Chappell Roan released her album this week after a couple of years of record label shenanigans, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
Actually spinning for a change, although I am digitising the music as it plays. The Cliff Edwards record, one of about three released posthumously at a point when he was almost entirely forgotten, has a number of very difficult to find tracks from his radio show sesions. The great advantage of these albums is that they sold so poorly that it’s easy to get practically mint copies for next to nothing.
The other album is a compilation, nicely representative of the main players in the trad and novelty jazz revival that was surprisingly popular in the late fifties and sixties in the UK.
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I may have gone a little over the top for my latest new vinyl post.
This is something. A phenomenal genre-crossing cover that I didn’t realise I needed in my life. The first listen was amazing, and the second time through my whole body had a physical reaction to it. I’ve been slightly obsessed with it all weekend.
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Putting Taylor Swift’s re-release of 1989 on repeat
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It’s been a few years in the making, but I finally figured something out after… <counts on fingers> 17 years?
Back in 2006, this song came out. Maybe I didn’t hear it in 2006, but probably within the following few years, certainly
When it came out, the synthy guitar riff (or whatever it is) reminded me of a video game I used to play; I’d ask all my friends when the song would come on, “What is the name of that game?” and they’d have no idea what I was talking about.
Well, I forgot about it for a few years, but every once in a while, I’d think to myself, “what the heck was that game?”
Friends, it was a Commodore 64 game that I played, probably in 1987 or 1988, apparently released in 1986 – no idea how my parents ended up with it, unless it was in a bargain bin at Electronics Boutique. And I finally tracked it down. I present the wonderful sounds of 1986’s “NINJA”
A mystery of 17 years (or longer; before Gold Lion, I had wondered what the heck that game was called, but I was 7 or 8 at the time and how could any kid remember a name like “NINJA”? A word that described, like, half of my interests back then – Ninja Turtles included)
Okay, so, admittedly, it’s not a really close match, but the song definitely makes me think of the game; and, now, vice versa, forever more.
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“I like Indie Folk/Americana/Flannel-Cladded Hipster music. Hmmm… Taylor Swift released TWO albums with some Folkish vibe in them? I’ll give it a try.”
“I like these two albums, even though they feel more pop-ish. Oh. She’s re-releasing her old albums? Hmmm… maybe I should try these ones.”
Oh. Im a certified Swiftie now.
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Red is my favourite album. Although Love Story is probably my favourite track
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No Body No Crime. Can’t go wrong with a murder ballad.
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My list came out as 100% pop, with the top 3 artists being ones I’ve seen in concert in the last 18 months (no 4 I bitterly regret not getting a ticket for their recent tour).
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I’m becoming a Swiftie by proxy - my kids are obsessed and its all I hear!
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No one I listen to made it into my top 5. The kids have overrun my algorithm.
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I don’t have Spotify anymore ooops. But surfing around on Tidal I saw that Katatonia has a new(ish?) album (this year) and I have finally managed to listen to the new Within Temptation album all in one go 
Anyway… after seeing the discussion in the hobby thread … I have a tangential question.
I listen to a lot of music with English lyrics most of the time I understand only parts of it–the refrain due to repetition is most likely to make its way beyond the “it’s just noise” filter.
When I listen to German music I understand all most of the lyrics–edit: or at least I think so. And it is very distracting, I can’t listen to only German language music. Too much of it more or less forces me to pay attention because those are definitely not nonsense lyrics (well it might depend on your definition of nonsense of course).
So I am wondering do native English speakers really understand all the lyrics of the music they listen to? Isn’t that kind of stressful?
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There is a name for that? I had no idea.
Is English more susceptible to this?
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Other than @bruitist’s nondegreens, I’d say yes, on the whole, people understand the lyrics - as you do with German songs.
I personally don’t find it stressful. When you’re listening to a song, what do the lyrics distract you from? Is it that they distract you from the instrument parts, or from whatever you’re doing while the music is on?
I find it harder to listen to music that has vocals while doing something involving words, like reading or writing. But the effect for me isn’t stress - I often simply tune out one of the things, so will realise either that I have no idea what’s happened in the last ten pages of my book, or that I haven’t heard the last couple of songs at all.
But if I’m paying attention to the music, then there being lyrics is not a problem.
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Yeah, I meant when having music on in the background f.e. while working.
I don’t like listening to songs I don’t understand, partly because the lyrics are as important to me as the music, and partly because I could later discover that the song is about something disagreeable. Perhaps because of that, I’ve always been someone who will try to find out what the lyrics are if they’re not easily discernable, the occasional mondegreen notwithstanding.
There are a few exceptions, such as a song that nobody is meant to understand…
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I do not avoid avoid German lyrics I find disagreeable but… I have at least one band whose songs make me question if I shouldn’t switch stations when they are on the radio–even though the music itself is something I like to listen to.
For my favorite albums I usually have some idea what it is about and sometimes I go and read the lyrics because I am curious. But I don’t go out of my way to research lyrics for most stuff. I could use Tidal’s lyrics features more though… tech solutions ftw 
For me and my local circles, it is a given that we don’t fully understand a majority of the lyrics of the music we listen to. And even if we do it is far easier to filter a language you are not a native speaker of. Hence my question what it feels like if the majority of the music you listen to is in a language you speak so well, that you understand most lyrics.
edit: so I am listening to Arch Enemy “The Eagle Flies Alone” right now. And I feel like I understand most of the lyrics despite the growling. But not all the details… but I have to actively listen unlike German lyrics.
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