Who is your favorite artist and what song/album would you recommend?
I'm watching "The real reason algorithms are bad for art" by Digging the greats and can't remember the last time I asked real humans for recommendations for music. At one point, he is going around asking people of artists/albums that they recommend. I thought that was a cool idea. Then I thought, what if I asked lemmy/mastodon/ect and see what you all recommend?
Who is your favorite artist and what song/album would you recommend?
I'm looking to expand my horizons a bit.
I'll start.
There's a local band called the red coats. I think they only have one album. I can't find a Bandcamp link but their music is here should you like to hear them. My wife and I saw them live at tiny little shops.
74 replies
Cake - Pressure Chief
The flow from song to song on this album is near flawless. I think it is their most cohesive album, although they are all great. Motorcade of Generosity is a close second for me.
Never There is an amazing song.
Comfort Eagle has some great songs but I agree, Pressure Chief has the best flow overall.
My go to favourite band is AFI, and they have a great back catalogue to dig into as they've been going since the 90s but have changed their style with the times (although always sort of emo/punk adjacent). I flip flop on my favourite album from them, currently I'd say it's Sing The Sorrow but sometimes it's Decemberunderground.
My taste changes frequently though, so for something with a completely different style, I find myself constantly returning to Personal Protocol by 8485, a wonderful hyperpop EP with Drum & Bass influences.
I hope you get something out of any of this, and would love to hear what you think!
In a similar punk/pop-punk vein, I saw The Matches are doing a few reunion shows and found myself diving headfirst into their 3 albums again. I’ve always thoroughly enjoyed them.
Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes is pure 90s hardcore gold. But I think Black Sails in the Sunset has to be my favorite.
Black Sails is definitely my favourite pre-STS album. Absolutely solid front to back
Lard - The Power of Lard
Jello Biafra from the Dead Kennedys and the members of Ministry, two of my favourite bands, collaborated and made some truly amazing heavy music.
Dan Britt - I'm Dead Inside
Recently came across this tune and can't get enough of it.
TV on the radio - Ambulance
Ditto this one.
Portishead - Wandering Star
Finally, you can't go wrong with this classic from my youth.
I got really into industrial my freshman year of highschool, then I got really into punk my sophomore year. I still remember the day I discovered Lard. Went to the record store and heard Forkboy playing on the PA. I was like, that Jello, but not the Dead Kennedy's. I asked the guy at the counter who it was and ended up leaving the store with both of their albums. They are still in my regular rotation of albums.
Yea Jello Biafra is a highly underrated musician. He's done a lot of other varied collabs over the years.
This one from the album he made with Mojo Nixon is also amazing. Maybe use headphones if you're out in public, especially in the USA https://youtu.be/7T7EUSQGxXY
Black Sabbath, War Pigs.
The instrumental build up and the depressing message are absolutely brutal and an amazing glimpse into heavy metal's origin.
I can hear the amazing intro to this song just from reading the title.
At this point in time.
David Bowie: Station to Station
Depeche Mode: Music for the Masses
The Beatles: Revolver
Bauhaus: In the Flat Field
Porter Robinson - Nurture
Just saw him live last night, absolutely incredible concert.
How many desert island discs do I get? I'll do three lesser known ones
Make it all show - Skating Polly. I love the vocal styles, not sure I'd reccommend the band (I do have tickets this year though)
Masters of reality - Masters of reality. Not so much a band as a producer pulling talent and doing odd projects. Not a track on this I don't sing along to though... especially the instrumentals.
Rakshak - Bloodywood. Sometimes I need flute solos in my life, sometimes I need someone to aggressively tell me that shit is going to be ok.
3 more known ones.
Dummy - Portishead. Original pirate material - The streets. New levels new devils - Polyphia
Nice that you listed Polyphia!
Probably Janelle Monae - Archandroid. I love Afrofutrist funk like (Parliament-Funkadelic). It appeals to my 2 identities as a space nerd and the funkiest of the funky. Archandroid was sort of the peak of her sticking close to that genre. (Her three early works called the Metropolis Saga — Metropolis, an EP, Archandroid, and The Electric Lady — form a whole story.) The albums have multiple Suites like classical works so the themes change even within the albums. But Archandroid is my favorite part. And you can totally nerd out on it forever and still find new things.
R.E.M. - Reckoning
The place where jangle lives.
A couple of my favorites, in no particular order...
Dessa - Mineshaft II Dessa writes some of the most evocative, lyrically dense songs I've ever heard.
The Gits - Guilt Within Your Head The Gits were a Seattle-based punk rock band that were poised to blow up big in the early 90s. Tragically, lead singer Mia Zapata was murdered just 4 days after they signed their first major contract.
Titus Andronicus - (I'm) Screwed A long-running and critically acclaimed hard rock band that's avoided finding mainstream success. One of the best live acts I've seen.
Years back I saw Dessa open for another show. Fell in love with Skeleton Key
I'd like to add Whirlwind by The Gits to this list.
AURORA!!
I'd recommend The Gods We Can Touch, and when you're done with that What Happened to The Heart. If you're wondering who she is, maybe listen runaway, you'll probably recognize that. Hope you enjoy! :)
You might also enjoy Infections of a Different Kind and A Different Type of Human. I'm a bit of a fan :)
I do have a lot of favorites from over the years but I still find new bands/albums I fall in love with. So instead of recommending any old favorites I will give you my album of the year (thus far) from a band I didn’t really enjoy before.
Caligula‘s Horse - Charcoal Grace
Absolutely fantastic album and I would strongly recommend listening to it from start to finish.
Thanks for new and fresh vs old favorite! I posted something similar further down, will be sure to check this out.
Choosing a favorite is hard and it changes a lot for me. This time I’ll choose Porcupine Tree and recommend their album In Absentia.
If you’re into metal music, Sons of Texas is an underrated band. They’re no longer together, but they put out a couple of good albums.
Also check out Cardinal Black, it’s a blues/rock outfit, and really good.
I do love me some metal. Its my walking music. Ill check them out, thanks!
"Sons of Texas" reminded me of this tune I enjoyed a while back from Maylene and the Sons of Disaster:
"Step Up (I'm On It)"
"Softly" by Gordon Lightfoot is one of my favorite songs. On the surface it appears to be about a woman but I don't think it is. I was listening to it one time when it just popped into my head, "Holy shit. He's talking about the moon."
I thought about writing him to ask if I was right and I kind of regret that I didn't while he was still alive. The man was a poet of highest caliber. If you like or can at least listen to folk music, the album "Gord's Gold" lives up to it's name.
Based on my year end wrap up things Pearl Jam is my favorite band. I'm in the top 0.01% of listeners on Tidal, and the same was true when I was on Spotify.
They just came out with a new album called "Dark Matter" that is quite good (though I think I liked the last album a bit better). I'd put "Riot Act" as my favorite album of there's, but I think I might point you toward a song on what is probably my least favorite album (Back Spacer), Unthought Known
Pearl jam is my favorite band also, and Riot act is probably also my favorite album of theirs.
If you like Pearl jam, I'd recommend my favorite album of all times: Soundgarden's Superunknown.
Some of my lesser-known, non-grunge favorites:
I was also going to recommend Soundgarden’s Superunknown.
I’m also stoked to see Blue Eyes by Springbok Nude Girls in your list. Their albums Neanderthal 1, After Life Satisfaction and Surpass The Power are both fantastic and weird.
The Sword band, and their second album Gods Of The Earth.
It is burned into my brain. Epic viking rock opera created by a garage band in Texas.
Refused - The Shape Of Punk To Come
hands down jethro tull:
favorite song is from an early album but its subject matter you would think would be later in a career but the band had been through many changes to evolve to where it got https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGvux7w1Ea4
most iconic is aqualung https://youtu.be/N4zPu3ISCGs
the band reformed and the song I would want most people to hear is zealot gene which man just summed up the late 20teens https://youtu.be/1APwlHY50vo
I really dig My God.
Over all Beethoven and his fifth piano concerto.
Bloodsport OST Paul Hertzog. Literally everything on this album is a masterpiece. If you haven't zoned out to this album or watched the movie you're doing yourself a disservice.
Albums that I have probably listened to the most times in my life:
These two don't really need introductions.
Let's skip favorite and instead answer fun find that I've come back to a few times: Brothers of Metal - Kaunaz Dagaz (it is in English, lol). It's viking metal, and as went through highschool with Blind Guardian and Rhapsody, it's great to find bands still making banging fantasy metal https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzad__XGDbQ&si=atuCBlgpMSQ9UkRL
I've also been a fan of Bloodywood lately. Think an angrier Hybrid Theory Lincoln Park, but from India and with some fusion going on. Machi Bhased is a good toe in the water https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3kLKYWDQVec&si=xsmCHcr6llZdaAWc as is Dana-Dan: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=uo6OC34QjY0&si=6SxQ6T9MwvRUdlJF
I listen to so many different kinds of music so it is hard to nail down a favorite. Instead I’ll give you the most recent artist I saw live-Jazz guitarist Julian Lage. I saw his trio in Chicago last night and it was an unreal experience with how tight the group was. Truly masters of their craft. Here is one of my favorite tracks of his “Tributary”
https://youtu.be/cEqgeN27Hhk?si=fx2xrvgOIy-w7GtG
The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - David Bowie
The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Hotel California - The Eagles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
Boston - Boston
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Abbey Road - The Beatles
You can never ever go wrong with the Miles Davis album, Kind of Blue.
An outstanding recommendation.
Stephin Merritt is the greatest songwriter of my generation. My favorite song is "100,000 Fireflies" but another good one to start with is "All My Little Words".
My favorite local band is Chicago's Zapruder Point. The song that got me hooked was "You Are Not Your Own" but my favorite overall is the heartbreaking "Big Sister (I Never Had)".
PSA: All the links I posted have their tracking info trimmed off, which is best practice when sharing links.
My favorite band is Enter the Haggis. I'll give you a couple choices:
Swallowed by a Whale - one of their newest.
Gasoline - one of their most popular ones, a bit country-leaning.
To the Quick - a solid instrumental.
Instead of my favorite, which is very well known, I've chosen to promote a different awesome song in an adjacent genre:
Destiny Potato - Addict
Excellent song, and the buildup + guitar solo = chefs kiss
Hey that's cool. I get my music from "all songs considered" (new music Friday), the NPR podcast.
Last thing I enjoyed was the new album "embers" by God is an astronaut.
One of my favourites that's not known very much is Meg Myers. She puts raw emotion into her music.
Older rock: Red hot chili peppers- Zephyr song, or, Dark Necessities.
Goofy/fun: Ninja sex party (NSP)- Parent's house
The problem for me with suggesting music is that I really like all my music so I just want to recommend it all. There's too many to suggest!
Dark Necessities just came out a few years ago. Blood Sugar Sex Magic is still my favorite album from them, and that you can safely call older rock, although I'd categorize it more as funk.
I have no idea how to categorize music, it seems everyone defines it by their own standards so I just wrote down something I felt generally categorized it.
Those are my recommendations nonetheless
Love me some NSP. We have their albums.
Hard to pick a favorite.
The Mountain Goats - the Sunset Tree or Tallahassee
Arcade Fire - the Neon Bible
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People
Super Furry Animals - Radiator
Been my favorite since mid 00's. As someone from the US, they were never very big here, and I get tons of looks from people if I tell them this. They were pretty successful overseas from the looks of the concerts. I didn't mind. Whenever they toured here, I got to see them in super small venues, which was great. Sadly, they haven't put out an album in over 15 years and doubt they will. They all have side projects and kind of moved on but never officially broke up. I can only hope they will return one day. Side projects are really good as well, thankfully.
Artist: BONES Album: WITHERED
This is one of my favorites, i enjoy the dungeon core vibe.
I'd have to go with a Meshuggah - Demiurge acoustic cover from a few months back, parts of it keep getting stuck in my head
https://youtu.be/9_CHSHE1w2o
I'm on a synthwavey kick right now so I'm calling out Maximum Love.
https://youtu.be/mpdZzAe35_Q
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6iDI0sHLIeFIkZk6BKJBVQ?si=N-DjClfbQIK4WLL5Lmr0pQ
"Srontgorrth" by Nagelfar. If you really want to expand your horizon. Lol
I dont have favorites but I'd recommend the following
The Gets/Gilberto album. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getz/Gilberto
Also Coltrane for lovers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltrane_for_Lovers
Bee Gee's greatest hits https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatest_(Bee_Gees_album)
Also Thievery Corporation's discography
And if you want hip hop I'd recommend BlackThought of the roots, MF DOOM, a tribe called quest and Nas...
Rammstein - Mutter - Spieluhr
Chopin - Nocturne in B flat minor, Op. 9 № 1
REM - Monster - Bang and Blame
Jon Lajoie - You Want Some of This? - Show Me Your Genitals
Pearl Jam - Yield - Push Me Pull Me
Lindemann - Frau und Mann - Knebel
Ария - Химера - Вампир
Gamma Ray - Power Plant - Empress
Kurban - İnsanlar - Yine
Crowded House - Together Alone - Nails in my Feet
If someone couldn't find at least one song on that list that they like, I'd be very surprised.
I've only ever heard one of those songs, but I like it (Bang and Blame)!
One of the few bands that have stuck with me for years, I give you Foreign Air. I recommend their album Hello Sunshine, most of them are bangers. My favourite songs include Your Touch and Hello Sunshine Pt 2.
Beborn Beton – Truth (Album)
I was listening to old punk rock (from my own collection, not some algorithmic channel) and Kamala's Too Nice by Screeching Weasel came on, which was really amusing in the current American political landscape. https://youtu.be/EjlhlqcCTjM
If you like this one you'll probably like the whole My Brain Hurts album.
Too many genres, artists, decades to choose one, I'll pick one, hope you'll enjoy. Cassius - The sound of violence
Blanco White, British artist with Spanish/Latin influence. 'The wind rose' from his EP is such a good song and I think it reflects his style still. https://open.spotify.com/track/2B2iGPBD6RBWJ11uxtb34t?si=GidmWC2uSoSiDvwbw8XmyQ&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A18WIUFEZRfWSRDhfnmO9NB
"Giordano's dream" (both parts) are an amazing listen too. https://open.spotify.com/album/0ZiiZQCm1aez7Kt77j78QG?si=5e5wSsbETP2dNLOLlMVxhg
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Dire Straights, On Every Street.
Country Curious by Lola Kirke
Suffer in Heaven by Chelsea Grin
Hard Groove by The RH Factor
Empress Rising by Monolord
Old RockHounds Never Die by Odetta Hartman
Barefoot Surrender by Barefoot Surrender
Yours Until the War is Over by Amigo the Devil
Science Fiction by Church of the Cosmic Skull
Bilo IV by David Maxim Micic
Quiet World by Native Construct
More Power. More Pain. by Gideon
Here are some of my favorites in no particular order from no particular genre that aren't generally well known as far as I am aware. I hope you enjoy some of them!
Picking a favorite artist is hard, but I recently got a CD for the For Squirrels album Example a few days ago. Absolutely in love with it, every single song on it. Especially the CD version of Mighty K.C., which feels like an extended version of what plays during the official music video on yt.
Can't say who's my favorite, but they're definitely up there.
I don't know if I can pick a favorite artist, my tastes are too varied. There's a ton of good suggestions in this thread, so a couple album recommendations I have that I don't see are:
Mannheim Steamroller - Fresh Aire II
Rheostatics - Melville
Seven Spires!!!
If an evil spirit cast a curse on me that I cannot listen to anything but Seven Spires, I wouldn't be too bothered.
They're a symphonic metal band, they released an amazing album this year "A Fortress Called Home".
Neko Case in either her solo career or with The New Pornographers. The voice of God with red hair. I would listen to Brill Bruisers by TNP or Middle Cyclone by Neko..