The New Musical Discoveries Thread.

[Ilash]

Sort of similar to the "what you're listening to" and "what I just bought" threads, here's a thread dedicated to any and all new things you have recently discovered in the wide world of music. These discoveries can be current music releases or centuries old, they just have to be new to you. They can be recent purchases, new appreciations of old albums or even just a passing song on the radio. These new discoveries can be songs, albums, artists or even just a great bassline you never noticed before. Whatever the case is, post your new discoveries (some commentary on these would be great too) and who knows maybe you'll turn someone onto something people haven't heard before.


I'll start this off with my latest album purchase, American Beauty by The Grateful Dead, my first real exposure to the phenomenon that is the Grateful Dead.

First some comments about the album and band in general:

I have yet to come across a more ill-fitting name for a band in my life. Back in my much more musically ignorant days, I figured that a band with the name like The Grateful Dead would be a hardcore death metal band when in fact the Dead are pretty much from the other end of the popular music spectrum.

I'm not yet sold on their more jammy and psychadelic stuff because though I do like a lot of the music that has been released under both those genres, they're both pretty easy to mess up horribly (especially the former). This laid back, often incredibly beautiful, often fun hippyish roots rock is right up my alley and I will be checking out Workingman's Dead at least. Actually any other recommendations for similar albums by the band would be greatly appreciated.

Now, onto the album itself. What can I say, I love it - and I mean LOVE. It's of course an album that is designed to be treasured by anyone who is disposed toward it and I definitely fall into that category. The band have come up with an album that is about as warm, welcoming and lovable a rock and roll album as any I have had the pleasure to hear. Basically this album is the exact opposite of any of those cold, cynical, inhuman albums that I have so often complained about in the past. While I do understand the need for the darker side of rock and roll, and I even like a fair share of it, I do feel that records like American Beauty are all too easy to dismiss as "hippy crap" when they're really a great way to balance things out.

Okay, before I get too much into the whole light vs dark (massive over simplification here) rock and roll argument, a quick look at what makes this album work. First, that love it or hate it atmosphere accounts for a large part of what I love about this album but lets not forget the amazing melodies that while not as immediately catchy as your avergae pop song are still perfectly crafted in their own right. I'm still discovering the lyrics but they strike me as being pretty impressive, charting a wide variety of human emotions. The musicianship, production and arrangements are all superb, all doing their parts to enhance these songs.

Lastly, just a quick word on how I came to discover this album. Freaks and Geeks - The final episode. To anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, go out NOW and get yourself the eighteen episodes of Freaks and Geeks, one of the greatest television shows ever made. Seriously, NOW.

Standout tracks: Box of Rain, Friend of the Devil, Sugar Magnolia, Ripple, Brokedown Palace and Truckin' but honestly, I love everything here except for teh deathly boring Attics of My Life.

[Jonathan Bogart]

I'm constantly in the middle of discovery, rediscovery, or getting around to something I've had for a while, so I'll try not to dominate this thread. Good idea for a thread, by the way, Ilash.

(Woah, I complimented Ilash! Is the earth spinning the wrong way on its axis or something?)

I'm in the middle of two discoveries at the moment.

One is all things glam rock and was inspired by listening to Def Leppard's recent Yeah! CD. (Shut up.) I'm quite familiar with the "names" of glam rock: Bowie, T. Rex, Roxy Music, Mott the Hoople, and some of the cream of the glitter crop like Suzi Quatro and the Sweet. But I've been trying to define the borders of glam, and it's turning out surprisingly difficult to do. There are points where it fades into hard rock/early metal, and points where it fades into punk, and where it fades into 70s AM pop, and where it fades into singer-songwriter, and where it fades into the rock underground, and where it fades into disco-soul. Is it primarily a visual-iconography thing (in which case the Stooges circa Raw Power might fit), or is it a sound thing (those swinging drums, those crunchy guitars)? Is it more artsy, like Bowie, or more pop, like Bolan? And do I really have to listen to (ugh) Gary Glitter? Like all great pop scenes, the more you investigate, the more there is to find out. I've been falling deeply in love with Roy Wood and his various projects from the Move to early ELO to Wizzard. As far as I'm concerned, he's the lost genius of 70s avant-pop.

The other discovery is something I'm vaguely calling Black Music, 1968-1974 or so. Not just soul, or not soul in its most obvious manifestation as baby-making music. It has to do with the Black Power movement, with the rise of reggae and other black musics around the world (Africa, South America) that both took inspiration from and completely transformed American soul and funk. Plus some early inspirations for hip-hop, the intersection of funk and jazz, and wherever black people were doing interesting music that had something to say about the world. So James Brown, Gil Scott-Heron, Nina Simone, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Fela Kuti, Gilberto Gil, the Last Poets, Miles Davis, and Funkadelic are only the tip of the iceberg. There's something that unites all these musics, and it may be entirely a-musical, but I don't think so. It's fascinating, burying into the sounds of radicalized blackness.

One of the things I do when I'm investigating genres like this is to build notional box sets around them; I'm currently in the midst of picking out playlists for both of these sets. I'll post them in that thread when I finish it, for the curious among you.

[Ilash]

Aw, no responses to my thread aside for Jonathan? Ah, well, that's not going to stop me from still using it to write down my rambling feelings about new music that I've gotten into.

First, Jonathan, that's some interesting stuff you're discovering but I have toadmit that my interest in glam rock is fairly casual. I like some stuff from the genre but I can't see it ever becoming a favourite. As for "Black Music", well, I do like quite a lot of American Black Music (in fact, prior to the Beatles my favourite music is mostly done by black people) but I'm not much one for Reggae and as you can imagine, I've heard more African black music than most people on this board and some impressive rythms aside, it's really not my cup of meat.

Two things though, I too am intersted in checking out some Roy Wood so any recommendations based on your own experiences? Also, I have to say, that while I'm certainly more interested in music than most, the way you explore it is really damned fascinating (hey, returning the compliment) and even if I don't personally follow in your footsteps, it does make for some great reading.

Now, as for my latest musical discovery, again it comes from a single CD that has been my introduction to this artist but unlike with the Grateful Dead, this CD has been sitting unappreciated on my shelf for a few weeks and it's not a single LP but a greatest hits album. Lonely at the Top: The Best of Randy Newman is the CD in question and it's a good one.

If Randy Newman is known at all, it does seem to be more for his film scores , at least as far as I can see but he strikes me, based on this CD alone, as being one of the best representatives of the whole singer/ songwriter genre. First, the thing that most seem to pick up before anything else, is his ability to write some incredibly witty lyrics. Whether he's going for his trademark black humour, creating interesting narratives and sympathetic (or sometimes detestable) characters or the rare directly personal song, his lyrics never fail to impress. As I've mentioned numerous times before, lyrics are usually not the first thing I notice when listening to a new piece of music for the first (or twentieth) time but in his case, I noticed them almost immediately.

Not that his lyrics should overshadow his music of course because he's pretty damned solid in that area too. I have to admit that I don't like his earliest stuff (say, the first five or so tracks here) as much as his later stuff but all in all, this is good, good stuff. He clearly draws from many different influences - be it soul, pop, show tunes or country - and aside for the times when his lyrics are more convoluted than usual, his melodies are well constructed and usually catchy as well. I can't comment on his non-"hits" but if they're as good as the tracks presented here, I'm definitely going to need to pick up some of his actual albums.

As for his delivery of these songs, it's generally flawless but he does leave plenty of space for other artists to take this stuff in their own directions. His voice takes a little getting used to but he is an emotive singer who actually gets better as he goes along. His piano playing is good and all the tracks here have professional, non-obtrusive, perfectly fitted backing. All in all, he's definitely someone worth checking out.

Favourite tracks so far: Sail Away, Baltimore, I Love LA, Short People, Rider in the Rain, Lousiniana 1927, Jolly Coppers on Parade.

[Jonathan Bogart]

Dude, I've been plugging Randy Newman here for years. One of the all-time great American songwriters.

For albums, get Sail Away (1972) and Good Old Boys (1974); they're the stone-cold classics. The later albums tend to be uneven or poorly-produced, and the first couple are clearly a commercial songwriter finding his feet. if you can find it, Rhino recently released a version of Good Old Boys that has a bonus disc with Randy's demos of the rock opera the album was originally going to be; it's essential listening, even if the finished album is better.

Also, check out Nilsson Sings Newman. Harry Nilsson was a New York singer-songwriter who whose early work gave him the reputation of a one-man Beatles. He admired Newman's songs greatly, and did an album of covers. Nilsson's twisted pop sensibilities (equalling, but not quite aligning with, Newman's own twists) make it kind of a weird listening experience. He's got a Beatles pop gloss, but never ends up quite as normal as the Beatles. (He and Lennon were drinking buddies for a while, during Lennon's "lost weekend" of the 70s.) And his multi-tracked harmonies should be heard by everyone.

I'd recommend checking out a greatest hits from Roy Wood/Wizzard. (Which will probably be easier in your part of the world than mine, dammit!) Make sure it has "See My Baby Jive" on it: it's probably his best single song. The only person I can really compare him to is Todd Rundgren, but Todd could only wish he was half as weird as Roy.

[Ilash]

Dude, I've been plugging Randy Newman here for years. One of the all-time great American songwriters.

For albums, get Sail Away (1972) and Good Old Boys (1974); they're the stone-cold classics. The later albums tend to be uneven or poorly-produced, and the first couple are clearly a commercial songwriter finding his feet. if you can find it, Rhino recently released a version of Good Old Boys that has a bonus disc with Randy's demos of the rock opera the album was originally going to be; it's essential listening, even if the finished album is better.

Also, check out Nilsson Sings Newman. Harry Nilsson was a New York singer-songwriter who whose early work gave him the reputation of a one-man Beatles. He admired Newman's songs greatly, and did an album of covers. Nilsson's twisted pop sensibilities (equalling, but not quite aligning with, Newman's own twists) make it kind of a weird listening experience. He's got a Beatles pop gloss, but never ends up quite as normal as the Beatles. (He and Lennon were drinking buddies for a while, during Lennon's "lost weekend" of the 70s.) And his multi-tracked harmonies should be heard by everyone.

I'd recommend checking out a greatest hits from Roy Wood/Wizzard. (Which will probably be easier in your part of the world than mine, dammit!) Make sure it has "See My Baby Jive" on it: it's probably his best single song. The only person I can really compare him to is Todd Rundgren, but Todd could only wish he was half as weird as Roy.

Hey, cool, thanks for all the tips. I've actually heard a little bit of Nilsson's stuff and he's definitely someone I want to get more of in the not-too distant future.

[Sanagi]

8-Bit Peoples is a site with a lot of free music based around the sounds of old video games. A lot of it is not that great, but there's some cool stuff in there, and it gets updated frequently.

Some of my favorites from that site-
Random - Beautiful Brutality
Mesu Kasumai - I-75
The Depreciation Guild - Nautilus

[Jonathan Bogart]

One of the things I do when I'm investigating genres like this is to build notional box sets around them; I'm currently in the midst of picking out playlists for both of these sets. I'll post them in that thread when I finish it, for the curious among you.

Well, it appears "that thread" (the one which was mostly howy and me posting our made-up box sets, with his kicking way more ass than mine) has gone the way of all flesh. So here's what I'm calling my Young, Gifted & Black box set, which covers socially conscious and progressive black music from roughly 1968-1974.

Disc One
01. James Brown “Say It Loud! (I’m Black and I’m Proud)”
02. The Art Ensemble of Chicago “Theme de Yoyo”
03. Burning Spear “This Race”
04. Funkadelic “Loose Booty”
05. Miriam Makeba “Samba”
06. Donny Hathaway “The Ghetto”
07. The Jimmy Castor Bunch “It’s Just Begun”
08. Marva Whitney “It’s My Thing (You Can’t Tell Me Who to Sock It To)”
09. The Chi-Lites “(For God’s Sake) Give More Power to the People”
10. Richie Havens “There’s a Hole in the Future”
11. Miles Davis “One and One”
12. Sons of Slum “Right On”
13. Milton Nascimento “Bridges (Travessia)”
14. Joe Tex “I Gotcha”
15. African Music Machine “Black Pearl”
16. Shuggie Otis “Strawberry Letter 23”
17. I Roy “Black Man Time”
18. Roberta Flack “Go Up Moses”

Disc Two
01. Jimi Hendrix “Freedom”
02. Alice Coltrane “Gospel Trane”
03. Gil Scott-Heron “The Get Out of the Ghetto Blues”
04. Curtis Mayfield “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go”
05. Jorge Ben “Zumbi”
06. Millie Jackson “It Hurts So Good”
07. Fela Kuti “My Lady Frustration”
08. The Roy Ayers Ubiquity “Coffy Is the Color”
09. The New Birth “Got to Get a Knutt”
10. Jon Lucien “Would You Believe in Me”
11. Bob Marley & the Wailers “Concrete Jungle”
12. The Last Poets “When the Revolution Comes”
13. Nina Simone “Revolution, Parts 1 & 2”
14. Al Green “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”
15. The O’Jays “Give the People What They Want”
16. The Isley Brothers “Ohio/Machine Gun”
17. Graham Central Station “Hair”

Disc Three
01. Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On”
02. The Meters “Hey Pocky-Way”
03. Gilberto Gil “Volks-Volkswagen Blue”
04. Edwin Starr “War”
05. Betty Davis “Anti-Love Song”
06. Johnnie Taylor “I Am Somebody, Part 2”
07. Lee Perry “Place Called Africa”
08. Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Ryhthm Band “Express Yourself”
09. Archie Shepp “Attica Blues”
10. War “The World Is a Ghetto”
11. Manu Dibango “Soul Makossa”
12. Isaac Hayes “Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic”
13. Terry Callier “Dancing Girl”
14. The Temptations “Unenga Za Ulimengu (Unite the World)”
15. Billy Preston “Sing One for the Lord”
16. Vicki Anderson “In the Land of Milk and Honey”
17. Swamp Dogg “God Bless America for What”

Disc Four
01. Aretha Franklin “Young, Gifted and Black”
02. Sly & the Family Stone “Thank You for Talkin’ to Me, Africa”
03. The Blackbyrds “Do It, Fluid”
04. The Fatback Band “Street Dance”
05. The Pointer Sisters “Yes We Can Can”
06. Buddy Miles “Them Changes”
07. Toots & the Maytals “Take Me Home, Country Roads”
08. Parliament “Breakdown”
09. Stevie Wonder “Living for the City”
10. Rahsaan Roland Kirk “Blacknuss”
11. Ike & Tina Turner “Bold Soul Sister”
12. Bobby Womack “Across 110th Street”
13. Oscar Brown, Jr. “A Dime Away from a Hot Dog”
14. The Rotary Connection “I Am the Black Gold of the Sun”
15. The Chambers Brothers “Stealing Watermelons”
16. Labelle “Something in the Air/The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
17. The Watts Prophets “There’s a Difference Between a Black Man and a Nigger”
18. The Staples Singers “I’ll Take You There”


Still working on the glam one (and one or two others). But the above is some great, deep, radical funk, soul, gospel, rock, jazz, reggae, studio psychedelia, and proto-rap.

[howyadoin]

Well, it appears "that thread" (the one which was mostly howy and me posting our made-up box sets, with his kicking way more ass than mine) has gone the way of all flesh.

Aw man, I loved that thread.

[Jonathan Bogart]

Aw man, I loved that thread.

Me too. Looks like it contained the only tracklisting of a set I'm trying to rebuild, dammit.

Let's convert this one into the new version.

So here's my glam rock set, called (unoriginally) Welcome to Glamrock:

Disc One: Hollywood Drag
1. T. Rex “Jeepster”
2. Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)”
3. The Sweet “Ballroom Blitz”
4. David Bowie “John, I’m Only Dancing”
5. Chicory Tip “Son of My Father”
6. Big Star “Mod Lang”
7. Hello “Tell Him”
8. Brett Smiley “Va Va Va Voom”
9. The New York Dolls “Looking for a Kiss”
10. Mott the Hoople “All the Way from Memphis”
11. Elton John “Bennie & the Jets”
12. Fanny “Hey Bulldog”
13. Lou Reed “Vicious”
14. Roxy Music “Do the Strand”
15. The Doctors of Madness “B-Movie Bedtime”
16. David Bowie “Suffragette City”
17. John Howard “Goodbye Suzie”
18. Nick Glider “Roxy Roller”
19. Todd Rundgren “Slut”
20. Sparks “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us”
21. The Kinks “Celluloid Heroes”

Disc Two: Starry Eyes
1. David Bowie “Aladdin Sane”
2. Tyrannosaurus Rex “Ride a White Swan”
3. John Cale “Macbeth”
4. 10CC “Rubber Bullets”
5. Mott the Hoople “All the Young Dudes”
6. Suzi Quatro “Can the Can”
7. Jobriath “Morning Star Ship”
8. Iggy Pop “Lust for Life”
9. The Rats “Turtle Dove”
10. Roxy Music “Virginia Plain”
11. The Pretty Things “Singapore Silk Torpedo”
12. Iron Virgin “Rebels Rule”
13. Brian Eno “Seven Deadly Finns”
14. Lou Reed “Satellite of Love”
15. Queen “Killer Queen”
16. Mick Ronson “I’m the One”
17. Screemer “Interplanetary Twist”
18. Mott the Hoople “Honaloochie Boogie”
19. The New York Dolls “Trash”
20. T. Rex “20th Century Boy”
21. Wizzard “See My Baby Jive”

Yeah, only two discs. Unless you start digging into the albums of the few album artists in the glam genre, there's just not much there there. But this is as faux-gay (and, on occasion, actually gay) a set of tunes as you're likely to find.

[jessecuster3]

Me too. Looks like it contained the only tracklisting of a set I'm trying to rebuild, dammit.

Let's convert this one into the new version.

So here's my glam rock set, called (unoriginally) Welcome to Glamrock:

Disc One: Hollywood Drag
1. T. Rex “Jeepster”
2. Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)”
3. The Sweet “Ballroom Blitz”
4. David Bowie “John, I’m Only Dancing”
5. Chicory Tip “Son of My Father”
6. Big Star “Mod Lang”
7. Hello “Tell Him”
8. Brett Smiley “Va Va Va Voom”
9. The New York Dolls “Looking for a Kiss”
10. Mott the Hoople “All the Way from Memphis”
11. Elton John “Bennie & the Jets”
12. Fanny “Hey Bulldog”
13. Lou Reed “Vicious”
14. Roxy Music “Do the Strand”
15. The Doctors of Madness “B-Movie Bedtime”
16. David Bowie “Suffragette City”
17. John Howard “Goodbye Suzie”
18. Nick Glider “Roxy Roller”
19. Todd Rundgren “Slut”
20. Sparks “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us”
21. The Kinks “Celluloid Heroes”

Disc Two: Starry Eyes
1. David Bowie “Aladdin Sane”
2. Tyrannosaurus Rex “Ride a White Swan”
3. John Cale “Macbeth”
4. 10CC “Rubber Bullets”
5. Mott the Hoople “All the Young Dudes”
6. Suzi Quatro “Can the Can”
7. Jobriath “Morning Star Ship”
8. Iggy Pop “Lust for Life”
9. The Rats “Turtle Dove”
10. Roxy Music “Virginia Plain”
11. The Pretty Things “Singapore Silk Torpedo”
12. Iron Virgin “Rebels Rule”
13. Brian Eno “Seven Deadly Finns”
14. Lou Reed “Satellite of Love”
15. Queen “Killer Queen”
16. Mick Ronson “I’m the One”
17. Screemer “Interplanetary Twist”
18. Mott the Hoople “Honaloochie Boogie”
19. The New York Dolls “Trash”
20. T. Rex “20th Century Boy”
21. Wizzard “See My Baby Jive”

Yeah, only two discs. Unless you start digging into the albums of the few album artists in the glam genre, there's just not much there there. But this is as faux-gay (and, on occasion, actually gay) a set of tunes as you're likely to find.

You are so missing Slade. Find "Gudbye To Jane" or even theirs, the original "Cum on Feel The Noize". Also what about Television or X ? Although that may border too much on Punk. A friend played me one album by Paul Revere and the Raiders that was actually very glam.

[jessecuster3]

Also, Ilash, welcome to the fold. However, of all the Dead fans I know, they own basically none of their produced studio albums. The Dead were a live phenomenon and the reason they became who they are is because of their live shows.

You can go to here and stream soundboard recordings of their shows by year. there are almost 3,000 concerts here.


Also if you go here you can choose what songs you want to hear and they will list all the shows when they played those songs.


And if I can recommend, make sure you listen to the shows from 1973 and 1977. 1978 and '79 are also great years for them.

Make sure you hear Althea, my favorite Dead song ever, it just has this incredible riff and hits me right in the soul.

[Jonathan Bogart]

You are so missing Slade. Find "Gudbye To Jane" or even theirs, the original "Cum on Feel The Noize". Also what about Television or X ? Although that may border too much on Punk. A friend played me one album by Paul Revere and the Raiders that was actually very glam.

I left Slade out on purpose, because I hate them. (Also Gary Glitter.)

Television and X tip much farther over into punk (and art-rock), and anyway I had a theoretical cut-off date of 1976.

[Adam Crocker]

Also what about Television or X ? Although that may border too much on Punk.

What Jon said. In fact I'd never think of Television as glam, and I'm not sure how I would. They strike me as being pretty far from glam's trashy aesthetics and campness.

[howyadoin]

9. The New York Dolls “Looking for a Kiss”
10. Mott the Hoople “All the Way from Memphis”
11. Elton John “Bennie & the Jets”

I'd be tempted to reverse that sequence, and then follow it with "Sufragette City".

Gigantic points to you for including "Honaloochie Boogie", too.

[Jonathan Bogart]

I'd be tempted to reverse that sequence, and then follow it with "Sufragette City".

Yeah, I tend to do schizophrenic changes of pace rather than slow builds; it's an mp3-bred habit.