[wolftigerrosebud]

OK, there's nowhere for other other music to go (like... not the Dead or Phish or Floyd etc.), so I thought it'd be cool to have a place to talk about modern psychedelic music. I know this is a Dead-specific forum, but it's all music... hope this is OK.

Animal Collective. They make some crazy, crazy sounding music as well as some really beautiful and listenable music. They're heavily influenced by the Dead in application and spirit, but their sound is totally their own. I found that listening to them with the Dead really works pretty well for me. They do a lot of jamming and variation and working stuff out as they go along in their tours. And they do the same taking old songs and changing them completely. I love their music nearly as much as I love the Dead's.

This song particularly.



They're taper-friendly. There's a few shows floating around on the Archive, but a much more comprehensive set of downloads can be found at collectedanimals.org, if anyone's interested.

[Tony6Strings]

Animal Collective is cool. They actually sampled some Dead for one of their songs, if I'm not mistaken. There are some really good psychedelic bands out there these days, I guess it's now classified as neo-psychedelia, but who's counting. Among my favorites are the Mars Volta, My Morning Jacket, and Radiohead. The Mars Volta, they're way far out but a lot of people get turned off by the fact that their music is very dissonant, lots of diminished scales and tritone chords that never really resolve. Their music has a darker edge to it, I can't handle it all the time but it's definitely mind expanding. They've brought back the concept album in a big way. Kind of reminds me of Pink Floyd mixed up with Mahavishnu Orchestra, and then some sort of hardcore thrash punk metal thrown in. My Morning Jacket has a way more good time happy vibe. Both bands are great. Radiohead, well, you already know about those guys unless you've been living under a rock for the last decade. My favorite album is In Rainbows. Tool also should be mentioned in any conversation about modern psychedelic music.

[mttourpro]

Mars Volta is definitely out there---fairly interesting to me in small doses. Saw a pretty cool show/video on whatever show Henry Rollins hosts on cable.

Also, a friend of mine suggseted checking out Mr. Bungle---they're defunct now but there's a fair amount out there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Bungle

not exactly my cup o tea, but, pretty unusual and unique if anything.
They do a very wide variety of stuff and most of it is pretty different from the mainstream.

[wolftigerrosebud]

Yeah, Animal Collective was actually the first group (maybe still the only? This song only came out a couple years ago) to get approval to use a sample of the Dead's music. The audio quality isn't great and you miss a lot of the highly textured bass frequencies (listen to it lossless if you can) that are in there, but you can clearly hear how they chopped up Phil's voice from "Unbroken Chain." Sounds cool. Great song.

And it's fitting that it's a 7/8 signature with a 14/8 feel. Totally Dead.



Also, Radiohead rocks. Anyone see Thom Yorke's weird dance on that new video, is it "Lotus Flower"? Something like that.

[Mr.Burns]

Wasn't Mr. Bungle a side project for Mike Patton from Faith No More? I'm not up on my Mr. Bungle, but I have heard it, and seem to recall it sounding vaguely like circus music...

While Tool deserves a mention, with this being a thread about modern psychedelic music, I don't feel they belong. 15-20 years ago they were truly pushing the sonic envelope, now they worry about sales and bang actresses. Don't misunderstand, I love their music and I always will, I just don't feel they're in touch with psychedelia anymore. But they're still nice and weird, hope that never changes.

What about Capt. Les Claypool and his many forays into psychedelic/jam/wtf music? He's not my cup o' tea, but if you've never heard Bucket of Bernie Brains or the Holy Mackerel or even Oysterhead you should check some out. These lineups aren't current, of course, but fresh enough to be modern. Some were ahead of their time...

[Tony6Strings]

While Tool deserves a mention, with this being a thread about modern psychedelic music, I don't feel they belong. 15-20 years ago they were truly pushing the sonic envelope, now they worry about sales and bang actresses. Don't misunderstand, I love their music and I always will, I just don't feel they're in touch with psychedelia anymore. But they're still nice and weird, hope that never changes.

The last album Tool put out was 10,000 Days. It was one of the most psychedelic albums they ever put out. Ties with Lateralus in my opinion. As for worrying about sales, there's not one artist out there who doesn't give a little thought to making some cheddar. It takes money to keep that wheel rolling and to keep making music, and to support expensive drug habits and buy nice cars and wineries and stuff like that... Tool is not the only band guilty of being motivated by money at one time or another. Lest we forget, that although the Dead loved their audience and the music, those aren't the only reasons they toured 300 days a year for 30 years. They were just as motivated by money as the next guy, they just found ways to make it without sacrificing the integrity of their music. Same with Tool in my opinion. As for banging actresses, what's wrong with that? Wouldn't you? I would. Anybody would!

[Mr.Burns]

The last album Tool put out was 10,000 Days. It was one of the most psychedelic albums they ever put out. Ties with Lateralus in my opinion. As for worrying about sales, there's not one artist out there who doesn't give a little thought to making some cheddar. It takes money to keep that wheel rolling and to keep making music, and to support expensive drug habits and buy nice cars and wineries and stuff like that... Tool is not the only band guilty of being motivated by money at one time or another. Lest we forget, that although the Dead loved their audience and the music, those aren't the only reasons they toured 300 days a year for 30 years. They were just as motivated by money as the next guy, they just found ways to make it without sacrificing the integrity of their music. Same with Tool in my opinion. As for banging actresses, what's wrong with that? Wouldn't you? I would. Anybody would!

Man I don't want to point out where that kind of thinking is flawed, but I just have to. Don't remember Aenima? Dose up and listen to that one again. Yeah they're not the only band thats motivated by money, but they are the only touring band I like that broke my heart by way of mtv exposure and radio airplay.

So being financially obligated to continue a tired old project is how you prefer to see stifled artists work? Billy K said Jer was only sticking around at the end because he needed the money. So these artists should be forced to never grow old gracefully, never go out on top, always chained to that one bloated project that now attracts all the wrong people? You're right, that does sound like the Dead.

Just because the Dead did a certain thing doesn't make it a proper course of action. In fact, if other bands can't learn from their colossal mistakes they're doomed to repeat them. Plus you should check out a Deadbase sometime, 300 nights a year for 30 years is a bit of an exaggeration. For example, 1970, which most of us regard as a busy year, amounts to about 150 nights. Thats nothing to sneeze at, no one on this board has a schedule like that, but 300? Few musicians work that much...

Oh and what I meant was porn actresses.

[Tony6Strings]

Man I don't want to point out where that kind of thinking is flawed, but I just have to. Don't remember Aenima? Dose up and listen to that one again. Yeah they're not the only band thats motivated by money, but they are the only touring band I like that broke my heart by way of mtv exposure and radio airplay.

So being financially obligated to continue a tired old project is how you prefer to see stifled artists work? Billy K said Jer was only sticking around at the end because he needed the money. So these artists should be forced to never grow old gracefully, never go out on top, always chained to that one bloated project that now attracts all the wrong people? You're right, that does sound like the Dead.

Just because the Dead did a certain thing doesn't make it a proper course of action. In fact, if other bands can't learn from their colossal mistakes they're doomed to repeat them. Plus you should check out a Deadbase sometime, 300 nights a year for 30 years is a bit of an exaggeration. For example, 1970, which most of us regard as a busy year, amounts to about 150 nights. Thats nothing to sneeze at, no one on this board has a schedule like that, but 300? Few musicians work that much...

Oh and what I meant was porn actresses.

300 nights a year was an exaggeration. The point is they were possibly the most overworked band around. I myself would prefer to see artists only make what they are inspired to make, and have it be as much of a joy for them as it is for those of us who get to experience it as an audience. In a perfect world they would not have to eat any shit from record companies, wouldn't have any fucked up contractual obligations requiring them to whore their music, and as a community would be less susceptible to the addictions, drugs and otherwise, that seem to run rampant in the music industry. Ideally, artists who have proven themselves worthy of the title "Great" should be left the fuck alone and allowed to create, and let someone else hassle with all the bullshit. There should be a safeguard against the kind of thing that happened to Hendrix, cause as a world we should hold creative genius at the highest value. Sadly, that's not the world we live in. The world values money, not art or spirituality. And people who make great music are just as prone to getting worldly as anyone else. I think there's this thing, where we as listeners, we hear this music, and we have these intensely pure spiritual experiences, life changing experiences, with the music these artists are making... And we, subconsciously or otherwise, start to hold these artists up to a standard of holiness... And we forget that they're human beings, they take explosive shits and have bad hair days and kick the dog when it chews up the rug, they are just as prone to be just as ugly and petty and fucked up as any other human being. Which was pretty much the point I was trying to make with my last post. That doesn't make me value their music any less. By the way, is your username a Simpsons reference? If so that's freaking awesome. Peace be with ya...

[wolftigerrosebud]

animal collective's been making music together for 11 years now and they ain't sold out at all. i kind of doubt they will, too, given their track record. they're just too weird, and they don't seem like the kind of guys who'd be interested in that at all. they're not doing it for the money.

think it's mainly because, like the dead, they were all friends before they made a band. keeps everything grounded.

i feel like i'm hijacking y'all's conversation, lol.

[Tony6Strings]

i feel like i'm hijacking y'all's conversation, lol.

Whoops... Sorry for the thread jack!

[Mr.Burns]

@ Tony6Strings
Aren't you on the strat talk board?

[Tony6Strings]

@ Tony6Strings
Aren't you on the strat talk board?

Sure am! What's your username over there?

[wolftigerrosebud]

i feel like i'm hijacking y'all's conversation, lol.

Whoops... Sorry for the thread jack!

oh dude i didn't feel like you did -- what you were talking about was totally on topic. i just was going in a different direction and it felt weird is all. i was actually glad to read what you had to say.