Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with music and recommendations

Songs about redemption other than "Redemption Song?"

the_bone — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:37:25 -0800

I'd love suggestions for a song about redemption that isn't Marley's "Redemption Song." I was just asked to sing at a benefit dinner my friend is organizing this Saturday... it's for a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that provides housing and reentry support to women who were formally incarcerated. She requested that I sing a song about "redemption" and I immediately thought of "Redemption Song," but realized while practicing that the opening lyrics make it a potentially problematic song for a white guy to sing. (Specifically: Old pirates, yes, they rob I/Sold I to the merchant ships/Minutes after they took I/From the bottomless pit.) Even though I think it works on a metaphorical level I'm worried that my singing those lyrics would come off as insensitive and douchey. Plus, I don't want people to give the friend who asked me to sing any grief over it.

So, my question is twofold:

1. Am I overthinking this? My main objective here is to be sensitive, but I wouldn't mind being convinced that singing Marley's song is fine (mostly because it's fucking gorgeous and fits my voice ridiculously well).

2. Assuming that I go with my instinct and find another song, any ideas? It can be religious or not, although I'd prefer that songs with religious/spiritual overtones be appropriate for an interfaith sort of event. I'll be accompanying myself on either guitar or piano so it ideally wouldn't be something too difficult to play. It can be vocally challenging though. Range doesn't really matter; I'm a tenor with a wide range and an excellent falsetto, and would transpose whatever song I pick into a suitable range anyway. (To give you idea of range: I was practicing "Redemption Song" up a step, in A, and it worked nicely.) An "outside the box" suggestion would be ideal.

Thanks!

Recommendations for DJ samples/songs ala Fatboy Slim?

heatherfl — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:30:56 -0800

My husband mixes dance music using Fruity Loops. I want to get him some CDs for Christmas for samples -- particularly stuff that sounds like Fatboy Slim. Help? I can buy loops already sampled or I can buy songs for that he can sample himself, it doesn't matter.

This song is a good overview of what FBS sounds like and what I'm looking for:
Mad Flava

There's a lot of retro sounding piano and brass, some funky bass/guitar, syncopated percussion, a bit of synth/electronica, and non-rap but rhythmically interesting vocals. If you're familiar with Fatboy Slim, you know what I mean!

FYI, I already got him "The Ultimate DJ Sample Box" which has actual Fatboy Slim samples. Just looking for supplemental goodies now.

So what should I get for him, music experts?

Thanks so much!

What are your lesser-known or weird ways of looking for new music?

querty — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:05:21 -0800

What are your lesser-known or weird ways of looking for new music? Besides friends' recommendations, mix tapes, last.fm, review sites/blogs, TV/film song features, and late night talk show musical guests, what are some of your lesser-known or weird ways of searching for new music that others may not know about?

A few of mine:

- Sometimes I search for "recent favourite band + cover" on Youtube and sort them by views to find other new artists who very few people know. Those artists will usually have some of their own original songs available

- Search by lyrics to look for other bands/artists who have written similar words/lines/phrases, example

- Talk to touring bands after their shows and ask some of the band members what they're listening to on the road

What are the canonical "cocksman" blues performances?

Joe Beese — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:42:44 -0800

What are the canonical "cocksman" blues performances? i.e. Howlin' Wolf - "Back Door Man". I'm planning a "mixtape". That's what we called 'em. And we wore onions on our belts... which was the style at the time...

Buying CDs online

woodway — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 07:37:38 -0800

What online music retailers would you recommend? I'm interested in CDs, new and used, preferably from an independent outfit. Does your favorite bricks & mortar store have an online site? Is there an AbeBooks type of clearinghouse for smaller sellers? I don't have a lot of options in town; Best Buy isn't doing it for me, and I want an alternative to Amazon.

Shriek/grunt/growl-free metal?

CrazyGabby — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:29:23 -0800

I'm looking for music similar to Within Temptation (symphonic metal, preferably female-fronted). Should be easy, but there's a catch... No "death vocals". No screaming, grunting, growling, or shrieking. Any more than an extremely infrequent couple of seconds here or there is pretty much out.

I love the sound of really intense driving, epic-sounding music with an amazing singer, and the best example I can come up with is Within Temptation. I *think* it's called symphonic metal, or goth metal, or symphonic goth metal...I have no idea. I know almost nothing about the metal genre and it's 12,304 subgenres. Pandora played one of their songs, I checked them out and I love everything they've done (except Enter, b/c of the screaming), and now all of the typical recommendations I can find have the #@*$ death vocals. And I'm pretty sure those types of vocals are really just part of the genre, which makes searching kind of tricky.

I'm not tied to a female-fronted band, as I love passionate male singers as well, but they have to be SINGING.

Help?

Who else took a bus out of town?

Shesthefastest — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:37:58 -0800

Can anyone recommend songs that sound like "Carol Brown" by Flight of the Conchords? "Carol Brown" is my favorite Flight of the Conchords song just from how darn catchy it is, so I would love to hear songs that sound somewhat similar. And yes, I know the song is a reference to "50 Ways to Leave your Lover" by Paul Simon, but it doesn't have the sound I'm looking for.

Songs similar to Diva Dance?

Nox — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:45:39 -0800

Please recommend music that is similar in style (as close as possible and working outward from there) to the song Diva Dance from the movie The Fifth Element. I would particularly enjoy similar opera, if that exists. Be sure to recommend groups/bands/singers and, if possible, specific songs as examples. Here is the Diva Dance video for comparison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0qy3JHz6X0 Thank you very much!

unconventional a capella?

vaguelyweird — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:21:38 -0800

I'm looking for "a capella" but not the college barbershop type. Examples would be Bjork's Medulla and Camille's Le Fil. Doesn't necessarily have to be vocal-only, for example, Philip Glass' "Etoile Polaire" or even CocoRosie's "West Side" since the instrumental part is relatively minimal, and the vocal harmonies are the main focus.

Can be altered voice, such as Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek".

Preferably not too many western-classical/christian pieces unless they are just too awesome to exclude or they were not originally written for voice. Good examples here being Bobby McFerrin, or a vocal arrangement of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier.

Multi-cultural suggestions are welcome (solo carnatic etc.)

Feel free to push the boundaries of these requests if unbelievable vocal harmonies are involved.

Thanks!

Worthy companions to Ellington and Coltrane's masterpiece

grrarrgh00 — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:18:49 -0800

If I love Duke Ellington and John Coltrane's "In a Sentimental Mood," what other jazz songs should I seek? What I love most about IASM:

- The languid pace.
- The interplay between the melancholy, mysterious piano and the passionate tenor sax.
- The consistent, repeating theme.

I'd like to create an entire playlist of songs like it. Any recommendations?

Inexpensive (read: not cheap) classical guitars

littlerobothead — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:23:52 -0800

Any recommendations for an inexpensive (but not cheap) classical guitar? I'm looking in the $150-$250 range here. I've been playing guitar for eons, but never had much luck with classical pieces. I'm ear trained, and quite out of the blue my ears have decided they want to learn this style. I've borrowed a friend's 1/2 scale classical, and I feel like I've rediscovered the guitar. I'm picking up so much so fast, and I want to keep going, but will never do this as part of a paid gig like I might with my other guitars.

Looking for good intonation, above all. The tone or timbre itself I couldn't care less about. I hear Yamahas are quite good at this price point. Even a student model would be fine so long as it's got good intonation. Thanks.

How do I get into noise music?

maryrosecook — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:36:23 -0800

How do I get into noise music? I like early Sonic Youth, late Tarentel, am very well versed in grind and brutal hardcore, like Team Brick, don't like Oren Ambarchi. I prefer shrieking feedback to long drones, distorted guitars to electronic instruments, beats to no beats. I think I prefer the specific to the abstract. For example, I don't understand minimal techno. What are some good noise artists and albums to start with?

The KEXP or KCRW of Europe

apollo3000 — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:45:58 -0800

Best alternative-music podcasts in Western Europe and Latin America? I would like to know: what are the best alternative-music podcasts from Western Europe and Latin America?

There are several U.S. podcasts I enjoy on the iPod, such as KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic and Today's Top Tune; KEXP's Song of the Day; NPR's All Songs Considered and World Cafe.

These play artists like Loudon Wainwright, Rodney Crowell, Damien Rice, Magic Numbers, Zap Mama, Iron and Wine, Jim White, Conor Oberst, Kings of Convenience, Jose Gonzalez, Okkervil River, Julieta Venegas, Calexico, etc.

But I would like to know more about podcasts that feature such music beyond the U.S., preferably in English, or a Romance or Germanic language.

Thank you for any information.

Music recommendations

LSK — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:21:43 -0800

Another "specific music recommendations" thread. Here's a portion of a playlist I've had brewing for a while now, in no particular order. Isolate the emotional theme and extend.

Tunnels (Arcade Fire)
Drive (R.E.M.)
All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem)
No Cars Go (Arcade Fire)
What's In Store (Architecture in Helsinki)

I Wanna Do Bad Things With You

billtron — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:31:27 -0800

MusicFilter: Mrs. Billtron would like more music like the opening song from HBO's True Blood, "Bad Things" by Jace Everett. She likes the sound of Chris Isaak and Junior Brown, which are the closest things in our mp3 collection, but misses the spooky vampire and warewolve ambience of the theme song. Any suggestions? Suggestions should err on the side of New Orleans rather than Nashville, since she just got back from Louisiana and really misses it.

PS I am really enjoying reading Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale at the moment.

I can has muzik rekomendashunz?

LSK — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:51:16 -0800

Three somewhat specific music recommendation requests. 1. A song like Devo's Happy Guy.

Explanation: This song should've been awesome. It has an amazing pre-chorus and chorus, but it feels as though it were rushed out of the studio. I like the feel, emotionally, of the pre-chorus ("But time keeps on ticking away...") and the chorus. I suppose I'm looking for the song it should've been.

2. A song like Architecture in Helsinki's Same Old Innocence

Explanation: This song sounds like there are lots of songs like it, but I can't find any. I like how the beginning-of-verse lyrics are placed over different backings each time (I don't know how to explain that better...)

3. A song like LCD Soundsystem's All My Friends

Explanation: There's something magical about this song; how it begins innocently and grows sprawling by the climax, in a way that you suddenly realize that the song you're listening to five minutes in is even more powerful than the beginning.

That is all.

What Sounds Like DMST+ASMZ?

dmaterialized — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:21:27 -0800

Music recommendations in a very particular vein (well, maybe two): 1. Do Make Say Think and A Silver Mt. Zion collide in a near-fatal accident, the honorable Steve Reich presiding. What (band) results from this impossibly gorgeous union? 2. Rachel's is exquisitely beautiful, yet I've found nothing in the world like them. Is there anything, anywhere at all, that manages to sound something like Rachel's and something like Arovane's "Tides" album? I think it would blow my mind... If it isn't immediately obvious, I like post-rock with purpose, and BEATS. If you can't answer either question, throw me something exciting and intriguing in that vein worth checking out :) Here are things I already know and love to death, aside from the aforementioned:

Godspeed at their darkest and grittiest (F#A#)
Four Tet (one of the best artists working today)
The Album Leaf
DJ Shadow
BT's "This Binary Universe"
Aphex Twin--especially his ambient
BOARDS OF CANADA
The Mercury Program
Tortoise
Mogwai
Sigur Ros

... this may seem like unrelated music but I assure you it's not. Can you understand the thread holding these together? (Happy to clarify! :))

Similar song to Christina Aguilera's Candyman

artifarce — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:51:50 -0800

Similar-in-style songs to Christina Aguilera's Candyman? I'm helping plan a wedding dance list, and this modern boogie is a lot of fun, but I don't want to be the one that drops "he makes my cherry pop" into this particular dance hall. In other words, it should be clean too. I've searched the "neoboogie" tag a bit on last.fm, but there's a lot of boring songs there to wade through. I want something hip, fast, and that would make both the old and young generations stand up for a little swing dancing. I'm not explicitly looking through music from the last 10 years, but it'd be preferable. Good covers are great too.

Purely psychosomatic

Bakuun — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:09:59 -0800

I fell in love with "Frontier Psychiatrist" by The Avalanches all over again this week. Can you recommend similar songs or artists, particularly with that amusing juxtaposition of voice samples as part of the track? There's a youtube video to that song available here.

Unhip to the hip hip hop

carbide — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:45:43 -0800

A rap education for an picky atheist feminist weaned on indie, punk and new wave - primarily music but books/essays would be good too. I'm finding lately that I really like listening to rap while working, but I know so little about it and could do with some recommendations. I'd love to have some kind of broad knowledge, and also to find some avenues worth exploring that might lead to stuff I love. Discovery by myself is fun but it's a bit aimless right now and it's too broad a question to be finding much help via Google - I didn't find a past question with the same scope, either.

Here's a bunch of background information:

- I really, really like Run DMC (especially 'It's Tricky') and Public Enemy, and have always loved how 'Rappers' Delight' sounds
- I know the Beastie Boys are typical overlap territory here but they irritate me
- Slick production doesn't do a whole lot for me
- I listen to indie, punk (hardcore and folk-punk), 60s garage, some country, some blues and bluegrass, and I'm tiptoeing into electronica. For reference, here's a recent muxtape.
- Crossover with those genres isn't really what I'm looking for, though
- I don't like reggae, smooth jazz, r&b, anything with slick female singing vocals
- I don't need it to line up idealogically 100% with me at all
- That said, proselytising or new ageyness reeeally turn me off

Thanks!

LA LOCAL MUSIC

klangklangston — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:55:27 -0800

LOS ANGELES LOCAL BANDS, recommend me. I used to cover local music in Ann Arbor. Now that I've moved to LA, I'd like to engage in some more blatant localism, to cop from JFA. I read the Weekly, City Pages, Onion and Record. I keep up with a couple of local blogs. Still, I want more, especially based on the WEST side, including West LA, Westwood, Santa Monica, Venice and Culver City.

Please tell me: Their name, where they're based, WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE, whether they have shows coming up, whether they have records out, WHETHER THEY HAVE FREE SAMPLE MUSIC UP ANYWHERE.

I tend to favor weirdo punk like No Age, Crystal Antlers, Underground Railroad to Candyland, as well as pop, hard rock, jazz (preferably freakout/skronk jazz), metal and rap. But the important part is that they're local and they're playing out, and, ideally, I don't have to drive for an hour to see them.

Horummmm mmmmmuuuuuuuummmm oweeeeeeeeee horrrrrrrrrrrrr

Skyanth — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:41:31 -0800

I love listening to the groaning music of Mark Morgan (the Fallout soundtracks) and Lustmord (dark, dark ambient) while I read. I've been trying to find some similar music, but last.fm insists that Mark Morgan is like all other game soundtrack composers and Lustmord is akin to gothic wailing*. So I turn to you. What other artists make music with this grinding, eerie, screetchingly dark post-apocalyptic quality? * Nothing wrong with gothic wailing, just not when I'm reading.

Help introduce me to new indie music.

phyrewerx — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:00:09 -0800

Help introduce me to new indie music and any blogs that cover them. I really enjoy Canadian rock - works by The Weakerthan, Stars, Metric, the Most Serene Republic are constantly on my playlist. CBC Radio 3 is my online radio of choice. Could any one introduce me to blogs/sites that talk about this type of music elsewhere in the US or Europe? Pitchfork is a decent site, but it doesn't seem too accessible for quick browsing.

Additionally - my only source of learning about American indie/college rock was from the OC. Now that show is over, are there any good sources to expose oneself to bands like those or similar soundtracks? Last.fm's referral seems too vauge.

*This isn't a discussion about the quality of Schwartz's work, he picked upbeat and decent music that I could study to.

Suggest some mood enhancing music

stashdot — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 01:51:58 -0800

Suggest some mood enhancing music. I find music to be therapeutic, especially after a long day, when I need to keep going. An ideal example would be Frank Sinatra's "That's Life". Not very particular about the genre of music - it could be anything from gospel to classic rock to pop. Simple, uncomplicated songs with peppy lyrics are much appreciated. Please mention artist and song name - if a particular version is the one that suits the purpose - do mention the album name too. Thanks for your time.

Well, I hope we're not too messianic, Or a trifle too satanic

FlyingMonkey — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:52:54 -0800

Ms Monkey and I are getting married in the fall. Current plan is to walk down the aisle together. What are some songs about monkeys we can walk to? We're interested in almost all kinds of music, including bluegrass, blues, country, folk, punk, rock. (See last.fm somewhat recently-played list.)

(We're also broadly interested in music about monkeys (& mammals in general), so if you've got something that probably wouldn't work for the wedding (or wouldn't be appropriate to play for our 5-year-old cousins and 80-year-old grandparents) but which we oughta hear anyway, let us know about that, too.)

(I think maybe I use too many parentheses.)

We already thought of The Monkees theme song, but we hate that song. I suppose it would be a bit too much for the Animals to have done a song about monkeys. . . .