Music Recommendations

Anybody know a good band with trumpets? Vague I know, but I've found I like most anything with trumpets in it as long as it has a structure (ie, not jazz-random).

Stuff with a whole freaking lot of trumpets and brass:

• Ska in general. I'd recommend Runforyerlife and Five Iron Frenzy (Upbeats and Beatdowns, Our Newest Album Ever, and Quantity Is Job 1 being good entry points).
• Mariachi el Bronx. For that matter, mariachi in general is really cool, but I'm not familiar enough with Mexican bands to recommend more.
• Chicago's first album, Chicago Transit Authority.
• Big band swing. I know you said you don't like jazz's randomness, but swing is much less random that the jazz that came after it—a lot of it was basically the pop music of its day. Duke Ellington (try The Far East Suite) and Count Basie (try The Atomic Mr. Basie) are some of the best.
• Salsa / mambo / I honestly have trouble telling the difference between all these Latin American genres. Try Tito Puente's Dance Mania, Afro Cuban All Stars' A Toda Cuba le Gusta. Also, David Byrne (yes, the former frontman of Talking Heads) did a cool Latin album, Rei Momo.

Stuff with less frequent but still awesome trumpets and brass:

• Calexico. Feast of Wire is a good entry point.
• A Hawk And A Hacksaw. Délivrance or Cervantine are both good entry points.
• Sufjan Stevens' Illinois or The Age of Adz.
• Jaga Jazzist's A Livingroom Hush, The Stix, or What We Must.

edited 27th Oct '12 6:22:27 PM by MetaFour

Motown in general makes excellent use of horns. Simple but pure.

I recently discovered Nightwish and realized one of the reasons I loved them so much was that it was the first Metal Band I've ever heard with a female vocalist.

Any other estrogen-voiced metal bands out there I should listen to?

edited 28th Oct '12 5:06:52 PM by ShirowShirow

As far as their particular style of symphonic metal goes, you have Krypteria, Within Temptation, Epica, older Lacuna Coil (they shifted a bit towards alt rock in their later stuff). Ask Noa for more.

Hee. Actually you just listed most of the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Let's see. Leaves' Eyes, Elis, Edenbridge, at least some of Luca Turilli's Dreamquest and Trans Siberian Orchestra (they have songs with both male-dominant and female-dominant vocals), Diablo Swing Orchestra (but they're rather more swing metal than symphonic).

(EDIT: Whaaaaaaaat, no pages? For shame. Have Youtube links instead.)

edited 31st Oct '12 8:07:49 PM by Noaqiyeum

Arkona is folk-metal with some symphonic leanings. Their Slovo was one of my favorite albums of 2011. Well worth a listen.

@Meta: Thanks!

Some killer tracks there guys. Thanks. -Updates MP 3 player-

I'll probably check out some of those too (when I'm not in public). I borrowed a friend's Nightwish CD and enjoyed it.

Any others I might like, not necessarily female?

edited 9th Nov '12 3:19:20 AM by LoniJay

I'm on a major Bowie kick right now (mainly 'Ziggy Stardust'), so if anyone could recommend artists in a similar vein, that'd be great

I'm looking for some almost Mind Screw music videos.

Something similar to what Empire Of The Sun did with We Are The People perhaps?

Having good music too would be nice.

Starflyer 59: "No New Kinda Story"

Katabasis - The way through Mishicbatllaban (set to Yello's "Cyclops")

Does anyone know of any musicians with a similar style to P!nk?

@the Greyjoy boy: Give Miyavi a try.

Does anyone know of some songs (or bands) with very triumphant brass sections?

That's kind of vague, I know. The only real example I can think of for the sort of thing I'm looking for is something like the trumpets in Winter Winds by Mumford and Sons.

edited 17th Dec '12 1:27:48 PM by Mukora

Mariachi el Bronx.

Anathallo

Foxhole.

Jaga Jazzist

Ben Lear

edited 17th Dec '12 9:00:47 PM by MetaFour

Streetlight Manifesto. Check out "Everything Went Numb" and "We Will Fall Together".

This... this thing... it's driving me insane! DAT BASS!

I'm very sorry that I only found out about this group through an anime, of all things, but I found this sound so baffling and out-of-standard, I can't stop listening to it, or playing it in my head, and I can't properly label the emotions it evokes, and... and I'm finding this awesome and I want to hear more stuff like this. So, any recommendations?

First of all, Yes is Progressive Rock, so you're more likely to find similar stuff by looking up more prog rock acts.

Second, maybe King Crimson? Electric Light Orchestra? (Admittedly, much poppier than most prog bands.)

Only prog rock band I know is U2. And I only know of King Crimson because of Panty And Stocking With Garterbelt... (then again, their page insists that the media seems to have forgotten about them for no good reason).

U2 isn't really progressive rock. That's not a slam on U2; it's just that prog rock is defined by extended compositions, unusual song structures and time signatures, and lots of instrumental solos, none of which are a big part of U2's sound, to my knowledge.

So I've been thinking of expanding my selection of Jethro Tull. Any albums I should check out besides Thick as a Brick and Aqualung?

I'm looking for music that's punky yet poppy yet proggy yet punky yet happy that makes no sense whatsoever and isn't Cardiacs or Deerhoof or Radiohead.

Any suggestions?

I'd say, considering prog and punk basically want to murder each other. You can try crossover prog, Baroque Pop, New Wave, or Pop Punk, but fuck if I know anything that combines all three.

Is there any specific elements you're looking for? Uncommon Time? Three Chords and the Truth? Song Style Shifts? General weirdness in the instrumentation, or just the basics?

edited 21st Jan '13 9:34:38 AM by Sparkysharps