# What’s your Wheelhouse?



## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

The Yanks in the audience will probably appreciate Lil Ludi’s Americanism, but what are the genres that you cover all bases in.

For Lil Ludi, it’s Lieder, Modern classical, Irish trad, improv, psych, free jazz, prog, krautrock, electronica, post punk, grunge, gangsta-rap, drill and Iranian…

Perhaps, I should list a favourite from all of the above…

You?


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Do you mean musical genres? I think I can speak intelligently on just about every era of Classical music except for the last ten years. Also, with jazz, I can pretty much hold my own from its roots up until 1990, when I stopped listening to it. I like soul/R&B/funk but wouldn't consider myself an expert. And I could sing along with most gospel and contemporary Christian music and definitely could keep up with anything if I were playing saxophone and frequently have to.


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## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

Manxfeeder said:


> Do you mean musical genres? I think I can speak intelligently on just about every era of Classical music except for the last ten years. Also, with jazz, I can pretty much hold my own from its roots up until 1990, when I stopped listening to it. I like soul/R&B/funk but wouldn't consider myself an expert. And I could sing along with most gospel and contemporary Christian music and definitely could keep up with anything if I were playing saxophone and frequently have to.


If it’s not too impertinent a question, do you mind me asking if you are African American or white?


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Ludwig Schon said:


> If it’s not too impertinent a question, do you mind me asking if you are African American or white?


I'm Caucasian. 

I learned to love jazz through my friends who were Asian-Hispanic, and my exposure to R&B was from my Hispanic friend who lived in a tightly knit community called a barrio. I also love Mariachi music because of that. I was also in a funk band made up of those who were African-American (Sly Stone's nephew), Hispanic, Asian, and Caucasian. I got into classical music because of a lovely flutist majoring in music, and I took music history so I could talk to her. 

I guess when it came to my music education, it took a village.


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## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

Manxfeeder said:


> I'm Caucasian.
> 
> I learned to love jazz through my friends who were Asian-Hispanic, and my exposure to R&B was from my Hispanic friend who lived in a tightly knit community called a barrio. I also love Mariachi music because of that. I was also in a funk band made up of those who were African-American (Sly Stone's nephew), Hispanic, Asian, and Caucasian. I got into classical music because of a lovely flutist majoring in music, and I took music history so I could talk to her.
> 
> I guess when it came to my music education, it took a village.


Very interesting. If you don’t mind me asking, where did you grow up? I’m assuming Southern states…


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Ludwig Schon said:


> Very interesting. If you don’t mind me asking, where did you grow up? I’m assuming Southern states…


I grew up in Southern California, in San Bernardino County, which is just east of Los Angeles County. My community was working-class, so I grew up among a diverse populace, both racial and economic.


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## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

Prope


Manxfeeder said:


> I grew up in Southern California, in San Bernardino County, which is just east of Los Angeles County. My community was working-class, so I grew up among a diverse populace, both racial and economic.


Proper melting pot, Southern Cali. My ex‘s family fled there from Birmingham in the 60s. America is a horrible racist hellhole…


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Ludwig Schon said:


> Prope
> 
> 
> Proper melting pot, Southern Cali. My ex‘s family fled there from Birmingham in the 60s. America is a horrible racist hellhole…


I don't think it still is. Corporations are going out of their way to promote minorities and universities are working hard to open up to and accommodate minorities. Just about every TV show, movie, and commercial features at least a Black female. At least that's what I'm seeing where I am.


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## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

Manxfeeder said:


> I don't think it still is. Corporations are going out of their way to promote minorities and universities are working hard to open up to and accommodate minorities. Just about every TV show, movie, and commercial features at least a Black female. At least that's what I'm seeing where I am.


I can only speak as an outsider. I would be absolutely terrified of being shot dead if I was to visit AkeriKKKa, were I black…


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Ludwig Schon said:


> I can only speak as an outsider. I would be absolutely terrified of being shot dead were I to visit AkeriKKKa, were I black…


Real life is different than what you see on TV. There are almost never any police shootings in my city. But there are too many guns in our society. Money rules.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

starthrower said:


> Real life is different than what you see on TV.


Most outsiders think America is all gang shootings and violence, because that's what makes the news. But I still get smiles and nods from everyone I meet, and nobody has threatened me. Seattle is particularly race-unconscious I think. (I'm white btw)

It wouldn't be the same in Mississippi or Texas. Down there, Blacks won't make eye contact and step off the sidewalk if they see you coming.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

Probably the closest I come to having a "wheelhouse" is classic rock, punk (even though I'm not a big punk fan its importance in rock history is hard to ignore), metal, and prog, to the extent that I'm very familiar with most of the major artists and can trace their influences and evolutions from about the time of The Beatles onward; but I can hold my own in most discussions of classical (especially from the Classical to early Modern eras), opera, jazz from about the time of Davis to the fusion era, with a smattering of R&B, folk, and singer-songwriters. I often feel my tastes are too broad to really consider myself an expert in any one area of music, but I'm comfortable with that. I get bored too easily and want to seek new frontiers.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

There's many genres and subgenres I enjoy, from Classical to Pop to Rock.

It's probably easier to name genres I don't usually much care for: Punk, Disco, electronic, 12-tone, atonal, thrash metal, minimalism.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

I don't cover all bases of any genre I like - over the years I have had to live with the fact that when I think I have a decent level of knowledge I meet someone who knows a lot more than I do.
I am content with that after all half the fun is the finding out.


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## ando (Apr 18, 2021)

NoCoPilot said:


> Most outsiders think America is all gang shootings and violence, because that's what makes the news. But I still get smiles and nods from everyone I meet, and nobody has threatened me. Seattle is particularly race-unconscious I think. (I'm white btw)
> 
> It wouldn't be the same in Mississippi or Texas. Down there, Blacks won't make eye contact and step off the sidewalk if they see you coming.


Say what? While I've never lived in Texas my sister lived in Port Arthur and Beaumont for years and while I visited her I never saw a black person step off the sidewalk for any reason than to cross the street (plus, most people drive). Much as many would like to go back to 1822, we can't and won't!


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

starthrower said:


> Real life is different than what you see on TV. There are almost never any police shootings in my city. But there are too many guns in our society. Money rules.


The U.S. is a great country but politicians and rampant corporatism are ruining it. Everything boils down to money here and if you don't have any, you're expandable. It's a land of extremes that increasingly caters to the worst human impulses.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

Malx said:


> I don't cover all bases of any genre I like - over the years I have had to live with the fact that when I think I have a decent level of knowledge I meet someone who knows a lot more than I do.
> I am content with that after all half the fun is the finding out.


Art is long and life is short, as the famous saying goes. The only way to "cover all the bases" on any genre would be to devote all (or as much as possible) free time to that genre and nothing else. Anyone with an interest in many genres, or even an interest in other art-forms, isn't going to be able to do that. It's the old "jack of all trades VS master of one" dilemma. I've definitively concluded I'm a Jack, and a restless one at that.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Except for college and law school, I have always lived in the NYC area (mostly NYC itself). My parents attended theatre frequently, and I started attending with them at age 5. So my "expertise" is Broadway and more generally the Great American Songbook. I can also speak intelligently about classical music, somewhat intelligently on classic rock and 50s-60s jazz and not so intelligently about other genres.


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## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

Classical (hence this site), Rock, Pop, and moderately dabble in most other genres except House/DJ, Metal, & Country. Although when I was in 6th & 7th grades I was into Sabbath, Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and a few other metal bands. Then I grew out of that musical phase. EVA YOJIMBO said it very well re: Jack vs Master. I'm a jack too, and a restless one as well!

Starthrower is correct. Life is VERY different from what is on TV. The vast vast vast vast vast majority of people (of ALL races) go about their days and nights without any fear of getting shot. There is NOT a war against black people here in America. And to spell it "AmeriKKKa" is wholly innacurate, ignorant, and insulting.

V


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

It varies. I listen to nothing but classical for weeks at a time and go weeks without listening to it in favor of other music (usually electronic, including hip-hop, sometimes current pop, sometimes boomer hits). I have changes in mood but they're longer-scale ones, though I sometimes do have times where I listen to a bit of everything.


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

Varick said:


> Starthrower is correct. Life is VERY different from what is on TV. The vast vast vast vast vast majority of people (of ALL races) go about their days and nights without any fear of getting shot. There is NOT a war against black people here in America. And to spell it "AmeriKKKa" is wholly innacurate, ignorant, and insulting.


I mainly associate it with online Maoists from like, the 90s/early 00s. The kind with weird, Geocities-quality web pages filled with reams of manifestos (manifesti?). I always preferred "United $nakes", which is amusingly evocative.

As someone who lives in a city, it's amazing how many people think I must fear for my life every day, or that the city has burned down. I don't (my friends in Portland get even more amusement about national news stories about the supposed hellscape they live in). Local news is bad about this too- as they say, "if it bleeds, it leads"


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Ludwig Schon said:


> The Yanks in the audience will probably appreciate Lil Ludi’s Americanism, but what are the genres that you cover all bases in.
> 
> For Lil Ludi, it’s Lieder, Modern classical, Irish trad, improv, psych, free jazz, prog, krautrock, electronica, post punk, grunge, gangsta-rap, drill and Iranian…
> 
> ...


Not sure what you mean by, "cover all bases", but the genres and subgenres I listen to are:

Prog (the following subgenres):
classic 70's era prog from all countries, but besides the UK, I have a deep affinity for Italian prog.
Zeuhl, Magma, and bands influenced by them (Eskaton, Setna, Zao, Potemkine, Shub-Niggurath, Corima, etc).
Avant-prog: Henry Cow, Thinking Plague, Univers Zero, Art Zoyd, Aranis, Samla Mammas Mana, Khan, etc
Canterbury: Hatfield and the North, Supersister, National Health, Picchio Dal Pozzo, Matching Mole, Manna/Mirage, etc
Prog-metal: Pain of Salvation, The Contortionist, Wolverine, uneXpect, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Riverside, Zero Hour, etc (NOT Dream Theater!)

Jazz (the following subgenres):
Fusion: Mahavishnu Orchestra, Spaced Out, Return to Forever, Iceberg, McGill/Manring/Stevens, Kenso, etc
Post bop: Coltrane, Miles, Pharaoh Sanders, Bill Evans,
Avant-garde: The Art ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton, Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Andrew Hill, etc
M-Base: Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane, Andrew Milne, Jonathan Finlayson, David Gilmore, etc
ECM: I list the label, because most of the music on this label has an underlying aesthetic that kind of ties it together.

Classical:
Mostly mid to late 20th century, atonal, serial, avant-garde, modernist.
Elliott Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Thomas Ades, Magnus Lindberg, Harrison Birtwhistle, Bruno Maderna, Stefan Wolpe, Joan Carter, Unsuk Chin, Berg, Webern, Schoenberg, Ersnt Krenek, George Perles, Eduard Tubin, etc.

I don't listen to very much outside the above, except in a very casual way. I never sit down for a serious listening session, and play anything else besides the above. Life's too short.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Simon Moon said:


> Not sure what you mean by, "cover all bases", but the genres and subgenres I listen to are:
> 
> Prog (the following subgenres):
> classic 70's era prog from all countries, but besides the UK, I have a deep affinity for Italian prog.
> ...


Lots of typos in the above, but too late to fix them now.

Let me add a few more:

Fusion: Brand X, Tribal Tech, Counter-World Experience, Tunnels, Panzerballett, Octafish. *Allan Holdsworth...How can I forget Holdsworth?!*
Post Bop: Herbie Hancock, Mingus, Wayne Shorter.


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