Music recommendations, anyone?

[Saena]

So, I'm thinking I'd like to have a radio show on my campus radio station next year. I've actually been contemplating this since the middle of last semester, and I've been busy brainstorming songs that I love and would enjoy playing. But I've come to the following conclusion: I don't have quite enough music to do this yet. I have a pretty big list of songs, but I'll often end up with a lot of music by the same artist, which limits the variety in my playlists. (I also haven't factored in selections from my sister's music collection, which will expand the list even more.) So I wanted to see if I could get you all to introduce me to some cool artists that you know of. I will listen to anything, but as for the typical style/mood of the show, I tend to play more rock (especially anything with a piano featured), a few show tunes, and I'm progressing further and further into folk music. Pretty mellow stuff. My favorite artists/groups are Barenaked Ladies, Rufus Wainwright, Shawn Colvin, and Vienna Teng, if that gives you any more ideas. However, if there's a song that you just think is absolutely fantastically fabulous but doesn't quite fit this profile, recommend it and I'll investigate a little. My tastes are versatile.

I don't actually download a lot of music, although I realize I may have to start if I hope to work up a collection for a radio show. The main ways I sample music are to a) listen to 30-second song samples on amazon.com, or b) watch music videos set to the song on youtube. A number of the songs that are currently on my list are songs I discovered watching music videos about my favorite TV shows. So just remember that any songs you recommend will be searched on youtube and listened to that way. If you know of any free, legal ways to download music that won't destroy my computer with viruses (and I personally think that a program with all three of these components is a beautiful myth), please direct me to it. I'd appreciate that.

I figured I'd ask this question early (if I do this next semester, that means I won't do it until January), so that I could experiment and get acclimated to some cool new artists before I played them on the show. Thanks in advance for sharing your musical tastes with me!

Saena

[SJ]

Some artists/bands you might want to check out:
Scissor Sisters,The Like,Snow Patrol,The Kooks,Razorlight,The Zutons,Kasabian.
There's just a few for you there.

[Knock yourself out]

I recommend Pandora. You choose the artist(s) you like and it will play you recommended songs. I put in Rufus Wainwright and it played me Breaking Laces, Pernice Brothers, and The Perishers. Shawn Colvin gave me Megan Slankard, Marti Jones, The Cowboy Junkies (what a voice), and Kim Richey. I had only heard of two of those recommendations so I think it’s a great way to find new music.

Last.fm is great too (but you need to put more effort into it) and it does have the Amazon 30 sec clips.

I would personally recommend Aimee Mann, Tarnation, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Ida, Low, Azure Ray, Kathleen Edwards, Laura Veirs, Sarah Harmer, Neko Case, etc, etc.

[VMarie]

If you like:

Retro/Disco/70s Dance: Scissor Sisters either the first or the new one ("Ta-Dah")

Industrial/Hard Vocal Electronica: Celldweller (self-titled)

Psychobilly: HorrorPops either "Hell Yeah" or "Bring It On"

Folk-Rock: Tegan & Sara (any CD)

Alt-Rock: Stellastarr* (either self-titled or "Harmonies for the Haunted")

Alt-Rock: Kill Hannah (either of their 2 CDs)

Various Goth/Dance/Trance: "Dark Trance vs. Neo-Goth"

Wonderfully Expressive Folk-Pop: Leigh Nash "Blue on Blue"

[Saena]

Thank you guys for the recommendations so far, which I will check out soon! (And thanks for the hint about Pandora- I tried it out and it's an awesome site!) I do have one Snow Patrol song already on the list, and I will make a note to borrow my dad's Scissor Sisters CD when I visit home next week. Anyone else?

Saena

[Willowlover]

Um, you might not like these recomendations but here goes, KoRn, Disturbed, Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, Thousand foot krutch, Saliva, shinedown, theory of a dead man, nickleback, Seethur, drowning pool, rob zombie, powerman 5000, the killers, Vaudville, Bullet for my vallentine. sorry if none of these are any good.

[SJ]

Check these out if you want to: Panic At the Disco,The Lost Prophets.Wendy&Lisa,Sheila E.

[seurat]

Ah, there are so many I could recommend. Here's a few oriented towards the sort of music you mentioned that you've been listening to lately: Martha Wainwright, Emm Gryner, Mai Doi Todd, Ditty Bops, Feist, Gemma Hayes, Amy Millan, Emily Haines, Jenny Lewis, Dresden Dolls, Tresspassers William, and Kaki King.

There is also a thread called what's on the kitten's playlists that you might want to check out, there is an amazing variety of music recommended on there. I also would recommend the various magazines that have cd/dvd's of music attached for ideas, especially Paste, Uncut and Word. Have fun with the show, I did one years ago and it was a great experience.

[Saena]

Um, you might not like these recomendations but here goes, KoRn, Disturbed, Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, Thousand foot krutch, Saliva, shinedown, theory of a dead man, nickleback, Seethur, drowning pool, rob zombie, powerman 5000, the killers, Vaudville, Bullet for my vallentine. sorry if none of these are any good.

The Killers are always good, no matter what. And I've heard most of these others at some point or another, and remember liking at least one or two of their songs. It's just a matter of revisiting them to find out which ones.

*off to the Kitten's Playlists thread after my class*

Saena

[HalfCamel]

Here are some more recommendations:

Lady Sovereign
She Wants Revenge
Goldfrapp
Bright Eyes
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
The Stills
Tv on the Radio
The Rapture

[StaceAngel]

hi

I dont know if this will help, but if you visit www.hmv.co.uk and enter in some of the bands the kittens have given you, once you scroll down the page, there will be recommendations. These tend to follow the type of music you've selected in the first place.. like um, if you enter in The Editors, (very good band)you'll see down the bottom, the page will read 'other people bought these albums too' or something like that, and something like The Arctic Monkeys will come up with a few others!

You can also listen to 30 second snippets of most songs too.


I hope that helps a little


Stace xXx

[the hero factor]

Maybe a little odd, but I'm gonna suggest the Scrubs Soundtrack. I bought it a while back because I like the show's theme song, and it's ended up an album I have to pry out of my CD player.

Some highlights: Colin Hay, who was the lead singer of the '80's band Men At Work, has two songs on the CD, Beautiful World and Overkill. There's also New Slang by The Shins and Fresh Feeling by the Eels, which is probably my favorite on the CD.

Other random music thoughts:

Blue October's Hate Me is a great song.

The Dresden Dolls are cool. I really like Sing.

I second the above mention of Cowboy Junkies. Especially anything off the Lay It Down album.

The Shelter of Storms - Mary Chapin Carpenter (one of my favorite singers)
Joey and Someday - Concrete Blonde (my favorite band)
Under Pressure - Queen and David Bowie (my favorite song of all time)

[Beamer311]

Some really good ones that I have been listening to lately are

Radiohead
Broken Social Scene
The Arcade Fire
The New Pornographers
Islands
Muse
Mando Diao
K-Os
Destroyer
The Flaming Lips

[BreatheNoMore]

SLEATER-KINNEY!!!!
Ani DiFranco
Rilo Kiley
Modest Mouse
Sonic Youth
Cat Power
Lily Allen

or.. just check my Last.fm for more great things

[Bound2Her]

Saosin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Uzu]

I'm not sure if these are your cuppa tea but they might be of interest-

Massive Attack- Mainly electronica rythmic beat indie stuff but can expand into a wider range of styles. Recommend the tracks 'Teardrop', 'Protection' and 'Unfinished Sympathy'.

Zero 7- Atmospheric chillout music. Recommend everything in the 'When it Falls' album.

Morcheeba- Recommend the track 'The Sea' from the 'Big Calm' album.

[Willowlover]

i have another one. Ghost of the robot AKA GotR.