Who is your favorite artist and what song/album would you recommend?
I'm watching "The real reason algorithms are bad for art" by Digging the greats and can't remember the last time I asked real humans for recommendations for music. At one point, he is going around asking people of artists/albums that they recommend. I thought that was a cool idea. Then I thought, what if I asked lemmy/mastodon/ect and see what you all recommend?
Who is your favorite artist and what song/album would you recommend?
I'm looking to expand my horizons a bit.
I'll start.
There's a local band called the red coats. I think they only have one album. I can't find a Bandcamp link but their music is here should you like to hear them. My wife and I saw them live at tiny little shops.
My go to favourite band is AFI, and they have a great back catalogue to dig into as they've been going since the 90s but have changed their style with the times (although always sort of emo/punk adjacent). I flip flop on my favourite album from them, currently I'd say it's Sing The Sorrow but sometimes it's Decemberunderground.
My taste changes frequently though, so for something with a completely different style, I find myself constantly returning to Personal Protocol by 8485, a wonderful hyperpop EP with Drum & Bass influences.
I hope you get something out of any of this, and would love to hear what you think!
In a similar punk/pop-punk vein, I saw The Matches are doing a few reunion shows and found myself diving headfirst into their 3 albums again. I’ve always thoroughly enjoyed them.
The flow from song to song on this album is near flawless. I think it is their most cohesive album, although they are all great. Motorcade of Generosity is a close second for me.
I got really into industrial my freshman year of highschool, then I got really into punk my sophomore year. I still remember the day I discovered Lard. Went to the record store and heard Forkboy playing on the PA. I was like, that Jello, but not the Dead Kennedy's. I asked the guy at the counter who it was and ended up leaving the store with both of their albums. They are still in my regular rotation of albums.
Yea Jello Biafra is a highly underrated musician. He's done a lot of other varied collabs over the years.
This one from the album he made with Mojo Nixon is also amazing. Maybe use headphones if you're out in public, especially in the USA https://youtu.be/7T7EUSQGxXY
Probably Janelle Monae - Archandroid. I love Afrofutrist funk like (Parliament-Funkadelic). It appeals to my 2 identities as a space nerd and the funkiest of the funky. Archandroid was sort of the peak of her sticking close to that genre. (Her three early works called the Metropolis Saga — Metropolis, an EP, Archandroid, and The Electric Lady — form a whole story.) The albums have multiple Suites like classical works so the themes change even within the albums. But Archandroid is my favorite part. And you can totally nerd out on it forever and still find new things.
How many desert island discs do I get? I'll do three lesser known ones
Make it all show - Skating Polly. I love the vocal styles, not sure I'd reccommend the band (I do have tickets this year though)
Masters of reality - Masters of reality. Not so much a band as a producer pulling talent and doing odd projects. Not a track on this I don't sing along to though... especially the instrumentals.
Rakshak - Bloodywood. Sometimes I need flute solos in my life, sometimes I need someone to aggressively tell me that shit is going to be ok.
3 more known ones.
Dummy - Portishead.
Original pirate material - The streets.
New levels new devils - Polyphia
A couple of my favorites, in no particular order...
Dessa - Mineshaft II
Dessa writes some of the most evocative, lyrically dense songs I've ever heard.
The Gits - Guilt Within Your Head
The Gits were a Seattle-based punk rock band that were poised to blow up big in the early 90s. Tragically, lead singer Mia Zapata was murdered just 4 days after they signed their first major contract.
Titus Andronicus - (I'm) Screwed
A long-running and critically acclaimed hard rock band that's avoided finding mainstream success. One of the best live acts I've seen.
I'd recommend The Gods We Can Touch, and when you're done with that What Happened to The Heart.
If you're wondering who she is, maybe listen runaway, you'll probably recognize that. Hope you enjoy! :)
I do have a lot of favorites from over the years but I still find new bands/albums I fall in love with. So instead of recommending any old favorites I will give you my album of the year (thus far) from a band I didn’t really enjoy before.
Caligula‘s Horse - Charcoal Grace
Absolutely fantastic album and I would strongly recommend listening to it from start to finish.
"Softly" by Gordon Lightfoot is one of my favorite songs. On the surface it appears to be about a woman but I don't think it is. I was listening to it one time when it just popped into my head, "Holy shit. He's talking about the moon."
I thought about writing him to ask if I was right and I kind of regret that I didn't while he was still alive.
The man was a poet of highest caliber. If you like or can at least listen to folk music, the album "Gord's Gold" lives up to it's name.
Based on my year end wrap up things Pearl Jam is my favorite band. I'm in the top 0.01% of listeners on Tidal, and the same was true when I was on Spotify.
They just came out with a new album called "Dark Matter" that is quite good (though I think I liked the last album a bit better). I'd put "Riot Act" as my favorite album of there's, but I think I might point you toward a song on what is probably my least favorite album (Back Spacer), Unthought Known
I was also going to recommend Soundgarden’s Superunknown.
I’m also stoked to see Blue Eyes by Springbok Nude Girls in your list. Their albums Neanderthal 1, After Life Satisfaction and Surpass The Power are both fantastic and weird.
favorite song is from an early album but its subject matter you would think would be later in a career but the band had been through many changes to evolve to where it got https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGvux7w1Ea4
Social Distortion: White Light White Heat White Trash - My all time favorite band. A great mix of punk, rockabilly, blues, and a little country. Truly there is no other band that sounds like them. I also recommend their album Live at the Roxy, because they are amazing live.
Bloodsport OST Paul Hertzog. Literally everything on this album is a masterpiece. If you haven't zoned out to this album or watched the movie you're doing yourself a disservice.
Let's skip favorite and instead answer fun find that I've come back to a few times: Brothers of Metal - Kaunaz Dagaz (it is in English, lol). It's viking metal, and as went through highschool with Blind Guardian and Rhapsody, it's great to find bands still making banging fantasy metal https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzad__XGDbQ&si=atuCBlgpMSQ9UkRL
The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - David Bowie
The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Hotel California - The Eagles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
Boston - Boston
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Abbey Road - The Beatles
I listen to so many different kinds of music so it is hard to nail down a favorite. Instead I’ll give you the most recent artist I saw live-Jazz guitarist Julian Lage. I saw his trio in Chicago last night and it was an unreal experience with how tight the group was. Truly masters of their craft. Here is one of my favorite tracks of his “Tributary”
Stephin Merritt is the greatest songwriter of my generation. My favorite song is "100,000 Fireflies" but another good one to start with is "All My Little Words".
Dark Necessities just came out a few years ago. Blood Sugar Sex Magic is still my favorite album from them, and that you can safely call older rock, although I'd categorize it more as funk.
I have no idea how to categorize music, it seems everyone defines it by their own standards so I just wrote down something I felt generally categorized it.
Been my favorite since mid 00's. As someone from the US, they were never very big here, and I get tons of looks from people if I tell them this. They were pretty successful overseas from the looks of the concerts. I didn't mind. Whenever they toured here, I got to see them in super small venues, which was great. Sadly, they haven't put out an album in over 15 years and doubt they will. They all have side projects and kind of moved on but never officially broke up. I can only hope they will return one day. Side projects are really good as well, thankfully.
Picking a favorite artist is hard, but I recently got a CD for the For Squirrels album Example a few days ago. Absolutely in love with it, every single song on it. Especially the CD version of Mighty K.C., which feels like an extended version of what plays during the official music video on yt.
Can't say who's my favorite, but they're definitely up there.
I was listening to old punk rock (from my own collection, not some algorithmic channel) and Kamala's Too Nice by Screeching Weasel came on, which was really amusing in the current American political landscape. https://youtu.be/EjlhlqcCTjM
If you like this one you'll probably like the whole My Brain Hurts album.
I don't know if I can pick a favorite artist, my tastes are too varied. There's a ton of good suggestions in this thread, so a couple album recommendations I have that I don't see are:
One of the few bands that have stuck with me for years, I give you Foreign Air. I recommend their album Hello Sunshine, most of them are bangers. My favourite songs include Your Touch and Hello Sunshine Pt 2.
Neko Case in either her solo career or with The New Pornographers. The voice of God with red hair. I would listen to Brill Bruisers by TNP or Middle Cyclone by Neko..
Here are some of my favorites in no particular order from no particular genre that aren't generally well known as far as I am aware. I hope you enjoy some of them!