In a few more months, nobody will need to know how to spell it anymore. Give the following bands a listen; they’ve caught my ear since I became pickier about what I listen to, so they might resonate with you, too:
Fountains of Wayne (album: Welcome Interstate Managers)
Eddie from Ohio (albums: Looking out the Fishbowl, Live EFO Show, i rodE fidO home)
Beth Orton (esp. her work with William Orbit or Four Tet)
There are magazines you can read to keep up with the latest in music. Rolling Stone and Blender are mainstream enough, and aimed at a wide enough audience, that at least some of the artists they cover would interest you. My personal favorite is Paste magazine, which covers a wide variety of music (singer-songwriter, indie rock, alt-country, etc.), but it’s all “music for grown-ups” (and comes with a sampler CD and/or DVD in each issue).
I urge you to listen to Urge Overkill. It’s been a long time since someone put out an album so deliberately rocking. Even if you don’t know the songs by name I’m pretty certain you’ll remember “Sister Havana” from the radio. Saturation is hard to find in CD format (I think it was out of print for a while) but you can download off of i-tunes.
I know there are a lot of country music haters out there and you may be one of them, but give it a try. I’m not talking about most of today’s crap that sounds like pop, though. I’m talking about turning over to the AM side of radio and finding a local classic country station. Willie, Waylon, Merle, Conway, Hank JR and Sr., Loretta, Dolly, Tammy, Alabama, Pure Prairie League, Bellamy Brothers, the Statlers, Nitty Gritty (who were more than just fishing in the dark) and a thousand others. The classics, the legends and the one hit wonders. I started listening a couple of years ago because I was feeling nastolgic about the car trips of my youth with my dad. This is good working, relaxing or background music, but also makes some excellent drinking music. If you don’t like the slow and soft stuff like Patsy Cline, definately try some Outlaw country, which is my personal preference. You will find you’ve heard many of these songs before, either as originals or remakes.
I have quite a diverse taste in music myself. I am the type who could go to a Godsmack concert on Friday night, see some hairband on Saturday and then hit the Bluegrass festival on Sunday . Of course, just don’t always take your music too seriously. Not every song needs to be deep or meaningful to be enjoyable.
The very best I think is **David Gray ** - I love everything he does (Try The Other Side & This Years Love )
Some musics you should listen to:
Moby - Lift me Up
Kings of Leon - King of Rodeo
Also there is some great Brazilian stuff that is harder to come by… but Marisa Monte is VERY GOOD. Tribalistas too even if its more pop like. Get them on Emule and if you like 'em buy the CDs.
Actually I have that CD. I haven’t listened to it in 10 (or however many) years but I remember it being pretty good.
Random thought but having categorized most of my MP3 collection, it turns out that Bush, Creed, 3 Doors Down, Staind, Nickleback, Puddle of Mud, Incubus and so on are pretty much the same group.
Give the following bands a listen; they’ve caught my ear since I became pickier about what I listen to, so they might resonate with you, too: