What artist gets the shortest shrift on this forum?

BREAD

Bread in the studio, practicing and posing— with Wrecking Crew multi-instrumentalist Larry Knechtel.

 

It's cool you've explored some older hip-hop - the current trends in the genre since 2010 lean more towards Trap style beats (an outgrowth of Southern hip-hop with heavy 808 drums and synths) which are usually complemented by a faster delivery. I do find that the site genius.com is incredibly helpful across all eras of rap - it's community sourced for the meanings of lyrics. It's not mandatory, but it's certainly helpful.

But usually like with any genre, the point of the song is to communicate something (whether that's how rich and fat the artist is living, or a broader societal issue) and if the beat matches the lyrics it adds to the aesthetic. If you're curious about more modern rap, I have to point you in the direction of Kendrick Lamar - who recently won the Pulitzer Prize for his lyrics- and who also wears his influences from the 90s on his sleeve while still creating something very fresh. His 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly has been critically acclaimed from all sorts of folks and the production adds to the whole "urban life made good" by incorporating the funk of George Clinton and the thrash metal background of guitarist Thundercat.

But hey, like with anything, if you don't like it, you just don't like it. I suppose the issue is that a lot of folks on here trash indiscriminately without ever actually looking into a genre.

 

I like what I've heard from Kendrick Lamar. In his case, I can make out most of the words, even given the twists and turns in his syntactic pretzel logic, which take a while longer than one listen to completely unravel. His concept recordsI'm just a casual fan, don't own any records. My record buying has been on a tight budget for quite a while now. But I find myself in agreement with the prevailing view that he's brought something new to the microphone. I try to keep my ears open. I've never particularly cared about being the first fan onto a new artist. I heard them when I hear them, and don't force the process. I don't push the river.

But Kendrick is an exception, in my (admittedly limited) listening experience. I do like Chance a lot, but he's his own thing. I like Drake all right, too, but that's pop-hop music. I don't have much use for the other hip-hop output that I've heard. As I've said, I find most of it incomprehensible. I don't find clattery 808s and a "hickory dickory DOCK" cadence the slightest bit mind-altering. It shares more similarity with being harangued in boot camp than authentic bats-in-the-belfry jams like Lee Perry's dub reggae echoplex fantasias, or George Clinton's variations on "Tweakin'". Although I've heard some strong storytellers in hip-hop, very little of the instrumental soundtrack has impressed me to the same extent as Perry or Clinton. Mantronix are the only guys that consistently got there, and that was mid-80s. Okay, some of the late 1990s-early 2000s mixes sound pretty good- Jay-Z, Quest, Del, Dre's work with Eminem. Maybe I'm just easily tired of someone continually talking over the music, in the same way that a lot of people have a low tolerance for extended instrumental solos. Which does get in the way of being a serious hip-hop fan.

I also pretty much loathe the rap styles that have been tagged "Southern hip-hop"- crunk and trap house and so forth. That's been the "new thing" ruling the hip-hop scene for how long, nearly 20 years? It's humorless, insincere, obvious, uncreative, and degenerate. The lyric themes are pretty much devoid of any emphasis other than swaggering criminal antisociality. It's an unhealthy and impoverished psychology. I'd just feel phony pretending as if I liked it. But every culture gets its soundtrack, and as long as Drug War Prohibition is drawing up the laws and the playing field, I expect continuing popularity. No matter how boneheaded dumb ass it gets. But don't expect any critic in a major publication to express an opinion along that line, because beatdowns.

Or maybe I'm wrong, and there's genius trap house out there, or totally amazing L'il Wayne tracks that I've slept on. I liked an Akon jam once. Not impressed by the persona being expressed, though.

I know that there's at least some other good new hip-hop besides KL out there- I tuned into some last summer on my car radio, driving into New York City. But I didn't catch the back announcing. I'd appreciate any help in finding the intelligent stuff, or any mixes that someone might recommend as especially looney-tune. I suppose that I could look at lists and audition clips, but I don't want to have to wade through a lot of dreck.

 

Discovered by Del Shannon, the album hit #17 on the charts in 1969, its best known song is this cover, which hit the top ten. You couldn't get away from it at the time.

 

The Shaggs

 

Yeah, I hear you. I'm able to turn off my brain and enjoy a lot of the more mind numbing stuff that others might find excruciating.

Are you familiar with Flying Lotus and his Brainfeeder record label? It's a lot of instrumental stuff with minimal (if any) rap that has a pretty strong hip-hop feel. I would recommend checking out his most recent album "You're Dead".

 

like, sweet Jesus help me, people bragging about swigging codeine and promethazine as if it's some avant-garde peak experience. Spare me.

fwiw, I've been meaning to check out Flying Lotus for some time. I keep encountering the name.

It's worth mentioning that my earlier choice for most overlooked artist, Chris Whitley, made Rocket House, a hybrid insane blues/avant-hip hop record with DJ Logic and a couple of other guys back in 2001. Astounding record, although not a rap record, because Whitley doesn't rap, he sings. Superlatively.




Rocket House is Prince-level quality, in my opinion. Although the ambience isn't smooth or dreamy- it's harsh, rough-hewn, hard, and by turns meancing, scary, and transcendent. It holds together like a concept record, from beginning to end. The sound partakes of some of the same elements as crunk. But it's in another league from any crunk record that I've ever heard.

 

I think you're right, but I don't think anyone let Elva Miller in on the joke....

 

I think Queen would be in the top 5.

 

The Smashing Pumpkins

 

Pacific?

They actually had a song called Shrift:

 

Harry Nilsson, IMHO.

 

INXS

 

The Kings

 

Al Jolson

 

I think they had 10 times more mentions than albums sold

 

Considering the sheer volume of their catalogues, I'd say both The Kinks and Van Morrison.

 

Please justify that comment. I have yet to read a single post on this forum that is in any way disparaging of Nilsson, and I've seen plenty of positive comments.

 

The great Hawaiian slack key guitar virtuoso Ledward Kaapana

Watch / listen and be amazed.

 

Aside from the epic black metal thread, there is zero discussion of extreme metal despite it being one of the most innovative genres in music.

In an interesting aside, the excellent metal reviews site Angry Metal Guy lists the DR info for every record reviewed. It's the only place beyond this one where Ive seen anyone express interest in mastering and recording quality.

Also, Phish doesn't seem to get much love here

 

I became a big fan of him since the ''Vocalize'' video became viral. I'll admit that I first laughed non-stop for days about the video, but searching about him and hearing his delightful response to the sudden revitalization of his career, made me start looking more of him.
For years, I went on a quest to find where the video came from, and that led me to the 1976 TV special, where Khil sang 9 songs composed by Arkady Ostrovsky. I heard and watched the special and found it very entertaining, despite the outdated special effects and overall goofy-feeling direction of the videos, but nonetheless, a respectful commemoration of a great composer.
That led me to search the actual songs in better quality, as all the sources I have found of the special have audio artifacts and quality issues. I gave up on the search several times over the years as Khil's discography is very extensive and yet some of the songs have been reissued very few times, and with very dubious sources, but this led me to hear more of him and liking it.
As of today, I have found all the songs on the special in decent quality, though at least two of them, the version that was used on the special has not been published anywhere else, so I cannot do a 100% accurate personal audio remaster of that special, which I have been trying to do since I became a fan of him back in early 2011.
In this recent time that I retook the search, I found a somewhat recent upload (March 2018) of an alternate video of ''Vocalize/Trololo'', from the year it was originally recorded/released (1967-68), and it even features an alternate vocal by Khil:

 

So I see people don't know what the phrase 'short shrift' means. Which includes the original poster.

 

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

 

short shrift

1. rapid and unsympathetic dismissal; curt treatment.

2. little time between condemnation and execution or punishment. (archaic)