My collection can also best be described as eclectic. I like everything that I have on my ipod and do listen to all of it, but some things I will more readily recommend than others.
My first two recommendations are compilation albums that many of the stranger names in this list come from: ** De Dakar a Cuba: on Danse La Rumba**. Fantastic Cuban music that came out of Africa. One of the best albums I have purchased all year.
The other recommendation would be: As Good as It Gets: the Best of Country Blues. You get great old school blues artists like Son House and Mississippi John Hurt, and the recordings sound great. No question, pick up both of these collections.
Below is my iPod artist list in alphabetical order.
Recommendations are in bold. Like I said I like everything, these are the ones I think that people other than me will like. I am also not going to recommend Super main stream stuff (Stevie wonder, The Beatles) unless it is an artist I hold very close to my heart (Ray Charles)
Rockish stuff will have a * next to it
Hip Hop (instrumental and rap) will have a #
Jazz will have a +
(I am only going to categorize the recommended artists)
Blues and World Beat are for the most part covered in the above recommendations. Electric blues (muddy waters etc) will fall under rock. Unfair I know, but I am trying to keep things simple.
If it is just in bold with no symbol, it means I wasn’t sure how to classify it.
I might occasionally recommend a specific album or song in parenthesis next to the artist.
The 5 Royales With Charlie Little Jazz Ferguson & His Orchestra
A.C. Newman *
Aesop Rock
Africando
Albert King
Albert Kuvezin & Yat-Kha
The Allman Brothers Band
The Animals
Antonio Carlos Jobim
April Stevens
The Arcade Fire *
Art Brut
Art Tatum
**Avenue Q Soundtrack **
The Band ***
Barbeque Bob
The Beach Boys (Pet Sounds)
The Beatles
Beck & The Flaming Lips Live
The Bees
Belle & Sebastian
Bembeya Jazz National
*Bessie Smith ***
The Beta Band
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Joe Williams
Billy Bragg
Billy May
Björk
The Black Crowes
The Black Heart Procession (2 … the name of the album)
Blackalicious
Blackstar#
Blind Blake
Blind Boy Fuller
Blind Gary Davis
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Willie McTell
*Blur ***
Bo Diddley
Bob Dylan
Bobby Darin
Boogie Down Productions
The Breeders
Brian Wilson
Bright Eyes
Broken Social Scene
Brownie McGhee
Bruce Springsteen
Buddy Guy
**Buena Vista Social Club **
Built To Spill * (Keep it like A Secret)
Cannibal Ox
Cannon’s Jug Stompers
*Cannonball Adderley Quintet +
Caribou
Charles Mingus +
Charley Parker +
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
The Clash
common #
Company Flow
Copper Box
Cream
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Curley Hamner
Cut Chemist and Numark
Da Franco
Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks
Danger Doom
The Dave Brubeck Quartet+
David Bowie
De La Soul
Dead Kennedys
Dean Elliot & His Big Band
Dean Martin
The Decemberists
Deltron 3030
Desaparecidos
Dinah Washington
Dixieland Jug Blowers
Dizzy Gillespie
DJ QBert
DJ Shadow # (Entroducing, even if you think you don’t like hip hop)
DJ Spooky
Django Reinhardt
The Dominoes
The Doors
Dr. Octagon
El-P
Elliott Smith
Elvis Costello
Enon
Eric B & Rakim
Eric Clapton
Faith No More
Fantastic Plastic Machine
The Fiery Furnaces
The Flaming Lips * (The Soft Bulliten)
Flogging Molly
Frank Zappa
Fugazi
Furry Lewis
The Futureheads
Gang Of Four
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
**Gogol Bordello ** (Gypsy Punk rock nothing but fun, get any of their stuff)
Grandaddy
Grateful Dead
GZA
The Halo Benders
Hawksley Workman
Howard Roberts
Howlin’ Wolf
Hüsker Dü
Iggy Pop & the Stooges
Jack Constanzo
Jackie-O Motherfucker
James Brown
Jane’s Addiction
Jay Z ft Dangermouse The Grey Album
Jedi Mind Tricks
The Jesse Powell Orchestra With Fluffy Hunter
Jim Jackson
Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery
Joe Walsh
The John Buzon Trio
John Coltrane+
John Mayall
Joni Mitchell
Josh
Joshua Bell
Joy Division
Julia Lee & Her Boyfriends
Julie London
Jurassic 5
Kanye West
Karate
Keletigui
Kid Koala# (Some of My Best Friends Are Dj’s)
King Kurtis
**King Missile ** (especially the track "Jesus Was Way Cool)
The Kinks
KRS-One
Kruder & Dorfmeister
Laba Sosseh
Larry Williams
Leadbelly
Leroy Carr
Leroy Holmes
Les Bantous De La Capitale
Les Baxter
Little Brother Montgomery
Lonnie Johnson
Louis Armstrong
Louis Prima
Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra With Myra Johnson
Ma Rainey
Madness
Madvillain
Martin Denny
Max Roach +
Medeski, Martin And Wood
Memphis Jug Band
Memphis Minnie
MF Doom
Miles Davis
Minor Threat
The Minutemen
Mission of Burma
Mississippi John Hurt
*Modest Mouse ** * (The Moon And Antartica)
Moose Jackson With Tiny Bradshaw’s Orchestra
Morrissey
Black Star
Mr. Bungle
Muddy Waters
My Bloody Valentine
My Morning Jacket
Neil Young
Neko Case
Nell Hannon & Yann Tierson
Nelson Riddle & His Orchestra
**Neutral Milk Hotel ** *
The New Pornographers *
**Nick Cave ** * (Get the Best of Collection or Live Seeds)
Nine Inch Nails
Oingo Boingo
The One AM Radio
Operation Ivy
Orchestre Baobab
Otis Redding
Outkast
Paris Combo
Paul Kelly
Peanut Butter Wolf
Philip Glass
Pinback ***
Pink Anderson / Simmie Dooley
Pink Floyd
Pixies *
PJ Harvey
Plaid
Plas Johnson
The Pogues * (Celtic rock, get ** Rum, Sodemy, and the Lash cannot
recommend more highly)
Portishead
The Postal Service
PRIMUS
QBert
quasimoto
Queens Of The Stone Age
QuixOTic
R.E.M.
Radiohead *
Rage Against The Machine
Ray Anthony
Ray Charles
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Replacements *(Let it Be)
**Rjd2 ** # (Dead Ringer)
Robert Johnson ** * (The Complete Recordings)
Rochereau
The Rolling Stones
Roosevelt Sykes
The Roots
Roy Brown & His Mighty-Mighty Men
Roy Orbison
The Royals
Section-S
Sex Pistols, The
Shel Silverstein
The Shins *
Sigur Rós
Simon & Garfunkel
Skip James
Sleepy John Estes & Hammie Nixon
Slim Harpo
Slint
Sly & The Family Stone
The Smiths
Social Distortion
Son House
Sonic Youth
Soundgarden
The Specials
Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto
Star Band De Dakar
Steve Miller Band
Stevie Wonder
The Strokes
Sufjan Stevens
Sugarcubes
The Sundays
Super Furry Animals
The Swallows
T-Bone Walker
Talib Kweli
Talking Heads
Tampa Red
Texas Alexander
Todd Rhodes & Orchestra With Connie Allen & The Band
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Tom Waits
Tommy Johnson
Tommy McClennan
The Toppers With Orchestra
Tortoise
Treepeople
Van Morrison
The Velvet Underground
Viktor Vaughn
Violent Femmes
The Walkmen
Warren Zevon
Was (was not)
Ween
Weezer
Wes Montgomery
The White Stripes
The Who
Wilco * (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, or Kicking Television)
Wolf Parade
Wu-Tang Clan
Wynonie Harris
X
Yesterday’s New Quintet
Yma Sumac
Zero 7
The Zombies
I know this was a long list and that I recommended 50 things to listen to. But I PROMISE you will like something in those recommendations, if not most of them. Try the Jazz and Hip Hop, especially Dave Brubeck and DJ Shadow. Wilco and The Pogues are both great bands also. Gogol Bordello is strange and interesting in a totally fun way. Pinback and Blackheart Procession are local(ish) bands that are huge in SoCal, but almost unknown elsewhere. All those folks should be on iTunes. Feel free to email me if you have questions. Enjoy!
