the optimist. / Comments

  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    Just how many musical projects is he involved in? The only ones I'm really aware of are Porcupine Tree and Bass Communion, both of which I already have downloaded nearly all off.

    Yeah. It really is. Thats why I only look at the genre of a band when I'm looking to find bands with a similar sound. As far as keeping track of the genres... No. There's too many, and they vary way too much.

    Haha. S'alright. I do that quite often too xD
    One of my favorite songs by them is "Take These Hands And Throw Them In The River". Try that one if you have the time. "Microphones In The Trees" is also really good.

    If you can stomach noise, you can stomach anything. That's what I have to say about that. xD

    It is... completely insane. Merzbow. Good god. Over about three decades he's released 241 studio albums. That doesn't include any of his other work. I'm looking to get my hands on Merzbox, actually. It could take a while for me to actually get all of it though... its a LOT of music.

    And yeah. That song is really harsh.

    When there's too much I'd say it can be taken for granted. When it's not just one band making a unique sound, and other bands start to mimic that first band... it goes from being something original to an actual genre. That can be either good or bad, but it does make me appreciate that there are only a few people like Steven Wilson and JImmy LaValle, and only one Silver Mt Zion.

    Ah. Yeah. Try and put your own original spin on it then! ^^
    February 1st, 2010 at 11:04pm
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    That makes the two of us then. xD

    And that is awesome. My collection has become far too digital for me to turn back to vinyl now. I could never afford the amount of music I regularly collect.
    I hope you can get a turntable soon though. ^^

    Yeah... that's why I stopped organizing the genre tags on my music. the CDDB just fails like that all the time, and also most of the time I have no clue to put a band under one genre or another. I'm sick of going by genres. It's all music.

    Well I'm glad you liked it. Provided you were listening to them, anyway. xD
    What was the song title? or titles you heard on youtube?
    I don't think Silver Mt Zion would classify as Noise... they're more... experimental. Although there are songs where there's a lot going on. The first several tracks of one of their albums features a melody constructed entirely from guitar pickup feedback, so I suppose that would be noise.

    Merzbow is really good, btw. I've listened to his collaborations with Boris for a while, and today I finally decided to look into his own work. I loaded his discogrpahy page on wikipedia... I think my eyes exploded. It'll be QUITE a task getting my hands a good chunk of his work. xD

    And with Boris... if you like Merzbow and Silver Mt. Zion, you should check out Boris. Like I said, they colloborated with Merzbow, and at times they're sound is really similar, as a result.

    ^^
    Yeah. I can say the same of the Album Leaf. Steven Wilson and Jimmy LaValle are both musical genuises.

    Maybe you should pick that story back up. I've got pieces of a semi-sci-fi circling my head. I have a basic idea for a plot. Nothing to move it yet though. I'm not rushing it though. I'll get it started when It's ready to begin.
    February 1st, 2010 at 09:33am
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    We're all insane in one way or another. I'm definitely insane for my obsession with music, as well as my collection of it. xD

    I don't have any either, sadly. No turntable here either. I wish I had one though, and some vinyls. A lot of the bands I listen to release stuff only on vinyl. I end up downloading it instead.

    Yeah. Simple mistake on my part. It really isn't uncommon for a band to be considered "electronica" and ambient though. A lot of ambient bands use electronic instruments occasionally. The same can even be said of some post rock bands.

    Have you given them a listen yet? A lot of people classify them as post rock, but really, they sound to different to even be classified as that IMO. They sound like... LSD in audio form. Literally. The only band that comes close in being as "Odd" as them would have to be Boris. But yeah, being able to take extreme noise would help.

    I was just listening to Silver Mt Zion's song "Mircophones In The Trees" and one of my friends heard it and wandered into my room and asked me "what the fuck are you listening to?" xD

    I'm glad you showed them to me. ^^
    I was lucky enough to find all three versions of that song. I haven't had the chance to listen to them all yet, but I'm listening to the longest one right now.

    And... after getting into boris, twenty minutes does not sound that long at all for a song. The three longest tracks I have are all by Boris. "Sun Baked Snow Cave" tracks at an hour and 2 minutes, the Final version of Dronevil at an hour and three minutes, and Abolutego at an hour and five. I really like them too, and they can sound very ambient, and at other times... something I cannot explain. I'd reccomend them to you too, but I'm not entirely sureif you'd like them. It really takes an ear for music to appreciate them. Same thing goes for Silver Mt Zion. They're both very strange bands. xD

    And music has helped. I don't have a plot yet, but I'm slowly piecing one together with the ideas I have. Nothing concrete at the moment though.
    February 1st, 2010 at 05:42am
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    No. Of course not! xD
    Yeah. It really is. And as massive as it is, it's still growing by around 700+ songs a week. ^^

    And yeah. Honestly, I prefer vinyl over any type of cd case.
    With jewel cases the artwork is safe from harm. That's really the only reason I prefer it over digipacks, but box sets are awesome too.

    Gah. Yeah. Bass Communion are ambient. That's what I meant to say. I'm not sure why I threw the term "electronica" in there. xD
    I know about as many ambient bands as I do electronica though. Both are really new to me.

    As of right now I've really fallen in love with Silver Mt Zion. I downloaded some of their albums ages ago an listened occasionally, but I admit their sound is not something that's easy to listen to, unless you get in the right state of mind. Walking through the forest while blasting them in my headphones made me feel like I was on some kind of drug, and really opened me up to them.

    Bass Communion are really good too, and next to Silver Mt Zion, I've been listening to them almost as much. ^^

    Same here, and I'm attempting to write it. So far nothing though. I'm trying.
    January 31st, 2010 at 11:55pm
  • rosetta.

    rosetta. (100)

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    Wow, thankyou! I will defintely listen to them when I'm free! =D
    January 31st, 2010 at 12:29pm
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    Oh, you'd be insane to not call me insane, with the amount of music I have. xD
    I'm obsessed. I download. I listen. I'll be doing it for the rest of my life. And it makes me happy. ^^
    But yes, still, quite insane.

    It's alright. I just hear that question all the time when people hear how much music I have. That and "are you crazy?" xD

    Yeah. Chances are the same won't happen to yours though. I think what drew them there in the first place was a friend of mine dropped a few skittles behind the shelf they were on. The cases have a few holes in them, but the booklets and the cds are fine. Digipacks are designed to be more bio-degradeable anyway. Personally, I prefer normal, plastic cd cases. xD

    Same story for me. What got me into it was a mix between hearing post rock (some bands who use electronic instruments) and a certain video game's soundtrack. Wipeout Pure, and now Wipeout Pulse (currently addicted to it). I dunno If you've heard of it, but both those games have excellent electronic soundtracks. Hearing Bass Communion for the first time really got me interested though.

    Good luck with that. I've been there before. xD
    I've been stirring around some ideas in my head. I'm gonna try and piece together a valid plot for my story tomorrow, I hope. Or I will seriously start on it, at least.
    January 31st, 2010 at 10:44am
  • rosetta.

    rosetta. (100)

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    Oh yeah. Well I personally would love to get into some more of Steven Wilson's other stuff. Would be interesting concidering I'm trying to find and get introduced to more and more artists and bands. I really need to steal some more music from my Ex (sadface), and others! Also I should look-up some musicz on YouTube if people recomend something.. *Wink, wink*
    January 31st, 2010 at 07:01am
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    Filling up a 160 gig ipod may be a feat of insanity, but the combined size of all the files in my music folder would take over THREE 160 gig ipods to fit it all. xD
    Yeah. I would need one of those. My laptop alone can't handle this music music either. It's all stored on this massive external hard drive that needs it's own power supply. xD

    Haha. I could. xD
    And that's a stupid question. Every day of my life, every moment I can, until the day I die. That's when I'll listen to it. ^^

    Yeah. Carptener ants. They ate their way through the wall and started to devour the flimsy paper of those cd cases.

    No problem. :]
    And no, I haven't heard of them. Not yet anyway. I'm actually extremley new to electronica, so I know very few bands in the genre at the moment. Thhanks for the rec.

    Gah. The same thing has happened to me so many times. I've had this plot since I was in high school, and I've taken it and completley re-designed it at least three times, but... I just don't know where to go with it. I've recently decided to give up on it, actually, unfortunately. It just hass too many cliches... and I really want to write something original, something different. I'm just not sure what yet.
    January 31st, 2010 at 02:30am
  • rosetta.

    rosetta. (100)

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    I don't know sooo many of those bands, haha.. But I see you like Opeth!!! I love Opeth! Mikael's voice is amazing!
    January 30th, 2010 at 12:36pm
  • rosetta.

    rosetta. (100)

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    Yes please! I would love you forever if you took me.. :3 So what other bands do you like?
    January 30th, 2010 at 03:01am
  • rosetta.

    rosetta. (100)

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    Yeah, some of their songs I don't like, either.. And I really, really, really, really want to see them in concert! Dad would come, too! Very happily. I would take a friend.
    January 30th, 2010 at 12:51am
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    I have a 160 gigabyte ipod... I completley filled it up a long time ago. I have about 500 gigs of music on my computer now. xD
    Yeah. I remember when I used to carry around cds... but now for me, its at the point where I'd have to carry around multiple ipods around with me. If I tried carrying all my music in cd form... good god, I'd have a small house on my back to hold them all. Okay, maybe not a house, but still, something HUGE. I have almost 6000 albums. xD

    I'm not sure. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know how much he has. xD

    Oh. Yeah. That sucks. Lucky for me my cds were never damaged or lost, except for the incident where an ant hive managed to form on top of my digipacks on my shelf while I was away at college. When I came back during the break... good god, that was terrifying opening my curtain and seeing that many ants. *shudders*
    The cds were fine though, just the digipacks' cardboard cases were pretty much devoured though.
    When I first digitized my collection though, there was one time when my hard drive fail on me. Lucky for me the majority of it was backed up on my ipod though, so I transferred it from there back on my computer.

    I'm really liking them. I'm trying to find more of their stuff. ^^
    And a band you should really listen to is Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band (or The Silver Mt Zion for short). Good god they're amazing. Definitley my favorite post rock band, after the Album Leaf, but they sound completley different. I was listening to their EP "Pretty Little Lightning Paw" on my way back from class this morning. As I walked in the forest. Good God. I've never felt so inspired, so at awe, or so high and happy in my life. I could have sworn I had an out of body experience it was so amazing.
    I guarantee you've never heard anything like it. ^^
    My favorite album by them I think though is titled "Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward".
    Although... they are a little hard to listen to recreationally. Their sound is... odd. If you can get in the right state of mind though... get ready for a trip. ^^

    Yeah? That sounds like a good idea. Thanks. Unfortunatley I have no plot ideas at the moment though. Dx
    January 29th, 2010 at 08:30pm
  • rosetta.

    rosetta. (100)

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    Me too! I love all of their songs! In fact, I'mma listen to them now! =D
    January 29th, 2010 at 09:43am
  • rosetta.

    rosetta. (100)

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    Yeah! I love 'Dark Matter'.
    January 29th, 2010 at 09:11am
  • rosetta.

    rosetta. (100)

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    I absolutely LOVE Porcupine Tree! They are amazing. I've also fully gotten my Dad into them! =D
    January 29th, 2010 at 06:43am
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    That's what I used to do, back when I had a cd player. Then computer hard drives got bigger, music players got better, and my love and obsession with finding more music expanded to the point where I could no longer carry that many cds around with me.

    No one else I know has a collection as big as me, either. I'm just in love with all music, that, and I kinda wanna beat the current record of "largest music library" which, as it stands, is around 3 million songs. My collection is just almost a measely 70,000. xD

    Why'd you have to start over with your cd collection?

    And speaking of inspiring you were right about "Ghosts on Magnetic Tape". I got my hands on it and going through my first listen of it. I'm only on the second track and I've already fallen in love with it.

    I know how that is. I'm actually trying to start a story, but I'm stuck on the first chapter. I'm not sure what to do.
    January 28th, 2010 at 08:43pm
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    I'm not breaking anymore shelves, my collection is mostly digital now. xD
    Currently, I have a half-full 1 terabyte drive of only music. I should end up needing more space before this drive runs out if I keep getting music at the rate I already do. xD

    Yeah. I can definitely agree with that.Thanks.
    I've got a habit of attributing songs to my life too.

    I attempt to write stories, but it all falls apart in the planning stages. I can never settle on a plot, and when I can think of characters, I have trouble deciding the plot. xD
    Cool. I draw occasionally, but I'm much more of a writer than an artist.
    January 28th, 2010 at 01:54am
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    Yeah, and then theres times when I have no idea what I want to listen to. Anyway, that's what shuffle mode is for, although it would take over half a year to cycle through my music collection. Think I have enough music yet? xD

    Yes, yes it is. It's my favorite NIN song, but I'm in love with pretty much Trent's entire catalogue. He's one of my favorite "solo" musicians and NIN was my steppting stone into all electronic-based music, without NIN I may have not become the post rock fan I am today. I can really relate to a lot of his songs too, especially "Only", which I can say pretty much reflects a darker period of my life that I went through not too long ago.

    Yeah, although with poetry I do often listen to songs with lyrics also. Instrumentals too. For example, when I was writing "Blue" I was obsessing over the song "Heaven's Not Enough" from the soundtrack of Wolf's Rain.
    January 26th, 2010 at 07:26pm
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    Yeah. Same here, especially with being in the mood for too many songs at once. xD

    And I suppose not. I think the main reason lyrics help my drawing is because I enjoy drawing what lyrics tend do describe. I've done that with quite a few things, one of which that I'm most proud of is that I made a picture book based on the song "Right Where It Belongs" by Nine Inch Nails.

    With writing, I prefer to put my own words on the page, so hearing someone else speak while I'm trying to find words myself can be distracting, wheras hearing an instrumental I get pure emotion from that, which helps set the mood for what I'm writing. ^^
    January 26th, 2010 at 02:29am
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    True. So very true. I prefer to listen to albums in their entirety too, but I do occasionally pick and choose (if I'm able to do that while listening, or if I don't have enough time to hear the entire album).

    I feel the exact opposite about that though. I get the most inspiration to write when listening to instrumentals, and I can draw my best when I'm listening to songs with lyrics. I don't really know why. I'm probably just weird like that. xD
    January 25th, 2010 at 09:51am