What should I be listening to?

[jducoeur]

I've hit an interesting wall: I'm running low on interesting music that I know I want to listen to. For quite a while, I was coasting on Columbia House, buying all the stuff I've heard over the years and said, "Gee, I really ought to get that someday". But I've largely mined them out (not to mention getting annoyed at the stupid cards), so I quit that. I'm graudually broadening my horizons a bit: Rhapsody (a combination MP3 radio/download) service is helping with that, but their selection is moderately limited, and it's haphazard. So it occurs to me to ask my various musically-literate friends: what's out there that I should be listening to? In particular, what's current and interesting?

My tastes run toward the strident. I like strong beats or complex harmonies, preferably both. Genre doesn't matter much -- I have favorites that range from kicky folk to rock to metal to rave to dance. I tend to be less interested in mellower music: while I can appreciate a ballad or an ambient disc, they're not what I gravitate to.

Some specific examples of performers and groups I particularly like, culled from my inventory (demonstrating that my tastes have tended to be simultaneously pedestrian and eclectic):

ABBA
AC/DC
Aerosmith
Art of Noise
B-52s
Bangles
Barenaked Ladies
Beatles
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
The Bobs
Boiled in Lead
Bond
Broadside Electric
C & C Music Factory
Cherry Poppin' Daddies
Cirque du Soleil
Alice Cooper
Depeche Mode
Duran Duran
Eurythmics
Robin Hitchcock
Billy Idol
Jefferson Airplane
Jethro Tull
Billy Joel
Jez Lowe
Ricky Martin
Meatloaf
Midnight Oil
Aldo Nova
Off Kilter
Queen
Roxette
Rush
Rusted Root
Brian Setzer Orchestra
Smithereens
Steeleye Span
Styx
They Might Be Giants
VAST
Weird Al
Yes

So -- opinions? I'm not particularly looking for classics here: while I'm sure that there's good stuff from the 70's and 80's that I don't own yet, my collection is pretty comprehensive. I'm more interested in groups (and specific albums) that are more recent and worth checking out, especially the more obscure groups that don't get big radio airplay...

Comments

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

Moxy Fruvous... they're a canandian folky/rock band that have such hits as "King of Spain" and "Kick in the Ass" I hihgly reccomend them for just about anybody.

For a more irreverent Canadian folky type band, go for The Arrogant Worms. They have one of my favortie songs af All Time, "Jesus' Brother Bob" and another good one, "Me Like Hockey" ("Me no like pro-basketball/ cuz me is short and they is tall")

[shipbrook.livejournal.com]

Heh... I like your taste in music! :-)

"Me like Sergei Federov;
Me like him more if head were off... ha ha ha!"

[jducoeur]

See my reply to shipbrook -- sounds like I need to check out Moxy Fruvous...

[shipbrook.livejournal.com]

Judging from that list, I think you'd probably like Moxy Früvous, The Arrogant Worms and Da Vinci's Notebook.

[jducoeur]

I relatively recently found Arrogant Worms and DVN. And since two people who recommend Arrogant Worms (which I do like quite a bit) also recommend Moxy Fruvous, I clearly have to check that out. Thanks...

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Someone already Früved in, so I'll throw a few more oddballs in the mix:

Arrogant Worms (wacky Canadian humor)
Bacon Brothers (Kevin and his bro; actually rather decent folkish rock)
Great Big Sea (Newfie ballad rock/folk music)

Personally, I'm rediscovering a lot of proto-hip-hop and early rap and the like from the 80s and early 90s that I wasn't exposed to but now makes decent coding music -- dunno if you're interested in dabbling in things outside your "usual" taste, but folks like Tribe Called Quest or Diggable Planets certainly fulfill the "strong beats" side of things.

BTW, I think you just invented the iTunes killer app -- post your playlist, and the app recommends songs from other people's playlists based on preference clusters. Note that someone evidently did a clustering app of music artists -- including a cool visualization -- but I forget the URL.

[jducoeur]

Yet *another* crossover recommendation of Arrogant worms and Moxy Fruvous. Clearly a trend.

I've been to a GBS concert -- not quite top-rank for me, but good stuff. I'll have to look into Bacon Brothers and the rest; thanks. (My attitude toward hip-hop is cautious but not totally hostile -- I find that I like about 10% of it.)

The killer app in question was actually written a fair number of years ago; it was called Firefly, IIRC (which I may not). Generic recommendation-clustering system, with music as the first application, I believe. Failed due to an absolute lack of business plan, as far as I could tell (at least, I haven't seen a whisper of it in years). Pity...

[umbran.livejournal.com]

DaVinci's Notebook. Wylde Nept. Blue Man Group. Tempest. Caliban. The Capitol Steps. Throat Culture.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Duh, I should note that My Lady and I can provide samples of all the things I listed above for your perusal.

[dkapell.livejournal.com]

I've been listening to Iris recently, they are electronica, but with interesting melodies, and varying degrees of hardness. i can hook you up with their two albums if you want

[jducoeur]

Definite possibility; thanks. While I find some electronica a bit bloodless, there are plenty of instances I like a *lot*, so I'm definitely open to that...

[keshwyn]

You have good taste in music. :)

Great Big Sea
Savatage (if you don't already have it)
October Project
Covenant - Northern Light
Vertical Horizon
Dido
Sting
Seal

[jducoeur]

Thanks -- you, too.

GBS I know, and Farmboy introduced me (indirectly) to Covenant recently. Sting tends to be a bit on the mellow side for me. Sounds like I should check out the rest, though...

BBC 6 Music

[snarkyman.livejournal.com]

I've mentioned this in my own blog. Both cosmicgarden and I have been listening to BBC 6 Music. After my first week, something odd happened: I wanted to buy music for the first time in 10 years. I particularly like "4 'til 7" (formerly teatime) with Andrew Collins (11 AM EST) and "Evening Sequence" (2 PM EST) with Tom Robinson. All shows post their playlist live on the website.

Interesting Fact: 6 Music is a completely digital station - the BBC doesn't broadcast this service on FM. You have to listen online, through a digital TV box (cable or satellite) or using a "DAB" - a Digital Audio Broadcast receiver. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I couldn't listen to 6 Music when I got London.

6 Music Website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music

6 Music Real Audio Feed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/ram/dsatg2.ram

Re: BBC 6 Music

[jducoeur]

Intriguing. I'll have to check that out. (Although I first need to get Mozilla and Real talking to each other, which they don't seem to be doing right now.) Thanks...

[siderea]

Sinead Lowen ("No Mermaid")
Kristi Stassinopoulou ("Echotropia") -- I think you'll really like this
Medieval Baebes (all of their disks, but especially "Salva Nos" and "Worldes Blysse", though you may prefer "The Rose")
Ray Lynch ("Deep Breakfast") -- Planetarium music as good as it gets
"The Rough Guide to Italy" -- Italian folk and folk rock; it's a sampler, and I'm seriously thinking about tracking down some of the artists on it.

The best coding music ever is the soundtrack to Sneakers.

You might check out the York Waits for rocking 16th c. material, and the New York Ensemble for Early Music's "Istanpitta! vol 1" (not to be confused with the ensemble named Istanpitta, or any of the other discs titled "Istanpitta").

Other fun things which are very hard to find include "Paul The Hurdy-Gurdy Guy's CD" which is "La Notte" by Paul Ash.

[jducoeur]

I was handed a rip of La Notte at an event a while back. (I don't feel too guilty about the rip, since it appears to be near-impossible to get a "real" copy at this point.) Heapum fun -- my only disappointment is that none of it quite matches any extant choreographies, so I can't use it for dance practice.

msmemory has some Medieval Baebes; I'll check them out, along with the rest. Thanks...

[greatsword.livejournal.com]

The first band I think of is The Waifs, _Lighthouse_ (especially the title cut and "Flesh and Blood"). Just beginning to be imported.

Loreena McKinnet? I'd assume you've heard her and either discarded it or didn't list it.

Jude Cole: Start The Car (perhaps just the title cut)

Do you like Celic? Heather Alexander's pretty good, and probably meets the definition of obscure.

[jducoeur]

McKennet is good, but not quite my taste. I was introduced to Heather Alexander by ladysprite a while back, and am very fond of her stuff -- actually, msmemory just picked up a couple more of her albums at Balticon last weekend. (My only problem with her is that March on Cambreth earworms me for a *week* every time I listen to it. Dangerously catchy.)

I'll check out the other two; thanks...

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

Violent Femmes, an 80's ish group that you did not list but would like I think.

No Doubt, Gwen Steffani, the lead singer, is very talented.

Galic Storm, up beat celtic music, They do a concert in NH every summer, Not as loud as Boiled in Lead but who is?

Solas, One of the best celtic groups around

Slante, another good celtic group, local to the Seattle area I think, I found them on the old MP3.com

Schooner Fare, not new, they have been around 20-25 years. A Maine folk music group. New Englandish traditional music, I was introduced to them about the same time as Steeleye Span.

Evanescence, They get a lot of airplay so aren't hard to find. Gothic ish music but the lead singer can really belt it out.

Dar Williams, Folk/humorist/storyteller

The Breaders, OK, not new, late 80's or early 90's but if you blinked you missed them. I really like their Last Splash album.

Bjork, High enough profile you probably already know if you like her stuff or not

[jducoeur]

I'm fond of the little No Doubt I've heard. Actually got introduced to them through Frequency, and really need to pick up a couple of albums.

Schooner Fare I know quite well -- I've actually been front row at at least one of their concerts. Fun stuff, although not quite as core for me as Steeleye. (I grew up a folkie, so I know the older folk scene pretty well.)

I discovered Evanescence via one of the music-video stations recently, and like them. Bjork I tried a couple of albums of, but just couldn't quite get into it.

I'll check out the rest -- especially the celtica, which is a form I often like a lot. Thanks...

Huh?

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Where are the Squirrel Nut Zippers? Must have that.

Re: Huh?

[jducoeur]

It's good stuff, but not quite A-list for me. Don't know precisely why -- they just didn't grab me quite as hard as some people. So I've got an album or two, but they don't quite make my "taste definition" list...

Good, obscure music?!?

[eclectic-1.livejournal.com]

You're in luck.

I seem to have found a lot of good obscure music lately.

http://www.blakechen.com/index1.html
(This is excellent, and can only be described as goth folk, and free music samples!) If you don't try any other suggestion, try this one.

If you like Enya or Loreena McKennit, try Kate Price, Dead Can Dance, Maire Brennan or Blackmore's Night. Lacuna Coil is somewhat Evanescence-ish. Another two of my favorite new artists: Laura Powers (celtic-goddess stuff) and Air (techno-ambient?).

How do you like Tori Amos? My favorite album of hers is "Little Earthquakes".

A few other choices: Echo and the Bunnymen, Flogging Molly, Hadrian's Wall, Wicked Tinkers, Julee Cruise (remember Twin Peaks?), Young Dubliners, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Tim Janis (for a classical mood), Coldplay, Gentle Giant, Incredible String Band.

Harder stuff: Live, Nine Inch Nails, Rob Zombie, Garbage

I've also had a lot of fun going to the "free download" section of amazon.com and checking out new artists, which are sorted by style and recommendations.

Let me know if you'd like any samples.

Re: Good, obscure music?!?

[jducoeur]

Enya's not quite my speed; OTOH, I do like at least some of the Blackmore's Night tracks. (msmemory recently picked up a couple of their albums.) I'm fond of Evanescence, so I'll keep Lacuna Coil in mind, along with the rest -- good list of folks I've heard of but haven't checked out. Thanks...

[ladyariadne.livejournal.com]

Try: (HopefullyI havent spelled any names wrong)

Dreamtheater
Ozric Tenticles (hard synth stuff)
Triumph
Joe Satriani
Eric Johnston

Ill keep thinking.

[jducoeur]

Neat -- Satriani is the only one I know from that list (and I have several of his albums). I'll have to check out the rest; thanks much...

[mikekn]

Let me second (or third or whatever we're up to) these folks:
The Arrogant Worms, Medieval Baebes, Heather Alexander, Violent Femmes, Dar Williams, Tori Amos

Ones I've not seen listed but which are currently under heavy rotation in my CD player:
Rasputina
Oingo Boingo
Groovie Ghoulies
Miranda Sex Garden
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Tom Smith (filk - mostly humor)
Tracy Bonham
The Four Postmen
Hannah Fury

The ones with links have MP3s you can sample. The rest are more mainstream.

[jducoeur]

I'm already a fan of Oingo Boingo, and a big fan of Tom Smith (another one that ladysprite got me into -- only reason I didn't think to put him on the list was that he hasn't gotten inventoried yet). I'll have to look up the rest; thanks much, especially for the MP3 pointers...

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

In addition to several of the previous suggestions, I'll offer the following groups/artists for consideration:

Beausoleil (Pretty peppy Cajun)
Eddie From Ohio (Folkin' Groovin, according to one of their t-shirts. Amusing lyrics, well rendered.)
Inkubus Sukkubus (Goth, with fairly pagan lyrics, generally)
Kate Bush (Her stuff from the early 80s, particularly)
Peter Murphy
Pogues (With or without Shane McGowan, the the lyrics are more understandable without.)
Rawlins Cross (Haligonians that range from traditional Celtic to more modern sounding rock)
Susan Tedeschi (Blues)

I can set you up with samples of any of these.

[jducoeur]

Cool -- the only one from that list that I have any of is Kate Bush (some of whose stuff is to my taste, some not). I'll look into the rest (especially Rawlins Cross, which sounds intriguing). Thanks...

[cellio]

I second the recommendation for Solas.

If you haven't already done so, check out Clam Chowder. In addition to being fun performers, they're good aggregators -- that's how I learned about Eric Bogle, Arrogant Worms, and others.

Homespun Ceilidh Band has one CD so far (they're working on a second) and it's fun stuff, mostly very lively traditional melodies done very well. (The one slower piece on the CD has thoroughly earwormed me.) dglenn is in the band and can probably tell you how to get it.

[jducoeur]

Oh, I'm a Clam Chowder fan from *way* back. (I have all their tapes, and I think all the CDs that have come out. Only reason I don't have the vinyl album is that I gave it to my father something like 15 years ago.) msmemory and I used to do Darkover every year, although we stopped going at least a dozen years ago now. Only reason it didn't occur to me to put them on the original list is that I mostly have them on tape instead of CD, so they're not in the same inventory.

I'll put Homespun Ceilidh Band on the list; thanks...

[asdr83.livejournal.com]

The Nields, Eddie from Ohio,Bleu, Sean Altman and I noticed you didn't have much country. You might want to ask shprintzah for suggestions in that genre. She has a very good list that unfortunatly I don't remember much from as she pins me down and plays music at me every couple of months but does not always tell me the artists.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

I don't listen to as much as you, but we do have a significant taste-overlap. The two groups that I have most recently discovered and liked are The Magnetic Fields and Qntal.

[jducoeur]

dkapell introduced me to Qntal, and I'm intrigued enough to be keeping an eye out for more. I'll have to check out The Magnetic Fields; thanks...

Idea

[admiralmemo.livejournal.com]

I found this post through a friend of a friend. My idea is to join AudioScrobbler (http://www.audioscrobbler.com) and download a plugin for your favorite music player. Once you've played your music for a while, check the "Recommendations" page for artists that are similar to the ones you play frequently.

Re: Idea

[jducoeur]

Very interesting -- I hadn't realized anyone was running an open-source project of this sort. I'll need to look into it more (in particular, I need to understand their privacy policy), but the principle looks good. Thanks!