Dying for inspiration . . . recommend new music?

Cafe Society
1

I need to break this cycle I’ve allowed myself to get into . . . I have roughly 10 albums I rotate in and out, which leaves me in a constant state of “being sick of my music.” It’s time for a massive update in my record collection.

Overall, I have an affinity for rock-based music, or rock/hip-hop hybrids. I’d be interested in learning about new rock bands of most any rock genre. I’ve dabbled in jazz, which I need spoon fed to me since I don’t know it, as well as good electronic music . . . I would also love some recommendations on those fronts. Music I traditionally don’t care for is emo, R & B, hip-hop, and country. Also, any good funk recommendations would be great, but Parliament doesn’t do it for me.

For reference:

Relatively New Music I Love:

The Dandy Warhols
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Audioslave
The Shins

Bands I Like but Don’t Yet Know/Own (need to buy the albums):

The White Stripes
Scissor Sisters
Murder City Devils
Sleep Station
Oasis

Bands I Can’t Get In To:

Bright Eyes
Wilco
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Dave Mathews
Jack Johnson
John Mayer
Pearl Jam
Led Zepplin
The Eagles
Bjork

Bands I Tried But Bored Me:

Imogen Heap
Goldfrap
Massive Attack
Portishead

Music I Loved in High School/College:

Alice N Chains
Rage Against the Machine
311
Beastie Boys
Metallica
Veruca Salt
Garbage
Extreme
White Zombie
Stone Temple Pilots
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Phunk Junkeez
2 Skinnee Js
Dial 7
Bob Marley
ACDC
Guns N Roses
Rolling Stones
Beatles
Queen
The Urge
Spin Doctors
Limp Bizkit
House of Pain
Dr. Dre
Beach Boys
Def Leppard
Lenny Kravitz
Thank you for your recommendations!!

2

Have you tried www.pandora.com ? I’ve found several new artists that I like with it.

3

Bands You Should At Least Sample At The iTunes Store: :slight_smile:
Tiger Army
The Hives
The Living End
Straylight Run
The Black Keys

4

Thanks for the recommendations! I certainly will check out the website as will as all of those bands (iTunes store . . . can you beat it?). There really is nothing more satisfying than being introduced to your new favorite band, and I hope to encounter a few in the near future.

5

I was kinda surprised not to see Sublime among your highschool favorites. Please, if you have not heard anything by this band, run, don’t walk, to buy their self-titled album and 40 Oz. to Freedom. They’re a little bit punk, a little bit reggae, a little bit hip-hop… honestly, they were sort of their own genre. I doubt it would be considered musically “good”, but I’ve never found a person my age and general temperament that doesn’t like 'em.

You say you like rock, and currently my favorite rock band (of the 2000s) is Muse. I’ve recently heard them described as “melodramatic” rock; they’re like the musical equivalent of fireworks. They dabble in electronic and very often layer it into their songs. My only complaint about them is the lead singer’s voice is a bit of an acquired taste. Try their most recent album (Black Holes and Revelations) if you want to give them a try, because though it’s different from their older stuff, that seems to be the direction they’re going.

My second favorite rock band of the 00’s is Spoon. They’re more traditional, sort of stripped-down but not oversimplified. The lead singer’s voice sounds young but with a passionate, rough edge. The best way I can describe them is the future of classic rock-- this is the stuff I will be playing for my kids and never getting tired of. I highly recommend you start with A Series of Sneaks or Kill the Moonlight, or both, since they’re totally different experiences.

Also, and based on nothing in particular, you should try The Black Angels. If you like (but just happened to omit) the Doors and/or Velvet Underground and can get through Passover twice without becoming a bona fide fan, I’ll eat my freaking shoe.

OK, enough for now… if you like any of these and want me to keep going, let me know.

6

Looking at your list, I’d suggest:

Buffalo Tom

Kings of Leon

7

TV on the Radio
Spoon, as someone previously recommended

8

Thanks nevermore . . . I will look into all of the above. Sublime was among my high school favorites (forgot to list), although I only owned their self titled album. I loved it at the time, but was just too over-exposed (like Nirvana, they’re still played on the radio in LA, especially KROQ, as if it was brand new). But I never got their first album, which is a great idea because I haven’t been over-exposed to those songs, and loved their second effort.

I’ve toyed with Muse . . . the first time I heard it, I thought that Radiohead sure had taken a new direction! But I was quickly able to discern the difference and was ultimately turned off by their singer’s voice as you suggested, which is ironic because at first listen I really liked it. But I’m going to get their latest anyway. I’ve had it in my que on Amazon a few times, but always would replace it with a more pressing need. I can think of several singers with worse voices (311) that I grew to love.

Spoon and Black Angels are new to me, but I’m excited to try (left the Doors off my list as well due to overexposure). These are exactly the types of recommendations I was seeking, so thank you, and based on what you’ve described, I do not predict any shoe-eating in the near future!

9

Try the Raveonettes. They’re a Danish duo, a guy and a girl, and they’re one of my favorite new bands from the last few years. They play kind of fuzzy garage rock inspired by 1950s rock ‘n’ roll. For what it’s worth, I also like the White Stripes (similar in stripped-down instrumentation and low-fi sound) and the Shins (not similar at all, except that they’re both awesome).

I’m also a brand-new convert to Muse, but I love them. I’ve only heard their Absolution album, though. At first I thought the singer sounded a lot like Thom Yorke from Radiohead, but I really never liked Radiohead.

10

I’d add The Arctic Monkeys, We Are Scientists, and The Young Knives.

11

The White Stripes - get “Elephant” - I like that one a lot.

Oasis - just get Blur’s album “Park Life”

I also noticed you didn’t mention Radiohead (in your original post). I personally like the album OK Computer, but Pablo Honey is also really good.

12

You might like Teenage Fanclub. I have their albums Grand Prix and Bandwagonesue, and both are good. If you buy albums on iTunes you’d want to go with Grand Prix since they only have about half of Bandwagonesque.
A good song for a general idea might be “Metal Baby”, because I think it’s the one they’re most well-known for.

13

Last night I purchased Muse’s “Black Holes and Revelations” as well as The White Stripes’ “Elephant” on the iTunes store. I’ve only had time to get through most of Elephant . . . I had to start with White Stripes since I know it’s an important album that I should know already. I guess I was turned off by all the hype and couldn’t understand a 2-piece band when they first came out. The hits are familiar, and the rest is good. Jack White’s lyrics are awesome, so as I get more acquainted with the album I know I’ll really dig it. I like it already, but I need to put in some time to see if I’ll love it. The low-fi stripped down sound is refreshing, but I miss hearing a bass guitar in the mix. That’s my biggest complaint with 2-piece bands. I’m excited to give Muse a whirl, as well as picking up much of your other recommendations.

I did get in to Radiohead with Pablo Honey, which is a great album. I absolutely loved OK Computer . . . as far as I’m concerned, that’s when they peaked. I find their latest efforts to be annoying noise with moments that blow your mind . . . but you have to sit through too much annoying noise to get there. I own Kid A, and Hail to the Thief, and I just can’t get into it. The latter Radiohead albums produce the following dialogue in my head when I listen to them: “hmmmmmm . . . okay . . . nice . . . YES!! . . . wait . . . what? . . . I’m bored.”

14

This is certainly the Muse album to get people into Muse. I was kind of fond of them before - had Absolution and loved about 40% of it, tolerated the rest. But I love every damn song on Black Holes and Revelations; it’s my gym-album, my car-album, my I-don’t-know-what-I-feel-like-listening-to-today-album. It’s just fantastic.

15

http://cgi.ebay.com/SILLY-RABBIT-DUST-CD_W0QQitemZ4891296446QQcmdZViewItem

its the only thing they ever put out but its damn good. they are Hard rock, Funk, Hip hop, Reggae, all sort of blended together. its a hard find but a damn good Cd.

you like Audioslave and Alice in Chains but I dont see any Soundgarden, they early stuff is harder ala Alice (not like Alice but hard stuff) and the newer stuff is closer to Audioslave.

if you like Nirvana at all check out Bleach. their first album recorded when they were a 4 piece for 600 bucks. its not only worth owning but it never gets any airplay because it was before “Nevermind”

The Reverend Horton Heat? pyscobilly extreme. for some reason I think you might like them.

16

I’ve taken the bands you’ve listed and grouped them by sound/genre (ignoring bands I’m unfamiliar with):
*311
Beastie Boys
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Bob Marley
Rage Against the Machine
Limp Bizkit
House of Pain
*

These bands I’d characterized as a amalgamations of reggae, rap, punk, metal, and funk. You may enjoy music by other hybrid artists like:
Sublime
Gorillaz
Beck
Primus

if you like that funk/reggae sound, you might want to try other “ska” bands or bands with that sound like:
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Sublime (who I mentioned already)
classic Police
The English Beat
Dr. Dre
I suspect you don’t like current hip hop/rap, but if you like Dre, you may like the smoothness of other classic hip-hop artists like:
Snoop Dogg
Wu-Tang Clan
Cyprus Hill
Eminem
*Audioslave
Alice N Chains
Stone Temple Pilots
White Zombie

NO:
Pearl Jam
*

I’m not sure how you like these other “grunge” bands but not Pearl Jam, but based on this, I would recommend other Seattle -influenced bands:
Soundgarden
Temple of the Dog
Nirvana
Hole
Foo Fighters
Mudhoneys
The Shins
I’m not sure how to characterize these guys. I guess they are a kind of artsy/indie rock. You might also like
The New Pornographers
Badly Draw Boy
Coldplay (especially if you like Radiohead)

You might also pick up the soundtracks to Garden State, Scrubs and The Last Kiss. Basically anything with Zack Braff in it (I believe he produced most of the soundtracks).
Oasis
The White Stripes
Scissor Sisters
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Veruca Salt
Garbage

Your basic alt-rock with some garage rock thrown in. Maybe try these bands as well:
Modest Mouse
The Killers
The Strokes
Smashing Pumpkins
Jet
ACDC
Guns N Roses
Rolling Stones
Metallica
Def Leppard
Extreme

80s metal. Throw in:
Bon Jovi
Motley Crue
Van Halen (both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar)
Kiss
*Lenny Kravitz
Queen
Beatles
Beach Boys
The Rolling Stones
*

You appear to enjoy classic Rock&Roll with a touch of glam thrown in, I would try picking up some:
Elton John
classic Aerosmith
David Bowie
*
NO:
Massive Attack
Portishead
Bjork*

If you don’t like these bands, I would avoid any kind of trip-hop or ambient electronica type bands. No Hooverphonic. No Thievery Corporation. No Chemical Brothers. No Moby.
*
Spin Doctors

NO:
Dave Mathews
Jack Johnson
John Mayer*

Avoid that whole “jam band”/ adult alternative singer/songwriter / American grassroots “trad-rock” thing - The Fray, The Wallflowers, Phish, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Ben Harper, Train, etc/

Since you like Spin Doctors, you may, however, like slightly funkier bands like:
Blues Traveler
Rusted Root
O.A.R.
*
NO:
Led Zepplin*

Can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.

I would also recommend going to www.allmusic.com. It’s like IMDB for music.

17

You’re totally welcome, and I really hope it’s what you’re looking for!

One word on The Black Angels-- they’re a local Austin band that hasn’t exactly made it big, so that might make their CD more difficult to find. I think they do have it on Amazon, though.

As for Spoon, the temptation will be great, but don’t start with their new album (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga). I do like it now that it’s grown on me some, but I’d have shrugged and moved on with my life after one listen if I hadn’t already been a fan. This won’t be the case for the other two albums I mentioned.

BTW, I’m stealing some of these recommendations, so thanks for the thread. :slight_smile:

edited to add that msmith, I’m with the OP in liking grunge but disliking Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam has talent, no doubt, but is often intolerably repetitive and the singer’s voice grates on my nerves. shrug

18

This is great . . . so many bands to look into now.

Regarding my aversion to Led Zepplin . . . I just can’t dig the singer’s voice. It just annoys me. The music itself . . . awesome. But if you can’t get into the singer, it’s a deal breaker. That said, I used to feel that way about Chris Cornell (I know, I’m slapping my own wrists), but I came around and now I think he has one of the best voices I’ve heard. So maybe there’s hope after all. But I feel the same way about Led Zepplin the way The Big Lebowski feels about The Eagles . . . and I also agree with him on the Eagles, too.

19

Let me second The Black Angels. Great album, from beginning to end.

And let me recommend:
Bishop Allen - My favorite discovery of the last year
Gym Class Heroes – Hip-Hop with rock-ish instrumentals
Psapp
The Hold Steady
The Decemberists

20

Roboto, have you ever tried Tool and A Perfect Circle. Both bands are fronted by Maynard James Keenan, who is an awesome song writer. Check out Tool’s Aenima and 10000 Days albums and A Perfect Circle’s Mer De Noms and The Thirteenth Step.