Music concepts you would like to see?

I think we all have in our heads an artist/band that plays a musical style that is almost impossible to find in real life. Here we share those ideas, and possibly recommend what is the closest real life equivalent. Basically, musical styles that you haven't seen for real but would like to see, or possibly make in the future if you're a musician.

I'll start:

Personally, one of the ideas I've had in my head was a metal band that has three singers consisting of Two Guys and a Girl. Each singer brings a unique style to the mix. You have a guy that alternates between screaming and melodic singing, another guy who only raps, and a girl who does uplifting clean vocals. Songs would differentiate in feel — one song could be a heavy number with tons of harsh screaming, one is more of a metal/hip-hop combo with an emphasis on rapping, and one could be a more feminine pop track led with girly clean vocals. And that's not getting into the idea of them trading verses within the same song, so you would have screaming interspersed with rapping and pop-like vocal harmonies. Combine all of that with heavy riffs and electronica, and you'd have a band that sounds like no one else.

Granted, this would require a lot of coordination and an understanding of music in order for this to work. If done wrong, it could easily be an incoherent mess. But if done right, it would give them an edge in uniqueness over everyone else. If I were a musician (and I'm open to the idea of becoming one in the future), I would seriously try to make this band because it sounds like it would be a lot of fun to listen to. The closest thing to this I know of is Amaranthe, who have the triple vocals featuring two guys and a girl and electronica down, but there isn't any rapping and even barring that is not quite what I picture in my head.

What about you guys? What sort of unique concepts do you picture in your head? I have more, but I'll share them later.

Author.

a rubber band

by which i mean a band where every instrument is a condom

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

A band where the lead singers are a man who sings extremely feminine and a woman who sings extremely masculine.

Or a band which plays:

Reggae metal

Country metal

Blues metal

Jazz metal

or R&B Metal

edited 12th Jan '17 4:38:33 AM by WhatArtThee

Just another day in the life of Jimmy Nutrin

That could be possible. Just have Steve Roden and Matmos to do the recording and production. But I doubt it can be replicated live.

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I'd like to listen to bands performing original songs about a certain nation's history in a language and a genre which have almost nothing in common with each other. For instance, a band performing reggae songs about the Joseon dynasty in German. I'm sure a few bands have done this but I'd like more of them to record acclaimed (commercially or critically) albums using this concept.

This isn't a literal music concept but I'd love to watch more video essays on genres of music and also music around the world as a whole. On Youtube, there are so many popular video essays on movies but I don't see many of them about music. And most of those video essays on music have poor production value.

edited 12th Jan '17 4:47:00 AM by tropeslave

A duo consisting of a vaporwave producer and a female vocalist. Basically the producer would make these slowed-down loops of oldschool R&B for the vocalist to sing over.

Basically like this:

To pity someone is to tell them "I feel bad about being better than you."

Another idea I've had is an electronica project that combines the glittery styles of Japanese Pop Music and all the styles that entails — electronica/techno elements, hard/soft rock guitars, and whatever else into the mix, with western music, such as our kind of pop and hip-hop.

It would be like a fusion of East and West. If features are involved, it could have artists from both sides of the Pacific. I've been dying to know what a Western artist that takes influence from Japanese music would sound like, and moreover, I've been wanting to see someone combine the two together.

Author.

Have you heard Yellow Magic Orchestra, by any chance?

I think I've heard of them, and they sound like an interesting listen. While that might be a close example, it's still not quite what I had in mind. I picture a modern act that fuses influences from both ends of Pacific together. I've been looking into trying to become a DJ/producer, and I might try this if I get the knowledge as to how (yes, I want to do many things).

That also makes me wonder, how many western artists take influence from Japanese music? The only one I know is a British rock band, Area 11, who mixed J-Pop influences with western shred rock and had anime-inspired lyrics. They called their style "gaijin rock". It was pretty cool and something completely different from everyone else.

Then they became Enter Shikari-lite and I immediately lost interest.

Author.

One idea that has been on my mind for a while now is incorporating extreme vocals into mild genres of music. I'd really like to hear a ska band with a vocalist that exclusively uses screaming, but with more or less traditional ska instrumentation. Dub music can also be treated this way if we put more distortion on the bass. Maybe it's because I'm way into the Lyrical Dissonance trope but I think it just might work.

edited 13th Jan '17 8:33:05 AM by Small_Mess

Nonsense is better than no sense at all.

I really want to see a rock band full of normal instruments, but used in weird ways, e.g. using guitar as percussion, drums as lead melody, and so on

What fate a slugcat...

A pop star surprise-releases an album/EP/playlist of commercial jingles made in the past few years which seemingly have nothing to do with the pop star. The real surprise of the release? The pop star turns out to have played a part in composing or recording all the jingles or both!

edited 7th Feb '17 8:17:32 AM by tropeslave

Univers Zero style avant-prog crossed with Godflesh esque industrial and/or the more ritualistic/alien/dissonant/blackened end of death metal a la Infester, Abyssal, Ulcerate, Zealotry, Ghoulgotha and so on. Lots of weirdly structured tonally off-kilter compositions layered over weird, machine-like rhythms and towers of surging, worming single note textures.

A tribute single where a bunch of bands/musicians cover different individual parts of a certain song, and the results are edited together seamlessly. I'm thinking the original would have to be something like "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", where there are a bunch of distinct sections that flow together.

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

What, so like the stuff Barry Manilow did?

Better quality:

edited 10th Feb '17 12:51:46 PM by Odd1

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Yeah, my idea is largely inspired by Barry Manilow. My idea is different for having the pop star to compose and record all the jingles after achieving somewhat moderate popularity (Barry composed and recorded most of his jingles before becoming a pop star). So the making of the jingles is kind of like the pop star's secret side-project.

edited 11th Feb '17 7:25:10 AM by tropeslave

I wondered how would an orchestra, a rock band and electronic music would sound like when performed together....

I know I've definitely heard music before like that.

But aside from that might sound like Electric Light Orchestra just with some EDM elements in there.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Off the top of my head, Jaga Jazzist, Sufjan Stevens, Snarky Puppy, and Hybrid have all gotten close to that synthesis from different angles.

I didn't write any of that.

@BILLY MAYS!!!!!: You might find Sonic Youth's self-titled début interesting. It's not particularly outré, but the use of guitars as percussion and the rhythm section as a kind of melodic centre is key to the odder tracks like "The Burning Spear".

@Stillborn Machine: This Heat, if you're not already familiar with them, can be seen as something of a missing link between post-punk and the pre-punk RIO and Canterbury scenes. Some of their work is quite heavy and abrasive, yet also structurally and melodically quite engaging.

Most modern bands that evoke that sort of menace and texture in my mind are either more minimalistic or overtly noisy than your description implies, though. I like what you're suggesting, though; very much my cup of tea.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

@murazrai: I just remembered, some of the music in Kid Icarus Uprising kinda fits the bill of what you're thinking.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

After listening to Blood Stain Child, I would really like to see a western band that combines Melodic Death Metal with Pop and Electronic Music. Basically, EDM style production that compliments fierce guitar riffs and solos, as well as a Soprano and Gravel dynamic where clean, girly female vocals are contrasted by harsh male growls and screams.

Author.

So, by coincidence I went on a wiki-walk and found out that someone did this with "Paradise by the Dashboard Light".

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

Mine is somewhat similar to the above, except with entire albums. My idea was to take an album (Originally it was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but it could be any iconic album really), and have each song covered by different artists.

edited 17th Mar '17 2:33:47 PM by HowInKraidable

I remember buying a Mojo magazine edition which had a CD where different artists/groups covered each of the songs from New Order's Power, Corruption & Lies (plus a couple of other famous tracks from that period).

edited 17th Mar '17 10:06:21 PM by Quag15

There's also This Bird Has Flown — A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul.

edited 18th Mar '17 8:01:01 AM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.