Recommend me some new music

Slint - NO.

Grimes - Meh, it's like a less good MO or Lorde to me. I don't like the way she sings.

WRATHCHILD AMERICA?!!?!?!?!

Now THAT is a band I'd thought I'd never see referenced! Before you one-up me like that again, let me go ahead and just mention Laaz Rockit, Toranaga, Annhilator, Kryst the Conqueror, Forced Entry, Vio-Lence and Sacred Reich.

The Fall...yeah, I'd definitely say start with "This Nation's Saving Grace", but here is a rough listening order that I'd recommend:

1) This Nation's Saving Grace- Usually deemed their best by most folks
2) The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)- a 2003 record, but one of their absolute best and quite possibly my favorite Fall LP.
3) Totally Wired- The Rough Trade Anthology- A great overview of the earlier material- lots of crucial tracks, this was really the record that got me SERIOUSLY into The Fall.
4) The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall- 1984 record that has the same MES/Brix lineup that did This Nation's, more poppy and accessible.
5) Hex Enduction Hour- One of their more difficult records, but also one of the most interesting.
6) The Unutterable- 2000 LP worth including if only for "Two Librans", "Cyber Insekt" and "Dr. Buck's Letter".
7) Bend Sinister- More MES/Brix- includes "Mr. Pharamacist", one of the essential Fall tracks.
8) The Frenz Experiment- Awesome late-1980s record with their "hit single", Hit the North. A few of my favorite tracks are on this record- "Athlete Cured", "Guest Informant", and so on.
9) Fall Heads Roll- Another more recent record, "Blindness" is incredible.
10) Live at the Witch Trials- Their first LP, very scrappy and punky, "Rebellious Jukebox" is my favorite track here.

That will get you started...there's WAY more, including tons of B-sides, live stuff, collections and so forth but those are some of the best records. "The Marshall Suite" isn't on there, I would have slated that over "The Unutterable". Really, if you like one Fall LP, you'll probably like all of them.

Rocking Cold Cave right now. Sounds a lot like Interpol, Joy Division, that sort of thing. I like it.

Orange Juice and Wilko Johnson queued up next.

Barnes, I will give The Fall another chance. Maybe I'll go right to #2 in your list.

Vio-Lence! Eternal Nightmare is disgustingly good. I thought we weren't talking Metal anymore?

What about Sodom (Agent Orange), early Destruction, Drunkard, Heathen, Rigor Mortis (has members of GWAR), Sauron, Whiplash?



Barnes - another random Black Metal band that is obscure and weird as shit - Elephant (USA). You should check them out, would love to hear your thoughts. Kind of Black Metal with NWOBHM influences...kind of.

charlest wrote: Vio-Lence! Eternal Nightmare is disgustingly good. I thought we weren't talking Metal anymore?

Not talking about metal is always a mistake.

I'm pretty sure I saw Vio-Lence (yay hyphens) open up for Testament in 1988. In Oakland, CA, at the Omni.

Also, the Rentals (I had no idea they were still a thing) put out a new album this year, and it is excellent.

I normally don't feel very qualified to participate in music discussions here, since the most obscure bands I listen to are about the level of Spoon or the Decemberists. I've heard of maybe 20% of the bands mentioned in this thread.

But I do want to just mention that for me it's been rewarding to hit some high watermarks that had passed me by due to not really getting into much until I was in college, and not having ready access to stuff without piracy. Spotify allowed me to get around to some genuinely major stuff that I had never listened to before outside of big songs. Just as an example, I got into Springsteen for the first time this year. I don't know how I made it to my 30s without ever listening to "Born To Run" all the way through, but I'm glad I got there. I had also never gotten into anything by Bob Mould (I think someone mentioned him), and I discovered that I really like Sugar, but haven't yet developed a taste for Husker Du.

So yeah, a lot of obscure stuff here, which is great. But we all have major gaps in our musical history that we don't like to admit, so I like filling those gaps as well.

Orange Juice - Meh, not really my bag. I found it quite boring.

Cold Cave was solid.

Wilko Johnson is definitely fun drinking music. Daltrey actually sounds really good on this album.

On the other hand, I've recently discovered that I like Judas Priest. Great music for running. I've listened to British Steel and some other greatest hits album. Any other Priest albums you really like?

Screaming For Vengeance and Painkiller. Both exceptional (Screaming for Vengeance perhaps more so).

Thanks, Charles! BTW, nice review on Sons of Anarchy.

I stumbled on something here. What really matters to me is lyrics. I need to connect on some level with the singer's message. Not sure how to describe that, but here's the best I can do:

Thirsty's suggestion of Wilko Johnson is fine music. I would love to get drunk and party to that band. But it doesn't connect with me. So while it's fine for a purpose, I don't love it when I'm really *listening*. Same with Priest. I love it for running, but it's not great when I need to connect.

I hope that makes some kind of sense. You guys are giving me some great options and I'm super grateful, even if I don't like it all. There's so much music. I want to experience as much as I can.

I already mentioned Sugar, and if you never got into them both of their albums ("Copper Blue" and "File Under: Easy Listening") are really good. I go back and forth on which one I like more, but I think I would give Copper Blue the slight edge.

Billy Bragg 'Worker's Playtime' FTW

Trust me on this one, lyrics are melted awesomeness with great melodies. I used to listen to this non stop in the 80s particularly when I had *coff* girl problems. Really, really good.

I actually think that Beaster is Sugar's best album, though it's more like an EP.

For me, the best Priest album is Unleashed in the East. The weak production of their early albums really shows, since the live versions are raw and awesome.

Victim of Changes is one of my favorite songs of all time, but the album itself (Sad Wings of Destiny?) may not be great. I tend to like early priest over later priest, in general.

Early Accept (pre Balls to the Wall) sounds a lot like Judas Priest, by the way.

Edit:

I just fired up the "Unleashed" version of Victim of Changes and got chills. That never happens to me anymore.

Sorry to inflict this on everyone, but here goes:



I'm also pretty sure that Rob Halford just blew one of my laptop speakers. Well played, Rob. Well played.

Oh come on now, Accept's best song is "Fast as a Shark".

You want lyrics? Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Or The Birthday Party. Or just Nick Cave. Or Grinderman. I think he's the best lyricist of our time. "Murder takes the wheel of the Cadillac and Death climbs in the back". You can't really go wrong with any of it and there's a good "best of" out there that covers the must-listens for the most part.

Why are we acting like British Steel is not the best Priest record?

Michael Barnes wrote: Why are we acting like British Steel is not the best Priest record?

Because it's not.