Not being a Swiftie nor up-to-date on very new music, I had never heard of The Nationals until reading about how much some people like them. They’re not bad, kind of remind me of a few bands I liked quite a lot [mumblemumble] twenty years ago [/mumblemumble]. Not sure I’ve heard tell of them here, but I guess they became locally popular a decade or more ago.
You? Any recent discoveries? (Sorry, am sure this idea has been done before, probably many times, possibly last week.)
I had never heard of Blind Pilot and one of their songs came up on Spotify while I was listening to The War On Drugs Radio So I put them on at the start of a car trip and had listened to everything that have recorded by the end of the trip. They have been in constant play since.
I tend to find out about groups that have been around for awhile.
So my recent discovery was bluegrass/folk group The Dead South
I’ve been jumping around YouTube Music quite a bit lately and have found a few that I’m really enjoying that in probably the last to the party in hearing about. My two current favorite bands are Theory of a Deadman and Halestorm. Solo artist, Is have to say Tate McRae.
I just heard “In Hell I’ll Be in Good Company” popping up in my music the other day. It’s really a great song.
Wikipedia doesn’t have an article on The Nationals (plural), so if that’s the name of the band then I guess it is indeed obscure. I did, however, like the one song I have heard from The National (singular), Bloodbuzz Ohio. I only mention this because the last good band I found out about on the radio, as opposed to seeing them open in concert, is Fontaines D.C. which, like The National, is a new-ish band that sounds post-punky. In the case of The National it is mostly the deep and atmospheric voice, but in the case of Fontaines DC it is also the driving bass and turn of the 90s instrumentation and chord changes.
Buz, buz. Sure, it’s singular.
Twin Temple, the world’s only Satanic doo-wop band.
This is why you need younger friends, or kids. A twenty-something friend would go to Eaux Claires, the music festival that Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) used to host in the Wisconsin northwoods. One night there, he announced that he was going to do a collaboration with the guitarist from The National. So I had to check them out.
Other option: Have friends your own age who are hipper than you. One of those sent a text: “DEATH OF GUITAR POP!” and a link to their “Suburban Ska Club” with Neville Staple.
It’s got the style and energy of all that great Late 70s British Ska… like Madness (“Our House”, “One Step Beyond”).
Bad Cop/Bad Cop
I’ve been a fan of The National since around 2010, and I thought I was a little late since I had no experience with Alligator or some of the other stuff their hardcore fans love. I know I’ve mentioned them here. Sleep Well Beast is easily my favorite album of all time, though that might be rare among the fanbase. Every concert I’ve been to has been sold out (usually around 5000 seaters, the last one was outside at a park on a college campus) and awesome. I think the closest they’ve had to a hit was a couple AAA charters, but alternative rock radio has been playing them since at least 2007/2008 with “Fake Empire.” This is a band that I think every album since 2010 has charted at least #3 and sold 200k or so units, so not really obscure, yet most people I know have never heard of them. So I guess The National was the last band I’ve really enjoyed, too. Other than that I mostly listen to late '90s to early '00s hip-hop and offshoots of that, though I’m fortunate that my city has a very good alternative rock radio station that has stayed independent and in business for 30+ years. So, I have heard a lot of good music there, and they’ve also played acts that went pop several years before they went mainstream. As far as ages go I’m in my 40s and fit the stereotype National fan “sad dad.”
I’ve been watching CBS a lot lately and they have introduced me to some nice music. The Tallest Man on Earth has some nice stuff.
Here’s just one example.
Last summer, I took a road trip to the Gaspe region and I listened to a lot of Quebec radio. One band that I discovered was Bleu Jeans Bleu who sing catchy deadpan songs about mostly mundane topics. For instance, here’s the video for J’ai mangé trop de patates frites (I ate too many fries).
Pride of Frankenmuth, Michigan. Christ, they all look 12 in that video. Actually I don’t think they were all that much older when they filmed that.
My musical tastes seem to have mostly calcified as I get into late late middle age toward actual old age (what’s the cutoff from middle to old age-- 60? I’m 58, which I think is just barely still considered ‘middle age’, though I don’t think I’m going to live to be 116). At the end of last year I started a thread where I said I checked out a couple ‘Best of 2022’ music lists and hardly recognized any of the acts, to my dismay. A lot of new music was linked and recommended to me, which I listened to all of, but none of it really ‘took’.
I did discover a 2- piece band called Royal Blood a few years back, and went through a period where I frequently listened to and enjoyed a couple of their albums. I like stripped-down 2 piece bands like White Stripes or the Black Keys. These guys, Royal Blood, consist of a drummer and a base player who plays his base like a guitar. Here’s a live version of their song ‘Loose Change’ which is kind of a jam.
Found a prog/psych outfit called San Pedro’s Vision awhile back. Female lead singer, powerful, dynamic:
I’m a stick-in-the-mud when it comes to music. I grew up listening to (and loving) rock music that was put out between 1965 and 1985, and I haven’t progressed to newer things. Suffice to say, I don’t care for the vast majority of music made since 1990 or so. But I have found a few “newer” bands that I like. The first one that comes to mind is a Japanese band called 88Kasyo Junrei. It’s a three piece band with a killer guitarist:
Kadavar is band from Germany that I think is really good. They remind me of Black Sabbath, and I’m a huge Sabbath fan:
I came here to say the same. I like most of their music, I just wish the lead singer (Josh Kiszka) would get himself a stylist. He’s morphed into some very odd costumes and hairstyles. He looked better when they first started.
I love rock and new rock bands are far and few between.
Joseph the Spouse:
