Music Recommendations

Same. Elend circa Winds Devouring Men, Dead Can Dance on Within the Realm of a Dying Sun, Irfan and Isihia comparable bands for me.

edited 9th Aug '17 3:41:17 PM by StillbornMachine

Cocteau Twins and Siouxsie and the Banshees are some of the most famous dark wave acts arguably, and both have female leads.

Kind of an offshoot of this post: Other than A Grand Don't Come For Free, are there any albums that apply the Rock Opera trope to rap? I really like when rap songs have a detailed, elaborate plot to the lyrics, and the logical conclusion of that would be telling a continuous story over one album. Barring that, what are some really well-written rap songs that tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end?

edited 10th Sep '17 10:30:03 PM by MikeK

good kid, m.A.A.d city comes to mind. As for songs, Keep It 100 by Joyner Lucas I think would qualify.

edited 11th Sep '17 3:32:42 AM by PhysicalStamina

If you don't mind a mix of grime and soul music, try Plan B's The Defamation of Strickland Banks. I found it to be pretty interesting, if a little unfocused.

edited 12th Sep '17 12:29:56 PM by Small_Mess

Does anyone know any gothic or symphonic bands that are in Spanish (preferably Latin American Spanish but I'll take Spain music as well)? Something along the lines of Elysion, Nightwish, Within Temptation, or Epica? I'll take nu-metal as well. It's so hard to find good Spanish metal, and everything I do find is completely out of my interests.

edited 25th Sep '17 8:41:10 AM by Pichu-kun

What is the best starting point for getting into Bill Evans' discography?

Good upbeat electronic music that isn't brain breakingly repetitive?

Electronic Music is repetitive by nature. We've been down this road before; just accept you don't like the genre and move on FFS.

I'm trying to get into Metal some. I like a lot of hard rock acts, like Queen, AC/DC, Bon Jovi, stuff like that. I've also started listening to some Judas Priest, and I've really been loving that, one or two songs by Volbeat too. Any suggestions?

What Judas Priest have you heard?

Definitely check out Iron Maiden. I'd start by listening to their Powerslave album. Dio is probably up your alley as well. I'm not as familiar with them, but Holy Diver is often considered their best.

Anyone heard of the song "The Other Half of Me"? Unfortunately, I don't know who sings it.

I have not.

I've been kind of into Progressive Rock lately - I've heard at least an album or two by most of the major names (Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull, Genesis, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, etc) but kind of want to dig deeper than that.

I can't recommend Rush enough. Start with Moving Pictures, then go Permanent Waves -> 2112 -> A Farewell to Kings -> Hemispheres.

How much do you enjoy keyboards/synths?

If you don't mind the language barrier, there's a whole world of progressive rock out there. The Italian scene has some of the most stunningly beautiful albums out there. PFM (Premiata Forneria Marconi) and Banco (del Mutuo Soccorso)^* DON'T start with their English albums! are the leading lights of the scene, but there's lots of others out there.

Focus (from the Netherlands) aren't as frequently discussed as the big British names, but were very influential in their day, and deserve to be better-remembered. Moving Waves was their big international breakthrough album, but I've always been fond of the underappreciated Hamburger Concerto.

I feel like I'd enjoy prog in other languages - a lot of the time what appeals to me about it is the music rather than the lyrics, plus I've listened to and enjoyed some Magma, which is prog in a language that no one speaks. Of Focus all I know is this Crazy Awesome television appearance.

If you like Magma, you should try some of their spin-off bands like Zao (not the metal band) and Weidorje. But lots of stuff tagged "zeuhl" ought to appeal to you. Japan seems to have gravitated towards the style, with bands like Ruins and Koenjihyakkei excelling at it. There are some fine newer bands operating in the subgenre, like L.A.'s own Corima.

That's the band’s big hit, "Hocus Pocus," off of the aforementioned Moving Waves (a.k.a. Focus II). Nothing else really sounds like it (though "Harem Scarem" off of Hamburger Concerto) seems to be trying. They skipped around the language barrier by singing in Latin ("Round Goes the Gossip") or skipping out on lyrics altogether, which probably explains their success in English-speaking countries whereas most European prog bands were ignored^note save perhaps Triumvirat, who found themselves in the right place at the right time; hit album Spartacus rising on the charts precisely when the band they were emulating (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) were on hiatus. Moving Waves contains one of the band's most popular and enduring epics in "Eruption." Personally, I could do without the drum solo, but other than that it's golden.

If you like Focus, you may wish to try Finch, a similarly-intentioned (but entirely instrumental) band from the Netherlands. Only three (studio) albums, none less than excellent, though my favorite is still the first: Glory of the Inner Force.

A bit of an odd request...

I've been taking singing lessons recently, and progressed far enough for my vocal coach to tell me to start trying to sing some actual easy-to-sing songs. Considering that my vocal range is of lyric (high) baritone (and I seem to have dramatic tenor's timbre), what would be a good choice? Something bluesy, preferably, though pop songs are fine, too.

I'm leaning towards Riders on the Storm or In the Woods Somewhere right now, though the latter's a bit too high for me to sing comfortably.

Edited by Millership on Jul 26th 2018 at 7:38:16 PM

i want something that will make me cry in happiness. A single about a love that surpasses any boundaries, a concept album that starts depressing but eventually has a super affirming message, I just want to happy cry.