Your favourite musicians

[Saiken]

Since this subforum has lost much of its former vivacity *cough* I thought it was time fore a genuinely original idea: a thread about your favourite musicians, barring xiu xiu. More importantly though was a 'fresh start' no old thread bumping. So, before you inattentively give a rash and deficient reply, it's time for contemplating, come back in an hour or so (enough time to look up the name of that classical composer you never liked). I will post my small (eclectic)compendium later this evening or tomorrow depending on my temper.

[JJeffffx]

Bjork, Phil Elvrum & John Zorn

[dr. strangelove]

musicians/bands i greatly admire (other than xiu xiu):

elvis costello
velvet underground
modest mouse
joy division
christian death (rozz only)
bikini kill
death in june

[insert something witty here]

Patrick Wolf
Katastrophe
The Homosexuals
Zazie
Gorillaz
and I second Death In June

[dr. strangelove]

insert said:

The Homosexuals

they almost made my list, but i tried to stay at "top five" (although i only got it to seven)... other runner ups: pogues, neutral milk hotel, & deerhoof

[urgeintheicebox]

nirvana -

as a teenager, kurt cobain, krist novoselic and dave grohl changed my life because i was, like most others here, left alone throughout the life of grade school. nirvana made me feel whole. not only that but i don't believe anyone could deny the fact that kurt's lyrics were one of a kind, even if he did say 'music first, lyrics second'. the thing that saddens me the most are people of age now, who at the time of nirvana loved them, saying that they werent as groundbreaking as mainstream history remembers, ... stupid indie snobs.

the beatles -

you can't love nirvana and not love the beatles, i was raised around two beatles obsessed people, who still are, even moreso now actually. it was fate that john lennon and paul mccartney would work together in music, something that shows in the lesser majesty of their solo work. however, george harrison's work was missed by a lot of people, he gave more substance to his songs than lennon/mccartney ever could have. and stands as the only admirable solo beatle. but substance or not, all of their music was amazing, even down to the songs which some people compare to teeny-pop pre-packaging.

the smiths -

it only happened around the time of my eigteenth birthday, but i finally realized how brilliant the smiths are. like lennon and mccartney, morrissey and marr belonged together. morrissey is the only person in the world that can cram a short story length essay into a 3 minute song. the best thing i can think of about the smiths is the fact that i i cant decide which album of theirs is the best. i'm mixed between 'meat is murder' and 'the queen is dead', but i just dont know, and i love that. sure, metrosexuality demands you own at least one smiths album, but besides the pompador and unbuttoned overshirt, lyrics and guitar having sex with each other is the best

sonic youth -

its hit or miss sometimes with them, but their albums can be so amazing that its very very hard not to study each and every detail of the record itself (see: evol, sister, washing machine) in the later stages so far, theyve been getting old, hell theyre in their 50s and 40s, no wonder. but when you listen to their stuff, its hard not to remember when you first heard it. the noise is great as well, its not something that you forget, you memorize each individual change in the progression of the noise, its very melodic, which is something the bands of today leave out of their 'noise'.

elliott smith -

i went through a very very large obession of his music last year, i actually had bought two of his records the week he died, which upset me a bit, i was just getting into him and bam, hes dead. but with other issues going on in my life, elliott's music helped me out a lot, something that i guess didnt work out so much for himself, but i think he, more than anyone, took what the beatles had made, what any 60s rock band or artist had made, and changed it completely, so that it was his own music, you could tell the connection, but it didnt matter, it was still its own beast. his last record, 'from a basement on a hill', though not fully completed in the least, i thought was amazing and it should have garnered more attention. especially from fans.

weezer (the blue album and pinkerton) -

you know what, i know i know, they suck now. its horrible what can happen to a band, but these days i suppose anyone can break down to the point where they dont even have their songwriting abilities (such as the case with rivers cuomo) rivers and matt sharp were sort of similar to a lennon and mccartney, they worked well together, they didnt get along so the story goes (which sometimes lennon and mccartney didnt either) but it came to a head and the two seperated for good, which unfourtnately shows a great deal in weezer's music. but from their first two albums, the band made from start to finish excellent albums. 'pinkerton' especially for all those wimpy hearted guys like myself. i guess i listened to it each and every time a girl broke up with me, which was often. the two albums are great to put alongside one another for the simple fact they sound nothing alike, even more so than putting 'nevermind' and 'in utero' side by side.

galaxie 500 -

about the same time as the elliott smith obsession, i got strongly into galaxie 500. its nothing really to do with emotion, like other bands ive listened to, but the fact that its incredibly wonderful to listen to if you wish to drift off, or read, or anything like that. also, dean warehams falsetto is incredible, at first i really didnt like it, but after a few listens, it just made perfect sense. which is why i dont like luna all that much, he quit using the falsetto. mmm, naomi yang.

cat power -

for those of you that dont know, chan marshall is the greatest vocalist ever. the first time i listened to 'moon pix' i cried, her voice is just so moving, so powerful, her southern drawl makes me feel comforted but at the same time, hopeless. the music of her line ups are always amazing, her melodies and progressions are simple, so much to the point that even I could play it, but theyre arranged in the point where you feel horrible for not realizing how wonderful it would have sounded if you had written it before she did. someone give this woman a friggin nation to rule over. i met her at a show, shes terribly kind and generous, shes world reknown for her stage meltdowns, which she did at the show i saw, but even if so, her voice is like a gift from God even more so live than on record. i love this woman to death.

wes anderson film soundtracks -

not only should you own each soundtrack that is released for wes anderson's films, you should own the films the themselves. mark mothersbaugh, leader of devo, score composer for kids cartoons (no wonder i love him, i watched rugrats when i was a kid) makes each movie sound wonderful because of their distinct scores, along with that, wes anderson picks out amazing songs to translate scenes in his movies. (the who in rushmore, nico in the royal tenenbaums, sigur ros in the life aquatic) not only is it important to have the total understanding of the characters in his movies, but also understand why it is a song fits in a scene of its purpose.

sebadoh/the folk implosion/sentridoh -

lou barlow writes ten thousand times better than anyone thinks any of the moment musicians do. conor obsert? please. under various names, lou has written songs that have similar subjects, lose of a love, basically, but in different forms so much so that you cant really tell the fact of that. i question sometimes if he even knows the pain of his subjects, from what i can understand he hasnt had that much trama in his life, but somehow all of his songs are honest, and painful. which is what gravitates most every fan of his works. i still cant believe his song was on The OC, whats wrong with this world?

[Jeffff]

very good call on the Smiths and Wes Anderson\Mark Mothersbaugh stuff.

Dr Strangelove, Death in June is that band thats sort of associated with Boyd Rice, no?

[dr. strangelove]

Jeffff said:

Dr Strangelove, Death in June is that band thats sort of associated with Boyd Rice, no?

yeah, but i know very little of the other groups... they used to all be associated with World Serpent, which was a label, but WSD died recently... Current 93 was the other band that used to be heavily associated with DiJ (although the two lead singers hate each other now)

[iOmIbUGo]

altro, OvO, pecksniff, allun, sig. sapio (ghghgh)

[lysine]

People I really love and wish i could live with fro my entire life

Phil Elvrum (mt eerie)
Patrick Wolf
Khaela Maricich (1/2 the blow)
Jona Bechtolt (yacht, 1/2 the blow)
Jenny Lewis (lead woman from rilo kiley)
Owen Pallet (final fantasy (not the game))
Owen Ashworth (Casiotone)

[smithcorey]

bjork, drew daniel and martin schmidt, philip glass, paul mc cartney

[blondeonblonde]

The Birthday Party
David Bowie
The Del-Byzanteens
Kate Bush
Marvin Gaye

[byronhulcher]

David Bowie, Bright Eyes, MSI, Smashing Pumpkins, DEVO, Aquabats, Lou Reed

[Veck]

Björk, Will Oldham (every single manifestation and moniker of his I've found something amazing and beautiful in, this man is the most versatile and amazing and blah blah blah blah), Jeff Mangum, Jeff Buckley, Lou Reed. All of Augie March are amazing.

[Saiken]

Thanks for the contributions so far, but I have to bring someone into prominence who really spent some time to write a few words for every mentioned artist, urgeinthebox.

I'm just going to add some names at the bottom of this post this time, maybe annex a little subdued story for every artist later.

(apart from Zappa and Vliet in no particular order)
Frank Zappa (/Mothers of Invention)
[...]

Captain Beefheart
[...]

Mahavishnu Orchestra
[...]

Leonard Cohen
[...]

The Residents
[...]

John Frusciante
[...]

Popol Vuh
[...]

Edgard Varèse
[...]

Nirvana
[...]

Pere Ubu
[...]

Red Crayola
[...]

Faust
[...]

Can
[...]

The Gun Club
[...]

Dead Kennedys
[...]

Tim Buckley
[...]

Hüsker Dü
[...]

The Smiths
[...]

Lisa Germano
[...]

Butthole Surfers
[...]

Van Morrison
[...]

Charles Mingus
[...]

Robert Wyatt
[...]

Suicide
[...]

Hm..


(I will edit this post on august the 19th, vacation)