Book Soundtrack

[dotinthesky]

If you were hosting a Book Club meeting in your home and you wanted to play some background music, what would you choose?

Comments

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

Maybe something that fits the mood or themes of the book? Failiong that, I'd go for stuff that I like but that is relatively inoffensive and background-y, since you want the focus to be on the book duscussion rather than the music!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

We are discussing a Russian novel: The Master and Margarita. Would DeVotchKa do?

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

DeVotchKa, Beirut, Regina Spektor, Gogol Bordello, Balkan Beat Box, World/Inferno Friendship Society, Kiss Kiss, Firewater?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Can only do the first two! Would the Dresden Dolls do?

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

I don't really know them very well, so I can't really say! But if you have Spotify, you should be able to make up a playlist with most of the above (no Firewater, alas!). Or I can send you some files from home, but that might take a while!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I do have Spotify but I can't figure out how to do playlists yet. I can only play one artist at a time, or a genre. I don't find it very user friendly, actually.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

the victor tsoy, he's been called "the russian bob dylan" and he is amazing!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

That 80s sound reminds me so much of Brasil in my childhood!

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

That was a real surprise to me, the album of his that I heard was total folk! I can't seem to find it now! I've asked the person who introduced me to his music so I hope to know the name of the album soon.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

FUCK. You MUST check out "The Greatest Story Ever Told" by The Lawrence Arms - a fairly abstract pop-punk concept album based on "The Master and Margarita".

It's your only choice.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

DUDE! That was a great recommendation, but way too late! If I ever hear of another bookclub discussing that book, that will be at the top of my soundtrack list.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Ah Frente! Wow... it's been a while since I've thought of them. Unfortunately don't have any of their music. What kind of bands would you say fit that sound? Suzanne Vega?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Poe rings a bell - maybe I'd recognise if I heard something. Maybe we should do a music swap one of these days? ;-)

[sublimevisions.livejournal.com]

www.pandora.com channel set to "The Weepies"

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Oh dear... visitors from outside the US are now allowed.

[petercampbell.livejournal.com]

The Master and Margarita is one of my desert island books, no question. Put the Cheeky Girls on repeat - that'll produce a similar feeling of oppression to living in Stalinist Russia...

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I thankfully do not own any Cheeky Girls. :-)

[zenithed.livejournal.com]

I'd play The Books. Or Wrapped Up In Books on repeat.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Never heard of them! Will Spotify.

[zenithed.livejournal.com]

The Books are a very strange spoken word/ambient band. I remember liking their album Lost and Safe but not sure what they've been doing lately.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

That's not sounding very appealing to me right now. :-)

[zenithed.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, I was just going by the band name really! Here's one track by them though in case you're curious:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xPN1LExu3k&feature=related

How was The Master and Margarita? It's on my to-read pile.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

We unanimously loved it, though there was some agreement that the original allegory has been lost to time and cultural differences (it's apparently about Stalin). I thought it was a treat - really surreal and magical like the best of Gabriel Garcia Marquez!

[olamina.livejournal.com]

good choice too!

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

classical, folk, slower stuff until the alcohol gets broken out. then let it go to faster stuff!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I ended up going with brasilian music in the end, and it was fine! Played it really low - zero obstruction - and it was a great get together.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

awesome, glad to hear it! I'm gonna join one of your book clubs when I get there!

[olamina.livejournal.com]

that was my first idea. quiet bossanova, but then i thought "ollie's brasilian, he probably already thought of that!" i was right.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I need more bossanova! I've only got the classic Steinz/Gilberto album.

[olamina.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed the Luis Bonfa album "Bossanova" as of late. My brother is very "up" on lots of Brazilian music so I'll find out some other "essential" bossanova albums

[idioticpoet.livejournal.com]

Stereolab (pretty much any of their works)
Miles Davis: Birth Of The Cool
Love And Rockets: Hot Trip To Heaven; Earth Sun Moon

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Love Stereolab; dig Miles Davis; can't see how Love and Rockets would go down in a book club!

[idioticpoet.livejournal.com]

aside from a track or two, Hot Trip To Heaven is very, very relaxed ambient sorta stuff. Earth Sun Moon is also a very relaxed album.

[idioticpoet.livejournal.com]

what about some Black Tape For A Blue Girl?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Who?

[idioticpoet.livejournal.com]

Black Tape For A Blue Girl....I can pretty much guarantee you've heard their stuff at one of the goth nights you attend(ed).

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Will check it out!

[king-prawn.livejournal.com]

Radio 3.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Problem with that is the danger of opera coming on. It's a good call though for lounging Saturday mornings.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Good call! I didn't play these albums, but maybe next time.

[muftak.livejournal.com]

16-bit

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I don't have a tape player.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Never heard of them! Thanks for the tip.

[olamina.livejournal.com]

Dorothy Ashby - In A Minor Groove album (jazz harp!)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Don't know it at all but will check it out. Thanks!

[olamina.livejournal.com]

can also suggest Finn Peters - Butterflies and The Durutti Column - Lc