Posted on 01/07/2014 7:02:12 AM PST by Notary Sojac
This thread had its genesis in this one -
Millenial's Music Taste (vanity). Whats wrong with your generation?
- where a few of us made the case for really good music being made in the 21st century by artists who aren't retreads from the boomer era or earlier. It's a mission of mine to try to get my fellow boomers to break that fixation with the "oldies station" and listen to some new stuff.
I plan to make the case for a few artists here, and hope that more Freepers will chime in.
Please do so!! Give us a little info about the contemporary artists you like, with an album or track recommendation.
My tastes run to bluegrass, blues, swing, and what's now called "Americana", but any genre is welcome here. Except techno. Post any dance/techno recommends and you'll earn the Sojac raspberry!
To kick off:
Eleni Mandell is, like many of my favorite artists, not easily slotted into a genre. She has done country, pop, straight ahead rock, and classic '40s style lounge singing. But in every style her hooks are memorable and her lyrics witty.
Recommended album to start with: Miracle of Five, tracks "Moonglow, Lamp Low" and "Somebody Else".
Chatham County Line is a bluegrass outfit out of North Carolina. Straight up, tight bluegrass harmonies with a minimum of twang.
Recommended album to start with: Speed of the Whippoorwill, title track and "Coming Home".
Dave Alvin was, with his brother Phil, a founding member of The Blasters, the greatest roots rock group you've never heard of. Although his career with that group goes back to the eighties, most of his good solo material is post-2000. Dave perfectly rides the boundary between garage rock and country, a real sweet spot for me.
Recommended album to start with: Blackjack David, tracks "Abilene" and "New Highway".
Muse: “Madness”
Xavier Rudd: “Conceal Me”
Check them out on youtube
Great pick. I like that cover better than the original.
The Blasters are great!
I have been following “Here Come The Mummies” for several years. They are a funk band with a twist. If you ever get a chance to see them live, you won’t regret it. YouTube em....
Third Day and Disciple are little too much for me. I don’t mind Christian rock, but I believe the subtly-messaged lyrics are better than the in-your-face. The market tends to agree with that as well.
Again, sorry, but you can keep your contemporary ‘music’, your contemporary TV shows, most of your contemporary movies, your contemporary automobiles, even your contemporary cartoons, all of which absolutely suck in comparison to the good old days of American culture.
Depends on what you’re into. If you like music that’s not entirely cheerful last year was probably the greatest year in music with Black Sabbath, Nick Cave and Megadeth each giving us 2 albums (studio and live), and David Bowie, Rob Zombie, Suicidal Tendencies, Nine Inch Nails, Monster Magnet and Planet P Project all giving us new albums. Plenty of the classic rock guys are still making new music of extremely high quality over and above the ones on that list we had new Ian Anderson in 2012 and another one coming this year. In the younger crowd I generally look towards the metal scene and the Irish crowd, most of the metal guys did stuff last year. In the Irish land the big entries are Young Dubliners, Seven Nations, Flogging Mollies, and Dropkick Murphies; a lot of high energy high quality in that crowd.
I forgot a YouTube choice. Try “I knew you were trouble” - a big single so you’ve already heard it - but listen again to the music.
I think I’ll stay with the classic rock and pop music from the 50’s,60’s,and 70’s.with very little from the 80’s.
As far as I’m concerned music died after that.
A closed mind is a terrible thing. Lots of great stuff is being produced today in all entertainment fields. Given the breadth of it (more is being produced than ever) if you’re willing to explore you are guaranteed to find something you like. Or you can shut your brain to the world and live a sad boring sheltered life.
Thousand Foot Krutch is very mainstream and very well liked. They’ve done a lot of collaboration with Canadian bands like Our Lady Peace. Listen to “Rawkfist” for a good intro to them.
Flyleaf is mainstream-ish but they’ve gone a little more to the punk side as of late.
I absolutely love Fireflight. Dawn Michelle and Wendy Drennan are gorgeous and absolutely rock the house. Their lyrics are very secular-sounding but the messaging is very much there and enjoyable. They’re very hopeful. Start with “Unbreakable” for a good sampling of their style.
Skillet is an all around powerhouse rock band. They are on my metal playlist in Pandora and really get my blood flowing when I’m pumping out reps in the gym. They’re a husband-wife quartet (two couples) and the melodic choruses really rise and fall well. Try “Waking Up” for a starter with them.
I still love my metal but listen to classical music in the morning ride to work.
Okay, maybe I exaggerated a bit. I’m sure there’s at least 1 or 2 songs in the past couple of decades that I can tolerate for a minute or so.
Seriously, I think I can count on my ten fingers the number of ‘great’ songs I’ve heard come out since the 80s. After the 80s, nearly everything about our culture took a steep nosedive.
Oh if we’re going non-secular contemporary rock, I will put 100% of my vote behind Alter Bridge. They’ve been around for most of the new millennium and formed from the remains of Creed after Scott Stapp went AWOL on them.
There’s not a single album or track that I can’t listen to on repeat, and their recent drop, “Fortress,” is absolutely stunning. Miles Kennedy’s voice is transcendent and intoxicating. Alter Bridge is a phenomenal rock band deserving of a listen.
Start with “Blackbird” for an amazing rock ballad, “Metalingus” for a sampling of the insanity that is Mark Tremonti, “Lover” off of their new album, or “Cry of Achilles” for a sampling of the dynamic range of their musical style, lyrics, and talent.
Lotta dubstep and bootleg remixes, and lately:
Subscape
Knife Party
Ellie Goulding
Flux Pavilion
Rusko
Me too and their original Red Hands is getting lots of radio play.
I've been going back in time, specifically to the 50's and the great music recorded by Sun Studio in Memphis. The energy of that music is not found in today's overproduced music, no matter the genre.
Mostly Polish music, or music from other Slavic countries:
Kasia Kowalska
Edyta Bartosiewicz
Hey
Myslovitz
Kazik
Pawel Kukiz
Katarina Knechtova
Avett Brothers.
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