Bill says, “Recommend bands we should listen to and give us reasons why we should.”
I think by dint of listening to a lot of music, a mistaken notion that I am smart about music exists among a lot of my friends. I don’t pretend to be; I just like what I like and I don’t try to proselytize too loudly about it most of the time because I know that some of the stuff that I dig – like The Mountain Goats (who are a bit too lo-fi, especially in their earlier material) or 16 Horsepower (who are a bit too Old-West and Jesus sometimes despite their punk-rock origins) – is not the same type of stuff my friends and associates also dig.
At any rate, here is some stuff that I like that I think other people will also like.
Bandits Of The Acoustic Revolution: They are an all-acoustic ska punk band with a classical string section. They are as good as that description suggests.
Blue Scholars: I like the new Jay-Z as much as anybody else (and, well, everybody seems to like it, so yeah) but Blue Scholars, the Seattle hip hop duo is probably one of my favorite acts in the genre. I would put them on par with Black Star and its individual members. Not as fun as my other favorite Northwest hip hop group, The Saturday Knights, but incredibly tight.
The Mountain Goats: Probably my favorite band that nearly nobody else I know has heard of. I saw TMG on the last night of their most recent tour (post here). The poetry of John Darnielle’s lyrics juxtaposed with the stripped-down accompaniments is something I could listen to over and over again, and sometimes do. This live version of “Dilaudid” gives me chills.
Lordi: And now for something completely different. Unapologetic, over-the-top metal performed by people dressed as monsters, Lordi should not be as listenable as they are. They are incredibly popular in their native Scandinavia and they are like Gwar except much better at actually rocking as opposed to being generally terrible. And they have songs with titles like “Hard Rock Hallelujah” and “Devil Is A Loser.” The video for “Hallelujah” which I have linked to just now, features zombie cheerleaders.
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Holy shit Lordi rocks…
I’ve gotta try to get an album of theirs.