Music, v. 2014
Listening, playing, performing, composing.
Continued from v. 2012.
Date: January 13, 2014
Categories: Random craziness
Thursday, 18 April 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
Listening, playing, performing, composing.
Continued from v. 2012.
Date: January 13, 2014
Categories: Random craziness
Belle and Sebastian. If You’re Feeling Sinister. I’ve listened to the album about once a day for the past several weeks, and it still doesn’t feel old. Beautiful, beautiful music.
Wow! An MBer-created thread! I feel a strange compulsion to smash a champagne bottle against its hull.
Oh, wow. I didn’t even realize I was the first. Hope I set a satisfactory standard!
Ah, I thought we were waiting for a leap year to make a new version.
This past week I finally got around to seriously listening to Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.’s second album, The Speed of Things, and I’ve concluded that it may be the greatest achievement of 2013 in the field of pop music. The first thing I fell in love with was the harmonic progressions of the first few tracks on the album. The progressions of the first two tracks sound like they were pulled straight out of the best, most creative late ’60s pop. The third track, I’m convinced, is the best song Lennon and McCartney never wrote. If Revolver had come out in 2013, this track would’ve been on it. Following this is the catchy dance single “If You Didn’t See Me (Then You Weren’t On The Dancefloor)”, which will probably be the main attraction for a lot of listeners. A few songs later, the first track of the album gets a reprise right in the middle of the album. The following track, “Mesopotamia” is the kind of song that you can’t listen to with anyone around because it forces you to drum on the table or get up and dance around. “Dark Water”, one of my favorites on the album, reminds me of something I can’t quite remember–maybe Grizzly Bear? I don’t know. Getting near the end of the album we find “A Haunting”, source of many a Tumbl-able quote and really quite immersive; but I love it more for how well it prepares you for the last track, “War Zone”. This may be my favorite final track to an album barring only “A Day in the Life”. One of my peculiarities in music is that I’m always very partial to songs that create for me vivid mental images of one kind or another, and this track (particularly when heard in conjunction with its preceding track) hits it out of the park for me. Being able to end an album well is not easy, and very few albums have been really successful for me. This album is one of them. After their first album I liked Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., I thought they made good music and I enjoyed listening to them. But after this album I realized they are really artists, and they really do have a genius for their medium.
Also, I think I learned how to appreciate Messiaen.
I suppose since this thread serendipitously appeared that I impulsively downloaded most of the Pokemon soundtracks yesterday. Everything except for gens 1 and 2. There’s some great stuff in there.
I also bought most of the Frozen songs with what was remaining of my iTunes money. Gaah they’re so great.
My friend had a homework assignment in which she could choose what to do, and one choice was doing something completely crazy and random, then taking note of everyone else’s reactions. She chose to do that, where we would blast our rock and screamo music and sing along really loudly.
It was easy. We blast Fall Out Boy and Icon For Hire (among other bands) and sing along on a daily basis.
That’s the BEST kind of assignment! (I swear I’m not just saying this because of my name; I love doing something unexpected and crazy and watching how people react!)
*gives you a high-five* Yes! Because being crazy and weird is so much more fun!
It truly is.
I might get to see Neutral Milk Hotel in April.
Holy cake.
I AM SEEING THEM IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS AT BOSTON’S ORPHEUM THEATRE
Well, I’m at an audition right now… I really hope I make at least one of the things I try out for this year.
I’m really into the band Rammstein right now. They’re a German industrial metal group, and even though I never know what they’re saying, they sound so cool.
I’ve been listening to The Devil Makes Three and Hurray for the Riff Raff lately, as well as rediscovering Lyle Lovett and Little Feat.
Seriously though, Lyle Lovett’s album Pontiac has been the soundtrack to my life for the past 2 weeks, and it’s great.
Swans just got booked to play Toad’s Place in July. Tickets go on sale in a few days and I’m going with a whole gaggle of people.
My…my ears might not survive this.
I don’t know if I’m ready.
(also, The Pizza Underground w/Macaulay Culkin is playing two shows over two nights at The Space next month. I might go to that just to get a picture with Macaulay Culkin.)
Have you listened to To Be Kind yet? I’m waiting for a better quality recording to come out, but everything I’ve heard suggests something monumental.
…okay, maybe not quite that, but definitely Seer-quality.
Yes I have. It leaked in FLAC.
And Xiu Xiu is opening for Swans. Oh man. Ohhhh man.
To Be Kind is now overtaking Benji as my favorite album of the year and I don’t know what to do.
Aurelio Voltaire writes delightfully creepy/funny songs, sounds like he should voice a Disney villain, and has the best string instrumentation. I recommend Goodnight Demon Slayer and Almost Human.
I know I’ve said this a million times here in the past, but Voltaire is caking AMAZING!
If I might add some of my own recommendations, I would also recommend “Death Death Devil Devil Devil Devil Evil Evil Evil Songs” and “Innocent” if you’re feeling down, or “Headless Waltz” and “Expendable” if you’re in the mood for something more fun and funny.
UPDATE: VOLTAIRE HAS AN EASTER SONG CALLED “BUNNYPOCALYPSE”
I played a concert in Johnson City last night, along with the other band from my school, and several bands from ETSU, and man are those ETSU bands good! I kind of wish I would have known about that school when I was collegesearching, because they’ve actually got a major in bluegrass/old time/country music. I don’t know if I could have handled a music performance major though, honestly, even in old time, because while I know it’s probably a very different kind of beast than a classical music performance major, it’s still crazy stressful.
Anyway, they were really good and I was super impressed and intimidated, but also inspired because it gave me an idea of what to aim for in my own playing, so that’s a nice feeling to have.
Also considering that it was the very first performance of my band’s current lineup, I think we did well at covering for each other’s mistakes (which were inevitable).
Johnson City! My father grew up in Bristol. They take old-time music seriously in those parts.
I’m suddenly listening to lots of La Dispute, which is like taking ultra-concentrated doses of angst and sad angry emotions through my ears. They’re really good, though… I love the bass guitar, and the post-hardcore jamming that they do, and the vocalist is, of course, amazing. It’s so easy to channel your inner angsty teenager when he’s screaming and yelling. I love it. I really don’t fit the archetype of a La Dispute fan, but… They’re so good. Please don’t judge me.
I really like “The Contract” by Spray.
The Velvet Underground and Nico is one of my absolute favorites of all time, but recently I’m starting to think that their self-titled might actually be superior. If nothing else, After Hours is prom night: the song.
OH YEAH I SHOULD PROBABLY TELL YOU ALL ABOUT MY PROM
SEE YOU IN THE RANDOM THREAD
I am the most impatient to get the CD of the Stringbreakers on the radio last weekend, because we did good and I want to listen to us in high quality.
Also, now that I’m 3/4 with college, I’m for the first time wondering if I should/could have majored in music. I think I probably did the right thing by just minoring in it, but I still look at some course offerings from ETSU as compared with our (wonderful but) small department and get SO envious.
I also am realizing that in a year I’ll no longer be in a band by default, and depending on where I go it may be hard to find other musicians to play with in this genre and that is making me really uncomfortable.
Modest Mouse is touring in my part of the world and I kind of really want to go but tickets for the one festival are so expensive and I don’t want to camp somewhere literally half an hour from my apartment (I mean, I don’t want to camp at all) but you have to pay for parking if you don’t pay for camping so ???
They’re also doing a concert somewhat near my grandparents’ house in NYC but I can’t find how much tickets cost??? and I am pretty sure they will sell out fast once you can buy them and I can see the cost, because it’s in NYC.
has anyone here seen Modest Mouse live? Is it worth it? Jadestone, maybe?
called my grandparents and they confirmed that we could stay there and so I just now bought concert tickets!!!! also turns out what I thought was “somewhat near” is definitely walking distance, so that’s nice.
also it’s one of like three non-festival tour dates, which means that tickets for both of us cost less than tickets would have been for one of us for a festival!
I am very excited!!!!!!!
envyenvyenvyenvyenvyenvy
And now for…. Rós’ favourite bands- part 1
– Of Monsters And Men. aaahhhh I love them so ♥. They’re folk/pop / folk/rock I guess? I can’t wait for their new album to come out! If you’ve heard their album but haven’t heard any live acoustic recordings, do yourself a favor and go on YouTube, search “of monsters and men acoustic lowlands festival” and choose either of the first two results (the slightly longer one has a somewhat higher quality option than the shorter one and the extra time is just the band setting up and exiting and stuff). There’s a lot of good live recordings of them out there, and with the acoustic ones there’s more trumpet (in my opinion, a very good thing) and usually in the live version of their most well-known song, Little Talks, there’s a really neat extra trumpet solo (as well as lightly modified lyrics)
The most common negative YouTube comments about them seem to be about the female singer Nanna’s vocals being too short and therefore too hard to understand, as the entire word isn’t always pronounced. My feelings on this are: 1. This is only noticeable in certain live recordings, and only so extreme as to become unpleasant in live versions of one song, King And Lionheart (the album version is beautiful, though). and 2. The band is from Iceland, and English is not her first language. She has a fairly strong accent (I happen to like Icelandic accents, though it is likely that others don’t feel the same way).
Anyway. You should listen to them if you haven’t already. (I recommend starting with the album versions of Little Talks, King And Lionheart, Mountain Sound, and Yellow Light and…. you know what, just listen to the whole thing.)
I’ve heard a couple of their songs; I’ll have to check out more!
End of the semester recital was tonight, and I think I surprised my teacher. I actually have practiced in the last week, because juries and recital stuff got me stressed out, but we haven’t had a lesson since then because he’s been busy with a newborn. Anyway, we finished (he was accompanying me on guitar) and he looked really surprised, and I jokingly said now he can call me out when I don’t practice because he knows what a difference in my playing it actually makes.
Oops.
I’m the actual worst student.
But I did great tonight!
I say, well done, old girl!
So I did my recital for the year a month ago exactly and I just got around to uploading the videos, if the links are okay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4NA_vF10OE Beethoven sonata no. 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e8PubzXoCA Prokofiev sonata no. 2
If you have limited time to watch / only want to watch one movement, I’d suggest watching the fourth movement of the prokofiev – there’s a link in the description to the time where it starts. I also did an Ysaye sonata but I look really tense in that one according to my mother (I haven’t watched the videos myself) so not putting it up (I might if you guys want to see it though).
Wow. Impressed!
Listening to the Killers a lot lately. I like Spaceman, Under the Gun, When You Were Young, Human, Mr. Brightside, and All These Things That I’ve Done.
COMING OUT OF MY CAGE AND I’VE BEEN DOING JUST FINE
GOTTA GOTTA BE DOWN BECAUSE I WANT IT ALL
A couple of weeks ago, I got a Killers greatest hits CD to play in my car. My car’s audio cable to connect to my mp3 player broke shortly thereafter (which is thankfully easy to replace, but I haven’t gotten around to it), so I’ve been listening to the Killers a lot lately too.
They’re pretty overwrought sometimes, especially their later songs, but I still think that most of Sam’s Town is a masterpiece (I’ve held this opinion since high school), and their other earlier hits are good too.
I haven’t heard any of the others, but I like “Spaceman” and “Human”.
Same.
So I just made a The Killers station on Pandora. I blame all of you.
May Song Recommendation Roundup
Under the Gun (The Killers)
30/90 (Tick Tick Boom)
Defying Gravity (Wicked)
Harlem (New Politics)
Blood on my Name (The Wright Brothers)
Glowing Eyes (Twenty One Pilots)
Santa Fe (Newsies)
Born A Lion (Ani DiFranco)
The Lethal Temptress (The Mendoza Line)
Recently, Nick Drake’s Pink Moon finally decided to tap me on the shoulder and say “Hey, Luke. Just so you know, I’m really good.”
It’s not the sort of album I usually consider perfect, considering that my two favorite albums of all time are a lushly orchestrated 2000s indie rock album and a 1990s lo-fi indie folk album. Pink Moon is folk, sure, but apart from a single overdubbed piano track on one song, the entire album is just Nick Drake and his guitar. And he was a caking great guitar player, too. Any guitar player should be proud if they can play even parts of “Road” or “From The Morning”. His voice, too. His voice was cathartic and melancholy and hopeful all at the same time. Same as his lyrics, even if they’re sparse and occasionally incomprehensible.
The thing is, Pink Moon has this uncompromising atmosphere of desolation. It’s cold. But it’s warm at the same time, because it just sounds so pleasant. It’s one of the most paradoxical and beautiful things I’ve ever heard.
Yeah. Listen to it. It’s basically perfect.
I need music recommendations.
I like:
-Of Monsters And Men (current music-crush/music-love)
-The Head And The Heart
-The Decemberists
-Fall Out Boy
-Paramore
-All Time Low
-My Chemical Romance (mostly Danger Days and The Black Parade; haven’t really gotten into the other albums much yet)
-Green Day (American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown; haven’t gotten into other albums much)
-Mumford And Sons
-fun. (I like Aim And Ignite 42x better than Some Nights)
-I used to like Panic! At The Disco but I guess they kinda got sort of old to me? Also possibly linked to my disgust at what they’ve become; the band was way better when it was more than essentially just Brendon Urie,
So yeah if you know of anything good that is kind of like any of those (or even totally different) tell me and I’ll give it a listen!
Here’s a preliminary listening list :
Any of the Mahler symphonies.
Last Saskatchewan Pirate by Arrogant Worms
Any of Handel’s operas.
Any of Shostakovich’s string quartets
John Dowland’s “Lachrimae”, played by a decent viol consort.
Listen to some Javanese gamelan.
Short Trip Home – Joshua Bell and friends.
Some organ music by Buxtehude.
A bit of Marin Marias and St. Colombe
Dune Buggy by Presidents of America
A biniou and bombarde duet
Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate – and you’re allowed to mock any soprano who can’t do the runs.
A really good nyckelharpa player.
Chicken in the Corn by Brushy One String
Something by Josquin des Prez
Chant des oiseaux by Clement Jannequin
Something from the Triumphs of Oriana.
A bit of Glibert and Sullivan.
Will that do for starters?
I especially second recommendations for theArrogant Worms and Short Trip Home (though I object to it being billed as Joshua Bell and friends, because the one who wrote all the music on that CD was Edgar Meyer).
I stand corrected.
Also Goat Rodeo Sessions are better
And that’s another thing I just HAVE to look up.
I like pretty much everything Edgar Meyer has done, but I liked Short Trip home better than Goat Rodeo Sessions (I know you dislike Joshua Bell though).
I also really like the album he did with Bela Fleck, called Music for Two.
I’d recommend Brand New and Joanna Newsom based on that. Brand New is much more emotional and rock-focused. Their best album is The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me. Joanna Newsom is very, very folky. She plays a harp. Ys is her best album.
BRAND NEW = LIFE
I accidentally monsterpost’d. This is enough listening to last you a bit. And what with Paul and Muselover’s recommendations, I’ll have some new material, too. But here are some things you may or may not enjoy.
You seem to be into lyrical/vocal-centric, more modern stuff, so I’ll start with that. You might have listened to these all already. But they’re worth another listen.
YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD OF MOST OF THESE: (kind of like your already established music tastes, but with more female vocalists)
Marina and the Diamonds: I haven’t heard all of her stuff but what I have I absolutely love. She has a very distinct personality and sings with strength and confidence.
Lana del Rey: I saw a post online that said “Her songs make me nostalgic for things I’ve never experienced”, and I think that sums it up. Listening to her is a spiritual experience. Her songs paint a picture of love and lust in equal measure, of dusty roads and smoky rooms, of loneliness and companionship, of sex and drugs and drinking and all sorts of things that my sheltered childhood has not experienced but that I can romanticize to my heart’s content, vicariously, through her music.
Which might sound odd. But I swear she’s good. Go listen, if you haven’t already.
Lorde: A really popular artist, I will admit. But she’s popular for a reason. Her songs are filled with a quiet confidence that pulses into your ears and reverberates in your soul. When she sings of love, she sings of a strong friendship, and of companionship, and of… Okay, you know what? Just go listen, if you haven’t. She’s so much more than just “Royals”.
The Killers: You’ve probably heard of them. They’re really good. I like their album “hot Fuss” the best. It’s just good music to listen to.
Regina Spektor: Oh my gosh I love her music. It’s so cool. And her lyrics are absolutely quality. So quality.
The Cranberries: They’re an older band, from around the same time period as R.E.M. They’ve got this amazing vocalist with a cool accent, if you dig cool accents, and their music is all sort of mournful. I really like alternative in case you couldn’t tell already.
Lilly Allen: Best feminist singer. So empowered. So raw and truthful. Yes. All the yes.
Florence and the Machine: You’ve heard of them but gosh darn if I do not slip into a magical dream with pixies and water nymphs and mages and witches every time I listen. Her songs are a little otherworldly, powerful, and dramatic. Oh, so dramatic. You’ve probably listened to her already but I just thought she deserved a place alongside all these recommendations.
CLASSICS: (aka: musicians will judge you if you haven’t listened)
Pink Floyd: Classic classic classic. Listen immediately if you haven’t already.
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue is a masterpiece of an album and you should listen even if you’re not into jazz.
YOU MAYBE HAVEN’T HEARD OF MOST OF THESE:
If you’re looking for some teenage-angst filled lyrics, La Dispute is the best post-hardcore band I’ve ever heard. Their music is filled with raw emotion. It is, however, a required taste: the music style doesn’t use sung pitches so much as it utilizes yelling. So it’s a bit like angry slam poetry, with lots of drums, guitar, and bass.
Metal: If you’re looking for anything metal, go for the Equilibrium album Sagas, which is folkmetal. I previously did not know folkmetal existed before I heard of this album. It’s pure exhiliration.
Also, Rammstein is good. Industrial metal. Both of those are German, so you can’t understand the lyrics unless you speak German. (Or in the case of Equilibrium you can’t understand the lyrics period.)
Dawes: Imagine Mumford and Sons without all the aggressive banjo strumming. Or, imagine campfire guitar, but with more amps and effects pedals. This is Dawes. Favorite album: Nothing is Wrong.
Homestuck: Okay, I don’t know how much you got into the Homestuck scene before it went on hiatus and everyone forgot about it, but there is one album in the soundtrack that never gets any recognition because it’s so weird to listen to at first. And I hated it at first. The HS albums are mainly electronic or synthesized jams that channel videogame music or other soundtrack pieces. The album in question, Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido is done by Michael Bowman and is what you might call an acquired taste. And it’s for that reason that I’m usually pretty hesitant to recommend it, since I usually have good music taste. *ahem.* Anyway, http: // homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/ mobius- trip-and-hadron-kaleido there’s a de-linkified link, if the GAPAs will allow, to the bandcamp where it was originally published. Most people hate this album, but if I manage to convert one person to understand its brilliance, my life will be made. You get accustomed to the electronics, and the vocals. I promise.
Youngblood Brass Band: Listen to their song “Brooklyn”: it’s my favorite. Then listen to the rest. So funky. So cool. So much brass.
SOUNDTRACKS: (Good for doing homework and for background music. Or just for straight-up listening bliss.
Maybe I should have put Homestuck under this category. Hm. The HS albums vary so widely.
Halo: Considered by many to be the best video game soundtrack of all time. I’ve never played Halo but gosh darn, that is one nice soundtrack. Yes.
Star Wars: Classic orchestral John Williams genius right here.
Lord of the Rings: Close your eyes, hit play, and be transported to Middle-Earth.
Two Steps from Hell: A friend recommended this to me, and I’m listening to a playlist right now. Really strong orchestral and vocal things.
Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan: Best known for its hit theme song ‘Guren no Yimaya’, the Attack on Titan soundtrack will impress even only the most casual fans. Definitely listen to the opening, because it’s so pumped full of good music. But also listen to the rest of the score. It always makes me want to cry tears of blood, or hug someone, or kill a thousand million titans.
Starbound: You kind of feel like you’re floating in space.
Chrono Cross: A bit different from the conventional strings/percussion/chorus orchestral mix that’s prevalent in a lot of common soundtracks today. Pretty cool, though. Take a listen.
Homestuck: Okay I lied I am going to put Homestuck in here. If you haven’t sold your soul to the comic, there’s no reason to devote yourself to playing every song on the bandcamp page. But consider these albums:
-Strife!: Really good metal-ish stuff, but instead of having vocals it has other instruments and sounds really cool.
-Cascade: One thirteen minute song that brings most hardcore fans to tears. Actually the tracks Cascade: Beta, Flare, Savior of the Dreaming Dead, and Black Hole, Green Sun all mashed together end-to-end.
-Cherubim: One of the shortest albums, meaning that it has a normal number of songs instead of, oh, I don’t know, sixty. The last track on the album is called Eternity Served Cold and is one of my favorites.
-Genesis Frog: Alexander Rosetti’s solo album. Orchestral stuff. I love orchestral stuff.
-Symphony Impossible to Play: Kind of what it sounds like.
-Song of Skaia: This album only has three or so tracks, and a good bit of it is just spacey noises, but I love it.
-the track Do You Remem8er Me. It is absolutely stunning. Starts out a little cheesy and sentimental and then gets sentimental and powerful. Like someone hugging you. Like someone punching your emotions in the gut. Ouch. I linked my friend to this song after his favorite character died and even though he doesn’t really go for instrumental stuff he still understood it.
All of these can be found on homestuck dot bandcamp dot com.
Alright, AL, that’s enough.
But electroswing…
No, AL. I said that’s enough.
Oh my. My ears will certainly be kept busy!
I already listen to/have listened to The Cranberries (And yes, ladies with accents are the best!), Florence And The Machine (I actually have Ceremonials on CD, just haven’t listened to it in months for some reason…), and Pink Floyd. I will certainly give the others a listen! Thank you!
Update: I am now addicted to Lana Del Rey. How did it take me so long before I heard this?!
crashes through the door
did someone say folk metal
yeah apparently a mention of Equilibrium is what it took to get me to de-lurk whoops
anyway if anyone else wants suggestions re: folkmetal, I have them by the bucketload, so consider that an open invitation
vibrates gently
Heck yes, I’d love some recommendations, if you don’t mind!
ANYTIME
Eluveitie: okay this list is vauguely alphabetical but Eluveitie is definitely my number one recommendation for branching into other folkmetal!! A swiss band, they taught themselves how to speak a dead language (Gaulish) just so they could sing songs in it. Featuring lots of whistles, bagpipes, hurdy-gurdies, frame drums, and other more traditional instruments alongside electric guitar. Rough vocals in general, except for songs headed by their female vocalists. Check out the album ‘Helvetios.’ After that, ‘Slania’, ‘Everything Remains as it Never Was,’ and ‘Evocation I-the Arcane Dominion.’
Elvenking: this was the band that got ME into folkmetal way back in the day. I talked about them endlessly on the blog in like… 2007. Folk-power-metal band from Italy. Pagan-ish themes. Nice melodies, I personally like the older stuff a lot more, but their recent album isn’t bad either. Start with the album: ‘The Winter Wake’, if you’re looking for heavier than that go with ‘The Scythe’, if you want the more melodic route, ‘Heathenreel’ and ‘Wyrd.’ They also have a decent accoustic album, ‘Two Tragedy Poets (And a Caravan of Weird Figures).’ Their newest is ‘The Pagan Manifesto’ and so far I’m 50/50 with songs I like and don’t care about on it.
Ensiferum: Finnish melodic folk metal. Nordic-ish themes, fair touch of fantasy. Waver between softer and heavier depending on the song and album, but have some great melodic runs. I like the albums ‘From Afar’ and ‘Victory Songs.’ People also like ‘Iron.’ Fabulous live.
Finntroll: super pretty trolls in fun costumes a bit more folk-black-metal or folk-death-metal than the others, definitely a bit heavier. From Finland, but sing in Swedish. Predictably, a lot of their songs are about scandinavian trolls fighting invading christians or such, at least according to the internet because cake if I know. I actually usually just roll through like all 8 cds of theirs at once when I listen to them and don’t even remember what’s on what album, but internet recommends ‘Nattföd’ to start.
Korpiklaani: Finnish band, used to be known as Shamen (and you can definitely check out stuff by them when they went by this name, also great). They sing in finnish and it’s indecipherable and you will want to dance along madly. I can’t help but bounce around when I listen to them. A lot of songs about alcohol are their famous ones (Beer Beer, Vodka, Wooden Pints, etc). I like ‘Tales Along This Road’ and ‘Spirit of the Forest.’
Turisas: Finnish also (maybe I have a type, or maybe it’s just more popular there), more symphonic and power metal-y. Lots of electric violin solos, which rock. Look into ‘Battle Metal.’
Alestorm: maybe not folk metal but close enough. PIRATE METAL. The lead dude was like ‘I want to sing about pirates’ and so he did. That is literally it. It’s beautiful and perfect. Easy listening. ‘Black Sails At Midnight’ and ‘Captain Morgan’s Revenge.’
Not technically folk metal but worth your time:
Ayreon: spacey progressive metal and made by one of the most talented artists I’ve ever listned to, Arjen Lucassen. He composes everything, and plays most of the instruments, bringing in other musicians as guest vocalists/instruments. The albums ‘01011001’ and ‘The Human Equation’ are beautiful and I re-listen to them regularly. Wonderful melodies.
Moonsorrow: More doom-y black melodic metal but so good. So good. Lots of screamy harsh vocals though if that’s not so much your thing. ‘Verisäkeet.’
Nightwish: Symphonic metal, very popular/well known, you maybe have heard of them already. I’m in a minority about which of their two former singers I prefer, but almost everyone agrees that their recent ‘Imaginaerum’ is a masterpiece. Before that: ‘End of an Era’ is a good compilation live album of their early stuff to get a feel for it.
Kamelot: Symphonic power metal. I love their old singer’s voice even though he was a piece of cake. Their new stuff is apparently pretty good too but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Check out ‘Epica’ and ‘The Fourth Legacy.’
Sonata Arctica: More power metal, kinda lulzy but I adore their early work. Their new stuff not as much. Look into anything pre-2011 basically. Reckoning Night
Wintersun: melodic symphonic death metal and I will push them at everyone because WOW. WOW WOW WOW. Contender for my absolute favorite. Jari is a master of composition. However, he also takes 8 years to make a cd becuase he’s a perfectionist. So, their discography is only 2 albums, even though their first came out in 2004. In fact, their second album was supposed to be the first half of a longer work, but everyone was like “ENOUGH JUST GIVE US SOMETHING” so they put it out in 2012. The second half is supposed to come out in 2014, so we’ll see it in another 4 years probably. ‘Time I’ is the recent and I like it more than the first, self-titled ‘Wintersun’, but both are great.
Shorter breakdown reccomendation list, in order I think you should listen to them, with non-folk bracketed if you want to skip it I guess:
– Eluveitie: Helvetios
– Ensiferum: From Afar
– [Nightwish: Imaginarium]
– Elvenking: The Winter Wake
– Korpiklaani: Tales Along This Road
– [Wintersun: Time I, and it’s only this far down the list because you wanted folk]
– Turisas: Battle Metal
– Finntroll: Nattföd
Oh, and if you haven’t listened to Rekreatur and Turis Fratyr by Equilibrium yet, do that.
Whoops, forgot to finish Sonata Arctica. Albums: Reckoning Night, Silence, maybe Winterheart’s Guild
ok I’m chatting with a friend who’s made it her mission to champion Moonsorrow, she reccomends “VOIMASTA JA KUNNIASTA” in capital letters that I copypasted because I’m too lazy to learn how to spell it, and the song “Aurinko ja Kuu” as a folksy way to get into.
Gonna add more to Nightwish as well–they CAN be really folky also, esspecially on their Dark Passion Play album–the songs ‘The Islander’ and ‘Last of the Wilds’ make me weep tears of joy
also for Finntroll maybe Jaktens Tid over Nattfôd but both are good.
OKAY GONNA. STOP MYSELF HERE. BEFORE I ADD EVEN MORE BANDS. OK.
vibrating intensifies
For the record, Lily Allen stated that “feminism shouldn’t even be a thing anymore,” She thinks that “women are the enemy” and “We’re all equal; everyone is equal. Why is there even a conversation about feminism?” So while you’re free to listen to her music if you want, I would really not recommend citing her as the “best feminist singer.”
I would also recommend looking up the article “Race, Feminism & Lily Allen’s Hard Out Here Video,” especially if you are not aware of the racism in the video and especially if you are white.
Well, equally– and I don’t really know anything about Allen, so– does that mean that she can’t be seen as a feminist singer? I mean, obviously the things you quote are silly and wrong and unfeminist, but I don’t think that means there’s necessarily anything wrong with seeing her work as promoting feminist ideals, which might make it sensible to cite her as a feminist singer based on her work rather than her beliefs.
(Like Steven Moffat: based on any time he’s ever opened his mouth, he’s hideously unfeminist, but I’d never stand in the way of someone who saw Amy or River as feminist characters despite that.)
I wouldn’t call either Amy or River feminist characters
To Lizzie’s unmoderated comment, because if I don’t respond now I’ll forget: well, no, that’s totally fair and reasonable. I… vacillate; I think there are decent feminist arguments to be made in favor of them, or at least in favor of Amy. My point anyway, though I’m not sure I stated it very well, was just that I think it can be possible to take something that’s not created by or for feminists and read it as to a degree supporting feminist ideals despite itself, always remembering that different people can read the same work differently.
I was interpreting the phrase “feminist singer” as meaning “a singer who is feminist,” not “a singer who promotes ideals that are in line with feminism.” I don’t think people who don’t support feminism can be feminist singers in the former sense, but I agree that they can in the latter sense. I just don’t think the phrasing really fits that way, because–well, for example, I’m not Christian, and if I wrote a song promoting compassion and forgiveness and other stuff that Christianity and I tend to see eye-to-eye on, and Christians liked it, that’s fine, but it wouldn’t make me a Christian singer, and I’d feel uncomfortable if people said I was, because I’m not a Christian, and it’s… that principle. It’s basically semantics, though.
AH that’s eminently sensible. Similarly even if I wrote something that people took to be, say, pro-war, I’d hate to be called a pro-war author.
Really? I admittedly hadn’t researched her background or publicity much, but what I was listening to definitely sounded very feminist in nature, even if she didn’t agree with the term.
Thank you for enlightening me, though.
All I know is that everyone needs to listen to Steam Powered Giraffe. Everyone.
I have done so. I am intrigued.
When in doubt, listen to Eurovision music. Last year I found out about it by hearing Only Teardrops and I promised myself I wouldn’t miss it this year. But of course, I did.
That doesn’t mean we can’t still listen to it, because that stuff is great. For the past few days all I’ve been hearing is “ROCK N ROLL ANGELS BRING THAT HARD ROCK HALLELUJAH” blasting in my ears.
Has anyone listened to any Jeff Buckley? Most people have at least heard his version of “Hallelujah”, but the rest of his work is also beautiful.
Grace HNNNNNNNNNNNNGH
Anyway this is probably as good a place as any to say that I’m an idiot for not listening to any of Sufjan Stevens’ albums other than Illinois. And that Steve Reich is the best. And I need to listen to Stevie Wonder.
Has anyone here actually met members of their favourite bands? If so, how do you do that?!
I think the simplest way is to go to a concert. My friends and I went to a Switchfoot concert. We were taking a picture with one of the band members and when it was over, we realized that the lead singer had snuck into the background and was with us in the picture. My friend accurately described it as, “the best. Photobomb. EVER.”
Personally, I entered a contest on their facebook page
Had tickets to the concert, and won the chance to meet them beforehand and get some merchy stuff!!! Wintersun. I just babbled about them up-thread a bit and I’m pretty sure I talked about this on-blog at the time.
SWOONS it was amazing wow what a show I still live off that day/it’s still my phone background.
WHOOPS used a blacklist word, try again:
Personally, I entered a contest on their social media page
I already had tickets to the concert, and won the chance to meet them beforehand and get some merchy stuff!!! Wintersun. I just babbled about them up-thread a bit and I’m pretty sure I talked about this on-blog at the time.
SWOONS it was amazing wow what a show I still live off that day/it’s still my phone background.
Gather a mob, go kidnap the band. I wish I could do that to one of my favorite bands, but they unfortunately know how to fight back.
22 –
Pink Moon is a gorgeous album. From The Morning is one of my favorite songs. I can’t say I’m huge on the album as a cohesive whole (it feels more like a collection of similar-sounding songs to me), but it’s still beautiful.
23 –
Hang around in or outside the venue after the show. The musicians generally stick around. Owen/Mike Kinsella (of American Football fame) just chilled onstage for like 15 minutes after his set and talked to people. Danny Brown put on his jacket and left without saying anything. Jeff Mangum and Julian Koster hung out in front of the stage for a few minutes talking and signing things.
also when I saw Anamanaguchi I snuck backstage with a friend that worked at the venue to ask them how to pronounce their name
there’s all sorts of ways
that bit on Pink Moon wasn’t very specific
about it being a “collection of similar-sounding songs”
what is most albums/EPs/books of madrigals ever
it is, in my opinion, a gathering of similarly boring but technically and vocally interesting songs with the exception of some really really beautiful tracks
29 –
I always preferred Ableton Live to Fruity Loops. When I’m not using my 4-track, I’m using digital, and when I’m using digital, it’s always Ableton.
Nothing wrong with FL at all, I just like me some Ableton. I haven’t used FL in a while but the way I see it, FL is good for from-scratch electronic production whereas Ableton’s strong suit seems to lie in its production (as in “editing of recorded materials”) abilities and many useful vanilla plugins.
Glue Compressor is fantastic.
ALSO SWANS AND XIU XIU IN A WEEK CAN YOU SAY PUMPED
PUMPED PUMPED PUMPED
I snatched the last-ever copy of Unclouded Sky (limited run Record Store Day 2014 release, 1000 copies on cloud-white) for $10 in a ridiculous stroke of luck and it’s so beautiful. It looks like someone breathed milky swirly vapor onto a clear record. The music itself is even prettier. I’m a sucker for colored vinyl.
Has anyone ever used FL Studio? I’ve just obtained a liscenced copy of it and intend to make all the music. ALL of it.
Unsurprisingly, modding music subs exposes you to a lot of great music. For the past few hours I’ve been enjoying Advance Base’s A Shut-In’s Prayer after I heard the first track, “Summer Music”. It’s described as “casiocore” and that’s pretty accurate. This is the guy who formerly made music as Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, which was a little more widely known. The album’s a bit homogenous, though, but it’s balanced nicely by the free-to-download collection of instrumentals he has, which are more beat-focused. Other good recent tracks include Trophy Wife’s “Microlite” (“ambitionless office disco pop”), Hannah Diamond’s “Attachment” (electronic), Blackbird Blackbird’s “All” (glo-fi), and Brandon Wise and the Scorchin’ Sons’ “I’ll Let It Go” (dissonant soul/rock).
This week I finished recording an EP with two of my best friends. I am now navigating Bandcamp attempting to make digital copies available.
This is weirdly awesome.
Oh man, that’s awesome!
GAPAs, would it be acceptable for me to post a de-linkified link to the album so people could listen to it?
OH MY GOD YOU GUYS, YESTERDAY I FOUND OUT THAT STEAM POWERED GIRAFFE IS PERFORMING AT A CONVENTION THAT I MIGHT BE GOING TO I COULD GET TO SEE THEM LIVE YELLS EXCITEDLY
I saw Swans last sunday night. Incredible show. Anthony Fantano was there, which isn’t exactly an uncommon occurrence at CT shows but isn’t common either. He just got married, apparently. We had a long chat about the merits of seeing Neutral Milk Hotel when they play in Bridgeport in September. Tickets are pricey, (~$40) and I’ve already seen the full band once and half the band at a solo show. I don’t NEED to see them again, but I’d like to.
Seeing Swans was incredible, though. Loud, mean and sometimes ridiculous. Got some amazing photos of Michael Gira, who signed my copy of To Be Kind. Xiu Xiu opened, but it was just Jamie Stewart without the rest of Xiu Xiu. He played a 30-minute electronic drone EP in its entirety and also barked at us.
I’m going to see empire! empire! (i was a lonely estate) tomorrow night, which is hopefully going to be just as excellent.
31.1.1 –
ooh yes please, I’d love to listen to shadowfire’s EP. shadowfire, would you tell me about the writing/recording process?
We’re Demons & Devils on Bandcamp, the album is called Shadows of the Mind.
And yes I totally can! My friend J who was the primary vocalist is an amazing songwriter, so when we got the opportunity to do this project she already had a bunch of songs written. It was mostly a case of picking out the ones we thought would sound best with our available voices and instruments (she wrote them for piano and voice). That made the actual composing part a lot easier, because it was primarily orchestrating around what was already there. I play violin and I’m a moderately experienced improviser, so most of my parts came from me playing along with her and keeping things that I thought sounded nice. Only one song of four had an actual written part (primarily because I couldn’t remember it well enough otherwise); the others were mostly harmonies and longer notes.
Then my other friend H who plays cello wandered by and said “hey, you guys want a cellist?”, which of course we did, so we repeated the process.
Luckily, we were able to use school equipment for recording and editing, which made our lives a lot easier. We got permission from the music teacher to stay after hours, set up microphones, and went nuts.
Editing, though. That was trial and error and a lot of headdesking. Protip: read the manual for whatever software you’re using before you jump straight in. Which I didn’t do. Yeah.
Sorry for the wall of text, I hope that was helpful. You have any specific questions?
You all sound great! I really really want to do more composing and recording and it’s really cool to know other people are experimenting and putting things on bandcamp.
CASTLE
HAS SPOKEN
TO FANTANO
Castle, you’re my favorite.
If you’re feeling adventurous and have time to spare, look into Ergo Phizmiz. This dude’s discography is insane; I don’t even know where to begin. Well, okay, I’ve already begun–with his album Eleven Songs, which is sort of like the anti-folk of baroque pop music. It’s phenomenal: best music I’ve heard this month. It got me to go straight to Amazon to order the CD, which for me is a rarely-achieved honor.
last night was the Modest Mouse/Brand New concert, I am in fact still at my grandparents’ because I have yet to get dressed and take the train home
I think I probably would have gotten a lot more out of Brand New if I had looked up, like, at least one of their songs beforehand? The crowd was really into it, though, like, people were moshing and crowdsurfing and screaming along with the lyrics. I think I could like their songs if I heard them. My traveling companion wasn’t a fan, and I was starting to consider if it would’ve been better to take someone else with me, but they enjoyed the second half much more.
Modest Mouse was really good! They did not play my favorite song (The View) and they did not play my second favorite song either (Little Motel), but I really don’t think the crowd would have handled a quiet song like Little Motel very well, the general admission area was still crowdsurfing and moshing. (We had seats in the center/first row of the bleachers, I was very pleased with our seats except that people kept walking in front of us because we were on a row with walking space.) Tiny Cities Made of Ashes was fantastic live, I did not expect it to be so good but it was probably the highlight of the show for me. Overall, they played a lot of songs from The Moon and Antarctica (but not 3rd Planet ) , and a decent amount of songs from Good News For People Who Love Bad News, and a couple songs from the other albums I don’t really listen to much/at all and not nearly enough songs from We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank (they did play Dashboard which was great and they did play Fire It Up which wasn’t bad but I would’ve preferred Florida or We’ve Got Everything or one of my other preferred songs from the album).
There was a 10pm curfew for the area, which was probably good considering that I haven’t been staying up particularly late recently, but I wished Modest Mouse had played for longer/Brand New had maybe played less.
My main complaint about the show was the crowd. I had similar problems at the Postal Service concert we went to last year. I thought that since it was outdoors there would be fewer problems with people smoking pot there because there would at least be air circulation, but there were also many more people smoking (both cigarettes and otherwise) because it was outside, and sometimes the wind blew the smoke towards us instead of away (it didn’t help that the people immediately upwind and sitting next to us were smoking). There were security people trying to prevent it, but they didn’t enforce the rules evenly. Also everyone was drinking and obnoxiously shouting, including the beer vendors shouting at people that they could buy beer during songs, which I thought was pretty unacceptable at a music event. I guess one could argue that this is an occupational hazard of going to concerts, but if that’s the case I am honestly uncertain that I want to go to large concerts like this anymore, since while I really enjoy music, dealing with the crowd really isn’t worth it after the first couple times.
I finally shelled out for a decent headphone amp/DAC this week because my Q701s were really miserable on the little FiiO E11 I was using. I got the JDS Labs O2+ODAC, customized with a rear power jack and the “medium” gain option (1x/3.5x instead of default 2.5x/6.5x). It’s an enormous improvement from the old amp. Soundstage is wider, less sibilance, more oomph in the bass, absolutely silent and super transparent. It’s smaller than I expected, too; I really like the aesthetics. The DAC even works with default drivers.
As I was waiting for it to get here I also finally got around to replacing the headband on the Q701s. The stock headband has these ridges/bumps in it–a comfort feature?–that, after an hour or two, dug into your scalp and hurt like crazy. I removed the old one and cut a replacement out of some very similar-looking leather. Much, much better. Maybe the indentations in my skull will start to heal themselves now.
I’ve been listening to Wolfgun on repeat for the past week or so. Anyone else heard of him?
SFTDP but it’s been weeks: Kimbra’s new album is RAD.
I found an etsy store that sells handcrafted “mini clarinets” (basically chalumeaus)~~~whoops there goes half my savings but TOTALLY WORTH IT BECAUSE CHALUMEAU!! I’m so hyped about this ahhh
Current favorite (read: only thing I’ve listened to all week): Justin Townes Earle. Also some Pokey LaFarge. Sharp-dressed men who play Americana music will be the death of me yet.
I’ve been really into the swing-influenced sound, it’s not quite country, it’s definitely not old-time or bluegrass, but it’s also not big-band-y at all, it’s a nice mix of the best elements of all of them. I guess Americana is a pretty apt title, even though it seems cheesy. Or rockabilly, but not quite.
Whatever it is, I like it an awful lot.
I have to, for my Music Cultures of the World class, discuss a question I have about a music culture (any one) and, eventually, write a paper about how I would do fieldwork to solve the question.
Right now my top contender for the paper is writing it on LGBT music cultures on the internet (because my partner pointed out that, no matter how much I love They Might Be Giants, I can’t write a paper on them in isolation and “nerd rock” as a whole is not a fandom I want to focus on enough to scrape off its thin veneer of respectability).
So, I’ve suddenly and by means which I am not examining terribly hard acquired Tegan and Sara’s discography. I’ll be on a plane for five hours tomorrow, so that should help me work through it….. (though I said that about Welcome to Night Vale and the six hour plane trip this summer and still only heard the same three episodes)
re: Fiddler above, “death of me”, the lead singer of the All American Rejects has shaggy black hair and blue eyes and I SWEAR I’m just staring because I like the music and videos and you can’t prove it’s for any other reason.
Tegan and Sara are so good!! listened to Sainthood on the train yesterday and when it ended listened again. for me it was similar to a cross between Au Revoir Simone and We Are Scientists but the latter might be rooted in emotions not what it sounds like.
update: listened to Heartthrob on the plane (which was ok I guess, not really feeling in a breakuppy mood though) then gave up and listened to Sainthood a few more times. Standout songs on Sainthood, for me, are Northshore and The Ocean.
Tegan And Sara are my new musical love. I’ve been listening to their albums in reverse chronological order (I’ve gotten to So Jealous). I have equal love for Sainthood and The Con, but in different ways- The Con is a much more emotional album for me. This is mostly rooted in my attachment to the title track, which, along with Dark Come Soon, is my emotional-sing-along for when I’m alone and can’t get certain thoughts out of my head. Sainthood is much less emotionally attached for me so I enjoy it very differently.. My favorite Sainthood songs are Arrow, Hell (which is my favourite to sing along to as well), Northshore, and Someday. With Heartthrob, I have to admit to really enjoying Closer, which surprises me since it’s the most pop-y song I’ve found myself enjoying in a long time- or perhaps ever. And I can imagine Love They Say being played at my wedding. It’s such a disgustingly sweet, sappy song and I love it.
Confession: I didn’t look up any of the album order or anything, just picked something at random. When I googled “which is the gayest tegan and sara album” while I did not get an answer of any kind (I feel like someone should have answered this question) some reviews for Sainthood came up (?) and that meant I recognized the title on my music player.
Confession part two: I have only listened to Heartthrob once and Sainthood about twenty times. I keep trying to listen to other albums but Sainthood just keeps happening. I’ll try for The Con on the flight home tomorrow but don’t be surprised if I just listen to Sainthood again. (I can fit in about nine plays through of it on a five hour flight, but I might be almost ready to listen to other music again – I’m listening to it as I type this and I’m nearing saturation, I think)
Current listening list:
The “Atomic Basie” album by Count Basie and his Orchestra
Lapfoxtrax (my friend describes this as “furry music” and I’m not sure how else to describe it other than “wait I didn’t know I liked dubstep”. “Hot One” by the Queenstons is my favorite by far.)
Dota 2 Soundtrack. It’s infinitely better after having played the game a few times.
Various other jazz albums I ripped off of YouTube.
In other news, I’m in my school’s sax quartet now! I’m hyped about that.
I’m going to be a DJ at the university radio station, which I am very excited about! Since I’m not allowed to play more than 2 songs per artist in my 2-hour time slot, I need to a) start re-listening to things that I used to like but sort of got cast to the side when I discovered other bands and b) take some requests! So if there’s a song that you think I might like and should play, let me know! Keep in mind that it has to be radio-friendly (i.e. no profanity.) Also I would prefer if the song and band names are not difficult to pronounce due to the fact that I want to announce all the songs I play but tend to stumble over my words/be anxious about mispronouncing or getting flustered and becoming unintelligible.
Suggest away!
Moxy Fruvous! They’re from the ’90s. You could play “My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors” or “River Valley” or “Heatseeker Boy” or “Splatter Splatter”
Or S.J. Tucker. “Neptune” or “Wonders” or “Not the Villain”.
What about “King of Spain”? That one had me laughing my head off.
Dude! I was literally about to mention them on this very thread! Small world……
So I saw The Glitch Mob live last night and wow. Just wow. I’ve never seen live electronica before so I wasn’t sure what to expect but their stage presence is amazing and combined with the seriously impressive lights they had going on I was absolutely blown away.
If anyone’s looking for good ambient study music, I recommend the album “Chronicle” by Wolfgun. It’s very relaxing and beautiful. I love space music. Just… wow.
If anyone else has any other space music recommendations, I’m all ears!
ambient anything music = Brian Eno
As of approximately three days ago, They Might Be Giants somehow became my favorite band. I’ve listened to them before, mind you; Flood is an essential element of my childhood. But for some reason, they’re exactly the music I need right now, and I don’t even care that I don’t know why.
Fun fact: Lincoln is Julian Koster’s (of Neutral Milk Hotel) favorite album. Listening to it, it’s actually possible to draw a few musical links between the two bands. “Cowtown” has the sort of instrumental hodgepodge that NMH eventually made their M.O., and the genre-hopping throughout the album is reminiscent of On Avery Island in a lot of ways.
Seriously, though, Ana Ng is a masterpiece of rock music, and if it weren’t for Daydream Nation it’d probably be the best song of ’88.
I’m totally picking up the colored Flood reissue on Black Friday.
I really need to make sure one of the local record stores* is getting the Flood rerelease, because as soon as I found out about it I knew I couldn’t live without one. Translucent green with a few random ones on yellow? How perfect can it be?
I also need to get a copy of Apollo 18 on vinyl before they run out – I was iffy about getting it on vinyl because of Fingertips, but the cover art is nice….
*okay yes I said plural, stores, but two of the three are too small for me to have faith they’ll stock it – I had to drive 20 miles to the nearest non-college town to get Nanobots on release day.
I’m also seriously considering buying Instant Fan Club access for 2015. It’s expensive, but it contains three albums and two concert tickets, which I know I would be buying anyway, and which would likely cost almost as much to get if I purchased them as they came out throughout next year.
I wish the tour was more convenient for me. The Music Hall of Williamsburg is hard to get to via subway but all their NYC shows are there.
Why did it take me so many years to pay attention to Joanna Newsom? Listening to her music–just one song really, “Only Skin”–I haven’t reacted like this since I first found David Troupes’ work. Wow. Wow.
<3
Ys is a masterpiece. Have One On Me is a bit more overwhelming, but still quite good.
Three bands I like have new albums coming out in early 2015- Of Monsters And Men, The Decemberists, and Fall Out Boy! Woo!
Record Store Day Black Friday was pretty productive. I got the TMBG reissue, and the vinyl itself is gorgeous. Watching it spin is absolutely hypnotic, and it’s just translucent green. I don’t know how they did it. I also nabbed the St. Vincent 10″, which has two remarkable songs; Pieta is probably the best thing she’s released so far this year, and Sparrow is also pretty great. Good stuff. Can’t wait for next year.
When I did my radio show on Monday, I only played songs by female artists* for the first half of the show. I then decided that I might make this a regular thing. If I’m going to do that, I’ll be needing to find more bands/artists I like. So far this is what I have for Girl Power Hour: Tegan And Sara, Indigo Girls, First Aid Kit, Of Monsters And Men*, Regina Spektor, Natalie Merchant, Paramore, Florence And The Machine, Feist, Jefferson Airplane*, The Head And The Heart*, Cyndi Lauper, Mammùt, The Cranberries, probably others that I don’t remember.
And I started listening to An Horse yesterday. They’re good! I just realized that the three bands that I’ve most recently started liking (Tegan And Sara, Indigo Girls, An Horse) I first decided to listen to because I knew that they were all gay women! (except for half of An Horse, who is a guy. But close enough). It’s cool that they all turned out to be really good music, as well as having the appeal of being able to listen to a song and think “this is for sure not about a man”.
Music-wise, I am feeling very gay, in both senses of the word.
*this just mean the vocals; marked bands have multiple vocalists and only a few songs can be used for Girl Power Hour
SFTDP I forgot Hurray For The Riff Raff! They’re…. I’m terrible at defining things by genre, but Wikipedia says they’re “American folk-blues and Americana” so we’ll go with that. Which is weird, because that’s not what I’m usually into. My favorite song of theirs is probably The Body Electric because god it’s beautiful. A family friend recommended them to me and now the’re one of the very few bands that both of my parents and I all like equally. And then I found out that they have a queer frontwoman and a trans fiddler!
I really like Within Temptation, although only the main singer is a woman and the others are men, but I think a lot of their songs meet your criteria?
Amanda Palmer is great, though I think very few of her songs are radio-appropriate. Ampersand, maybe?
“They don’t play this song on the radio…”
Her Grand Theft Orchestra material is nearly all radio-appropriate. Berlin and Want It Back are fantastically good.
Other ideas:
My Bloody Valentine (Bilinda Butcher’s on vocals about half the time)
Bjork
CHVRCHES
Grimes
Joanna Newsom
Lucy Rose
Sonic Youth (Kim Gordon’s on vocals around 40% of the time)
St. Vincent (!!!)
Vienna Teng
The xx
Good luck!
Also, if we’re talking trans artists, anything from Against Me!’s most recent album definitely fits that criterion, although I’m unsure how much of it is radio-appropriate.