If I like Nick Drake’s music, I should check out what other musicians? Is there a networking feature somehwhere that shows related artists? I guess amazon.com sorta has that feature. Anywhere else?
Thanks!
The site allmusic.com is worth checking out. Look up Nick Drake and they’ll give you a long list of artists that they consider have a similar style. You can also search by mood and by over-all style. I use it all the time to find different artists that record in styles I prefer.
Music map?
Check out last.fm.
John Martyn, an early 70’s {although he’s still going, last I heard} contemporary and friend of Nick Drake. The album to especially check out is Solid Air, the title track of which was written about Drake.
I was going to say Elliott Smith and he came up on both those sites. I don’t know why, they aren’t that much alike. I like Nick Drake and when I am in an Nick Drake mood I would also be likely to listen to Elliott Smith or Ryan Adams.
M Ward reminds me very strongly of Nick Drake at times. But then this is said of pretty much every male singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar, so YMMV.
Belle and Sebastian have pretty much taken a straight- up Drake (with a bit of Smiths in there) imitation to the bank. Their second album, “If you’re feeling sinister,” remains unmatched in their catalogue and in popular music of the past 15 or so years.
Also check out Jackson C. Frank’s “Blues run the game” - I describe it to friends as sounding like a Nick Drake record if Drake had made a record after he died - it’s that dark. Frank was a contemporary of Drake’s and Drake covered the title track from this album.
Another person you might miss (and who remains unknown to most people) is Judee Sill - she was a california folkie during the same era that Drake operated in, and she really hits that same vibe that Drake captures on “Bryter Later” on this and her only other album, “Heart Food” (she died of a heroin overdose shortly after its release).
While it may come as a surprise, be sure to check out Badly Drawn Boy’s “The Hour of Bewilderbeast.” While he’s since gone on to do a particularly boring and embarrassing brand of m.o.r. brit-pop, this, his first album, is the closest thing to another Nick Drake record that I’ve heard, perfectly capturing that feeling of fall with grey skies, a bite in the air, and the smell of burning leaves.
I hope these help. I love Nick Drake.
You might like the two solo albums by Chicago dude Sam Prekop if not his stuff with Sea and Cake.
While I agree that the OP may like Prekop’s music, I don’t really understand what this has to do with the request - what does Prekop and co.'s jazzy, groove-based pop music have to do with Nick Drake?
The OP asked for recommendations based on liking Nick Drake. I gave him one. He didn’t ask for references to things exactly like ND and I figured Prekop is not exactly out of the ballpark.
Early Leonard Cohen including Songs of Leonard Cohen, Songs From a Room and maybe Songs of Love and Hate.
Oh - strange. I’d consider Prekop completely out of the ballpark in reference to Drake.
Give a listen to Duncan Sheik.
There’s a lot of his free, legal music to download on his message board, but you have to register. You can find that here.
http://sheikfreik.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112
Townes Van Zandt, the Nick Drake of Texas. I think Live at the Old Quarter is out on CD now.
Van Morrison, Astral Weeks. Has the same gray, drizzly feeling to it.
Fairport Convention, What We Did On Our Holiday; Richard Thompson, Small Town Romance; Sandy Denny, Who Knows Where the Time Goes? Contemporaries of Drake. You might also check out Roy Harper. And the Incredible String Band.
Fred Neil, Bleecker & McDougal, an American folkie in a similar vein.
I haven’t listened to it in a while, but Alexander Spence’s Oar might get you there.
Joni Mitchell, “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter”.
Agreed. But I’d recommend “Bless the Weather” over “Solid Air.”
Two big thumbs up to all of these, especially Oar (far more psychy than Drake, but still an incredible record), the Fairport and Incredible String Band stuff, and Astrak Weeks .
Thanks, yall!