Open Thread Thursday!

[theletterfour]

Today's open thread topic is music. What kind of music do you most like to listen to? Do you have any experience playing a musical instrument? If your life had a soundtrack, what would the song for your current situation be? Is there a song or artist that can make you happy, no matter what mood you were otherwise in? Are there any songs that mean a lot to you for other reasons?

Also, please note that today's open thread is public.

Comments

[shiyiya]

I mostly listen to filk and musicals - right now the Mamma Mia! soundtrack because Chally referenced a song in a Zero At The Bone post. Oh, and sixties music. My parents bought this enormous set of CDs of popular sixties music from Time Life, one of those things they sell on TV.

I am kind of... weird about music. I need to listen to music basically all the time, because silence messes with my head and also music drowns out the kinds of little unexplained noises that wig me out really quickly. Also, I get more auditory hallucinations when I don't have music playing, and those are annoying. Also, I don't listen to music I don't already know. If I think something is likely to be worth the effort (new Seanan McGuire CD, SJ Tucker just released two new songs), I can make myself listen to it on repeat enough that I can listen to it normally, but the process is unpleasant. (This may be part of why I do musicals - they introduce music in a way that... I dunno, requires paying attention to? Seeing a musical for the first time isn't unpleasant, and then I can nab the soundtrack and add it to my listen to forever. I have been known to have one album on repeat for three weeks.) I also don't/can't do different versions of a song than the one I'm familiar with - instead of being noise that's predictable, it becomes noise where I expect one thing and get another and it's really really really unpleasant. The first version of a song I hear is basically the only one I can ever listen to.

(While we're on music, hey look it's my last.fm. You see those 30,000 Frou Frou plays? Basically all of them are of one ten-track album that is my ati-panic/sleep music. I downloaded the whole discography, and all of Imogen Heap's, and I can't listen to it. I have a similar problem with Assemblage 23 - I grabbed his discography, and I can basically only listen to the songs that were in the playlist on vampirefreaks.com that introduced me to it.)

[calvinahobbes]

Muuusic! Oh, I have so many things that I like -- I grew up with public radio, so anything from Beatles to CCR to Robbie Williams to national pop is familiar to me.

Right now I am getting really in to Florence + the Machine -- her lyrics tell some really good stories. Before that I was falling hopelessly in love with the queer (as in LGBT, L and T specifically) little folk band Coyote Grace -- I wrote a pimp post about them in my journal here PLEASE NOTE: the link contains an embedded YouTube video!. Their music always makes me happy, especially Ingrid Elizabeth's "Girls Like Me", which is bouncy and bright and cheerful.

[veerserif]

Thanks for the Coyote Grace link - I listened to some of their songs on youtube and it's brilliant!

[calvinahobbes]

Oh, I am so glad you gave them a listen! They are absolutely adorable, and super professional -- their live performances sound just like their album recordings (or the other way around?). They'll be releasing a new album soon! \o/

[norah_liath]

When it comes to loose songs, I like some stuff from all kinds of music, but I do have a type: metal, and 80's stuff. There are less than a handful of bands that I actually like as bands, though, as in I like more than 60% of an album when they release one.

Some songs mean a lot to me because I listened to them as a child.
Other kinds mean a lot to me because they literally help me do things, like moving, or travelling (without an aide).

[metapianycist]

I never know what I'll like or not like in advance, but the things I generally like a lot are rap parodies, operatic/concert arias, Baroque music, and angry female rock bands.

[veerserif]

I just realised I have a LOT of soundtracks - games, TV, movies etc. I don't know why. Possibly because no lyrics? Also because doing homework to big booming climax "hero saves the world" music makes it much much more epic :D I am a sucker for anything with a piano in it, really. I'm a fan of... well, I guess where you can pick out each instrument individually? That's a terrible description but then I tend to like a lot of stuff, I guess. I tend to have one or two bands I listen to non-stop for about a month, then I move on to either new bands or ones I've listened to before.

I've said this before but I play the piano. I managed to pick out the tune to Still Alive and I'm working on the left hand melody right now :D Also, a waltzified Sherlock's Theme is fun. Ooh plus plus "Rescue Me" from Atonement, the movie. It's about a minute and a half, and really poignant yet simple. I should try writing out the sheet music for it, but the rhythm's giving me trouble.

[demacrux]

Lately I've been listening to a lot of synthpop and industrial music in addition to some punk albums that I have on my mp3 player..