Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Great bands and the fans that love them.

I am a bit of a music snob. You know, the kind that likes a band till it's played on the radio and then everyone and their dog say they like it, That's when I start to dislike that band. It is ruined to me. I just can't like music that the general public likes, I'm elitist, I know, but hey, it's how I roll.
You know, bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, Sufjan Stevens, The White Stripes, Interpol and just recently Matt Pond PA. I liked all of them before they were popular. (sorry, that's my elitist streak) I would like to say however, that I am becoming better continuing to like music after it becomes popular, because lets face it, if it's good, it'll get popular eventually. I would also like to note that it is TV that makes all the cool bands popular. Mainly because it's cheap to license and it's just as good as expensive music. Just a little trivia for you. Jerks, stealing all my music.

So, now, to the point of the post. I wanted to point you guys in the direction of some new great bands. I will break this down into 3 different segments. Bands you've never heard of, Bands you may have heard of (and need to listen too), and Bands you need to get back into ( and if you haven't heard of them, foreshame)

Bands you've probably never heard of- (if you have, good on ya)

Band the first. - The Lonely Forest - This band out of Anacortes WA, is a sweet piano band. I first saw them in Seattle at Bumbershoot. I think it was my favorite show in the whole festival. And it was a pretty big festival. Anyways, check them out, you won't be disappointed. "Are you afraid of the world" is a great song.

Band the second - The Golden Dogs - This was the opening act when I was helping do a video shoot for Jets Overhead, another fairly solid band. I just thought their sound was pretty good, the songs Runnoutaluck and Nineteen eighty five are pretty darn catchy.

Band the third - The Wrens - watch the "She sends kisses" video - My friend Graham introduced me the this band a couple years back. I woke up to them every morning on my CD player for at least 2 months. They are pretty catchy.

Band the fourth - The Weakerthans - The Reasons - best song ever! Good 'ol Canadian band out of Winnipeg. They have become much more popular as of late. I don't know what superlatives I can use. None really good that I can think of. They are just good is all.

Band the fifth - The Honorary Title - I like bridges... I like tunnels.... and they have a song 'bout both. what's not to love?


Bands you may have heard of

numero 1 - Matt Pond PA - Myspace-scroll down and watch the so much trouble video .What can I say, they are just so freaking good. I almost can't stand it sometimes. You have to listen I was rather turned off when I heard them playing in the GAP one day, but what can you do, I just love them too much to dislike them for that reason.

numero 2 - Page France - the main website is broke, weird..... but they are nice, soft, girlie folk. Hence me liking them. It makes me wistful when I listen to them.

numero 3 - Patrick Park - What can I say.... I'd say I like it, but... I kind of say that about every band that I like..... so yeah..... he's good....um... yeah........

numero 4 - Corb Lund - Albertan country band. I;m generally not a fan of country, but this band is awesome. it's more like, folk rock country. good country. as opposed to pop country, which sucks (mostly). check them out, they are like my heros.

numero 5 - Carbon Leaf - a good celtic folk rock band. kind of like great big sea, only a million times better. Although, I did like great big sea live.

numero 6 - Built to Spill - myspace - An oldie but a goldie. Such a good band, highly underrated. listen to them, love them.

Bands you need to get back into (yeah, if you haven't heard of them... wow... that would just be too weird...)

1! - Yusuf Islam - The artist previously known as Cats Stevens - The greatest folk musician of all time, bar none. listen to him, bask in the greatness. BASK!

2! - The Tragically Hip - I am a pretty big fan. They are sometimes kind of hit or miss, but they are truly good, pure, Canadian sound. Listen to the new disc, "World Container"

3! System of a Down - lonely day - good song... Crazy turkish guys. They are a bit heavy and kind of angry sometimes. But their lyrics are though provoking, as if that mattered, and they actually have musical tune to their songs, despite the fact that they are heavy rock. So I like it. It is good. It's a good time during a sign-a-long, take my word for it.

4! Neil Young - need I say more.... that's a rhetorical question.... cause the answer is no.....

5! Terry Jacks - okay, this is a bit of a stretch. He was a singer in the 70's. Vancouver native. I like him, check him out.

Wow, this post got really out of hand. I was originally planning to just post the first two bands. wow. Get me talking about music and see what happens. This is by far not a full list of music I like; It's just good music that popped into my head while I was writing this..... so if you check these guys out, you'll be listening to some great music. Feel free to suggest some great bands of your own, although, if they suck, I'll make fun of you.....

so much for whatnot; back to throwing stones.....

4 comments:

Heather said...

I can't believe you know of Built to Spill! I'm impressed. Have you heard of Pinback? they are a lot like them and equally amazing.

Andrew Sorenson said...

Yeah, Ancient Melodies of Future is one of my favorite albums. and on a much nerdier note.. I once did a power point presentation on Built to Spill in a computer class.... *cough*.... yeah... anywho... I agree, Pinback is awesome. I can listen to one of their albums over and over and over again. Here I just thought you were an EMT who liked to drive the ambulance fast, but you like cool music too. That is neat.

Heather said...

Wow, powerpoint eh. I'm trying to visualize what that would look like. snicker.
And sweet, I've been upgraded from the ambulance driver to someone who likes cool music. woot.

Heather said...

Oh and another musician that is absolutely amazing and totally underrated is Martin Sexton. Don't know if you've heard of him but if not you NEED to check him out.
He'll change your life.
That might be a slight exaggeration...