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?

[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?

[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.

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

On mine, there's a bit at the bottom on the left-hand side that says "New Playlist; you should be able to drag and drop stuff into that, and rename it as your please! It'll move up into the existing playlists and name itself after whoever you first drop into it, but you can right-click to rename it. Or failing that, I've shared a playlist with you on FB!

[sublimevisions.livejournal.com]

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

[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...

[zenithed.livejournal.com]

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

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Cheers! Will play around with it when I get home.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

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

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

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

[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

[king-prawn.livejournal.com]

Radio 3.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

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

[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]

Never heard of them! Will Spotify.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

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

[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? ;-)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

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

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

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

[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?

[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]

Who?

[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!

[muftak.livejournal.com]

16-bit

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I don't have a tape player.

[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.

[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]

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

[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.

[olamina.livejournal.com]

good choice too!

[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).

[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]

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

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Will check it out!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Never heard of them! Thanks for the tip.

[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

[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