Music of the Noughties

**BohsPartisan** · 18/03/2008, 10:44 PM

Seasick Steve is a class act.

**paul_oshea** · 19/03/2008, 11:02 AM

this is a good thread, i find myself reverting further and further back. All the music produced nowadays is pure drivel, bands come and go as often as a hoor changes her knickers. I think its hard to be original almost everything has been done already, and sounds are more and more a like. I think its a case of certain types of music getting bigger and bigger and pushing the boundaries of that type i.e. r n b and all that stuff.

**jebus** · 19/03/2008, 12:51 PM

A lot of the problem is in the quality of sound put out on albums these days I think. I know the music itself isn't as good, but I was talking to a producer friend of mine and he was explaining how they compress things into one basic wall of sound these days to save on time and cost, but it's to the detreiment of the actual quality of the music.

Certainly if you stick on a recently pressed best of Ramones (say) and stick the same tracks on your record player you will notice a considerable decline in quality. Tom Dunne was doing something on his show recently enough where he only played vinyl on his radio show to show the difference in quality and it really was very obvious.

**Wolfie** · 19/03/2008, 1:04 PM

Originally Posted by jebus

A lot of the problem is in the quality of sound put out on albums these days I think. I know the music itself isn't as good, but I was talking to a producer friend of mine and he was explaining how they compress things into one basic wall of sound these days to save on time and cost, but it's to the detreiment of the actual quality of the music.

Certainly if you stick on a recently pressed best of Ramones (say) and stick the same tracks on your record player you will notice a considerable decline in quality. Tom Dunne was doing something on his show recently enough where he only played vinyl on his radio show to show the difference in quality and it really was very obvious.

Former Oasis producer Owen Morris claims he introduced this method to the mainstream with Definitely Maybe. Everything is turned up high in the mix.

The band and their management were unhappy with the original production on the album and Owen Morris was hired to have a shot at it.

Check the graphic sound levels on your stereo when you play that album - none of them drop below the highest level for the duration of the album. To para-phrase Spinal Tap - "Everything was turned up to eleven".

**paul_oshea** · 19/03/2008, 3:07 PM

not quite wolfie:

"These all go to 11!"

**beautifulrock** · 19/03/2008, 3:55 PM

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

not quite wolfie:

"These all go to 11!"

Not quite Paul, check the meaning of paraphrase.

**Lionel Ritchie** · 20/03/2008, 8:37 AM

Originally Posted by Wolfie

Former Oasis producer Owen Morris claims he introduced this method to the mainstream with Definitely Maybe. Everything is turned up high in the mix.

The band and their management were unhappy with the original production on the album and Owen Morris was hired to have a shot at it.

Check the graphic sound levels on your stereo when you play that album - none of them drop below the highest level for the duration of the album. To para-phrase Spinal Tap - "Everything was turned up to eleven".

Sounds more like something that'd be done at the Mastering stage rather than the Mixing stage. I don't have any Oasis stuff but I remember being at a mastering session of an LP back in the mid 90's and the engineer mentioned the high level settings on Oasis records. You'd set them one way for the LP, another for singles -slightly lower level as they may end up being used in public (clubs, pubs etc) and lower again for promo CDs for airplay or you'll have trouble getting rotation.

**paul_oshea** · 20/03/2008, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by beautifulrock

Not quite Paul, check the meaning of paraphrase.

he edited, it after i had done that. Tets told me before i should quote the exact post, i should start doing that, ye cute little pup ye wolfie

rock ye love to catch me out dont ye?!

and in case yer wondering of the timestamp I read it first but posted about an hour later

**jebus** · 20/03/2008, 10:34 AM

I've heard of the Oasis wall of sound alright, but I think my friend was more talking about the way they compress all soundwaves to the same level and so what we hear today is akin to varying forms of muzaic in the background. He obviously explained this a lot better

**Wolfie** · 20/03/2008, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

he edited, it after i had done that. Tets told me before i should quote the exact post, i should start doing that, ye cute little pup ye wolfie

rock ye love to catch me out dont ye?!

and in case yer wondering of the timestamp I read it first but posted about an hour later

Yeah Yeah Paul - we believe ye!!!!

**noby** · 20/03/2008, 11:51 AM

That's it Paul, just keep digging. Shouldn't you be at the Mahon Tribunal?

**Neish** · 21/03/2008, 4:12 PM

Originally Posted by BohsPartisan

Seasick Steve is a class act.

100%

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qMf-em-56Mc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pUzmZvwMNsw

**Lionel Ritchie** · 21/03/2008, 9:32 PM

Originally Posted by Neish

100%

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qMf-em-56Mc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pUzmZvwMNsw

Might I be so bold as to suggest to BP and Neish that if you like Seasick Steve you'll probably like Jawbone as well.

Both men are giving a refreshing boot up the ass to an aged and maybe even somewhat jaded genre. Proper!

**Neish** · 22/03/2008, 3:07 PM

Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie

Might I be so bold as to suggest to BP and Neish that if you like Seasick Steve you'll probably like Jawbone as well.

Both men are giving a refreshing boot up the ass to an aged and maybe even somewhat jaded genre. Proper!

Not bad, not bad at all

**paul_oshea** · 24/03/2008, 4:49 PM

i did not have.....i still beleive the word paraphrase in there

I have no shovel

**rebs23** · 26/03/2008, 8:27 PM

So called indie/alternative music is the new MOR/AOR ie crap, rubbish, repetitive drivel.
For someone who used to take pride in the fact that I saw Nirvana support Sonic Youth in Henrys way back in the day the so called indie scene is just patethic now. I mean MBV reforming and playing 15 years after they were at their best is just like a sham. The Sultans and others reforming and gigging is equally patethic. Its like a showband reunion or something.
Whats worse all these indie/so called alternative types who think they are into something different are really just the conservative boring kids from our youth who thought Dire Straits were cool.
Electronic music is the only shining light. Even some of the so called pop music like Timbaland, Timberlake and others are using new technologies and creating great new sounds.
New stuff like LCD, Sam Sparro, CSS, Felix, Jay-Z, T2 etc are great. Theres something different about their music and the fact that they are not obsessed with some of the self important and conceited ****e with bands from the indie scene.
My biggest regret now in musical terms is that I spent too many Friday nights in Henrys rather than Saturday nights and that it wasn't until I went to London in the early 90's that I fully appreciated the rave/house scene.
The only stuff I listen to now that I did back in the late 80's/early 90's are Depeche Mode, New Order, Nine Inch Nails and one or two others.
For once Jebus is right.

**Lev Yashin** · 29/03/2008, 5:26 PM

i agree that maybe music now isn't at the standards that is was and that there needs to be a bit of quality control applied....but there is a fear here that we are turning into the old man in the corner of the oub where "everything was better in his day", there have been some great acts in "the noughties" and most have been mentioned here already i.e. interpol-good band ya their albums have got steadily worse but bloody great live act.
modest mouse-consistanly release good albums
Bright eyes- in a world saturated with singer songwriters he stands out because to put it simply...he writes good tunes
Doves-THE most underrated band.
and ill end on the artic monkeys- two good albums and a front man who it seems cant help but write good songs....whether its with the monkeys or last of the shadow puppets.

but the joy of music is its all about opinions

**Lionel Ritchie** · 30/03/2008, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by rebs23

So called indie/alternative music is the new MOR/AOR ie crap, rubbish, repetitive drivel.
.

I have a high degree of empathy for this sentiment. However I can't agree with the conclusions you draw from it. Read on...

Originally Posted by rebs23

I mean MBV reforming and playing 15 years after they were at their best is just like a sham. The Sultans and others reforming and gigging is equally patethic. Its like a showband reunion or something.

A chap said the very same thing to me recently about Whipping Boy and I'll say the same thing to you now as I said to him ...bands do not exist to fill a tidy compartmentalised niche in the memory banks and music collections of their erstwhile fans. I'll not only support them for reforming and touring (in so far as anyone can tour these days) I'll applaud them for doing so. These songs deserve a dusting down and a re-airing and if that places them in the realm of cabaret then it's only to the same extent as bands of their era who've consistently released stuff in the interim. That in itself raises an interesting point -there is something possibly more honourable about MBV, Sultans, or whoever going away for years rather than continuing to release stuff in dubious guises. For example it's arguable that Smashing Pumpkins have been releasing Billy Corgan solo LPs for some time now under the SP brandname. Likewise with Miles Hunt and The Wonderstuff.

Originally Posted by rebs23

Whats worse all these indie/so called alternative types who think they are into something different are really just the conservative boring kids from our youth who thought Dire Straits were cool.

There is much truth and wisdom here. Plus any of them who get that haircut where they're trying to look like Weller in 1978 but are actually looking more like Slades bass player in 1974 truly deserve a slap.

Originally Posted by rebs23

.
Electronic music is the only shining light. Even some of the so called pop music like Timbaland, Timberlake and others are using new technologies and creating great new sounds.
New stuff like LCD, Sam Sparro, CSS, Felix, Jay-Z, T2 etc are great. Theres something different about their music and the fact that they are not obsessed with some of the self important and conceited ****e with bands from the indie scene.
My biggest regret now in musical terms is that I spent too many Friday nights in Henrys rather than Saturday nights and that it wasn't until I went to London in the early 90's that I fully appreciated the rave/house scene.

This is where I particularily diverged with your conclusions. It's scarcely the fault of the Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, Dinosaur Jnr, Belly, or whoever else that guitar-based indie pop turned up it's own hole a decade later. Other factors were and are at play -including the changing market, access to exposure apparently increasing due to new media but actually decreasing due to saturation... Degraded and dried up live music circuits and the onward and upward rise of the music festival...

You were better off in Freakscene. The era we're talking about was a high water mark in a glut of appallingly poor dance records riding on the coat tails of a handful of really good ones.