good modern music challenge

[Erloas]

OK, as I said in the Peter Frampton thread, I haven't found any good music by any group thats formed in about the last 20 years.
Everything I listen to is from bands that started in the 60s, 70s and a little bit in the 80s. Some of those bands, or at least incarnations of them, are still making music I like.

So my challenge to everyone is list some songs (not too many per person) that seem like they might be the type I like and I'll find them and see what I think. The bands should be of course new (10years and newer, but its not a hard rule). It can't include cover bands or cover songs, they have to actually be doing their own music otherwise it doesn't really count. (I know a number of bands from that time did a fair amount of cover songs, but it doesn't really do me any good to just find someone new playing a song I already know)

The following is a list of my favorite bands in a vaguely but not exact list of how much I like them, the best being at the top. So you can get an idea of the sort of stuff I like since music is so very subjective.

Jethro Tull (amazing how good the flute can go with classic rock)
Pink Floyd (after Syd Barrett left is the best but I listen to some of the earliest stuff)
Rush
Meatloaf
Beatles
Aerosmith (earlier stuff more so, but most of it)
The Doors
The Who
Moody Blues
Heart
Fleetwood Mac
Queen
Guns'n'Roses (This is getting more away from what I listen to, but I really like some of the songs, Don't Cry, November Rain, etc...)

There are of course more but thats a good sampling of it.

I'm not exactly sure how I'll go about finding the newer songs to listen to, but I'll just have to worry about that later. (not sure what the situation is with any of the controversial file sharing programs, haven't used them in a long time)

[ZombieRockStar]

Look to the left of this post and see that avatar. Jeff Buckley. Although his best-known song is a cover (Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah") the rest of his repetoire is amazing. And said cover song is also done in such a radically different style from the original that all the other covers are based of of his.

And before anyone else says so, Nirvana's Unplugged in New York album. Even if you don't like grunge, this album still stands out, and given the above, I think you'll like it. The whole album, which inculdes some covers...listen to "About a Girl" and "Come as You Are" if you want the best original songs.

Beyond that, I think you'll like R.E.M. (go with "Losing my Religion" or "Everybody Hurts" and the rest of the Automatic for the People album), The Arcade Fire ("Rebellion" and "Wake Up"), and perhaps some other stuff I'll think of when it comes to me.

[Jack Squat]

Look at Matchbox 20 on either their Mad Season or Yourself or Someone Like You, Johnny Lang's Lie to Me, Vertical Horizon's Everthing You Want, Lifehouse's No Name Face, or any Three Doors Down.

You may like this, you may not. I just couldn't find a band you listed that I don't like, so I decided to throw some of my more recent albums out there.

[clarkvalentine]

Modern classic rock? My first thought is Better Than Ezra.

[Amotis]

I'd bit that torrent.

Er...I mean I what? Though in a gravely serious note, please please don't pirate modern artists. Especially independent ones. It hurts and it's like punching them in the face. Youtube or buy them. (emphasis on buy!)

...well your list is pretty varied so I can't really judge what kind of music you like (The Doors and G&R?...completely different bands...). Some good with some bad. But I'll throw some out and wait until Fdl, Shadow, Zombie, SDF, and some others get here.

Do you want just songs? I can do complete artists as well as albums. I'm gonna try to keep this as approachable as I can. I like a lot a lot of experimental artists and I'll be the first to say that they don't exactly have wide appeal.

The Knife - "Silent Shout" (Both a song and album, released this year so it's very new. Electronica at it's finest.)

Radiohead - "Exit Music (for a film)" or "How to Disappear Completely" (My sole Radiohead suggestions as I am a bit tired of them, but excellent tracks. The former having a god-like rendition floating around on youtube)

Joanna Newsom - "Emily" (It's like trying to watch a Shakespeare play for the first time.)

Guided By Voices - "I Am A Scientist" (Yayyy! *gets it stuck in head*)

Pavement - "Range Life"

Modest Mouse - "Lives"

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - "Madeleine-Mary" (The entire I See A Darkness album)

Six Organs of Admittance - "Procession of Cherry Blossom Spirits"

Elliot Smith - "Say Yes" (Because I can't talk in a music thread without mentioning him)

Mogwai - "Young Team"

Jeff Buckley - "Mojo Pin"

Iron and Wine -"Freedom Hangs Like Heaven"

Spoon - "I Summon You"

Wilco - "Jesus Etc."

Shall return later with more.

[Telonius]

Your tastes sound pretty similar to mine, so here's a few of my more recent favorites.

Tenacious D. "Wonderboy" and "Tribute." You'll love 'em.
Pearl Jam, "Jeremy."
Cake, "Going the Distance."
REM - going with Zombie here, "Everybody Hurts."
Damn Yankees, "Mister Please" and "The Silence is Broken."
Counting Crows, "Omaha," "Mister Jones," and "A Murder of One."
Blind Guardian, their "Nightfall in Middle Earth" CD. It's a concept album, so it's best if you listen to it all. But if you have to pick one, "Time Stands Still (at the Iron Hill)."

[Jack Squat]

I thought Damn Yankees were older than 20. either way they're worth a listen

[Telonius]

The band formed around 1990, I think, so they're only 17. The guys involved were veteran rockers, though, so I guess it might not count.

[Jack Squat]

according to wiki they were formed in '89, but that's still under 20.

again, still a good band.

[Indurain]

I would recommend Radiohead - The Bends. Some of the later stuff might not fit into your tastes but The Bends still remains one of my favourite albums of all time and might also appeal to your general tastes.

Also:

As ZRS Mentioned - The Arcade Fire, Nirvana: Unplugged in New York
Foo Fighters - Might be a bit more modern than you're looking for, but songs such as "Walking After You", "My Hero" and "For All the Cows" might work. I'd actually recommend their entire library, though it would seem that sometimes the harder stuff doesn't sit well with you.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

Enjoy.

[Telonius]

Oh yeah, another one: 3 Doors Down, "Kryptonite."

[smellie_hippie]

You list seems to embody the "Monsters of Rock"... disparigingly referred to as "Dinosaurs". So the guitar lead, some keyboards, percussive drum beats with spin-off solos... meaningful lyrics. That's a tall order my friend. Here's my two cents worth for a kindred spirit...

Radiohead. Not much like the others you listed, but as I said... kindred spirit and I had no difficulty transitioning here.

David Gilmour's On An Island. Pink Floyd-ie sound, but not quite delving back to Meddle or Saucerful.

John Mayer. He's a little pop for my tastes, but it's pretty enjoyable.

moe. Hippie Jam Band, but much more "rock" than the Grateful Dead and less "silly" than Phish.

White Stripes. They're a little grungey, but it's a pretty cool duo. If you like them, check out the Raccontuers.

Jump Little Children

There's just a few. Oh, and I have seen approximately 1/2 the bands you listed live... so I understand where you are coming from.

[Nightmarenny]

From what I see you don't at all seem to like punk. Probably why you can't find much of anything. The magority of rock today has at least an influence. Still My Chemical Romances latest cd "Black Parade" might work. Alot of the songs on there remind me deeply of Pink Floyds The Wall with a Spin of Tommy. Still it has that punk infulence though.....

[Sewer_Bandito]

Look at Matchbox 20 on either their Mad Season or Yourself or Someone Like You, Johnny Lang's Lie to Me, Vertical Horizon's Everthing You Want, Lifehouse's No Name Face, or any Three Doors Down.

I'll second every band mentioned on that list. I'll also throw out any Hootie and the Blowfish, Tonic-"If You Could Only See" and "Stand" by R.E.M.

[Erloas]

David Gilmour's On An Island. Pink Floyd-ie sound, but not quite delving back to Meddle or Saucerful.


I suppose you know that David Gilmour was from Pink Floyd so doesn't quite fit the criteria I was going for. (I also already have the CD)


There are some bands listed that I know I don't like, there are a number that I have heard of but can't actually say I know anything they play and some that I don't know at all. I've been actively ignoring (not just normally ignoring) pop culture as much as possible.

About the first half of my list is the type of music I listen to to listen to music, the second half is more the background sort of music, hear mostly on the radio while doing other things.
I found the difference between people that "listen" to music and those that "hear" music has a lot to do with how much I agree with their musical tastes. There are a number of people I've talked to about new music and I'll mention/ask something about it (bit of lyrics usually) and they tend to not know what I was talking about even though it was their choice in music.

As for downloading the songs, its not something I do (I currently listen to approximately 0 downloaded songs). The majority of what I listen to I either have on CD or listen to on the radio. So I don't normally download them, the only real intention with this is finding out who doesn't suck, which I think is the good intentions with downloadable music since the likelyhood of me buying a CD from someone I don't know is pretty much non existant.

[ZombieRockStar]

Instead of downloading to hear a song, you should probably just go to YouTube where you can find music videos or a video of a performance if it's a more indie band. Either way, you get to hear their music without any loss aside from 3 minutes of your time.

Unless you have a dial-up connection, of course. In which case, downloading is a hassle either way.

[Erloas]

Yeah, I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to go about checking out most of these songs. Although some of the songs may not get much playtime on the radio others might. Considering the number of local radio stations that are doing live feeds on the net there is another possibility, though not a specific song sort of choice. So if anyone can link to any good stations I'll check it out.

I've also thought about some of the adjacent genres to rock (which really can mean almost everything anymore). I know a lot of the bands from that time were heavily influenced by Jazz and Blues and I don't really listen to any of that either, not sure how much it has changed with age though. A lot of what I like has more to it instrumentally then a bass, guitar, and drums with a few power cords and simple beats(which is what a lot of the rock now is). Some horns, piano, and other random instruments. I've liked a lot of the classic rock blended with classical (as in orchestra) music that I've found too.

[Amotis]

Meh, you seem to be coming into this "challenge" with a set mindset, which is something that I dislike fighting against, but oh well, I like music more then people so let's talk music.

Note: Almost every thing is influenced by blues. I really do mean everything (2 years of pop music history tells me this). Rock and Roll was originally R&B, which originally was double time blues, etc. Even country was the white man's take on the black man's blues. Everything in pop music has at least something to do with blues. Whether it be the singing form, a 12/8/or 4 bar form, the three chord method, everything. Heck, the fathers of rock (Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Haley and the Comets) were R&B artists first and foremost.

I second Zombie's call to youtube. You won't find everything and you might get some bad renditions or a crappy live recording, but they're usually there.

And if you like the standard rock set up, power cords, and simple beats...ummm how do you not like modern radio rock?

[J_Muller]

As far as recent music goes, here are some of my favorites:

Tenacious D
Fountains of Wayne
Motion City Soundtrack
OK Go
Fastball
Cake

[Raistlin1040]

RHCP are pretty good and so is Three Day's Grace. Also for all you SNL fans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsCXZczTQXo&playnext=1

[smellie_hippie]

I suppose you know that David Gilmour was from Pink Floyd so doesn't quite fit the criteria I was going for. (I also already have the CD)


Oh yes, I know that. :smallamused: I just wanted to comment on good music that related to your list of favorites that came out in the last 2 years.

[ElfLad]

Wolfmother - "Woman" and "Joker and the Thief" New, very Led Zeppelin-esque band. You'll love them. Also, Witchcraft has a pretty nice flute solo.

Shaimus - "All of This"

[J_Muller]

Yeah, Wolfmother's good too.

[FdL]

Hmmmm, it's sad, but one thing I've learned is that if someone isn't truly interested and open to listening to music recommendations, they won't really enjoy them. At least is what happened to me. This guy in the record store always tried to sell me very good records, Auteurs, Elliott Smith, lots of good stuff (for some reason he always tried to push Divine Comedy on me, which I never liked much :p LOL! Is it because I am thin and pale and serious looking? :p). But I didn't get into them until I felt "the call" myself, until the need to look into those artists came from inside of me. Not saying it's like this for everyone, but this can make recommendations frustrating. Also, I don't like a lot of the stuff he quotes, so I don't know if I can be of help. I'll think though.




Spoon - "I Summon You"


Uhh...This is such a great song. This band is so consistently great. That particular song is amazing. Have you heard the acoustic demo? It's practically the core of the song, that acoustic rythm strum. He's a great singer too.

[Amotis]

Spoon is insanely catchy. And no, I haven't heard it, but I must find it. It's such a good song, you're right, and his voice is awesome. Great falsetto but what makes it is the attitude and feeling he puts behind it. Awesome stuff.

edito - Hey, Fdl (or anyone else), might as well not waste forum space and extend my way some recommendations. I wanna hear more. :smallcool:

[FdL]

Well for you, though I think you've probably heard as much stuff as me, or maybe more:

Wire - there's a cd with demos from the 3 first records, not surprisingly an excellent listen.

The Sixth Great Lake have an album of which I don't know the name (it may or may not be House of Cards), great stuff. So is the latest Essex Green.

I've listened to a couple of Polvo albums lately and I love them. S/T EP or Shapes made their best impression I think.

If you haven't listened to much Kristin Hersh solo, you should. There's a double live called "at Noe Valley's Ministry" which I think it's a good introduction, plus the anecdotes she tells are so warm and funny.

Do you know The Bats from New Zealand? Brilliant, simple but heartfelt guitar pop. There's an anthology out there, called "Thousands of Tiny Luminous Spheres". Most of their records are great, but their 1st, Daddy's Higway is excellent.

Then I'm addicted to "The name of this band is Talking Heads". And I always give a spin to Game Theory's "Big Shot Chronicles" or any other by them.

Of Montreal is always in my player, amazingly everything is good, the latest stuff is just a surprising direction.

Oh, there's a little nice EP by Portastatic called "De Mel, De Melao" where he covers and kinda shows brazilian bossa nova or tropicalia influences. Nice.

And if you haven't heard Quasi's "Featuring Birds" you should, IMHO it's a nice little indie record with some original arrangements (for the genre, you'll know what I mean).

"Romantica" by Luna is a pretty record. But I still miss Galaxie 500 a lot, no matter how overt their influence is in today's acts like My Morning Jacket and others...

On unoriginal but pretty stuff I'm hooked on The High Llamas.


Oh well, I hope this is not too out of topic... :s

[Amotis]

Nah, you're older and probably know more (hence me not knowing all of that list). Though we have our own scenes I guess. Do you like all those weird folk genres? The noise/acid/drone/doom folk stuff? A lot of it comes from Cali now but it's spreading pretty quick. Flying Canyon came out with a cool self titled cd. If you haven't heard of the Jewelled Antler Collective, though it's not a band, it's basically these band members that forumed three groups (a neo folk one, a noise rock one, and some other one) that always traded members and started this huge tree of cool bands that somehow all deal with each other. Thurja, Venture, The Wooden Wand, etc. They constantly just play in each other's shows and stuff.

I've heard of Luna, Portastatic, Of Montreal (yay!), but not the rest. The Bats sound cool, as do the others. I'll probably see if my local indie record store has any (and by local I mean 20 miles out...but it's worth it). *writes down list of things to check out*

[Erloas]

And if you like the standard rock set up, power cords, and simple beats...ummm how do you not like modern radio rock?
Actually what I said is that I like my music with more then just the basic rock setup that seems to be everywhere


Meh, you seem to be coming into this "challenge" with a set mindset, which is something that I dislike fighting against, but oh well, I like music more then people so let's talk music.

Well I did think it was going to be challenging for someone to actually find something new that I like. I do know that most of the new music I've listened to I don't like, usually from going out to places or riding in other peoples cars or what some people have playing at work and so far I haven't heard anything. Most of the bands that have been listed that I've heard of (about 1/3) are bands some people I know listen to and I know I don't like them. That still leaves 2/3s that I don't know and I'm willing to go out and try them. There have been 1-2 bands that are (or at least were at the time) new that I liked, but it was usually their lesser known songs, not the ones that get a lot of play time, that I liked the most.

[Telonius]

Yeah, I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to go about checking out most of these songs. Although some of the songs may not get much playtime on the radio others might. Considering the number of local radio stations that are doing live feeds on the net there is another possibility, though not a specific song sort of choice. So if anyone can link to any good stations I'll check it out...

A lot of music stores are starting to have these nifty little preview ("pre-hear?") machines. You put on the headphones, scan the barcode, and get to hear about a 20 second clip of the track you selected. I know Barnes & Noble does this in their music section, and I'm pretty sure a lot of the other mainstream music stores are starting to as well. If you can find one of the albums of the songs we've mentioned there, you can get at least some idea of what you're getting into.

[FdL]

There's a lot of places in the internet where you can download (legit) mp3 sample songs. Nowadays, with the internet if you don't listen to new music it's because you don't want to.

@Amotis: Those aren't even classics for me. I'll add to this reccomendations list "Perfect From Now On" by Built to Spill. I've just listened to it and its one of the best things I can put the "indie-guitar music" label into. It's their masterpiece, from a very interesting band instrumentally and compositionally IMHO.

If you haven't heard Kristin Hersh (ex Throwing Muses main woman) solo, I can't recommend you anything but it. I know you like folk, well, most of her work is just her and her acoustic, and builds spare but emotionally powerful songs, that are disarmingly warm and honest but at the same times have teeth...Get 1998's "Strange Angels", her debut "Hips and Makers" or even her last "The Grotto" to see what I mean. Anything will do. Also she's a great live performer, hypnotizing I'd say. Check out www.throwingmusic.com for samples and info.

BTW, I'm going to look up those folk bands you keep mentioning because now I'm intrigued.

[Amotis]

Jewelled Antler Collective is gonna be hard to find. I would try looking up "The Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice", "The Child Readers", The Ivytree", "The Birdtree", "Thuja", "The Skygreen Leopards", Blithe Sons" and "Dead Raven Choir". Those are all part of the collective. It's tough stuff to get into, I'd admit, but I really like it. Just a cool feel to it. (some albums are sub par though, watch out)

And of course I've heard of Built To Spill. And that's probably their best album, really great stuff.

[Elliot Kane]

Another vote for YouTube. They have tons of stuff there.

Groups/Singers that might be worth checking out:

The Halo Friendlies
Lillix
Fefe Dobson
The Darkness
The House Of Lords
The Dogs D'Amour
Krystal Meyers
Skye Sweetnam
Magnum


There'll be a few there that might not suit you, but I should think a few will. I think you'd like some of Robbie Williams, too, but only when he's doing Rock.

James Blunt is a maybe, too.

[Amotis]

Hahaha...oh man, the darkness. They rock. Anyone remember when "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" was uber popular for no reason. Haha, they're so tongue in cheek it's awesome. That video...the clapping...hahahaha....

Seriously, they're funny and witty. Totally mocking their music and the culture, it's awesome.

[Elliot Kane]

Can't ever go wrong with The Darkness in my opinion! They take their music seriously and themselves not at all. Gotta love that :)

[Amotis]

Seriously, even single person in my high school knew it. It was insane. It would bust out in the halls randomly. Like the Plague.

[Sewer_Bandito]

Yeah, the darkness is awesome. Especially Hazel Eyes (for some reason the way they sing that makes me up everytime I hear it) And One Way Ticket To Hell and Back. Their falsetto is freakin' rediculous.