What are you listening to?

Off-topic talk on music, art, literature, games and forum games.
Post Reply
Dream Sphere
Senior Member
Posts: 356
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 7:52 pm
Diet: Vegan
Location: Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada

Re: What are you listening to?

Post by Dream Sphere »

Mr. Purple wrote:It's interesting how metal fans and veganism intersect so strongly. It seems so random, but there seems to be some correlation.
I'm uncertain of why, but have some intuitions as to why it seems a bit more common than average for a Vegan to be a fan of metal music (although this might be from confirmation bias, and maybe it's just that "metal-head" Vegans are more outspoken about their musical preferences, possibly.)

Though it's also worth noting that it seems pretty apparent that the metal community is kinda all over the place when it comes to interests and personality types. For every Vegan Black Metal Chef you have; you've also got some jerk who thinks it's a fun idea to parade pigs' heads around on the stage. For every lyricist who does a pretty good job at making intellectually provoking, well though out lyrics; you've also got some guy rambling about the new world order. For every socially progressive metal fan; you've got some Nazi apologists, etc. (I know that I did the "for every" thing a lot, but I just want to make it clear that I don't think that there's a perfect balance between the two, I just wanted to try to get across how it seems to be common for there to be a wide level of diversity in metal "circles"/communities. Then again, other genres likely also have very diverse listening bases.)

I guess something which draws some metal fans to Veganism might be partially from how there're various but similar kinds of notions that permeate much of the social dialogue in the metal community, like individualism (being okay with looking into things which aren't mainstream,) standing up for what's right/what you believe in (although this can create as many problems as benefits for some of the people who adhere to this general idea in a bad way,) and it's also common for bands' lyrics contributors to touch on topics in a way to try to bring intellectual insight to the listener (although it can get pretty pretentious and anti-intellectual if the person making the lyrics is trying too hard, or just doesn't know what they're talking about, but acts like they really do.) So, that may increase the likelihood of a metal fan becoming aware of animal agricultural practices, and possibly feeling more compelled to change for the better, if they value that.


Also, somewhat unrelated, but if there's one thing which I hate being so common among metal bands, it's the appreciation for leather apparel which so many bands have. It's gotten me to wonder if I should just stop listening to some of these bands as I like to buy my music, but don't want to support them, but in a way (I may be rationalizing) I feel that if I just buy their music, but don't buy any merchandise, or see them live that that may be a decent compromise, as I would prefer to keep listening to stuff which doesn't in itself have to do with this harmful stuff, although purchasing it does. I kinda feel that (for an analogy) that it's like "why did this evil company have to patent/trademark this tasty Vegan specialty food which isn't harmful itself, although it's also unnecessary, and the purchase of which supports a corporation which does cause some harm in its other business ventures with its monetary resources, that I would slightly contribute to in the purchase of such a product." Then it also comes to if I should only listen to Vegan artists, and if I should listen to much music at all with my time, since it's not necessary for me. I mean, while some bad metal musicians probably contribute more to animal suffering than average, other music artists also consume animal products (although it's also worth keeping in mind that many musicians have day jobs and could afford the food and normal clothing and would buy it anyways, but maybe if they made a profit from their music they might buy more than they would normally, but I'm not certain on that,) so I'm kinda thinking that maybe it is just the musicians who tie in acts which bring harm to animals with their live music act and such which would be worth avoiding, as that is more of a causal link? Then there's that I can't always find a lot of information about what various bands' values are, so I'm kinda wondering where a decent compromise could be made, although I guess it's really up to me to decide how far I think I can go... I guess I'll try to think more about this and come to a decision hopefully sometime in the near future.



So, on the music's merit itself, I would like to recommend this really interesting experimental black metal band which incorporates electronic, folk, industrial, pop, and a decent bit of other stuff into the band's sound, called; Thy Catafalque. I would guess the main guy who's behind the band (it's been him and one other guy for most of the band's career as full time members, although there've also been about a dozen guest musicians on the project's albums over the years) isn't Vegan just because of statistical probability/likelihood, (since the majority of the world's population isn't,) as I haven't seen anything where he said he was, although I haven't seen anything about him actively promoting any bad things, unlike some other bands in the genre.

Here's a link to the song (it's about 19 minutes though, also at about 18 and a half minutes anyone who wishes to listen might as well stop as it's just talking and ambiance after that point.) -- http://thycatafalque.bandcamp.com/track ... -g-pezetek
User avatar
Lightningman_42
Master in Training
Posts: 501
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:19 am
Diet: Vegan
Location: California

Re: What are you listening to?

Post by Lightningman_42 »

I'm curious to know what sort of music is out there that promotes scientific messages.

Just yesterday I first listened to "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", a Nightwish song from their 2015 album of the same name. I'll listen to the rest of the album today. It seems to be a song about evolutionary biology, and it starts with a short narration by Richard Dawkins. Apparently their main songwriter, Tuomas Holopainen, has a passion for biology, and even wanted to become a biologist before getting into music.

So of course, being a science-major and science-enthusiast myself, I'm thrilled to come across musicians who promote scientific themes in their work.

I wonder if Richard Dawkins is a fan of Nightwish. According to an interview from last year, he spoke at a performance of theirs.*

Dream Sphere, you're very knowledgeable of metal music. Do you know of any good metal (or any other music) that promotes science?


*http://www.metalobsession.net/2016/12/04/this-is-who-we-are-this-is-what-a-nightwish-show-is-like-an-interview-with-floor-jansen-nightwish/
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil but because of those who look on and do nothing."
-Albert Einstein
Dream Sphere
Senior Member
Posts: 356
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 7:52 pm
Diet: Vegan
Location: Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada

Re: What are you listening to?

Post by Dream Sphere »

Lightningman_42 wrote: Wed Apr 19, 2017 11:01 pm I'm curious to know what sort of music is out there that promotes scientific messages.

Just yesterday I first listened to "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", a Nightwish song from their 2015 album of the same name. I'll listen to the rest of the album today. It seems to be a song about evolutionary biology, and it starts with a short narration by Richard Dawkins. Apparently their main songwriter, Tuomas Holopainen, has a passion for biology, and even wanted to become a biologist before getting into music.

So of course, being a science-major and science-enthusiast myself, I'm thrilled to come across musicians who promote scientific themes in their work.

I wonder if Richard Dawkins is a fan of Nightwish. According to an interview from last year, he spoke at a performance of theirs.*

Dream Sphere, you're very knowledgeable of metal music. Do you know of any good metal (or any other music) that promotes science?


*http://www.metalobsession.net/2016/12/04/this-is-who-we-are-this-is-what-a-nightwish-show-is-like-an-interview-with-floor-jansen-nightwish/
The only band that immediately comes to mind for that is actually Thy Catafalque. Almost all of their later songs are in Hungarian, but I saw an official translation of one of their songs a while ago called "Fekete Mezok," which means "Black Fields," which is from their album Rengeteg, and one of the main translated lyrical lines is "science is a flame on black fields."

Here's the Facebook post with the lyrical translations for that album. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1134046899958532&substory_index=0&id=117422084954357&__tn__=%2As

Most of the metal that I know and like either lyrically involves nature romanticism, folklore/epic legends, Satanism/the occult, death, depression, history/literature, and general fantasy/sci-fi/horror based lyrics. There's a bit of metal I know that has vaguely philosophical lyrics, but I don't think much of it is very good. I really just listen to the genre so much for its sound, although some of the folklore/nature/fantasy/history/literature etc. lyrics can be pleasant at times. So, metal involving science lyrically has been pretty rare since my favourite genres are black metal and folk metal which mostly involve the aforementioned themes as well as the occult.
User avatar
Lightningman_42
Master in Training
Posts: 501
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:19 am
Diet: Vegan
Location: California

Re: What are you listening to?

Post by Lightningman_42 »

Dream Sphere wrote: Thu Apr 20, 2017 7:06 am The only band that immediately comes to mind for that is actually Thy Catafalque. Almost all of their later songs are in Hungarian, but I saw an official translation of one of their songs a while ago called "Fekete Mezok," which means "Black Fields," which is from their album Rengeteg, and one of the main translated lyrical lines is "science is a flame on black fields."
OK that sounds interesting. I'll check out "Fekete Mezok". Have you listened to "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" (either the song or the whole album)?
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil but because of those who look on and do nothing."
-Albert Einstein
Dream Sphere
Senior Member
Posts: 356
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 7:52 pm
Diet: Vegan
Location: Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada

Re: What are you listening to?

Post by Dream Sphere »

I heard that really long song from EFMB in the "Rate the Song Above You" thread here. I've never been a big fan of Nightwish, but the song was pretty good, the best one I've heard from them.
User avatar
Lightningman_42
Master in Training
Posts: 501
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:19 am
Diet: Vegan
Location: California

Re: What are you listening to?

Post by Lightningman_42 »

Dream Sphere wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:17 am The only band that immediately comes to mind for that is actually Thy Catafalque. Almost all of their later songs are in Hungarian, but I saw an official translation of one of their songs a while ago called "Fekete Mezok," which means "Black Fields," which is from their album Rengeteg, and one of the main translated lyrical lines is "science is a flame on black fields."

Here's the Facebook post with the lyrical translations for that album. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1134046899958532&substory_index=0&id=117422084954357&__tn__=%2As

Most of the metal that I know and like either lyrically involves nature romanticism, folklore/epic legends, Satanism/the occult, death, depression, history/literature, and general fantasy/sci-fi/horror based lyrics. There's a bit of metal I know that has vaguely philosophical lyrics, but I don't think much of it is very good. I really just listen to the genre so much for its sound, although some of the folklore/nature/fantasy/history/literature etc. lyrics can be pleasant at times. So, metal involving science lyrically has been pretty rare since my favourite genres are black metal and folk metal which mostly involve the aforementioned themes as well as the occult.

I heard that really long song from EFMB in the "Rate the Song Above You" thread here. I've never been a big fan of Nightwish, but the song was pretty good, the best one I've heard from them.
I listened to Fekete Mezok just now. The tunes were alright, but the lyrics were a little too faint for my liking; I wish that they had enunciated more. I like that it wasn't in English, since I'm constantly exposed to that language on a daily basis, and it's nice to hear something else. Not understanding the language also makes the whole song more mysterious to me, which can enhance the experience. With that said, however, I did read the lyrics on that FaceBook post you linked. The lyrics are mostly rather abstract, but there are certain parts that seem to mention a lot about biology, astronomy, and maybe geology (brief mention of mountains). So yes, I like that it's (maybe) promoting science.

Regarding the "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" album, were you referring to "The Greatest show on Earth"* when you said "...that really long song from EFMB"? I do agree that that's a particularly beautiful work of art from Nightwish. I especially liked Richard Dawkins' narration from 5:21 to 5:46 and 18:09 to 19:16. He also narrates the first 9 seconds of the song "Shudder Before the Beautiful"**, and the first 13 seconds of the song "Endless Forms Most Beautiful"***. I think he narrated parts of a few other songs in that album as well, but I don't remember which ones exactly. Are you a fan of Richard Dawkins? He actually showed up to one of their concerts.****

Is it Nightwish in particular that you're not a big fan of, or more symphonic metal in general? Are there any symphonic metal bands that you do really like? I ask because I've only recently started to explore this specific subgenre, so I'd be curious to know if you have any recommendations. Of course, I already have a whole bunch of recommendations of yours (from way back when) that I still need to explore.


* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDyhWazEx9w&list=PLDH9dt31rdM6I-ogj8FiVb3c2pfZMhd3S&index=11

** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJhNkfbQpt0&list=PLDH9dt31rdM6I-ogj8FiVb3c2pfZMhd3S&index=1

*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmuC1_WF2nQ&index=7&list=PLDH9dt31rdM6I-ogj8FiVb3c2pfZMhd3S

**** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUmv8U3Tuhw (Dawkins shows up on stage at 0:46.)
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil but because of those who look on and do nothing."
-Albert Einstein
Dream Sphere
Senior Member
Posts: 356
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 7:52 pm
Diet: Vegan
Location: Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada

Re: What are you listening to?

Post by Dream Sphere »

Lightningman_42 wrote: Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:23 pm
Dream Sphere wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:17 am The only band that immediately comes to mind for that is actually Thy Catafalque. Almost all of their later songs are in Hungarian, but I saw an official translation of one of their songs a while ago called "Fekete Mezok," which means "Black Fields," which is from their album Rengeteg, and one of the main translated lyrical lines is "science is a flame on black fields."

Here's the Facebook post with the lyrical translations for that album. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1134046899958532&substory_index=0&id=117422084954357&__tn__=%2As

Most of the metal that I know and like either lyrically involves nature romanticism, folklore/epic legends, Satanism/the occult, death, depression, history/literature, and general fantasy/sci-fi/horror based lyrics. There's a bit of metal I know that has vaguely philosophical lyrics, but I don't think much of it is very good. I really just listen to the genre so much for its sound, although some of the folklore/nature/fantasy/history/literature etc. lyrics can be pleasant at times. So, metal involving science lyrically has been pretty rare since my favourite genres are black metal and folk metal which mostly involve the aforementioned themes as well as the occult.

I heard that really long song from EFMB in the "Rate the Song Above You" thread here. I've never been a big fan of Nightwish, but the song was pretty good, the best one I've heard from them.

I listened to Fekete Mezok just now. The tunes were alright, but the lyrics were a little too faint for my liking; I wish that they had enunciated more. I like that it wasn't in English, since I'm constantly exposed to that language on a daily basis, and it's nice to hear something else. Not understanding the language also makes the whole song more mysterious to me, which can enhance the experience. With that said, however, I did read the lyrics on that FaceBook post you linked. The lyrics are mostly rather abstract, but there are certain parts that seem to mention a lot about biology, astronomy, and maybe geology (brief mention of mountains). So yes, I like that it's (maybe) promoting science.
I agree that the lyrics are vague, though it's the best I could come up with. A lot of the songs on that album and in TC's discography in general are very different, so it'd be worth giving others a try. My favourite on Rengeteg is Vashegyek. My favourite TC song of all time is Molekularis Gepezetek from Roka Hasa Radio.
Regarding the "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" album, were you referring to "The Greatest show on Earth"* when you said "...that really long song from EFMB"? I do agree that that's a particularly beautiful work of art from Nightwish. I especially liked Richard Dawkins' narration from 5:21 to 5:46 and 18:09 to 19:16. He also narrates the first 9 seconds of the song "Shudder Before the Beautiful"**, and the first 13 seconds of the song "Endless Forms Most Beautiful"***. I think he narrated parts of a few other songs in that album as well, but I don't remember which ones exactly. Are you a fan of Richard Dawkins? He actually showed up to one of their concerts.****
Yes, that's the song.

I don't know Richard Dawkins very well, but in a debate I saw of him, he performed very well. I'm still a little peeved that he won't go Vegan yet, though.

By the way, did you know that Christopher Lee became a fan of Rhapsody (of Fire) in the mid-00's? Just something semi-related/cool.
Is it Nightwish in particular that you're not a big fan of, or more symphonic metal in general? Are there any symphonic metal bands that you do really like? I ask because I've only recently started to explore this specific subgenre, so I'd be curious to know if you have any recommendations. Of course, I already have a whole bunch of recommendations of yours (from way back when) that I still need to explore.


* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDyhWazEx9w&list=PLDH9dt31rdM6I-ogj8FiVb3c2pfZMhd3S&index=11

** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJhNkfbQpt0&list=PLDH9dt31rdM6I-ogj8FiVb3c2pfZMhd3S&index=1

*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmuC1_WF2nQ&index=7&list=PLDH9dt31rdM6I-ogj8FiVb3c2pfZMhd3S

**** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUmv8U3Tuhw (Dawkins shows up on stage at 0:46.)
I think it's Nightwish's particular style of Symph/Power Metal. For example, I'm not much of a fan of Amberian Dawn, which is much like NW, but I'm a huge fan of Blind Guardian's latest album. Though Power/Symph metal is somewhat iffy for me in general. There are a lot of bands in those genres that I just can't get into, but the ones I do like, like BG, I love.

I find that Black Metal and Folk Metal are the genres that I have the best like-dislike ratio with.
knot
Master in Training
Posts: 538
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:34 pm

Re: What are you listening to?

Post by knot »

Have gotten really into this new genre I discovered.. not sure what it's called. Synthwave? Reminds me of metal in some ways.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCyYy6seoJo
User avatar
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Master of the Forum
Posts: 1209
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2016 5:57 am
Diet: Ostrovegan
Location: The Matrix

Re: What are you listening to?

Post by Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz »

User avatar
NonZeroSum
Master of the Forum
Posts: 1159
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2017 6:30 am
Diet: Vegan
Location: North Wales, UK

Re: What are you listening to?

Post by NonZeroSum »

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 10:44 am Song of General Kim Il Sung in English!
^ lol

African Bayaka Pygmies Music Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAr7hDEWFgQ

These are genuinely so powerful, flick through:

The music here is from the album "Heart of the Forest" by the "Baka Forest People Of Southeast Cameroon". Here is the track list with the corresponding lengths of each song (NOT the starting time of each song in the video):
1 Yelli 1 1:22
2 Yelli 2 2:22
3 Yelli 3 2:33
4 Water Drums 1 1:54
5 Water Drums 2 0:55
6 Nursery Rhyme 1:29
7 Venolouma 4:22
8 Leta 4:29
9 Aiya (Ngombi Na Péké 1) 4:38
10 Limbindi And Voices 1:38
11 An G'Bendi (Earth Bow) 1:30
12 Limbindi 2:00
13 Water Drums 3 0:36
14 Abale 5:21
15 Solo Voice 1:10
16 Ngonnalati (Ngombi Na Péké 2) 5:59
17 Naboma (Ngombi Na Péké 3) 2:24
18 A Capella 3:19
19 Toji Playing The Ngombi Na Péké 6:19
20 Forest Party 2:25
21 Distant Yelli 2:23

Can't wait to watch this film - Song from the Forest official Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZeMG7GuTpo
Unofficial librarian of vegan and socialist movement media.
PhiloVegan Wiki: https://tinyurl.com/y7jc6kh6
Vegan Video Library: https://tinyurl.com/yb3udm8x
Ishkah YouTube: https://youtube.com/Ishkah
Post Reply