Topic: DISCUSS ANYTHING MUSIC NOW (Read 3485 times)

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FROM NOW ON THIS IS A GENERAL MUSIC DISCUSSION TOPIC FOR STUFF THAT DOESN'T BELONG IN ITS OWN TOPIC OR ANYONE ELSE, I WILL PROBABLY DELETE THE TOPIC IF IT GETS TOO OUT OF CONTROL BUT FOR NOW ITS OK, OK?



hopefully someone who is a big fan like panda or GaZZwa or adeline or someone


basically i have listened to "You're Living All Over Me" a few times in the past couple months and I can't really get into them. I've been trying (maybe too hard???) to like them for the following reasons:

a) They are from Amherst, MA (specifically Univ. of Mass Amherst) which is really cool because I go there like once every few weeks to visit my gf (I have probably walked along the same paths and also have watched live college bands play on the same hill where they originally hooked up???)

b) One of my favorite bands, Mew, has repeatedly listed Dinosaur Jr. as their greatest influence. I don't really see much of a similarity (which I probably shouldn't since it's an INFLUENCE not a COVER BAND) but nevertheless I am still very curious to find out WHY and HOW

c) lots of dudes like thecatamites and GaZZwa have repeatedly said that "You're Living All Over Me" is in their top albums if not THE TOP ALBUM of all time. Why???




OK, so I've listened to the album maybe 3 times in it's entirety. Today was probably the first time I really tried to pay attention (which is tough seeing as how it was mostly while walking around campus...).

My biggest gripe is the vocals. I just don't like them. Maybe it is part of the whole high-distortion FEEL, but they are just anti-melodic and seem kind of lazy and flat at times. I feel like I'd be able to enjoy the music more without the vocals.

Secondly, none of the songs are really MEMORABLE to me. After a couple listens, I can't really recreate a melody, a guitar riff, a bassline, or some lyrics in my head and play it back. "In a Jar" is probably the vocal exception since it's a tiny bit catchy. The songs tend to differ a lot from beginning to end, so usually by the end of the song I have completely forgotten what the beginning sounded like. "Sludgefeast" is probably the riff exception. I like this song a lot mainly because of the guitar, which is pretty spiffy.

I guess it could just be the fact that I've never been a fan of high-distortion guitar, but obviously there's a lot more factors at play here. Someone help me understand them a bit better, thanks.
Last Edit: September 22, 2008, 07:33:58 am by Bakafura
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well, if you don't like them, then i guess you do not like them!  i disagree with the vocals being anti-melodic, though.  he's got a distinctive voice and sometimes it does stuff that is traditionally bad but works really well (like when it cracks in the chorus of raisans), so i guess that could be a turn off, but it is a GOOD distinctive voice and he's a pretty good singer.  like the melodies he comes up with, and how he carries them out with his voice, work really well i think.  like if you listen to the intro/chorus of little fury things, there's just this great vocal melody that goes along with this pretty fly chord progression he's got going.

also what their songs are very POP-INFLUENCED i think!!  like if you look beneath the distortion, there are plenty of catchy hooks and whatnot.  like i mentioned at first, the chord progression post-intro in little fury things.  the riff of raisans (not to mention the crazily memorable solo at the end), the intro to the lung.  that instrumental interlude in in a jar at about the two minute mark, etc.  part of the reason it's so famous is because it's just a really goddamn catchy album.

i mean they were all pretty recently in hardcore punk bands before they recorded you're living all over me, i think, so that had a huge influence on their music.  it kind of SOUNDS like punk, only it is a lot more melodic, both in terms of the guitar and the vocals.  it really wasn't that common a type of music to make at the time, so i think that contributed to their being hugely influential, which is something you need to take into account.  like it really was a seminal album.  i don't know much about 80s punk but i wouldn't be surprised if no one really sounded like them at the time.  it was clearly similar to punk but with a conscious intention to be closer to pop.  the vocals are catchy, the music is full of memorable hooks and riffs, and there are just ridiculous solos of mascis dicking around on his guitar strewn throughout the record.  it was probably a little bit groundbreaking when it came out.  like there is just no part of it that isnt really good.

i think that your complaints about lack of memorability and how the vocals are bad are maybe just coming from how you are not used to this type of music.  catamites talks a lot about bands that are too far out there for me to listen to regardless of how amazing he says they are.  dinosaur jr aren't far out at all, really, but if you're not used to that type of music, they probably seem like they are.  fortunately, beyond is a really good album okay.  it is 20 years younger than you're living all over me, and it is a lot more JAMMY than their older shit, because they're all like 45 now and a lot more mellow.  it still has most of the things that made you're living all over me good, though, i think.  it's more accessible, though.  like, it is less HARDCORE DISTORTED and more melodic/laid back.


so yea download beyond and if you do not like it you just don't like dinosaur jr sorry!
Last Edit: September 17, 2008, 06:55:07 pm by headphonics
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also how do you feel about these they are kind of also more mellow than most of the stuff on you're living all over me




also did anyone else ever notice how often they appeared on the fucking JENNY JONES SHOW in the 90s?  that shit's depressing


yeah or these



none of this is off beyond but i think theyre kind of more accessible so!
Last Edit: September 17, 2008, 07:03:51 pm by headphonics
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man, amateur cellphone video + youtube quality might be a part of it but holy shit his voice sounds HORRIBLE to me in this song. he sounds like is fucking dying. like, honestly, do you enjoy listening to the vocals????? how??? that said, yeah. The rest of the song is very cool, especially guitar (hard to hear low-end sounds in the recording)

will edit this after i listen to the rest. Also, I will download Beyond, thanks
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yeah see i don't see why his vocals are so bad in that video.  it doesn't sound quite like that in the studio version, but he's definitely IN THE BALLPARK.  mostly i linked it because i thought you might dig the actual music since it's pretty warm/mellow, but yeah, the vocals are good!  like that is about as good as i think anyone can be expected to be live.

also which version of you're living all over me do you have?  there're a couple of covers on my version.  do you not even like show me the way//just like heaven??
Last Edit: September 17, 2008, 07:14:37 pm by headphonics
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this is the longest and most intense and detailed topic ever considering it has existed for one hour only
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yo yo can you point me the actual great songs you think dinosaur jr. has done? ahaha, this comes out as rude but i mean, since you say you chose these for the sake of being more easily accesible then you might as well shoot us some of the best songs then!

also ase i think the word you are looking for to describe vocals is "powerless". at least that's the impression i have got from few songs. i don't commend it as much though, i don't think the focus is really on vocal technicality on this band. 

gomennasai for bad gramar....
Last Edit: September 17, 2008, 08:00:23 pm by bonzi_buddy
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little fury things/raisans/kracked/freak scene/green mind
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maybe sit on it for a while? revisit it a bit later. The first time I heard You're Living All Over Me it hit me instantly, it was love y'know. I personally have no idea why someone would listen to this shit and not like it. You're insane. What the hell is wrong with you? Basically. Listen to J play guitar. Jesus fucking christ man. And then we can all sing/mumble those great melodies. Then air guitar some more. I think Thurston Moore said most Dinosaur songs have about 12 different parts to them or something, and it's true, and they really flow effortlessly like that, it's just super cool. They're fucking loud too. just really great rock n' roll. comes out of nowhere i spose. also ase, i have a tendancy of calling lots of things the best record/band ever. but it's true. every time it's true.

Listen also to Sebadoh. I like them too.

edit:

ALSO until now they fucking hated eachother. And who doesn't love that? Great band stories are always brilliant. J and Lou always had one of rock's greatest antagonistic relationships. There's that story that J was producing a Breeders track, and he was asleep on the mixing desk, stoned, so Kim and Kelley put a Sebadoh track on real loud to wake him up. "What's this?" says J as he comes to, "This is great!" When the girls told him it was Sebadoh he got really angry apparently. I eat that shit up.
Last Edit: September 18, 2008, 03:35:33 am by GaZZwa
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nowhere to collapse the lung
breathes a doubt in eeeeeveryoooone

air guitar yes
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I fucking love Dinosaur Jr., I talked with them a bit after I saw them play about a year ago and they all seemed like decent guys too.
It just sounds like they're not your type of music, which is fine their music isn't actually that accessible. I have no idea why you'd want to force yourself to like something.
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well ase heres your problem: your gay
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But if you have that much trouble, maybe they aren't for you! I love em because of all the little things in the songs. The vocals have never been a problem to me, but I can understand how they'd grate on some people. Hell, the vocals rule and it would not feel right if J had a "better" voice! That goes for the fucked up guitar too, I'd say.
Since you're having so much trouble with You're Living, maybe listen to some other tracks. One of my favourite combinations is Blowing It/I Live For That Look (2 songs flowing together). I'd also suggest Thumb and Flying Cloud, which are very un-Dinosaur Jr songs.
At least you like SludgeFeast though. That's tight.
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I fucking love Dinosaur Jr., I talked with them a bit after I saw them play about a year ago and they all seemed like decent guys too.
It just sounds like they're not your type of music, which is fine their music isn't actually that accessible. I have no idea why you'd want to force yourself to like something.
ahaha really?  how was j?  i always get the impression he is just fucking out of it all the time, at least on stage, so i wonder how he is in person.
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ahaha really?  how was j?  i always get the impression he is just fucking out of it all the time, at least on stage, so i wonder how he is in person.
he was just as you'd imagine, no shit. I didn't have much to say except that I really appreciated his work and he seemed pretty cool to me, but this one guy kept going on and on about other bands he liked with him and J just kinda was looking around all spaced out while the guy was talking going "yeah, mmm hmm", my friend has a picture of it on her computer somewhere
Last Edit: September 18, 2008, 07:32:51 pm by DietCoke
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how can you list GaZZwa and not mention DJ Soup this is the ultimate offense we are synonyms.

What's so fascinating about Dino Jr is their mellow passive aggressive noise. They sound noisy and harsh and at the same time soft and mellow. It is really magical. And J Mascis voice is cathartic in a beautiful way man.
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how indeed
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how can you list GaZZwa and not mention DJ Soup this is the ultimate offense we are synonyms.

What's so fascinating about Dino Jr is their mellow passive aggressive noise. They sound noisy and harsh and at the same time soft and mellow. It is really magical. And J Mascis voice is cathartic in a beautiful way man.
yeah good point.  this is definitely a huge part of their aesthetic and part of the reason i love them so much.
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dude if you don't like dinosaur jr. you shouldn't listen to it. that said it's a pretty cool band man
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holm you dont even post here how have you managed to pick up such a disregard for punctuation