Music Reviews and Recommendations

[Max Power]

Hey kids, how about some music reviews and suggestions? Sort of like that cursed movie review thread (cursed on account of it reminds me that I haven't watched a good film in months :mad: )

A few recent "discoveries" (some not so recent) --

The Be Good Tanyas "Blue Horse" - it's Country/folk but more like Natalie Merchant than redneck moonshine-rock.

Starsailor "Love Is Here" - what Radiohead would sound like if they weren't so full of themselves, or if they genetically combined Radiohead, Moressey, and Wilco.

Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - folk-ish recording from Portishead gal. Haven't heard much, but it sounds like a winner.

[stonecrest]

ack, i've heard a few songs by starsailor and can't stand them. then again, i don't like any of the three bands you compare them too, so i suppose it's not surprising.

let's see, what have i been digging lately..

three fish "the quiet table" - nice rock band, heavy on the bass, and has a lot of african tribal sounds to them. they only have two albums and there's not one song on either album i don't like. GREAT stuff.

sigur ros "agaetis byrjun" - if you still haven't checked out this band from iceland, you really must. they have a new untitled album but i always find myself going back to this one. great background music, even if played live :)

mad season "above" - incredible music featuring layne staley of alice in chains on vocals and some members of pearl jam on guitar. bluesy songs with lots of jamming, it's just beautiful.

[Bankruptor]

Picked up the latest Government Mule cd last night, it features a hodgepodge of more than a dozen bass players taking turns on the tracks including Les Claypool, etc. I'm always a student of the really good bassmen! It's a rock/blues format and I'm rattling the windows with it. Recommended! :D

Bank . . . "Just like my Daddy, I'm stone cold outa my mind . . . " :D

[MsRuthieB]

Stonecrest wrote:
mad season "above" - incredible music featuring layne staley of alice in chains on vocals and some members of pearl jam on guitar. bluesy songs with lots of jamming, it's just beautiful.

I bought this when it first came out years ago. It's is exceptional!
I still listen to it today, which says alot in my opinion about the music not be dated to the time in which it was created. I miss Layne :(

[Tsila]

Originally posted by Max Power
A few recent "discoveries" (some not so recent) --

The Be Good Tanyas "Blue Horse" - it's Country/folk but more like Natalie Merchant than redneck moonshine-rock.


I like The Be Good Tanyas. They're fun and the vocals are interesting.

I've been rediscovering artists like Nick Cave, Cocteau Twins and Guided by Voices.

One new band I've stumbled upon is Young & Sexy on Mint Records. They've just released their first album and it's gotten decent reviews. I like the harmonies and the arrangements. The keyboard work is infectious.

http://youngandsexy.org/young/music.asp

[Michael]

I think I'll pick up that Mad Season cd today. I really liked the Mother Love Bone cd (which I can't find because it's out of print :() and for some reason they sound similar.

[MsRuthieB]

Yeah..I have Mother Love Bone too..first time I heard them it was on the Singles movie soundtrack. Based on that I went and bought the cd. Same thing with the OzFeast sampler Sharon gave out a the Cleveland show due to Ozzy not being there. I bought Pulse Ultra because I really liked their tune...it's pretty good too but I expected it to be a little heavier. It almost sounds like they are trying to hard to be popular.

[Max Power]

Originally posted by stonecrest
sigur ros "agaetis byrjun" - if you still haven't checked out this band from iceland, you really must.
Have you heard the songs they did with Mogwai??? Oh man!! Those two bands are so cool.

[BigWaxJesus]

Originally posted by Max Power
Have you heard the songs they did with Mogwai??? Oh man!! Those two bands are so cool.

Actually, those are fake. They've never really collaborated together. Just someone that wanted to spread their music around. Read the last question on this FAQ. (http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/band/faq.html)

[Max Power]

Woah! Thanks BWJ. I was thinking they didn't sound much like Ros but not entirely unlike Mogwai. Still like the songs I downloaded... I wonder who...

[Vegankat]

Bright Eyes - Conor Oberst's voice takes some getting used to, but the lyrics are extremely poetic, and the music is just incredible. Some songs, like "Going For the Gold", make me cry. Conor's other band, Desaparecidos, is good, too, but their music isn't quite as deep as Bright Eyes'.

Taking Back Sunday - I've seen them live a couple of times, and they are awesome guys. I was a bit disappointed when someone told me they saw a video for "Great Romances of the 20th Century" on MTV, because they're above all that big-headed corporate BS. But oh well. The 'emo'-thing is in now.

Circle and Square - Sort of a little-known indie band, but they're the sweetest guys. Their songs are hard to find online in downloadable form, but you can hear streaming audio at www.circleandsquarerock.com

Cursive - Another indie band, from the same town as Conor Oberst in Bright Eyes. They're a bit more hardcore than Bright Eyes, though, but not really hardcore. I recommend "The Lament of Pretty Baby", because it describes exactly how I feel about myself.

I could list tons of indie bands, but I'll stop for now. :D

[Michael]

I picked up the Mad Season CD today. Good stuff! It does kind of remind me of Mother Love Bone. Some members of Pearl Jam were part of that one too. Anyway, if you can find it on eBay or used you should pick it up. It's out of print so it's fairly difficult to find.

[BigWaxJesus]

Interpol - One of the many bands from the apparently growing scene in NYC, and like a lot of the others, they've received a lot of hype, but I think they more than live up to it. They're on Matador Records so they didn't have the huge promotional budget of a major label, but they've still managed to create a buzz for themselves. Anyway, if you haven't heard the hype yet their style is in the vein of the 80's post-punk bands, like Echo & the Bunnymen and the big one, Joy Division. Like the other hyped NYC bands everyone has mixed opinions about these guys, some calling them a Joy Division rip-off, and while they share similarities, I think that's bull****. They have shown up on nearly every top album list I've seen so far, and they're on mine as well, so they're certainly doing something right.

The Dismemberment Plan - The Talking Heads is the band mentioned in every review I've seen, and while I'm not 100% familiar with their material, I can see the comparison--idiosyncratic pop-rock, very funky rhythm section, etc. I've always heard so many people raving about these guys, and I never saw what the big deal was until I heard whole songs and actually paid attention, and now I can't get enough of them. Their singer is one of the best lyricists I've heard in awhile, and I read in an interview where he said he's influenced by hip-hop lyric-wise, and I can certainly see that in his style; it's just a flood of words and he just flows without ever getting tongue-tied. They're a very fun band to see live too. The show I went to had people from the crowd dancing on stage, and the way the audience and band clicked, it was like they were playing for a group of friends, and they just kept joking back and forth the whole night. All their albums are great, but everyone agrees that Emergency & I is their best.

Nina Nastasia - Southern Gothic folk/alt-country on Touch & Go Records. She has a very nice voice and a great band backing her; there's wide range of instruments on her albums--cello, violin, saw, mandolin, accordion, and the usual guitar, bass, and drums. The drums really stand out, to me anyway. I guess you could compare her to Gillian Welch, but more folk than country, and she doesn't really use that southern drawl when she sings. I'm pretty sure there's some people on here that like Gillian, so you should check this girl out if you haven't heard her.

McLusky - Witty and loud noise-rock/punk from Wales. They're compared to the Pixies, but they remind of some of the harder bands from that era, like Jesus Lizard. Their singer reminds me of David Yow at times. Some songs to check out: "Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues" and "To Hell with Good Intentions." Those are from their album from this year, McLusky Do Dallas.

Enon – This is another bizarre pop-rock band. The singer was in a band called Brainiac, which broke up after one of their members was killed in a car accident, and he carried some of their style over to this band. They use a lot of cool vocal effects, synths & loops, and other found sounds, and on their recent album they added a cute Japanese girl on vocals and bass who compliments their style very well.

I suppose that's enough. I rambled quite a bit.

[Max Power]

Interpol is freakin rockin.

[BigWaxJesus]

I should mention you can get mp3's by Enon, Dismemberment Plan, and Interpol at epitonic.com. (www.epitonic.com) It's a really cool site. They have loads of mp3's by a lot of great bands.

[Tsila]

I love that website. I've gotten a lot of great stuff there.

Another recent discovery:

My Morning Jacket

[FemmeDemonica]

Some of my favorite stuff lately, stuff I just can't stay away from:

-Mirah: You think it's like this but really it's like this . She has such an adorable and comforting voice. Kinda folky sometimes, kinda rocky most times. Just yummy. My favorite K Records artist so far.

-The Reindeer Section: Y'all Get Scared Now, Ya Hear!. An amazing collaboration of folks from Astrid, Snow Patrol, Belle and Sebastian, Mogwai and more. Gary Lightbody, I think I love you. I didn't really dig their new album this year as much as this one. I can't stay away from this one. I travel with it. ;)

-The Good Life: Black Out. Dear Tim Kasher, could you rock me any harder? ;) I think he'd be a cool drinking buddy. Tim also fronts Cursive (VeganKat: Give me Domestica any day!), and the Good Life was supposed to be a side project, but has totally matured into its own right. Dreamy. Anyhow, Black Out is on my top five records for 2002. Another moving band from the Saddle Creek family with ace song-writing.

-Solex: Low Kick and Hard Bop. She's Dutch. She owns a used vinyl shop by day and makes kick ass music by night. She finds neat quirky sounds from old kitschy records whose copyrighting has expired, makes a collage of them and sings over it. Yummy. Some of the most creative stuff I've ever heard. I loooove it.

-Dolly Parton: Halos and Horns. Laugh if you want. I love it. This is Dolly back to her bluegrass roots. It's so loveable, and Dolly is one hell of a songwriter. It really is good stuff.

-Rilo Kiley: The Execution of All Things. There's not a bad tune of this cd. Jenny Lewis' voice is instantly warming. Another cd I take with me. It just fits.

-The Vermicious Knid: Days That Stand Still ep. Delicious screamo from Canada. My little heart was broken when they cancelled their VA show. Broken right in two.

I could probably go on...and on...but this should do for now.

[BigWaxJesus]

I downloaded "Cold, Cold Water" by Mirah. Sounds good. I like her voice. I'll check the other stuff out too.

[Max Power]

Originally posted by FemmeDemonica
-The Good Life: Black Out. Dear Tim Kasher, could you rock me any harder? ;) I think he'd be a cool drinking buddy.
Amen! Rock on FD!!!

Two additions to my collection:

The Datsuns - they sound like many other bands that are named "The ______s" but these guys are Norweigian and have been around a while. Tres rocking.

The Coral - British crew. Sort of like "the weird Coldplay" or "Coldplay meets The Beta Band" :)

[Bankruptor]

"Dolly Parton: Halos and Horns. Laugh if you want. I love it. "

You won't see me laughing; Dolly has one of the best bluegrass bands going right now, along with Del McCourey. We've included a couple of tracks from her "The Grass Is Blue" cd in our bluegrass show and they are real crowd pleasers. Dolly is a talent . . . . ;)

[MsRuthieB]

She is so beautiful too! I think she looks no older than 25....and I wish I had a body like hers! Dolly Rules! :D

[Max Power]

Some new stuff I just started listening to: Ms. Dynamite (Hip hop stuff that I first heard on the FIFA 2003 video game), The Raveonettes (melody + rock + electronics = fanf'intastic rock), and Waking State (a DC modern-rock band about to release their first).

Anyone heard Tatu? Sheesh. Even *I* like their one song, and I hate "pop." Maybe it's the teenage russian lesbian thing, maybe it's not :)

[BigWaxJesus]

Originally posted by Max Power
The Raveonettes (melody + rock + electronics = fanf'intastic rock)

Man, that's so odd. I've been meaning to post about them, and then I went to check this thread seeing that you recently posted, wondering if maybe you might've mentioned these guys, and lo and behold, you did.
I really like that album too; I've been listening to it nearly everyday. I love the fuzzy/white noise sound of the guitar and just the overall darkness of their style. Almost every review I've read on them says they sound like the Jesus & Mary Chain playing garage/surf rock.
Have you see the video to Attack of the Ghost Riders? It's cool. I can't believe I actually discovered something good on MTV, well, M2 actually.

[RiceBoy]

Originally posted by Max Power

The Datsuns - they sound like many other bands that are named "The ______s" but these guys are Norweigian and have been around a while. Tres rocking.

Are they not from New Zealand, or am I misinformed?

[Max Power]

Originally posted by RiceBoy
Are they not from New Zealand, or am I misinformed?
Nope, I'm just lost. Kiwis, they are.