Tiersen-esque recommendations, please

October 16, 2009 11:51 AM

Love Yann Tiersen's earlier instrumental music. Recently discovered Sweden's "Detektivbyran," which gives me much of what I used to get from Tiersen before he moved on, without being derivative. Tried last.fm and pandora to no avail - looking for other artists mining similar territory. Bonus points for inclusion of accordion. Does not necessarily have to be done on acoustic instruments. Don't want huge sweeping orchestral statements...prefer smaller ensembles who get the point across with fewer instruments or tracks.
posted by dorgla to media & arts (13 comments total)

Rachel Portman's soundtrack to "Chocolat" is pretty good using a smaller ensemble.
posted by greekphilosophy at 12:34 PM on October 16

Got it already, thanks. ;) You are definitely on the right
track here.
posted by dorgla at 12:43 PM on October 16

Well, he played with the Tindersticks. Those first two self titled discs are two of my favorite discs of all time.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:44 PM on October 16

Can there be vocals? The indie bands Beirut and Devotchka might give you a similar feel.
posted by matildaben at 12:44 PM on October 16

Can you describe a little bit more about what you like about early Tiersen? Maybe I'm not really up on him, but in what way has he moved on? And what don't you like about what last.fm is recommending? I mean there are 25 pages of related artists, so you should be able to find something you like in there. You're going to find a lot of contemporary classical and soundtracky stuff related to Tiersen.
Anyway, here are some other people to look into, based on your description, maybe they're too obvious: Michael Nyman, Erik Satie, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Pierre Bastien, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Rachel's.
posted by mike_bling at 1:03 PM on October 16

Frida soundtrack, Elliot Goldenthal.
The Triplets of Bellville, Benoit Charest.

Brain still cycling through. (It's a slow brain day.) I'm sure there are more in there. Not just soundtracks, either.
posted by greekphilosophy at 1:35 PM on October 16

Can there be vocals...hmmm...that's tough. Sometimes. Best if they are in a language
foreign to me. Tindersticks...found the second album on Rhapsody...nice, but not "it."
Frida soundtrack...listening to samples right now, and love it, so maybe I'm in more of a symphonic mood than I thought. Have Belleville, Beirut, Devotchka, Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Nyman...will investigate further. The one disc I sampled wasn't quite "it" either.
Pierre Bastien...the name is new to me...reminds me of a San Francisco
artist named "Tipsy" (?) Interesting stuff, but bent in a different direction than I am looking for. When I say Tiersen has "moved on," (an artist's prerogative!), I am reflecting on seeing him in live performance with his group last spring - jam-bandy stuff on which he primarily played guitar. Accordion on maybe one or two songs, a jaw-dropping violin piece...but for the most part, he didn't do anything I felt I couldn't have gotten somewhere else.
I mentioned "Detektivbyran" (check them on YouTube and you'll see what I mean) because they are full of all the quirks and whimsy I crave right now. Keep the recommendations
coming - I'm learning things here.
posted by dorgla at 2:23 PM on October 16

Hey, I've been meaning to ask this exact question for ages - can't wait to see the answers!

That said, I started my search with the Putumayo compilations albums "French Cafe" and "Paris," which were quite lovely in themselves, but then led me to Amelie-Les-Crayons; eponysterically enough, they would fit right in on the Amelie soundtrack. The genre they fall under is "nouvelle scene," so that might provide another jumping-off point.

I'm off to do more research, I'll add more if I find anything. :)
posted by sarahsynonymous at 2:28 PM on October 16

It's tangential, but I suspect you'd appreciate Argentinian tango ensembles. Small groups, accordion, energetic, instrumental.

Search terms include Piazzolla, bandeon, tango. Sadly, I don't have a good recommendation for an album, but I have a friend doing his dissertation on Piazzolla - so if you like what you find on YouTube, let me know and I'll pick his brain.
posted by greekphilosophy at 2:35 PM on October 16

Look for anything by Chango Spasiuk... argentine accordion genius, but not tango... he hits my Tierssen buttons...
posted by itsjustanalias at 3:44 PM on October 16

Check out the soundtrack for Waking Life by Tosca Tango Orchestra. Definitely more tango (in the style of Piazzolla), but I like it in similar ways to older Yann Tiersen.
posted by Emanuel at 4:21 PM on October 16

It sounds to me like you might be looking for Django Reinhardt. and all his descendants. The key words are 'gypsy swing' or 'gypsy jazz'
posted by vacapinta at 2:16 AM on October 17

Coeur de Pirate
posted by various at 3:09 AM on October 17