Who is the world's greatest current musician?

[The Masked Unit]

I'm 99% sure that this thread will be met with derision for any number of reasons, but I've spent the last twenty minutes typing it so I'm going to press ahead anyway, mkay?!

Who do you regard as the world's greatest current musician or band? It needs to be somebody pretty bloody special.

But how can you possibly distinguish between so many greats, and is it possible to apply some objective criteria to the proceedings? Well, I'd say that the world's greatest current musician needs to be genre defining, a recognised genius in his or her field, original, influencial, and have a string of classics under his belt with no or few clangers. Bonus points could perhaps be awarded for diversity of styles, the pushing of boundaries and the like.

My vote is for the rapper/producer El-p http://www.definitivejux.net/jukies/el-p

He has a style that is so unique that it can't be copied, although a generation of underground hip-hop producers are clearly influenced by him. It's true that the likes of Timbaland and Premier also have very unique styles but they happen to be very formulaic to the point that a skilled engineer with a brief could replicate their sound without too much trouble. When you hear a new Timbaland track you know within the first few seconds that it's one of his, but only because the same motifs permeate his productions. You also know within seconds that you've got an El-p production on your hands, but you can seldom explain why. No two tracks sound the same.

In just twelve years he has released four undisputed, universally acclaimed classic albums, each one sonically different and more mature than the last (Funcrusher+, The cold Vein, Fantastic Damage, I'll sleep when your dead) and an additional three (Little Johnny From The Hospital, High Water, Collecting the Kid) that only escape undisputed classic status because they are either less well known due to poor promotion in LTFTH's case, a diversion from his usual style (High Water is a jazz album), or confused about their identity (Collecting the Kid is an instrumental album comprising instrumental versions of existing tracks, tracks from a movie he scored, and general oddness). On top of this, he has contributed heavily to a number of other artist albums, each time coming up with a new style for the artist in question.

He is better than his peers: MF Doom's best work in recent years has been reliant on collaborators and his style is one-dimensional despite adopting a variety of personas, Premier and Pete Rock are undoubtably responsible for some of the most sublime beats to ever has graced vinyl, but have done nothing original for years (the former churns out xerox's of his own work on a weekly basis). Prefuse 73 occupies a similar space in terms of originality and creativity, but like the aforementioned Timbaland, suffers from a style that is over reliant on specific production tools and techniques. Dr Dre, Jay-Z, Kanye West etc are capable of amazing things (Dre is the only person in my view who has been so consistent), but are let down by commercial pressures dictating that they can't be as daring as they capable of.

Like his productions, his lyrical style is entirely his own: verbose, political, intelligent and incredibly technical as well as funny and angry in equal doses.

As a lovely little bonus, he also happens to co-own one of hip hop's greatest underground labels, which is home home to many other incredible artists.

Yes, I'm fully aware that many will dismiss him simply because he's a hip hop musician, and they can't play guitars, can they? Well no, but if you can point me to any man or band who can do with guitars what this man can do with a sampler and synth, I'd be pleasantly surprised (for what it's worth, I enjoy guitar based music as much as the next man).

[Jemble Fred]

The problem is, surely if he qualified you wouldn't need to explain to anybody who he was? Surely the greatest would be the most celebrated, and famous? For the record, that chap's completely new to me.

So yeah, you'd have to really nail the terms 'greatest' and 'current' right into the ground here... Even 'musician' is open to many interpretations...

Pedantic? Me? Suck away.

[sirhenry]

In just twelve years he has released four undisputed, universally acclaimed classic albums

4 albums in just 12 years? That's just lazy.

[thugler]

The problem is, surely if he qualified you wouldn't need to explain to anybody who he was? Surely the greatest would be the most celebrated, and famous?

Not at all. Plenty of complete trash is celebrated.

El-p is fantastic. Perhaps one of the greatest of all time in the realm of hip hop, but I don't think the worlds greatest musician. But then how do you compare musicians of wildly different styles?

[El Unicornio, mang]

I think, if you're a musician, you have to say yourself, otherwise why are you even bothering to pick up an instrument?

Anyway, aside from myself, I would say.....Johnny Marr.

[Pylon Man]

I think, if you're a musician, you have to say yourself, otherwise why are you even bothering to pick up an instrument?

For fun?

[Delete Delete Delete]

For political purposes , charity, posing and to get girls.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Oh yeah, I forgot about those things.

[chand]

I think, if you're a musician, you have to say yourself, otherwise why are you even bothering to pick up an instrument? 

I literally couldn't live without myself, so I'm inclined to agree.

As for the question, I find it hard enough answering the question of who my personal favourite artist is, let alone trying to square that with everyone else's concerns and worry about who the greatest is.

[Funcrusher]

I really love a lot of El-P's stuff (I guess my usernames a bit of a clue) - Co Flow, Can Ox, Fantastic Damage etc, he could do no wrong for me for a long time. But I really get nothing out of 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead'. Not a single beat stands out, I was really disappointed by it. The 'Weareallgonnaburninhell 2' mixtape that's out now had a few beats on that I thought were okay, but to me he's fallen off. And, good as he is, he'll never equal Premier who, while he may not be what he was, I'd rate as the supreme hip-hop producer of all time. I still seek his stuff out, and even his merely ok tunes I like, and I wouldn't count him out yet.

There's really no one in music today who I think is great and producing great work right now. If we're talking about musicians in terms of great players, then I guess I'd look to jazz, but many of the greats have now passed away. Maybe McCoy Tyner is the best still standing.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I think, to make the question easier, you have to ask yourself - If I were to create a band right now and could have any one musician in the band with me, who would I pick?

[ThickAndCreamy]

I think, to make the question easier, you have to ask yourself - If I were to create a band right now and could have any one musician in the band with me, who would I pick?

I would choose Eddie Argos out of Art Brut because I find him amusing, and I could imagine being around him would be very easy going, stupid and a lot of fun.

He can't play or sing for shit mind.

[Delete Delete Delete]

I'd think I'd go for Richard Thompson or Brian Eno.

[simondykes]

Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider.

(I was going to say James Murphy but he's a tad on the derivative side,I guess.Still think LCD/DFA are great though.)

[Neville Chamberlain]

It's definitely Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.

[sirhenry]

It's definitely Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.

Not Ace Frehley?

[Jemble Fred]

Richard Vranch is good. He makes stuff up on the piano and guitar – and I've heard of him.

[chand]

I think, to make the question easier, you have to ask yourself - If I were to create a band right now and could have any one musician in the band with me, who would I pick?

Well all I need is a drummer, so I'd probably pick Chris Corsano. Not sure I'd say he was the world's greatest current musician though.

[Lord Mandrake]

Sly stone, Steve Wonder & Ry Cooder ain't half bad..

Technically it's probably some classical piano or violin wizard I've never heard of.

Or Bono.

[The Masked Unit]

Re: If he's so good, why haven't I heard of him? I'd put it to you that I probably haven't heard of whoever the best current concert pianist is, nor the best current grindcore band, but that's no reason not to submit an artist from each of those  genres. In the alternative hip hop scene, he is undoubtably well known and to my mind without equal and that's why he get's my vote.

Funcrusher, it surprises me that you don't like ISWYD. Have you given it a decent run out or did it just not gel with you initially so you didn't go back to it? I'd say it's easily the equal of FanDam, just more refined and mature. I suppose it's not as abrasive and chaotic as his earlier work, which is what he's really known for, but as a fellow fan I'd urge you to simply listen to it on continuous repeat until it sinks in! RE: Primo - yes, he's a god like genius, but he does nothing but churn out the same stuff week after week. Most of the time he doesn't even bother changing the drum samples he uses. To me, he's somebody who's struck a winning formula and knows he can get a handsome sum for a morning's work without ever thinking about what he's doing. It wouldn't surprise me whatsoever to find that somebody else is using his templates to make music for a wage while he collects the royalties. El-p, on the other hand, constantly challenges himself by trying out new approaches, collaborators and sounds. He is the best because he has done, and continues to do more than anyone in terms of pushing the genre than any other.

Stevie Wonder? Best of all time, perhaps, but the current best? Last time I checked he hadn't released a decent album for a couple decades.

[Funcrusher]

I'm listening to ISWYD now, and it's still sounding like a bit of a boring dirge to me. He's ended up sounding like his less talented accolytes and what detractors of this sound tend to accuse it of - self-consciously doomy, unfunky, wonky beats - and his MC ing just seems a bit one-note ranting/hectoring, his delivery doesn't vary much. There's nothing here that excites me like 'Tuned Mass Damper' or 'TOJ' off the last one. Lack of hooks, and the tracks tend to be a bit too busy. It just doesn't really hold any great surprises either, it's kind of what I'd expect an El-P album to sound like. The last Burial album, say, feels way more interesting than this. At one time hip-hop really was pushing the envelope, but I don't think anyone's really doing great work right now - Madlib just puts out too much stuff, J Dilla's dead, Doom's a bit played out, The RZAs a completely lost cause, Premo puts out solid enough tracks but he's done all the mould breaking he's likely to do.

[scarecrow]

I'd think I'd go for Richard Thompson or Brian Eno.

Thompson gets my vote too- i defy anyone whose seen him live to name a better guitarist- and such intensity.

I also think Todd Rundgren is pretty amazing but i suppose he uses a lot of studio trickery..

[Beagle 2]

Jack White for me. I've never seen anybody slay so hard on the guitar and improvise so amazingly live, I'm in a state of permanent shiver every time I see him play.

[thugler]

Jack White for me. I've never seen anybody slay so hard on the guitar and improvise so amazingly live, I'm in a state of permanent shiver every time I see him play.

Try looking at all the guitarists he rips off.

Not saying he isn't good, but SO far from the greatest musician in the world.

[Ginyard]

Francis Rossi

[The Masked Unit]

Folks, we have a winner!

[Funcrusher]

Best guitarists, I guess John McLaughlin or Tom Verlaine would be in the running for me, but based on past work rather than anything they're doing now.

[The Masked Unit]

Funcrusher, thanks for the heads up on Burial, which I've just, er, acquired. It's very interesting stuff and he's doing with that genre what I attempt and probably fail miserably to do with hip hop on some of my more abstract dabblings. I think my problem with it is that it's more interesting than exciting, if that makes any kind of sense at all, and to my ears there's very little in the way of variation on the album. Will definitely persevere with it though; the vocals are very reminiscent of early Todd Edwards stuff (if I were a very lazy hack paid to come up with such descriptions, I'd call it Todd Edwards meets Tuff Jam on heroin, or some shit!)

[Beagle 2]

Try looking at all the guitarists he rips off.

Not saying he isn't good, but SO far from the greatest musician in the world.

Maybe I've missed the point of this thread. He's obviously not technically the best but the sound he makes with his mouth and hands makes him the most electrifying musician around to me. I tried to think of somebody cooler to say but I'd be lying.

[Don_Preston]

From all the reports I've heard Sly Stone's become somewhat of a joke in recent years, with poor live shows and the like. Similar to Wonder in not making a good album in decades. Of course both their legacies are enough to shine through and all that.