Music Group Recommendations
 

Hey everyone, I think it would be high time for us to have a thread like this. The premise is simple: Recommend to us some lesser known but really cool bands that we should keep an eye out for. Feel free to do any genre, and feel free to also put down some tracks that we should especially listen too. Anyway, I'll start off.

Soul Coughing. I'm not sure if this is a very widely known band, but they're very cool. They're unfortunately duisbanded, and only released 3 real albums (They have a 4th, but it's only a best of one). It's hard to really describe the type of music they do, but, as a point ofl reference, I find that it is sorta similar to the style that Cake uses, but the feeling is quite a bit darker. It was headed up by Mike Doughty, who wrote some interesting and very cool lyrics (and, in case you're interested, he also released a book of poetry, called Slanky.) Soul Coughing is definately worth checking out.

Now, feel free to post as many bands as you want, and have fun with it, people!

Nightwish might be more popular outside the US, but I still have yet to meet any fellow fans. They've redone Over the Hills and Far Away, Phantom of the Opera, and a few others probably. My favorite track is 10th Man Down (makes me think of Berserk ^^). Now when I say that they're a metal group, I'm hoping the reader knows better than to imagine the stereotypical screaming into the mic with a loud, irritating noise in the background. The lead singer's style mixes opera with metal in a way, so their stuff has a modern/classy sound.

some more
 

Flogging Molly. Great punk band with extremely heavy irish folk influence. They release on sideonedummy records.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. My favorite band of all time, now on hiatus. A lot of people have probably heard of them, and they have a HUGE fan base. ska-core, baby!

Jim's Big Ego. Nice intelligent folky rock tunes. I can really connect to a song of theirs called "cheat to lose."

Oh yeah, just one quick thing; the whole band recommendation board thing has been thought up before, and I recommend you all check out www.listenlist.org. No one ever posts up there anymore, so help me bring it back to full swing.

Current 93 - They were one of the first English industrial bands, but quickly changed their style into something called neo-folk; basically they play sinister, folk-ish songs with lyrics about various religious and occult issues. Songs: Coal Black Smith, Lucifer over London, All the pretty little Horses, Gothic Love SongThe Bloodbells Chime, ; some Albums: Soft Black Stars, All the pretty little Horses, Thunder Perfect Mind, Earth Covers Earth.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Maybe you remember Where the wild Roses Grow with Kylie Minogue, or Red Right Hand from the movies Dumb & Dumber and Scream. That was them. Very dark lyrics paired with music that ranges from Stooges-like punk (kinda) to ballads. Also check out singer Nick Cave's former bands, The Boys Next Door (punk) and The Birthday Party (punk-ish). Songs: The Carny, Deanna, Red Right Hand, Let Love In, Bring It On, Rock of Gibraltar, Jangling Jack, Henry Lee... quite randomly selected. Everything's good really. They have a very good Best Of - album out, too.
Probably worth mentioning that their guitarist, until last year or so, was Blixa Bargeld of German Industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten. Woo!

The Gun Club - Maybe more known. They played a mixture of Blues, Country and Punk and released quite some albums before their band leader overdosed and died. 16 Horsepower play a similar kind of music (minus the punk part) and openly admit to Gun Club as a big influence. Songs (GC only): Sex Beat, I Hear Your Heart Singing, Blackjack Davey, Ghost On The Highway, For the Love Of Ivy, Preaching The Blues, Fire Spirit, Carry Home, Texas Serenade, Like Calling Up Thunder, Desire By Blue River.

NoMeansNo - Canadian "artcore" band. Rhythmic songs with a very present bass; when asked, I like to call it "Punk, but they know how to play". Very well at that. Check out anything you want, you either like their style or abhor it. If you do like it, and if you like punk, check out The Hanson Brothers, their Ramones-like sideproject. Probably should like hockey for that, too.

Eläkeläiset - This is where it gets weird. These guys from Finland take well-known songs and cover them... a) as humppa, the finnish version of polka, b) on the cheapest instruments, c)with finnish lyrics (which, as I'm told, belong R-Rated) and d) mind-destroyingly drunk.
Imagine Weird Al Yankovic doing one of his polka covers twice as fast and in an (for outstanders) incomprehensible language, and you just about have it. I'd imagine it's hellish hard to come by outside of Europe, though. The band name means "the pensioners", by the way. Songs: Everything... except the stuff from their latest album; not that it's bad, but it's no cover versions. Those are the most hilarious.

So much for now, it's quite possible I'll introduce you to some more later on.

Dropkick Murphys--Irish punks from Boston, MA. I recommend "Do or Die" or "Sing Loud, Sing Proud" When is the last time you heard bagpipes in your punk tunes?

Split Lip Rayfield - insane. Absolutely insane. Take bluegrass and add a guy with a stand up bass made of a weedwhacker string and a car's gas tank.

The Pogues/Shane MacGowan - Without them, Flogging Molly never exists.

The Descendents - they're pretty old school now, but still excellent

The Selecter - not everyone's cup, but a great one in their day

The Modern Lovers/ Jonathan Richman - 25 years before Weezer, also produced Talking Heads and The Cars

Alright, heres some more:

Kemuri. Japanese ska-core. Great in the beginning, but if you listen to it for too long, their whole obsession with positive mental attitudes gets annoying.

Two and a half White Guys. You can download a few of their songs for free off the internet. great new ska band. www.twoandahalfwhiteguys.com.

Mr. T Experience. Its punk. What else can I say?

They Might Be Giants. Geeky geek rock. Tre chic geek.

King Apparatus. Canadian ska, with influence more on the dancehall style rythm of two tone instead of third wave punkyness.

The Specials. Dude, respect your roots.

The Toasters. Awesome ska, still playing today. Bucket from the toasters heads up Megalith records, a new ska label. www.megalithrecords.com

The Minibosses. 8-bit game rock. www.minibosses.com

Mad Caddies. Ragtime ska punk. Brilliant.

I got plenty more, but this is long enough for now.

And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead A little bit of punk, and a lot of art-rock. Raw and catchy at the same time. Their albums are all strong, and their songs really sound new.

Old Man Gloom Very VERY loud prog-metal, but they never get obnoxious and rely on plenty of melodic themes in their work. Also, check out Cave-In

311 Some albums are rap-rock, some are more ska-rock. Their new one is leaning towards phsycadelia.

Form of Rocket Sort of instrumental hard rock with a nifty folksy theme. www.formofrocket.com/audio.htm

That Dog - Catchy chick-rock

Minus the Bear - Awesome.

Modest Mouse - Not sure if it's obscure, but still damn good

Iced Earth - Heavy metal at its best.

Demons & Wizards - Iced Earth together with Blind Guardian. Only one self titled album out, but every song is kick ass.

Thrice - One of the better hard rock/punk bands I've heard in a while. They've been getting some radio play, so maybe you've already heard of them.

Del Castillo - Local Austin band that sprouts some cool Latin grooves. If you can find any mp3's get them(and let me know) or you can go to their website. http://www.delcastillomusic.com/