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Discussion on: Welcome Thread - v43

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chrisachard profile image
Chris Achard

Welcome to DEV Don! What type of music do you like?

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quantiumdev profile image
Don Ferris • Edited

Hey, Chris! Thanks for the welcome! I have super diverse musical tastes. Way easier to say what I DON’T like which is metal, rap/hip-hop, EDM, and soulless pop from every boy-band and teeny-gurl ever. (And even with those genres, there are some exceptions!) My favorite genre is R&B - I LOVE funk, soul, and Motown... I also LOVE “The Great American Songbook” whether its being performed by Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin or more contemporary artists like Michael Bublé or Elton John. I’m a songwriter, myself, and most of the stuff I write is either standards or R&B. I like almost all rock and its many subgenres - especially partial to punk/post-punk and rockabilly... not real big on pop - old 50s “lollipop, lollipop” crap makes me want to puke... I listen to a lot LOT of jazz - especially partial to classics from Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and anything and everything that Louis Armstrong ever did. Likewise the standards/“love songs”... Bill Evans, Ben Webster, Miles, Bird, Coltrane... older stuff, too - Bix, Pete Fountain, Glenn Miller... There’s a number of contemporary guys that knock my socks off, too - Wynton Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr, Trombone Shorty... Mike Cottone isn’t well-known but he’s got some extraordinary chops. If you like Jazz, search for him in YouTube and listen to When Sonny Gets Blue. Stops me dead in my tracks every time. I love most of the stuff from the Swing Revival of the ‘90s but I’m particularly enamored with Brian Setzer whom I firmly believe is the greatest living guitarist. I’m a big fan of roots music, as well - blues, folk, bluegrass, country - old stuff or contemporary... HUGE fan of Keb’ Mo’. I enjoy most of the singer-songwriter stuff, too- from Paul Simon to Shawn Mullins, Leonard Cohen to Amos Lee... I like a lot of World Music, too including Latin Jazz, most African Music, Afro-Cuban Jazz, most Brazilian music, almost anything French, Zydeco, and I especially love reggae in all its forms. I love when new artists take a twist on classics - like Lake Street Dive’s version of I Want You Back. Then there’s the experimental stuff that defies classification- Tom Waits, the David Byrne/Brian Zeno collaborations. I thoroughly enjoy Danny Elfman’s sound tracks and musical scores (likewise Mark Knopfler). And though it’s almost an afterthought, I do occasionally enjoy classical music, as well (though I’ve never really acquired a taste for opera). I could go on and on. I have dozens of artists in my “Top 10” list! Hahaha! There’s ALWAYS music playing at my house or in my car. I have an Emby media server with a few thousand albums at the ready - but I’m equally likely to tell Alexa to play something on Pandora or Spotify. (She sends it over to my main audio system via Bluetooth which sounds pretty good but but honestly, I’ll listen to music through my iPhone speaker if that’s my only option at the moment.) Right now I’m listening to Based On A True Story by Fat Freddy’s Drop.

You must be a music guy to ask me that. What are your tastes?

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Chris Achard

Wow! That's quite the list - I love how you talk about music :) Those are a bunch of great songs/artists/genres.

I tend to get on certain kicks for awhile... right now I'm actually listening to a bunch of instrumental movie soundtracks; I find they're really good for coding to :) Movies like Interstellar, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars... "big" movies with big soundtracks are great.

Another kind of weird thing I like listening to is acapella or acoustic covers of a bunch of different songs/genres. I like searching youtube for them and finding everyone's different interpretations.

So maybe not the answer you were quite looking for :) And next month it will probably be something different!

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quantiumdev profile image
Don Ferris • Edited

Cool stuff, brother! I wasn’t looking for any kind of answer in particular. It’s always great to find a fellow music lover and talk about what they’re into. I usually come away with some great new stuff to check out and that often leads me to some new faves... I am very enthusiastic about music. Frankly, it’s like a drug for me. I can lift myself out of a depressed mood (I’ve often said, “Al Green is my antidepressant.”), motivate myself to clean a really messy house (I actually have a Spotify playlist called, “Clean the F—-ing House, Donnie!”) or chill myself out when my anxiety or stress level is getting the better of me... I totally agree about movie soundtracks. I think John Williams is the Beethoven of our time (And Danny Elfman the Mozart)... As a vocalist with a pretty good (Dean Martin-esque) crooning voice, I guess I kinda take vocals for granted. It takes someone really extraordinary (e.g. Bobby McFerrin) to get me really excited about a capella music (although I do occasionally enjoy it - especially if there’s a gospel flair to it as with Take 6) but I, too, listen to a lot of instrumental music when I’m doing something (... coding ...) that requires a lot of concentration. The Mermen put out an album close to 20 years ago called The Amazing California Health and Happiness Road Show that really gets me and keeps me in the zone - even though it’s atypically energetic for my usual coding tastes... (Bill Evans, Red Garland, Oscar Peterson, and Gene Ellis always seems more conducive to learning - and these days, most of my coding is wrapped in learning new stuff.) I need to sign off for today - I’ve got tickets to see Smokey Robinson tonight and I’m STOKED!!! Without Smokey, there would have been no Motown...

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Chris Achard

Yeah, music for cleaning the house is great 😄

Enjoy Smokey Robinson!