Porcupine Tree Thread v. generic heaviness and boring ambiance

[skydivingninja]

WELL THEN EXCUUUUUUSE ME PRINCESS FOR GIVING INTO TRADITION.  I GUESS ANY OLD NOOB CAN START THE COHEED SURVIVOR ANY TIME HE OR SHE WANTS TO NOW AS WELL?

I'm into the Incident being split into chunks.  Personally I would keep it all as one song, but that's just me.

[sonatafanica]

Why?

[Pirate]

Found Recordings at local music store. Subsequently bought it and am listening now. On a side note, the packaging is really nice.

[skydivingninja]

Why?

On the chunks?  Because it saves a bunch of rounds where we vote off Occam's Razor/Degree Zero.  On the whole?  Because apart from I Drive the Hearse I find it very hard to listen to the parts separately.  For me it works best when the whole 55 minutes is listened to.  Why I'm not playing Minecraft right now?  Because I'm easily distracted.

[Darkes7]

Okay then.  My basic points were (since I don't feel like wording everything again):

-Trains wasn't played for a majority of both the FOABP and Coheed tours.  Blackest Eyes is played more live.
-I agree that Trains does not represent all of Porcupine Tree, but it is a unique song on In Absentia.
-I was not suggesting you (Darkes) were incapable of liking simpler songs.  Breaking new musical ground doesn't equal technicality.

I called you an elitist because, let's take your love of Porcelain Heart as an example.  You were very passionate about that song and how upset you were that it was voted off first.  That's totally fine.  You crossed the line when you started accusing everyone else of not liking it because it wasn't prog or metal enough, and that only you saw the beauty in it and the rest of us were just sheep.  That's the same sort of haughty attitude you're carrying yourself with in this last post, likening our enjoyment of "Trains" to that of an "insane cult."  I would consider that to be an elitist attitude: the sense that you feel you're somehow better than everyone else.  Its the way you word things I have a problem with.

If you're annoyed at a song getting so much praise that you don't feel it deserves, you can stay the hell out of the discussion, like Ytse, Bosk, and TAC have done with the PT thread as of late (wasn't always this way but they've drastically improved in this regard).  Or you can say "My stance on this is well known and I won't say any more" and actually not say any more.  Its what I do whenever I see people gushing about Pain of Salvation.

If I come back in an hour and this post isn't here I'll be committing myself to an institution.

I don't think I'm better than anyone. Ever. And you can accuse me of lots of different things, and the list is pretty long, but I'm. Not. An. Elitist. In any way.

And let's end it here. I've had enough. I didn't even bring it up intentionally, and definitely not with the intention of it exploding into these proportions again.

Does everyone 'round here pronounce it "Darks"? I always thought it was "Darkest" like 1337 speak.

That's the origin basically. I made it up like five years ago. I got tired of it but didn't feel like changing it for a while. Now I've stopped using it everywhere except last.fm (where you can't change your username and with my average of 6 tracks per day, it would take a while for me to get some reasonable charts again) and here (tried asking to have it changed but... so far no luck).

[faemir]

6 tracks a day?

Lightweight.

[ZBomber]

6 tracks a day?

Lightweight.

Seriously.  6 tracks a day wouldn't take too long to catch up. I think I'm somewhere between 50 and 60 a day. But I wouldn't delete it anyways.

And to further derail the topic, I always pronounced it "Dark-ies". And I will continue to pronounce it that way in my head.

[zxlkho]

6 tracks per day? I average 26...

[glaurung]

I average 0 tracks per day because I really don't see the point in Last.fm.

[Darkes7]

I don't listen on PC that much. And I actually choose the songs I play, I don't think I've ever used shuffle in my life. 80% of my listening is CD/vinyl.

[faemir]

well then play the songs in foobar on mute to scrobble it while listening to the cd/vinyl!

[ZBomber]

well then play the songs in foobar on mute to scrobble it while listening to the cd/vinyl!

This is what I do. Whenever I listen to something away from my PC, I'll make a playlist and scrobble the tracks when I'm sleeping or away from my computer. I'm super OCD and try to keep an accurate record of my listening habits. 

[Darkes7]

On PC I only have albums I know really well. It's basically this:
1) I start listening to an album
2) Listen to it every day for as long as I wish (the longest this year was probably Ghost Reveries, well over a month)
3) When I decide it's enough, I move on to something else and rip it to my HDD.

I prefer to keep my "normal" listening away from any numbers and stuff, it's better like this. On PC in theory I try not to manipulate it too much, but I usually more or less subconsciously end up having the most listens of the songs that are my favourites.

[glaurung]

This is what I do. Whenever I listen to something away from my PC, I'll make a playlist and scrobble the tracks when I'm sleeping or away from my computer. I'm super OCD and try to keep an accurate record of my listening habits. 

Doesn't that take some of the fun out of it? I tried Last.fm for a little while and didn't enjoy it. Feeling like I had to keep track of everything or that an artist was being under represented in my listens or whatever. I uninstalled it and never looked back.

[ZBomber]

This is what I do. Whenever I listen to something away from my PC, I'll make a playlist and scrobble the tracks when I'm sleeping or away from my computer. I'm super OCD and try to keep an accurate record of my listening habits. 

Doesn't that take some of the fun out of it? I tried Last.fm for a little while and didn't enjoy it. Feeling like I had to keep track of everything or that an artist was being under represented in my listens or whatever. I uninstalled it and never looked back.

I dunno, I'm kind of a weird person so I actually enjoy keeping records and things like that. And music is something I'm really passionate about, so it seems like a natural combination to me.

Dates are another things that fascinate me, so sometimes I like to look back on my records to a certain memorable day for me and see what I was listening to on that day.

Like I said, I'm a weird person, and I can understand why some people might see no point in last.fm, but personally I feel like it was invented just for me. 

[KevShmev]

I tried Last.fm for a little while and didn't enjoy it. Feeling like I had to keep track of everything or that an artist was being under represented in my listens or whatever. I uninstalled it and never looked back.

That is exactly why I got rid of mine about a year ago. 

[Ravenheart]

Lol @ people scrobbling for the sake of scrobbling.

I thought the point was to, y'know, keep track of what you listen to the most frequently, not participate in some stupid competition.

[Gadough]

The problem being it's in our natural instincts to make a stupid competition out of everything.

[glaurung]

So how about that band Porcupine Tree? They're a pretty cool band I hear.

[jag66]

So how about that band Porcupine Tree? They're a pretty cool band I hear.

Yeh but I heard the lead singer is a talentless douche, and the drummer can't drum 

[Portrucci]

I have the last.fm scrobbler installed, but I never really think about it. I just browse my library listening to what I want and sure enough it will be reflected in my last.fm. I guess my last.fm's a little off because it doesn't take into account my non-conformist ipod mp3 player listens (which are skewed probably towards 70s rock like Neu! and Pink Floyd) but anyway it's best not to take these things too seriously. it's great for finding about concerts as well

well I have to mention PT in this post for it to warrant posting in this thread, so here it goes. PT are great. Up the downstair 4 lyfe  o/ hi five * with orcus \o

[Darkes7]

I like last.fm because... I can't even explain it actually. I just like it and I'm fine with using it. I started with using the radio, back when it was free, and I discovered some great stuff thanks to it (Pain of Salvation, Green Carnation, and there was this band I had listened to two years ago, with this album called Deadwing, and now I heard The Creator Has a Mastertape and was like OMG I NEED TO LISTEN TO IN ABSENTIA NOW). Then when it stopped being free I started scrobbling and liked it. And well, it's like this. It's not a _perfect_ reflection of what I listen to, but it's pretty good.

[ZBomber]

Lol @ people scrobbling for the sake of scrobbling.

I thought the point was to, y'know, keep track of what you listen to the most frequently, not participate in some stupid competition.

? I don't see it as a competition, and I never claimed to. I just try to keep accurate records of everything I listen to. I have a pretty good memory when it comes to what music I listen to, so it takes me 2 seconds to make a playlist of things I listened to in the car before I go to sleep every night. So, I AM keeping track of what I listen to, I just happen to be OCD when it comes to that, so I try to keep track of EVERYTHING I listen to (well, everything meaning what songs I have on my computer. ).

I realize most people don't take keep track of their listening habits to the extreme that I do, so I don't compare my playcount with other people and judge them because of it.  The thing is I'm personally interested in my play history. Last.fm is probably my most visited website, and I just enjoy it. I don't see it as a chore or a competition, I genuinely like keeping my records as accurate as possible.

But yeah PT IS AWESOME WOOOO! I think I'll listen to In Absentia later today, even though its not my favorite album it has some incredible moments on it.

[Marvellous G]

I'm very very OCD about LastFM and for a while I was worried that it was influencing my listening habits subconsciously. I stopped scrobbling for around a week and nothing changed in my listening, so I figure I'm fine and just overanalysing it. I now enjoy it just because I love stats about stuff like that, and it's always good for discovering new music. Also, I realise now that my taste over the last year has become so mainstream that I'd be lynched on this forum if more people realised. 

ON TOPIC: Anesthetize actually gets boring after a while. I think I've over listened to it, but I didn't expect that to happen this soon.  Oh well, it's still easily their best song. Other than Heartattack In A Layby.

[Silver Tears]

Trains 

 

[faemir]

underrepresented artists?

Who said that your favourite bands have to me your most listened bands? While it's often true, because last.fm is biased towards bands with short songs, it means that bands with long songs like Opeth are harder to increase.

And I just see last.fm as a reflection of my listening habits, I don't try to influence it at all. I really regret resetting it that one time, because if I hadn't, then I would have an almost complete idea of my listening habits starting within about a year of me getting into music

[Marvellous G]

Not to sound like I'm flaming DT, but they're not in my top 10 artists anymore and they're my 4th most played or something, so it really doesn't represent how much you like them at all. Although Tool and DMB are my #2 and #1 most played and they're probably my joint favourite bands, so there you go.

[Ravenheart]

Lol @ people scrobbling for the sake of scrobbling.

I thought the point was to, y'know, keep track of what you listen to the most frequently, not participate in some stupid competition.

? I don't see it as a competition, and I never claimed to. I just try to keep accurate records of everything I listen to. I have a pretty good memory when it comes to what music I listen to, so it takes me 2 seconds to make a playlist of things I listened to in the car before I go to sleep every night. So, I AM keeping track of what I listen to, I just happen to be OCD when it comes to that, so I try to keep track of EVERYTHING I listen to (well, everything meaning what songs I have on my computer. ).

I realize most people don't take keep track of their listening habits to the extreme that I do, so I don't compare my playcount with other people and judge them because of it.  The thing is I'm personally interested in my play history. Last.fm is probably my most visited website, and I just enjoy it. I don't see it as a chore or a competition, I genuinely like keeping my records as accurate as possible.

But yeah PT IS AWESOME WOOOO! I think I'll listen to In Absentia later today, even though its not my favorite album it has some incredible moments on it.

Ok, well, sorry that I misunderstood. But I do know some people that treat it as a competition/scrobble just for the sake of "hey! Look at how many times I've listened to this band!" 

And yeah, my last.fm isn't entirely accurate with some bands that have much lower plays, because I've had some itunes and iPod issues that have forced me to reset them. So a few are underrepresented. I've noticed some are really moving up, though, like Agalloch and Opeth. I've been listening to Depeche Mode almost nonstop, and they've already broken my top 10.

Porcupine Tree are in my top 10, too, I think. AREN'T I COOL?!

[Pirate]

ON TOPIC: Anesthetize actually gets boring after a while. I think I've over listened to it, but I didn't expect that to happen this soon.  Oh well, it's still easily their best song. Other than Heartattack In A Layby.

I play to Anesthetize at my drums every time I'm on them. It's my most listened-to track on iTunes. I guess it's a bit less boring for me. 

[Gadough]

I've never listened to Anesthetize in full before. Can someone give me the timestamp of Alex Lifeson's guest spot?

[skydivingninja]

Its the one that sounds like Alex. 

[ClairvoyantCat]

I've never listened to Anesthetize in full before. Can someone give me the timestamp of Alex Lifeson's guest spot?

Listen to it in full. 

But since you asked the solo starts about exactly 4 minutes in. 

[Gadough]

Its the one that sounds like Alex. 

I don't believe you.

[skydivingninja]

I only said it because Alex has a VERY distinct style, and it should be easy to pick him out.

But if you're a failbucket who has never listened to the whole thing before...

[DarkEternalNight]

Got The Incident and Recordings for Christmas. I LOVE the packaging for Recordings.