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.
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
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.
Jello Biafra from the Dead Kennedys and the members of Ministry, two of my favourite bands, collaborated and made some truly amazing heavy music.
Recently came across this tune and can’t get enough of it.
Ditto this one.
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
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.
I’d like to add Whirlwind by The Gits to this list.
Years back I saw Dessa open for another show. Fell in love with Skeleton Key
R.E.M. - Reckoning
The place where jangle lives.
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.
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!
- Artist: The Beatles
- Album: Revolver
- Song: Tomorrow Never Knows
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.
“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.
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.
