Obnoxious Listeners - Latest Comments in The Dream | Open Hand

Re: The Dream | Open Hand

Nirav Sheth — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:38:12 -0000

Hah ... nice cover up! Sounded almost like when I called you 'old'!

Re: The Dream | Open Hand

orbtrip — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:29:54 -0000

No, they are pissed off because they know some strange dudes are going to be on some blog some where talking sh!t about them. (I no way am I refering to "obnoxiouslistners.com"; but rather some really lame blog on AOL or something. This site totally rules, and no one on here is strange at all.)

Re: The Dream | Open Hand

Dan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:59:15 -0000

They're pissed off because they had to have that picture taken instead of play music.

Re: The Dream | Open Hand

blank — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:57:05 -0000

Yeah, and they all look like their dog just died. Speaking of which - why do musicians seemingly always feel the need to look sad or pissed-off for these band pictures? Aren't you supposed to enjoy making music? I guess they're just trying to be cool.

Re: The Dream | Open Hand

Dan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:14:22 -0000

Is it just me, or are all four of those guys wearing the same shoes?

Re: The Dream | Open Hand

orbtrip — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:53:25 -0000

Ah ha, well said...this makes me think that our major difference in listening tastes is due to this threshold being much lower for me than than you!

If interested, you can stream Against Me! music from their web site: http://www.againstme.net

Re: The Dream | Open Hand

Nirav Sheth — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:36:55 -0000

My favorite tracks from this group were "The Dream", "This Is The End", and "Life As Is". I would agree this is one of the few punk style bands that I really enjoyed.

Re: The Dream | Open Hand

Dan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:34:11 -0000

I thought his drumming with everything he did in Open Hand was excellent... also very unique and easy to identify. Alex Rodriguez is currently the drummer for Saosin, but I don't like them nearly as much him in Open Hand. They're not bad... but his drumming doesn't ever seem to take the focus as it did in Open Hand.

I almost nearly entirely agree with your singing blurb. Singing isn't necessary (e.g. I love Isis and Opeth), but i see screaming completely different from bad singing. I don't know who Against Me! is, so this isn't necessarily directed at them, but I can't handle bad singing. They better at least be in key and be able to hold a note.

One of my favorite local (used to be local anyway) bands was Breaking Pangaea. They're singer wasn't that great, but as you say, the package as a whole was really very good. Plus he looked a lot like Garth from Wayne's World. While I don't think singers have to be immaculate, there is certainly a threshold for which I'm suddenly unwilling to listen any further... but that's really the case for any musical instrument.

What I mean when I said actually sing was that he sings as opposed to the raw/scratchy screaming that is common in indie/punk music... not that he was necessarily a good one (although he is a pretty decent one).

Re: The Dream | Open Hand

orbtrip — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:25:57 -0000

Nice drum work on the second part of the sample provided; I hope people see the listening controls under all of your posts! Good stuff!

And you bring up an interesting point with your "actually sings" comment. I don't want to start out saying that yelling and screaming is awesome; that wouldn't be my point - but I think there are definitely some less than perfect voices out there that on their own may not be that great but once mixed in with the band - end up sounding great. I'll use another punk band as an example - Against Me! - yeah, Tom Gabel may not be Scott Weiland; but his voice fits perfect with the style of music Against Me! is all about. It's the whole package that makes them good (good...in my opinion). What I'm saying is that there is sometimes too much emphasis placed on how good the lead singer is, or how good the drummer is, etc... from purely a "musical" standpoint. What I find is that it's the total complete sound that makes a band good. You can put together the best players in the world and form some super band and the sound will probably suck. You have a better chance of putting together a bunch of less than great musicians that click well and the sound ends up the most kick ass of all. Sometimes it takes getting past a certain aspect of the band that you don't like at first, giving some time to allow yourself to be sucked in to the true vibe of the music. A voice that you maybe didn't like at first...is now part of that sound and all the sudden you seem to "get it" - even if they can't "actually sing".