[kmcdonou]

Although I like a lot of genres, rock is one of my favorites. I like rock from all decades and styles:

Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Allman Brothers...
AC/DC, Van Halen...
Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains....
Tool, A Perfect Circle, Pink Floyd...
Slipknot, System of a Down, Mudvayne, Deftones....
Seether, Three Days Grace, Chevelle,
Black Crowes, North Mississippi Allstars....

I am particularly looking for some talented modern rock bands. Although I like albums from Three Days Grace, Chevelle, Seether, etc. I realize they are not that talented, or rather, they do not have a timeless quality about them. Nothing like Tool, Black Crowes, etc. I am not so snobbish I can't listen to music from less talented bands, but I really would like to get some more music from groups that are more creative, technically skilled, etc.

What would you recommend? I really would like some suggestions for groups/albums from the 1990s onward. Also, I don't want any metal bands. Although I can appreciate that Metallica is a talented group, I just can't get into metal very well.

 

[gratefulshrink]

I suggest you narrow your question much, much further. Even though you ask for "talented modern rock bands" and rule-out metal bands, I think people will just copy and paste their playlists for you. For me, hearing about hundreds of bands without any reference points would be difficult to deal with.

That said, FWIW, in the time frame you request, I like:

Yo La Tengo
Pavement
Sonic Youth
Neutral Milk Hotel
Stereolab
Beck
Radiohead
Spiritualized

...to name a few

 

[Alphamale]

Don't know if you like 'em, but The White Stripes is pretty damn awsome. Especially that Jack White...what a guy....

 

[kmcdonou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gratefulshrink /img/forum/go_quote.gif I suggest you narrow your question much, much further. Even though you ask for "talented modern rock bands" and rule-out metal bands, I think people will just copy and paste their playlists for you. For me, hearing about hundreds of bands without any reference points would be difficult to deal with. That said, FWIW, in the time frame you request, I like: Yo La Tengo Pavement Sonic Youth Neutral Milk Hotel Stereolab Beck Radiohead Spiritualized ...to name a few

Although I love Radiohead and have several albums, I want something harder. I don't think of Radiohead or Beck as rock. Very good music, but not rock in the sense of the bands I listed as examples above.

Do any of the groups you list above have a harder edge to them?

Quote:

Don't know if you like 'em, but The White Stripes is pretty damn awsome. Especially that Jack White...what a guy....

I do like the White Stripe and have one of their albums. Your reference reminds me I need to get another one by them.

 

[DrBenway]

I definately agree with Gratefulshrink about...


Sonic Youth. They are legends obviously, and their catalog is huge. A good place to start is Daydream Nation, which adroitly balances their avant-garde-freakout tendencies with slammin' rock n roll.

Yo La Tengo. Their new album, I Am Not Agraid of You and I Will Kick Your Ass is absolutely great. Everything from indy-guitar shred to sweet-soul influenced pop songs. Through umpteen albums and many personnel changes, the core duo of Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley have made a ton of great music.

Spiritualized. Jason Pierce's post-Spacemen3 band continues his obsessions with redemption, drugs and existential futility. Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space is a stone cold masterpiece. Pure Phase is nearly as good, and Royal Albert Hall, October 10, 1997 is the rare live album that adds to, rather than restates, an established band's legacy. Pierce combines heavy rock, gospel choirs, free Jazz elements, and an absolutely unique world view.

You might also like...

Deerhoof. Relentlessly experimental and all over the map, they are nevertheless grounded in smart, basic rock n roll. Their last two albums, The Runners Four and Friend Opportunity are both outstanding. Their earlier stuff is sometimes less accessable, but always interesting and often great.

Drive By Truckers. If you like the Allmans and Skynyrd, you will probably like these guys, too. Their latest, A Blessing and a Curse is a Southern rock blowout suffused with Southern melancholy and a wicked sense of humor. If you want to try before you buy, you will find a number of their live shows posted for free at archive.org, which is a clearinghouse for free, downloadable live shows posted by amateur tapers. Everything is available in lossless format, so SQ is often excellent (depending, of course on whether the taper involved had good equipment and knew what he was doing).

My Chemical Romance. Didn't really "get" these guys (I'm 46, O.K.?) until last year's The Black Parade. Less obviously emo than their earlier stuff, this album has the heft and sweep (and the guitars!) of classic rock, but filtered through a post punk sensibility. A really good record.

Robyn Hitchcck. Your basic demented English songwriter, formerly of the cult favorites, The Soft Boys. Very quirky, but penetratingly intelligent and very definately a rocker. His latest, Ole! Terantula features quitar support from Pete Buck of REM.

Guided By Voices. LoFi standard bearers; mention their name to a true believer and watch his eyes glaze over. I just bought Bee Thousand, their agreed-upon masterpiece, and frankly it hasn't sunk in yet. But people I respect love, as in LOVE, this band.

The Hold Steady. One of the better bands to come out of Brooklyn lately. Tight, hard riffing bar-band rock, with the additional perk of smart, insightful lyrics. Boys and Girls in America is their latest, and made a lot of "Best of 2006" lists online and in the magazines.

Asobi Seksu. If you like My Bloody Valentine and other "Shoegaze" bands, you will flip over this. But it is far, far more than a genre exercise. Beautiful songs with soaring melodies that ride on top of sheets of absolutely beautiful guitar distortion. Lead singer Yuki Chikudate is US born and raised, but writes and sings both in Japanese and in English. If you still buy CDs, Citrus, their latest, is worth buying for the gorgeous artwork and packaging. And this is one you want to hear without compression -- tons of stuff going on in the mix and you want to hear all of it.

 

[kmcdonou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBenway /img/forum/go_quote.gif I definately agree with Gratefulshrink about... Sonic Youth. They are legends obviously, and their catalog is huge. A good place to start is Daydream Nation, which adroitly balances their avant-garde-freakout tendencies with slammin' rock n roll. Yo La Tengo. Their new album, I Am Not Agraid of You and I Will Kick Your Ass is absolutely great. Everything from indy-guitar shred to sweet-soul influenced pop songs. Through umpteen albums and many personnel changes, the core duo of Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley have made a ton of great music. Spiritualized. Jason Pierce's post-Spacemen3 band continues his obsessions with redemption, drugs and existential futility. Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space is a stone cold masterpiece. Pure Phase is nearly as good, and Royal Albert Hall, October 10, 1997 is the rare live album that adds to, rather than restates, an established band's legacy. Pierce combines heavy rock, gospel choirs, free Jazz elements, and an absolutely unique world view. You might also like... Deerhoof. Relentlessly experimental and all over the map, they are nevertheless grounded in smart, basic rock n roll. Their last two albums, The Runners Four and Friend Opportunity are both outstanding. Their earlier stuff is sometimes less accessable, but always interesting and often great. Drive By Truckers. If you like the Allmans and Skynyrd, you will probably like these guys, too. Their latest, A Blessing and a Curse is a Southern rock blowout suffused with Southern melancholy and a wicked sense of humor. If you want to try before you buy, you will find a number of their live shows posted for free at archive.org, which is a clearinghouse for free, downloadable live shows posted by amateur tapers. Everything is available in lossless format, so SQ is often excellent (depending, of course on whether the taper involved had good equipment and knew what he was doing). My Chemical Romance. Didn't really "get" these guys (I'm 46, O.K.?) until last year's The Black Parade. Less obviously emo than their earlier stuff, this album has the heft and sweep (and the guitars!) of classic rock, but filtered through a post punk sensibility. A really good record. Robyn Hitchcck. Your basic demented English songwriter, formerly of the cult favorites, The Soft Boys. Very quirky, but penetratingly intelligent and very definately a rocker. His latest, Ole! Terantula features quitar support from Pete Buck of REM. Guided By Voices. LoFi standard bearers; mention their name to a true believer and watch his eyes glaze over. I just bought Bee Thousand, their agreed-upon masterpiece, and frankly it hasn't sunk in yet. But people I respect love, as in LOVE, this band. The Hold Steady. One of the better bands to come out of Brooklyn lately. Tight, hard riffing bar-band rock, with the additional perk of smart, insightful lyrics. Boys and Girls in America is their latest, and made a lot of "Best of 2006" lists online and in the magazines. Asobi Seksu. If you like My Bloody Valentine and other "Shoegaze" bands, you will flip over this. But it is far, far more than a genre exercise. Beautiful songs with soaring melodies that ride on top of sheets of absolutely beautiful guitar distortion. Lead singer Yuki Chikudate is US born and raised, but writes and sings both in Japanese and in English. If you still buy CDs, Citrus, their latest, is worth buying for the gorgeous artwork and packaging. And this is one you want to hear without compression -- tons of stuff going on in the mix and you want to hear all of it.

I just got Southern Rock Opera by Drive-by Truckers and like it. The Hold Steady sounds good too (I tried some sample tracks on allmusic.com). I also was planning to get My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade.

However, I am looking for something harder than all of these. More of a edge, usually with anger or intensity driving the lyrics and the overall sound of the music. Very prominent guitars. Can also be dark, but not required. Think Tool, Seether, A Perfect Circle, Chevelle etc.

The other types of bands I am looking for are ones with a rock blues sound. Think Black Crowes or Led Zeppelin. Groups that are influenced by the blues but rock hard.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmcdonou /img/forum/go_quote.gif The other types of bands I am looking for are ones with a rock blues sound. Think Black Crowes or Led Zeppelin. Groups that are influenced by the blues but rock hard.

Your tastes are interesting. I was going to suggest Opeth, but they are, or at least started out as, yer basic death metal band, which you said you don't like. On later albums, especially Blackwater Park (the only one I know really well), they have a very classic rock sound on some tracks.

Some of the songs on Bwater Park are actually based around acoustic guits, and the leads are often very classic rock oriented, with lots of distortion and sustain. And the singer sometimes drops the "cookie monster choking on lunch" vocal style and actually sings. But more metal than blues-rock, for sure. Which is funny, since metal started out as a hardened version of blues rock. Just don't try telling that to a 22-year-old metalhead in 2007! I thought the kid was gonna throw his freakin' drink at me!

If you like White Stripes, what about The Black Keys? There's also a Japanese hard-rock band called Guitar Wolf that I love, but they are more a combo of punk and garage rock than a blues-derived outfit.

 

[gratefulshrink]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmcdonou /img/forum/go_quote.gif Although I love Radiohead and have several albums, I want something harder. I don't think of Radiohead or Beck as rock. Very good music, but not rock in the sense of the bands I listed as examples above. Do any of the groups you list above have a harder edge to them?

Well Sonic Youth has a "noisy" edge, and Pavment has a angry/slacker edge, but neither is that blues-rock hard edge that you may be looking for.

One band that comes to mind that gets a lot of praise on this forum is Built to Spill. Not super hard, but a definite rock band in the tradition of Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

A newer band is Comets on Fire. Their sound has kind of an early 70's thing going. Another band like that is Black Mountain, IIRC.

Another band I like is Brian Jonestown Massacre.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Check out the following bands if you havent already

Tantric - Both albums (first ones better)
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing, In Abstensia, Lightbulb Sun
Incubus - SCIENCE and Make Yourself
Audioslave - All albums
Godsmack - All albums except the new album IV
White Stripes - All albums although the new albums isnt as awesome as the first few albums
Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Ledbetter Heights, Trouble Is, Live On and the new album.
Shinedown - Leave a Whisper

Oh and Oasis..the last few albums have all been pretty good IMO

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing /img/forum/go_quote.gif Audioslave

Agree with this choice, wish I had thought of it (DOH!!). When I heard the debut, I was surprised by how much it reminded me of mid-period Stones. Not literally, of course, but they definately caught a similar vibe.

 

[kmcdonou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing /img/forum/go_quote.gif Check out the following bands if you havent already Tantric - Both albums (first ones better) Porcupine Tree - Deadwing, In Abstensia, Lightbulb Sun Incubus - SCIENCE and Make Yourself Audioslave - All albums Godsmack - All albums except the new album IV White Stripes - All albums although the new albums isnt as awesome as the first few albums Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Ledbetter Heights, Trouble Is, Live On and the new album. Shinedown - Leave a Whisper Oh and Oasis..the last few albums have all been pretty good IMO

I have albums by Godsmack, Incubus, and Kenny Wayne Shepard. I like them all. I've debated getting something from Audioslave but am on the fence. Some of the stuff I've heard on the radio is ok and some is good.

I've heard a lot of people mention Porcupine Tree, when I sampled a track from them it did not sound like rock. They had a more artsy sound to them as I recall. I will try a few more sample tracks.

 

[sebascrub]

Canada has a sweet music scene right now. I'd suggest checking out Hawksley Workman, Sam Roberts, Stabilo, Starewell, The Villains, and Lotus Child.

Lotus Child and Stabilo are very much a part of the Vancouver indie scene right now, their sound is very melodic and light, though they sound really awesome.

Hawksley Workman and Sam Roberts are more established in Canada. Sam Roberts is more of an all-out rocker, citing the Beatles, the Stone Roses, the Rolling Stones, etc as their influences. Hawksley Workman is a little more folksy, though he still has some rockier tunes.

Starewell and the Villains are two small bands from Calgary, and they are both full-out rockers, with Starewell being a little lighter.

Enjoy!

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmcdonou /img/forum/go_quote.gif Allman Brothers...

What about Derek Trucks?

 

[GlendaleViper]

Tricky Woo - Les Sables Magiques - 70's influenced Hard Blues. If you can excuse the fact that the first track rips-off/pays homage to Bad Company's "Feel Like Making Love", there are some excellent tracks here and there's a lot to digest. Highly recommended. Oh, it's in English, by the way.

The Mars Volta - Progressive Hard Rock with some Latin influence, and very psychedelic. Oldest to Newest album:Less to More "Proggy", with the exception being their debut EP.

Pelican - Australasia - "Wall of Sound" Metal - This might be a try before you buy. You'll like it or won't. I think these guys transcend the Metal badge. They've made some exceptionally beautiful music. Australasia, the first LP is usually recommended as the first listen.

I'd check out Big Sugar, too. An ecclectic "Blues" Rock band. Lots of talent wrapped up in that band, and loads of style. Their version of Traffic's Mr. Fantasy is excellent.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Quote:

I've heard a lot of people mention Porcupine Tree, when I sampled a track from them it did not sound like rock.

I am pretty certain you must have heard one of the earlier albums then.
Try Deadwing first, then In Abstentia, they both have a slightly heavier and more Rockish feel compared to their older albums which rely more on soundscapes.

Try Audioslaves first album, easiest to get into, and their best album out of the three IMO.

If you havent heard the band "Extreme" I suggest you give them a shot as well. Also, their songs always sound terrific on headphones, try III Sides to Every Story, Waiting for the Punchline