Subject: Interesting New Music
Date: Wed Jul 27 13:00:06 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:The ongoing thread is interesting and nostalgic (http://www.freecell.net/f/c/disctopic.html?code=9783&replies=20), and it's enlightening to see others' taste in music. But, rather than dwell in previous decades, I'd like to see what new music people are listening to.
In this thread, I'd prefer we talk about music out of the mainstream, but we shouldn't get hung up about rules. Just try to focus on relatively new stuff.
I've really been enjoying wading in the sea of independent music -- music recorded by very talented musicians who may be on the verge of "making it" and those with no real hope. The indy music scene has spawned recent successes such as Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire, but as soon as they start becoming commercially viable, they are summarily dismissed by the indy crowd.
Nevertheless, I really like this Vampire Weekend song and video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bccKotFwzoY (you'll recognize some famous faces)
Others I've been enjoying:
Joanna Newsom: She has a pretty voice but usually sings with a dissonant edge for some reason. Accompanies herself with a harp. She's definitely an acquired taste. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Greq05zAS9g
Grizzly Bear: Definitely on the edge of emerging. Great stuff. They've been on Letterman with this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjecYugTbIQ
Cloud Nothings: We're talking major obscure with this one. The first album was recorded in the parents' basement and mom's car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wYwdCDwQXk
TuneYards: This group is actually a woman with rotating nerds as backup. She was so inspired by a trip to Africa that, well, judge for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ1LI-NTa2s
I could go on and on.
Your turn.
Date: Sun Jul 31 08:23:15 2011
User: FilthyMcNasty
Message:How about some Scandanavian indy music courtesy of FjlthyMykNasty?
Link: Lykke Li
Date: Sun Jul 31 08:34:41 2011
User: hotnurse
Message:Buzz, off topic here for a sec; did you know that Elton John will be at Verison in early Sept. and lawn seats are only $35.00? Most costly are around $90.00.
Carry on; interesting thread.
Date: Sun Jul 31 15:22:34 2011
User: Denny
Message:Good thread. It's interesting how folks lock in on the music of their youth and then never discover anything new after that. And say things like "Led Zep was the last really good band."
I'm enjoying Live at the moment. They're not really super new, I think their "hits" were a while back. Went thru a Kings of Leon phase, and Silversun Pickups are a standby.
Date: Sun Jul 31 15:28:25 2011
User: JustSue
Message:well, this may be considered mainstream, but tomorrow night I'm going to see Death Cab for Cutie.
Link: I Will Possess Your Heart
Date: Sun Jul 31 16:20:34 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:Denny --
I've noticed that a lot of indie music has musicians as the target audience. The arrangements are raw but interesting and the lyrics can be very intelligent. Silversun Pickups' "The Royal We" is a good example of this (currently featured on their website): http://www.silversunpickups.com/
We often don't have room in our heads for what these kids are dishing out, but it's really worth looking into.
I posted this video on another thread -- "Acts of Man" by Midlake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcHVYrcb6As
Date: Sun Jul 31 17:14:40 2011
User: .!.
Message:BuzzClik,minimalize the site you want to link,click it,press "control+c",then drag to top box titled optional link URL:,below. If it doesnt drag there the first time,do it again. On the bottom,type in your title. Makes for easier links,like JustSue has,above. Cut/pastes dont always link very smoothly.
Date: Sun Jul 31 18:39:38 2011
User: JustSue
Message:really, Fast? I always cut/paste in the link area....
btw, Buzz, I really like Silversun Pickups! (even tho I'm not a kid, I'm a kid at heart!)
Date: Sun Jul 31 21:06:43 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:True, Fast, but for just one link. If I have more than one per post, chances are the reader only clicks on the easy one.
Date: Sun Jul 31 23:02:53 2011
User: .!.
Message:Ah,so theres the method.
Date: Mon Aug 1 02:01:21 2011
User: clarissa
Message:Nice one on Lykke Li, have been to see her once or twice in Dublin- she's brilliant...
For offbeat music, I'd say Bela Fleck and the Flecktones are worth a look- a very weird supergroup
Date: Mon Aug 1 07:14:36 2011
User: .!.
Message:Oops,didnt see your query above,JustSue. Snow showed me how to do links and I think I screwed them up but I still get em rather quickly this way so Ive stuck with it.
Buzz,seen you link before but(duh!)forgot. Theres one post from you on the PR board I just found that I REALLY like. Its a huge Dr.Demento archive by timetime124. Cool stuff.
Date: Mon Aug 1 22:19:27 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:JustSue --
Here's a kinda old video of SSPU on Letterman.
Link: Lazy Eye
Date: Tue Aug 2 01:02:16 2011
User: Denny
Message:Nice track, they played a bit fast, probably nervous. I'm always amazed when 20 somethings go on national TV and appear calm. I saw 'em live out here, opening for Muse. Brian (the lead singer/songwriter) was very self deprecating which was a nice contrast to Mr. Bellamy's "I'm a rock star" thing.
Today it was Foster the People. Look for "Pumped Up Kicks". Cute, catchy little tune but lyrics are pretty dark. I like the contrast, kinda like Every Breath You Take.
Denny
Link: Pumped Up Kicks
Date: Tue Aug 2 08:37:21 2011
User: JustSue
Message:I like Pumped Up Kicks...
Death Cab concert last night was out-freaking-standing!
Other alternative bands I like:
Phoenix
Passion Pit (kinda weird, but I like)
MGMT
Link: Passion Pit - Little Secrets
Date: Tue Aug 2 11:49:45 2011
User: xeena
Message:This a couple years old, and the band made the talk show circuit because of the previous fame of it's banjo player Steve Martin. I'm not a country fan but I do have exceptions and I enjoy Steve and his Steep Canyon Rangers.
Link: Daddy Played the Banjo by Steve Martin
Date: Tue Aug 2 11:56:41 2011
User: xeena
Message:Gary Scruggs, son of Earl, co-wrote the song, as Steve explains in the wolfgang video, which btw looks marvelous full-screen.
Date: Tue Aug 2 12:24:26 2011
User: TNmountainman
Message:Even though I can't see the video because of computer problems, those guys are pretty cool. They live just over the mountain near Asheville (and near where Steve has a home now). I've seen them many times, and got to meet them early on in their career. One of them married an acquaintance of mine not long ago, who fronted an even better band (yes), now defunct, called the Biscuit Burners. Way hot, and their dobro player, Billy Cardine, is among the world's best. And I *think* he and Bela have done some stuff together. I know they hang around with the same crowd to some extent.
Date: Tue Aug 2 19:39:02 2011
User: xeena
Message:That is fascinating, thanks TN. The other two videos on that link are very nice, both instrumentals and also original music. They are not so "country". It was a concert in Nashville where the videos were from. Steve is dashing, and can you believe, I did not know he was married. Thought he was a loner. (he mentions his wife in the "banjo" video.)
Date: Thu Aug 4 11:36:42 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:Some nicely nicely indy things that are oh so easy on the ears:
Dirty Projectors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXjtDwJGeDI
http://www.twitvid.com/53683 (hocketing!)
Dum Dum Girls:
http://youtu.be/uAPQRVaCiDk
http://www.gorillavsbear.net/2011/07/19/mp3-dum-dum-girls-coming-down/
Date: Wed Aug 10 09:44:48 2011
User: JustSue
Message:sooooo not new, but is it dorky that I want to see KC & The Sunshine Band next weekend?? (I already know the answer and I don't care!)
:D
Link: Boogie Shoes!
Date: Wed Aug 10 23:39:24 2011
User: hotnurse
Message:Just listened to a few tunes by Tucker Jameson and The Hot Mugs, good stuff.
Date: Thu Aug 11 12:32:59 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:Anything of theirs you particularly like, hotnurse? And how did you stumble upon them?
Date: Thu Aug 11 12:43:20 2011
User: hotnurse
Message:I just heard their music last evening on a show called "Necessary Roughness", liked the tune so I googled the band. I really like the one that was on the show, Irony in Life, but also Get High is good and Summer Whine is also. Couldn't find Irony in Life anywhere on the net; might have just been produced for the show.
Date: Thu Aug 18 13:11:36 2011
User: JustSue
Message:Wilco... playing at the Wang Theater on 9/20. Too bad the resellers are charging more than I want to pay for a concert! (starting at about $500 a pop!)
I can get far, far, far away tix at face value... towards the back of the balcony. Face value for all tix is like $34-45 each.
I'd rather pay more for the face value and have the artist get the $$, than 10+ times the face value and 90% go to resellers!
Date: Thu Aug 18 13:36:18 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:Wilco is a great band, but I would not pay $500 to see them. I saw BB King in concert (5 rows back from the stage) for $70 a pop, and that price was cringe worthy.
Wilco tours frequently. Keep your eye on the schedule on their website.
Date: Thu Aug 18 14:03:15 2011
User: JustSue
Message:It's hard to compete with those ticket resellers in getting seats! When I went to the Death Cab for Cutie concert, they opened up the ticket orders at 10am, I got my tickets at 10:10(or thereabouts) and got nearly the last row in the pavillion seating (after that is tables set up behind pavillion seating)... and that was "best available".
Date: Sun Aug 21 17:32:52 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:Earlier this week, my son's band played a local gig as the opening act for an indie band from Indy (as in Indianapolis), and the group liked my kid's band enough that they asked them to open for them tonight in Indy. My son's band is just a bunch of college kids with other talents and interests, but they love music and love to play. This is an exciting moment for them, even though it is a very small venue.
The band they open for is called Ranger. They are very popular with the local indie scene. Here's their MySpace site: http://www.myspace.com/ranger The lead vocalist has a nice, rich voice.
One of my favorite indie blogs is featuring a band from Duluth call Low. They have an interesting video here: http://www.myoldkentuckyblog.com/
Date: Thu Sep 15 21:01:12 2011
User: hotnurse
Message:Just stumbled upon this: Florence + The Machine. Lots of good new sounds, especially their re-make of Robert Palmer's Addicted To Love.
Date: Fri Sep 16 10:39:17 2011
User: hotnurse
Message:Thanks! There's something about her voice that is so intriguing.
Date: Mon Oct 3 17:36:35 2011
User: MONICA
Message:i like this song, he lives in austen. actually i love, virtually, all his songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GStuCkRREjE
Date: Mon Oct 3 19:17:15 2011
User: lightfield
Message:This is a great topic! Thanks for all the music to explore!
Date: Fri Oct 7 12:24:24 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:I'm in love. Seriously, deeply in love. Annie Clark aka St. Vincent has stolen my heart.
My younger son and I made the trek to Chicago's Metro Theater on Wednesday to see St. Vincent in concert. She is charismatic and charming, and she plays an amazing guitar. In one of her songs, her guitar playing (consistent with the tone and lyrics of the song) took on the look of her stabbing the instrument violently with a knife. It gave me shivers. And what a voice. sigh. It was worth getting home at 3 am ... and then getting up at 6:30 to go "teach" class. (Remember Michael Caine in the opening scene of "Educating Rita"?)
Here's St. Vincent playing "Surgeon" in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC). Note the amazing hands. And, she apparently doesn't like playing in 4-inch stilettos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V1iVzaqhD0
Playing "Cruel" on Letterman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25jiTFa3kBM&feature=related
When the young hipsters in the audience kept shouting, "Marry me, Annie!", I wasn't sure if they, too, had fallen in love or were simply making a song request. Knowing how these little monsters love to wallow in irony, it was probably both:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxKu96AntW4
Annie toured with Sufjan Stevens for a while, and you can hear the influence in "Marry Me" quite clearly. She also has followed Sufjan's lead into the electronic world in some of her new cuts.
Date: Wed Oct 19 12:59:28 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:Cloud Nothings!
Despite my evil son's declaration that it would be impossible for old people to gain entrance to the special house concert for Cloud Nothings, I actually received a special invitation to go to Jurassic Park in our humble town. Jurassic Park is actually the basement of this guy's house in a typical barely-off-campus neighborhood. Jeff is the owner/operator and a massive guy with even more massive red curly hair.
When the equipment was set up, we all piled down to the basement (probably 40 feet square lined with a water heater, washer/dryer, and lots of water pipes. Jeff's band -- Dino DNA -- started the show with 6 songs of retro new wave sounds. It was great. Jeff is the drummer, and his eyes roll back in his head when he starts singing. The opened their set with "Sports," which can be found on their Bandcamp page: http://dinodna.bandcamp.com/track/sports. When his bass player takes the mic, his singing is more of a low pitched rumbling grumbling, but it was totally appropriate and in context.
Next up was Total Babes, a side project of a couple of the musicians from Cloud Nothings. Their sound was pretty much old style punk. They had their amps turned up to 11, resulting in bone-penetrating beats and rhythms the reminded me of the smokey bars I frequented as a student in Fort Collins. Here's a sample of their stuff: http://mp3.imposemagazine.com/total-babes-like-they-always-do.mp3 When these guys finished, my ears were ringing in protest, and normal conversations sounded as if they were being spoken through a muffled kazoo. Jeff promised that he'd turn it down a notch for Cloud Nothings.
Cloud Nothings took only a few minutes to set up because the drummer and bass player were carrying over from Total Babes. I was expecting Cloud Nothings to treat us to some songs from their previous albums (see the first post of this thread), but they had another idea. The group's leader and creative force, Dylan Baldi, apparently has shifted gears and set his time machine to 1970. We were treated to an array of acid rock/psych retro tunes that he was unveiling in public for the very first time. All the musicians are talented, so they carried it off wonderfully. Although it was a huge departure from their previous lighter fare, it was still great. From my perch on the washing machine, I was treated a solid set of well-played, experimental music. Their concert was a total freebie, so I literally emptied my pockets into the donations jar to help cover their drive down from Cleveland.
(Here's Cloud Nothings' bandcamp page. Great stuff, but nothing similar to what we heard. http://cloudnothings.bandcamp.com/)
Date: Tue Nov 15 12:59:16 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:Very catchy, and I like the lead guitar. The lead singer is sort of a Bieber on HGH.
The producer of that video, however, needs to be bagged and tagged and never allowed to make another.
Date: Tue Nov 15 13:07:43 2011
User: poptart
Message:The lead looks soooo young! ...then again, it could just be that I'm getting old.
funny how each year I get older and older....
Date: Tue Dec 6 11:02:23 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:Bon Iver.
I've heard a few of the cuts before, so I decided to listen to the entire Bon Iver (self titled) album. It is fantastic. Bon Iver is classified as Indie Folk, and appropriately so. The songs are easy on the ears and do not push the edge musically. The musicians are quite talented, and the songs are well mixed.
A very haunting tune from the album is Holocene. The very interesting video is linked below.
Link: Holocene
Date: Tue Dec 6 13:12:36 2011
User: poptart
Message:oh, I love Bon Iver!
Link: Calgary
Date: Wed Dec 7 08:15:30 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:Here's some music that is not brand new but it relatively new to me (released March 2011). This particular track is called "Cowboys in the Void" by Quilt.
This is an exploration in 60s/70s styled psycho pop, reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane and similar bands. The album cover art certainly does nothing to detract from that notion. http://quiltmusic.bandcamp.com/track/cowboys-in-the-void
The link below takes you to a live performance in somebody's basement. It would have been pretty cool to be in that basement.
Link: Quilt live: Cowboys in the Void.
Date: Sat Dec 10 12:26:22 2011
User: BuzzClik
Message:I used to be digusted,
Now I try to be amused...
Tip of the hat to Elvis for being a good sport and embracing his age.
Link: Elvis and Elmo
Date: Sat Dec 10 12:31:23 2011
User: PatsFan
Message:I couldn't play it on my iPod. Will have to wait and try on my office computer (home computer is ill!)
My sin LOVES Elvis! I can't wait to play it!
Date: Fri Jan 13 22:20:49 2012
User: BuzzClik
Message:This is totally awesome: Cloud Nothings have been interviewed by Rolling Stone Magazine. As you may recall from above, I was at their small venue concert in which they played a bunch of songs that were totally unlike their previous, more pop-style music -- and they were playing them in public for the very first time. Well, their new CD is being released in less than 2 weeks, and it is starting to catch the eye of music critics other than me (with a readership of 2 or 3 freecell addicts).
When Dylan Baldi (Cloud Nothings lead singer) becomes famous, just remember that he and I were scrounging in the same refrigerator at the same time looking for something to drink. Jealous?
Link: Dylan Baldi interview and new download.
Date: Sat Jan 14 10:19:13 2012
User: poptart
Message:yup! :)
I like it. :)
Date: Sat Jan 14 13:25:24 2012
User: hotnurse
Message:Buzz, I liked it too! A some of your suggestions are a little out there for my taste, but I really liked this one. Thanks!
Date: Sat Jan 14 21:25:01 2012
User: BuzzClik
Message:Thanks, hotnurse. Cloud Nothings are generally easy on the ears. I will say that all of the songs that I heard live (with the exception of "Stay Useless") were very challenging. That works for me because I like edgy jazz and other non-conventional music, but most people prefer Cloud Nothings' early, more "pop" sound.
Did you happen to listen to this song from earlier in this thread (see link below)? The video in the context of the song is fantastic ... for me. ;)
Link: Midlake, "Acts of Man"
Post follow-up