Metallica

[southernthrash]

I think I'll just spoil the party by saying that I'd rather listen to classical/easy listening/jazz/trance/techno/drum n bass/idm/soundscape/ambient/softer rock/pretty much anything else except hiphop and speedcore/terrorcore/etc. over metal.

If you enjoy classical and jazz then you ought to appreciate the technicalities of metal, at least. What do you mean by soundscape/ambient? Jakob? HDU? Operation Rolling Thunder?

Drum n Bass is rubbish, it really is.

Post hardcore, any "core" genre is gonna be crap.

[Ryan Thomas]

Neptune Towers, Lustmord and Maeror Tri is the only Ambient I can think of..

[southernthrash]

It depends on what you class as ambient.

Some would call elevator music ambient, others soft acoustic, I prefer that of the abstract (sometimes heavy) electronic rock and roll variety.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

I'm into Wallerthrush/dubbi, hersules and thrubbo. Disc-rapp is past it I think?

JohnGaul
NZTS

[Razor]

Yea sabbath were the first wave of "heavy metal" really, but never claimed the name themselves. Halford was the first guy to describe his own music as heavy metal. Certainly priest et al are more akin to modern metal, while the sabbath influence is heard in heavy/stoner/doom rock.

The phrase Heavy Metal was first used in the Steppenwolf song "Born to be Wild"

Sing after me: "I like smoke and lightning/Heavy metal thunder/Racin' with the wind/And the feelin' that I'm under."

[Inny Binny]

What on earth is speedcore and Terrorcore? And I assume you have a stereotype that all metal is like Slipknot / Disturbed / whatever other crap comes to peoples minds.. when you mention metal. Or for hip hop Souljah boi, 50 cent and Insane Clown Possese.. Theres excellence in both genres.

I've heard quite a bit of metal - and I guess I just don't like the sound of heavy guitars. OK, the occasional metal song is OK, but anything heavier - heavy, death, black, etc. is just not for me. I can appreciate metal though - I can tell a good song from I bad one (I hope )

Hiphop - well, of course modern hiphop is terrible. Soulja Boy is pretty much the king of terrible music. I have heard the vintage, vinyl, sampling stuff and hiphop isn't really my thing at all. Still, I can appreciate the old stuff. None of the radio crap though. Eugh.

If you enjoy classical and jazz then you ought to appreciate the technicalities of metal, at least. What do you mean by soundscape/ambient? Jakob? HDU? Operation Rolling Thunder?

I don't class genres by the sound of a band. Heck, I don't listen to commercial music much. I go for the amateur free stuff...

Ambient is a ridiculously broad genre, but by ambient, I would mean something like this:

Nehir

Drum n Bass is rubbish, it really is.

About d'n'b - I really don't have a clue as to what the commercial stuff sounds like, but from the couple I have heard, it sounds pretty awful, and pretty generic. The dnb I tend to like more (once again, the amateur stuff, generally from Acidplanet ) is the drill side:

Matsumoto
Robovirtuoso

[southernthrash]

Haha, Inny Binny, you are young, so your naivety is understood.

Nehir are ok, yes, but geared a bit more toward egg heads than what I tend to listen to. You should really check out Jakob, they are an NZ band (well two guys), from up Napier way. Amazing ambient guitar driven soundscapes. You should be able to find them on myspace. If you like them, then also check out Operation Rolling Thunder, two of their biggest influences are the weather, and the landscapes of central otago. I would recommend HDU to you also, but I think the punk influence would be lost on you.

As for d'n'b, I think we are on similar wavelengths. I currently live in Dunedin, so it is IMPOSSIBLE to escape it. That said, most dunedin d'n'b is ruthlessly filthy and underground. Have you listened to Salmonella Dub's seminal d'n'b record, "THC Winter"? That is the best d'n'b to ever come out of NZ (Pretty old now). It has also had huge influence throughout the d'n'b scene worldwide, many of the current top producers, underground especially, rate it very highly, although it has most hi-top kids stumped. There is a huge amount of NZ influence in d'n'b, many of the people involved in its beginnings in the dirty London warehouses were expat kiwis. A lot of the other influence is directly from hip hop and jungle, with the dub/reggae base.

I guess you do come from Canterbury, which is known to be a black hole as far as NZ music goes... haha. Hopefully in a couple of years you will be able to get yourself to Dunedin or Wellington, or even Auckland. Where based on what you have said here, your eyes will be opened big time.

I used to think it was cool to look down on commercial music, but its really no different to the "Amateur" stuff at all, in that they are generally all professionals. It's good to keep out of mainstream music though. If you are into tool at all (I'm thinking probably not) have a good listen to hooker with a penis.

If you want anything in the way of a heads up as far as good relatively unknown NZ psych/ambient or jazz groups go, I can definitely make many more suggestions.

[Inny Binny]

Haha, Inny Binny, you are young, so your naivety is understood.

I am definitely naive when it comes to commercial music, and the subtle evolutions of genres. Definitely.

Nehir are ok, yes, but geared a bit more toward egg heads than what I tend to listen to. You should really check out Jakob, they are an NZ band (well two guys), from up Napier way. Amazing ambient guitar driven soundscapes. You should be able to find them on myspace. If you like them, then also check out Operation Rolling Thunder, two of their biggest influences are the weather, and the landscapes of central otago. I would recommend HDU to you also, but I think the punk influence would be lost on you.

Nehir is OK.

Guitar-driven ambient can be really nice sometimes. I'll definitely check those ones out.

I've also got an uncle that produces ambient-oriented music - ambient breaks, ambient dance, general ambient, etc.

I used to think it was cool to look down on commercial music, but its really no different to the "Amateur" stuff at all, in that they are generally all professionals.

Ha, cool?

Good grief, I'm sure most people would look at me rather strangely, considering I make a bit of music myself.

But I haven't had much good experience with commercial - well, I guess rather mainstream music. It seems to be affected by the labels' ideals of popular music so much...

[southernthrash]

You've got some good stuff there. Try listen to Jakob's song "nice day for an earthquake" off the subsets of sets album, it is bloody brilliant. I dunno what sort of substances you are into, but if you listen to a bit of their stuff, you will see what I mean.

I don't think you got the context of my use of cool there. But anyway, all the best musicians are the strangest people. So, uh, don't worry?

I know exactly where you are coming from, while my own musical endeavours are limited to a drunken punk/rock n roll band, I live with two amazing musicians, neither of whom are at all mainstream. You are lucky that you are making music in a time when it is possible to be "commercial" without being "mainstream". But don't make the mistake of believing all "mainstream" music is inherently bad, without repeating my flatmates music lectures, there is plenty to learn.

So you produce all your music on computer using acid? have you played with decks/synths at all? You can definately have a lot more fun laying tracks down on a synth and using a pretty straightforward (and free!) package like Audacity for production. Anyway, keep at it, you could probably pull a crowd here in a couple of years time.

[Inny Binny]

Jakob definitely is very nice. Just listening to a few on their main page on MySpace, really liking them.

I intend to get a midi controller at some point - don't want an actual hardware synth really, just an interface for improvising with.

I have Audacity, but haven't used it much. Dunno why...

[southernthrash]

Yea they are great, plenty of other great bands doing similar things.

Yea fair enough, thought about a sample pad at all? They are awesome, huge potential with those.

Audacity is sweet, has heaps of plug ins, as well as midi generators. I know quite a few people who record/produce with it over anything else.

[Ryan Thomas]

St. Vitus is a brilliant band, started listening to them today.

[southernthrash]

As brilliant as Kyuss?

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Garner Wayne and the Saddle Pals were a good band from Ashburton. They had a hit with "I Fell in Love With a Pretty Little Hen"

JohnGaul
NZTS

[Ryan Thomas]

As brilliant as Kyuss?

Haven't heard Kyuss, they're Stoner / Doom Metal tho aren't they? Better then Electric Wizard?

[southernthrash]

Kyuss are pretty much the pinnacle of stoner rock. From them the bands Queens of the Stone Age, Mondo Generator, Slo Burn, Eagles of Death Metal have developed, as well as the desert sessions.

If you are into heavy low-fi rock n roll, definately check out kyuss, a little different to Electric Wizard, and better in my book.

[tich]

I've got some Kyuss albums - great trippy music for a hot, sunny day. Got a 'stoned in the desert vibe', not surprising as they come from Palm Springs.

[southernthrash]

It's great music for being outside, in general, and stoned, ofcourse... haha. The guys from Kyuss instigated the desert sessions, where a whole bunch of musicians get together in the desert, plug into generators and jam for days on end. Many a good rock band has been spawned from the desert sessions, one of the longest running ongoing collaborations in contemporary music.

A big influence on the stoner/doom genres is the natural environment. The west coast USA bands take influence from the desert, while east coast and European groups take influence from the forest. The science influence philosophy of rejecting religion and seeking spirituality through the wonder of the natural world is popular. Allusions to satanism are generally piss takes and jibes at Christianity and capitalist society.

[Ryan Thomas]

I haven't listened to Kyuss yet when.. stoned.. But I don't think it'll be as good as Electric Wizard or Pentagram. Oh yes I'm getting back into some Alice in Chains at the moment. Topic title should be "Music". They're the only good "grunge" band.

[southernthrash]

Only good grunge band?! Mudhoney? The Melvins? Green River? Soundgarden? Gosh!

[Ryan Thomas]

Forgot about Mudhoney and Green River, I found them to be good for Grunge. Soundgarden's alright. Have to check out The Melvins, been meaining to

[southernthrash]

The Melvins are amazing. Hugely diverse sound, from punk to sludgy doom riffs - they were a big influence on the early stoner rock movement. They were also one of Kurt Cobains favourite acts and good friends. They were the biggest mentors for other bands in the Seattle scene. More recently, they have been playing heavy and abstract punk with Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys doing vocals. If you are a fan of the first wave of hardcore punk, that stuff is definitely worth a listen.

[Razor]

Bloody thrilled to hear Iron Maiden will be gracing our shores in February!

[Ryan Thomas]

AND TO CHRISTCHURCH!!! Couple of bands I've wanted to see this year have been to Auckland / Wellington, (Dismember, Carcass) This will be amazing.

[Ryan Thomas]

Anyone into more "extreme" Metal would be happy to know Morbid Angel is coming to Aus / NZ, (Auckland ) might head to Bris if I do go because Portal might support..