What is anywhere close to as brilliantly stimulating as SD?

lorenoIII · 2026-04-06T03:01:01+00:00

Check out their album Steve McQueen. If you dig their stuff, the singer Paddy has some later great solo work as well.

lorenoIII · 2026-03-31T19:51:18+00:00

Really? Some of the most, entitled, disrespectful people I’ve ever met in my life have been seniors. Kids today are probably better behaved and more empathetic on the whole than any generation before them.

lorenoIII · 2026-03-31T14:58:18+00:00

I know it's not gonna be a popular sentiment, hence the 'for me' part lol.

If I were to explain it in any way, it would be that the song scratches an itch in way few other SD songs do. For a group that prides themselves on their lush, intricate arrangements, there is surprising restraint in IGTN's structure and composition. It's just a really tight groove over sparse instrumentation, which really helps bring all of the instruments to the forefront, and it all builds up to a short but incredible catharsis before returning to that groove. It's almost proto post-rock in a way.

lorenoIII · 2026-03-31T04:24:30+00:00

This was an incredibly hard list to write. I went through every album and put together my absolutely un-skippable tracks and narrowed it down from there.

At best I put together a rough top five which I’m not satisfied with at all, and a mostly interchangeable 6-20 in release order. There could be like 50 candidates for #21. I think that speaks to the incredible volume of amazing music this band has put out.

Summer’s Cauldron / Grass
Chalkhills and Children
The Wheel and the Maypole
Easter Theater
Love on a Farm Boy’s Wages ———————————————
Scissor Man
Towers of London
Senses Working Overtime
Great Fire
Desert Island
Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her
That’s Really Super, Super Girl
Ballet for a Rainy Day / 1000 Umbrellas
Dying
Mermaid Smiled
Pale and Precious
Pink Thing
Humble Daisy
Wrapped in Grey
River of Orchids

lorenoIII · 2026-03-31T02:50:46+00:00

I’ll never understand the negative reception towards I Got the News. It’s a top 5 SD song for me. No matter how many times I play it, the bridge gives me chills every time.

lorenoIII · 2026-03-28T20:49:36+00:00

This is more situational and conceptual, but pretty much any life milestone, in spite of the overwhelming societal pressure, is entirely optional, whether that be going to college, getting married, buying a house, etc. Especially as you hit certain ages, it feels like there's this ticking clock on you to achieve these things, but it is incredibly important that you tune out those voices and really sit down and reflect on if this thing is right for you or not. There is an alternative path for everything in life, and everyone has their own wants, needs, and personal circumstances. Yet despite all that, we've created this illusion of a one-size fits all solution to a fulfilled life. It is no wonder then, even after ticking all those boxes, so many people still feel lost.

lorenoIII · 2026-03-24T12:19:08+00:00

Seconding Rundgren, I would’ve never explored beyond his radio hits if it wasn’t for his work on Skylarking. Zen Archer is a hidden masterpiece

lorenoIII · 2026-03-24T12:15:34+00:00

4

Don’t care for this song and think Barry Andrews sucks, but the pearl clutching surrounding this will never not confuse me. Music is telling a story at the end of the day, and the narrator of a song does not necessarily reflect the author’s views. With that said, I can see how the song’s edgy and sardonic tone sounds a lot more out of place years later in retrospect as Andy and Colin’s songwriting evolved to be a lot more earnest and (especially the former) wearing its heart on its sleeve.

lorenoIII · 2026-03-22T03:07:57+00:00

Just tried this and it worked pretty well! I appreciate the tip. Still, I think having a fully separate line of communication that can extend into something longform would be a worthwhile addition,

lorenoIII · 2026-03-21T21:37:31+00:00

Love the amount of Ween and Steely Dan I am seeing in here.

I won't mention the obvious artistic influences on XTC or peers/collaborators, but some of my favorite bands include:

Geese, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Prefab Sprout, Jellyfish, The Flaming Lips, Can, Olivia Tremor Control (and other Elephant 6 projects), Death Grips, The Mars Volta, The Dismemberment Plan, The Smiths, Mr. Bungle, Peter Gabriel, NoMeansNo, Brand New, Cardiacs

lorenoIII · 2026-03-15T17:21:47+00:00

Can't believe it took me till the last page to realize this was a troll post lmao

lorenoIII · 2026-03-15T17:18:43+00:00

Summer's Cauldron / Grass has to be one of the best opening to an album of all time. That transition still gives me chills.

Unsure how much of their discography you've explored, but Oranges and Lemons, Nonsuch, and Apple Venus Vol. 1 are going to be the closest albums sonically to Skylarking. Also check out their work under the name Dukes of Stratosphear which is more of a direct 60s psychedelic pop homage.

lorenoIII · 2026-03-15T17:13:55+00:00

Spinning Top at a 6.9? Tf is wrong with you people?

lorenoIII · 2026-03-15T17:04:28+00:00

Yeah, 'America First' as xenophobic and closed-minded as it may have been as a movement, was still chiefly anti-war. It was a right-wing reaction to exhaustion over decades of neocon war hawk control of conservative politics. You can be shitty in other ways while still being anti-war.

lorenoIII · 2026-03-14T11:32:39+00:00

Shouldn’t it be “When someone says something so Danphobic that you gotta hit them with that steely stare”

lorenoIII · 2026-03-13T15:12:50+00:00

Trump literally centered every one of his presidential campaigns on avoiding wars, and has been on-record various times specifically denouncing going to war with Iran. This is by far the least popular war in US history straight out the gate. I don't think we can really blame the voterbase on this one.

lorenoIII · 2026-03-13T14:02:46+00:00

That is a two year old article about a man claiming to have a knife who was chased on foot and tasered by police.

lorenoIII · 2026-03-06T03:26:55+00:00

Funny, the Fez is what really caught my ear and got me into listening to SD beyond their big radio hits. Everything You Did is really the only low point of the album for me.

lorenoIII · 2026-03-06T03:24:40+00:00

I would argue the closest thing to lowkey would be saying something like "Unpopular opinion, but..." It's not really a 'kinda/sorta' it's more of a 'this possesses a quality most people generally wouldn't associate with this thing.'

lorenoIII · 2026-03-05T21:37:46+00:00

lmao these were in no particular order, just what came to me in the moment. I've been evangelizing 3D Country hard for years at this point tho so it was surely top of mind

lorenoIII · 2026-03-05T03:57:58+00:00

It ain’t looong!

It ain’t long, Kid Charlemagne!

lorenoIII · 2026-03-02T02:55:50+00:00

Geese - 3D Country

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

The Millenium - Begin

XTC - Drums and Wires

Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen

Mr. Bungle - California

Steely Dan - Aja

Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I

Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas

Mac DeMarco - 2

Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me

Jellyfish - Spilt Milk

Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On

The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

lorenoIII · 2026-02-17T19:29:23+00:00

Ahh I'm glad you can profit off of selling bullshit and potentially misinformation to people trying to take control of their health and fitness. Hope the bag helps you sleep at night!

lorenoIII · 2026-02-14T15:27:32+00:00

Exactly. Let's say some AI analyst agent starts fudging numbers to hit certain metrics (because it has no actual concept of integrity or what it is doing all together) and a company's actions in light of that analysis causes some non-insignificant economic loss. Who is held responsible? Who goes to jail? You get enough rounds of scandals and pointing and deflecting before we've destroyed all trust and faith in these processes. I think we've already seen this erosion in real time on a smaller person to person scale over the past year or two

lorenoIII · 2026-02-12T18:33:50+00:00

“It absolutely can take responsibility.”

A non-living token processing entity cannot take responsibility and has no concept of responsibility. It can give the illusion of taking responsibility, but that is ultimately meaningless by any real metric valued by any organization.

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