I am soliciting song suggestions to put on my iPod; all genres are welcome. There is no need to suggest famous songs, such as the classics of classic rock. Most pieces of classical music are too long for how I use the medium. Comments, of course, are open.
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If I understand this right, is this an excuse for every reader to list his or her favorite songs?
You should check out the Drive-By Truckers. The New Yorker and Wall St. Journal have positively reviewed them in the past. Their best album is called Southern Rock Opera, a double album about the south and Lynyrd Skynyrd. I also highly recommend their live work, which is legally available on bit torrent sites.
1. Keep it loose, keep it tight – Amos Lee
2. Hands of Time – Groove Armada
3. If I Laugh – Cat Stevens
4. Dr. Zhivago’s Train – Nicolai Dunger
5. Buttercup – Brad
6. Plowed – Sponge
All are smooth like silk, except for the last one. Plowed is great for getting pumped up.
Everyone I tell about the Kings of Convenience seems to really enjoy their music. I especially recommend the latest album–Riot on an Empty Street.
Rockfour. An Israeli band that sings in English and has a bit of a Beatles sound to them.
Sufjan Stevens – “Come On! Feel The Illinoise!”
Sigur Ros – “Gong”
Broken Social Scene – “7/4 (Shoreline)”
Brian Eno – “An Ending (Ascent)”
Four Tet – “Hands”
Manitoba – “Kid You’ll Move Mountains”
Tom Waits – “Big In Japan”
There, that’s enough variety that I’m sure there’ll be something you like.
Try out Nervous Cabaret. There are some MP3s on their site – http://www.nervouscabaret.com/
It’s funny how, using these comments you could, very unrealiably I’m sure, estimate what the demographic for MR is. I’d say, with Sufjan, Neutral Milk Hotel, Four Tet, Kings of Convenience, MR readers are 20-something hipsters. I’m surprised.
I’d suggest Shostakovich’s Jazz Suites, they’re short, not very classical and are beautiful in the way that few Russian things are.
Here’s the itunes store link – http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=36787806&s=143441
This is really out there, but perhaps not as much as Four Tet or Neutral Milk Hotel; and really is much better music; Richard D. James. I would recommend his Analord series, but those are only available on vinyl. Instead, a good, though some what round about way, to introduce yourself to his music is through it’s performance by Alarm Will Sound (Reich/Eno/Glass type of outfit)
here’s the itunes store link – http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?s=143441&playlistId=65668080
Perhaps that will inspire you to listen to more.
As Chevalier pointed out about demographic stuff, I will suggest some Brazilian songs (many genre, but no bossa nova):
* Los Hermanos – (vey good band, a few suggestions: Tá bom; Um par; Fez-se mar)
* Timbalada – I miss her
* Skank – Vou deixar
* Beth Carvalho – Volta por cima
* Toquinho – Aquarela
* Banda Eva (or Ivete Sangalo) – Eva
* Roupa Nova – Dona
* Roberto Carlos – Além do Horizonte
More songs on demand! Just e-mail me with saying which ones above did you like.
Anything and everything by Johann Sebastian Bach. But especially check out Glenn Gould’s 1959 rendition of the Goldberg Variations (assuming you haven’t already) and be sure to get the Empire Brass Ensemble’s “A Bach Festival”–which includes a glorious rendition of Cantata 146.
“Shout’n on the Hills of Glory” – Ralph Stanley and Friends, I swear it puts me in the spirit.
“Where does the Time Go” – Nina Simone, there’s some talking at the beginning, but the song at the end is worth it, haunting.
Hey.. some of us are 30-something hipsters!
My two cents–
The Coral- The Invisible Invasion
The Editors- The Back Room
Explosions in the Sky- any album
Great Lake Swimmers- Bodies and Minds
John Vanderslice- Pixel Revolt
Lake Trout- Not Them, You
Minotaur Shock- Maritime
And, I second the mentions of Drive By Truckers, Sigur Ros, Neutral Milk Hotel and Four Tet
“Life in Mono” by Mono, album “Formica Blues”
“Distantly in Love” by Jimmy Buffett, album “One Particular Harbor”
“Return of the Grievous Angel” by Gram Parson (and redone wonderfully by Emmylou Harris on “Last Date”)
“The Kind of Love You Never Get Over” by Christine Lavin, album “Attainable Love”
“Take Whatever I Can Get” by Sara Hickman, album “Two Kinds of Laughter”
“Die Moldau” by Bedrich Smetana, from tone poem “Ma Vlast”
Well, how _do_ you use the medium? I’ve been teaching at the Prince William campus on Tuesday nights this semester. It’s an hour drive from Alexandria and I find that La Cieca’s opera podcasts fill the drive time very nicely.
To add to Sean’s recommendation, MC Solaar and Guru do a song together on Guru’s Jazzmatazz vol. 1, I believe. If you like jazz and want to venture into hip hop and soul, any of Guru’s Jazzmatazz albums are worth a listen. And, Guru is a member of the legendary Gangstarr, if you want straight hip hop.
I’ll also throw out anything by the Greyboy Allstars, James Brown, and Antibalas (highly recommended), off the top of my head.
If you want, I can send them to you.
Mexican folk songs sung by Linda Ronstadt. Check out her album “Canciones de Mi Padre”
Amadou & Mariam is the artist; West African genre-mashing music that could be described as Francophone Afro-Cuban World Rock.
I have been enjoying the whole of their new album, Dimanche à Bamako, but Senegal Fast Food is the infectious highlight single.
I’m an album kinda guy:
Miles Davis – Filles de Kilimanjaro
John Coltrane – Impressions
Massacre – Killing Time
Eno – Here come the Warm Jets
Big Star – Radio City/#1 Record
And I’ll second (third? fourth?) Neutral Milk Hotel, Elliott Smith, Sufjan Stevens, Antibalas and MC Solaar…
Here are some things I’m listening to right now. I’ll even add links to their clips on the iTunes Music Store:
Bright Eyes – Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love And To Be Loved)
Dire Staits – Brothers In Arms
Death Cab For Cutie – Brothers On A Hotel Bed
The Hold Steady – Cattle And The Creeping Things
Matt Pond PA – Snow Day
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Time To Move On
The Postal Service – The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
Jon Brion – Knock Yourself Out
Belle & Sebastian – I’m A Cuckoo
The Decemberists – Red Right Ankle
Of course, I’m a damned, dirty hipster, so you’ll have to take that into account. Still, I would at least listen to the clips.
…
Hey! It turns out that HTML isn’t allowed in the comments. I guess you’ll have to find the clips on your own. They’re all on the iTMS, so that should make things a little easier.
Seems unlikely that anyone posting actually knows more about music than Tyler. Whole thing seems pointless.
Crooked Fingers (“Dignity and Shame”): Islero
Less well known (I think) selections from my top-rated songs in iTunes:
Cowboy Mouth – Jenny Says (Rock)
Dixie Chicks – Travelin’ Soldier (Country)
Five Iron Frenzy – Get Your Riot Gear (Ska/Swing)
AFI – Silver and Cold (Punk)
Ben Folds – Zak and Sara (Piano Rock?)
Black 47 – Different Drummer (Irish Rock/Funk?)
Don McLean – Vincent (Pop/Ballad)
Eve 6 – Open Road Song (Rock)
Five Iron Frenzy – You Can’t Handle This (Geek Ska)
The Postal Service – The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (Tech Indie-Pop)
Flogging Molly – What’s Left Of The Flag (Irish Rock/Punk)
Get audiobooks. Feed your brain.
The next 10 songs on Radio Paradise:
http://www.radioparadise.com/
I recomend:
«Himalaya – L’enfance d’un chef» Soundtrack, by Bruno Coulais one of the most interesting soundtrack composers available in France. This album mixes traditional nepalese or tibetan music with some classical western backgrounds.
Also, look at the piano tracks of Yann Tiersen’s «Amélie Poulenc» soundtrack.
Very good: Madredeus, the portuguese new age band, who mixes synthetizers with traditional portuguese «fado» music.
I very much enjoy the theme ‘Spain’, from the british Morcheeba band’s album: ‘Who can you trust’.
Good post and comments!
Also consider: Perry Blake, the british singer, and Sigur Ros, the icelandic
French indie rock stars Manu Chao and Noir Desir make for excellent listening.
Hey, if you’re a hipster, and you know it–it’s all good. I congratulate, not playa hate. I love MC Sollar for example; and Kings of Convenience/Erlend Oye/Royskopp is really good pop music–see, there’s me, congratulating; not playa hating. Atleast none of ya’ll suggested Postal Service or something.
flatlanders – dallas
and i’m a huge fan of anything howlin wolf on the subways in the morning.
Toad In The Hole – Alleyway Rover
Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlaticism (the whole album is worth having)
The Chieftains w/ Elvis Costello – Long Journey Home
Sufjan Stevens – Oh no, the Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is out to Get Us (although the whole Illinoise album is good)
The Go! Team
Arcade Fire – Revolution (Lies)
The Toasters – Hard Band For Dead (again, the whole album is worth it)
A.C. Newman – Miracle Drug
Guster – Parachute (both the song and the album)
They Might Be Giants – Following An Angel
Queens Of The Stone Age
Hello professor Tyler Cowen,
Don’t listen to the other gentlemen and women above my posting —and also below.
*The* album to store on your iPod is of course the 1982 Jean-Michel Jarre concert in China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Concerts_in_China
Select ‘English’
‘Download’
‘Videos’
‘Souvenir de Chine’
http://www.jeanmicheljarre.com/
http://wm.warnermusic.com/France/jean_michel_jarre/video/download/souvenirs_de_chine.wmv
http://wm.warnermusic.com/France/jean_michel_jarre/video/download/monde_en_mouvement.wmv
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Michel_Jarre
http://www.musicomh.com/interviews/jean-michel-jarre.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3733290.stm
http://www.lostsoul.org/howards/midi/jarre.html
Best regards,
Chris. F. Masse
Prefuse 73 – One Word Extinguisher
The Aquabats – Sequence Erase
Infected Mushroom – Dancing With Kadafi
Opeth – Benighted
Porcupine Tree – Trains
Front Line Assembly – Insolence
Tortoise – Swung From The Gutters
Trans Am – Television Eyes
The Books – Tokyo
Soundgarden – The Day I Tried To Live
Deltron 3030 – 3030
Aesop Rock – Freeze
David Grisman – Dawg’s Bull
In no particular order, but an album-centric list. I tried to pick albums where every tune stands on its own, though.
Robert Earl Keen — everything on the Gravitational Forces album except Gravitational Forces. Good solid country.
Jethro Tull — everything on the Crest of A Knave album. Oh, and A Little Light Music (live, a real good selection).
Sondheim — Sunday in the Park with George (listen to it straight through, then you can listen to each song on its own)
There’s an album called La Mystere des Voix Bulgares which will rock your socks. (Some of it you’ve heard in remixes and commercials, but get it straight up).
The Clumsy Lovers are good fun – album is Picture This, my favorite tracks are Everything’s Slipping Away, Jesus Christ (cover of the Woody Guthhrie) and Paddy’s Leather Breeches/Banjo Breakdown. High energy rock+fiddles and bagpipes.
Eric Bibb – everything off Spirit and the Blues. Mindblowing acoustic blues/spirituals.
John Prine — everything off In Spite of Ourselves. More country. Part of what makes this album great is that it takes breaking-up songs and makes them duets, which recasts them entirely.
Colin Gilmore/Sunset (just the one song, but if you want more, just go for the EP Four of No Kind, after that it gets a little thin).
Background music for romantic dinners: Chris Isaak, Baja Sessions
Wow.. I can’t believe how many hipsters read this blog. Then again, hipster music isn’t that underground these days. To throw in some favorites :
“Wrapped up in Books” by Belle and Sebastian
“Jacqueline” by Franz Ferdinand
“The District Sleeps Tonight” by the Postal Service
“If I ever Feel Better” from Erlend Oye’s DJ Kicks (this is an amazing album for electronica)
“Never Win” by Fischerspooner (another great electronica artist)
“The High Party” Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
The Nouvelle Vague album is great, but if you are a hardcore punk/post-punk fan you might not be able to tolerate listening to bassanova remakes of the Dead Kennedys and the Clash.
I am enjoying this “must have album” right now:
http://www.thestore24.com/Music/Album.aspx?p_id=P+++455886&a_id=R+++536420&prodid=ESL43.2
Very swinging!
Black History Month – Death from Above 1979
Keep Time – Thermals
Do you listen while you are working? When I am writing, I have a hard time with vocal songs. This pushes me towards classical and jazz, but then I get tired of those. One instrumental album I like on my iPod for working is Santana’s CD of all its instrumental classics. What can be better than an hour of Carlos playing the guitar?
Coil – “Love’s Secret Domain”, “The Snow”, “Red Birds Will Fly Out Of The East And Destroy Paris In A Night”, many others
Infected Mushroom – I’m the Supervisor (whole album, seriously)
Front Line Assembly – “Corruption”, “Overkill”, “Fatalist”, “Millenium”, “Insolence”, “Mortal”, many others
Velvet Acid Christ – “Fun With Drugs”, “Icon”, “Velvet Pill”, “Exit”, “Sex Disease”, “Phucking Preak”[sic], many others
Opeth – Damnation (whole album)
Porcupine Tree – Deadwing (whole album)
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a second to Bjork’s hyperballad. Like most great “classical” music, it’s even more powerful if you know the context.
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A second to the Jarre “China” recommendation
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Depending on how you use your iPod, the Audio books idea works really well. I particularly recommend The Learning Company http://www.teach12.com/
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Martinu “1er Quatuor Pour Trio a Cordes et Piano”
The final movement opened Jim Svedje’s show for years; but don’t let that put you off from this intimate, accessible work. (sorry about the French; I couldn’t find an English language release).
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Many things by Kronos Quartet, particularly the ablum “Pieces of Africa” and George Crumb’s mind blowing “Black Angels.” Everything you need to know about the American experience in Viet Nam in fifteen unstoppable minutes.
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And to those who say “NO CLASSCIAL,” I’d remind them that the oldest work on my list is from the 1930s, a full century after the close of the classical era.
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“History of the Concept of the Soul” by the Mr. T Experience. It’s short, but it’s also the only song I’ve ever seen with footnotes.
The Blues & The Abstract Truth – Oliver Nelson, particularly Stolen Moments
Feels Like Rain – John Hiatt
Sunny Goodge Street – Donovan
Yellow Moon – Neville Brothers
Queen Bee – Taj Mahal
Divine comedy – absent friends
the wedding present – cordury
Talk Talk – Runeii
The Verve – Blue
Thomas Tallis – O Sacrum Convivium
shoes – boys don’t lie
This Mortal Coil – You And Your Sister
mahmoud ahmed – asha gedawo
Download any song by Andrew Bird, Mirah & The Black Cat Orchestra or The Decemberists.
Want names?
Andrew Bird: “Coney Island Shuffle”; “Cndy Shop”; “Tea & Thorazine”; “Nervous Tick Motion of the Head to the Left”; “Beware”; “Depression-Pasillo”; “Wainting to talk”; “Dear old greenland”.
Mirah: “Dogs of Buenos Aires”; “Hard Times”; “Bella Ciao”; “Nobody Has To Stay”, “Dear Landlord”.
The Decemberists: “Legionnaire”; “Red Right Ankle”; ” Los Angeles, I’m Yours”; “Everthing I try to do, nothing seems to turn out right”; “My mother was a chinese trapeze artist”; “Engine Driver”;
Argentinian tango author Astor Piazzolla is also really nice.
STing, Desert Rose
The Tea Party, Solstice from Splendor Solis
Hank Williams Sr., “Ramblin’ Man”
I don’t think it’s that hipsters are the only one who read MR; its that hipsters care the most about their music. Classic response bias.
And we all know those dirty kids in Williamsburg are unemployed and have more time to answer questions like the one above.
And, yes, indie rock is popular these days.
Rokia Traore- Kote Don
The Darkness- I Beleive in a Thing Called Love
Buddy Guy- A Man and the Blues
Led Zeppelin- Traveling Riverside Blues
Oh, and
Helmut, Unsung
From my indie-pop/folk sensibility, the first dozen or so to spring to mind (trying to catch a few recent ones):
Dar Williams — The Ocean, As Cool as I Am
Paul Simon — Boy in the Bubble
Aimee Mann — Momentum, Amateur, Little Bombs
Tori Amos — Happy Phantom
Sufjan Stevens — Casimir Pulaski Day
Death Cab for Cutie — Soul Meets Body
Jewel — Jupiter, Near You Always
Nickel Creek — When in Rome
Tom Waits The Heart of Saturday Night
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