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A few more albums <3
16 years ago
Haha, so people were awesome about responding and sharing their recommendations to the last post here, so I figured you'd earned more than just 10 albums from me ^_^ These aren't necessarily the most defining albums for me, a lot of it is already well-known or previously mentioned, and some will invariably cost me Cool Kid points, but they're all on my playlist. I'm not gonna front here <3
I'll link to a few tracks off of them with particularly cool videos I can remember off the top of my head:
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Bjork - Homogenic (Bachelorette -- recursive narrative GO)
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Boat Club - Caught the Breeze
the Books - Lost and Safe (Smells Like Content)
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
Cousin Cole and Pocketknife - Tambourine Dream (DJ set featuring a mix of indie stuff)
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Daft Punk - Alive 2007 (if you like Daft Punk, this is basically fan service <3)
Datarock - Datarock Datarock
Dntel - Dumb Luck
Elbow - Cast of Thousands (Switching Off)
Elliott Smith - Figure 8
Erlend Oye - DJ Kicks
Familjen - Det Snurrar i Min Skalle (Det Snurrar i Min Skalle)
Feist - The Reminder
Final Fantasy - Has A Good Home
The Frames - For the Birds (Their sound changed a lot over the years as their lineup changed, but this album is amazing)
Supercar - Highvision
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
Hot Chip - The Warning
Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Justice - Cross (D.A.N.C.E.)
Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks
Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future
k-os - Joyful Rebellion
Lavender Diamond - Imagine Our Love
Le Loup - The Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations' Millennium General Assembly (Oh, you art pop homos and your names... 9_9)
Lemon Jelly - Lost Horizons
Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Lovage - Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By
M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
the Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Marching Band - Spark Large
Maritime - We, the Vehicles
Matt Pond PA - Winter Songs (I guess that's an odd album to recommend by him, buuut there you go...)
Maximo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures
Metric - Grow Up And Blow Away
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Monkey Swallows The Universe - Casket Letters
Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll
the National - Boxer
the Notwist - Neon Golden
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements
Passion Pit - Manners
Patrick Wolf - Lycanthropy
Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
Postal Service - Give Up
Ratatat - Classics
Rilo Kiley - Take Offs And Landings
Rogue Wave - Asleep At Heaven's Gate
Rufus Wainwright - Want Two
Shinichi Osawa - The One
Sigur Ros - Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust (Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa is totally off of an earlier album, but the video is amaaazing <3)
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Stars - Set Yourself On Fire
The Teenagers - Reality Check (Homecoming ...I love this song way too much. It features two massive lies: that vocalist Quentin has a British accent, and that he isn't a huge homo)
Tegan and Sara - So Jealous
Tokyo Police Club - A Lesson In Crime (If that's a bit hard-edged for you, go for their LP, Elephant Shell)
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
Youth Group - Skeleton Jar
I'll link to a few tracks off of them with particularly cool videos I can remember off the top of my head:
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Bjork - Homogenic (Bachelorette -- recursive narrative GO)
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Boat Club - Caught the Breeze
the Books - Lost and Safe (Smells Like Content)
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
Cousin Cole and Pocketknife - Tambourine Dream (DJ set featuring a mix of indie stuff)
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Daft Punk - Alive 2007 (if you like Daft Punk, this is basically fan service <3)
Datarock - Datarock Datarock
Dntel - Dumb Luck
Elbow - Cast of Thousands (Switching Off)
Elliott Smith - Figure 8
Erlend Oye - DJ Kicks
Familjen - Det Snurrar i Min Skalle (Det Snurrar i Min Skalle)
Feist - The Reminder
Final Fantasy - Has A Good Home
The Frames - For the Birds (Their sound changed a lot over the years as their lineup changed, but this album is amazing)
Supercar - Highvision
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
Hot Chip - The Warning
Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Justice - Cross (D.A.N.C.E.)
Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks
Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future
k-os - Joyful Rebellion
Lavender Diamond - Imagine Our Love
Le Loup - The Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations' Millennium General Assembly (Oh, you art pop homos and your names... 9_9)
Lemon Jelly - Lost Horizons
Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Lovage - Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By
M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
the Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Marching Band - Spark Large
Maritime - We, the Vehicles
Matt Pond PA - Winter Songs (I guess that's an odd album to recommend by him, buuut there you go...)
Maximo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures
Metric - Grow Up And Blow Away
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Monkey Swallows The Universe - Casket Letters
Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll
the National - Boxer
the Notwist - Neon Golden
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements
Passion Pit - Manners
Patrick Wolf - Lycanthropy
Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
Postal Service - Give Up
Ratatat - Classics
Rilo Kiley - Take Offs And Landings
Rogue Wave - Asleep At Heaven's Gate
Rufus Wainwright - Want Two
Shinichi Osawa - The One
Sigur Ros - Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust (Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa is totally off of an earlier album, but the video is amaaazing <3)
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Stars - Set Yourself On Fire
The Teenagers - Reality Check (Homecoming ...I love this song way too much. It features two massive lies: that vocalist Quentin has a British accent, and that he isn't a huge homo)
Tegan and Sara - So Jealous
Tokyo Police Club - A Lesson In Crime (If that's a bit hard-edged for you, go for their LP, Elephant Shell)
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
Youth Group - Skeleton Jar
(I don't mind though, because I love that song.) X3
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*start's youtube*
oh i'm listening to the perishers right now, you might like them too :)
aside from that great list ^_^ arcade fire is my favorite band, so seeing them up there was practically enough for me XD
And the Pillows are totally one of them! I'm a fan. Hybrid Rainbow is one of my favorite songs to sing in the show (...for some reason?)
Asian Kung-fu generation, flow, and home-made kazoku are great japanese bands too ^_^
though to be honest I don't know a lo of foreign bands (or non-english speaking ones at least), the only other band I can think of off the top of my head is Radiopilot, a German indie band.
And I've picked up a fair bit of non-English music by this point. There's a fair bit of weird orchestral art-rock coming out of Iceland (in the mold of Bjork and Sigur Ros), I have a good bit of Italian pop/rock through my sister's influence (check this track out by Tiromancino -- I don't think they have an official music video for it, but the song is a favorite), and various other stuff from here and there ^_^
I like your list!
but M83's Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts and The Magnetic Fields' Charm of the Highway Strip are things you must get.
Matt & Kim's Grand is good too, sorta like Los Campesinos! just in how gleeful and jumpy they are.
on the opposite side of the mood spectrum, Low's I Could Live In Hope is sad as fuck and awesome and indie-minimalist as fuck.
I'll have to check out Matt & Kim -- thanks for that! And I've never been that into Low, but I'll give that album a listen and see if they haven't grown on me ^_^ Thanks, dude.
Matt & Kim's videos are also kinda real cute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgBeu3FVi60 they look like such dorks. xP they're cool though.
If I Could Live In Hope is Low's best album. if you haven't given that one a listen, do. it is beautiful. i guess you gotta sorta be in the mood for it.
I'm pretty much a big nerd.
and i thought i saw a photo of you somewhere
and you are a scarf and/or snug-fitting clothing way from pure-total-hipster.
but look at this fucking hipster, you'll never be that bad, at least i hope not: http://www.latfh.com/
There's a few I have questions. These bands didn't have much on youtube, before I seek out and download complete albums site unseen, can you describe them in terms of an amalgamation of other bands?
Boat Club
Cousin Cole and Pocketknife
Didn't have yet, but downloading now...
Elbow
Supercar - ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO8fG3wIk2U wow, his voice sounds SO familiar...like another singer I'm more familiar with. It's weird, but music is great :D)
Kate Nash
Le Loup - holy shit, amazing! This video is so entrancing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl2xHn5Suq8
Lemon Jelly - omg! SO HAPPY! Bluegrass mixed up to a fun beat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8yx4k4tzqE
Marching Band
Matt Pond PA
Parenthetical Girls - I didn't immediately like it, but was so swept away by their sound and style I'm now going to download it all :P
Tokyo Police Club - this took some deliberation. It's good, but I couldn't tell if there was enough there for me to commit to. In the end I decided it sounded like something that'd grow on me
Youth Group
And Cousin Cole and Pocketknife is a fun DJ set that mixes the following tracks with, generally with some sparse added drums and some tempo adjustments:
Iron & Wine - Each Coming Night (haha, the original feels so slow after hearing this sped-up version)
Beirut - Scenic World
Jose Gonzalez - Storm
Roy Montgomery - Long Night
Joanna Newsom - The Book Of Right On
...and a whole lot more along those lines. Feist, Nick Drake, Seu Jorge, Paul Simon, Lavender Diamond, John Lennon...
Elbow is amazing. Supercar is amazing. Kate Nash is solid pop -- good hooks, fun lyrics, but not necessarily a new religion. Le Loup is good for me in small doses -- they flirt with pretension, Lemon Jelly is great, Marching Band is another solid pop album, Matt Pond is great, Parenthetical Girls are...weird. Haha, they opened for Los Campesinos! when I saw them, and the vocalist was every bit the stroppy queen you'd expect from his voice. I wanted to smack him, but their sound is too fun and bizarre not to recommend. They're like an (even) gayer Decemberists. Tokyo Police Club is amazing -- the EP took me a few listens, but it's amazing. The album, Elephant Shell, is easier to get into on the first listen. And Youth Group is amazing. And gay <3 haha. "Be like the brother / I never had / Be like the real son to my dad" <3
A lot of internet radio isn't like that, though, and there are some great stations. I've just kind of gotten out of the habit. Honestly, I get all my music recommendations the old fashioned way -- word of mouth. I'll catch wind of something over the web and pass it on to friends, and other friends will do the same back. I heard of Tokyo Police Club shortly after their EP came out from a DJ friend <3 Least, I think it was him... Hehe, I lose track ^_^ but it was definitely recommended to me by somebody.
nah jk, besides, i still like the cardigans
Haha, I specifically thought on a couple of those "Oh, man AD is going to hate this shit," but like I say, I'm not gonna lie to folks. I never said I was cool <3
I could see you getting into Iron & Wine, though -- I know I like playing their stuff on my guitar anyway. And if you're looking to practice the Italian a bit, Tiromancino's album "In Continuo Movimento" has some pretty tracks mixed in among the cheeeze <3
And there ain't nothin' wrong with the Cardigans.
i keep hearing about iron & wine, guess i should look them up!!
And I think between the pretty guitar, mellow vocals, and very Southern feel of Iron & Wine, you might like it. I'd recommend "Sodom, South Georgia" to start.
Steven Delopolous - The Ruin of the Beast
You'll have to let me know if anything really floats your boat.
Stephen Delopolous: Okay I'm hooked, even though the lyrics make me feel like I'm listening to something out of the Necronomicon and the Old Ones are coming for me! <.<;
Basement Jaxx: Really surprised me! I've only heard Good Luck off the Appleseed soundtrack before (which I love the anthemic motown vibe of) so the diverse textures of the rest of Kish Kash really caught me off guard. I'm intrigued, but undecided on how much I actually like it. I do however, declare that Lindt's Cherry and Chili dark chocolate to be the official candy accompaniment for the track "Tonight".
Sigur Ros: Been a fan of theirs for a while and Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust is definitely good ... kind of a toss-up for me whether I like it better than Takk or not. I'd never heard Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa before though, nor seen the video, but holy crap instant !
If you like Daft Punk and J-pop, you might want to check out Capsule too, particularly their albums Fruits Clipper and Sugarless Girl. The title track from the latter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQCxzP0rH9U
They've definitely transitioned from a lighter J-pop sound to a dancier electronica one in their newer albums. I don't have their latest album More! More! More! but it continues the trend of more complex sampling compositions and less vocals.
They also provide the backbone track to the most awesome mash-up ever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9MCbsdCLhI
Also, since you seem to like folk influenced music, a friend made me listen to Nelly Furtado's Folklore album this weekend and I found that I actually liked it *shudder*. It's weird because I've always regarded her work with snotty contempt reserved for the most manufactured and skanky female pop artists. ("Paging Paris Hilton, your lack of talent is here to smack you upside the head.") Apparently this was her one album that didn't do well, which is a shame because she's back to risque pop-schlock. Oh well ... give it a listen, you might like it too.
And Basement Jaxx are good fun because A) they're incredibly goofy and don't care, and B) they're incredibly varied in their sound. They're a big production squad, and they get a bunch of guest vocalists to do tracks with them. I really like "Hot and Cold" off of Kish Kash (that hydraulic drill sample is so crunchy <3). Other tracks from other albums I'd recommend are "Red Alert" off of their Remedy album, "Hush Boy" off of their latest, Crazy Itch Radio (I love the background vocals by what sounds like the cast of the Muppets, haha <3), and now they have a single called "Raindrops" released off of their upcoming album, Scars, which is due to hit September 21.
Totally instant on the Vidrar video. I mean, come on.
And yeah, I like Capsule! Especially circa Sugarless Girl. Nakata's more recent stuff has been a little hard-edged for me, and I kind of want to see him vary things a bit more, but it's definitely been fun hearing all of his various projects (Perfume, Capsule, etc. etc.). He's kind of gotten huge over there ^_^ Out of curiosity, have you heard the Vib Ribbon soundtrack? If you like Nakata's work as Capsule, you'll probably enjoy that -- check it out!
And yeaaaah, I've never been a Nelly Furtado fan either. I grabbed "Loose" (which seems an appropriate title 9_9) because it had some Timbaland-produced tracks, and honestly, I think that to the extent anything in that album is good, it's good despite the efforts of Nelly herself to make it suck. She's not a particularly good singer, her rapping is shudder-worthy ("My heart is so frigid / I keep it in the fridge-it" -- nice work, Nel.), she sings songs in Spanish about staying authentic to her roots, and I'm like BITCH YOU ARE CANADIAN AND BORN OF PORTUGUESE PARENTS.
...Yeah. But yes, I'll check out her Folklore album ^_^ I'm always happy to make exceptions <3
Huh, I didn't know Nakata had his fingers in so many pies, so to speak ... and Sugarless Girl remains my favorite album so far too. Might have to check out some of the other stuff he produces, though Perfume sounds pretty manufactured so far. Oh, and I remember bits of the soundtrack from the video game ... the later tracks were definitely happy japanese-y electronica (and also eeeeevil in the game.) I guess I like Shinichi Osawa too for the same reasons, though other than Star Guitar (which is a remix) and Our Song, the rest of The One is a good listen, but not particularly memorable.
On the subject of folks who do arrangements for others: Owen Pallet = How can you not like a guy who has an album called He Poos Clouds? The CN Tower is for the Dead hooked me right away too. I think I just have a hard-on for pop music with violins in them (Oh, Eleanor Rigby, you have ruined me forever.)
Weirdly enough, Arcade Fire, who he apparently orchestrates instrumentals for, doesn't do much for me. Oh, and I actually heard his version of Peach Plum Pear (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkWAC8D1SFI) before Joanna Newsome's original ... I have to say, I like his version much better. Joanna's a great song writier and harp player, but damn her voice grates on me. I suppose it's like Uma Thurman's nose: you either love it or hate it.
And yes, as far as I can tell, Nakata is a huge slut right about now, haha ^_^ Capsule remains my favorite incarnation, though -- like you say Perfume kind of grosses me out. It's basically an idol pop band with good production, but that doesn't change the fundamental fact that it's idol pop to me, which just isn't a genre I can get into.
The stand-out track for me off of The One is "State of Permission". I'll totally grant you that there are a fair number of throw-away tracks off that album, though. I prefer his work as Mondo Grosso, I think -- have you heard his album "New Wave" under that moniker? Tracks 光 (hikari) and Shinin' are the super stand-outs to me. If you played the video game Lumines, you'll know Shinin' as the opening track, and it's pretty much the best thing he's ever done as far as I'm concerned. I was fortunate enough to catch him spinning a set live at one point, and he's a lot of fun as a DJ, too, for what that's worth <3
T
I think it was "This Is the Dream of Win and Regine" that snagged me on Owen. Well, actually, it was his cover of "Peach, Plum, Pear" I heard first. But yes, pop music with strings = Have you heard Matt Pond PA at all? They were originally a five-piece pop unit with a violinist and a cellist, which added a lot of juicy depth to their stuff. They reformed as a vocal/guitar/keyboard three-piece after Matt moved from Pennsylvania to New York, and that changed a good bit of their sound, but their albums "Emblems" and "Several Arrows Later" have a good bit of string to them. It's waaay more pop/less weird than Owen Pallet, but it's still pretty fun.
Arcade Fire and Joanna Newsom both took me a whiiile before I could get into them. I remember when the world had Funeral fever, and I was like, "WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE THIS BAND?" I think it was a solid six months later when I went back and gave them another couple of listens and was like, "Okay, no, I can see it now." And I don't think anyone can listen to Joanna for the first time and not be like, "VOICE. OH GOD, VOICE." You might try starting with her Ys album, as she's a bit more mellow in that, and the songs are just sooo baroque and so epic. It's kind of an amazing album. I really hate to use the term "acquired taste," because it always sounds smug and condescending -- it's totally possible and understandable and cool if you just don't like those bands. I can at least say, though, that I did not like them when I first heard them, but that I do like them a good deal now. Your mileage may vary ^_^
Didn't actually know Shinichi Osawa was the guy behind Mondo Grosso, but woo! Hikari and Shinin' are pretty awesome \^_^/ State of Permission is a bit chill for me though. I imagine he'd be pretty interesting to see live ...
Just started to listen to Matt Pond PA (the Several Arrows Later album) and I like what I hear so far, though nothing's hooked me so far. Can't say the same for Patrick Wolf or Wolf Parade though (yeah, I had to check out the guys with the furry names >_> ) Patrick Wolf is just too freaky! O_O He looks and sounds like he runs the cult of David Bowie. FEAR HIS CODPIECE! D:
Tried the Ys album, still don't like Joanna. Sorry baby, you're an acquired taste just like Camembert: delectable to some, stinky sweat socks to others. To be fair though, it's not just her voice, her style of songwriting is just a bit too demanding, sort of like my love/hate of Bjork. She does some really interesting stuff and there are the couple of pieces that never get old (It's, Oh, So Quiet) but there's always enough dissonance to make it hard to listen to repeatedly.
Or maybe I'm just too used to tuned female pop vocals these days ... I've been listening to a playlist from a friend entitled "Soulful Women with Hairy Armpits" ... yeeeeah. >_> Still, there's good stuff in there:
Imogen Heap, Hide and Seek (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cpSv2mNhhc)
- Wow. Best use of Vocoder/AutoTune ever!
Anna Nalick, Wreck of the Day album
- Paper Bag (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoWzKdlqHA4)
- In the Rough (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQxFr-GzFXM)
- Shine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgiZz-aqheU)
- Breathe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPz3YaIJkjQ)
Folk-pop with some clever imagery in her lyrics.
The corollary to that is that if your sweaty socks smell and taste like Camembert, we're getting married. Well, just as soon as you've seen a doctor because that can't be healthy... ^_^
I certainly agree that Albarn has range and likes to experiment, which is great by me. Feel Good Inc. is tough not to love. There were actually a decent number of tracks off of Demon Days I found interesting, and a couple I quite liked, even.
Considering I usually listen to acts like Iron & Wine, State of Permission doesn't strike me as all that laid back -- at the point that it's electric, it still has a ways to go, yet ^_^ But if you're looking for something like Shinin', it's definitely true that State of Permission isn't it.
Matt Pond is fairly easy to like, I think -- mellow vocals, a solid pop sound made a bit rounder and fuller thanks to a string section, competent songwriting with interesting-enough lyrics, none of which are particularly out there. Patrick Wolf and Wolf Parade are both substantially edgier, so I can understand it falling outside of your interests. They're definitely playing to a narrower audience. Patrick's voice, at least, is reasonably pretty (and depending on which album you listen to, he can be pretty staid. You might try "Wind in the Wires" for a less bombastically gay/furry/zany listening experience). Wolf Parade's Spencer Krug is part of the wave of indie singers with bizarre, un-pretty voices. He's there with the likes of Joanna Newsom, Jeff Mangum, Conor Oberst, Modest Mouse... The list goes on ^_^ I guess it's very democratic that you don't need a honeyed voice to make it big as a singer anymore, but I can certainly understand when people listen to acts in that vein and go, "...Huh?"
I've been familiar with Imogen Heap's work from back when she was half of Frou Frou, and you're right that Hide and Seek is charming. Probably my favorite thing she's done, and it manages to make all the electronic twiddling going on come off as "effects" instead of "fixing the fact that I can't actually sing." I've already linked once to Neko Case's hilarious screed about the auto-tuning trend before, so I won't do it again here.
...Wait >_<
I'm not familiar with Anna Nalick, though -- I'll have to look into that! I'm always happy to hear more folk / pop / folky pop / etc. <3
Speaking of Iron & Wine and Frou Frou ... I take it you liked the Garden State soundtrack ;) It's pretty much where I heard of those two for the first time. I don't have anything againt mellow music (heck, I listen to Vertical Horizon) but State of Permission was just felt like it needed the energy level a notch up ... it's an expectation issue, I guess.
On the topic of indie artists with weird voices ... I guess I'm rather misogynistic in that I tend to notice it less in guys than girls. Modest Mouse sounds pretty reasonable to me, but that's probably the nature of the music (the more your rock out, the less you need to be able to actually sing >_> ) I think that's even true of mainstream bands like the Killers (Have you heard Sam's Town?) John Mayer gets by without being a great vocalist too.
I think Joanna Newsom and Wolf Parade are in a different category though, where the weird love-it-or-hate-it vocals are part of the signature. Come to think of it, Passion Pit is the same way too. (Oh Michael Angelakos, what would we do without your freaky falsettos?) So yeah, beyond the democratization effect, I think it's also niche/diversity creation, where uniqueness is a selling quality of itself.
Oh, and Wind in the Wires may not *sound* gay, but have you seen the video? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7ukDMnTfkE) *cough*twinkieboyfagalicious!*cough* ;D
And I'm always kind of taken by surprise when mainstream media outlets like Hollywood in Garden State or TV folks with OC use music I like for their soundtracks. In a lot of ways it's great, because it exposes a lot of new listeners to them and makes the bands some money, which I certainly don't begrudge them. In other cases, it can mark the beginning of the end for a band, where they're given a taste of commercial success and the siren's song of making Top 40 pop music gets to be too great and suddenly their music totally sucks now (not that I'm bitter...).
And really, any claims I may have made to the effect of weirdly-voiced people only coming into popularity recently are demonstrably false -- there are plenty of people with odd or unpleasant voices who were quite successful in music through the decades. Listen to singers like Neil Young or Tiny Tim or any number of other folks... At the end of the day, I don't know that Axl Rose's voice is any less bizarre or grating than Spencer Krug's (and in fact, I find it much less interesting) ^_^
so good.
Alive is great too.
i was fortunate enough to see them in 07 at coachella. same set list :]
And yeah! I caught the show over in Berkeley and it was amaaaazing ^_^ They're so rad.
And if you have anything you'd recommend, hit me up!
Talkdemoinc - beat romantic
tune yards - bird brain
max tundra - parralax error beheads you
maps and atlases - you and me and the mountain
coathangers - scramble
animal collective - merriweather post pravilion
micachu and the shapes - jewellery
grizzly bear - Veckatimest
shugo tokumaru - Exit
Of montreal - satanic panic in the attic
clare and the reasons - the movie
deparment of eagles - In ear park
broadcast - tender buttons
camera obscura - my maudlin career
Dr. dog - easy beat
ferraby lionheart - catch the brass ring
etc etc
In general, though, at least with the Gorillaz, it's not the band's pedigree that trips me up. Dan the Automator, Danger Mouse, and Miho Hattori (to name three identifiable members) have all done other work that I'm totally up on. That's kind of led me to figure that I'm just not an Albarn fan, but like I say, I'll give The Good The Bad, etc. a go! Maybe it'll hit me just right ^_^
I've bumped into at least four or five other furs who are fans, so keep the hope alive -- they're out there! And I'm hopeful that at least a couple of people who check this journal out will wind up listening to them as well. You should help spread the word!
I could instantly go poor with lists like these.
-
Keep it up, new stuff (new to me) always eye opening.
I'll keep posting about stuff that's caught my eye (ear?). Glad to hear it's interesting/useful!