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Frog Strips posted:This isn't really what the thread is for, but I've started listening to MF Doom. The Mouse and the Mask was great, the references to AQHF were kinda corny, and I really, really liked Mm Food. His handful of "Special Herbs" hip-hop instrumentals are worth a listen if you can find any. They're under the name Metal Fingers (what the MF in MF Doom sometimes stands for) and are variously packaged 2 or 3 EP 'volumes' per full-length cd. There are something like 10 total. I'm also advocating the new "Born Like This" as DOOM. And if you can  it, Adult Swim put out a 7-track download as an addendum to The Mouse And The Mask called "Occult Hymn". It's got a few remixes, a couple of B-sides, and skits. It was offered for free for a while, but is no longer available on their site.
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Jan 28, 2010 23:32
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Fame Throwa posted:I'm trying to get more into old school folk music but I'm not sure where to start. I pretty much only know about Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens. Pete Seeger's "We Shall Overcome: Complete Carnegie Hall Concert" double album is excellent and covers a lot of territory from the early-sixties folk movement. European ballads, American civil rights tunes, a few foreign-language classics, and some sing alongs. A ton of songs everybody knows were popularized by Pete (and his work with the Weavers). Plus, he's a fiend with a banjo. Alternatively, you might enjoy the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack and the live tour album, "Down From The Mountain". More bluegrass and blues than "straight" folk, but there are some great performances of some classics in there. (That movie was awesome.)
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Feb 12, 2010 07:22
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Brownie posted:Where do I start with Ennio Morricone? The guy has so much stuff out I don't really know what to do. Even his list of compilations is like 3 pages long. Not quite what you're asking for, but the soundtrack he did for The Thing perfectly covers symphonic horror music for me. Evocative themes and enough stylistic shifts that it doesn't become boring. Here's a couple of tracks off of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY7SAwNBnio -Humanity (part 2) Slow minor chords with a heartbeat pulse that flips into a frantic high organ version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpuRm7UWtMU -Despair Full orchestra playing around with several levels of tension and emotion
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Mar 19, 2010 05:35
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WeaponX posted:Where do I start with Ani DiFranco? She has a staggering number of releases out there. Her self-titled first album is total girl-powered singer/songwriter loving and makes a decent entry point for her folkiest material. Not a Pretty Girl, Dilate, or Little Plastic Castle are also very good (possibly in that order), however they are much more deliberately produced studio rock with some scattered bits of jam sessions and poetry. The Living In Clip 2-disc recording is her best live album and covers a bunch of her first few years with some good stage banter. And the Revelling/Reckoning double album shows off a more mature sound with a range of styles (some jazz, blues, and cool instrumentals) mixed in with the folk/rock and pop-esque stuff.
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Jun 13, 2010 01:52
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Baram posted:Where do I start with Sublime? They only have three actual albums. Their self-titled third one (after Bradley Nowell OD'd on heroin) is their best and has most of their radio hits on it. Get the 2-disc Deluxe version if you can find it. The other two are fairly uneven, but 40oz. To Freedom is a little less B-sidey and more listenable than Robbin' The Hood. The real B-side album (Second-hand Smoke) is okay. I haven't heard the live album (Stand By Your Van), but the first major tribute album (Look At All The Love We Found) does have some pretty interesting bands on it. Note: I don't know anything about the post-death reformations (Long Beach Dub Allstars/Shortbus and Sublime With Rome). e:f;b. ThaGhettoJew fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Jun 13, 2010 |
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Jun 13, 2010 19:18
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BeigeJacket posted:Calexico seemed to have kept themselves busy over the years, wheres to begin? Calexico is genuinely all over the place, but I'd say they're closer to a down-tempo Gomez with some Southern borderstate roots rock in it than anything noirish. The album Hot Rail is pretty good though. It's got the single "Ballad of Cable Hogue" and a couple like it for your indie love, a handful of mariachi-fusion things (e.g. "Tres Avisos"), and some semi-atmospheric instrumental tracks. The album Carried to Dust is wordier but still pretty decent. And the EP(?) Convict Pool is solid and only a half hour long.
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Aug 3, 2010 21:04
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ConradPoohs posted:What Gary Numan albums should I get besides The Pleasure Principle? I just got that one, and am enjoying it a lot. Backwards to the Gary Numan/Tubeway Army album "Replicas" or forwards to the solo "Telekon" album. Both have some of his best songs on it. If you want a wider taste of his stuff, the greatest-hitsy "Rumour" or the "Hybrid" remix album are kind of cool. (Hybrid is a different, more modern sort of sound though and touches more of his later music.) There is also a weirdly awesome 2-disc tribute album called "Random" with a bunch of neat takes of his stuff on it, but I'd recommend it more for somebody already into his stuff. It's got Jesus Jones, Moloko, Pop Will Eat Itself, EMF, Republica, The Orb, Dubstar, Damon Albarn, and a bunch of acts I've never heard of. It is both ironically and unironically entertaining at times.
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Aug 10, 2010 07:59
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cloudchamber posted:What's the best Bjork album to start with? All I've really heard so far are a few of her singles and random songs used in various movie soundtracks. Seconding Post. Other decent starting places are her first album Debut or Homogenic, another well-produced pop album. Medulla's not that good of an introduction since it's sort of experimental (it's all voiced/vocal samples with no instruments), but it is very interesting if you like the artier material she does. As an aside Post's remix album, Telegram, is pretty cool too if you like the songs (and beats). edit: beat, pretty much
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Aug 19, 2010 05:13
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Before this valuable thread drops too far back in the forum, where can I start with RJD2? Is the instrumental stuff better or the mix albums or what? There's a lot of material to paw through.
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Aug 28, 2010 20:11
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Since my RJD2 request was a bust, anyone know anything about Cyndi Lauper albums outside of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"? "Time After Time" and "True Colors" are nice, if overplayed. Her Lennon tribute stuff ("Working Class Hero", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Hey Bulldog") I found on YouTube was pretty classy and she's always had a great singing voice.
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Sep 2, 2010 06:53
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het posted:Grab his first two full-lengths Deadringer and Since We Last Spoke. Honestly I never thought of him as having a particularly intimidating catalogue His wiki page has something like 20 albums of solo, mix and collaboration material plus his EP's and instrumentals. But "start at the beginning" works for me. Thanks.
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Sep 2, 2010 20:02
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Where do I start with Erica Badu? I remember liking "Tyrone" and "Southern Girl" back in the day, and she was one of the few graces in the Blues Brothers 2000 movie. Start early and work forward? Anything to skip? And while we're on the ladies with strong pipes, a while back I asked about Cyndi Lauper and no one had any opinions. So if anyone's got any recommendations this time not involving girls just wanting to have some sort of fun, that would be nice.
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Mar 14, 2011 09:29
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Thank you, you two. I can now better plan my used-CD questing.
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Mar 14, 2011 21:16
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A Sober Irishman posted:Where do I start with George Harrison's solo work? I've only heard a couple of his solo songs, i.e When We Was Fab and Got My Mind Set On You and I liked them. I've downloaded Cloud 9 but I haven't listened to it yet. What else should I check out? After the above All Things Must Pass recommendation, you might want to transition to the somewhat darker Living In The Material World as a mostly solid followup. Cloud 9 is a bit uneven with some unfortunate 80's flavors that I don't care much for, but there is still some great material there. If you like that, I'd throw in the posthumously produced final album Brainwashed for solid example of his later works.
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Jul 16, 2011 06:19
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LtTennisBall posted:This might go along with Glass, but where do I start with ambient in general? I've been listening to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sountrack (I don't know if this is considered ambient or even good ambient) and have in particular fallen in love with piano based tracks such as this. Just to go backwards with this, there are some fine Trent Reznor tracks like this on his earlier soundtrack with Atticus Ross for The Social Network, albeit a little more industrial at times. There's another album of just instrumentals he did under Nine Inch Nails called Ghosts I-IV and an album of B-sides called And All That Could Have Been: Still that has a similar feel to the half that is non-verbal song deconstructions.
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Dec 13, 2011 23:02
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Sandwolf posted:A Tribe Called Quest? I think it's been brought up before, but the most appreciated albums are easily Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders. The latter of which probably sold a bit better due to the popularity of Award Tour as a single, but they are both considered classics of the genre. After that I'd go back to the first album, People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm for the first songs that got them famous and then on to the still good but a bit uneven later stuff Beats, Rhymes and Life and The Love Movement. They tend to get a bit jazzier and more serious as they get chronologically later, so you can sort of generally use that as a guide. And if you get a hankerin' for more from their solo stuff, Q-Tip's (later Kamaal The Abstract) is good on the whole if a bit spare, while Phife's one disc is pretty much terrible.
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Feb 8, 2012 11:30
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Fruits of the sea posted:I've been hunting for new music lately, and I realized that while I've listened to a lot of older rap groups (NaS, ATCQ, Wu-Tang, Guru and so on), I don't know anthing about Tupac. Where should I start with his stuff and should I bother with any of the posthumous releases? My personal favorite is the All Eyez On Me double album which was probably his best-selling release, although there's much to be said for the preceding album Me Against The World and particularly his first, 2Pacalypse Now. The Makavelli album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, is pretty dark but solid. As far as his posthumous stuff goes, the only one I know well is Better Dayz which is pretty good all told. The production is a little more "modern" although you can definitely tell that Tupac's input is missing and more of his Outlawz friends are filling in the cracks. R U Still Down? (Remember Me) and Until The End of Time have also done well although I don't know much about the releases. So, tl;dr get the double-disc Greatest Hits collection for a decent overview if you're not certain, but All Eyez On Me and 2Pacalypse Now are great starting points if you want to hear what he can do with a full head of steam and a book of rhyme pages.
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Feb 20, 2012 12:46
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the Bunt posted:Violent Femmes? Definitely start with the self-titled album for the catchy little numbers that got them played everywhere. There's a nifty deluxe version with some demos and live versions that will give you more of an idea of what they do. After that check out the brilliant New Times for a more grown-up and weirder take with great productions values, or Hallowed Ground and Why Do Birds Sing? for something a little closer to the original sound. Freak Magnet is newer but still fun, and you can look at 3 or The Blind Leading The Naked if you need more but they're not all that special.
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Feb 21, 2012 08:44
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I know there are only five albums, but any recommendations on where to start with Elbow? This live version of Grounds For Divorce was pretty sweet and I've had their stupidly fun little cover of Independent Women in my collection (and in my head) for a while now but never really tracked them down.
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Mar 2, 2012 23:48
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Epi Lepi posted:YMMV but I honestly think they're way more interesting live than on an album. The album Grounds for Divorce comes from, The Seldom Seen Kid, is the only one I really dig, though I just found out they had a new one come out last year. kingturnip posted:The Seldom Seen Kid is probably their best album, as mentioned. After that, Build A Rocket Boys! or Leaders Of The Free World would be your best bet. Thanks, you two.
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Mar 4, 2012 03:52
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Blast Fantasto posted:The Meat Puppets? I'm going to break with TheNintenGenius about this, although both II and Up On The Sun are fantastic albums and definitely worthy starting points. To me the band seemed to be still trying to buck their noisepunk first album and weren't as musically solid as they would get later. I recommend jumping on their mid-nineties albums, Too High To Die and No Joke!, which were the last couple with all three musicians from the original lineup. They have all the weird originality of their early stuff matched with a more practiced and matured sound. You may have actually heard "Backwater" from Too High on non-college radio. Both discs are quite accessible and have some notably catchy songs. After you've made it through those four, grab Mirage and Monsters if you like their earlier sound better, or Forbidden Places and Golden Lies if you like the latter two. Fortunately, except maybe for the self-titled starting album and the live stuff (Live In Montana/No Strings Attached), you really can't go too wrong. Find any one of theirs in a used CD bin somewhere and play it a couple of times through and you'll probably be happy.
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Apr 5, 2012 23:02
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HateTheInternet posted:How about Robyn Hitchcock? Or alternatively to dailydares fine ideas you can hit up the couple of poppier/hit song(?) albums like Groovy Decoy, Respect or Perspex Island. Personally I started from the way weird end with his solo works Invisible Hitchcock and Eye and was hooked, so your mileage will definitely vary. And finally since you're already drowning in choices of the latter day material I really like Jewels For Sofia and then Olé! Tarantula when he started with the Venus 3 (R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, Young Fresh Fellows' Scott McCaughey, and Ministry's Bill Rieflin). The upside of Robyn is it's really hard to go wrong since almost everything he puts out has his really unique sound and poetic/insane lyricism. The downside as you may have noticed is that he is ridiculously prolific and it can start to blend together if you don't take time to savor it.
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Dec 28, 2012 14:59
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Lawless Laura Lee posted:Where do I start with 2pac? Of the only 5 albums he released while he was alive (Plus "Thug Life"), his first 2pacalypse Now and his third-ish All Eyez On Me (a double disc release) are my favorites to start out on. 2pacalypse has "Brenda Has A Baby" and is him at his least self-aware since he's just getting started, and Eyez has "California Love" on it and due to its length can cover a lot more ground. The last one, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory when he started rapping as Makaveli is pretty well-received too although I like Eyez better. Of his posthumous stuff I really like the 2-disc Better Dayz for maybe doing the best at keeping his peak style together. Either Pac's Life or Loyal To The Game would be okay if you prefer newer or more modern rap music styles (the latter especially if you like Eminem's production style). Of course, they tend to lose a little since they're clearly just tracking around dry Tupac material instead of making new music with him, but they are fine on their own.
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Mar 24, 2013 02:45
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alnilam posted:I really really dig the track 360' (Oh Yeah?) that De La Soul did with the Propellerheads. TheNintenGenius posted:Like with most rap artists, your best bet is to start with their first album, 3 Feet High and Rising. I concur with 3 Feet High and Rising, it's playful and drat good. It's produced by Prince Paul who also helped out with their next two albums. Buhloone Mindstate (the third) is a good followup if you liked that, plus there's some notable growth in their song creation skills. After that I like The Grind Date and the first of the AOI albums, Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump, more or less equally. AOI: Bionix and the mix tapes are okay, but don't stand out too strongly for me. For whatever reason I never got De La Soul Is Dead, but I assume it's comparable to 3 Feet High and Buhloone in quality (if not in sales) and has a solid reputation. And I similarly missed out on their Buhloone followup Stakes Is High and last year's First Serve, so they could be anything as far as I know. The other stuff I'm pretty good with. If you're wondering what they sound like now they were the rappers behind the Gorillaz singles "Feel Good Inc." and "Superfast Jellyfish" and a couple of other random tracks with Prince Paul's 'solo' stuff and Paul's brilliant super-team-ups with Dan The Automator, Handsome Boy Modeling School, all of which are probably worth checking out on their own.
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Aug 16, 2013 11:46
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h_double posted:De La Soul Is Dead isn't just my favorite DLS album, it's in close competition with Fear of A Black Planet for my favorite hip-hop album period. Sold! Not that I wasn't already down for all of those things, but I will redouble my efforts to find these last couple of bits of Prince Paul production perfection I don't already have then. alnilam, you should do fine.
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Aug 17, 2013 08:22
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karl fungus posted:How do I start with... Porcupine Tree? Henchman of Santa posted:In Absentia is probably the best starting point for PT.
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Aug 30, 2013 11:15
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After The War posted:Can anyone recommend any hip-hop based around industrial or noise backing tracks? My rap knowledge comes to an abrupt halt in 1995. I know it's been a month since you asked, but I want to give a shout out to this 2007 Saul Williams album that Trent Reznor did a lot of the music for and I'm still kind of obsessed with- "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust". Trent's "industrial" sound isn't super hardcore or anything, but there's some sweet factory and synth beats to go with Saul's poetic bent. I don't think it sold very well for them, but it owns. Think Zulu Nation style lyrics (Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, etc.) on a concept album with Nine Inch Nails' constructed industrial/electro rock instead of jazz.
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Mar 1, 2015 21:39
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