THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: HeyItsMatt on 09 Nov 2008, 08:58
-
Hello!
See title. I'm a big fan of American Football, and I have heard some random Cap'N Jazz and Joan of Arc songs that I enjoyed, so I thought I would give them a try. Except that they have 10+ albums... which is a lot.
To give you an idea of what I'm going for, I don't mind experimentalism, except I like things to be catchy and poppy in their own way - once it gets to white noise or long blank stretches without music it gets a little too avante-garde with me (it sounded like The Gap may have been closest to this?) I have heard a few songs off their album "A Portable Model of Joan of Arc" (The Hands, Let's Wrestle, I was Born) which I enjoyed. Other suggestions for their best albums that combine experimentalism with listenability?
I'm horribly indecisive, so my decision will very likely be an amalgam of all your suggestions. Now's your chance to force your musical taste down my throat!
-
A Portable Model Of, is really sweet. I also like Live in Chicago 1999 quite a bit, too.
-
Yeah, A Portable Model.
-
Tommydski will probably be the best person on this board to consult about anything Kinsella-related, and I haven't really given anything from Joan of Arc a listen. However, if you haven't yet, I strongly encourage you to find the Make Believe albums. That band plays some of the best math-rock I've heard in years. Going to the Bone Church and Shock of Being are pretty ace; you could start with them.
(as an aside, I heard this band the other day called This Town Needs Guns, which just sounded like a non-Kinsella version of Owls. Not rad. They even have "In the summer of 2008 a rumour circulated that guitarist, Tim Collis, was taught to play by Victor Villareal (Owls, Cap'n Jazz), something which is yet to be confirmed or denied by the band" in their wikipedia entry.)
-
Yeah, A Portable Model Of is probably the easiest to get into for a first time listener. But that doesn't make me not want to recommend Joan of Arc, Dick Cheney, Mark Twain.
-
Tommydski will say "start at the beginning" and "eventually all at once wasn't very good" so what does he know?
Live in Chicago is a pretty difficult album. It contains some of the best JoA songs ever written, but it has a lot of pap on there. Do not start with Live in Chicago 1999, The Gap, or In Rape Fantasy And Terror Sex We Trust. The rest are all pretty safe bets, but they changed a whole lot from album to album.
If you want consistency, pick So Much Staying Alive And Lovelessness.
-
Kai, you dick, you were mean to say So Much Staying Alive And Lovelessness!
Edit: And This Town Needs Guns are pretty terrible. They don't sound anything remotely like Owls, they just twiddle around a lot and have a nice guitar tone. I am basically certain that Victor Villareal didn't teach Tim Collins guitar.
-
They are both exceptional albums but DICK CHENEY has a completely ridiculous Clear Channel Chanting Song. This gives it a unique (hilarious) edge.
-
Yes, Owls is killer. So is Ghosts & Vodka. Projects involving Victor tend to be the raddest.
I don't know what everyone is talking about, but Eventually, All At Once is pretty damn accessible as Joan Of Arc albums go. I'm also a big fan of In Rape Fantasy And Terror Sex We Trust, but I'm not going to make that my first recommendation. A Portable Model Of... is probably a good way to go.
Of Course by Make Believe is also a good bet. I have a strange preference for it, even though all the Make Believe stuff is equally rad.