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Thanks folks. Some new music to me there, and some good music I've not listened to in years.
I’m sure she’s right… just not on my headphones
Posted 19 hours ago
Try "when the the party's over" by Billie through headphones, you might hate it but I'd be bloody surprised
Anything by Nils frahm, or a winged victory for the sullen.
The Birds by Elbow
Enjoy the silence - Depeche Mode
Ooo, I'm looking forward to working my way through this thread properly. Will see how well my Spotify account and distinctly low/mid-range Sony BT/ANC headphones manage (I will get those QC35s one day...)
But – codecs, wtf – where do I even check these, never mind change them?
What are you listening on?
'You can't fix this' on the sound city soundtrack is amazing too.
stevie nicks and dave grohl
Oh and 'nothing else matters' on the s&m album is just amazing
Well, Frankie Goes to Hollywood was an unexpected find this eve. Been adding tracks from this thread to a Tidal queue. Good stuff.
I’m surprised/disappointed that no mention has been made of Talk Talk : Spirit of Eden, one the best produced/mixed/engineered albums out there, link below to album on YouTube but if you have tidal then check out the master version
Got into John Martyn this year (vague memories of hearing my parents playing his stuff many moons ago)
Amazing singer/songwriter/guitarist, but not a nice person. Real drink problem, which ultimately killed him. Saw him a few times, once he was so drunk he could barely play and sing, but he was electrifying when he wasn’t off his face.
With regard to Dire Straits, I only possess one album, ‘Love Over Gold’, which is all I need of theirs...
Now looking through my favourites.
Phil Collins - in the air tonight sounds live - sounds amazing.
A leftfield one is 'agnus dei' by barber sung by the trinity college choir is amazing too
definitely not decent headphones, but I remember listening to the album version of pleasure dome on my Walkman and being absolutely blown away by this stereo thing..sound came from everywhere!
Still one of the best album openers I reckon...
Sultans off swing by dire straits was amazing as well.. it wasn’t what knopfler played it was the *bits* in between.
I really should get some decent headphones.,,
I like:
The Who : Baba O’Riley
Harold Faltemeyer : Axel F
Dire Straits : Sultans of Swing (also)
Stand High Patrol : Brest Bay
Bakermat : Lion
For those that like nils frahm, olafur arnalds, kiasmos etc I can recommend Martin Roth : An Analog Guy In A Digital World below
Also pretty much anything else by Bakermat.
For those that like nils frahm, olafur arnalds, kiasmos etc I can recommend Martin Roth : An Analog Guy In A Digital World below
Just listened to that whilst watching my boy's diving lesson, looking out from the viewing gallery over the small kids with goggles and swim hats bobbing, through the glass wall to the waves crashing on the beach beyond. Was awesome, thanks!
AKG Y50BT here. Imagine they're mid range at best compared to a lot of stuff but I bought them off the classifieds here for £25, love them!
Not strictly headphone music but I remember visiting the Baltic Flour Mill gallery in 2012 and there was an audio exibit of Thomas Tallis Spem in alium (40-voice motet) using 40 speakers for each singer set in a circle
Not my usual stuff but considering it was written in the 16thC 😮
Glad those AKGs are still going strong Dave 🙂
They're splendid curto, top bargain, thanks!
AKG Y50BT here
Ive got their much older brother, the K340 got them for free because the elastic needed replacement. Amazing headphones but they require an amp with some oomph.
davesaurusrex, yeah it’s just the music to accompany waves crashing on a shore.
AKG YT50bt, here as well - very little wrong with them for the price. Also use AirPods Pro and RHA T20i (wired) from Cambridge Audio Dac Magic Plus.
I've basically spent the evening listening my way through this thread on my Sony WH-1000X M3 headphones while drinking copioius amounts of cider.
Cracking night so far 😀
http://://m.youtube.com/watch?v=54AjKU_stSw
One of my favourite records, worth checking out everything that Rhythm And Sound put out. Heavy. Sounds amazing on headphones or decent system.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AlftMNmDH00
Johann Johannsson. Just breathtaking.
Why don't my links embed? 🤔
The longest 8 minutes? Austin City Limits do a fantastic job for Angel Olsen here IMO, and this performance and recording (for me) just melts space and time. Epic and quite a bit spooky in a way. I imagine waltzing wraiths of Syd Barret, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline among the audience. I maybe had too much beer and crisps. But you can hear everything, from the stage hiss to a sniff, from a hi-hat ghost-note to the separation between crashing waves of guitars. Captivating.
The sort of live performance where the youtube comments are praising the sound engineer more than the band
I know Sting is a premier league twunt but Ghosts in the Machine and Synchronicity sound great
I know Sting is a premier league twunt but Ghosts in the Machine and Synchronicity sound great
I actually can't bring myself to listen to anything that Sting is involved in
Dune Tune by Level 42.
Philips Fidelio X2HR.
The Beatles - A Day in the Life
Treat yourself to a bit of 'Forgive This I Won't by Elsiane.
You're welcome.
This thread is great. I've only got to about post 30 and have already listened to Underworld whilst riding on the turbo today then Leftfield whilst running and now The Orb whilst lying in bed!
All with nice big over ear headphones.
Do yourself a favour and have a listen to Gracie Fields ‘Singing in the Bathtub’ on a decent set of headphones, if you listen carefully you can even hear the plop when she drops the soap
somafunk
Full MemberFor those that like nils frahm, olafur arnalds, kiasmos etc I can recommend Martin Roth : An Analog Guy In A Digital World below
Thanks for that, just what I was after Empty Streets is my fave so far
I'm currently enjoying Nick Cave's latest live album (Idiot Prayer), just him and a piano, in particular The Mercy Seat and Jubilee Street. Such an emotional voice, even more noticeable when it's so stripped back.
Some others include
London Grammer - Hay Now
Massive Attack - Protection / Angel / A prayer for England / too many tracks to list
Bjork - Isobel or Headphones
Radiohead - street spirit
A few more treats for your lugholes
Son Lux - Weapons (there's many different versions, try "V" .
)
Death Grips - Come Up and Get Me
Alex Smoke - Never Want to See You Again
Health - Feel Nothing / or New Coke (feel that rumble)
ps. If you think Level 42 is acceptable listening in 2020 (well, anytime really) please ignore this post 😆
Just listened to Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbits through the cans and it was pretty decent. Builds at the end into a bit of an assault on the ears
Something a bit different from Erased Tapes, music for brainwaves which won’t be everyone’s “cup o’ tea”, my fav of the trio is dream
Erased Tapes commissioned three of their composers — Michael Price, Högni and Ben Lukas Boysen — to work closely with the scientists in producing three scientifically informed pieces of music. Consequently titled Focus in 12-18Hz, Ascend in 8-13.9Hz and Dream in 0.1-3.9Hz, each track utilises relevant tones, frequencies and rhythms to affect the brain in a beneficial way.
just him and a piano
Without wishing to sound like a HiFi ****er - when it's just a voice and an instrument, this is quite easy for equippment to reproduce (and yes I know I did suggest it earlier). I find that music with a wide dynamic range and/or a lot of sound in general is more remarkable on good kit. That's why I suggested Churches earlier. Because it's electronic there's deep bass, vocals and crystal clear treble notes and I can hear all of it at the same time, as well as if it were being played separately, which is something I've never been able to do before. The percussion and the beat isn't overwhelming the rest of it. This is as much to do with lossless compression as it is good reproduction I think. Same goes for heavy rock - I find it much much easier on my ears now.
I actually can’t bring myself to listen to anything that Sting is involved in
Why? Sure, he can be a bit po-faced and up himself, but he’s not a pedophile or a serial rapist. And he does have a sense of humour, take a listen to ‘Dream Of The Blue Turtles’, where you can hear him crack up laughing at the end of one track.
I’m not going to stop playing someone’s recordings just because they’re a bit full of themselves, ‘cos there are plenty out there who are pretty unpleasant, like John Martyn was, but who’s records are highly regarded, so where are you going to stop?
Anyway, back to the main topic, and I can’t recall anyone mentioning Steely Dan, in particular ’Aja’ and ‘Groucho’, and also Donald Fagan’s solo albums, especially ’The Nightfly’ and ‘Kamakiriad’, all of which are incredibly good recordings, and really difficult to pick out specific tracks, in fact, back when ‘The Nightfly’ came out the boss of B&W speakers heard it and had a bunch of copies especially pressed up with sleeves advertising B&W for demoing their speakers, because he was so impressed with the recording quality.
I’ve got a copy kicking around somewhere in among my old vinyl.
Nina Simone Feelin Good - That intro
Why? Sure, he can be a bit po-faced and up himself, but he’s not a pedophile or a serial rapist. And he does have a sense of humour, take a listen to ‘Dream Of The Blue Turtles’, where you can hear him crack up laughing at the end of one track.
I’m not going to stop playing someone’s recordings just because they’re a bit full of themselves, ‘cos there are plenty out there who are pretty unpleasant, like John Martyn was, but who’s records are highly regarded, so where are you going to stop?
Erm, I don't like his music as well as him being a massive jeb end. A bit of 'listen to me laugh, I'm a fun guy' at the end of a track will probably not convince me otherwise though. You'd also be hard pressed to make me listen to anything by Chris Martin - a cock and an awful singer/songwriter in equal measures. Isn't music subjective 🙂
As for John Martyn - I know nothing about him, other than what has been mentioned in this thread.
Prepared to try a recommendation of a Sting track from this thread though, just to not be blinkered
Some good recommendations so far, going to keep me entertained through work today.
My favourite in the headphones is probably
UNKLE ft moby god moving over the face of the waters
I used to have a FLAC file of it which I can no longer find and it's seems impossible to track down. I'm stuck with the poor quality YouTube video.
If anyone has a better quality copy, please can I have a copy?
I’m not going to stop playing someone’s recordings just because they’re a bit full of themselves
I wouldn’t stop listening to someone’s music based on whatever their personality is like! But if the music is as shit and bland as Sting and there are billion other songs to listen to, I’ll go through the other billion first.
Erm, I don’t like his music as well as him being a massive jeb end. A bit of ‘listen to me laugh, I’m a fun guy’ at the end of a track will probably not convince me otherwise though.
Also, for something a bit different...
The album is incredible
For some reason (possibly spectral/ADD) I love to listen in the pitch dark to loooong passages/albums of a certain variant of minimalist ambient techno. My love affair with it started with Orb’s ‘Valley’ and then Underworld, then Gas/Wolfgang Voigt and contemporaries. For me it’s therapy. A journey into non-contemplative, thoughtless, inner-space and peacefulness. Somewhat like (ok very much like) the ‘forest bathing’ concept. Voigt did say of ‘Gas’ that ‘the intention of the project is to "bring the forest to the disco, or vice-versa’. Also pipe it through the earbuds on solo MTB/gravel loops of the Wyre, High Vinnals, Bringewood etc, and it fits just so.
I realise this music/experience might be diametrically different for others. Maybe that’s why Mrs P got me these headphones 😎
Possibly a good genre for any others out there who suffer from attention disorder or similar?
Markus Guentner - Shadows of the City
Gas - Königsforst (5)
J.Cole - the climb back. Production is on point, beat on point, J.Cole... well just being J.Cole.
Gas ...
Kompakt label (Gas' later releases, in case anyone being pedantic) is pretty much all wonderful on the headphones.
Take your pick - https://www.discogs.com/label/715-Kompakt 🙂
Nothing by Metallica, apparently.
I heard a great podcast once, about sound and music quality and one episode they had the guy who mastered some of the Metallica albums and he was properly ranting about them.
He was trying to explain to them that "just making it louder" ruins the balance, and if people want it louder they can turn it up on their devices, but James was insistent that he turned all the dials up to 11, because louderer is betterer and only Metallica had the balls to make an album at 11 louds. And subsequently all the albums are clipped to hell and sound like ass.
Not music, but if youre into "sound" take a listen to these: https://www.20k.org/
The Metallica one is "Loudness Wars", but they are all good. I found the Netflix one (i think its called (Ta-dum) really interesting. In fact, they are all good, and all worth headphones.
Nothing by Metallica, apparently.
I'll try Nothing Else Matters and Turn The Page later
But not on YouTube
@Olly - a book I’ve referenced a few times, Perfecting Sound Forever, goes into the Loudness Wars in forensic detail, and is an essential read if you have any real interest in recorded music and it’s history. The very worst example of what you’re talking about is a Red Hot Chilli Peppers album, where there is no dynamic range at all, it’s just LOUD all the way through, purely to enable it to be heard through shitty little phone speakers.
Prepared to try a recommendation of a Sting track from this thread though, just to not be blinkered
Dream Of The Blue Turtles, Stings first solo album, is as good a place to start, it’s a great recording, the title track is really just a sort of instrumental jam, hence the laughing at the end
The Impressions - People Get Ready
Amazing how good some fairly old recordings sound, not sure if they've been remastered.
^ Thats due to using a combination of tape and non solid state equipment in the engineering/mastering process as there was a ceiling on db levels due to how poorly such equipment can handle being pushed beyond its limits.
Nice thread
I'm (hopefully) getting some reasonable new headphones at Christmas so will look forward to setting up a few trials via the Tidal.
What I love to hear on good equipment is the extra level of bass that every now and then seems to slide in from somewhere different to the what you think at the time is the deepest bass..
Also tracks that only start the deep bass quite a bit late in the track, such as
Sundays Can't be sure
Red hot chili peppers Hey
Going to post a few of my tunes as they've all been mixed through headphones, and that's how I prefer to listen and chill.
So always mix in some audio 'Easter eggs' that will only really be audible in cans.
Here's a sample, but there's 30+ tunes on my SoundCloud...
Listen to Music For Carports by Chien Andalou on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/u3nHN
Listen to Isolation 8 by Chien Andalou on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/7Xjws
Listen to Cassini Division by Chien Andalou on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/wushg
Listen to Isolation 15 pt.2 by Chien Andalou on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/LjN8n