2019 music goals update - Phase 2 completed

Obviously I am not thrilled with my performance, but at times it is miraculous that I get anything done.

Anyway, I have finished the second round of bands from the Nothing Feels Good book.

Those were bands that I thought that I wanted to listen to more.That meant instead of just listening to top tracks or watching videos, trying to listen to the whole catalog.

I don't exactly regret that Mogwai was on the list, but that was a very discouraging start. So many albums! If I were a fan, getting each album new as it came out would be wonderful, but that was a lot of hours of similar instrumentals. I still don't dislike them, I think I want to watch the movie for which they did the soundtrack, but finishing them was a relief.

Of course, Mogwai isn't emo. The book mentioned bands that were not emo, and sometimes the ones I liked the most came from genres.

Most were emo. I listened to both Jawbreaker and Jawbox. I really like Jawbox. Jawbreaker is the band where I like the guitars but then I get irritated with the singing. I didn't really have that figured out until the third round.

You see, the first round was going through and listening to some songs from each band the book mentioned. Many daily songs came from that round. I starred bands that I liked.

The second round was listening to the full catalog of the starred bands. I should have trusted my instincts. For some reason - in retrospect I am not sure it makes sense - after listening to The Rocking Horse Winner again, I thought maybe I had been wrong not to star Joan of Arc. No. I was not.

While I was doing this listening, I would take notes, like song titles I liked, or what I liked, or if some albums were stronger than others. The third round was going back through and listening to the noted songs again. There's a reason it took so long, but that is not the only reason. There ended up being eleven bands who were not mentioned in Nothing Feels Good where I still listened to their entire catalogs.

One of the mentioned bands was The Hives. Not emo. There was a time period when band names that stuck out to me - because of their format - included The Hives, Strokes, Vines, and Shins, but I knew nothing about their music. I decided to throw them in too, plus The Struts for fun.

Another band mentioned in Nothing Feels Good was Interpol. A lot of people associate them with The Killers (whom I know well) and Franz Ferdinand, but I associate Franz Ferdinand with Modest Mouse. That is because of advertising that included snippets of "Take Me Out" with "Float On", seemingly random but there is a percussive similarity with the songs that is reflected in the videos.

I also listened to Kill Hannah's catalog, because back when I was still trying to figure out what emo meant, it seemed like they could fit. They don't, but now I know for sure.

I also listened to the full catalogs of my four favorite bands from Phase One, the bands that were not emo but seemed to hold a similar place in people's hearts.

Finally I can move on to Phase Three, updating the band review spreadsheet. Lots of fun planned with that, and many daily songs will come from there. I am not ready to start it yet, though, so I have something else planned that I will announce tomorrow.

In the meanwhile, I will do actual band reviews (listening to the catalog three times and writing it up)  (someday) for Jawbox, FenixTX, Superdrag, Social Distortion, Face to Face, Samiam, Allister, The Rocking Horse Winner, Something Corporate, Frail (but not the one I looked up, a Finnish band I stumbled across trying to find the other one), Finch, and The Struts.

Of the twenty-two original starred bands, that is twelve marked for review, and ten not. I am not sure how long the original list was anymore. I am a little surprised The Starting Line didn't end up on it, but there were so many.

For the added bands - except for The Struts, whom I loved - even the ones I like more, I think I would not do a review unless I got to see them in concert. That includes The Shins, Falling in Reverse, Avenged Sevenfold, Black Veil Brides, and A Day to Remember.

Technically, now that I think of it, I think I have seen Franz Ferdinand in concert, but it was terrible seats and acoustics. Maybe if they come they can have a do-over, whereas the more I listened to Modest Mouse, the more I hated them.

I think I want to do a playlist for The Strokes. I really like some songs, and it might be handy to revisit them without having to wade through everything else.

Sorry if I dissed any of your favorites, but I will give anyone a chance, and I think that's worth something.

Related posts:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2019/01/2019-my-year-for-music.html
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2019/02/2019-music-goals-phase-1-completed.html