New music, current favorites, recent discoveries

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2006-04-24 11:59pm

In general what bands are you into, what have you recently discovered, etc.?

Right now I'm into UK indie-flavored rock; I really like the Arctic Monkeys (who I'll be going to see in June), Franz Ferdinand, and a fantastic band I just found called Hard-Fi; I can't stop listening to their Iraq war protest song, Middle Eastern Holiday in particular. On the domestic side I've enjoyed a few tracks off The Strokes' latest album, and I've completely been absorbed by Illinois by Sufjan Stevens.

I listen to lots and lots of classic rock, as well; Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs has me under its spell currently, as does Frank Zappa's We're Only In It For the Money.

Darth Quorthon · Post by **Darth Quorthon** » 2006-04-25 12:30am

Recently discovered:

Paragon and Gamma Ray - good power metal.

Secret Sphere - Great power/progressive metal that reminds me a lot of Dream Theater. I can't stop listening to their song Desire.

Arsis - shredding American black metal.

Pelican - excellent instrumental hard rock.

In general:
I like a pretty eclectic mix, and though my tastes usually drift towards metal, I also have extensive collections of classical, classic rock, and various "soft" genres. I love Enya and Loreena McKennitt. I also like Chopin, Wagner, Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach. I also have a soft spot for oddball bands that very few others seem to like, such as Godflesh and Skrew. It all depends on my mood. I usually listen to metal at work to get the "adrenaline rush" and listen to the "softer" stuff at home to unwind. And my all-time five favorite artists haven't changed in a while; Rush, Bathory, Blind Guardian, Iron Maiden, and Rotting Christ.

Lindar · Post by **Lindar** » 2006-04-25 01:30am

Douglas Ladnier

Not By Design

Bonnie Mckee

Kari Kimmel

Knights of Crisis

i don't classify music very well. So here's links, see what you think*shrug*

Pick · Post by **Pick** » 2006-04-25 01:34am

Sonata Arctica is my main new one. Since I discovered it, I haven't really looked for anything else. I absolutely adore their music.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2006-04-25 01:38am

You just can't go wrong with an album by the Gorillaz.

PrinceofLowLight · Post by **PrinceofLowLight** » 2006-04-25 02:43am

I recently got seriously into 70s Soul after picking up the Superfly soundtrack on a whim.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2006-04-25 08:44am

PrinceofLowLight wrote:I recently got seriously into 70s Soul after picking up the Superfly soundtrack on a whim.

Curtis Mayfield fucking rocks. Check out the song Move On Up if you can find it. It's the song that Kanye West sampled for his current single.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2006-04-25 09:17am

I've been listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn and the Blues Brothers recently, heh. Well, watching, youtube really is great.

I also rediscovered Morbid Angel recently, I fucking love that band, especially Gateways to Annihilation which is, in my opinion, probably their finest work and an all time DM great, along with Annihilation of the Wicked by Nile.

I also got a load of Rotting Christ recently, who are a chilled, doomy sort of black metal, very cool.

I got the silent hill soundtracks fairly recently, the songs with words in are generally crappier, but the ambient and voiceless songs are cool as hell.

Napalm Death's The Code is Red, Long Live the Code is cool as hell, especially the title track and Morale. Morale is a nice slow, sludgy death metal track (some might say too slow, but it's well within my tolerances), the title track has some top-quality riffs and good vocal timing. I can't believe it took me this long to get into ND... the trouble was their early stuff, which is grindcore and I generally dislike grind.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-04-25 04:01pm

Most recent discovery has been Tree Wave, a duo that makes pop-ish tunes by combining female vocals and music created with 1970s and 80s video game and computer equipment. Here are legal MP3s of two of their songs: "May Banners" and "Sleep."

And of course, Boards of Canada still totally rule.

Old Peculier · Post by **Old Peculier** » 2006-04-25 04:27pm

Music I've got into recently:

Mr. Scruff - Mancurian DJ
Maceo Parker - Funk/Soul Jazz Saxophonist
Average White Band - 70s and onwards Scottish funk band

Joe wrote:Frank Zappa

DPDarkPrimus wrote:Gorillaz.

Indeed

:Edit: I've seen both Mr. Scruff and Maceo Parker live, and plan on seeing AWB soon as well.

Saurencaerthai · Post by **Saurencaerthai** » 2006-04-25 07:41pm

For one, I've started to get much more into John Cage's works and checked out the scores to all three of his constructions. His stuff really seems to be doing it for me. Stockhausen also, but I need to get into it more.

I'm also starting to listen to this one up-and-coming artist whom I had the honor of sharing the bill with last week by the name of Fred Shafer. I highly recommend him. He's got strong rock attitude with the soul of a blues singer.

thecreech · Post by **thecreech** » 2006-04-26 02:51pm

I haven't really discovered anything other than Mastadon

Currently listening to

Simon & Garfunkel's greatest hits
Johnny Cash Legend
Sepultura Beaneth the Remains and Dante XXI
Tool 10,000 days although it is really disappointing but i am trying to give it a chance

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2006-04-26 03:09pm

No very recent discoveries (beyond reaffirming my love for Star Wars pieces). In general I like classic hard rock, starting with Jimi Hendrix and the Doors, moving on through the seventies with proto-metal like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath and finally early "true" metal like Metallica. And everything in between.

Currently I'm listening to a general Jimi disc; blues, progressive, hard, it's all good.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-04-26 04:12pm

The last big acquisition was the Arctic Monkeys.

They really are that good. I think absolutely every track on their album is an utter killer, the lyrics are insane and fantastic, the guitars are raucous and shouty, and the whole thing just never tires or gets old.

I missed them playing in Nottingham a few weeks ago, sadly.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2006-04-26 07:43pm

Vendetta wrote:The last big acquisition was the Arctic Monkeys.

They really are that good. I think absolutely every track on their album is an utter killer, the lyrics are insane and fantastic, the guitars are raucous and shouty, and the whole thing just never tires or gets old.

I missed them playing in Nottingham a few weeks ago, sadly.

The only problem I have with the Arctic Monkeys is that they are 2-3 years younger than I am.

I hope they have more success stateside, in any case. Just got my tickets, incidentally. At least they came here, those Franz Ferdinand fuckers evaded my state.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2006-04-26 10:33pm

Bought a Nick Cave CD after hearing one of his songs in a home video. Have the "Murder Ballads" and greatest hits albums as of now, definitely cool stuff. "Red Right Hand" is grooby & fun in an sinister way.

Other than that I've just been filling the holes in my album collections, finally have Led Zeppelin I to IV, all but a couple Joe Satriani albums, most of the Hendrix ones, and so on.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2006-04-26 10:34pm

Get Live at Monterey while you're on a Hendrix kick. His cover of Like a Rolling Stone is mind-blowing, and he does a great Killing Floor too.

Medic · Post by **Medic** » 2006-04-27 01:46am

Back in the day, my favorite rock groups were Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine. Nowadays that distinction belongs to Chris Cornell and the now mexican-nationlist-less Rage Against the Machine crew in Audioslave.

I loved God Lives Underwater's album, "Life in the so called Space Age" -- rock with a lot of electronic elements -- but my brother informed me the main singer died recently and they're no longer making music.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2006-04-27 02:25am

Recently it's been Dragonforce and Nightwish.

They're pretty awesome, a nice operatic sound that's grown on me.

Metatwaddle · Post by **Metatwaddle** » 2006-04-27 02:59am

My recent discovery is the Dresden Dolls. Their music is sort of frenetic and dark, and they use only piano and drums (on their first album, anyway; on the second one they use some sort of guitar and bass on two songs, I think). The best description of them that I've seen is "punk-piano-cabaret". Apparently they draw upon 1930s Weimar-era cabaret in their music; I know nothing about Weimar-era cabaret so I'm not sure. The lyrics are extremely strange; one of my favorite songs of theirs is about transvestites who get sex change operations and regret it later.

My other recent discovery is Thea Gilmore, whom I discovered thanks to Neil Gaiman (like Tori Amos, Thea is a good friend of Neil's). Her style borders on being simply girl-with-guitar-backup-and-some-drums, but the thing that sets her apart is her lyrics, which aren't really dark or cheerful or sappy... they're just different, and sometimes thought-provoking.

Of course, even with these new discoveries, my music listening habits still have a very strong base of classical music (mostly solo piano, but a little bit of the better-known orchestral stuff) as well as Tori-Amos sorts of things that work perfectly for a piano addict like me.

Julhelm · Post by **Julhelm** » 2006-04-27 09:14am

I've recently rediscovered Type O Negative and Symphony X. Great bands.

Oberleutnant · Post by **Oberleutnant** » 2006-04-27 10:19am

Massive Attack (Mezzaine is an incredible album) and Tori Amos.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-04-27 10:43am

Joe wrote:
The only problem I have with the Arctic Monkeys is that they are 2-3 years younger than I am.

I hope they have more success stateside, in any case. Just got my tickets, incidentally. At least they came here, those Franz Ferdinand fuckers evaded my state.

Joe i'd imagine you'd like We are Scientists, if you like those two.

They're pretty damned good

Bertie Wooster · Post by **Bertie Wooster** » 2006-04-27 01:02pm

My favorite album of 2006 so far has been "Nine Times That Same Song" by Love is All, a Swedish(or Norwegian) rock band.

I just saw Ladytron in Chicago last week and they were one of the best performances I've seen live (perhaps the best) so I've been listening to their album Witching Hour which came out last October, a lot.

There's quite a few new bands I've only started to listen to the past month.

I just recently got into The Herbaliser, an excellent british hip-hop group which had a CD just come out. I was so impressed, I bought all their previous albums.

I just started listening to my blues records lately (which I had previously ignored because I didn't have a working record player), specifically Tampa Red, Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt and Leadbelly.

I just bought this techno album by Mirwais that came out in the 1990's which I think is excellent.

Partially because Keevan Colton mentioned him a few times, and one of my favorite bands Stereo Total mentioned him as one of their favorite musicians, and because I was impressed with one of his songs he did with Bran Van 3000, I've been listening to Momus too much. I don't usually pay much attention to lyrics, but his lyrics are astonishingly witty and he knows how to use clever minimalist electronica to go along with it.

Another musician mentioned by Stereo Total that I just started listening to is a French singer from the 50's and 60's named Juliette Greco. She has a really deep voice but her music doesn't sound that much dated and is quite unique. It may be a little show-tuney for most but some of her songs are quite moving.

My sister got me into The Go! Team which is upbeat electronica with powerful percussion, with a sound sort of like that Australian group Architecture in Helsinki.

There's also this rock revivalist band called Dengue Fever which I've been listening to a lot as well that I just discovered. They play 60's-style Cambodian rock&roll and have a a real Cambodian female singer who sings in Khmer.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2006-04-27 02:11pm

Zac Naloen wrote:
Joe wrote:
The only problem I have with the Arctic Monkeys is that they are 2-3 years younger than I am.

I hope they have more success stateside, in any case. Just got my tickets, incidentally. At least they came here, those Franz Ferdinand fuckers evaded my state.

Joe i'd imagine you'd like We are Scientists, if you like those two.

They're pretty damned good

They're actually opening for the Arctic Monkeys at the concert! Really looking forward to it.