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Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: pentaen on 08 Oct 2007, 12:43

Title: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: pentaen on 08 Oct 2007, 12:43
What you guys think it is?
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: ThinWhiteDuke09 on 08 Oct 2007, 13:06
I'm guessing its something Zappa.  WItth so many albums, I feel like they didn't get as much attention as they deserved and were probably not pressed in large quantities.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: imapiratearg on 08 Oct 2007, 13:12
I find The Talking Heads a little difficult to get into.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: mberan42 on 08 Oct 2007, 13:13
Beatles - Beatles (the White Album)
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: ScrambledGregs on 08 Oct 2007, 13:20
It depends how you define inaccessible, really. Do you mean difficult at first, but then you end up loving it?? Do you mean so experimental and avant garde that you have to change your perception of what music can be before you can appreciate it?? Or maybe you mean an album that you immediately hate and don't get, but eventually come around to??
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: imapiratearg on 08 Oct 2007, 13:22
I think he just means albums that a majority of people find hard to get into.  But I know this would be really hard to find, because everyone has a different taste, and what is accessible to one person is inaccessible to another.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: carrotosaurus on 08 Oct 2007, 13:22
Chinese Democracy.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Scandanavian War Machine on 08 Oct 2007, 13:22
I'm gonna have to go with Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica

Same vein as Zappa (same record label too) but it hardly resembles conventional music unlike Zappa who, sometimes, actually sounded like "normal" music.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Johnny C on 08 Oct 2007, 14:01
While we are on the lunatic fringe, I'm going to talk about an album that few of you have heard, none of you own and even fewer will enjoy. If you really want to hear something challenging try to find a copy of an album called 'The Gap' by Chicago band Joan of Arc. If you find standard rock a bit tedious and long for something a bit progressive in the musical and academic sense of the term or just basically want to test the limit of your tolerance, this is the album for you. It took me roughly one hundred full listens not to despise it, fifty more to appreciate it and fully two hundred to love it.

(http://www.cdpoint.com.br/imagens/79225810532.jpg)

If you are even faintly offended by grandoir and conceptualism don't even bother flicking through the artwork frankly. If however, you can stomach the idea of a collection of strange, off-kilter compositions of analogue instrumentation and ambient noise digitally re-arranged into extended instrumental passages then you might like this eventually. In terms of context, it is a sort of response to Guy Debord's 'The Society of the Spectacle', which was in turn a sort of reinvention of Marxist Philosophy by a French surrealist reactionary.

To explain a bit about this ridiculously intimidating album, it's possibly best to look at some of the critical response. I have never seen a good review of this album and to be honest I don't see how one could grant it one. Every critique I have found calls the album pretentious and the reviewer is often thoroughly confused with both the music and any potential meanings it might be attempting to convey. This probably has a lot to do with the unconventional nature of the structure. To expand, if you listen to Anti-Flag's album 'Die for the Government' it is immediately obvious what Anti-Flag is trying to get across. Look at a picture of the band and they dress as you would imagine a reactionary punk influenced band would dress. Put on the album and the songs sound like one would expect a punk-influenced band to sound, with vaguely anarchistic polemic and conventional song structure. Can you argue with that? For a reviewer this album is perfect to encapsulate in two hundred words or less because it does exactly what it says on the tin. Hand the same reviewer a copy of 'The Gap' and he will have an enormous amount of difficulty writing about it using the same methods he used to review the Anti-Flag record.

So how would one classify Joan of Arc? If you look at Joseph Campbell's work 'Hero with a Thousand Faces' or Northrop Frye's 'Anatomy of Criticism', an outline of the predictable means to critique popular culture is formed. However, when popular culture challenges these conventions, critics become obfuscated. French surrealist reactionary Guy Debord strongly influenced Joan of Arc's music. If one watches Debord's movie 'Howlings in Favour of Sade' could one make a critique using formulas set up by Joseph Campbell, Lester Bangs or, God help us, Ryan Schreiber? Would it be fair to send a film reviewer the latest Romantic Comedy designed to appeal to the masses at large and a copy of 'Un Chien Andalusia' by Salvador Dali? Would his opinion of each film be equally measured? Personally I don't think we could. So, does 'Un Chien Andalusia' or 'Howlings In The Favour of Sade' make a strong statement despite its removal from convention? Not only do these works present a clear break from mainstream ideology but they represent an alternative to popular culture we previously outlined. I believe Joan of Arc is the same way in many aspects. The music is very difficult to understand from a normative view-point because it does not follow a consistent pattern. Once we appreciate that although this album may arrive in the same format as the Anti-Flag record, it is not really of a similar ilk.
 
'The Gap' is probably the greatest example of this dichotomy. Tim Kinsella even mentions Guy Debord in a song title. How confused were people when this record came out? There were no real songs, the ones that do eventually take shape overlap one another and end abruptly mid-stream. Several of the songs have up to 200 tracks playing. The song titles are nonsensical arrays of words and symbols. The last track is completely blank. The album is unconventional in the truest sense of the word. Thus, it is easier for a reviewer to label the album pretentious than go through the two hundred or so listens it took me to appreciate 'The Gap'.

Thus, as previously mentioned, 'The Gap' is a series of audio images created to convey some fairly esoteric concepts. Namely, the record is concerned, much like the Debord book of the same name, with 'The Society of the Spectacle' and how the defiance of convention can perpetuate a certain sense of independence from normality. This interests me as a person who feels utterly marginalised from most aspects of modern society so it does not seem like an inappropriate subject for a rock band to approach. Appropriately, the album has as a subject the very dichotomy we explored during our examination of its critique. The relationship between what is and what appears to be or if you will, 'The Gap' between the real and the spectacle. Of course, the album also shares its title with a popular clothes shop that strives to create a sense of individuality but in actuality provides the reverse. The pernicious genius of the spectacle is its ability to mobilize the image of what it actually militates against. So while every customer who leaves the store may in their mind truly believe they have defied conformity (after all that's what all the marketing and advertising tells them right?) they have actually subscribed to an even greater encroaching homogeny. Did the reviewer of the Anti-Flag record make a similar mistake?

By conjuring images of corporativism within the title of the album itself it reminds us of the juxtaposition between the haves and the have-nots that is synonymous with the teachings of Karl Marx, a massive influence on Debord himself. Both thinkers were inspired by the idea of commodity fetishism, a central ideology of all capitalist society. On 'Me And America (Or) The United Colors Of The Gap' Tim Kinsella explores what he considers to be the final capitulation of his own country to the gestalt forces of the spectacle, as America succumbs to the seductive power of cultural hegemony. Indeed, by invoking the names of those pillars of independence in the song 'John Cassavetes, Assata Shakur, And Guy Debord Walk Into A Bar...', he is showing an almost perverse sense of optimism (that the three are still regarded by many as auteurs) or maybe the futility of standing against the torrential flow of mediocrity (Shakur was imprisoned, Cassavetes died in obscurity and Debord shot himself dead through the heart).

Of course, there's a whole album's worth of interpretations to be found beyond my own cursory examination but I have a cold and I thought I'd share a few thoughts since there's nothing to do but sit in bed with my laptop. Like I said, if you want a challenge and you consider yourself to have an open mind, maybe look for a copy of 'The Gap'.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Joseph on 08 Oct 2007, 14:31
I really haven't found The Gap all that terribly difficult to listen to.  I actually rather enjoy it.  Am I doing something wrong?
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: amok on 08 Oct 2007, 14:37
Is there a clear difference between an 'inaccessible' record and a 'shit' one? I mean I find panic at the disco pretty hard to listen to.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Misereatur on 08 Oct 2007, 14:56
Whitehouse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitehouse_(band)) make music which I find nearly impossible to listen to.

They have about twenty albums, most of which are actually white noise. Nearly everything else seems comical by comparison.

I'm going to see them live on December. I think I'm in for the weirdest night of my life.

Also, I find Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch pretty hard to listen to. This is one of the best avant grade Jazz albums of all time, but sometimes I just can't listen to all of it at once. I find myself actually taking breaks every two songs or so.

Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: zro on 08 Oct 2007, 15:23
I'm gonna say This Heat
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: imapiratearg on 08 Oct 2007, 15:34
Is there a clear difference between an 'inaccessible' record and a 'shit' one? I mean I find Panic! at the Disco pretty hard to listen to.

It's not so much "hard to listen to" as "annoying as fuck."
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: KharBevNor on 08 Oct 2007, 15:49
I was gonna say Whitehouse, though I personally found Merzbow harder to get in to.

It took me ages to get into really good old school BM, like Ulver's Nattens Madrigal: Aate Hymne Til Ulven I Manden and Burzum's self-titled. All the Les Legiones Noires bands as well.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: asyluman on 08 Oct 2007, 16:28
Do I lose if I say Metal Machine Music?
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: bryanthelion on 08 Oct 2007, 16:59
Bjork,

she was atleast for me.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Kai on 08 Oct 2007, 17:35
Do I lose if I say Metal Machine Music?

you really do.

this is pretty hard for me to answer because I'm at the point of such awful hearing that white noise (such as merzbow's entire post 2000 material since it is basically lazily put together laptop white noise) sounds awesome
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 08 Oct 2007, 17:37
Bjork,

she was atleast for me.


yeah, she still doesn't make sense for me. What about in an airplane over the sea?- i mean it's pretty much my favourite album, but the first few times i listened to it i just couldn't make head or tails of it.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: SensoryOssuary on 08 Oct 2007, 17:55
Quote
(such as merzbow's entire post 2000 material since it is basically lazily put together laptop white noise)
So fucking wrong... his digital set-up is a series of really complex custom Max/MSP patches, it's WAY more complex than banging contact mic'd sheet metal.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Karma Police on 08 Oct 2007, 18:32
Boris - Absolutego is pretty alienating.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Kai on 08 Oct 2007, 18:33
Quote
(such as merzbow's entire post 2000 material since it is basically lazily put together laptop white noise)
So fucking wrong... his digital set-up is a series of really complex custom Max/MSP patches, it's WAY more complex than banging contact mic'd sheet metal.

(just for the reference I pretty much adore merzbow and only lightly kid about it)

(that being said I still like the tin sheet recording more)
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: ALoveSupreme on 08 Oct 2007, 18:38
I'd say pretty much any contemporary "classical" work from within the past 20 years or so (i.e. 12 tone serial type shit, Morton Feldman type four to five hour aleatoric pieces). 

so, for "album" I'll nominate Feldman's Durations, or maybe his piece mentioned on Wiki that I've never heard, String Quartet II , simply because it is stated to be 6 hours+ without a break and maintaining the same mood entirely throughout.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: muteKi on 08 Oct 2007, 21:04
Manfred Mann Chapter III -- Go and listen to "A Study in Inaccuracy " and THEN we can talk about being inaccessible.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: jeph on 08 Oct 2007, 21:25
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record

Literally the most inaccessible.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: DarthCat on 08 Oct 2007, 22:46
My vote off the bat would be "Zaireeka" by the Flaming Lips... if only for the equipment setup needed to listen to it properly.

That said it's still not much of an album, even when you listen to it like intended.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: pentaen on 08 Oct 2007, 23:28
haha jeff,

im suprised nobody has mentioned Wolf Eyes yet, or maybe even Lightning Bolt

i like em but it took me a bit of time to get there
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: bryanthelion on 09 Oct 2007, 03:16
Bjork,

she was atleast for me.


yeah, she still doesn't make sense for me. What about in an airplane over the sea?- i mean it's pretty much my favourite album, but the first few times i listened to it i just couldn't make head or tails of it.


I think the whole magic about bjork is that she knows what shes talking about. Alas, noone else does.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: KharBevNor on 09 Oct 2007, 05:56
Jesus fucking christ guys. Bjork? IN THE AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA?

Go and listen to some more music plz.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: bryanthelion on 09 Oct 2007, 06:01
 :|

I like aeroplanes...

and seas...
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: carrotosaurus on 09 Oct 2007, 06:05
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea might be the MOST accessible album of all time.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: The Roman on 09 Oct 2007, 06:33
Delirium Cordia - Fantomas

One 75-minute long track consisting not much more than samples from surgeries and the odd 2-second long grindcore riff, separated by 15 minute long passages of noise and blip-blops.

I took it back to the store the day after I bought it. This was obviously during my "everything Mike Patton does is genius" phase.

I kinda wish I'd kept it now, just so I could own such a crazy album.
Plus, it'd make good homework music.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Caspian on 09 Oct 2007, 06:46
I'm surprised that Merzbow isn't listen in every post. 'In the Aeroplane over the Sea'? Come on. A decent album, but not remotely inaccessible.

Obviously Merzbow is way up there, I also found Wormphlegm's "In an Excruciating Way..." To be really, really hard to take. Really slow, really evil funeral doom. Khanate's Things Viral still confounds me to this day, and Neurosis's 'Enemy of The Sun' was way to heavy for me when I first got it and it's still a huge slab of (awesome) noise.

I haven't heard much 12 tone stuff but it sounds pretty hard to get (perhaps there is nothing to get?) so I'll put it up there.

Basically, a 3 way tie between Wormphlegm's debut EP, Schoenberg's 12-tone stuff and Merzbow's crazier albums. I imagine there are some albums out there that are nothing but really trebly blasts of arrhythmical white noise for hours on end, though.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: est on 09 Oct 2007, 07:32
Once I recorded an album constructed entirely from the sounds of cats being crushed slowly in a trash compactor reversed, bumped up an octave and fed through a flanger.  I guess it's pretty inaccessible?

Can you really throw a question like this out here so openly?  Surely it's just going to devolve into which obscure, misanthropic black metal band beats out which?  In fact, we could probably save ourselves a whole lot of trouble and just PM Khar directly.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Johnny C on 09 Oct 2007, 07:39
Surely it's just going to devolve into which obscure, misanthropic black metal band beats out which?

I'm listening to a band from my province named Wold which are remarkably inaccessible. It's black metal that consists solely of guitars, keys, drums and shrieking, with pretty much every instrument pushed so far into the red that half of the reviews I've seen categorize it under "noise." Seriously, it's tonal white noise. What's bizarre is that occasionally it's reminiscent of an overdriven Ride or a corpsepaint-wearing My Bloody Valentine.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Caspian on 09 Oct 2007, 07:48
Surely it's just going to devolve into which obscure, misanthropic black metal band beats out which?

I'm listening to a band from my province named Wold which are remarkably inaccessible. It's black metal that consists solely of guitars, keys, drums and shrieking, with pretty much every instrument pushed so far into the red that half of the reviews I've seen categorize it under "noise." Seriously, it's tonal white noise. What's bizarre is that occasionally it's reminiscent of an overdriven Ride or a corpsepaint-wearing My Bloody Valentine.

I recently got their 'Screech Owl' album and it is pretty sweet. ON the whole black metal point, I think Blut Aus Mord's new album is a pretty strange beast, just because it's so out of tune and what not. Sonically it's a lot easier to take then Wold, though.

Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Johnny C on 09 Oct 2007, 08:27
I listened to both Wold albums back-to-back last night.

It was kind of a punishing experience. Lesson learned: take black metal in smaller doses.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: valley_parade on 09 Oct 2007, 08:42
I'm having trouble with the new Sunn O))) album. And I love Sunn O))).
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Caspian on 09 Oct 2007, 08:46
..there's a new Sunn O))) album out?  :-o Or is this Oracle?

Just returning to black metal (and indeed, any inaccessible music) I definitely think loud volumes help foster an appreciation of the music (if not necessarily an enjoyment.) For me, loud volume was what turned me onto to early Ulver era and drone.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: valley_parade on 09 Oct 2007, 09:04
Yeah, I meant Oracle.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: tomselleck69 on 09 Oct 2007, 09:34
the residents - eskimo

ohhh those guys.

also, anyone suggesting that trout mask replica is the most inaccessible album of all time---consider the fact that that album is pure ear-cocaine for tom waits fans.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: analogthought on 09 Oct 2007, 09:39
Francisco Lopez / Buildings -  usually gets the most sour faces for me. Over an hour long recording of the sounds of the air conditioning running in a skyscraper mixed with the sounds of the elevator. I'm surprised no one has mentioned WhiteHouse, Wolf Eyes, or... to make this easier... http://nofunfest.com/2007.html anyone from that site. I love all of it.. and maybe this is preaching to the choir... but outside of being at one of the shows, people act like you're mentally retarded for liking "noise."
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: KharBevNor on 09 Oct 2007, 10:20
Dude at least three people have been discussing Whitehouse.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Johnny C on 09 Oct 2007, 11:06
Good mention on No Fun Fest. I forgot that Hair Police released one of the most difficult records I've ever heard.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: analogthought on 09 Oct 2007, 13:08
There is also Ryoji Ikeda who is more of a "sound artist" and makes tracks using white noise and sine waves. There are rumors he will pitch things so that people will leave if they talk during his sets, using frequencies that make you physically uncomfortable or ill.

and thanks dude for pointing out that i missed the whitehouse posts. i'm so behind, dude.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Xerostyle on 09 Oct 2007, 23:01
I can't find any demos on the intertron, but Swodeque is horsecrap.

If you can find a place that sells Goodnight Star CDs, they usually carry Swodeque.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Lise on 09 Oct 2007, 23:33
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, Jesus- I thought "The Paper Chase" (or the pAper chAse, I suppose) was inaccessible D:.

Heh, I guess according to producer John Congleton, the definition of "abstract" or avant-garde would be "vicious to the ear." (http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=8232 (http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=8232))

Noise rock for me is much more appreciable live :o.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Hamlet on 10 Oct 2007, 01:36
The most inaccessible album of all time consists of several hours of a single sine wave at a piercingly high pitche. It was released on DVD-audio in a limited pressing of 1 copy about five minutes ago.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ballard on 10 Oct 2007, 07:21
corpsepaint-wearing My Bloody Valentine.

I think I just died a little inside.

On second thought they'd probably just look like Strawberry Switchblade..
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: McTaggart on 10 Oct 2007, 08:23
Ryoji Ikeda

While I don't claim to know his entire catalog I have never come across anything he's done that wasn't at least fairly pleasant.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: a pack of wolves on 10 Oct 2007, 09:22
It's all relative though. Someone posted up a link to the No Fun Fest and I saw Lambsbread were playing who I don't find at all inaccessible. To me they're great fun live. Birds Of Prey have played there too and it's the same with them (although they're not party time like Lambsbread it didn't take me an effort to come to grips with what they were doing). Also Wolf Eyes, Lightning Bolt and 'Trout Mask Replica' which have all been mentioned made perfect sense to me the first time I heard them.

'Hate' by The Delgados on the other hand didn't. The lush sound it had made it rather impenetrable for me, despite being a big Delgados fan. It took me years before I liked that album and was actually able to get into it. 'The White Album' by the Beatles I still don't like. I've never been able to penetrate to what it is about The Beatles that makes them so beloved apart from their ability to write a catchy melody, and I know people find a lot more to them than that.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: analogthought on 10 Oct 2007, 10:18
Of course "Inaccessible" is all relative. While I like noise acts... No Fun Fest is the lollapalooza of "noise" music. Having gone to the last 3 years, and each year, trying to take friends who I think might discover something new they'd like... the response is always drenched in plugged ears, and the majority of the evening spent outside because they can't handle the slide whistles run through effects pedals mixed with circuit bent children's toys with 4 or 5 guys screaming nonsense over the top of it all. Some of it, even for me comes across as a little unrehearsed and crapped together... but bands like Hair Police, Wolf Eyes, and Magik Markers made/make it all worth while. If you were asking ME what's inaccessible I'd easily say any country music released after 1982. Modern country is grating, generic, and soulless. It's taken a genre that used to be about something... and turned it into a money making mockery of itself... which in turn is always hard to listen to.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: muteKi on 10 Oct 2007, 11:23
Of course "Inaccessible" is all relative. While I like noise acts... No Fun Fest is the lollapalooza of "noise" music. Having gone to the last 3 years, and each year, trying to take friends who I think might discover something new they'd like... the response is always drenched in plugged ears, and the majority of the evening spent outside because they can't handle the slide whistles run through effects pedals mixed with circuit bent children's toys with 4 or 5 guys screaming nonsense over the top of it all. Some of it, even for me comes across as a little unrehearsed and crapped together... but bands like Hair Police, Wolf Eyes, and Magik Markers made/make it all worth while. If you were asking ME what's inaccessible I'd easily say any country music released after 1982. Modern country is grating, generic, and soulless. It's taken a genre that used to be about something... and turned it into a money making mockery of itself... which in turn is always hard to listen to.

You shoulda' known that I'd be a free spirit
You shoulda' known that I'd be stern and strong
You shoulda' known I am aw-all on my own
You shoulda' known that I was... a cow-ow-boy.


Oh crap! I've been assimilated!
I NEED A BOOT UP MY ASS, FAST!!
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ballard on 10 Oct 2007, 12:02
Baby, from the first day
Your boot was up my ass
Stole my heart away
And stabbed at it with broken glass
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: muteKi on 10 Oct 2007, 12:22
I always misheard that one line in "Shoulda' Been a Cowboy" as "Riding my woman on the cattle drive"
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ocarina654 on 10 Oct 2007, 13:34
http://www.myspace.com/deathtakesitstollonthemasses
Okay, so there hasn't been an official Album yet...
And perhaps not the MOST inaccessible, but I for shure don't see how we have that many listens (Yes, this is me and a friend).


Really though, inaccessible is somewhat subjective.  This topic has been covered pretty well already, so I'll just pitch in a little by saying that I, on occasion, enjoy odd, sometimes atonal, music.  However, I can't stand country, and do not like modern rap/hip-hop or Emo-type music.  That stuff is, to me, terrible and pointless.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Caspian on 10 Oct 2007, 20:43
http://www.myspace.com/deathtakesitstollonthemasses
Okay, so there hasn't been an official Album yet...
And perhaps not the MOST inaccessible, but I for shure don't see how we have that many listens (Yes, this is me and a friend).


Really though, inaccessible is somewhat subjective.  This topic has been covered pretty well already, so I'll just pitch in a little by saying that I, on occasion, enjoy odd, sometimes atonal, music.  However, I can't stand country, and do not like modern rap/hip-hop or Emo-type music.  That stuff is, to me, terrible and pointless.

I think Merzbow nailed it:

"If noise music is that which is uncomfortable, then pop music is noise to me."

Still, I think if you surveyed everyone in the world (and thus came up with a more objective list) then pop music and hip hop wouldn't be on top of the whole 'most inaccessible stuff ever' list.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: IronOxide on 10 Oct 2007, 20:45
Has anyone mentioned the Mike Patton side project Hemophiliac? It made me feel ill before the end of the third track, I had to turn it off.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: KharBevNor on 10 Oct 2007, 21:46
There is also Ryoji Ikeda who is more of a "sound artist" and makes tracks using white noise and sine waves. There are rumors he will pitch things so that people will leave if they talk during his sets, using frequencies that make you physically uncomfortable or ill.

According to legend, and several interviews with former band members, during the early seventies (and possibly later), Hawkwind played their live gigs with an oscillator that could go both above and below the level of human hearing, which, combined with an exceptionally powerful set of speakers and amps, reportedly allowed Simon House to cause members of the audience standing in the right place to either fall over or lose bowel control at the flick of a switch. It should be noted of course, that everyone was completely stoned off their faces anyway.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: casull on 10 Oct 2007, 22:10
haha jeff,

im suprised nobody has mentioned Wolf Eyes yet, or maybe even Lightning Bolt

i like em but it took me a bit of time to get there

There's a duo at my college who do lightning-bolt-esque stuff. Incredibly loud and abrasive, but if you're really drunk and have earplugs it's the coolest shit ever. Once during a show one of them handed me a stick and gave me command of the ride.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Kartoon Kween on 10 Oct 2007, 22:13
Carnival of Light - The Beatles.

Possibly the only album more inaccessible than the Voyager Golden Record.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 11 Oct 2007, 18:16
Guys, The Beatles, even their most bizarre stuff, is far more accessible than, say, Svarte Greiner or even Lightning Bolt. I can't really think of the most inaccessible thing I've heard at the moment but I can tell you now The Beatles don't even come close.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Kalessin on 11 Oct 2007, 19:17
Also notably inaccessible (in the physical sense, like the Voyager Golden Record) is the Jean-Michel Jarre album "Music for Supermarkets".

It was issued on vinyl, with a production run of exactly one record.  After the single album was pressed and auctioned off, the disc master and plates for the pressing were destroyed.  It was bought by an anonymous bidder, and apparently hasn't been seen again since.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_For_Supermarkets

(However, it was played once on Radio Luxembourg, an AM station.  Jarre introduced the recording with "Pirate me!", and fans happily complied, and bootleg MP3's are out there.  Jarre also recycled some of the tracks into later albums.)

Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: MusicScribbles on 11 Oct 2007, 21:22
I don't know about Lightning Bolt, that stuff is pretty accessible.
What about Black Dice though? I find them pretty awesome, but a lot harder to get into then Lightning Bolt. Who doesn't like Dead Cowboy?
A lot of people.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: David_Dovey on 11 Oct 2007, 21:28
I listen to music that I like. I'm strange.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: BrittanyMarie on 11 Oct 2007, 23:01
So do I, Mr. Dovey, but you can do it subjectively!

The first few times I heard the Liars' They Were Wrong so We Drowned, I thought it was shit. Absolute rubbish no matter how many times I heard it-I couldn't get through the weirdness of it. I ignored it for a year, then "There's Always Room on the Broom" came up on random on my iPod and I kind of danced to it. Now it's easily in my top five. (and I am seeing them tomorrow)

Though I do think a lot of (regular non-music-hobbyist) people will find it OMG TOO WEIRD, so it can't be just me.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ocarina654 on 12 Oct 2007, 01:35
Guys, The Beatles, even their most bizarre stuff, is far more accessible than, say, Svarte Greiner or even Lightning Bolt. I can't really think of the most inaccessible thing I've heard at the moment but I can tell you now The Beatles don't even come close.
The reference to the Beatles here wasn't that the music was 'inaccessible' in the music sense, but more inaccessible in the literal sense.  Only a few people have heard "Carnival of Light".  It was played once at some... place (venue, festival, something... I forget what exactly) and never heard since.  There is almost no possibility that you will get your hands on any copy, bootleg or official, any time soon.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: El Opium on 13 Oct 2007, 02:23
Academic level experimental music is pretty darn intimidating because it combines the confrontational with the coldly conceptual. Most ridiculous example I heard was a record composed using tuned balloons having the air emptied out of them. I've not heard any, but sound poetry (composed vocal sounds without words) does not sound easy to get into.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 13 Oct 2007, 12:39
Tarentel's 'Big Black Square' is one of the least accessible albums I've personally heard. It's one 45 minute track. The first 15 minutes or so is heavy distortion played over rainfall recorded in an alley. At about 15 minutes, monotonous, repetitious drumming kicks in and the rainfall fades out. The distortion remains, coming in in waves of muffled sound as almost tribal sounding drums pound over it. At around the 35 minute mark, the drums take a back seat to the distortion once again and the song slows down with heavily distorted sound patterns and minimalist drumming. At around 38 minutes the drums drop out completely and only feedback and distortion remain for the rest of the song. It's a pretty intense sonic experience but it's certainly exceptionally inaccessible.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Tom on 13 Oct 2007, 21:29
A while back I would have said anything by Stars especially 'Set Yourself on Fire' but it popped up in shuffle and i can't stop enjoying it.

Also, I say it now before  someone brings it up, people are not feeling the full impact of 'Neon Bible' because the Arcade fire keep arranging their LP's/EP in the same way.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Caspian on 13 Oct 2007, 23:19
Tarentel's 'Big Black Square' is one of the least accessible albums I've personally heard. It's one 45 minute track. The first 15 minutes or so is heavy distortion played over rainfall recorded in an alley. At about 15 minutes, monotonous, repetitious drumming kicks in and the rainfall fades out. The distortion remains, coming in in waves of muffled sound as almost tribal sounding drums pound over it. At around the 35 minute mark, the drums take a back seat to the distortion once again and the song slows down with heavily distorted sound patterns and minimalist drumming. At around 38 minutes the drums drop out completely and only feedback and distortion remain for the rest of the song. It's a pretty intense sonic experience but it's certainly exceptionally inaccessible.

that sounds pretty sweet.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Tom on 13 Oct 2007, 23:56
It's kinda inappropriate to say that a record is the most Inaccessible of All-time 'cause

a) Records and how we receive 'em depend on our own experiences/preferences/whatever. And those things are always changing like Trout Mask Replica is considered one of the most inaccessible but people really get into it even those who say it is the most inaccessible. Also what is inaccessible to one person may be considered fantastic by another person as just demonstrated before me.

b) there are always more inaccessible ones to be made.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: KharBevNor on 14 Oct 2007, 00:15
Yeah, albums like my opus work, 'ough[egh[eogh[rewuhgreoughreoughroighreoughrouighroughodes8uhy
eswoufheurf3028yt54308trhwoihawil;uhfpas8ry948awty3h08ut[034ut0[4yht4hg4op8ith40o8tyh dsufhwoairuth9o48wyt08tyhg 3ru 34435ru485yu4985748 894y4895y 498y485y489y4w98t98ptrgp8rfg aewih grlukfbjshfbsjhfbgvaeslirgleur wyergeaufliasefh4eryt4o8tyriugh riugrality;aofhdfbail7utor8eghrbfrewlygrpo9jfcdeifbsjhgisaftpas8fh aewufge8fuyaw'erfh;wouiqdfbaselhvcjlsadgho8a;reyt 8ayra8ohr kuabgf'e9ru e'aw9ry4aw98ty a4wifrgiau f haw38ry[aw48ty[4aty'#aw4tya'woytg 4aw;o8ty ap4w98t ya8wfbajelfgvliuawetfga4wi87r y[89gf'aghfukgh;or8eaygp984a yt409aytag;9ha;ovb a;deyt8[a4 rty9eawgflauefglui8ytw48yta8f;ugha;oirgyaie8ryaw9 8p38ifliafgiagf8afgapgp8ief', which is simply 80 minutes of white noise with me reciting the Oxford English Dictionary over the top into a tiny microphone on a webcam. Also there is only one copy, and I sold it to myself, who then burnt it.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ocarina654 on 14 Oct 2007, 19:16
It's kinda inappropriate to say that a record is the most Inaccessible of All-time 'cause

a) Records and how we receive 'em depend on our own experiences/preferences/whatever. And those things are always changing like Trout Mask Replica is considered one of the most inaccessible but people really get into it even those who say it is the most inaccessible. Also what is inaccessible to one person may be considered fantastic by another person as just demonstrated before me.

b) there are always more inaccessible ones to be made.
All right, well, I think this point has been made over and over again.  Myself included in the repetition.
So lets continue this conversation without regards to the philosophical aspects of inaccessibility.

Quote from: Caspian
Quote from: TheFuriousWombat
Tarentel's 'Big Black Square' is one of the least accessible albums I've personally heard. It's one 45 minute track. The first 15 minutes or so is heavy distortion played over rainfall recorded in an alley. At about 15 minutes, monotonous, repetitious drumming kicks in and the rainfall fades out. The distortion remains, coming in in waves of muffled sound as almost tribal sounding drums pound over it. At around the 35 minute mark, the drums take a back seat to the distortion once again and the song slows down with heavily distorted sound patterns and minimalist drumming. At around 38 minutes the drums drop out completely and only feedback and distortion remain for the rest of the song. It's a pretty intense sonic experience but it's certainly exceptionally inaccessible.
that sounds pretty sweet.
Agreed!  Can't find a torrent, anybody want to upload?
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: ScrambledGregs on 14 Oct 2007, 19:28
The most inaccessible album of all time is anything after you've drank most of a bottle of gin: FACT.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 14 Oct 2007, 23:31

Quote from: Caspian
Quote from: TheFuriousWombat
Tarentel's 'Big Black Square' is one of the least accessible albums I've personally heard. It's one 45 minute track. The first 15 minutes or so is heavy distortion played over rainfall recorded in an alley. At about 15 minutes, monotonous, repetitious drumming kicks in and the rainfall fades out. The distortion remains, coming in in waves of muffled sound as almost tribal sounding drums pound over it. At around the 35 minute mark, the drums take a back seat to the distortion once again and the song slows down with heavily distorted sound patterns and minimalist drumming. At around 38 minutes the drums drop out completely and only feedback and distortion remain for the rest of the song. It's a pretty intense sonic experience but it's certainly exceptionally inaccessible.
that sounds pretty sweet.
Agreed!  Can't find a torrent, anybody want to upload?

E voilà: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GXX8K5RG

Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ocarina654 on 14 Oct 2007, 23:41

Quote from: Caspian
Quote from: TheFuriousWombat
Tarentel's 'Big Black Square' is one of the least accessible albums I've personally heard. It's one 45 minute track. The first 15 minutes or so is heavy distortion played over rainfall recorded in an alley. At about 15 minutes, monotonous, repetitious drumming kicks in and the rainfall fades out. The distortion remains, coming in in waves of muffled sound as almost tribal sounding drums pound over it. At around the 35 minute mark, the drums take a back seat to the distortion once again and the song slows down with heavily distorted sound patterns and minimalist drumming. At around 38 minutes the drums drop out completely and only feedback and distortion remain for the rest of the song. It's a pretty intense sonic experience but it's certainly exceptionally inaccessible.
that sounds pretty sweet.
Agreed!  Can't find a torrent, anybody want to upload?

E voilà: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GXX8K5RG


Ah, much thanks.  Will have to listen to that in short order.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: carrotosaurus on 15 Oct 2007, 06:59
I love Tarentel. They're actually quite accessible.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: analogthought on 15 Oct 2007, 11:47
R. Kelly's Trapped In the Closet Hip Hopera. Done.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Spinless on 15 Oct 2007, 12:31
Y'kidding, that shit is a classic, straight up.  I have yet to see anything as hilarious as Trapped in the Closet. Can't wait for the next part!

OOOOOH, HE GOT THE PACKAGE!
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 15 Oct 2007, 15:35
I love Tarentel. They're actually quite accessible.

Depends on what you're listening to. You'd be hard pressed to argue in favor of Big Black Square or any of the Ghetto Beats albums being accessible. Earlier stuff, 'From Bone to Satellite' for example, are indeed about as accessible as your typical post rock band. But newer stuff, the Home Ruckus series for example, or the Live Edits disc, really cannot be called accessible with much support.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: bryanthelion on 15 Oct 2007, 15:38
Yoko Ono anyone?

"Oh no! Its yoko!"

though, it could be the most accesible albums since its so damn funny.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Hamlet on 22 Oct 2007, 15:30
I've not heard any, but sound poetry (composed vocal sounds without words) does not sound easy to get into.

Actually, I downloaded some several years ago out of curiosity, and discovered that it was quite enjoyable in a very soothing way. And this was when I hadn't really gotten into seriously experimental music yet.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: öde on 22 Oct 2007, 16:19
Loituma are quite awesome and I guess they fit into that category if you don't speak Finnish.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: devilcrayon on 26 Oct 2007, 15:01
There's always The Must Unwanted Song, designed to be unliked:

http://www.emusic.com/album/Dave-Soldier-The-People-s-Choice-Music-The-Most-Wanted-Song-an-MP3-Download/11088860.html

Though, personally, I find The Most Wanted Song to be unlistenable and Unwanted to be hi-freakin-larious.

Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 26 Oct 2007, 21:26
Guys, The Beatles, even their most bizarre stuff, is far more accessible than, say, Svarte Greiner or even Lightning Bolt. I can't really think of the most inaccessible thing I've heard at the moment but I can tell you now The Beatles don't even come close.
The reference to the Beatles here wasn't that the music was 'inaccessible' in the music sense, but more inaccessible in the literal sense.  Only a few people have heard "Carnival of Light".  It was played once at some... place (venue, festival, something... I forget what exactly) and never heard since.  There is almost no possibility that you will get your hands on any copy, bootleg or official, any time soon.

Well if that's your criterion, than Godspeed You! Black Emperor's "All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling" is probably the least accessible album of all time. Only 33 copies exist, all on cassette and no one knows where any of them are.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: muteKi on 27 Oct 2007, 02:12
Loituma are quite awesome and I guess they fit into that category if you don't speak Finnish.

YAY LEEKS!!
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ocarina654 on 27 Oct 2007, 19:40
Guys, The Beatles, even their most bizarre stuff, is far more accessible than, say, Svarte Greiner or even Lightning Bolt. I can't really think of the most inaccessible thing I've heard at the moment but I can tell you now The Beatles don't even come close.
The reference to the Beatles here wasn't that the music was 'inaccessible' in the music sense, but more inaccessible in the literal sense.  Only a few people have heard "Carnival of Light".  It was played once at some... place (venue, festival, something... I forget what exactly) and never heard since.  There is almost no possibility that you will get your hands on any copy, bootleg or official, any time soon.

Well if that's your criterion, than Godspeed You! Black Emperor's "All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling" is probably the least accessible album of all time. Only 33 copies exist, all on cassette and no one knows where any of them are.
But there ARE copies of it in the hands of fans SOMEWHERE.  There are no copies of Carnival of Light anywhere outside of the master.

ALFotHAD is one, physically, inaccessible album that I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to have.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: corwinzor on 29 Oct 2007, 20:52
I find The Talking Heads a little difficult to get into.

So do I, and I always thought I was lame because of this. Good to know I'm not the only one who can't get into the Heads.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: SleeperCylon on 30 Oct 2007, 13:06
I just picked up a tape recorder and recorded myself saying "Box of pencils.  Box of pencils.  Box of pencils." over and over in a really robotic voice, while the leaf blowers outside are picked up on the background.  Completely inaccessible.

Or do you mean "Most inaccessible album of all time that nobody would ever actually enjoy listening to?"
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ocarina654 on 03 Nov 2007, 06:05
80 minutes of white noise with me reciting the Oxford English Dictionary over the top into a tiny microphone on a webcam. Also there is only one copy, and I sold it to myself, who then burnt it.

I just picked up a tape recorder and recorded myself saying "Box of pencils.  Box of pencils.  Box of pencils." over and over in a really robotic voice, while the leaf blowers outside are picked up on the background.  Completely inaccessible.

Thank's SleeperCylon, you're the most original person in this thread.

Sorry for being a dick, but seriously, we get it.  You can make random stuff that's inaccessible by both physical and musical definitions.
I think the point was made before Khar even made his post, so yours was superfluous to a superfluous post.
I am cranky tonight.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: SensoryOssuary on 03 Nov 2007, 12:34
http://video.jupitter-larsen.com/030.mov

Move along...
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Tom on 03 Nov 2007, 18:05
I find The Talking Heads a little difficult to get into.

So do I, and I always thought I was lame because of this. Good to know I'm not the only one who can't get into the Heads.

the Heads get into my head.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: muteKi on 04 Nov 2007, 01:56
http://video.jupitter-larsen.com/030.mov

Move along...


That's one of the funniest music related sketches I have ever seen.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Tom on 04 Nov 2007, 01:01
http://video.jupitter-larsen.com/030.mov

Move along...

That's one of the funniest music related sketches I have ever seen.
i am T.R.LOLING
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: KickThatBathProf on 19 Nov 2007, 00:14
My vote goes to any recent Autechre CD.



By the way, the most inacessible piece of all time would have to be The Rite of Spring composed by Igor Stravinsky.
Literally caused a riot at the premiere
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: jhum101 on 19 Nov 2007, 01:40
12-tones stuff by Schoenberg is pretty bizarre.

Someone earlier posted about Trout Mask Replica, and I have to say, that album is pretty tough to crack (still haven't made sense of it)

But I'm surprised no one has mentioned any avant-garde jazz yet. John Coltrane, whom most know by his modal jazz stuff (My Favorite Things, A Love Supreme, Giant Steps) ventured into that territory near the end of his life ('65-'67). Or Cecil Taylor, who's 1966 "Unit Structures" can overwhelm even the experienced jazz listener. And a personal choice for me is Ornette Coleman's "Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation" (1960), which upon first listen, I absolutely hated. But I can see through all the madness now, and enjoy listening to it on occasion. Whereas, only one year previously he released the much easier to listen "The Shape of Jazz to Come".
I listen to the latter a good deal more, but I have to say, if I were trapped on a desert island, I'd go with the "unaccessible", the "weird" music any day over the easy and simple music, just because there is so much room to explore, so many musical passages to unwind, break-down, and make sense of.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Edible on 19 Nov 2007, 17:05
Surprised at the lack of mathcore mentioned...
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: a pack of wolves on 19 Nov 2007, 17:09
In the grand scheme of things math rock isn't that out there, certainly not compared to noise or avant garde music.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: RedLion on 19 Nov 2007, 17:12
I find The Talking Heads a little difficult to get into.

Wow, really? Talking Heads have always been one of those bands for me that I can pop in and just enjoy without having to think about it. Especially their earlier stuff.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: pentaen on 19 Nov 2007, 17:20
yea talking heads are pop music, ive never heard of challenging pop music
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Felix_ on 20 Nov 2007, 03:36
The entire Abruptum discography.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 24 Nov 2007, 09:27
THE TALKING HEADS?!  THE FUCKING BEATLES?!

Try "getting into" Wolf Eyes.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Johnny C on 24 Nov 2007, 11:50
Where have you been? I missed posts like that. They tell it like it is.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 24 Nov 2007, 11:57
My band was on tour.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: a pack of wolves on 24 Nov 2007, 12:38
THE TALKING HEADS?!  THE FUCKING BEATLES?!

Try "getting into" Wolf Eyes.


Wolf Eyes are really accessible! It's like noise but with rock structuring. Hell, people dance to Wolf Eyes. The Beatles though, I just never understood what it is that makes them this genius thing people talk about. But Wolf Eyes are easy to make sense of.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 24 Nov 2007, 12:54
Wolf Eyes are easily understood if you've ever encountered anything like them before.  When I play them for people whose tastes don't extend much past Devendra Banhart in the "weird" direction, they usually recoil in horror and, occassionally, begin sobbing.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: a pack of wolves on 24 Nov 2007, 13:07
OK, admittedly I am the kind of person who potters about humming Scissor Girls songs. But still, for me The Beatles are still far more inaccessible.

I wish I'd ever made somebody sob by playing them music. It would be rather satisfying.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Misereatur on 24 Nov 2007, 13:41
Apparently even the heaviest noise fans found the latest Lietterschpich album terrifying.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 24 Nov 2007, 14:15
I wish I'd ever made somebody sob by playing them music. It would be rather satisfying.

One time a girlfriend and I were on mushrooms and I played Flying Saucer Attack's New Lands and she said it was the most depressing, machinelike music ever.

I thought it was soothing.   :-(
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: KickThatBathProf on 24 Nov 2007, 15:10
Making people cry by hearing music is actually rather easy if you know how to do it.

Step 1:  Find a "Tastee Brothers" album
Step 2:  Find any musician (preferably brass or woodwind)
Step 3:  Play "Tastee Brothers" album
Step 4:  Commence weeping.


I feel extremely sorry for those trumpets
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 24 Nov 2007, 15:26
Making someone cry with music is even easier than that:

Step 1: Find a 16 year old girl who reads Sylvia Plath.
Step 2: Play her the Bright Eyes Every Day and Every Night EP.
Step 3: Profit.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Thrillho on 24 Nov 2007, 17:55
OK, admittedly I am the kind of person who potters about humming Scissor Girls songs. But still, for me The Beatles are still far more inaccessible.

I wish I'd ever made somebody sob by playing them music. It would be rather satisfying.

I've managed that a few times. I also once managed to make some children nauseated while doing sound engineering work. Is that the same thing?
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: a pack of wolves on 24 Nov 2007, 17:57
No. It may actually be better though.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Thrillho on 26 Nov 2007, 05:39
I've yet to find the 'brown note' though.

As for inaccessible albums, how about The Final Cut by Pink Floyd? I mean I adore that record, but it's essentially the Roger Waters autobiography written for Roger Waters. Even HE thinks it's shit.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 26 Nov 2007, 09:47
I'd reckon that a lot of people, even those who had heard The Velvet Underground and Nico, would hear White Light/White Heat and tihnk it was a badly-recorded garage rock mess.

Which, actually, it is, and probably why I like it.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: KharBevNor on 27 Nov 2007, 01:28
The only album that's ever scared me was English Heretic - 2006 Annual, specifically the last track, 'Enter the Mithraic Stargate', which is basically dark ambience mixed with field recordings of an esoteric thelemite ritual. High school satanism, this shit ain't. I had to turn it off halfway through the first time I heard it, go outside, smoke like, four cigarettes, then come back in and listen to it again. I felt like exorcising my speaker system afterwards.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 27 Nov 2007, 13:33
Third Eye Foundation's Ghost creeps me out to this day.  As does Semtex, but I got it years after Ghost so I already knew what to expect.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: mattgcn on 27 Nov 2007, 16:29
They Might Be Giants for anyone who doesn't like weird music.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 27 Nov 2007, 16:36
I would argue that only the first two TMBG albums are "weird", and even those aren't any "weirder" than Devo, Talking Heads, B-52s, or a thousand other 70s-80s Geek Wave bands.

Actually, there are a lot of tracks on TMBG's first two that are very accessible, meaning that they are very pop-centric and catchy.  "Don't Let's Start" and "Ana Ng" are usually enjoyed even by people who dislike the band.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Spinless on 27 Nov 2007, 17:21
Hey, I like that song Ana NG, and I don't listen to TMBG. What a song.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Caspian on 27 Nov 2007, 19:47
The only album that's ever scared me was English Heretic - 2006 Annual, specifically the last track, 'Enter the Mithraic Stargate', which is basically dark ambience mixed with field recordings of an esoteric thelemite ritual. High school satanism, this shit ain't. I had to turn it off halfway through the first time I heard it, go outside, smoke like, four cigarettes, then come back in and listen to it again. I felt like exorcising my speaker system afterwards.

Can you upload this? As a person who is very interested in the whole golden dawn/thelemite/etc. lodges, this would be really interesting.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Skibas_clavicle on 27 Nov 2007, 21:37
I honestly don't know how anyone can listen to Melt-Banana. I know people do, but I just don't understand why.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 27 Nov 2007, 22:52
Have you seen Melt-Banana live?  It explains their appeal much better than their albums do.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Leinad on 27 Nov 2007, 22:54
The record that took me the longest getting into was most likely Oh God The Aftermath, by Norma Jean. Before I found that thing I had only listened to The Keeper, Korn, Lamb of God, and other lame-ass metal bands. Listening to Norma Jean after that is like running into a brick wall, having your balls given back (cause anyone who actually likes ANY of those bands has none) and then finding out you like it. Seriously, anyone who hasn't listened to Norma Jean, do so. You will find meaning to metalcore.

Once I actually developed a musical taste I think the hardest to get into was Cartel's Chroma. A very good album, but so poppy it makes you sick at first.

And has anyone listened to Dance Gavin Dance?
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Alexia on 27 Nov 2007, 23:02
I found Beast Moans to be fairly inaccessible. I mean, I love most of the artists that comprise the group, but when they all came together, it appeared to me like their different styles clashed, rather than blended, together.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: The Viz on 27 Nov 2007, 23:24
I've yet to find the 'brown note' though.

As for inaccessible albums, how about The Final Cut by Pink Floyd? I mean I adore that record, but it's essentially the Roger Waters autobiography written for Roger Waters. Even HE thinks it's shit.
Eh.  It's easily the worst album the Floyd ever made (that is, since I don't even count the post-Waters albums as true Floyd at all, though they were even worse).

Weezer's Pinkerton is pretty hard to get into.  I mean, it grows on you, but at first listen it's really weird.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ocarina654 on 28 Nov 2007, 00:35
The only album that's ever scared me was English Heretic - 2006 Annual, specifically the last track, 'Enter the Mithraic Stargate', which is basically dark ambience mixed with field recordings of an esoteric thelemite ritual. High school satanism, this shit ain't. I had to turn it off halfway through the first time I heard it, go outside, smoke like, four cigarettes, then come back in and listen to it again. I felt like exorcising my speaker system afterwards.

Can you upload this? As a person who is very interested in the whole golden dawn/thelemite/etc. lodges, this would be really interesting.
Golden Dawn/thelemite/etc aside, this sounds interesting.  Would love an upload as well.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Borondir on 05 Dec 2007, 13:53
Actually the music of Rite of Spring did not cause the riot.  While it was foward thinking, the audience was really upset about the flat footed, stomping dancing. This was early 20th century Paris, and tastes in ballet still ran towards delicacy and grace.   

Schoenberg and other 12 tone work is indeed really hard to get into. I still can't get into Pierrot Lunaire. Its not 12 tone, but its still atonal and the Sprechstimme is really far removed from normal vocal technique.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Thrillho on 05 Dec 2007, 14:16
I've yet to find the 'brown note' though.

As for inaccessible albums, how about The Final Cut by Pink Floyd? I mean I adore that record, but it's essentially the Roger Waters autobiography written for Roger Waters. Even HE thinks it's shit.
Eh.  It's easily the worst album the Floyd ever made (that is, since I don't even count the post-Waters albums as true Floyd at all, though they were even worse).

I call bullshit on that. Ignoring the post-Waters Floyd for the minute - as I love it - both More and Obscured By Clouds have some great tracks (More particularly) are far worse than Final Cut, and UmmaGumma's second disc is frankly awful. Final Cut certainly edges them out at the very least.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: carrotosaurus on 05 Dec 2007, 18:17
Weezer's Pinkerton is pretty hard to get into.

Are you kidding? That's one of the easiest albums to get into. It's the ultimate singalong album. Even though Weezer sucks.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 05 Dec 2007, 18:37
UmmaGumma's second disc is frankly awful.

What?!  I certainly can understand why a lot of people don't like it, but it beats the shit out of - wait for it - 90% of everything Animal Collective has ever done.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Beastmouth on 05 Dec 2007, 19:17
UmmaGumma's second disc is frankly awful.

What?!  I certainly can understand why a lot of people don't like it, but it beats the shit out of - wait for it - 90% of everything Animal Collective has ever done.

Was the second disk the live or the studio?  I always forget...

The studio wasn't inaccessible, it was just boring crap.  Young, Conrad, Cale et al. were doing much more interesting work in that vein of 'make a shitton of racket and call it artistic' a couple years before.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: LunarianSeas on 05 Dec 2007, 20:49
Meh.
I've skimmed through the thread a little.

But uh.

Arab On Radar had been a band that's pretty difficult for me to get into at all.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: E. Spaceman on 05 Dec 2007, 21:00
I do not get this thread, the soundtrack to More is one of the top 5 albums the floyd ever did.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: E. Spaceman on 05 Dec 2007, 21:03
There is not much sense in pulling punches here, my favourite Pink Floyd albums are:

1) Meddle
2) Meddle
3)The Dub Side of The Moon
4) Ummagumma
5) More OST
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 05 Dec 2007, 21:34
There is not much sense in pulling punches here, my favourite Pink Floyd albums are:

1) Meddle
2) Meddle
4) Ummagumma

Have I told you lately that I love you?
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: onewheelwizzard on 06 Dec 2007, 00:57
The only album that's ever scared me was English Heretic - 2006 Annual, specifically the last track, 'Enter the Mithraic Stargate', which is basically dark ambience mixed with field recordings of an esoteric thelemite ritual. High school satanism, this shit ain't. I had to turn it off halfway through the first time I heard it, go outside, smoke like, four cigarettes, then come back in and listen to it again. I felt like exorcising my speaker system afterwards.

Can you upload this? As a person who is very interested in the whole golden dawn/thelemite/etc. lodges, this would be really interesting.

Seconded.

Oh, and the most inaccessible music I've ever listened to was probably Pelt.  Those fuckers were weird.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: yossarian07 on 06 Dec 2007, 08:53
Any album by Animal Collective.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Thrillho on 06 Dec 2007, 09:06
UmmaGumma's second disc is frankly awful.

What?!  I certainly can understand why a lot of people don't like it, but it beats the shit out of - wait for it - 90% of everything Animal Collective has ever done.


That's like saying a punch in the nose is better than a punch in the dick. One is substantially preferable to the other, but in an ideal world neither would happen.

And the second disc is the studio disc, isn't it? Whichever disc is the studio disc, THAT one sucks, despite its occasionally hilarity. I still say 'well, that was a bit avant-garde, wasn't it?'
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ballard on 06 Dec 2007, 12:47
I think he's implying that he doesn't understand why a lot of people hate Ummagumma but blow their loads over Animal Collective.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: CarpeNoctem on 09 Dec 2007, 14:10
I'd say Don Caballero. As for one album, maybe "For Respect" or "What Burns Never Returns". Sure, I appreciate it now, but it took me 6 months to get there.
Oh, and maybe Hella. They're in the same vein as Don Cab. Wikipedia says "Math Rock/Noise Rock/Experimental".
How about superblackdeathdoomgrindgorecore stuff? It's just terrible, but I suppose that would count as inaccessible. Think Devourment.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Kai on 09 Dec 2007, 15:17
Hella are not in the least bit back, death, or doom metal. or grindcore, for the matter. I call shenanigans.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: KharBevNor on 09 Dec 2007, 16:05
What I think he is trying to say is that extreme metal is innacessible and crap.

Judging by the popularity of it, that is probably not the case.

And guys, seriously, Pink Floyd innaccessible? I think you guys need to calm down.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 09 Dec 2007, 16:05
I've always thought of Don Caballero as kind of the easiest band of their type to get into.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: KickThatBathProf on 09 Dec 2007, 22:11
Actually the music of Rite of Spring did not cause the riot.  While it was foward thinking, the audience was really upset about the flat footed, stomping dancing. This was early 20th century Paris, and tastes in ballet still ran towards delicacy and grace.

Well, it was somewhat the music with the dancing.  The primativism used in writing that piece kind of goes hand in hand with the angular, hip-centered coreography.

Also the fact that it depicted, well, fertility rituals
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: just-another-andy on 10 Dec 2007, 07:03
Jandek.

Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Thrillho on 10 Dec 2007, 12:29
What I think he is trying to say is that extreme metal is innacessible and crap.

Judging by the popularity of it, that is probably not the case.

And guys, seriously, Pink Floyd innaccessible? I think you guys need to calm down.

Just because something isn't super-fast blugeoning or sprawling fatalism doesn't mean it's polished pop music. Have you heard The Final Cut?
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: MobyDickhole on 11 Dec 2007, 19:13
I don't know if i read it in this form or not, but 'Whitehouse' is really fucking inaccessible

Or early 'Girl Talk'... seriously, what the fuck was he doing?
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Jackie Blue on 11 Dec 2007, 19:44
The first two Underworld albums would be pretty hard to understand if one had only heard their good material.

In fact, one would probably have a hard time accepting them as being the "same band" at all.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: dalconnsuch on 12 Dec 2007, 01:13
Chinese Democracy.

i'd say the self titled "the shaky hands" is the hardest to find other than this, chinese democracy is the hardest to find cuz it'll never exist....
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: fwyxx on 13 Dec 2007, 17:17
I'd have to say "Five Years' Time" by Noah And The Whale.  It's very obscure anglo-rock only available as a download from the record company.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Caspian on 13 Dec 2007, 20:57
What I think he is trying to say is that extreme metal is innacessible and crap.

Judging by the popularity of it, that is probably not the case.

And guys, seriously, Pink Floyd innaccessible? I think you guys need to calm down.

YOU HAVE NOT UPLOADED 'ENTER THE MITHRAIC STARGATE' YET. :?

Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Joseph on 13 Dec 2007, 21:01
Really?

I guess the Jandek records all have an atypical recording setup but otherwise I don't think his music is especially hard to "get".

Didn't he do a whole bunch of albums with just him singing, no accompaniment?
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: KharBevNor on 13 Dec 2007, 21:26
Jesus fucking christ people find your own obscure music.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Thrillho on 14 Dec 2007, 05:28
Is it possible that you have a Wrestling avatar?

T'ain't just possible, it's the case.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Ballard on 14 Dec 2007, 05:31
I think what Tommy is getting at is, why in the world would you do something like that?
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: rynne on 14 Dec 2007, 06:48
Scott Walker's The Drift is damn near impossible to get your head around.  The Metacritic reviews (http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/walkerscott/drift) sorta hint at its bizarreness; saying it’s nightmarish operatic art-rock gives a general idea of its genre, but doesn't come close to conveying how alienating it really is. 

I find The Drift more difficult to digest than stuff like Merzbow or Metal Machine Music, ‘cause with noise, there’s at least the option of turning your brain off and appreciating the music as pure (physical?) experience.  No such luck with The Drift, which demands intellectual engagement but---simultaneously---is so obscure as to defy almost all analysis.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Uber Ritter on 25 Dec 2007, 20:57
The entire Abruptum discography.

Having only heard a couple tracks of it on someone else's itunes, I can only imagine so.

Bucket Full of Teeth, a studio-only noisecoreish band with a bunch of dudes from Orchid in it, are pretty hard to get into on their full length IV , but then again I liked it like two years ago, so maybe it's not so weird, since I still don't really 'get' White 2.

Trout Mask Replica is a good bet for most inaccessible album that the majority of relatively informed rock fans have heard of.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: Thrillho on 26 Dec 2007, 03:46
I think what Tommy is getting at is, why in the world would you do something like that?

Because wrestling is hilariously dumb, but hilariously entertaining.

And this particular case, I like watching a toned blonde touch herself provactively.
Title: Re: Most Inaccessible Album of All-Time?
Post by: oneesmotryet on 31 Dec 2007, 06:49
i'm going with lightning bolt, les georges leningrad and maybe venetian snares... at first they're just bizarre, however especially in the latter's case, i've grown to learn to listen to them only when i'm in the right mood, otherwise the noise just irritates me.

xxx