Comment by craigching | Hacker News Reader

Comment by craigching | Hacker News Reader

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I'm old. And I know what you're feeling, I have many friends who are stuck on 70's, 80's, 90's music (you can guess my age cuz I didn't mention 60's ;) ). But as an oldie, I can tell you that there is good music out there.

I don't know, I don't know you at all, but explore, get out of your comfort zone and give music a chance.

So a little about myself, maybe 20 years ago I couldn't imagine loving music that didn't have lyrics. At that time I thought that having words was important, sort of like poetry. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy lyrics, but lately I've discovered more experimental music, ambient music. Artists like Oneohtrix Point Never and Tim Hecker. Of course Boards of Canada which are probably better known than either Hecker or OPN (though OPN recently toured with NiN and Sound Garden, go figure!).

Point is, if you enjoy what you enjoyed in the past, go for it. If you're lamenting that music today "ain't what it used to be", you may need to expand your horizons a bit, there is good shit out there! Give it a try!

> But as an oldie, I can tell you that there is good music out there.

I agree there is a ton of great music out there (I too am an "oldie", having reached 48 this year). You just need to know where to look.

I recommend listening to Stuart Maconie's Freak zone programmes on BBC Radio 6. He does a two hour "Freak Zone" [0] on a Sunday evening and an extra one hour "Freakier Zone" early Monday mornings [1], they're packed with all sorts of goodies.

Thanks for the tipoff about OPN (been on my list for a while) and Hecker (brand new to me).

If you prefer the more melodic sounds of BoC then you should check out the Ghostbox label [2]. Lots of good stuff there and with a nod towards hauntology [3] from a British perspective (see also works by Robin The Fog and Howlround [4] if that's an aural itch you need to scratch). I also particularly recommend King of Woolworths[5], an incarnation of Jon Brooks who also records as The Advisory Circle [6]. Ming Star is very bloody good.

[0]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06chqml

[1]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06chp7h

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Box_Music

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauntology

[4]: http://robinthefog.com/

[5]: http://www.discogs.com/artist/16510-King-Of-Woolworths

[6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Advisory_Circle

+1 for Tim Hecker and Boards of Canada, especially for music while programming. Goregous, heady sound art.

Yeah, tough choice between BoC, Hecker and OPN. If you haven't experienced OPN yet, try him out (Daniel Lopatin). I'd probably start with his older stuff and progress through it as his newer stuff is more avant garde, but familiar if you progress from earlier stuff to newest.

His latest record is due out in November and from what I've heard so far it's even crazier than anything past, but still has the OPN sound even though the medium appears to be completely different.

EDIT: I actually find it hard to program to Hecker. There are certain parts of Ravedeath, Virgins, and Radio Amor, (among others!) where I am completely distracted by soundscapes!

I love that y'all are talking about these artists on HN! If you're into these guys, I would recommend Fennesz' Endless Summer, or Gas for some great ambient techno. As people have said, there's way more where that came from...so much amazing, uncelebrated music out there from all eras.

I'm a big fan of Gas's mid-90s project Burger/Ink, a collaboration with the almost as prolific Jörg Burger, and their "Las Vegas" album. And if you like that, try Porter Ricks.

For something more recent, this week I have been mostly coding to The Cyclist and Legowelt.

But I've also been listening to a lot of 80s Italo-disco, including the more commercial hits which were also manufactured in some of the ways mentioned in this article, so I'm having trouble saying manufactured is necessarily bad; it's just the sound of modern pop music I find mostly horrible and brash.

I have Becz and Endless Summer, they find their way into the mix now and then as well :)

It is easy because only the good music from the era past survived. In 20 years we will know what the good music of today is.

20 years ago macarena and coco jambo were bigger than "smells like teen spirit" or "rape me"/"self esteem"/"come out and play"

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