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...either tonight or lately? There seems not to be a completely miscellaneous "getting to know you" kind of forum or section, but Fine Arts seems almost to fit. 

I am very eclectic in my musical tastes. As far as radio, if I am not listening to NPR, I usually like member-supported radio like KEXP or WMNF. I am a fan of indie, old jazz, classical, drone, ambient techno, and 80's and 90's pop and punk, among others. 

Last song: Nathan Fake - "You Are Here (Four Tet Remix)"

 

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What a nice topic, ClaraFan.

During the holiday season I enjoy listening to Christmas chestnuts. As Christmas gets closer our local classical station, KDFC, plays a lot of traditional Christmas music.

Otherwise it's mostly classical, and a bit of this and that. I rarely listen to anything new, but that's been true for some time. :)

Others?

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Ok, ok..... :)

Well, I haven't put away my Christmas music yet. I have an Ella Fitzgerald holiday CD that I love, plus the obligatory Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby. But, one of my favorites is a CD that I bought at the Met Museum gift store years ago, with renaissance carols. And, I have a CD of Gregorian chants that I listen to at any time of year, but especially at Christmas. Whenever I need some quiet introspection, I pull out the Gregorian chants (which goes nicely with a glass of wine, or two ;) 

Edited by ABT Fan
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In the order of frequency:

1. Met Opera Radio on Sirius

2. Silence, because I've got my earbuds in, but have forgotten to turn on Met Opera Radio on Sirius

3. Podcasts

4. Whatever my roommate is playing in the background, usually on KUOW (local NPR) and KEXP (every kind of music) local station.

5. KING-FM (local) classical station when I'm driving a car2go or ReachNow car.

 

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Lots of jazz, mostly contemporary at the moment: the bassist Linda May Han Oh, the tenor saxophonists Melissa Aldana, Joe Lovano, and Charles Lloyd, the cellist Tomeka Reid, the multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell, the pianists Craig Taborn and the late Geri Allen. The guitarist Bill Frisell, and many more. Also Miles Davis’ great mid-60’s quintet, recorded “Live at the Plugged Nickel.”
 
Lots of opera, especially Strauss and Wagner, including a recent Walkure in Chicago. The Met when it’s live on Sirius or NPR. Historic recordings on You Tube.
 
Late period Dylan. Christmas music of all sorts, especially Robin and Linda Williams’ The First Christmas Gift.
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On 1/2/2018 at 9:23 AM, dirac said:

What a nice topic, ClaraFan.

During the holiday season I enjoy listening to Christmas chestnuts. As Christmas gets closer our local classical station, KDFC, plays a lot of traditional Christmas music.

Otherwise it's mostly classical, and a bit of this and that. I rarely listen to anything new, but that's been true for some time. :)

Others?

The Charlie Brown Christmas Special soundtrack.  I know, I know, but it makes me happy.

But today, I was listening to Modest Mouse (We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank) -- 3/4 time pop songs, which is pretty unusual.

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Lots of 1950s and early 1960s jazz, Miles Davis and John Coltrane – and like kfw, "Live at the Wooden Nickel" (Chicago). Also Thelonious Monk Live at the Five Spot (Bowery and Fourth Street).

Beethoven sonatas, in Wilhelm Kempff's understated interpretations – especially the one I remember first really listening to, the happily complex "late" one, #28, op 101. 

The Italian double bass music of the past fifteen years – some pieces influenced by John Cage and Charlie Mingus, according to the amazing Daniele Roccato, who plays works by Sofia Gubaidulina, Stefano Scodanibbio and Franco Donatoni – all with their full range of artifacts and overtones.

 

Edited by Quiggin
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What a great playlist, Quiggin. If you haven't read it, Ben Ratliff's "Coltrane: the story of a sound" is an excellent study. I saw McCoy Tyner at the Library of Congress last month, btw. He only plays 3-4 tunes these days, but his band, which included Joe Lovano this last time, comes out early and is exciting all by itself. Beethoven's late sonatas are my favorite and I was fortunate to hear Richard Goode play #28 in October.

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3 hours ago, balletforme said:

Hamilton. . . 

Charlie Brown Christmas

James Taylor Christmas

La La Land

And also "A Christmas Gift to You from Philles Records" with special mention of Darlene Love's fiery vocal on "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." People cover the song from time to time, I have no idea why they bother.

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2 hours ago, Quiggin said:

The Italian double bass music of the past fifteen years – some pieces influenced by John Cage and Charlie Mingus, according to the amazing Daniele Roccato, who plays works by Sofia Gubaidulina, Stefano Scodanibbio and Franco Donatoni – all with their full range of artifacts and overtones.

Don't know this at all -- where should I start?

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These days I have an actual structure for my music explorations - A massive "mix" that was originally planned to be an Internet radio show, but then Live365 Internet radio went bankrupt. The working title has been 'Midnight Radio: Evening Songs & Things that Go Bump in the Night', but I long ago stopped worrying about using only 'night tunes'.

Originally, my mix was eclectic and nothing but eclectic, but I've been exploring various ways to unite the different genres of music tracks - either through aural, thematic or lyrical similarities. And I also quickly discovered that listeners don't really want to hear endless tracks on one particular theme - it's important to learn how to cycle in and out of themes. There are ways to transition from almost any music form into another but it takes some real thought.  Example: pair Lost in the Stars, Frank Sinatra and Aquarius - Let The Sunshine In, The Fifth Dimension - both tracks feature remarkably similar orchestral atmospherics (I have a feeling the Fifth Dimension track essentially "steals" the idea from Nelson Riddle's arrangement).

And then there is the abrupt change to another style entirely - that can be made to work effectively, but it's tricky. I can tell you that the "change-up" music (my term) par excellence is Doo-Wop. You could have just been listening to Beethoven's 7th Symphony, but if it's followed by The Marcel's singing "Blue Moon", you'll suddenly be transported to another world and instantly forget all other concerns.  ;)

This type of thing can be a great personal project, so if you want something to keep you busy, a music mix can be used to force you to learn about many, many genres of music.  ;)

Here's a screenshot of a section of my mix that uses the sound of bells, and lyrics about bells, as a unifying theme, and then it cycles out to other things. Some of the themes I revisit many times because there is now over 15 days of music.
http://burntscarlet.com/downloads/ballet_alert/midnight_radio_9_section.png

And a couple other random sections to give people ideas for their own mixes:

http://burntscarlet.com/downloads/ballet_alert/midnight_radio_5_section.png
http://burntscarlet.com/downloads/ballet_alert/midnight_radio_8_section.png

[I have a friend who is a San Francisco community radio DJ and he's known for his massive (and ever growing) archive of music. If I run out of ideas, I can listen to his show online for still more…]
 

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3 hours ago, sandik said:

You are far more organized than I am, and I have a feeling far more educated musically, but I do agree with your assessment of doo-wop.  There are very few days in life that can't be improved with a little doo-wop.  Or funk.

As far as musicians who have grabbed a hold of me in the last few years (and won't let go), I keep returning to Mimi & Richard Farina, and these folks:

Jonathan Richman - Afternoon, That Summer Feeling, Summer Morning, When Harpo Played His Harp, Astral Plane, Roadrunner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zmy2oBGmPc

Neko Case - People Got a Lotta Nerve, I Am An Animal, This Tornado Loves You, Hold On, Hold On, I Wish I Was the Moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khs_PofcsbQ

Charles Trenet - Menilmontant, Boum, J'Ai Ta Main, La Route Enchantée, La Mer, Douce France
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2F1WuMhZsk

The Chiffons - Every Boy and Every Girl, Just a Boy, Out of This World, Sweet Talkin' Guy, Just for Tonight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLpMG_UTm6Q

Nanci Griffith - Fly By Night, Red is the Rose, The Last Of The True Believers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQbYtBHj4bE

The Boswell Sisters - It's the Girl, Was That the Human Thing to Do?, Shout Sister Shout, Rock and Roll, Stop The Sun Stop The Moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWOLQCSKkRw

June Christy - Something Cool, The Gypsy In My Soul, Shadow Woman, Night People, Out Of The Shadows, Softly As in a Morning Sunrise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn8EtaxGJP0

Gérard Souzay's French-Spanish Song Recital CD as well as the "Fauré: Mélodies" CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_7YVsUafBQ

The Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose - "The Story of Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose" CD has most of their output
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRDQtEwk6k8

Many, many tracks by Hespèrion XXI [multi-instrumentalist Jordi Savall and his singer/instrumentalist wife Montserrat Figueras (now deceased)]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQckwdlB5tg

Bicinia Hungarica Tricinia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlnhhsfFzb4&list=PLM13trdhAQRP5iOw4Zuz0-AE2WfwG_AC9

 

EDIT: And if I happen to be depressed, then it's time to break out Swing Out Sister and the 1st Pipettes album. Those always do the trick for some reason. ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIZuT-hG_q0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdyMocLmTNk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoYaSUSycBk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2OBkOfOAZ0

 

 

Edited by pherank
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5 hours ago, kfw said:

I love your bells playlist! I didn't see this track, however: Bells for the Southside:devil:

Laura Nyro's The Bells is great too, but I had that in another section and the flow worked well, so it stayed. That's why, when you have a large amount of music to sort through, it turns out to be better to break up the themes into smaller sections. That "bells" section is one of the longest ones I have, and I've mostly left it alone because I just like the flow of the music. When I started collecting musics relating to the the theme of "queen" (royalty), I ended up with a really, really long sequence and had to break it up - it got out-of-hand.  ;)

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3 hours ago, sandik said:

I've been listening to Stevie Wonder lately -- a good remedy for post-holiday-back-to-normal-even-though-I've-got-a-cold.  And the Clash.

Good choices, but try Sam Cooke for a cold.  ;)
Unless you have a bad sore throat still - then you need something soothing that doesn't require singing along. Debussy?
Feel better!

One other 'discovery' I made in the last couple of years - the great director Satyajit Ray was also a composer of his own film music. And the pieces are really interesting because they are so short (traditional Indian ragas tend to be very long instrumentals). He was certainly influenced by Western film music structures, but he's using traditional Indian instruments and orchestrations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfdBccSkRvA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cejCQBdqYRo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfg44uXX5oQ

Edited by pherank
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6 hours ago, pherank said:

One other 'discovery' I made in the last couple of years - the great director Satyajit Ray was also a composer of his own film music. And the pieces are really interesting because they are so short (traditional Indian ragas tend to be very long instrumentals). He was certainly influenced by Western film music structures, but he's using traditional Indian instruments and orchestrations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfdBccSkRvA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cejCQBdqYRo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfg44uXX5oQ

I had no idea -- I usually watch all the credits, but it's been awhile since I watched Ray.  Thanks so much for the heads-up!

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