What music are you listening to / buying

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[Bandit]

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Found a chiptune deep-cut from the SA forum days. Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now is my favorite

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[melancholy]

That was terrible.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

That was terrible.

Just like if the real Kurt sang Celebrity Skin.

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[Bandit]

I won't win any cool points for this, but this was good

[Dr. Zoidberg]

That was good.

[Bandit]

[ian]

I've bit my lip and listened to something I've been putting off for a while:
Mythologies by Thomas Bangalter.

I was always going to feel a slight sting listening to either Half Punks music in a world where the band no longer exists. And the hit was quite a shock.
I still can't bring myself to listen to Random Access Memories again despite the 10th anniversary.

If I didn't know who composed this entirely orchestral ballet music, I would say it was good and has moments of genuine beauty, but is somewhat lacking and repetitive in certain parts, not quite a classic.
An enjoyable if not forgettable classical style.

But knowing who composed this music, I must say I am a little let down... It's an impressive feat, but I think he might have gone just a bit too far out of his comfort zone this time.
Thomas Bangalter has composed several tracks in the past with nothing but a keyboard and a drum machine that have kept me head banging for 7+ minutes at a time. And he's been doing it for a long time. Not only in a duo, but also by himself. And I've never usually thought the music itself felt repetitive. Even when a vocoder was singing 'around the world' 983 times on a loop did I think the music itself is boring me.

But there's parts in this ballet where it just uses the same structure too many times. There's evidence that he's trying to use the same techniques he would for a club anthem in there. And while the subtle changes in notes have been noted (In what feels like an attempt to build up things I couldn't see because I wasn't watching the ballet) it just feels like parts drag on too long, too often which gets old quickly and quite often left me longing for the next track to find something beautiful or that I resonate with.

I'm not versed in classical music, but I know what I like. And even though he's no stranger to working with orchestras, or doing soundtracks or traditional and modern composition and production, as a whole I don't think I like this.
There's a handful of ballet compositions I could listen to that I would enjoy more than this.

I could pass off my not liking it because it is indeed a soundtrack to a thing I have not seen, but that doesn't hold up. I heard his soundtrack to the film Irreversible and it was so phenomenal I decided to watch the movie from it (not a pleasant film, I wouldn't watch it again) and you could base an entire movie off music he composed with a partner where they combined an orchestra with electronics. In fact there was a movie made that served no other purpose than to showcase what Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo could achieve with an orchestra, the movie was Tron Legacy. And indeed I've listened to a few ballets in the past and quite enjoyed them whereas even the thought of seeing the dancing of a ballet bores me to sleep.

It's possible my expectations were too high? This is probably it. I expected, and still expect quite a lot from Thomas Bangalter. And for the drum/bass and beats I'm used to loving from him to this may have been just too far from that for me to get..

This somewhat bad review and me being critical and jaded isn't all bad though, I admire the fuck out of him for composing the first somewhat decent ballet since like the late 1800's? And its nothing like what I expected, which in a way is what I was expecting.

I think his next album could take 13 years of inventing a new interstellar instrument that harvests the very life force of all the planets in our solar system... Or just as likely be him recording in a jungle with nothing other than a banjo and pair of bongos. I have no fucking idea what it will sound like, and that as I'm getting older terrifies me instead of excites me.

We'll see. Now I'm sure someone will tell me when Guy-Manuel has his first solo work out, I hope HE combines all his boppy / catchy synth hooks with an orchestra, but its just as likely to be a full on revival of ska as a genre... Who the fuck knows with them.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

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[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[ian]

That was amazing!

[ian]

I was curious to listen to what Placebo have been up to for the past 17 years having heard literally nothing about them or from them at all for the past 16 years... Turns out they haven't been up to much. 3 Albums and I didn't like any of it.

At least they still have Every You Every Me and Song to Say Goodbye.