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Was wondering if any of you could point me in the direction of some good newer bands worth checking out? Any info appreciated

If you're looking for new music with nods to older sounds....Tame Impala, The Explorer's Club.

I would point you to the "albums of the year" [2012] thread in this forum, where many of us listed our favorites from the past year. Admittedly a lot of people were naming their old favorites' new albums, but plenty of newer bands are in there as well.

If we define new as primarily releasing music since 2000 (which is stretching the term new, admittedly), these are some bands or artists I've really enjoyed. If you're just after 60s soundalikes, though (not judging, just saying--a lot of people on this board aren't looking for new music unless it sounds like old music), many of them won't hit your sweet spot. Alphabetically ordered (by my iTunes, thus first name instead of last) ideas, though, with some albums I particularly like, where appropriate:

Adam Green and Binki Shapiro, S/T ('13)
Adele, 21 ('11)
Aloe Blacc, Good Things ('10)
Amy Winehouse
Andrew Bird, esp Hands of Glory ('12)
Apples in Stereo, esp New Magnetic Wonder ('07) and Travellers... ('10)
Arab Strap
Belle & Sebastian
Beulah
Big Boi
Bill Ricchini, Tonight I Burn Brightly ('05)
The Black Keys
Bonnie Prince Billy
Brother Ali, Mourning in America ('12)
Cass McCombs
Delgados, esp Great Eastern ('00) and Universal Audio ('04)
Eels, esp Daisies... ('00) and Blinking Lights... ('05)
Eli Paperboy Reed
Euros Childs
Feist
The Fiery Furnaces, esp Blueberry Boat ('04) and EP ('05)
Fiona Apple
Frank Ocean, Channel Orange ('12)
Future Clouds & Radar
The Girls
God Help the Girl
Grizzly Bear, esp Veckatimest ('09)
Harper Simon
Hawk and a Hacksaw
Heartless Bastards, esp. Stairs and Elevators ('04)
Herman Dune, esp Giant ('07) and Next Year in Zion ('08)
Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America ('06)
Inara George
Iron & Wine
Jack White
Jakob Dylan's Women and Country ('10)
James Yorkston
Janelle Monae
Jeff Hanson
Jeremy Messersmith, esp the Reluctant Graveyard ('10)
Joanna Newsom
The Mountain Goats
Nellie McKay
Noisettes
Of Montreal
Okkervil River
Polyphonic Spree's Fragile Army ('07)
Puerto Muerto, esp See You in Hell ('05)
Robyn
The Shins
Solange
Vampire Weekend's Contra ('10)
Voxtrot
White Stripes
Wilco

Hopefully some of those will help you find something to your taste. There are also tons of bands that are older but still putting out music you may or may not be into (from bands that got going in the 90s, a la Radiohead or Flaming Lips, to classics like Dylan, Cohen, Waits, Simon, etc.).


Good luck hunting.

I'm really into Company of Thieves lately (went to a show they did about 3 weeks ago).  Amazing lead singer and a lot of solid/good songs.  Really brilliant live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mfxWE27KDw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYaSFAIYBOg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAYfUReasvQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoPlxq1weu8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM60UpjqqtQ

And a couple covers for good measure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7b7IpK7XFo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbj3i1alFI8

@Luther : Well, that escalated quickly...

Seriously though, I see a lot of great bands there, most of which I got into thanks to a previous, samely-aimed list of yours.

Artists like Of Montreal, Belle & Sebastian, Joanna Newsom or Amy Winehouse are definitely worth checking. Listen to what the man said!

Well I don't know that escalated is the correct word! It's not like I started a fight, just helping a guy (or girl) out!

That said, a big list might not be the most useful thing in the world. Maybe I'll do some more focused and detailed suggestions later of some particular favorites.

No I appreciate the responses, I happen to like a lot of the stuff Luther listed. I've listened to the explorers club second album..liked half if it a lot, and the other not so much.  The only newer acts I've really taken a liking to is a guy named Gary Clarke Jr, who clapton admires, and a band called beach house.  Beach house singer has one of the mist unique voices I've ever heard on a female.  But thanks for the lists..ill check some stuff out!

Doing my (ideally, but not quite) weekly perusal of new releases and I found one that those who love the 60s chamber pop sound from their new music might like: Jacco Gardner, "Cabinet of Curiosities." It's on Spotify, for those of you with it, so you can hear it free there.

The kid (in his 20s, apparently) plays everything but drums on the album, which is pretty impressive, anyway. And he's Dutch. So if you feel like you need some Dutch popsters...

I'm enjoying and think I'll buy Nataly Dawn's "How I Knew Her." And apparently she's Belgian. That's irrelevant, but I mentioned the other guy being Dutch, and it seemed unusual. I don't know.

Good Old War
Sufjan Stevens (My favorite current artist hands down)
Say Anything (Especially ...Is A Real Boy)
Bon Iver

One of my favorite albums of the moment coincidentally happens to be very 60s-esque and it's  "We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic" by a band called Foxygen. Sort of sounds like Their Satanic Majesties Request / Village Green Preservation Society.

check it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtdWGGpvY1s

I was just commenting on that here or at record room...or to friends. I don't know anymore. Anyway, the thing about that album that either impressed or bugged me was how direct the references were, to the point of not even really sounding like influence. I can't decide whether it's really smart or really lazy. Definitely a well done album, though, for anyone who wants to hear that kind of thing. (You'll hear plenty of Dylan in there, too. I forget what else, but a friend and I were naming what sounded like near-direct quotes in it.)

Oh yeah, Elvis's Suspicious Minds is in On Blue Mountain. (1:32 is the first instance.)

"San Fransisco" is a really cool track off that album.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra has a new album out, too. "So Good At Being In Trouble" is the standout.

Yeah, this sort of thing usually really pisses me off but for some reason this album works in all the right ways.

Lots of Donovan and Love. Very miniscule amounts of Beatles and Beach Boys (in the instrumentation).

As far as brilliant 2013 releases so far go...

Villagers - {Awayland}
Serafina Steer - The Moths Are Real
Local Natives - Hummingbird
I Am Kloot - Let It All In
Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse

 :3d

As in Nataly Dawn from Pomplamoose? I thought she was San Fransiscan. I love their covers on youtube.

Yep, that's her. She's longtime Bay Area, but apparently Belgian (I learned while reading up after hearing the album). I actually wasn't aware of Pomplamoose until I heard this album, and gotta say I prefer this to the band. But her partner in that group produced and performed on this, too.

I can't keep up with all the new music, but  listening to Pandora  I picked up on Alan Stone, who I really like and Teddy Thompson who I think is  a very good vocalist and musician.

Jet without wings

Anyone else here listen to Camera Obscura?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztIWgEO0vRc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3CkfvYMCWM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulnzKT1yrm4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCjgagZoQsI

i do, my fav is 'i need all the friends i can get'.

I'm a huge fan of Lake Street Dive. They're a fairly new band that's released about four or five albums, although one of them is an EP. They are kind of an "unconventional" band, with only a trumpet player, drummer, singer, and a bass player who plays only stand up bass exclusively. It's kind of hard to put them in a specific genre of music. They are kind of a jazz influenced pop band. Here's a clip of them performing one of my favorite songs by them, Dupont. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuTLIZ_kOQw

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I do. But that's not really new music, though? Their last LP came out a couple of years ago.

Mate, that first Explorer's Club album is fucking ridiculous. They should have a list of lawsuits a mile long for that record.

The second one, released last year, is much better. They wrote their own songs! But it's less pop, more relaxed.

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Foxygen is how you make a ripoff band work.

Explorer's Club just pisses me off to no end.

As for new music, I'm listening to Big Inner by Matthew E White - bought it on a whim yesterday - and it's really good! Appropriates a couple of other songs in it (What Are They Doing In Heaven Today, Many Rivers To Cross, of all things) and I can't quite understand why, when his own songwriting seems pretty strong on it's own. But it's lovely stuff.

I need pointers for finding new music. My tastes seem outdated and years away from what's currently popular.  Its almost like how BW listened to Spector material in the mid to late 1970s after everybody else had long moved on.

You can't be on the internet without hearing about someone liking some new album. Instead of writing it off just from the band name or the genre or whatever, just take a listen. Maybe you'll hate it, maybe you'll like it. Just listen to a lot of things and see what clicks. Even dinosaur publications like rolling stone still review a number of albums from contemporary artists.

There are at least a dozen suggestions in this thread that you would probably end up enjoying. Download Spotify (if you haven't), and start going through this thread - if something doesn't click, move on to the next one, or come back to it later if you think it's a "grower".

Jonathan Wilson - Gentle Spirit is a really amazing album that a friend turned me on to recently. I cant recommend it enough. He is also producing a new album from Graham and Nash currently.

Aside from recommendations of people whose taste tends to be similar to mine or who tend to turn me on to things I hadn't liked before, I like to set aside some time every few weeks at least to go to allmusic or iTunes new releases and start clicking and sampling. Simple as that. If something catches my ear, I check it out more extensively on Spotify.  If not, move on. And of course, when you've found something cool, there is inevitably the "listeners who bought this also bought..." lists below it. The main issue is time: there is never enough time to give everything good a listen.

This is always fun.
https://www.stereodose.com/

In my first post of this thread I just gave a laundry list. For some context, I also intended to give some more thorough descriptions and ideas that might help steer people who are interested.

This being a Beach Boys board and knowing the taste of many participants, I'll start off with an easy transition: Jeremy Messersmith.

Messersmith has an amazing high tenor and gift for melody that makes him a natural for fans of Beach Boys, Beatles, Nilsson, etc. While his most recent album, 2010's The Reluctant Graveyard, was made very intentionally with the sounds of the Beatles in particular in mind, his previous two albums preserve the beauty of late '60s pop without being so directly descended. Further, his songwriting is amazing. He's an extremely gifted musician. I can't recommend him enough--and that's not just hometown pride (he is based in my hometown of Minneapolis).

NPR Tiny Desk performance (songs from his Reluctant Graveyard album):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-RVUGjCfug

Studio track from his 2008 "The Silver City" LP, produced by Dan Wilson (Trip Shakespeare, Semisonic). This is "Franklin Avenue."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a15noIgNWgo

Enjoy!

THIS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75hxrSTaEUk

I'm listening to a new release some of you might like, though I'm lukewarm on it so far: the Norwegian band Young Dreams' "Between Places" album.

Here is allmusic's review and previews: http://www.allmusic.com/album/between-places-mw0002470932

While they compare it to an updated Zombies (and reference Beach Boys, as every reviewer of any album with harmony vocals is contractually obligated to do...), I'd say it is a more tame version of Animal Collective's more melodic music. But it has moments of those rhythmically exciting backgrounds with pretty melodies and sometimes great harmonies over them. Some of the background vocals are really nice, I have to say that.

It is up on Spotify, too, so you can listen to the whole album. That's where I'm listening now.

http://open.spotify.com/album/725YgW6Xb8hSnsdJWkHZll

OK, Track 8, "Through the Turnstiles," is beautiful. The first minute and a half are wordless a capella harmonies. Then the proper song kicks in. (That's as far as I am, so no comment further.)

Might put the cat right amongst the pidgeons here, but wondering if anyone else has ear for some of the more recent prog bands?

If you fill me with a few good beers, I might make the case for SMiLE as the world's first (still-born) prog album!!

Particulatly thinking of bands like Big Big Train, The Pineapple Thief and Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree.  

I also love most of the classic bands of the genre, and they happily reside alongside my love for many of the classic songwriters of the past 50 years.  just depends what mood I'm in at the time which direction my listening pleasures gravitate to.

Fill me with a few good beers and I'll argue the same thing--not because I necessarily believe it or even care, but just that I'll do just about anything for a few good beers.  ;)

As for prog (modern or classic), 'fraid I'm not your man unless you want to define the genre really loosely to include complex, atypical (in the pop world) arrangements, and often lengthy song structures. Then maybe here and there ... but otherwise, sorry.

I'd go for that!  There's nothing worse in the world than listening to some prog fans discussing precisely what is and isn't prog.   They come across as so narrow-minded when they should really be the opposite imo.

i'd like to introduce you all to Tyler Lyle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjs-EIOnrlc

I often have a difficult time trying to accept new bands and new music. I'm a fan of primarily music from the 1950's to the 1970's, with a few small exceptions, like old delta blues from the 1920's to the 40's. For some reason I just don't really want to be bothered with new music, or new styles of music(dubstep, for example). Does that make me a snob?  ;D I try not to make it seem like I'm a snob who just dismisses any and all new forms of music. But, I guess that's kind of what I do.  ;D I'll be only 28 in a few days, but I kind of feel like an old fart stuck in his ways.  :lol

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The way I see it is that you feel that modern music in the 2013 is crap, you probably would have felt the same in 1977, 1967 or 1927. We enjoy older music because of several different contexts - your parents listened to it, the critical canon, etc - that modern pop music doesn't have. It's what you make it. If anything, modern music is more diverse and richer than its ever been because there is no singular narrative that there was in earlier decades - you can now keep wholly up to date with modern music and avoid the charts!

 Just remember that, at the time, people called The Beatles tuneless rubbish too.

That was my mindset from when I was about your age (1990ish) until about 2000 or 2001. What it was about was deep-diving into different genres or artists already established as classics without having to do any of the decision-making in real time (similar to what hypehat wrote). In the end, though, I found out I had missed a ton of cool music in that decade or so I had dismissed because I assume nothing could be as good as the Beatles, Zeppelin, Queen, Hendrix, and Zappa (which were my favorites in those years). I had totally missed on the Flaming Lips, Magnetic Fields, Guided By Voices, Tom Waits, the early E6 bands, Native Tongues groups, etc. On the positive side, it meant I had a lot of great music to go back and find later...

That is one really great thing about waiting for music to age before you make the effort: a certain amount of filtering has already happened and you can just go straight to what is recognized as valuable, as opposed to being caught up in the marketing and fads of the moment.

Conversely, sometimes being just so perfect in the moment is what it's all about. There is a genius for that, and a certain kind of memory works wonderfully in that context. Timelessness is great, but so is timeliness.

It doesn't matter if people don't like new music. Honestly, who cares? But I'll say this: you're not going to like anything new when you're thinking of it in the context of something old. So if you know the mid-60s are your era, you're never going to listen properly to anything other than how similar an imperfect copy of that it is, or how different from (and therefore bad) it is. Unwinnable war.

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I think you're not quite right about that. The same classic music of that era was widely available and praised as being canonical in my youth, which (as noted) primarily spanned the 80s and 90s. There is no doubt that the more obscure things are easier to find now--so sessions, unreleased material, and live boots are simpler for today's kids--but basic catalogues of the Beatles, Dylan, Doors, Stones, Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, Who, Zeppelin, Queen, Hendrix, Clapton, blah blah blah were all readily available. Everyone I knew went through the same basic phases.

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No problem, I didn't take it that way. And you're right--for yourself and all of us. We only live in our own respective times, which is what makes a lot of the "this is how it should be," or "this is how it is" so silly. The epitome of greatness simply may not be applicable to someone in a different time, place, or situation. It's just irrelevant. So we all just find what we can find, take up what we like most, and it's amazing--but it's important not to get too self-important about such things. A Baby Boomer's greatness is irrelevant to a Gen Xer's, to a Millenial's.

Okay, many of you know I love Of Montreal, so I can't help but post whenever there's something new from them. Here is a new NPR Tiny Desk series recording with two members (bandleader Kevin [on the right] and Bryan "The Late BP Helium" Poole [on the left] with Rebecca Cash singing lead on one of their songs (Feminine Effects) followed by Kevin debuting two new songs, just solo acoustic guitar and voice. It's odd to hear them in that format, assuming they will be pretty heavily arranged before all is said and done. The second, Imbecile Rages, sounds like his Idiot Wind. I think somebody pissed him off...

http://www.ofmontreal.net/2013/03/08/watch-npr-tiny-desk-concert/

Today I came across a review of Lady Lamb the Beekeeper's "Ripley Pine." It's an awful band name but turned out to be a really good project led by singer-songwriter Aly Spaltro. The music is interesting, with long multipart songs, and sometimes really intense, even visceral vocal delivery. My first thoughts were that it was a cross between Heartless Bastards and Fiona Apple. Pitchfork used Okkervil River, Jeff Buckley, and Jack White as comparisons, though I'm not sure whether I'd agree with those.

Definitely something worth a listen. It's on Spotify if you want to check it out.

Plugging that again. My favorite album of 2013 so far, no question.

I also like Kacey Musgraves.

You are wrong, that honour belongs to Laura Mvula's Sing To The Moon. Even though I'm just listening to it for the first time now. But sh*t, son, is it good.

Haven't heard it (or even of it), but will check it out.

The new album from The Milk Carton Kids, a very Simon & Garfunkely (Garfunkely is a good, good word!) acoustic duo. I saw a pretty mediocre review at allmusic with the primary charge seemingly lack of originality. Well, that may be true, but the songs are strong regardless of whether they fit firmly into their traditions. I really enjoy it. Beautiful stuff.

It's on spotify.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1aAIFALAyNw5dzXERYW7bf

I'm listening (for the first time) to Harper Simon's new album, Division Street. I'm just a couple tracks in so far, but it is more a full-band, pop-rock sound than his folkier debut album from a few years ago.

Again, some heavy hitters supporting the effort: Benmont Tench, Pete Thomas, Jon Brion, Inara George, Mikael Jorgenson, to name a few.

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,15437.0.html (http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,15437.0.html)

The Allah-Las from Los Angeles.  I think if people here gave them a listen, they'd really dig the sounds and vibe.

Honestly it seems with all the music festivals and over-hyped showcases like the SXSW and whatnot, finding new artists who truly stand out is getting tougher these days. You get more choices, but seriously does SXSW really need that many showcases all at once, happening almost everywhere in Austin where they can fit a stage and a PA? Lost in the shuffle.

It's good, but not really for me. Usually when something strikes me as so clearly in [x vein], it is a turn-off. It just feels more like acting than music, if that makes sense, or like a cover band that happens to do originals. But I just said I enjoyed the Milk Carton Kids' album about three posts ago, so take that for what it's worth!

I disagree about finding new acts, though. I think it's easier than ever if you want to (and can) put in the time to do it. If you want to pick from what is being marketed to you, that might be a problem (especially if you're a discerning listener who doubts what's being marketed to you). SXSW, the whole idea of that giving you "the next big thing," that's absurd and has been for a long time now. It's a great way to give Austin a ton of tourist money and to give people something to do. There is a ton of great stuff there, obviously (how many bands are there? I mean, obviously some are great.), and a ton of sh*t, and so much of both that it's ridiculous to think anyone could grasp anywhere near a measurable fraction of it.

Then we might as well write off 95% of the neo-soul and retro-r&b singers that have been raved about if not lionized over the past 5-7 years or so, no names necessary but readily available. The majority of especially the male lead vocalists and the backgrounds/production sounds too much like Otis, Pickett, Marvin, etc., right?

Add to the list the multitude of bands here and elsewhere who get raved about because they sound like or emphasize elements of Beach Boys records, or in the case of one notable current "hot" new band, Kinks and Stones records. Or 80's dream pop. Or shoegaze, etc.

If we were to take that route, and eliminate those new records which sound too close to a specific previous act or artist, how many names would we cross off the list in this thread? Or names mentioned on this board in general?

I've yet to pinpoint a single group or record which I can hear being aped in the Allah-Las songs, maybe I'm overlooking it. But I'd think a band which sounds like a whole scene from the mid-60's would maybe carry more music cred than a band which takes a whole bunch of production hooks and sounds from old Kinks or Who records and loads them onto one semi-empty song structure, and folks can't stop raving about it.  ;D

It's all in what you like. But to compare this specific band's music to acting isn't quite fair, especially considering how many other bands in other styles and genres get praised to no end for dead-on mimicking of specific artists' styles and signature sounds. Again, no names necessary.

In short, yes. I was trying to be clear that there's nothing wrong with the band and I was only giving my impression--how I feel when I experience a certain thing--but that same observation would hold true for those other scenarios you wrote. And it's not to say I can't enjoy music that fits into those categories, it's just a different kind of enjoyment for me, just as it is a different experience to make that kind of music. (Making music obviously intended to allude to another song, a band, a genre, is different than making music that isn't. Neither better nor worse, but different. And the former seems to me, as I said, more like acting. Which isn't bad, just different.)

Before it goes into this direction, I'll also say obviously no music is without influence, and it wouldn't be appealing to much of anyone if it were. There is an essential combination of familiar and new to make great "new" music. (Something entirely new would just sound foreign and probably not pleasing at all.) So it's not that I don't want to be able to find anything I know or like. There is just some indescribable point that I feel, and it is different than anyone else's I'm sure, where it crosses the line from one to the other. In my mind, there is that point where I think no matter how well this band does what it is doing, that will just be a perfect version of that [thing already done by someone else]. I suppose it must be a combination of my biases, their songs, my experiences relating to their songs, production values and style, etc. Obviously it's subjective. But that doesn't make it real (for me).

Last, regarding names in this thread (as you mentioned), to be honest I don't like most of the new bands a lot of people on this board like. The ones that are so obviously fixated on the past are ones that aren't so much up my alley. And those bands are no doubt just fine, just not for me. (Though I often do mostly reference ones that I think might have a chance of being liked by other people here, so if something strikes me as 60s-ish, I'm more likely to note it here, knowing the taste of the board.)

Several great points in that reply. Obviously there is no clear-cut reason why someone likes or doesn't like a particular band or song. At the same time, I got the feeling this particular band was getting a lukewarm first impression based on their having a mid-60's Sunset Strip vibe, which if we applied a similar standard across several genres would eliminate a lot of worthwhile music. And that standard would also suggest anything that wears an influence from the past on its sleeve would not, by design, measure up no matter the quality. That struck me as an unfair application of that standard.

I went through that several times, with albums and bands which I now consider among my favorites. When a friend first bought "Definitely Maybe" by Oasis, when it just hit the US, a few of us who admittedly were music snobs at the time started picking it apart. Every track one of us would say "That's The Faces, that's The Jam, that's 'I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing', he nicked that from a Herb Alpert tune", whatever the case. After listening to the songs without that bias and ignoring the references which they were wearing on their sleeves, the album grew on me, and Noel became at that point one of my favorite songwriters, seriously. His songs stood out, for me, and had I held that influence-nicking impression of them, I wouldn't have enjoyed the music itself. Some folks never got past that stage, which if it worked for them, is perfectly fine, but there was some good standalone songwriting on those first Oasis albums.

I keep in mind and remind my students who are interested in songwriting that there are only so many notes on our palette in Western music. We have the same limited choices as Bach and Debussy and Lennon-McCartney, there are simply no "new" notes in the music we hear in the west.

That in itself is a liberating and staggering fact to consider - there are just so many combinations of a limited number of individual notes which we all use to form new music. As such, there is bound to be repetition, and there is nothing at all wrong with putting your original ideas out there no matter how much it resembles something else.

If fans of, say, The Beach Boys hear a song with similar traits and sounds as the BB's, it might trigger the same response as the original BB's song or record, and they'd "like" it for that similarity. I don't mind that, but at the same time if it sounds like the new artist is simply aping the sound and throwing in a lot of production cliches onto a sub-standard shell of a song form, maybe I won't like it as much, and I often do not for that reason.

Yet, I have some favorite songs by Sparklehorse, Matthew Sweet, and Brendan Benson which are clearly nicking the Revolver sound and vibe, but which are solid and enjoyable songs just the same. I enjoy them on a pure song level where others would hear them and chuck them because the impression of mimicking the Beatles is too strong.

What you said about creating something entirely new and as a result foreign has been my main issue with entire segments of the modern jazz and classical genres. Some of the "modern" classical composers are to me so far removed from their listeners, and so steadfast in wanting to create something "new" or "revolutionary" or "challenging" that they lose what makes certain pieces of music so beloved by a wide audience.

As much as I love certain elements of pure, unabashed noise on certain records, when I try to get into atonal, serial, or "free" compositions, I get lost and feel I have nothing to latch on to. Sheets of noise can be thrilling and exciting when applied a certain way - classical composers who are always out to push boundaries scoring atonal series of notes on top of a rhythmic foundation that has no rhythm or pulse, and expecting an audience to sit through an entire movement of screeching strings, bleating brass, and squeaking woodwinds is to me the kind of arrogance that keeps listeners away. Modern jazz suffered the same fate, I feel, where an audience could not walk into a certain jazz show without feeling challenged every minute they are listening, and would feel somehow wrong about getting up to dance or move to the music. What?  :)

Yet, in context, if you get that in a soundscape within a different musical framework or context, it can reaffirm your faith in the power of pure dissonance! I feel the same about guitarists going on extended feedback excursions...in small doses, it can be incredible. To put an audience through 20 minutes of it with no context is silly and self-indulgent. Noise can be beautiful, noise for noise's sake is absurd.

Again, I have no right or wrong answer as there is none to be found, but we all do like what we like for specific reasons. At the same time some of the reasons can be questioned, the actual visceral reactions cannot.

Right.

If I can speculate--and damnit, I can speculate!--there has to be a kind of natural pace to innovation in music (and all art, and even all culture, really). New ideas introduced within familiar forms can work, familiar ideas in new forms can work, but new ideas in new forms is a tough sell because the ear and the mind only can do so much, especially on what may well be a single listen (especially if the listener doesn't like it the first time around). "Difficult" music can grow on you, but not if you never return to it.

But a successful innovator is more likely to work with subtlety, and gain acceptance. Artist B may be more far out at the same time, and may later be viewed as visionary, but only because Artist A succeeded with the larger audience.

With 12-tone music, then, the issue is obvious: Schoenberg invented a wholly new system and introduced it. Yes, music had strayed from conventional Western tonality, but 12-tone wasn't just atonal (meaning lacking a tonal center), it actively fought against the concept of traditional harmonic progressions, imposing instead tonal equality. The ear wasn't ready for that after something like 750 years of functional harmony, and more time yet of tonality. (In fact, I'd guess tonality was always a part of music, even when it wasn't in a harmonic or functional system.) 12-tone music was academic. I love some Schoenberg, so don't get me wrong, and I appreciate his genius. But that was an exercise, not an enjoyable work of art.

Still, the exact opposite of that is maybe what I was arguing against in my earlier post. When something doesn't seem to be doing anything other than trying to reproduce what is already there, and lacks whatever the "it" of great art is, the new twist that is so exciting, then that leaves me flat no matter how well performed or produced it is.

I'd argue that if anything, modern R&B is one of the most modern genres out there, unless you class something like the Daptone label 'modern R&B'. I mean, I think R&B is doing an admirable job of not becoming a stale imitation of past forms. To pick the most obvious example, Frank Ocean does not cop exclusively from Marvin, Pickett and Wonder. At the best, he's got that gauzy tone in his production that Wonder has in some of 70's productions, but it's a modern record!

Or, IDK, The Dream or Miguel don't scream Marvin or Bobby Womack or Sly Stone to me, y'know? It's better than being confronted by the music press fawning over Tame Impala, who are supremely sub Beatles to me, or everyone here fawning over The Explorers Club or whatever. The more I listen to R&B, the more I think the 60's & 70's aren't the influence - new and upcoming acts simply don't need that.

If you're looking for a new album, I'm still waiting for some good feedback on my album....

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,15208.0.html

I'm just trying to learn here guys haha...

I recently discovered Phoenix, a really good french band. I highly recommend their albums United and Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

I'm not a fan of the band, but the song "Just My Luck" on Dawes' new album, Stories Don't End, is gorgeous. The melody is really interesting and somewhat complex, complete with little chromatic runs, like an Elvis Costello sound.

Purchased but figuratively not yet sold on the new Iron & Wine album. However I really like Janelle Monae's new single Q.U.E.E.N. (featuring Erykah Badu) and Eleanor Friedberger's new single Stare at the Sun.

I gotta say, even though it's obviously derivative, that's a pretty good song. I'm gonna have to buy their album.

I don't know about new artists but as for new albums, Tegan & Sara had an excellent album this year.  Phoenix and The Strokes also had good ones.  And Atoms for Peace, Thom Yorke from Radiohead's side project is pretty good too but not as pop oriented as the other albums I mentioned.

With the confirmed Neutral Milk Hotel reunion, I'd say there's a slim chance we'll see a new album, and boy would that be swell.

"Slim" chance being the key words. My guess is it's just touring.

Speaking of new music, I got Xenia Rubinos' Magic Trix and like some of it.

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Listened to the new She & Him on Spotify and was thankful for it ... Spotify, not the new She & Him album. (It let me decide not to spend $13 or so.) Perfectly competent album, and exactly what you might expect from She & Him. I won't leave a party or necessarily turn the radio station if it comes on, but I'm not buying it, either.

Right now I'm listening to Jim James' song "A New Life," which I really like. But I'd like it more if it skipped the first 1:20 or so (which is how the local radio station is playing it, btw). I love that big "once MOOOOOORRRRRRE" at about 3:21 ... very Eric Carmen.

Just thought I'd mention Lake Street Dive again. Every video I find of them on YouTube seems to be better than the last.  ;D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U-Wzr9y_C4

The Pistol Annies' song "I Hope You're the End of My Story" is very pretty.

http://youtu.be/qiGnsG_7XfU

A friend leant me The Pistol Annies record, I'll have to check it out.

Spinning the new Iron & Wine record, still got that sweet sound from Kiss Each Other Clean, and even sweeter harmonies than that record. I can see being perpetually disappointed by the dude if you were really into that acoustic sound. Songwise, it's pretty good.

Van Dyke Parks Songs Cycled. Review to follow.