Thread: Obviously Unavoidable

First of all, let me welcome you to this newly created journal.

The point of Obviously Unavoidable you ask? Share music I like with all who want to read about it. I'll be posting about every genre in here, with exception to R&B and Rap. Not that I don't like those genres, I just don't listen to them a lot. Other than that, I will avoid well known bands. The point is sharing music, not givin another opinion on a band you have known for years.
Ufcourse "well known" is open for interpretation. But on every 10 bands I'll mention, you are bound to find one you like and had never heard of.

I own a lot of music, so if you want a band showing up in this journal you can just ask, chances are high I'll know them. And if not: I'll learn to know them.

Enjoy :-) Music is life.

ow and I need to thank a friend of mine for the name of this journal.. Don't know if he'll ever be on here but hey, he came up with the name

Edit: gave him the link to the site so he might..

So first in line: SLINT
To people who listen to post-rock they surely are well known. But I personally don't think that they are well known in general.





So here it goes:

Slint is, as mentioned above, a post-rock (1) band.
More info on the band can be found on the internet, you don't need me to tell you that they quit playing, that they influenced the whole post-rock scene (for example mogwai), that they only have 2 albums and stuff like that. I'm here to tell you that they rock. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you wan't to learn to know them I sugest the album Spiderland. Don't go out on youtube or myspace and only listen to one song, or you're doomed. It isn't Britney you are judging here, it's post rock, and every post-rock song has it's own story to tell.
The message is: listen. Listen to more then one song, listen it more then once. Sit back and relax, turn of the TV, pour yourself a glass of wine, or a good pint (Belgian beer rules the world) and listen to the music. Grab a book or draw funny pictures, I don't care, as long as you listen to what you hear. (I don't know if you can read and listen music at the same time, I can...)

The music of Spiderland is noted for its angular guitar rhythms, dramatically alternating dynamic shifts, and irregular time signatures. McMahan's singing style interchanges between mumbling spoken word and strained shouting. The lyrics of Spiderland are often written in a narrative style. Influences on the record included Gang of Four, Black Sabbath, and Sonic Youth. Will Hermes of Spin summarized the album's sound as "mid-'70s King Crimson gone emo: screeching guitar chords and gorgeous note-spinning in odd-metered instrumentals speckled with words both spoken and sung".[10] Piero Scaruffi drew comparisons in Spiderland's sound to the genres of blues and acid rock, as well as the slowcore band Codeine.

Enjoy music is life.


(1) Post rock: Post-rock is a genre of alternative rock characterized by the use of musical instruments commonly associated with rock music, but using rhythms, harmonies, melodies, timbre, and chord progressions that are not found in rock tradition. It is the use of 'rock instrumentation' for non-rock purposes. Practitioners of the genre's style typically produce instrumental music.

Because of Popular request (lol, seriously: I just love to promote beer)
our next group will be REEL BIG FISH




Before you all go: I know them already and they are pretty well known: THIS IS AN EXCUSE TO TALK BEER...
Now you're thinking, how is he going to use a SKA (1) band to talk about beer, now that's where the song Beer comes in to the picture.
After this little hint you should see the connection between RBF and Beer, but now you're wondering (probably not, but hey, you might like SKA and still want this read to pay off) why I'm not talking about Kemuri, an other great, not so well known, SKA band. Well the answer is obviously unavoidable: BEER. Kemuri sings in japanese or something like that, so if they have a song about beer, I wouldn't know about it...

First an introduction to SKA. Ska isn't all that relaxing, but kill me if it doesn't sound happy! So you might wan't to skip your daily dose of cafeine before you listen to Kemuri or Reel Big Fish.
Never, i mean, NEVER use SKA in the bedroom. You will, and this is a clear warning, not be able to create a romantic environement with SKA, unlike a variety of other genres. So what is the whole point of ska then? I mean: isn't relaxing, keeps you away from coffee, isn't a mood-maker,....
Well it's obvious: it makes you happy, and if it doesn't: it's great to drink some nice and cool beers with your pals whilst listening to SKA.

For example the song Beer, by RBF, (see how smoothly I'm turning the subject around to beer?) is great whilst drinking a few of the best beers in the world, made in Belgium..
It's true that a lot of the Belgian beers are fruit beers. But in a country where there are around 500 different sorts of beer and 125 different brewery's, the fruitbeers are only for *****'s and girliez (hehe) Or for the Dutch...
It is common knowledge that a lot of beertasters (For example Michael Jackson, not the 'i like kidz' popstar but a known beertaster) have decided that Westvleteren is the best beer in the world. Funny story because it is brewed by monks who refuse to sell the recipe and who refuse to brew more than what they brew now. So when you want a crate you have to go all the way to the monastery where you can buy exactly ONE crate a person.
So if you really don't want to visit Belgium just for one crate, I would sugest something else...

For example Belgium has 6 trappist, Trappist beers are beers brewed in a Trappist monastery. For a beer to qualify for this category, the entire production process must be carried out by, or supervised by, Trappist monks on the site of the monastery. Only seven monasteries currently meet this qualification, six of which are in Belgium and one in the Netherlands. The current Trappist producers are Achel, Chimay, Koningshoeven (the Netherlands), Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Westvleteren. The Trappist beers have very little in common with each other aside from the place of origin. Each one of these beers is GREAT! though, if you are used to let's say Heineken or Coors or Duff, for all I care, you don't want to drink more then one.. They are very strong beers, not in percentage of alcohol, but in how you react to them. After 3 I'm down on the ground puking...

I could talk all day about:


BUT I won't: if you find a beer in your local store that is belgian, ask me about it...

PS: If you really like SKA, or want to learn more, this site will be helpfull: The Attempted Ska Page!/BANDS


(1) Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line, accented with rhythms on the offbeat. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant musical genre of Jamaica, and it was also popular with British mods. Many skinheads, in various decades, have also enjoyed ska (along with reggae, rocksteady and other genres). Music historians typically divide the history of ska into three periods: the original Jamaican ska scene of the 1960s, the 2 Tone ska revival that started in England in the late 1970s, and the third wave ska movement, which started in the 1980s.

Hahaha,,,that was a great post Oblivionofsoul, and I knew you were going to talk about the Monks and their secrets about the art of making beer. I've never really been into Ska that much, maybe after reading this I'll pop open a cold one and listen to some.

I remember seeing a travel show years ago and I'm sure they visited one of those monasteries you mentioned Oblivion, and they had the largest most beautiful Hops garden I have ever seen, and I have heard lots of good things about the quality beers produced in Belgium.(I get thirsty just looking at the pictures of all that beer in your post.)

I had a similiar site for punk but I don't seem to find it again...

I have an idea, might have been used before but since I don't have the time to write about a band today I'm asking all of you to name me a band and I will talk about bands that sound like the one you named. Or name a genre and I'll see what I can come up with...

For example: you say radiohead: I talk about: the verve (I'd do more of an effort to search for a group you guys don't already know...)

Ask me anything, metal, rock, classic, jazz but don't ask me about Rap / RnB or pop... I don't know and I don't care about Avril Lavigne or Madonna or the new Metallica song, (since it is being played as much as Madonna on the radio nowadays).

Edit: Manic Street Preachers --> this is the effort and plausible response to 'sounds like' Radiohead...

Hmmm :-) I'll pass the pixie doom metal. Grendel on the other hand is also unknown to me. All I know about Grendel is that Grendel is feared by all but Beowulf... I even had to check Wiki to refresh my memory. (and honestly just copy pasted the sentence - Grendel is feared by all but Beowulf...)

BUT! no fear, google is here. Could it be that Grendel is an electro (industrial) band from the Netherlands? If so, it's quite hard to name other bands that sound like them (for me). I can name electro bands, but those usually don't have voices (i enjoy electro better without a voice), and if they do, they aren't even close to Grendel's singer(s)... He has something metal in his voice.. BUT! (again a but!) I'll try. I had to base my assumptions on 4 songs on a myspace so... Ow and by the way: this genre is way to specific for me to actually help.

First off: Wynardtage. A band I got to know this summer, it'll be hard to find songs i recon, I only have a few live songs myself.. But it is the only band that fits with Grendel that I really know. I'll let you in on a secret: a guy I met at a party put those songs on my MP3 player, and I never even took the trouble to get into the genre...
Until now: I did some searching and came up with Tactical Sekt, the name rings a bell, but nothing more... So 9 chances of 10 that you already know them, since even I know them.
Other bands in the list are: Combichrist, Dawn of Ashes, Suicide Commando and Alien Vampire... NONE OF THEM RING A BELL. And I didn't search for more than their names.

Still open for suggestions..

Great :-) Mellow is my second name...

I've got some artists you might enjoy. The only problem is: how famous are they? Do you know them already ? Or aren't they known in Ohio... And, most important of it all: aren't they TO mellow... Let's see:

Damien Rice... I know, I know, he is a known artist, but just because of the small chance you don't know him: he's great. The only problem is, I rather like his unknown songs instead of the known ones. So after checking the web I came up with the folowing songs, you can listen to them on Damien Rice -> music. (Don't steal music!)
Volcano from "B-sides"(album) and Eskimo from the album "o". Check for volcano on other albums also: never the same..
Anyway: he has a great voice, does not get stuck in his genre and he has a great variety of songs...

So, continuing (is that spelled right? The dictionary (is that even spelled right?) is across the room and I'm not in for the effort..)
in the line of Damien Rice I hope to name an artist known but also very unknown: Jeff Buckley. His song 'haleluja' is known all over the world I recon, but all his other work isn't I hope. So check him out also.

Next question is: Are they Rock or just mellow?
So I came up with Creed and Staind. I name them at the same time because in my opinion Staind is the harder version of creed... They both have a great singer and they both have great songs. (I have to admit, they aren't in my musicdirectory, but they are in my gf's..).
And they both are mellow-rocky !

Next part: mellow folk this isn't a challenge... Iron and Wine they are more related to indie but you should stop listening to folk if you don't like them... Sigur ros is also very nice. But these bands are both well known i fear. So to make up for it: Mauvais sort (French for: bad destiny). They are from Quebec I think, and are 100% folk.

So what did we have: mellow, mellow rock and mellow folk.
And then there's mellow electro. Never heard mellow electro. So I'm gonna name some bands you will defenetly like, and maybe know already that aren't electro at all!

Eels, Pavement and Radiohead. In my opinion very well known bands, but hey, no pain no gain: I'll just put them here and even if you know them, you might have forgotten them...

So I named 10 Artists. You are bound to know some of them, but also you are bound to like most of them. So there you go! Enjoy.

I should read my posts before I post them, might decimate the number of spelling mistakes I make.
I plead guilty to lazyness..
Hell, I'll even admit that my English sounds and reads like the pope's French, that the structure of my posts are as well organised as the Taliban (hiding in caves, not attacking towers...) and that I even made more spelling mistakes than a clown makes balloon animals on a busy day.

So I'd like to use this post as a well ment Sorry for the lack of effort and knowledge of the English langue. I could do this way better in French or Dutch, but that would make this whole journal a bit odd...

Ow and magic? Check out ARID also. They are from Belgium and are quite nice. Ow and for crazy-mellowness you should also check Weezer :-) But I'm thinking you already know them.
Weezer- Island in the sun
Weezer- in the garage
Those 2 songs were the first songs I could completely sing and play on guitar. And those were also the last ones I fear :-D