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Artists you've always meant to give a listen but have never got round to

Started by Icehaven, January 23, 2019, 10:53:01 AM

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Icehaven

...and why you think you haven't. Few of mine are;
Clinic
Cardiacs
Perfume Genius
My Morning Jacket
Grandaddy
Slint
Suicide
Various solo/side projects of members of bands I like.

Usually a mix of recommendations from friends, from threads here and other places and names I've heard mentioned alongside or as influences of stuff I already like and have made a mental note of but just never managed to take the time. I think it's mostly a mix of not knowing where to start (particularly with artists with big back catalogues), limited time and lazy listening, always easier to stick with what you know. I've just formatted my MP3 player and am now in the process of filling it up again with the only criteria being that I've never heard it before though so hopefully I'll finally get round to some of it.

holyzombiejesus

XTC. I saw they'd reissued their albums and was really tempted but I haven't knowingly heard anything apart from Nigel. I quite like having these artists where you know you might well really like them but haven't had the time to explore yet. I was like that with Nina Simone and now, over a dozen albums later, I can't believe I ever hadn't delved.

Dirty Boy

QuoteCardiacs

Sing To God. Go to it now.

Actually, if you're short on time a double album probably isn't what you're after innit?

I have already listened to them quite a bit, but i keep meaning to properly explore Einstürzende Neubauten beyond the second and third Strategies Against Architecture compilations.

Oh and Guided By Voices who i thought would sound more like The Fall, but from the few bits i've heard sound like fairly tepid alt-rock.


Funcrusher

Suicide and Slint's back catalogues/signature works wouldn't take you long to get through. I should probably listen to Neubauten properly one of these days.

bigfatheart

Rudimentary Peni. They sound like they would be fascinating, but most anarcho-punk I've listened to (admittedly not a huge amount) has fallen somewhere between 'overly forbidding' and 'just boring'.

Icehaven

Quote from: Dirty Boy on January 23, 2019, 11:09:16 AM
Sing To God. Go to it now.

Actually, if you're short on time a double album probably isn't what you're after innit?


No that's great, cheers for the recommendation. I meant more that it's hard to find time to dig enough to find an entry point and to persevere if the first stuff you find doesn't grab you*, so guidance is welcome!

*I think that's part of my problem, I'm quite musically impatient, so if something doesn't immediately hit home I often don't bother persevering. Some of my favourite music memories are of hearing something new (often completely unexpectedly, on some film credits or in a pub or something) and just immediately thinking ''yep'', and having to find out what/who it is if I don't know, so I probably tend to look for that rather than giving things a chance to bed in.

lebowskibukowski


Frank Zappa.
The Fall.
New Order (bar the ubiquitous singles).
Robert Johnson - never strayed far past Leadbelly when it comes to Blues. My housemate would always put it on whenever he bought a lady back so I have only ever heard it through a muffled door, cloaked by the occasional groan of disappointment.
Love would be the biggie. Several of my friends have raved about them for years but I've just never bothered. Any good?




jobotic

Love? Yeah!

There's a whole wealth of wonderful blues. A couple of years ago there was a good thread on blues that Steven started. I'm sure there are whole genres that I know nothing about. My knowledge of jazz is pisspoor.

There's loads of bands for me. I only recently listened to Devo - what a plum.

chveik

lots and lots, but particularly:

Henry Cow
John Fahey
Cabaret Voltaire
Cardiacs
Acid Mothers Temple
Amon Duul II

I'd never listened to The Fall before last week, and they're not bollocks at all!

grassbath

Quote from: chveik on January 23, 2019, 04:20:15 PM
John Fahey

Get on Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes right now. Or, if you'd rather wait for a more opportune moment, when walking alone in unfamiliar country, or smoking hashish in a rocking chair by a fire. The man was clearly possessed by something supernatural - I've never heard anyone work up as much hypnosis and gravitas with just an unaccompanied guitar, let alone an unamplified one.

Spanish Dance bends my head. Can't believe that's one bloke playing. Not to mention the intricacies of the composition, how the patterns invert and mirror each other. That bit at 1.13 where it resolves again makes me want to punch the air.

Brundle-Fly

Apart from the well-known tracks, it's these big sixties/seventies heavy rock hitters like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Free, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy AC/DC that I'm green about because I really defied all that hairy stuff as an eighties post-punk teenager.  Didn't have a problem with Motörhead though in 1982. They got a free pass with every youth cult for some reason.

Anyway, I almost feel it's too late in the day to start dipping my toe in that furnace now.  Although, it's not like much effort has to be put in with Hendrix with only three studio albums under his massive belt.




MiddleRabbit

Quote from: lebowskibukowski on January 23, 2019, 12:03:26 PM
Frank Zappa.
The Fall.
New Order (bar the ubiquitous singles).
Robert Johnson - never strayed far past Leadbelly when it comes to Blues. My housemate would always put it on whenever he bought a lady back so I have only ever heard it through a muffled door, cloaked by the occasional groan of disappointment.
Love would be the biggie. Several of my friends have raved about them for years but I've just never bothered. Any good?

Forever Changes is astonishing but it takes a while to get into.  Well, that's what I've found, personally and with other people.

The first side of Da Capo might be your best way in, but bear in mind that Revelation - all of the second side - isn't too great.

First album is much better in mono, but it's also fairly derivative in a Byrds/Rolling Stones sort of way.

After that, pickings are pretty slim, but perseverance with FC is definitely worth it.

MiddleRabbit

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on January 23, 2019, 08:32:24 PM
Apart from the well-known tracks, it's these big sixties/seventies heavy rock hitters like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Free, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy AC/DC that I'm green about because I really defied all that hairy stuff as an eighties post-punk teenager.  Didn't have a problem with Motörhead though in 1982. They got a free pass with every youth cult for some reason.

Anyway, I almost feel it's too late in the day to start dipping my toe in that furnace now.  Although, it's not like much effort has to be put in with Hendrix with only three studio albums under his massive belt.

Can't be doing with Led Zeppeling but Hendrix is great.  I was put off Hendrix by the greasy denim waistcoated teenagers of my youth.

The first two albums aren't really metal at all.  Or, a few tracks apart, even all that bluesy.  Even stuff that is bluesy - If 6 was 9, has enough of his own ideas - and he was an ideas man above all else if you ask me - to interest the likes of me, who can't be doing with bloozy nonsense at all.

Electric Ladyland is a sprawling mess, but there's enough to make it worthwhile for me.  The long Voodoo Child, I can't be arsed with.  The long suite on side 3 isn't to everyone's taste, but if psychedelia's your thing, lay back and dig it.

Past that, First Ray's of The New Rising Sun sounds bad to me.  I wasn't into it at all until I heard Cry Of Love, Rainbow Bridge, which sound a hell of a lot better.

Live, again, it's a mixed bag for me.  He had a tendency towards aimless noodling - Woodstock, I can't be arsed with at all.  There's a live in Sweden bootleg that I like a lot though.  Band of Gypsys isn't my bag because I don't rate Buddy Miles although plenty of people wouldn't agree with me on that.

Start with Axis: Bold As Love is my advice.  If you don't like that, don't be put off because he varies quite wildly.

Oh, and he's a great singer and writer, which are often overshadowed by his - astonishing - guitar playing. 

Sebastian Cobb

I've got loads of these, but this thread is difficult because the main reason is because I make a mental note to check them out and forget to.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: MiddleRabbit on January 23, 2019, 08:50:00 PM
Hendrix info

Start with Axis: Bold As Love is my advice.  If you don't like that, don't be put off because he varies quite wildly.

Oh, and he's a great singer and writer, which are often overshadowed by his - astonishing - guitar playing.

Thanks.

lebowskibukowski

Quote from: MiddleRabbit on January 23, 2019, 08:39:47 PM
Forever Changes is astonishing but it takes a while to get into.  Well, that's what I've found, personally and with other people.

The first side of Da Capo might be your best way in, but bear in mind that Revelation - all of the second side - isn't too great.

First album is much better in mono, but it's also fairly derivative in a Byrds/Rolling Stones sort of way.

After that, pickings are pretty slim, but perseverance with FC is definitely worth it.

Cheers, i'll have a listen.

jobotic

I'd never heard of Love until Peel played "The Castle" I asked a friend who then played me Forever Changes about 15 years ago. Can't agree it was hard to get into, i was hooked immediately.

Are You Experienced? is my favourite Hendrix album, but the first one I ever had was the compilation Smash Hits. If that still exists it's a great start. Mind you that was more than thirty years ago.

mojo filters

I've heard and read a lot of opinions about the amazing album Forever Changes, but I don't ever recall it being described as difficult to get into.

It grabbed me immediately - to the point where I can easily recall the time and place I first heard it aged 14. Others I've subsequently introduced it to either loved it right away, or just were not interested.

I'm not such a huge fan of the first two albums, but there were two further amazing songs recorded for a single, in the same musical vein. I can't find them now, but they are at the end of a decent compilation (which has most of Forever Changes on it) along with the first track from Four Sail - which is also very, very good.

mojo filters

I've just remembered the name of the three post-Forever Changes tracks worth finding:

Laughing Stock
Your Mind and Me We Belong Together
August

jobotic

Gather Round on Out Here is a great song but I don't know if that's a proper album or not.

Crabwalk

These are the gaps that spring to mind, that I feel like I need to hear properly at some point but never quite get around to:

Incredible String Band
Bryan Ferry's solo work
Fugazi
Little Feat
The Mamas & the Papas
Laurie Anderson
Buffalo Springfield
Boredoms

If there are any essential records in there, let me know.

jobotic

I'm no expert but Boredoms - Super Ae, I reckon.

Wish I'd seen them.

And somemone mentioned Acid Mothers Temple up the thread. I'm not an expert there either but the first one I got was Absolutely Freak Out (Zap Your Mind!). It's got a lot o heavy guitar freaking out but also some of the quieter stuff that I prefer on the whole. The last track is gorgeous.


Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Crabwalk on January 24, 2019, 12:14:21 PM
These are the gaps that spring to mind, that I feel like I need to hear properly at some point but never quite get around to:

Incredible String Band
Bryan Ferry's solo work
Fugazi
Little Feat
The Mamas & the Papas
Laurie Anderson
Buffalo Springfield
Boredoms

If there are any essential records in there, let me know.

On the ferry tip - These Foolish Things



For Fugazi you want The Argument.

MiddleRabbit

Quote from: mojo filters on January 24, 2019, 11:53:49 AM
I've heard and read a lot of opinions about the amazing album Forever Changes, but I don't ever recall it being described as difficult to get into.

It grabbed me immediately - to the point where I can easily recall the time and place I first heard it aged 14. Others I've subsequently introduced it to either loved it right away, or just were not interested.

I'm not such a huge fan of the first two albums, but there were two further amazing songs recorded for a single, in the same musical vein. I can't find them now, but they are at the end of a decent compilation (which has most of Forever Changes on it) along with the first track from Four Sail - which is also very, very good.

Funny how it goes, I suppose.  Of the people I know who are into it, it grabbed none of them straight away.  Alone Again, Or, seemed to be the standout for quite a while before the rest of it showed its charm.

Not that I hated it, I just didn't get get it.  Everything that it is should've been right up my street, but I couldn't find a way in.  I remember being a bit confused by it - and by not getting it when
its components were right up my street - I remember wanting to like it, and maybe I knew I would in the end but, yeah, I found it hard going as did everyone else I've met.

Four Sail hasn't grabbed me, as I didn't really think it would - totally different band.  August?  Sort of, but not really. 

Gather Round sounds nice enough, especially over the end credits of the doc Love Story.  It has the sounds and the feel, but it's also more or less 'The Times, They Are A-Changing', isn't it?

Forever Changes has a lot of similarities with the first Stone Roses album too.  A lot of repetition in terms of the chord changes and the guitar lines going through a lot of it (individually, I mean: Forever Changes reuses a lot of major 7ths, The Stone Roses doesn't, but recycles a lot of notes in the same order throughout it) and an arguably Gnostic perspective.

But yeah, an absolute stone classic.  The single after it's great too - as noted above.

Enrico Palazzo

Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

I'm sure i'd like them, just cannae be arsed.

Natnar

Quote from: Crabwalk on January 24, 2019, 12:14:21 PM

Laurie Anderson


Big Science, Mister Heartbreak, United States Live, Strange Angels & Bright Red are all very good albums.

Crabwalk


LORD BAD VIBE

Quote from: Crabwalk on January 24, 2019, 12:14:21 PM
These are the gaps that spring to mind, that I feel like I need to hear properly at some point but never quite get around to:

Incredible String Band
Bryan Ferry's solo work
Fugazi
Little Feat
The Mamas & the Papas
Laurie Anderson
Buffalo Springfield
Boredoms

If there are any essential records in there, let me know.

Incredible String Band - The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter are their essential albums. Wee Tam and the Big Huge has its moments. Avoid the 70s albums.

Fugazi - Their debut LP Repeater is as good a place to start as any.

The Mamas and the Papas - If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears. Another debut. Has the two biggest hits on it - California Dreamin' and Monday Monday.

Quote from: Enrico Palazzo on January 24, 2019, 03:13:36 PM
Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

I'm sure i'd like them, just cannae be arsed.

Most recent one can be digested in smaller chunks if you're short on time.

Otherwise, I suggest:

Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada (BBF III especially)
Raise Your Skinny Fists (Storm and Sleep maybe)
Mladic

Generally 20 minute tracks, but these get to the business reasonably quickly.