Jan 5, 2015 Hello friends I know there are some members around that listen to music other than hip-hop, so I made this thread. We can suggest some of our favourite albums and help people discover new bands and artists, or find out that they've overlooked someone's work. My idea is to have an album in each post, maybe a couple of standout tracks from that (a lot of people don't have much spare time, so they might want to see if that album will worth their time). We can also share some info on the artists, and suggestions for different albums by them, after introducing them here. If this thread gets active, I'll update the OP with the bands and the albums that have been mentioned, and in which genre they fit, to make things easier when we'll have many pages. I'd like to have 2 rules: ~ no hip-hop: the whole forum's dedicated to hip-hop so we can talk about rappers in most of the already existing threads. ~ no posts with just an album title or artwork, as they'll probably get ignored unless someone's already listened to that album. I think that people would like to know something more than a title, before checking out a new album.
Jan 5, 2015 The Black Keys have been active for a while. They are a 2-man group that have blues/psychedelic influences and have made a good name for themselves, gaining popularity with this album above. Brothers is their 6th abum, released in 2010. Imo their best work, followed by El Camino one year later. Rubber Factory is a good album too. I think that Brothers is the album that made them popular, and I'd guess that most of you have heard a few songs already, but I was listening to this earlier and thought it'd make a good start here. If you're not familiar with them, you could check out their single Tighten Up, or songs like Everlasting Light and Next Girl (the album's first 3 songs). If you do, I'm pretty sure you'll keep up and listen to the whole thing. The Black Keys released Turn Blue last year, which kinda disappointed me as I had higher expectations (Weight Of Love is among the best songs of last year though!). Not a bad album, but kinda underwhelming, worse than the 3 I mentioned earlier. It has its fair share of good songs though.
Jan 5, 2015 Too much teen angst dude My favourite is Revolver, every album since Help! is essential though imo
Jan 5, 2015 Great topic. I'm a rap fan at heart, but I definitely need to expand my tastes beyond that genre. Mac DeMarco really blew up in the past year or so, so you've probably heard of him at this point if you follow music-that-isn't-rap to an extent. His catalogue is pretty small as of now; three albums that are only around a half-hour in length each (I guess he had some releases under the name "Makeout Videotape" prior to this, but I've never listened to them so I can't speak to their quality). Wikipedia says Mac is a mixture of indie rock and "jangle-pop," though I've always thought of it more as indie surf rock (but what do I know, we can make up genres all day if we want to). If you're into live music, he puts on a fantastic show as well. His most recent release, Salad Days, was easily my favorite non-rap release of 2014 and personally I think it's his best work so far. "Passing Out Pieces" and the titular track are probably my two favorites from the album: You can stream the full album here:
Jan 5, 2015 The Black Keys are AMAZING. my friend showed them to me earlier this year and i havent stopped listening since.
Jan 5, 2015 Recorded at a friends house, Mcdowell just having an unrehearsed jam session. You can hear the audience in the background which makes this pretty special. Probably one of my favorite BB King recordings. Not because it's the best but the idea that he played this at a jail makes it a special piece of music too. Anything from Jose James and Donny Hathaway. Both have lovely voices.
Jan 5, 2015 The Psychadelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators This band truly put the "acid" in acid rock. They were literally on LSD for most of their stint together. While that might not be unusual for a band from this era, they incorporated it into their identity and defined themselves by it. It was mandatory to drop during rehearsal and shows, to the extent that at least one member had a bad trip on stage and swore it off forever. It's also what put the stress on their band and broke it up too early. This record manages to sonically encapsulate drug culture in the 60s. Tommy Hall plays a jug that sounds like the inner workings of a wormhole or a tractor beam. He uses it like a bubbly synth, substituting a comically basic instrument for more technical innovations that would later define the genre. The whole album is a trip. Just as fun and accessible as it is influential.
Jan 5, 2015 @Big Country tbh it's the first time listening to Mac Demarco, Passing Out The Pieces is nice and kinda reminded me of Tame Impala that I've been listening to, recently. I'll look for his albums @CharlieWork I still remember the 1st time I listened to this album, my first gf really liked 60's and 70's music and she was obsessed with this one. It took me a while to make the transition to other music (I was heavily into rap and was pretty much all I listened to ~17, silly young blood), this sounded great then as it does now, whether your on drugs or not. @Bananacliptheory I really like Everything is Everything. Beautiful music
Jan 5, 2015 If you like old Linkin Park check out the Dangerkids album Collapse. Richy Nix is another similar artist. His album Light Years is amazing.
Jan 5, 2015 @Bananacliptheory Been listening to Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker. What blues album do you think everybody needs to hear? Inb4 it's Completely Well.
Jan 5, 2015 Johnny Cash - Live at folsom prison Probably one of my favorite country albums and an essential Johnny Cash record.
Jan 6, 2015 Salad Days and 2 are essential. I don't think Rock & Roll Night Club is as good, but it has some gems on it for sure ("Movin Like Mike" is what got me into him in the first place).
Jan 6, 2015 I'm interested in this too; I think I haven't heard a lot of good music simply because they've released so much and you don't know which albums to choose. Have you listened to Otis Taylor?
Jan 6, 2015 RateYourMusic is dope. Sort by genre for artists who impacted it and artist to see which of their albums draw the most attention/highest rating. I don't really have the patience or attention span to be thorough with every artist I want to get familiar with, so this is a nice shortcut. Alternatively, if you use Spotify, you can read their biography and decide that way.
