I always, always, always love hearing new music. That being the case, I am truly enjoying the “What pieces of music just really do it for you?” thread. But my question for this thread is slightly different.
I don’t listen to the radio that often these days, mostly because there are so many songs getting air time that are just not that great (IMHO). Rather than spend my time bitching about the music currently being put out (mostly because it makes me sound like an old man, and I’d like to avoid that), I figured I’d put the question to the folks here. Are there any fantastic groups and/or songs that have recently arrived on the scene that I should give a listen to?
You know, my initial version of the OP contained that information… but then I decided to get rid of it. I’m kind of all over the map in terms of music I like, and over the years I have found some hidden gems even in genres/styles/whatever that I don’t usually go for. So, I wanted to leave it open ended to avoid missing songs that are fantastic but that someone might think I wouldn’t like, if that makes any sense.
I recently posted a thread about Vampire Weekend - I’d post a link but haven’t figured out how to do that easily on my BBerry…interestingly simple guitar - pop with an African influence…
Do you like female vocals? If so, give her a try. You may not like the one that starts automatically but it’s worth hearing and there are several songs to choose from. More songs. More. More. More. Even more (keep scrolling down until you get to the albums). With her, if you like and keep listening, it’s the sheer quantity of ultra-high quality (vocally, musically, lyrically) songs that eventually makes a mind-boggling impression.
For all I know you’re looking for swamp blues (try Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band) or something else completely different, but my motto is You Never Know.
Ever listened to Count Zero? If you’ve ever played Guitar Hero 2, they’re the band who plays Radium Eyes. I first heard them there and got turned on to them – now they’re one of my favorites.
Some other newer bands worth checking out, Modest Mouse (they aren’t really new but they might be new to you), Brand New, Panic at the Disco. There’s lots of great music out there still, it just seems the radio isn’t the best way to get exposed to it anymore.
My recent love is for Brooke Waggoner. She kind of reminds me of a less insane Regina Spektor. I saw her live while at a Bellx1 gig and actually fell in love with her more than Bellx1.
For us furriners outside of the US, there’s also last.fm (http://www.last.fm) as an alternative to Pandora.
They’ve got a nice blend of everything from truly obscure indie artists to mainstream bands, and typing in an artist you like will give you (among other things) a link to streaming audio of similar artists in a random playlist. If you set up a profile on the site, the’ll also provide suggestions about other music you might like based on your listening habits and streaming audio playlists based on what other people with similar tastes are listening to.
I tend to get better suggestions from last.fm than I used to with Pandora, though that may have a lot to do with the types of music I listen to. The more mainstream you go, the less accurate they get.
I’m in promo mode, so I’ll just list all the bands I have booked through Fall with the radio station. They all are really, really good music.
We just had a show with Beach House and at the end of the month we have this really, really good brand new band from Thrill Jockey that Pitchfork is going to devour soon: Thank You.
In October, we have booked this insanely catchy psych/dream rock/whatever band out of OK: Evangelicals. Think like early, dreamier Flaming Lips.
More like old music than new music. My new faves are The Felice Brothers, genuine *“Carpenter’s sons from the Catskill mountains, the Felice Brothers channel the mystery, beauty, humour, fear, sadness and devil-may-care defiance of two centuries of American folk idioms into something fresh and raw.” *
Frankie’s Gun and Whiskey in my Whiskey are pretty typical - songs about guns, love and stuff gone wrong. Ian sounds like Bob Dylan with a singing voice.
