Two CDs in a row

by on March 6, 2012 at 3:02 pm in Music | Permalink

Diamond Mine, by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins,

followed by

Julianna Barwick, The Magic Place.

They sound much better, one after the other, in that order.  I will file them together on my shelf, once they leave my living room, and break my usual habit of alphabetizing.

I also like to follow Mahler symphonies with a short Mozart piano piece, in a major key preferably.

Can you think of other sensible combinations of music or CD sequences?

Meegs March 6, 2012 at 3:05 pm

In terms of economics blogs, I read Krugman first, then Marginal Revolution, then Sumner.

David Wright March 7, 2012 at 5:56 am

Is that a sort of Hegelian thesis-antithesis-synthesis progression?

Jonathan March 6, 2012 at 3:10 pm

Jackson Browne “The Load Out” and “Stay”.

Did he intend that initially? Anyone know?

Nickolaus March 6, 2012 at 3:13 pm

Radiohead – Kid A followed by Radiohead – Amnesiac

Sleazy P Martini March 6, 2012 at 10:22 pm

Radiohead bites the big one. And so do you.

Nick March 6, 2012 at 3:24 pm

‘Help I’m a Rock’ by the Mothers of Invention, followed by The Beatles’ Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise).

Sunset Shazz March 6, 2012 at 3:30 pm

Such a classic Tyler post.

mw March 6, 2012 at 3:37 pm

for calm
Chopin’s Nocturnes followed by I Will Say Goodbye
or for uncalm
Transcendental Etudes followed by The Enlightenment Suite

Millian March 6, 2012 at 4:01 pm

The end of The Wall, followed by beginning of The Wall.

kent March 7, 2012 at 1:28 am

In college we would play The Wall on shuffle. Good times.

Rich March 6, 2012 at 4:05 pm

“The Rite of Spring” followed by “The Marshall Mathers LP”

TallDave March 6, 2012 at 4:07 pm

“The Becoming” should be followed by “All The Love in the World”

And of course “Somewhat Damaged” should always be followed by “The Day the World Went Away” but that’s just common sense.

Sleazy P Martini March 6, 2012 at 9:34 pm

NIN is excellent, I agree.

Vinnie March 6, 2012 at 4:11 pm

The looping track thing is impressive to watch, but I still haven’t heard an artist elevate it above gimmick, er, novelty status.

Jimmy March 6, 2012 at 5:02 pm

Andrew Bird.

Brandon T. March 6, 2012 at 8:05 pm

Tune-yards.

EKS March 6, 2012 at 4:17 pm

Dead -> Phish

Sleazy P Martini March 6, 2012 at 9:34 pm

Those bands suck. And so do their fans.

Jon March 6, 2012 at 4:31 pm

From the BBC Music review of The Magic Place:

“… if anyone mentions Enya while this is on, feel free to chastise them with Sex Pistols force.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/w2j9

SimonH March 6, 2012 at 5:15 pm

Diamond Mine is very very good indeed … missed them when they toured last month which was a bit gutting. If you liked it, this is his folk/Indian classical/rap/indie/Canadian/Scottish supergroup which is (a) excellent and (b) much better than you might expect it to be: http://www.theburnsunitband.com/music/. After I’ve finished listening to it, I often go and make a cup of tea.

Bill March 6, 2012 at 5:31 pm

What’s a CD? Certificate of Deposit?

TallDave March 7, 2012 at 12:58 pm

In ancient times, some cultures used lasers to encode sounds onto plastic disks, which could then be played on primitive sound-generating devices.

kenan March 6, 2012 at 5:38 pm

hey professor, have you heard of Beats Antique? I like listening to hummel’s piano concertos, and then beats antique. I really like the siren song.

Martin March 6, 2012 at 5:39 pm

rather piano-y:

First, get really messy with Liszt (piano concertos, Totentanz, sonata), Rachmaninoff (piano conertos; no Etudes-Tableaux or so, too formal…), or even Skriabin (anything) if the former are too claptrap – just avoid perfectionists, always prefer the virtuoso wild type, live if possible. That is, no Pollini or Benedetti-Michelangeli for Liszt, take Kissin or Argerich; no Zimerman or Bronfman for Rachmaninoff, take Ashkenazy, etc. Then, pass directly to Bach and get as pure as possible: the Passions with Gardiner, or something, on historic instruments. If the cultural shock between (post-)romanticism and baroque or the switch between solo and orchestral/choral music is too much to handle, just get your thoughts reorganized with some Brahms (Paganini variations do wonder), some of the better Chopin, or a Schuman sonata; Benedetti-Michelangeli, Pollini, Zimerman or the young Pogorelich are highly recommended now.

A more precise and personal procedure, not really following the above: Poulenc organ concerto (any recording) – Hummel 3rd piano concerto (I only know one recording with Hughes at the piano) – Bach Goldberg variations (harpsichord! with Koopman). This goes through the most important realizations of “clavier” music, some centuries, and from psychodelic to playfully classical to intellectual. Afterwards I’m usually ready for doing my laundry.

Kat March 6, 2012 at 6:53 pm

I keep my music player on random play frequently in order to stumble across things that segue nicely into each other, musically and/or thematically.

Some I like:

Frou Frou, “Holding Out For A Hero” -> Kings of Convenience, “I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From”

Bjork, “Army of Me” -> Kate Bush, “Army Dreamers”

The Cure, “Lovesong” -> Enigma, “Sadeness”

I like playlists of two separate genres mixed –so Irish folk-rock and Scandinavian folk-rock, or tango-electronica with Eastern European traditional dance, or video game music and neoclassical.

adam March 6, 2012 at 7:15 pm

Grateful Dead: American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead

John Faben March 6, 2012 at 7:19 pm

I didn’t know anyone actually still owned CD’s… http://goo.gl/GUcML

Reg March 6, 2012 at 7:24 pm

I suppose if one is going to listen to the most overrated composer in history, one might as well follow it up with the second.

For me, a Bach cantata, followed by a Vivaldi concerto.

Reg March 6, 2012 at 7:26 pm

A couple combos I seem to hit often is Beach Boys, Pet Sounds–> ELO, Out of the Blue & The Who, Live at Leeds –> GNR, Appetite

I did this the other day, and it worked: Alice in Chains, Dirt –> Ben Folds Five, Reinhold Messner.

Sleazy P Martini March 6, 2012 at 9:47 pm

GNR and Alice in Chains? Excellent. The rest of those bands? Only pussies listen to that shit.

Nate March 6, 2012 at 7:57 pm

Hit from the Vaporizer into Allman Brothers – Live at the Fillmore East.

Ricardo Urdaneta March 6, 2012 at 8:35 pm

The third movement of Vivaldi’s Concerto RV 93 for Guitar and String Orchestra in D followed by the third movement of Mozart’s Horn Concerto in E flat major, K495: did Mozart plagiarize Vivaldi?

Sleazy P Martini March 6, 2012 at 9:33 pm

This Toilet Earth by GWAR! needs to be incorporated somehow, preferably with Blood, Guts, and Pussy by the Dwarves.

Sleazy P Martini March 6, 2012 at 9:36 pm

Also, Ministry’s anti-W trilogy (Houses of the Mole, Rio Grande Blood, and The Last Sucker) should be played from start to finish.

Sleazy P Martini March 6, 2012 at 9:45 pm
J Cain March 6, 2012 at 11:03 pm

Julianna Barwick, on MR! Drove around the Hana highway by my lonesome last fall, and listened to Magic Place fourteen times. So pretty.

Tyler, you might also check out: Nicolas Jaar (Space is Only Noise…), Jurgen Muller, Jacazek. And Jan Jelinek / Gramm, while I’m at it.

mk March 7, 2012 at 2:53 am

About half the time I like shuffle, or sort of equivalently, ordering your entire collection alphabetically by song title and playing straight through (The latter allows you to remember which ones you’ve listened to already, thus covering your entire playlist over however many weeks you do it). I like my Aphex Twin to be rubbing elbows with Gillian Welch, Mingus, Mahmoud Ahmed, Isolee, Sufjan Stevens etc. If they’re good musicians they’ll get along with each other, and the listener can float above the genres.

Soccer Boots March 7, 2012 at 3:00 am

Nothing will ever replace classical music. More power to you!

AB March 7, 2012 at 3:26 am

It’s not so much the pairing of music with music, but the pairing of music with literature! http://www.thebooktuner.com does a good job of it

David March 7, 2012 at 5:41 am

Kate Bush, ‘Army Dreamers’ –> Joanna Newsom, ”81′.

dearieme March 7, 2012 at 6:53 am

Listen to a CD of George Lewis’s version of New Orleans jazz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lewis_(clarinetist))
and then to the Mozart Clarinet Concerto.

JT March 7, 2012 at 11:32 am

Take the Long Way Home begins with the exact same chord that ends The Devil Went Down to Georgia

msgkings March 7, 2012 at 2:04 pm

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana pairs up interestingly with “More Than A Feeling” by Boston, as both have the exact same guitar chord progressions. Cobain just amped up the rhythm some. I like both songs and have no problem with Nirvana’s ‘borrowing’. That’s culture.

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