a couple new singles out today from favourites of mine. First up, Auri is a "supergroup" consisting of Tuomas Holopainen and Troy Donockley of Nightwish and Finnish singer Johanna Kurkela. Not coincidentally, Johanna and Tuomas are also a married couple. For their upcoming third album, Auri has added drummer Kai Hahto, also of Nightwish. Besides the new album, Auri is undertaking a fairly major European tour. Nightwish is on hiatus this year, giving the members time for projects like this. "The Shieldmaiden" is the first single, album is coming in August.

 
Laufey's new track is good musically but it's such an obvious diss track that it put me off a bit. She's a self-confessed Swiftie and seems to be picking up Taylor's bad habit of using her music to complain about her exes. "Goddess" from back in the winter was like that, too, but was such a good, passionate song that I actually liked it. This one just seems a bit bitter and angry without the passion that one had. Maybe after some more listens I'll warm to it. I do like staccato, fast-paced chorus towards the end (which is the bit she's been using in her Tiktoks and Shorts to promote the song) and kind of wish there was more of that.


One nice thing she does is include chords in her lyric videos so guitarists who are so inclined can follow along.
 
So I am mostly a Eurovision skeptic. Still, there always seems to be one song or performance that catches my interest. This year, it's the winner, "Wasted Love" by JJ of Austria. Starts off sounding like a rather soft, minimalist ballad, but then JJ cuts loose with a stunning soprano (it's at 0:58 in this video of the Grand Final performance). Thing is, this isn't a woman. He's a countertenor who can go into the high soprano range.

 
Okay, this is a metal band, Amaranthe, but not a metal song. It's a wonderfully romantic power ballad and, fittingly the video is of guitarist Olof Morck's wedding. Vocals are by the band's female lead singer Elize Ryd who also appears in both the wedding party and performing. Olof's group included most of the rest of the band from what I could see (at least, the band as it was in 2020). I definitely recognized male clean singer Nils Molin. Also noticed Melissa Bonny, another fave of mine, in attendance. That surprised me at first until I remembered that she's married to the band's drummer so would have been his "+1".


The bride, Catalina Popa, is also a musician. She plays flute in a German band called Haggard who I now need to check out. It's a symphonic metal band that actually has a chamber group built right in instead of using session players or backing tracks for strings and such.
 
I first discovered Inge Lamboo when she opened for Floor Jansen at a concert last Fall. She's an up and coming Dutch singer-songwriter. Her sound incorporates pop, country, and on her new album, a distinctly blues-y sound. And while she is only 27 and just released her second album, she seems to be going places. The featured artist on this track from the new album is none other than guitar legend Pete Townsend of The Who. And it's a terrific track. In fact, the whole album is great, much more to my taste than her first.

 
I have talked about Arjen Lucassen before in the metal thread, maybe here, too. He's a brilliant Dutch musician, songwriter, and producer best known for his ongoing "supergroups" Ayreon and Star One. This year, Arjen has announced a very special new project: a solo album. Well, solo in the sense that he's the headliner and is not putting it under a band name. A lot of his usual suspects are on the bill. The first single came out today and, wow, did he ever go all in on this project. 14 minutes long, three guest vocalists (two of whom are favourites of mine) plus Arjen himself, and some absolutely wonderful prog rock.


Trivia: This is only the maestro's third solo album. The first came out more than thirty years ago, the second in 2012.
 
JayneWonders said:
well, i have some new ear worms.

Our granddaughters have moved from kids music to pop tunes.
I was given a few examples and then asked for others from friends with grandchildren.

Now, my ear worm includes Pink Pony Club, APT and Abracadabra
Click to expand...
I need to check out Pink Pony Club - see what the fuss is about. I keep reading or hearing it mentioned but haven’t heard it, I don’t think.
 
I’m listening to some indie hip hop and rap music that I won’t post because there’s language in it. It’s urban, some of it funny/ satire but a bit risqué - you can’t take it literally or too seriously. I don’t think a lot of people realize that cyphers/ rap battles were started as a way of “street fighting” without actual violence - competition for whoever could rhyme better/ faster. Kept young people out of trouble, and away from real physical violence by channeling their negative feelings and environment into an art form. There’s real skill involved - timing, rhythm, cadence, breathing - as well as poetry. It’s also challenging the status quo. It’s compatible to punk rock, some of it - which hadn’t occurred to me before - some of it is protest, it’s lamenting from difficult places. It’s the blues, too. I didn’t used to appreciate the genre as much. I still don’t like some of the mass produced variety. Also, the slang isn’t tuned to mainstream ears. You have to have lived in an urban place long enough, to get it, otherwise, it might offend.
 
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This is actually a great song. It’s more mainstream now - Eminem (everyone’s heard of him he’s not indie) is considered a giant in the business but didn’t start out that way. It has clean language (maybe one swear word - might be censored in the video). I was ignorant to what a good song it was back when it came out. I think it’s good because he was determined, and he came a long way.

 
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I may have posted it already but Kasey Chambers, a female country singer from Australia, does an amazing cover of it. Eminem approves, I read. Hard to say which is better! They’re different, but both good.

There’s one well placed, expressive f word.

 
Much of what I’ve been listening to would probably be considered NSFW - and not this crowd’s cup of tea. Like I said, a lot of it is satire/ acting, but it’s coming from the school of hard knocks. I appreciate it better the more I hear and have better understanding. You can’t expect people who’ve come up in hard environments - generational poverty, violence - to have squeaky clean art that’s always pleasant and doesn’t challenge. You can’t sanitize that and get the same depth of feeling. Real art expresses anything and everything. I commend them for finding an outlet and making something of their experience, and rising above the hardship. They’ve overcome better than most. That’s what I understand about it. My favourite right now, is often purposely roflmao funny and ironic though. Expressing tough things in a funny, quirky, way. The beats, and the visuals in the videos are often paradoxical to the words, a sort of alchemy turning it joyful, and in a way, humble and humbling at the same time. Like blues can do.
 
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