First up, I don't speak Finnish. But Korpiklaani are amazing. (Yes, some of their songs are in English. A great many of their songs are not.)
I don't speak Deutsch, either. But, you know, Rammstein. I'm not linking to a porn site for you lot.
What are some other bands you lot like that you don't understand? I know one guy who has gotten heavily into folk metal -- he even bought a balalaika.
Not a whole lot. English is still the lingua franca of international rock music and the odd act like Rammstein aside if you want international success you're not going to enjoy much singing in some language nobody can understand. And since I can understand German Rammstein doesn't count in my book. Maybe a genre like folk metal or viking metal is more liberal in that but I don't listen to those.
I used to enjoy Sigar Rós back in the day, but I probably haven't heard them in at least five years.
I have to admit when I read the title I sarcastically thought to myself "any band from the last ten or fifteen years. Get off my lawn kids!"
I don't know if it's just the last 10 or 15 years Matt...
Can anyone explain Hanson to me?!? After all these years, I'm still left shaking my head.
Jacob
Quote from: jkokura on September 04, 2016, 12:47:17 PM
I don't know if it's just the last 10 or 15 years Matt...
Can anyone explain Hanson to me?!? After all these years, I'm still left shaking my head.
Jacob
Cash grab.
What about Tinted Windows. Lead to guitarist from Smashing Pumupkins, Bassist from Fountains Of Wayne, and the drummer from Cheap Trick. How is that not going to be good?! having the forth guy be the signer from Hanson that's how.
Gorguts 8)
Any Death Metal usually, even if it's in English.
Boredoms come to mind too:
You'd think rap would bould the hardest to be into when you can;t understand but these guys are awesome. (ok well I can understand a few phrases here and there)
To be more constructive and stop hijacking the thread. How did I not immediately think of Guitar Wolf. greatest punk band from the last twenty years, although I don't know that that's actually saying much.
Mono, Thee Michelle Gunn Elephant and the Polysics are are all great Japanese bands from the early aughts.
I've heard some OS Mutantes that I really liked.
Lyrics, last thing i'll pay any attention to in a song so it really doesn't matter what language they're in, may or may not pay any attention at all. Will take many listenings to get there.
I do have a fair amount of Rammstein, Marta Sybestian a Hungarian folk singer who's voice totally transfixed me.
dave
Half of Lexa's music collection is in languages I don't understand a word of I think ...
But as far as not understanding the music, basically anything glitch. I don't understand the desire to create large amounts of art that's designed exclusively to be frustrating. I get wanting to crank out a Revolution No. 9 every once in a while, but a whole record of it? Whyyy?
Quote from: jkokura on September 04, 2016, 12:47:17 PM
Can anyone explain Hanson to me?!? After all these years, I'm still left shaking my head.
I feel bad for Hanson. No one takes them seriously, but they've always been a pretty serious band. They had a serious amount of talent; they always played their own instruments, wrote their own songs (certain only passable lyrics, but if anyone says that Mmbop is actually a bad pop song, they're kidding themselves, even if you don't want to listen to pop [usually I don't]), and their harmonies were incredible. They were signed at SXSW because of their LIVE set, not because someone said, "Hey, I bet we can sell these kids to pre-teen girls." They won a grammy for a song
they wrote barely into high school. They've done multiple albums that aren't radio pop. They had a #1 album
after going independent. They still tour, and they do pretty well for themselves, but the Stevie Wonders and Justin Timberlakes of the world who can escape the shadow of what they did when they were young are few and far between. People don't have to like them, but I wonder how many people just see the name and think, "Lol, Mmbop" and don't listen to anything else even if they might like it.
Sigur Ros certainly qualifies. I would throw Dead Can Dance in there as well. Most of their songs are in English, but certainly not all of them.
It not a band per se, but anybody who likes Classical music often listens to music written in languages other than English. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time performing songs in other languages. Some of the time I knew what the song was about, but certainly not always.
Quote from: midwayfair on September 04, 2016, 03:22:47 PM
Quote from: jkokura on September 04, 2016, 12:47:17 PM
Can anyone explain Hanson to me?!? After all these years, I'm still left shaking my head.
I feel bad for Hanson. No one takes them seriously, but they've always been a pretty serious band. They had a serious amount of talent; they always played their own instruments, wrote their own songs (certain only passable lyrics, but if anyone says that Mmbop is actually a bad pop song, they're kidding themselves, even if you don't want to listen to pop [usually I don't]), and their harmonies were incredible. They were signed at SXSW because of their LIVE set, not because someone said, "Hey, I bet we can sell these kids to pre-teen girls." They won a grammy for a song they wrote barely into high school. They've done multiple albums that aren't radio pop. They had a #1 album after going independent. They still tour, and they do pretty well for themselves, but the Stevie Wonders and Justin Timberlakes of the world who can escape the shadow of what they did when they were young are few and far between. People don't have to like them, but I wonder how many people just see the name and think, "Lol, Mmbop" and don't listen to anything else even if they might like it.
Ah, the curse of the early one hit wonder. It always reminds me of Radiohead and how they struggled to survive their one hit wonder Creep and then made it their life's work to make music as diametrically opposed to Creep as possible. Which was probably the best course of action they could have taken.
Jon, I'm sure what you say about Hanson is true, but you'd have a hard time selling me on the fact that there ages weren't a big part of why they were signed. I have little doubt that when that a&r guy did a cost /benefit comparison that there ages weren't a huge part of that. I know nothing of there's other than mbop, so I obviously can't judge any of that.
Kings of Leon. They speak and sing in English but I sure don't know what most of their early albums lyrics are. I just kind of sing the vowel noises.
For some reason the first one I think of is Elizabeth Fraser's Cocteau Twins material from the 1990's. She is one of the most unique vocal stylists I've ever heard- and I used to get into listening to all the creative stuff she came up with- but I don't think I ever understood many of the words. I honestly think a lot of it is rhythmic nonsense syllables to fit the feel of what she's singing, so it could be you aren't really meant to understand it. It's "art" haha.
Quote from: Matmosphere on September 04, 2016, 01:59:37 PM
Mono, Thee Michelle Gunn Elephant and the Polysics are are all great Japanese bands from the early aughts.
you do realize that Mono is an instrumental band - and most awesome at it? Not sure that qualifies ::)
Anyways, as someone how does understand Rammstein lyrics, I hate them. I don't get how they could ever become famous/successful in the first place. might be their pornographic videos.
and i also have to join the Sigur Rós Club. I love Saeglopur. Great song. should have been in the lord of the rings soundtrack imo
if anyone isn't familiar with Sigur Rós and is wondering what the heck is he singing... Jonsí started using weird speech like voicing to fill in for lyrics while composing and never altered them in the end. He called it "hopelandic"
The one that comes to mind for me is Ebba Grön
Nikki Minage...nuff said
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This wouldn't be complete without The Germs
I'd go with Sigur Ros too. I like that I can't understand what he's singing. Makes the music all the more beautiful for me.
Kings of Leon as well (also previously mentioned). Their first two albums were totally incomprehensible, but brilliant... then they got shite.
Quote from: Haberdasher on September 04, 2016, 06:01:59 PM
For some reason the first one I think of is Elizabeth Fraser's Cocteau Twins material from the 1990's. She is one of the most unique vocal stylists I've ever heard- and I used to get into listening to all the creative stuff she came up with- but I don't think I ever understood many of the words. I honestly think a lot of it is rhythmic nonsense syllables to fit the feel of what she's singing, so it could be you aren't really meant to understand it. It's "art" haha.
One of the bands of my youth. I really like Elizabeth Fraser's voice. Check out Blood by This Mortal Coil, which also has her on some songs. You can even understand the lyrics.
Great choice with the Cocteaus! For similar reasons, MBV and early Stereolab deserve a mention.
How about Can? Twenty years later and I'm still none the wiser ;D
Quote from: midwayfair on September 04, 2016, 03:22:47 PM
I feel bad for Hanson. No one takes them seriously, but they've always been a pretty serious band. They had a serious amount of talent; they always played their own instruments, wrote their own songs (certain only passable lyrics, but if anyone says that Mmbop is actually a bad pop song, they're kidding themselves, even if you don't want to listen to pop [usually I don't]), and their harmonies were incredible. They were signed at SXSW because of their LIVE set, not because someone said, "Hey, I bet we can sell these kids to pre-teen girls." They won a grammy for a song they wrote barely into high school. They've done multiple albums that aren't radio pop. They had a #1 album after going independent. They still tour, and they do pretty well for themselves, but the Stevie Wonders and Justin Timberlakes of the world who can escape the shadow of what they did when they were young are few and far between. People don't have to like them, but I wonder how many people just see the name and think, "Lol, Mmbop" and don't listen to anything else even if they might like it.
Could not agree more Jon. I remember picking up This Time Around and thinking how far ahead it was of Mmmbop, from the songwriting to the lyrics to the overall performance. I still have it digitally somewhere, going to load it up on my phone and listen to it again. Same thing happened with a Canadian band called the Moffatts, very similar to a Hanson type thing, first couple of albums were really poppy, but I think the third one (?) was stellar.
one of my favorite artists - Bjork
English, sure. Understandable, not so much.
Magma. They made up their own language (Kobaïan) for their songs.
https://youtu.be/vzyOi5XRu_g
Genius? So catchy... but so very strange
Quote from: nzCdog on September 07, 2016, 05:51:54 AM
Genius? So catchy... but so very strange
Was the first Primus song i ever heard. Was camping in the state park outside Ithaca NY on a Moosewood pilgramage, song was played by a very cool Ithaca Radio Station, 1991(?) or so, when i got home went out and bought the album. Fan ever since.
Same trip went and visited Jon Gaines at his shop in Rochester. Nice guy!
dave
Quote from: nzCdog on September 07, 2016, 05:51:54 AM
Genius? So catchy... but so very strange
Somebody told me those guys suck. ;)
I second the Boredoms! They collaborated with Ween in the 90's. Their album Z-Rock Hawaii is my all time favorite.
Just ordered a copy of the Kalevala. A translated one, in English. (Not really interested in the epics about Thor and his pantheon -- I'm a bit Thor and Loki'ed out, with all that recent hollywood.)
Still quite like _Tervaskanto_.
Quote from: alanp on April 23, 2017, 07:12:51 AM
Just ordered a copy of the Kalevala. A translated one, in English. (Not really interested in the epics about Thor and his pantheon -- I'm a bit Thor and Loki'ed out, with all that recent hollywood.)
Still quite like _Tervaskanto_.
My favorite Finnish folk lore ingestion methods are old MST3K russo-finnish co-production episodes, and a fantastic web comic based on bits of the Kalevala (and other assorted folk lore) called "A Redtail's Dream" http://www.minnasundberg.fi/comic/page00.php Dunno why I find the folk lore so fascinating, maybe just because its just alien enough to be new-ish to me.
Quote from: Muadzin on September 04, 2016, 10:52:52 AM
... if you want international success you're not going to enjoy much singing in some language nobody can understand.
Fortunately, not all musicians are in it for the international success. And fortunately, not all listeners need to (fully) grasp the lyrics to enjoy the music. Coming from a small country, I grew up listening to a lot of music that I could not understand. Not just in English, also German, French, Italian etc. Further, we now have a number of acts here that sing in their local dialect, some of which are very hard or even impossible to understand. I enjoy that more than a lot of the middle-of-the-road pop and rock stuff that is meant for the international success, but your mileage may vary.
PS listening to all these languages at a young age really helped my language classes later at school. Now I have a basic grasp of quite a few languages, which is pretty handy when traveling. Finnish is not one of them though ;).
PPS there are quite a few songs that I would have enjoyed more if I would NOT have been able to understand the lyrics 8).
I pay such little attention to lyrics in the only language i do understand that understanding any of it really has no bearing on the music i enjoy and listen to most.
I had surgery in 2011 where the nerve that controlled one side of my tongue was taken and reassigned to other duties. To learn how to speak again i would read aloud while wandering around the house. You just pay attention to how each word sounds, what the word' is' is totally irrelevant, each word is in isolation as far it's meaning, it's only the sound that matters, how it flows into the next, the rhythm and patterns that make up the sentence, ask me the content of what i'd just read, i didn't have a clue. I had a big anthology of British Romantic Poetry that was great for reading aloud, the rhythm and roll, some poems would be written phonetically, it was a great workout but again no idea what i was reading. Music lyrics same thing.
dave
there's some stoner rock out there from europe that is sketchy at best on language barrier issues but I still like it ... my biggest problem with music I don't understand and coincidentally don't like because of it is "cookie monster" vocals in hard rock/metal. I don't get it. I really don't get it when women do it.
I remember hearing this one a few years ago. I still can't understand what they're saying, save a couple words here and there...