What music do you listen to?

[eklavya]

Hey all,

I am thinking about updating/expanding my music collection over the Christmas break. Therefore I thought it would be neat to gather info on what kind of music you folks listen to. I am partly curious to know what genre of music us 'grad-wannabes' prefer, and if that has changed over the course of your college life. This would be not a bad idea to spend some waiting time!

Lets keep the format in this way:

Artist - Genre - Albums/Songs - Year

Your comments

Since budget comes into play, please list only those that fall into 'MUST BUY/LISTEN' category.

I'll start with few:

Bob Dylan - folk/blues/jazz/swing - all, i guess?

BB King, Ray Charles, Muddy Waters - (Chicago) blues/jazz - all

Coldplay - alt rock - all

Jack Johnson - soft rock/acoustics - all

......

If you can't tell already, I am a huge fan of oldies (esp. jazz fused) and don't have much knowledge on 'modern' songs. So please contribute!!

[Strangefox]

ZAZ - Nu Jazz, Chanson, Soul - ZAZ - 2010

A song from this album:

Edited December 5, 2010 by Strangefox

[Strangefox]

And one more song:

Edited December 5, 2010 by Strangefox

[A. sesquipedale]

Artist Genre Song Note

Jeff Buckley - dunno the genre - Hallelujah I listened to this and the next song on repeat for about 4-5 of my SOPs and never got sick of them

Fiona Apple - dunno the genre - Across the Universe (Beatles cover)

Beethoven - classical - Symphony No. 5 in C minor ('Fate') Op. 67: I Allegro con brio I grew up with classical so I really enjoy it. It is also great and inspiring for studying/writing/reading for me so quite appropriate for here, I think

Mozart (Jean-Claude Malgoire) - classical - Requiem aeternam and Lacrimosa

Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin - classical - Concerto in D Minor for 2 Mandolins (Andante)

Bach - classical - Well tempered clavier book 1, No. 6 in D minor, BWV 851

[katerific]

Here are some jams that I've recently been obsessed with:

Iron & Wine - folk/folk rock - Belated Promise Ring (

)

MSTRKRFT ft. John Legend - electronic - Heartbreaker (

)

The Rescues - indie pop/rock - Teenage Dream (yes, it's a Katy Perry cover ) (

)

some others that I always enjoy:

Bach - classical (Baroque) - Cello Suite #5: Prelude

John Prine - folk - everything. If you like Bob Dylan, check out John Prine!

Os Mutantes - Brazilian psychedelic rock from the 60s/70s (tropicalia) - A Minha Menina

Tokyo Jihen - jazzy Japanese pop/rock - Kenka joutou

[RDX]

Such a timely post. I'm justing getting sick of listening to my old collections (Greenday, Nirvana, and a bunch of metal ones). I need some fresh air now, particularly those spiritful ones.. I need some encouragement to overcome my finals... Any good idea is greatly appreciated haha

[eklavya]

awesome!! keep expanding the list guys!

here's one i gotta share - a TRUE gem, cover by Johnny Cash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m_VBR8XZYI&feature=fvsr

Edited December 11, 2010 by bhikhaari

[neuro enthusiast]

good study music...sound tracks. my fave. Pirates of the Caribbean. Keeps you pumped, but doesn't distract with words so you can focus on what you are reading. Carmina Burana is also good if Latin doesn't distract you.

[katerific]

On that note (HA), I would like to add that Hans Zimmer (PotC composer) is EXCELLENT, so anything by him is awesome. (some other great things he's done: Gladiator, The Dark Knight, Inception, Sherlock Holmes, THE LION KING, and.... Muppet Treasure Island!)

And I would also recommend Carmina Burana for high-drama situations, such as during a duel between you and a vicious, ruthless take-home final or essay.

some more (really random) additions:

if you're longing for the good old days of the 1990s: Third Eye Blind - 90s alt rock/post grunge - How's it Going to be (http://www.youtube.c...h?v=vuAGVr-O-3E)

ninguem gosta da musica portugues? Flor-de-lis - portuguese folk/acoustic - Valsa da Noite (

)

and since we're approaching the Christmas season, here's my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE christmas song ever:

Edited December 12, 2010 by katerific

[waddle]

Power-ish metal: Nightwish, Dragonforce (okay, this is more like pansy metal, but eh.), Edenbridge, etc.

Yanni (New Age?)

Canadian Brass (uhh, brass?)

I dig theme songs (shows, games, movies, etc.), especially that of PBS' Nature (great show, BTW)

IMO, Microsoft's best product is their 'Windows Welcome Music'--dug it up from the depths of my system files, and now it's one of my default play-while-trying-to-work tracks

Jonathan Coulton (folk with a twist?) - Code Monkey

Pigloo (erm ... not sure what genre) - Papa Pinguin (Deutsche version below)

Edited December 12, 2010 by waddle

[TheDude]

Rock bands: I love the "Local Natives"

"As tall as Lions" is a great band too:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=KyWf6bMMBUk

World:

Lionel Loueke is amazing!

Bill Frisell is my favorite musician:

Lastly I think Kat Edmonson is a supreme vocalist who is reinventing jazz standards and classic pop tunes with a great deal of originality:

Y'all have some great taste in music!!!

[TheDude]

I've surveyed so much music across so many cultures and most my friends (both local and cross-culturally) agree Kurt Rosenwinkel is perhaps the premiere musician in the world....at the vanguard of so many styles

[OnceAndFutureGrad]

I'm a huge fan of Viking/folk metal, but sometimes it is too crunchy or grungy for an untempered ear. I recommend Korpiklaani - Folk metal - Korven Kuningas - 2008 or Turisas - Viking metal - The Varangian Way - 2007.

[Alyanumbers]

Erik Satie - Classical - his Gymnopédies are pretty famous, but my favourite is Gnossienne n.5

Delius - Classical - Koanga - La Calinda

Tchaikovsky - Classical - The Nutcracker Ballet Suite - March

Bach - Classical - Violin Concerto in A Minor - 1st movement

Manu Chao - Latin-fusion/world music - everything ever, but especially the album called "Proxima Estacion: Esperanza"

Poco - Country? I don't know - Keep On Trying

Fastball - Alt rock - The Way

I listen to a lot of Beatles, as well, but I expect everyone does.

[shepardn7]

Here are some of my current plays (some old, some new):

Leonard Cohen -- Songs of Love and Hate, The Songs of Leonard Cohen, New Skin for the Old Ceremony

Magnolia Electric Co. -- "Leave the City" and "Don't This Look Like the Dark" (and really the whole albums Magnolia Electric Co. and What Comes After the Blues) -- indie alt-country

The Velvet Underground -- all -- vintage rock

Arcade Fire -- Funeral -- popular indie rock?

Arcade Fire -- "We Used to Wait," "Suburban War," "Sprawl II," and "Deep Blue" from The Suburbs

David Bowie -- Ziggy Stardust

The Decemberists -- Picaresque, Castaways and Cutouts, and Her Majesty -- popular indie sea-chanties?

Joanna Newsom -- all -- indie folk?

The Magnetic Fields -- Charm of the Highway Strip, 69 Love Songs -- indie rock

The National -- The Boxer -- indie rock

Neutral Milk Hotel -- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea -- indie rock, but not as new

Pulp -- Different Class -- rock?

The Smiths -- all -- 80s rock?

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -- "O Children" (featured in the new Harry Potter) -- alt-rock?

Bruce Springsteen -- um, you know!

Bon Iver -- "Bracket WI" from Dark Was the Night -- alt-folk?

Florence & the Machine -- Lungs -- pop? I dunno.

Remo Giazotto -- "Adagio in G Minor"

Elgar -- Cello Concerto -- First Movement (Adagio-Moderato) -- Jacqueline du Pre

Vaughn Williams -- "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis"

[wreckofthehope]

I listen mostly to electronic music: drone, noise, minimal techno, idm, ambient, illbient etc and also to some folk and other things.

Some favourite artists:

Tim Hecker - drone/electronic ambient/noise - love all his albums, but "Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do it Again" especially.

Ben Frost - noise/drone - again all albums are amazing, but "Theory of Machines" particularly so.

Swans - urm... noise/noise/madness, "The Great Annihilator" is my favourite probably.

Oneohtrix Point Never - synth/idm, "Rifts" compilation is superb.

Demdike Stare - dark ambient, apparently..."Symbiosis", and "Liberation THrough Hearing" are both superb.

Keith Fullerton Whitman - ambient/ experimental drone..., all.

Laurie Anderson - spoken word/pop, all... but "Big Science" most of all.

The Knife - electropop/synth, all "Silent Shout" in particular.

Sam Amidon - Folk, kind of twisted folk, but still...all.

David Thomas Broughton - folk, as above - "The Complete Guide to Insufficiency"

Edited December 16, 2010 by wreckofthehope

[Ludwig von Dracula]

Wow, a lot of great suggestions on here so far. Shouts out for the Yo-Yo Ma/Bobby McFerrin duet album. And Johnny Cash's Hurt...that gets me every time.

Currently digging:

Katzenjammer--"Le Pop": mega mega high energy folk/acoustic music from four Scandinavian ladies

Bellowhead--all: English trad/folk with a twist

Dinosaur Jr.--all: indie/proto-grunge with wicked guitar playing

Mute Math--all: electro-rock with jazz and techno influences. Amazing live band!

Neon Horse--s/t and Songs of Love, Hate and Defiance: bizarro catchy hard rock with really odd vocals that I can't really describe

Sufjan Stevens--Come on Feel the Illinoise!, Seven Swans, maybe the newest one: the king of orchestral indie-folk

Nick Cave--No More Shall We Part, Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus: alt-rock/singer-songwriter with a gothic tinge

Nickel Creek (not back!)--all: awesome newgrass by a group of super-talented acoustic musicians

Great for writing papers:

Arvo Pärt: anything by my favourite composer. His music is extremely soothing and timeless, with an ancient feel akin to Gregorian chant and medieval music. Recommended pieces: Magnificat, Fratres, Tabula Rasa, Spiegel im Spiegel, Te Deum, Berliner Messe, or anything else

Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem or basically any of his instrumental music. Beautiful.

Eric Whitacre: another incredible composer that makes listeners reevaluate their distaste for choral music

Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil

or any Russian liturgical music (really)

I don't know that I'd want to write to Carmina Burana myself--I'd be far too tempted to grab my axe and go swinging into a horde of attacking orcs or something--but whatever works for you!

[katerific]

Lately I've been really into electronic/post-rock/indie/I don't know how to describe it. Quintessential chill-out music.

Ratatat - Cherry

Also, some more post-rock which is more introspective/emotional than it is "chill-out music."

Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla

warning: may induce thoughts of everything that is beautiful and possibly subsequent tears.

Edited January 5, 2011 by katerific

[natsteel]

Apologies in advance for not following the format...

Like the OP, I only listened to what most people call "oldies" from the time I was a little kid until only recently. However, when I say "oldies" I mean more than just 50s and 60s pop, which I absolutely love. I'm a huge fan of American roots music from folk (Woody Guthrie, etc...) to blues (Freddie King, Robert Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins) to real country (Hank Williams Sr., very early George Jones, Louvin Brothers) to rockabilly (Elvis on Sun, etc...) and rock n' roll (Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc...) to country-rock (The Byrds, FBB, etc...) to more recent alt.country (Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Jayhawks, Ryan Adams).

If it came out before 1970 and wasn't jazz, I'm probably familiar with it. However, in the last 5 years or so, I got into indie rock and indie pop. I think mostly because alot of it was influenced by 60s rock. i'm thinking of stuff like Sufjan Stevens, Camera Obscura, Belle & Sebastian, Iron & Wine, The National, Pernice Brothers, Elephant 6 (NMH, OTC, Apples in Stereo, Of Montreal), etc....

Most recently, I have been on a vintage soul/R&B kick... mostly 40s and 50s rhythm & blues (just about anything on Atlantic Records) and 60s southern soul music (Stax, Goldwax, Muscle Shoals). If you like that stuff, check out the Bear Family box sets, "Blowing the Fuse" and "Sweet Soul Music." Awesome!!

I found this year's releases to be somewhat disappointing compared to the last few years, but I enjoyed:

Justin Townes Earle, Harlem River Blues

Tame Impala, Innerspeaker

She and Him , Volume Two

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Band of Horses - Infinite Arms

When it comes to reissues and the like:

Bob Dylan, The Witmark Demos (Being a songwriter, I'm a Dylan fanatic)

Bruce Springsteen, The Promise

I can't speak of favorite records without mentioning Wilco's "Summerteeth," which is one my all-time favorites.

Edited January 5, 2011 by natsteel

[history_PhD]

Here are some of my current plays (some old, some new):

Leonard Cohen -- Songs of Love and Hate, The Songs of Leonard Cohen, New Skin for the Old Ceremony

Magnolia Electric Co. -- "Leave the City" and "Don't This Look Like the Dark" (and really the whole albums Magnolia Electric Co. and What Comes After the Blues) -- indie alt-country

The Velvet Underground -- all -- vintage rock

Arcade Fire -- Funeral -- popular indie rock?

Arcade Fire -- "We Used to Wait," "Suburban War," "Sprawl II," and "Deep Blue" from The Suburbs

David Bowie -- Ziggy Stardust

The Decemberists -- Picaresque, Castaways and Cutouts, and Her Majesty -- popular indie sea-chanties?

Joanna Newsom -- all -- indie folk?

The Magnetic Fields -- Charm of the Highway Strip, 69 Love Songs -- indie rock

The National -- The Boxer -- indie rock

Neutral Milk Hotel -- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea -- indie rock, but not as new

Pulp -- Different Class -- rock?

The Smiths -- all -- 80s rock?

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -- "O Children" (featured in the new Harry Potter) -- alt-rock?

Bruce Springsteen -- um, you know!

Bon Iver -- "Bracket WI" from Dark Was the Night -- alt-folk?

Florence & the Machine -- Lungs -- pop? I dunno.

Remo Giazotto -- "Adagio in G Minor"

Elgar -- Cello Concerto -- First Movement (Adagio-Moderato) -- Jacqueline du Pre

Vaughn Williams -- "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis"

Neutral Milk Hotel is great! Are you familiar with Apples in Stereo or New Pornographers?

[was1984]

The Shins. 'nuff said.

[TheDude]

Good music... and it is the only thing in life I am really pretentious about.

[zjwah]

For me, GRE studying/ application filling out music was almost always

- Joshua Radin/ acoustic/ any album of his, but my favorite is the iTunes special (absolutely brilliant remakes of some songs from the We Are Here album).

- Kina Grannis/ acoustic/ Stairwells is my favorite album of hers.

Joshua Radin's music I discovered as an undergrad. And after 2 years of undergrad, a Masters, a year off, and a year researching/ studying/ applying for a second Masters/Phd Joshua Radin is still one of my favorite artists to listen to while studying (or anytime for that matter).

- Owl City is also fun when you need a more upbeat tempo!

[a fragrant plant]

Great post! I like the following artists and want to expand my ipod with music of similar genres, any recommendation?

The Shins

Death Cab for Cuties

Cat Power

John Mayer

Rilo Kiley

Feist

Thanks!

[meo03]

The music that I see as indispensable:

The Magnetic Fields

Tom Waits

The Hold Steady

The Dismemberment Plan

Yo la Tengo

The Mountain Goats

Silver Jews

The Roots

Why?

Some stuff I've been really enjoying lately:

Son Volt

Drive-By Truckers

older Wilco

Magnolia Electric Company

(I'm on a bit of an alt-country kick)

Leonard Cohen

MC Paul Barman

Smog

Tinariwen

Tortoise

Caribou

Nick Cave

Black Star

So, I dabble, but tend to feel quite at home in 90s indie. When I am old, those will be my oldies, whether or not I have a radio station call them that.