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Underground > Radio & Music >

Help Me

01:41 / 27.02.07

What's new as well as good?

I'm realizing that the bands/musicians that I really, really like either aren't making new music, or aren't making any good music.

Johnny Cash died.
Lou Reed's efforts since "Magic and Loss" have been disappointing.
The Pogues fizzled (post-Shane Pogues are hollow, and post-Pogues Shane is just sad).
The Beastie Boys probably capped their career with "5 Burroughs".

The only ones that are still producing enjoyable stuff are (is?) Dropkick Murphys.

So: given your take on my personal tastes as reflected in the artists listed above, what should I be listening to now?

I very much thank you for your time, wisdom, and indulgence, of Keepers of the Cool.

Janean Patience

10:17 / 27.02.07

The Beastie Boys probably capped their career with "5 Burroughs".

Their seminal concept album about beat writer William S Burroughs, Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, Dead Zone actress Jackie Burroughs, Seattle Mariner Sean Burroughs, and executed 17th-century weightlifing witchcraft-practising pastor George Burroughs.

11:28 / 27.02.07

Rather than us throw suggestions at you and see what sticks, perhaps you should take some time and try a site like Last.fm, where you punch in the names of artists you like and vast subterranean databases find artists with a similar vibe, gradually expanding in a six-degrees-of-separation pattern to an ever-larger cloud of artists.

Or you could just listen to Nick Cave. I bet you'd like him.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:42 / 27.02.07

The Beastie Boys probably capped their career with "5 Burroughs".

They certainly did cap that motherfucker - gave it two in the chest, one in the head... no way it was going to get back up again and walk around after they bust those shots in it.

I think you should be listening to Clipse, T.I., and Ghostface Killah.

11:58 / 27.02.07

Nick Cave seems like a great place to start having worked with both Johnny Cash and Shane McGowan and coved The Velvet Underground. There's a glut of stuff to choose from but might i suggest his mid eighties covers album Kicking against the Pricks- which goes from the low down grind of Muddy waters to the noisiest verion of all tommorows partys via a heartbreaking rendition of somthings gottn hold of my heart... or you could try Tender Prey which has the original version of Mercy Seat and the doomy pop of Deanna- of the recent stuff his last bad seeds double album abbattoir blues/ lyre of Orpheus is another great place to start.

If Nick cave appeals then check out some Tindersticks similar territory but with an element of Jarvis cockers wry humour via a big pile of sad old motown records- best records are the first two IMHO - both called Tindersticks the first has the super catchy city sickness and the sublime "Drunk Tank" -a track which hits the mark in (imho)sounding like a dream collaboration between Mr Cave and Mr Mcgowan after a big night out. The second record has the tragic black comedy of My Sister and the folky duet of Travelling light.

You may want to check out some of the more interesting folky music coming from North America at the moment Berlin's eastern european flavoured Gulag Orkestar is one of the best records of last year- the Arcade Fire are an act that have lived up to everything promised and have a blinding second record hitting the record shops on monday! You could also do a lot worse than checking out Neutral Milk Hotel's Aeroplane over the sea (although the band it seems are no more- the record is still bloody good) like Berlin it fuses eastern european folk with modern american guitar music with trumpets fanfares and bagpipes.

23:42 / 27.02.07

As far as Nick Cave goes, I enjoyed Kicking Against the Pricks, and really, really liked both Do You Love Me and Murder Ballads. And I have to say that Nick and Shane MacGowan duetting on "What a Wonderful World" is one of my favorite covers. He also sounds great with Johnny Cash singing "Cindy" and "I'm so Lonesome"

Beyond that, though, Nick Cave (either with the Bad Seeds or with The Birthday Party) does a whole lot for me.

...Jesus. I can hear you guys boo me from here.

D Terminator XXXIII

00:27 / 28.02.07

I like select things from the musicians you listed in the first post - bar the Pogues - and I'm not entirely engulfed by the hip hop/rap world, however, you could do well to take heed of Flyboys post up above, as t.i.'s and Clipse's latest have been favourites of mine. Ghostface less so. But deffo t.i. and Clipse.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

00:30 / 28.02.07

Firewater.

FIREWATER.

That is all.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

03:12 / 28.02.07

I think you should be listening to Clipse, T.I., and Ghostface Killah.

"I'm Talkin' To You" by T.I. will indeed cure any and all ills.

And it's only a few weeks until El-P's I'll Sleep When You're Dead (3/20) and that ought to wake anything else up still sleeping.

miss wonderstarr

05:58 / 28.02.07

Seconded that with your stated taste in artists, I think you would dig The Arcade Fire, who echo some of the doomy beauty in Reed and Cash's music.

miss wonderstarr

05:59 / 28.02.07

If you haven't encountered them before, because they are hardly a new outfit: late Psychedelic Furs ("Book of Days", "World Outside") and the slightly inferior spin-off band Love Spit Love.

07:54 / 28.02.07

You said: Johnny Cash, the Pogues and the Beastie Boys.

Hmm, I reckon you might like Gogol Bordello. This thread will explain 'em to you better than I can

17:15 / 28.02.07

If ya like Dropkick and the Pogues, ya might like Flogging Molly.

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

17:16 / 28.02.07

I'm friends with Bridget's sister.

16:05 / 01.03.07

If ya like Dropkick and the Pogues, ya might like Flogging Molly.

I liked Swagger and Drunken Lullabies, forgiving the uncomfortably close similarities between some of their melodies to songs by the Pogues.

Half a Mile From Home, on the other hand, was just filled-- in my opinion-- with so many obvious cribs on Shaney Mac and Crew that I really couldn't stand it ("For Youth" and "Whistles the Wind" aside). I imagined most of the sheet music from that album had a Pogues title x'ed out, and a Flogging Molly title etched in over it (Hmmm... goodbye "Streams of Whiskey", hello "Tobacco Island"!!)

16:36 / 01.03.07

Um. You do know that "Streams of Whiskey" is a traditional song, of no fixed authorship or ownership, yeah? Or, indeed, that Shane MacGowan by his own admission adapts most of his melodies from the traditional Irish canon?

So perhaps less a case of plagiarism than of two buckets drawing water from the same well.

19:36 / 01.03.07

You do know that "Streams of Whiskey" is a traditional song

Really? Irish folk from way back in the day sang about Brendan Behan?

Is it the melody that's traditional? If it is, I'm sorry, Flogging Molly. ...but I still didn't like "Half a Mile From Home."

(By the way, speaking of cribbing traditional Irish melodies, does anyone know the name of the Bob Dylan song that has the melody of "The Patriot Game"? I can't come up with it.)

20:02 / 01.03.07

If you like Lou Reed, you should really know Pavement and Stephen Malkmus. Totally unique poetry interfused with rock. Terror Twilight and Pig Lib are where to start there.

If you like Johnny Cash, you should really also be into Wilco and all of Jeff Tweedy's solo stuff. Dan Bern is good to know too. What about Nanci Griffith or Lucinda Williams too?

I know it might sound not Indy enough because they're popular, but I'm not sure I trust anyone's taste if they can't get with the White Stripes. It's just too moving. And why couldn't you just get some box sets of Led Zeppelin while you're at it, I still rock out to them while driving all the time.

And if you have never explored the Flaming Lips, you really should.