Funky Musical Genres and taste in music in general.

[Henke]

I'm a person who listens to almost everything when it comes to music. Of course I have my dislikes. I dislike most of the modern, mainstream pop-music, like Britney Spears- chewing-gum pop, boy band pop and so on. I dislike lots of country music and Swedish dance band music which closely resembles the country music I dislike, and so on. But other than that I have my likes and dislikes in every genre. I listen to everything from really heavy progressive rock music like System of a Down to Classical music.
I like Rock'n'Roll (like The Strokes),
Punk (Ramones, The Clash etc),
Reggae (Bob Marley stuff),
Ska (USCB Allstars, Desmon Decker),
some Jazz (Pat Metheny, Miles Davis),
some Hip Hop (not the standard Eminem sh*t, more like Roots with lots of instrumental stuff),
Trance (Infected Mushroom, Shiva Shidapu),
Skate and Collage Punk (Bloodhound Gang, Blink 182, Millencolin),
R&B (both old timey and the new sub-genres that include Black Eyed Peas and that sort of stuff),
Soul (same here, both old and new, like Alicia Keys),
different kinds of trubadour stuff,
most sub-genres of Rock,
and of course Folk Music (everything from IrTrad to Bluegrass and Cajun to African, Asian, South American and East-European stuff).
And lots, lots more.
What I listen to at any given moment has to do with my mood at that time, but most of the time I want to listen to different stuff, so I have playing lists with all kinds of music set to play random songs on that list.

I feel sorry for anyone who's just listening to one or two types of music and dismiss everything else. They are missing out on so much, and I feel like there can be no development of that part of the mind if one always listens to the same stuff.

I feel like my music ear is always evolving and becoming more advanced. I now love music that I couldn't stand 4 or 5 years ago. I think that has to do with development of the taste. Sort of like drinking fine whiskys, smoking cigarrs and appreciating tasty cheese.

Now this thread is not for bragging about my advanced taste in music. Lately, I have discovered a new style of music which I have started to love very much. It's not very advanced or progressive musically, but it sounds very different from everything we're accustomed to here in the western world. This is pop music from other cultures, which sounds very strange to our ears. A good example is Glukoza Nostra, a Russian girl who does excellent music. I have also discovered some Japanese stuff, and also a band from Sweden called Sirqus Alfon that does really funked out covers of old pop hits.

Take a look at Glukoza Nostra's website or download this music video or this clip from a live show and tell me what you think about this music. Am I the only westerner who loves this sort of stuff?

I'd love to know some about all the funky music you guys might be listening to. There is bound to be some people here that listen to other stuff than what I included in my list of music I listen to above.

[peeplj]

I listen to filk quite a bit, favorite artists there are Tom Smith ( http://www.tomsmithonline.com/main1.htm ), Three Weird Sisters ( http://www.threeweirdsisters.com/ ) and Urban Tapestry ( http://www.electricpenguin.com/urbantapestry/ ).

I am pretty eclectic; I was listening to a recording of Japanese folks melodies as I drove in to work this morning, played on flute and 3 kotos. Nice stuff!

About the only two genres of music I cannot stand are rap and opera.

--James

[GaryKelly]

Entertaining video

[Tyler]

Henke, it's great to see that you're so diverse in your taste! It's also great to see someone else with a lot of the same tastes as myself!

I grew up during the punk, ("old school," for those who did their growing up in the 90s), 2Tone Ska movements, and grew up with a lot of stuff people now are considering "classic rock" (lawdy, but stuff I grew up hearing in the early to mid 80s is playin' on the oldies station around here!! ) and they influence my taste quite a bit.
in case anyone was interested, my cousin is the trombonist for Insatiable, one of the bands credited for helping to usher in the 3rd Wave indie ska movement locally.
Since my yongest sibling is still in high school and has been getting into the so-called 4th Wave incarnation of the form, I've been kindof rediscovering my roots as far as ska and skapunk. {{funny story, get this, my kid sister comes to me about a month ago and, knowing my musical taste to be quite eclectic, says "Hey, there's this new thing out now that I think you might like, it's called Ska....." I just about died laughing!}}}

edited to add....

had a hard time finding which url was active, but here's Insatiable's web site.
in the pic in the top right hand corner, my cuz is third from the left.

[Ro3b]

Still on my steady diet of 50s jazz, heavy metal, and electronic music. Lately I've been wearing out my copy of Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works II; it's incredibly beautiful and disturbing. Also Mastodon's Leviathan, which is just disturbing.

[flanum]

Still on my steady diet of 50s jazz, heavy metal, and electronic music. Lately I've been wearing out my copy of Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works II; it's incredibly beautiful and disturbing. Also Mastodon's Leviathan, which is just disturbing.

And Aphex Twin isnt disturbing?

[jsluder]

I'd love to know some about all the funky music you guys might be listening to. There is bound to be some people here that listen to other stuff than what I included in my list of music I listen to above.

"Contemporary" a cappella, such as: The Bobs, Rockapella, M-pact, The Coats, The Real Group, etc..

Love that vocal harmony.

[fearfaoin]

"Contemporary" a cappella

Heck yeah! I can't believe DaVinci's Notebook broke up before I
could see "Title of the Song" done live...

Some of the guys in a local college acapella group do an acapella
radio show on the college station... it's awesome!

[eric reiswig]

Am I the only westerner who loves this sort of stuff?

Gluk'oza has been my new favourite artist since the moment i first heard her last fall. Somehow her stuff is like everything you've heard before, and at the same time like nothing you've heard before.

At the time, i had to hunt far & wide for her 2 CD's (found "Mockba" on eBay, had to order "Nostra" from Russia!) and since then they're rarely far from my CD player.

Excellent choice!

[Henke]

Interesting stuff.

Tyler, I think I remember hearing something about you being into ska before, or maybe I'm just mixing it up. Great stuff anyway.
Swedens leading ska band at the moment is playing my local club tomorrow night. It'll be great. I've seen them three times before and they are always a gas.
Check them out
USCB Allstars
There's a downloadable single from their latest album there. I don't think it's as good as most stuff from the previous albums though. They have songs with all kinds of flavours and I enjoy the faster stuff, I think they do that best. I could send you a few of my favorite songs sometime if you'd like.

eric r, I thought I'd be the only one here. Great to hear there's someone else who loves her music. I haven't got her cd's yet but they're on the shopping list. I've just whatched the videos and downloaded the remixes and stuff. The first few times through a song it sounds just a tad weird, but I'm usually into weird stuff, but after that I just can't stop listening.
Wonderful stuff.

[Tyler]

Henke,
Go ahead and shoot me off some tracks, I'm always in the mood for new stuff!
Thanks!

[Chiffed]

I'd love to know some about all the funky music you guys might be listening to. There is bound to be some people here that listen to other stuff than what I included in my list of music I listen to above.

"Contemporary" a cappella, such as: The Bobs, Rockapella, M-pact, The Coats, The Real Group, etc..

Love that vocal harmony.

The Real Group stayed with a friend of mine while on a BC tour - great people. They seem to have a deep understanding of folk styles as well as jazz. I'm using their version of Splanky to illustrate Basie-phrasing to one of my groups.

Rockapella toured here a few years back. Their cover of Message In A Bottle was astounding - cool bassline, and the tenor part requires vise-grips. It showed me why Sting tunes aren't often covered.

Edit: Has anyone heard of the Bill Hilly Band (The Bills)? Really fun thoroughly fused folk, with blinding flat-picking.

[burnsbyrne]

I tend to like latin types, that's why I married my wife.

I listen a lot to flamenco, fado, Afro-Cuban. I also like gypsy jazz, like Birelli Lagrene

in addition to Ir Trad, blue grass, old time, blues. I haven't listened to any "rock" music since about 1972. Anyone for Aqualung?
Mike