Band Recommendations?

College Confidential Community
1

<p>Well, I'm trying to "branch out" a little bit and go into some Indie/Alt territory. </p>

<p>First of all, I've traditionally listened to more classical stuff like Beatles, Zeppelin, Floyd, Doors, etc.</p>

<p>More recently, I've been listening to some newer stuff, but I really hate the vast majority of stuff on the radio, so I need some opinions on some indie/semi-obscure bands. To give you a ballpark of what I'm looking for, here's some info about the stuff that I'm listening to right now of stuff that's relatively new.</p>

<p>LIKES:
Modest Mouse (the older stuff is better than Good News, IMO)
Radiohead (although I would like something a little bit more melodic)
A Perfect Circle (I LOVE Mer de Noms; Thirteenth Step is meh-ish)
Rage Against the Machine (more for lyrics and because Tom Morello owns at guitar)
Foo Fighters
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Smashing Pumpkins (love Siamese Dream)
Tool
The White Stripes</p>

<p>SEMI-LIKES:
Audioslave
Coldplay
Incubus (new cd sucks; Make Yourself is good)
Weezer</p>

<p>HATES:
Dashboard Confessional (and all nasaly whiny white-boy singing for that matter)
Linkin Park (Can you please turn up the distortion? I think I can still hear some actual guitar playing. Oh yeah, and incredibly profound lyrics.)
All goth music, because it's ridiculously fake.
All teenybopper pop music, see above note about goth music.</p>

<p>Basically, something that resembles Modest Mouse closely would be good. If It's dark/heavy, the lyrics had better be good or it better have one hell of a guitarist, preferably both. </p>

<p>So, suggestions, guys...</p>

<p>(Also, I realize that some of the stuff above may be slightly contradictory. Make the most of it :).)</p>

2

<p>Want a double dose of Modest Mouse- check out Ugly Casanova (Isaac's "side project" that is a wee bit more experimental).</p>

3

<p>Grunge:
Alice in Chains
Soundgarden</p>

<p>Ska:
The Pietasters
Less than Jake</p>

<p>there's some great local bands where i live (DC area)...a little on the heavier side. but two are:
Common Effect
Sound Riot</p>

<p>and you got some of my favorite bands up there so i don't know what else to add. :)</p>

4

<p>Interpol
The New Pornographers
Franz Ferdinand
The Stills
Snow Patrol</p>

<p>I could go on and on with bands, but those are just a few you might be interested in.</p>

5

<p>The Shins
The Flaming Lips
Death Cab for Cutie
The Postal Service
Any of the Radiohead B-sides
Paloalto
Muse
Sigur Ros (this is an Icelandic band)</p>

<p>If you're into "classical" stuff listen to
Gil Shaham
(real classical)</p>

6

<p>Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Maps is a great song)
The Breeders</p>

<p>everyone else pretty much said it all</p>

7

<p>Def "Muse"--- its to die for
Brand New - best CD is Deja Entendu
Interpol
Jimmy Eat World - i like the new one Pain
The Killers
Sum41- again their new one We're all to Blame
Maps is an excellent song as perviously mentioned</p>

8

<p>This may sound random, but sometimes I've found that a good way to find new bands is through Amazon.com's "listmania". You know how when you do a search, a list of albums pertinent to it will come up? I've found a bunch of cool bands, like the ones everyone else has said and some others just by surfing around and doing searches for bands that I like.</p>

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<p>Belle & Sebastian
Death Cab for Cutie
The Postal Service
Sigur Ros
Broken Social Scene
The Flaming Lips
Franz Ferdinand
Spoon
Interpol
Alice in Chains
The New Pornographers
The Smiths
The Velvet Underground
Neutral Milk Hotel
Sufjan Stevens
Pedro the Lion
The Apples in Stereo
Muse
311</p>

<hr>

<p>Also I reccomend you sign up for an Audioscrobbler account at <a href="http://www.audioscrobbler.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.audioscrobbler.com&lt;/a>. It's free. Just download a plug-in for the player you use (Winamp, RealOne, etc.) and it will keep tabs on what artists/songs you play, giving you recommendations, showing you similar artists, and matching you with users of the same musical preferences. Even if you don't get an account you can still look up these features.</p>

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<p>Interpol
Muse
Zwan
The Beta Band
Ballboy
Secret Machines
Sigur Ros
Flaming Lips
Super Furry Animals
The Verve</p>

11

<p><em>dances for joy at all the wonderful music taste on this thread</em></p>

12

<p>Yeah, I'm still going through all these songs..."sampling" them :).</p>

<p>So, far, I like Sonic Youth and Ugly Casanova a lot. Interpol is all right, and so are the Shins. I dislike the Futureheads, and I haven't given the Smiths long enough to make a judgment. Pavement is good. Franz Ferdinand is too poppish for me.</p>

<p>More listening to come...:)</p>

13

<p>Ditch Radiohead before you realize how mediocre it is.</p>

<p>The Best Bands Ever besides The Beatles (unofficially, but officially), followed by best album:
The Velvet Underground (VU & Nico)
Yo la Tengo (I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One)
The Flaming Lips (The Soft Bulletin)
The Sonic Youth (Daydream Nation)
Television (Marquee Moon)
My Bloody Valentine (Loveless)
Air (Moon Safari)
The Jesus and Mary Chain (Psychocandy)
REM (Automatic for the People)
Cyann & Ben (Spring)
Pavement (Slanted and Enchanted)
Smashing Pumpkins (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness)
Interpol (Turn on the Bright Lights)
Bright Eyes (Lifted, or, The Story is in the Soil-- Keep your Ear to the Ground)
Echo and the Bunnymen (Ocean Rain)
Joy Division (Substance)
U2 (Joshua Tree)
M. Ward (Transfiguration of Vincent)</p>

<p>Essential albums by not necessarily essential bands:</p>

<p>Let it Bleed- The Rolling Stones
Forever Changes- Love</p>

<p>Officially.</p>

<p>Oh, and bands that are great but not quite there totally:</p>

<p>The Unicorns (Who Will Cut our Hair when we're Gone?)
The Postal Service (Give Up)
Death Cab for Cutie (We Have the Facts and we're Voting Yes)
The Strokes (Is this It?)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Fever to Tell)
The Decemberists (Cutouts and Castaways ((might be the other way around)) )</p>

14

<p>So far, none of these bands has matched Modest Mouse in my opinion.</p>

<p>MM = unbeatable? :D</p>

<p>Oh yeah, edit: I don't think Radiohead is mediocre at all. Kid A + OK Computer + The Bends => Godly. Hail to the Thief => Pretty good, but not as good as the others IMO. Same goes for Amnesiac.</p>

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<p>Ehh...you'll see how mediocre radiohead is after you listen to all the bands in this thread.</p>

<p>And, trust me, Modest Mouse is not unbeatable. It's just that all of these bands are much less instantly accessible than Modest Mouse is (and even MM isn't that accessible). It takes weeks of listening to the albums in this thread for them to live up to their immense praises.</p>

16

<p>Well, it's kind of silly to say that I WILL like your bands. I can tell you right now that I HAVE been listening to Velvet Underground, Smashing Pumpkins, and REM for awhile (months) and I still think Modest Mouse is better than the three. Just really goes with my tastes.</p>

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<p>nobody said, as far as i read nobody said Maroon 5 - which i love almost as much as i love Muse. Muse _ Hysteria and Time is Running Out. good stuff.</p>

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<p>Vegangirl, nice call on The Stills. I had never even heard of them before you mentioned them, but I hafta admit that they are rather good.
Still as far as these bands go, my clear cut favorite is The Strokes. How dare they make us wait so long for another album...</p>

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<p>I love Depeche mode but I mostly listen to Benaroya Hall live Pearl Jam
also like Death cab
Rem
Pretty girls make graves
Sinead O Connor
Joan Osborne
Smoosh
Sleater- Kinney</p>

20

<p>some more to add...</p>

<p>PJ Harvey
Rooney
The Crash Poets
Guster
Nada Surf
Gavin DeGraw
Manic Street Preachers
Finger Eleven</p>