Like, Alternative Music

aquabat · July 2006

What're you listening to in terms of um... *ahem* ... alternative rock?
'Fess up, its Nickelback, isnt it? Followed by some crying to James Blunt

I just found Tunng's cover of Block Party's Pioneers. Its such a great version... I highly recommend. Block Party are about the only 'New Wave' band I really go into.

Also been listening to a lot of Godspeed and Explosions in the Sky. Man I love that stuff. So very very very good.

nexuscrawler · July 2006

For more mainstream alternarock I've found i like Broken Social Scene and Belle and Sebastian quite a bit.

Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud · July 2006

I'm bad at defining what falls into which Genre.
Does Bloodhound Gang count?

deadonthestreet · July 2006

Local H. They may count.

I dunno.

aquabat · July 2006

nexuscrawler wrote:

For more mainstream alternarock I've found i like Broken Social Scene and Belle and Sebastian quite a bit.

I really really hate B&S.
Really really.

However theres an awesome remix of I'm Cuckoo by the Avalanches thats gotta be one of my favourite songs ever. Never understimate the power of the Avalanches

Podly · July 2006

Lately, I've been listening to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, The Arcade Fire, and Wolf Parade.

YosemiteSam · July 2006

aquabat wrote:

I really really hate B&S.
Really really.

As for me, I've been listening to a lot from these bands called Blink 182 and Green Day. You guys should check them out if you haven't heard of them, they're way hardXcore.

The Green Eyed Monster · July 2006

I figured it's indie rock, but then that's a stupid genre tag, too, but either way I'm still loving the hell out of the Constantines. I guess that's all I really have to add now.

Oh -- Hot Chip is grand, too. They're like synthy electropop. Both of these artists have myspace pages with free music, but I'm too lazy to link to them right now.

Oh -- and I also hate the shit out of Belle and Sebastien, but I've also heard the Avalanches remix and I'm a little mad to admit that it is indeed good. Like Aqua said, this is obviously attributable to the Avalanches and not Belle and Sebastien.

Haphazard · July 2006

Bear with me, but I really donÂ´t know if they count as "Alternative Music" but I think IÂ´ll throw in "The Arctic Monkeys", Maximo Park" and "The Kaiser Chiefs".
IÂ´m loving the hell out of them right now.
:^:

The Green Eyed Monster · July 2006

Haphazard wrote:

Bear with me, but I really donÂ´t know if they count as "Alternative Music" but I think IÂ´ll throw in "The Arctic Monkeys", Maximo Park" and "The Kaiser Chiefs".
IÂ´m loving the hell out of them right now.
:^:

I've listened to The Arctic Monkeys and I didn't get what was so exciting about them. Then again, it was in the middle of this huge run on listening to every indie rock band whose name I saw get dropped, so that might have worked against them.

Haphazard · July 2006

celery77 wrote:

Haphazard wrote:

Bear with me, but I really donÂ´t know if they count as "Alternative Music" but I think IÂ´ll throw in "The Arctic Monkeys", Maximo Park" and "The Kaiser Chiefs".
IÂ´m loving the hell out of them right now.
:^:

I've listened to The Arctic Monkeys and I didn't get what was so exciting about them. Then again, it was in the middle of this huge run on listening to every indie rock band whose name I saw get dropped, so that might have worked against them.

Their music is simple fun, thatÂ´s why I like it. But not everyone has the same taste (thank god).
So... do they count?

Podly · July 2006

The first movement of Beethoven's 10th String Quartet, op. 74.

Beethoven was pretty indie, I guess.

Not really, but I almost jizz every time I listen to it. It's perfect.

Errr.....carry on.

The Green Eyed Monster · July 2006

Haphazard wrote:

celery77 wrote:

I've listened to The Arctic Monkeys and I didn't get what was so exciting about them. Then again, it was in the middle of this huge run on listening to every indie rock band whose name I saw get dropped, so that might have worked against them.

Their music is simple fun, thatÂ´s why I like it. But not everyone has the same taste (thank god).
So... do they count?

Yeah, they're more or less what alt-rock has become in this day and age. They're rocking, no doubt, but I dunno, it just doesn't particularly catch my attention.

Then again, I never really got on the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! bandwagon after I heard that album 2 or 3 times either.

Podly · July 2006

I think CYHSY! is rad.

Gim · July 2006

Opinions on Rilo Kiley? I remember liking what I'd heard of them before. And hey, it has one of the kids from Salute Your Shorts.

gundam470 · July 2006

Poldy wrote:

Lately, I've been listening to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, The Arcade Fire, and Wolf Parade.

Fuck yeah to the first two (haven't heard any Wolf Parade) and also the New Pornographers.

Arcade Fire's album, Funeral, is way too kick ass. Anybody who was considering listening to them must get this album immediately

nexuscrawler · July 2006

New Pornographers

flamebroiledchicken · July 2006

I went to the Siren Music Festival last weekend. Turns out Man Man kick fucking ass. Stars are good too. And Art Brut are pretty fun.

Lobster Johnson · July 2006

"alternative rock"

I haven't heard that term used since 1997.

Such a stupid fucking term.

"Alternative rock". It's been a useless misnomer since the early 90s. If a band is calling themselves that, or is being called it by anyone, safe money is not on them being "alternative" at all, if such a thing even exists.

The music industry has bored so deeply into the medium I doubt there's many truly "alternative" acts or genres left.

Food · July 2006

If you like underground rock at all, you have to listen to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. It's amazing, and their contemporaries like Olivia Tremor Control and Apples in Stereo were also really great as well. As for newer stuff, I've been listening to The Microphones, Man Man, Architecture in Helsinki, Islands, and of course a little more well known stuff like The Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Sufjan Stevens, Broken Social Scene etc. In my opinion anyone who thinks modern music is bad just isn't looking hard enough.

Lobster Johnson wrote:

The music industry has bored so deeply into the medium I doubt there's many truly "alternative" acts or genres left.

Especially stuff like that. That's just not true at all.

Kusuguttai · July 2006

Lobster Johnson wrote:

"alternative rock"

I haven't heard that term used since 1997.

Such a stupid fucking term.

"Alternative rock". It's been a useless misnomer since the early 90s. If a band is calling themselves that, or is being called it by anyone, safe money is not on them being "alternative" at all, if such a thing even exists.

The music industry has bored so deeply into the medium I doubt there's many truly "alternative" acts or genres left.

what crawled up your ass and died? Alternative Rock is anything that's not just plain Rock, I.E., the Eagles, The Who, etc.

Lobster Johnson · July 2006

Food wrote:

If you like underground rock at all, you have to listen to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. It's amazing, and their contemporaries like Olivia Tremor Control and Apples in Stereo were also really great as well. As for newer stuff, I've been listening to The Microphones, Man Man, Architecture in Helsinki, Islands, and of course a little more well known stuff like The Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Sufjan Stevens, Broken Social Scene etc. In my opinion anyone who thinks modern music is bad just isn't looking hard enough.

Lobster Johnson wrote:

The music industry has bored so deeply into the medium I doubt there's many truly "alternative" acts or genres left.

Especially stuff like that. That's just not true at all.

Oh, I'm not saying modern music is bad. You can't encapsulate all of music into a time period and rate it, that's preposterous.

But to say something is an alternative? An alternative to what? All that was once "alternative" is now just as mainstream as pop, which makes it...well, not alternative. There are bands that are lesser known than other bands, but not really part of an "alternative" genre.

Martman · July 2006

Would The Unicorns and Islands count? I think they would.

Also most of the stuff other people have been saying.

EDIT:

Lobster Johnson wrote:

Oh, I'm not saying modern music is bad. You can't encapsulate all of music into a time period and rate it, that's preposterous.

But to say something is an alternative? An alternative to what? All that was once "alternative" is now just as mainstream as pop, which makes it...well, not alternative. There are bands that are lesser known than other bands, but not really part of an "alternative" genre.

The way I think of it is, "alternative" was used to describe a certain kind of music a while ago. Whether or not that kind of music has become more mainstream now, it would be very confusing to change the names of all these genres depending on their popularity. So instead we refer to things as alternative rock when they sound similar to the rock that really was "alternative" a decade ago.

The Green Eyed Monster · July 2006

Lobster Johnson wrote:

But to say something is an alternative? An alternative to what? All that was once "alternative" is now just as mainstream as pop, which makes it...well, not alternative. There are bands that are lesser known than other bands, but not really part of an "alternative" genre.

It's just a name for a genre, not necessarily a literal description of the music's place in the mainstream v. underground landscape. Literary critics from the 1920s are still called New Critics, despite the fact that there have been a considerable number of critical approaches which have been tried out since their time.

Basically it's just a name, man, not a literal description.

Lobster Johnson · July 2006

celery77 wrote:

Lobster Johnson wrote:

But to say something is an alternative? An alternative to what? All that was once "alternative" is now just as mainstream as pop, which makes it...well, not alternative. There are bands that are lesser known than other bands, but not really part of an "alternative" genre.

It's just a name for a genre, not necessarily a literal description of the music's place in the mainstream v. underground landscape. Literary critics from the 1920s are still called New Critics, despite the fact that there have been a considerable number of critical approaches which have been tried out since their time.

Basically it's just a name, man, not a literal description.

Oh, I know that

It's just such a stupid name. I dunno why, it just really pisses me off. Probably because even though it is just a name, that whole underground vs mainstream is right there under the surface, from the reason it's "name" is alternative to the reason a whole bunch of 14 year-old kids still cling to the term like it's a badge of honour or something.

I dunno.

[/end rant]

strakha_7 · July 2006

mm well, first of all, it's Bloc party, not Block

And they are awesome-amazing fantastic. It's a great album I think, though I haven't heard the cover you are talking about there.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah I am really digging, and anyone who has only heard new Broken Social Scene should check out their "You Forgot it in People" disc.

The original reason I came to the forum tonight was to find a topic to post this piece of news, and I think here is the right place to put it. If there were any fans of Kasabian's debut, their single is getting played on a local radio station tonight around 12-1230 EST (about 1-1.5 hours from now). I only heard this news a few minutes ago. This will be your first chance to hear it (regardless of where you live, EU, NA, NZ) and I know I won't be missing it. www.edge.ca, listen live for its broadcast (no ad's either for the next two hours).

The Arctic Monkeys take a few listens to get into. In the first place they are British, so if you arne't British the lyrics will be nonsense for a long time to you unless you have many Brit friends that don't mind translating, as it were, for you. In the second, they are all about the blistering beats. And I like that.

I'm not sure if Whitey would qualify as Alternative - but I'm digging them too.

On the topic of Alternative music in general - to me, it has meant the kind of music that wasn't generally heard on most radio stations. This applied up until the Grunge explosion (in North American music culture anyways) and now there is no alternative except totally off-the-wall experimental music. I wouldn't rush to name any music that I listen to Alternative. If you must label any kind of music, there is usually at least one other word you could use to describe a song you might call "alternative." Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, for example, I would call "New Wave" or "Byrne-like." :P

aquabat · July 2006

Lobster Johnson wrote:

celery77 wrote:

Lobster Johnson wrote:

But to say something is an alternative? An alternative to what? All that was once "alternative" is now just as mainstream as pop, which makes it...well, not alternative. There are bands that are lesser known than other bands, but not really part of an "alternative" genre.

It's just a name for a genre, not necessarily a literal description of the music's place in the mainstream v. underground landscape. Literary critics from the 1920s are still called New Critics, despite the fact that there have been a considerable number of critical approaches which have been tried out since their time.

Basically it's just a name, man, not a literal description.

Oh, I know that

It's just such a stupid name. I dunno why, it just really pisses me off. Probably because even though it is just a name, that whole underground vs mainstream is right there under the surface, from the reason it's "name" is alternative to the reason a whole bunch of 14 year-old kids still cling to the term like it's a badge of honour or something.

I dunno.

[/end rant]

I had the same misgivings coming up with the title, but it was the only thing that, when read, people knew what was going on. The term 'alternative' doesnt really annoy me, but fucking 'grunge' does. I know a guy who still calls anything with a guitar 'grunge'

And fuck, anything really goes in this thread. Anything thats not Hip Hop or Classical or Dance really.

stilist · July 2006

aquabat wrote:

And fuck, anything really goes in this thread. Anything thats not Hip Hop or Classical or Dance really.

Adge Cutler and the Wurzels?

aquabat · July 2006

stilist wrote:

aquabat wrote:

And fuck, anything really goes in this thread. Anything thats not Hip Hop or Classical or Dance really.

Adge Cutler and the Wurzels?

Oh look, why not?

Food · July 2006

Lobster Johnson wrote:

Food wrote:

If you like underground rock at all, you have to listen to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. It's amazing, and their contemporaries like Olivia Tremor Control and Apples in Stereo were also really great as well. As for newer stuff, I've been listening to The Microphones, Man Man, Architecture in Helsinki, Islands, and of course a little more well known stuff like The Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Sufjan Stevens, Broken Social Scene etc. In my opinion anyone who thinks modern music is bad just isn't looking hard enough.

Lobster Johnson wrote:

The music industry has bored so deeply into the medium I doubt there's many truly "alternative" acts or genres left.

Especially stuff like that. That's just not true at all.

Oh, I'm not saying modern music is bad. You can't encapsulate all of music into a time period and rate it, that's preposterous.

But to say something is an alternative? An alternative to what? All that was once "alternative" is now just as mainstream as pop, which makes it...well, not alternative. There are bands that are lesser known than other bands, but not really part of an "alternative" genre.

I wouldn't really say that... I mean, the term alternative didn't really come into use until the 80's and even then the music it encapsulated wasn't really all that different from what was popular. I mean, it's all rock and roll, it's not like it diverges that much. I guess what I'm saying is that there never really was an alternative genre. Actually I'd say the term 'alternative' is even more meaningful now than it was 10 years ago. With news of new underground music spreading so rapidly on the internet, the divide between the mainstream and everything else has become even wider. I mean, there are people like Sufjan Stevens and The Arcade Fire who are extremely well-known and yet can never be heard on mainstream radio. To me, that is alternative.

Goumindong · July 2006

celery77 wrote:

Haphazard wrote:

Bear with me, but I really donÂ´t know if they count as "Alternative Music" but I think IÂ´ll throw in "The Arctic Monkeys", Maximo Park" and "The Kaiser Chiefs".
IÂ´m loving the hell out of them right now.
:^:

I've listened to The Arctic Monkeys and I didn't get what was so exciting about them. Then again, it was in the middle of this huge run on listening to every indie rock band whose name I saw get dropped, so that might have worked against them.

Them and the Kaiser Chiefs just dont do it for me either, the monkeys are easier to listen to, but its the same damn thing and it isnt changing.

As for the label "alternative". None of these bands really fit the "alternative label", which really was an early 90's pop label that went along with grunge(if i recall right).

But if you like indy music, check out www.kexp.org, because its fantastic, free, plays just about everything mentioned here in this thread and more, and has 2 awesome(and 1 medicore) podcasts and a live broadcast archive that is fantastic.

And to end with a question. Do "The Dears" count as alternative?

aquabat · July 2006

Seriously, guys... fucking who cares about the label. Just discuss guitarry based music thats not Metal, Classic or Dance

Sam · July 2006

Mogwai is the shit.
This isn't going to become a megathread is it?

Seriously, guys... fucking who cares about the label. Just discuss guitarry based music thats not Metal, Classic or Dance

Mogwai is the shit. I always had their albums on the iPod, but seeing them live made me a bonafide fan.
I like their quieter, meditative tracks a lot more than the noise blasts, but that might be because I mostly listen to music on In Ear Monitor earphones and the soft LOUD dynamic isn't nearly as hard hitting as it is live.

thorpe · July 2006

Does Sigur-Ros count? Because I have been listening to a lot of them.

The Green Eyed Monster · July 2006

thorpe wrote:

Does Sigur-Ros count? Because I have been listening to a lot of them.

If a post-rock fan doesn't make a post-rock thread soon, I might do it for them, but they won't like what I have to say.

Just sayin' I'd prefer not to talk about Mogwai and Sigur Ros and The Mars Volta and Muse and all those others that I am personally not so hot on all the time but that there are TONS of fans of on this board.

(Although I like Sigur Ros, they're just too sleepy for me to listen to all the time)

Feral · July 2006

Sigur Ros definitely counts as far as I'm concerned though others might disagree. And they're awesome.
Oh, aqua, I agree that Avalanches are also awesome. They're like awesome injectors, taking other music and injecting loads of awesome and throwing it in a blender and producing a big milkshake of awesome.

Low Key · July 2006

I like basically everyone in this lineup

Or I would do if I'd been able to get tickets. As it is ,they all suck and I hope a tidal wave hits Byron Bay tomorrow.

The Cat · July 2006

Low Key wrote:

I like basically everyone in this lineup

Or I would do if I'd been able to get tickets. As it is ,they all suck and I hope a tidal wave hits Byron Bay tomorrow.

No-one mortal, or not shagging either Myf Warhurst or Robbie Buck can get tickets to that thing anymore.

The Cat · July 2006

also, OH HOLY CHRIST I HATE HATE HATE WOLFMOTHER AND THEIR LAME ATTEMPTS TO BE LED ZEPPELIN DIIIIIEEEEE

kitch · July 2006

I think You'd Prefer An Astronaut was the pinnacle of alternative music.

also

The Cat wrote:

also, OH HOLY CHRIST I HATE HATE HATE WOLFMOTHER AND THEIR LAME ATTEMPTS TO BE LED ZEPPELIN DIIIIIEEEEE

:^:

Xaquin · July 2006

I can dig some Thrush Hermit

Penny Arcade

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