Big Music Talk, with Raymond Terrific

[Jokesound]

Markuz: That's fine if you don't want other people to listen to it. I can see where you're coming from. My friend Will does the same thing. He's been messing about with music software for years, and he's now getting really good with it (You can certainly tell he progresses as he goes on, some of the early stuff was simplistic but enjoyable, or a bit wank), to the point some of the stuff he's made since the beginning of the year is stuff that I'm falling in love with (Once he got out of his "Let's make drum and bass and dubstep tracks!" phase he was in for a couple months). But he doesn't really give it to many people. He has a couple tracks up on youtube, and that's it. I have all of his music from where he's sent me it, and I now have more of his own music than he does. We're the only two people who have most of his songs, and I don't even know why. He listens to his own stuff more than anyone elses, at first I thought it was him being a bit self indulgent, but then he's gone back and redone some as well, but there's still no audience apart from me and him. He wants more people to listen to it, but he just doesn't really do much about it. I guess he has the same thing as you do, in that he makes it more for himself.

Edit: I'm gonna chuck this in here, but I went back and listened to that song you sent me ages ago (The file name is something like cfh_allvox_keys) and it's fantastic. Just so you know what I thought of it, because I remember I never told you what I thought and now I feel bad for not saying before, but: Markuz! Fuck yeah!

[Markatansky]

For example, I consider Bowling For Soup probably the best live act I've seen. Granted, their music isn't amazingly technically proficient, but it sounds good to me, it has a good mixture of happy, angry and jokey, and so forth. Live, you know for a fact they're enjoying the hell out of performing to everyone, and they point it out that they put on the best shows they can for their fans (especially the UK ones) because without them, they wouldn't be a band. BFS will openly joke around, make jokes with each other and the audience, cover a random song, play without a set setlist, and for a couple of songs, they'll just completely stop, go off on a random tangent (when I saw them in October, they stopped and posed for everyone for photoshoot opportunities), then go back and continue the song exactly where they left off. It's not just they were playing the songs, but they made you feel such a connection that you couldn't help but be enthralled. (That may just be me, though). Linkin Park, when I saw them at the O2, me and my friends were right at the back, but they sounded fantastic, we had a hell of a time, and they openly talked to and joked with the crowd. Mike Shinoda got the keyboard out and played an improv'd rendering of Umbrella, fucked it up and joked about it. I still have the bootleg of that performance (you could pay for it beforehand and get it downloadable a couple weeks later, something more bands should do), and every time I listen to it, I'm transported back to when I saw them, and I still love it.

That's what I'm talking about! It's not just about the music, it's about the band too.

I remember seeing Airbourne live - Joel O'Keefe, lead vocals and guitarist, just went apeshit. He was climbing on top of speakers and balconies (with a roadie holding him by the trousers) during the solos and at one point he brings out a 6 pack and starts smashing the cans open with his skull before lobbing the cans (as they're spraying beer everywhere) into the crowd, yelling "Catch!" and we were in a relatively small venue so it was very up close and personal, and fuckin' awesome to boot. I don't think I will ever forget that.

[Jokesound]

They'll now be finding their way onto my iPod, so I'll then let you know what I think after

[Markatansky]

They're nae bad! Here's a couple songs I recorded with my super cool band too (we changed our name between the songs): Here and here. ;D

[MarkuzR]

Savatage rock... love Dead Winter Dead and Streets. Any way to listen to these without having to sign up to some annoying place that just wants all my info?

[Markatansky]

I have no idea. Spotify is pretty convenient for sharing songs you don't own, which is why I use it.

[Jokesound]

Well, I texted you with most of my opinions, but I wanna chuck in that I'm now at war as to whether I prefer yours or Dream Theatre's version of Wait for sleep.

Spoiler ->You're clinching it

[pix3lboy]

I'm really late to the 'good music' debate and don't have much to say on it at the moment other than this;

Music is art, art is subjective and good (read;talented) artists are always out there, you just need to look for them.

Also, you can't say that all talented bands are 'good'. because it's still subjective. Take Dream Theater as an example again. Very talented band but I find them terribly boring, on CD and live. Avenged Sevenfold however are arguably as talented (The Rev is the only drummer I know that could give Portnoy a run for his money, so much so that when Portnoy was asked to step in after The Rev died, he said it was an honour. Plus Synyster Gates has amazing technical skill on guitar which ranges from crazy ass metal solos to intricate spanish guitar and M Shadows' vocals are stupidly powerful) yet they're one of my all time favourite bands.

I think my point is that just because a band is talented, that doesn't automatically mean people should like them. A band or artist can be talented but being good is all down to personal choice. Popularity doesn't really come into it because as many others have said before; a person is smart, people are idiots.

[MarkuzR]

I totally agree with what you just said... I listen to Barenaked Ladies, No Doubt, Natalie Imbruglia, Alanis Morisette more than I listen to Dream Theater now and, while none of them come close to the musicianship of Dream Theater, there's no denying that Barenaked Ladies and No Doubt are way out ahead of them in terms of writing great songs. DT are all about musicianship, and less about the song itself (as I said earlier) but it depends on what you're looking for. I mean, if I actually bothered reading literature I'd probably want to read Shakespeare if I wanted to intellectualise but Pratchett if I wanted a damn good yarn. Same with music - if I'm feeling like a musician then I'll listen to DT, but if I feel like kicking back and just getting lost in music then I'll listen to BNL.

Fact still remains though, there are more people out there who will think a band is awesome because of the hype surrounding them rather than what music they're producing. As soon as a band is no longer in vogue, their sales drop dramatically... if people listened to them because of the songs rather than the marketing, that wouldn't happen.

[pix3lboy]

Fact still remains though, there are more people out there who will think a band is awesome because of the hype surrounding them rather than what music they're producing. As soon as a band is no longer in vogue, their sales drop dramatically... if people listened to them because of the songs rather than the marketing, that wouldn't happen.

Like the NME crowd. The dickhead scenester kids that follow every sarcastic, driveling (and usually untrue) word that NME spew. There's no way Mumford & Sons would've got as big as they have if NME hadn't decided lick their proverbials.

Muse are another example of the same crowd. NME labelled them as "Radiohead jr" for their first album and slated them to the ground, but as soon as absolution was released NME decided to almost literally butt fuck them, bringing the sort of dickhead "fan" that told me how much they loved Muse when they saw me wearing a t-shirt or wristband but tried telling me I was wrong when I said they'd released 2 albums before Absolution.

The Mars Volta are another example. NME sucked their musical dicks for the first few albums but as soon as Amputechture was released and it wasn't a concept album like the first two, NME completely turned on them and claimed that they've never liked them, leading to The Mars Volta losing a load of so-called fans