G'day y'all.

I used to be an occasional here -- way, way, back, when the old forum was young.

I may not be as old as some of the codgers here, but suffice to say I'm old enough to remember Polly Harvey spending an entire Shellac gig sat in John Loder's lap... back in the 20th Century (Steve should know when).

Anyway, over a decade ago I gave up on rock music, having no interest in conservative young people playing retro-rock or old people reforming their old bands and making a mockery of their past selves. Plus, simply hearing Millenials' intonation induces violent urges in me...
So I figured, with the amount of archival Zappa material released every year, the little time I have to listen to music these days can be filled by keeping up with those. Fine.

However, a couple of ear ago, I stumbled upon a worthwhile Japanese band (via the master, Sion Sono) and discovered that rock music is alive and well (and moving forward!) in Japan.
Since then I've discovered several other good bands and last summer even went to see some rock shows -- something I hadn't done in about fifteen years!

Now, lately I've been wondering what Albini would have to say about the levels of compression (and triggered drums!) in the recordings of one of my favorite bands... so I decided to come here and look, expecting some entertaining exclamations of disgust and erudite descriptions of the sonic crimes committed...
But I found nothing. Nada.
None of the bands I searched for were ever discussed here, in any way!

How come? Albini has had Japanese connections for decades, the Skingraft folk were tight with Japan and, as far as I recall, John McEntire made music for a Japanese film... so I figured Chicagoland would be well-connected to Japanese rock. Instead I find people talking about... Grumpster? Pfft.

Am I missing something? Have the kiddies driven the old folk away from here? Has the real action moved to Albini's Twitter account?

If you need help finding the Zappa thread, it's here: http://premierrockforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=70461

It's quieter here than in the glory days, but there are still a bunch of smart, funny people. I know the whole threaded message board thing is a fucking dinosaur, but it's also algorithm-free so that's gotta count for something.

Haha What's with the crap music? What's with this weather? Books cost too much!

Seriously, though, I get it. I had a decade from like 2003-2013 where I had pretty much written off modern rock music and wouldn't even deign to consider it's value. But, of course, there's always something great going on out there. I was just being pretentious. Trends in music are often annoying, alienating, stupid, but there are plenty of people working outside of that. And it does get pretty tiresome when female vocalists only sing in an affected Bjork or Billie style.

What are some of these Japanese bands that have reaffirmed your faith in modern music? Why didn't you mention their names? Slightly related, the Black Editions label that has been reissuing PSF stuff has been doing such an amazing job. I'm in love with the first two White Heaven records. And this wave of official Les Rallizes Denudes releases has been making my decade.

Have you heard the Uzeda album Quocumque Jeceris Stabit from 2019? It's so good. Also that Breeders album All Nerve is great. If you've been out of the loop that long, the last two Bowie albums (The Next Day and Blackstar) were very different and very good. I, too, have a hard time getting into new, young 'rock bands' sometimes unless they sound like something I haven't heard before. Not a rock record, but one new thing from a few years ago that has become a real favorite is Leap Second by M. Caye Castagnetto. Sort of like Catherine Ribero meets Os Mutantes. You heard Goat? Their albums World Music and Requiem are pretty rad. Rakta is a cool, dark, swirling, driving Brazilian band. Especially their first self titled thing. There's a real ripper of an album by an Estonian group called Penza Penza that came out last summer that rules.

There's always good music. The glut of availability just makes it harder to find. Kinda like the old days all over again.

Please turn us on to some of these bands in the Crap/Not Crap. I am interested.

We've mellowed out from the days of viciously talking shit about bands and bad recordings. I know I'd rather focus my energy on the good stuff. I still do my shit-talking and roasting face to face with my closest friends. Anyone can drop a hot take. If you want to do so, make it rock solid (and funny as fuck.)

Have the kiddies driven the old folk away from here

Probably more like the old folk have driven the old folk away, and the kids are doing something else entirely.

It was creepy Big Black/Rapeman misanthropes that chased a lot of my favorite people way.

Sure.. go check out Albini's twitter, it's mostly poker talk and socially progressive posts (I refuse to use the W word).

This topic sounds like a bad Seinfeld routine.
What's the deal with airplane food...

"Me, me, me, what I think, what I think, me, me, me" leading to the BIG question "what's wrong with you people?"

I’m curious about the Japanese music too.

Dougal666 wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:13 am So I figured, with the amount of archival Zappa material released every year, the little time I have to listen to music these days can be filled by keeping up with those. Fine.

Wait, never mind. No I’m not.