Greetings

I'm in search of some good new music, from any genre. I admit that I'm a prisoner of the 60's, 70's and parts of the 80's for the most part, but that's because I find that music to be the most soulful, heartfelt and creative/original.

I understand that most pop/rock music today is derivative, but that doesn't mean it has to be lifeless. And please, I am not saying any of this to be combative, it's just my general sense of a passionless industry.

To get a sense of where I'm coming from, I believe Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield and Paul Simon are the three greatest "pop rock" songwriters to grace this planet. It's hard to create a relatively simple song that is memorable, and Smokey literally has hundreds. And when it comes to unique chords, time signatures, beautiful arrangements and heartfelt lyrics, I think Curtis and Paul have a slight edge over a very talented field of songwriters. The laundry list of people I listen to/love/respect after that is crazy long, (many are from Motown). And of course, the man who this org is dedicated to is right at the top of that list. But that list is also diverse enough to include music ranging from Bowie, Costello, Sam Cooke, The Band, Willie Nelson, Joni Mitchell and James Brown, just to name a few.

I know my definition of new is going to be laughable to some, but considering I'm in my late 30's and a prisoner to old music, cut me some slack O.K. (insert smiley face here)

Since the 90's I can think of VERY few bands/musicians who have piqued my interest at any level. Here's my list:

D'Angelo, Jeff Buckley, Alicia Keys, Seal, Pete Yorn, Adele

(I have also heard some stuff from Corrine Bailey Rae, Eric Hutchinson and Outkast that I found moderately interesting, but couldn't quite fully embrace).

I know this will probably be considered heresy here, but the easiest target someone could recommend is Maxwell, especially because he just put out a new album. But he just doesn't do it for me.

As a last thought, again, I'm not looking to debate/argue with anyone over the musical merits of yesterday and today. I just personally don't think many of today's musicians have carried the torch from yesterday's songwriters very well. I'm sure many will read this and say, "Hey man, get out out of the stone age". I guess all I can say is, I'm trying to, but I'm finding it very hard.

Please share some ideas as I'm always looking for new music.

Thanks

Wow did this die on the vine.

No one has anything to recommend?

there are literally like 3 or 4 threads currently where people are sharing what music they like this year, what they're listening to, etc., often with youtube videos embedded, so check those first.

New Music right now, go for

a-Ha "Foot of the Mountain" its an import only from Europe, album of 2009
Stefani Vara "Storybook Diaries" great 80's feel to alot of it, cool girl too, digital only at Itunes

ANJULIE- great record just out loving the shit out of it, people compare her to M.I.A but she is light years better and deeper an artist.
[Edited 8/13/09 17:01pm]

...

In addition to the people you named, I would recommend Lewis Taylor. He's one of the few people in the last decade or so that really made my jaw drop. Though he seems to be in early retirement(I Guess), the multi-instrumentalist composer had an ever widening and diverse audience of fans and supporters, including well-known artists like:

Chaka Khan,
Elton John,
David Bowie,
D'Angelo,
Daryl Hall,
Leon Ware,
Paul Weller,
Aaliyah,
Timbaland,
Todd Rundgren
Eric Roberson
N.E.R.D.
JayDee(Dilla)
Questlove
Jools Holland
Hamish Stuart
Moby

Etc....and IMO , he's got the talent and range to be compared to all of the above.....his music covers the same kind of varied stylistic ground: Funk, Pop, Psychedelia, Progressive Rock, Philly Soul, Electronica--you name it...Over the years he's been compared to everyone from Marvin Gaye to Brian Wilson, to Syd Barrett..

He once said, "I see nothing wrong with walking into a record store and coming out with Miles, Kiss, Sam Cooke, and The Sound Of Music Soundtrack, all at the same time...."

True to form, in addition to his own work, he's covered songs by Jeff Buckley, Funkadelic, Yes, Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, The Bee Gees , Deep Purple, King Crimson, The Stylistics, Edgar Winter, and even Captain Beefheart....

I could go on, but check out this post on the Undercover Black Man blog, http://undercoverblackman...aylor.html...Google some of his stuff --and as far as albums , Check out "Stoned", "Lewis II", and "Lewis Taylor", then move from there....

(Unfortunately, all of his youtube clips are gone, or I'd post 'em here...)



















...
[Edited 8/14/09 8:04am]

Little Boots

bump.

I heart Seal, one of my favorite song writers. have you listened to Andre 3000 "The Love Below" album? Really good album. Ani DiFranco, if your into folk type music bt she can get funky. (She did a cover of "When Doves Cry" live that was nice). Me'Shell Ndegeocello. My favorite band is The mars Volta. They are pretty out there though. A mix of experimental, rock, salsa, odd-time signatures, falseto singing but I think they are one of the best bands out there. The lyrics take a while to understand and at times you may never but the music and the lyrics are top notch. I remember I bout their album "Frances the Mute" in 05 and last year I still heard things I never heard before. Omar, the music maker/guitarist does a lot of detail. i can talk about them all day so I'll stop. If you like rock that isn't so out there, Circa Survive is awesome. Hope I have helped. Any time you wanna talk music I'm down. I love older music. I was just knocking The Spinners in my car the other day. I love "Rubberband Man"!!

It sounds like you appreciate those who can write lyrics well. ...I would highly recommend Goapele and Van Hunt.

Van's "Seconds of Pleasure" is fantastic. Goapele's best tunes IMO are "4 am", "Closer", & "Crushed Out".

Thanks for the suggestions. There are a number of artists here I've never heard of before. I also received a recomendation for India Arie, who I've never really checked out before so I'll have to give her a gander.

I'll be making some new purchases this weekend.

Donny Hathaway is a must if you're not familiar with his work. Stevie Wonder too.

I don't know too much of Donny's stuff so I'll sniff around on him.

I own everything Stevie's ever put out (except the 12 year old genius).

Everyone always talks about Prince's vault, and I have heard Stevie has one too. Given how little outtake material Stevie has ever put out over the years, (there were NO unreleased tracks on his 4 CD box set and none of his reissues include any bonus material) I find it hard to believe he's got that large a treasure trove of unreleased tracks.

Heck even Conversation Peace featured tracks he was performing live in the early 80's.

But I sure hope I'm wrong on that one. Like Prince, that's a vault I would pay a king's ransom to hear.

Cool. I would suggest starting off with one album of Donny's: "These Songs For You,Live!".

It will give you the best feel for who he was as an artist, then if you like that, you can buy his other stuff.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/...B000005S6W

Stevie also was a co-writer for a Donny song, "You Are My Heaven" with Robert Flack.

http://www.amazon.com/You...B00123K3JM