Re93animator's Favorite Music!
 

Ok, I hope I'm not wasting my time with this. This is the only forum I have time to post on, so I don’t really have another outlet to express my taste in music, but I’m hoping that at least some of you guys/gals have a somewhat eccentric taste. I love experimental/progressive music from noisy stuff/post-punk to John Zorn to avant-metal, and I’m eager to discover more and share my findings and thoughts with others, so… thread.

I’d love if others chimed in with discussion, suggestions, links, and whatnot. I’ll try to periodically put up some rundowns of favorite artists.

A handful of favorites to start:

Coil – Been my favorite for years. They were originally latched to the industrial scene, but really spread their wings and became one of the most creative and atmospheric bands ever. Their considerably long catalogue does flirt with pretention (such is the nature with this type of stuff, I guess), but the music is powerful and feels emotionally transcendental.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnWUFWPE4Z0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztdatfUEW94

John Zorn (Solo, Naked City, Electric Masada, The Dreamers, Painkiller) – One of the most prolific and adventurous musicians I can think of. His catalogue is formidable, but if anyone wants particular album or song recs, I’d be happy to oblige. :) My only criticism is that he seems to throw sh*t at the wall and see what sticks. He releases like 10 albums a year now FFS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIu0GN-jEDQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4749VvwwI0
... and a fun one to show friends:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wMpOLXrpLw

The Residents – Cult band that’s been around since the early 70s. They rely heavily on gimmick, and upon first glace their music might seem like intentional schlock, but they do have some crazy fun, surprisingly beautiful, & inspired stuff too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBvavPrNFNw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTI9I7GupWI

Pan.Thy.Monium – Avant-Death doom metal band with otherworldly keyboards/samples and a saxophone. One of the many projects of riffmaster Dan Swano.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-OmFXq_5jw

Neurosis – Maybe the most emotionally nihilistic 90s band I can think of along with early Godflesh and Swans. Naturally, being their weirdest album, I gravitate towards Enemy of the Sun most often. The use of sampling in their 90s output is probably the best I’ve heard in metal, and their later stuff is still very powerful and unique.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HJF9fg0u-M

Chrome – (Post)punk band often acknowledged as one of the harbingers of industrial music. The industrial label is so limiting though. I’ve heard them aptly described as The Stooges on acid, with amazingly weird use of samples, amps, and synths. Their later stuff seems to have been released pretty much to whore out the name though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=530gC6BztnA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2HZEO2pZ3o

Ulver – Progressed from Norwegian Black Metal to dynamic Coil worship. Any incarnation of the band is great (Perdition City is my favorite), and they’re still putting out really solid stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIyb88v3My0
Worthy of the sad songs thread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB4xp5HyUxw
Fantastic live, with an emphasis on improv:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJsSar7_TXA

Manes – Same career trajectory as Ulver; black metal to odd trip hop-y metal/rock. Vilosophe is one my most played albums; really powerful sounding songs with great, expressive vocals (although as a fan of cookie monster and screeching cats, they took some getting used to).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS6W-sjzK2U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ye26ZCK_KE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx5vyx0Bl5w

Re: Re93animator's Favorite Music!
 

oh man, lots of good stuff here. *taking notes*

Re: Re93animator's Favorite Music!
 

I have heard about Coil and John Zorn/Naked City, but the albums I want don't seem immediately available so I've put off listening to them. :(

I love Neurosis and Ulver.

Alas, this will be a great thread. :up:

Thanks guys!

With Coil, youtube is the easiest outlet. Their albums are ridiculously priced. I’d start with Horse Rotorvator or Ape of Naples and put off Scatology and their myriad wanky improv albums for later.

With Zorn, I’d definitely start with the self-titled Naked City compilation. Such an insane catalogue though. It’d probably be easiest to just go down the youtube suggested videos rabbithole.:D

Exuma – Some weird bluesy Caribbean music with a voodoo gimmick. This is the most soulful music I’ve ever heard using zombies as a prominent theme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_z3KkZWE5k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWTaSNQULHE

Geinoh Yamashirogumi *heavy breathing* – The guy behind that weird tribal Akira soundtrack (my favorite score). Has other great stuff too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpDvtIt6Lsc

Akira Yamaoka - Nostalgic. Thankfully, this has never grown on me. Mostly minimal, atmospheric, beautiful, yadda yadda. He got less minimal as he went on, but Silent Hill 2, 3, & 4 are my favorite video game soundtracks (along with System Shock 2).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aalI-pmhgb4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se-hAtELpUA

... and a special shoutout to the System Shock 2 soundtrack!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuPYnma2TBs

I used to have Blood Inside on loop back in 2006. Great instrumentalists!

Re: Re93animator's Favorite Music!
 

Instrumental kind of music is my favorite kind [and more often than not, Prog rock and all derivatives has it]. There are a lot of bands/instrumentalists, however, that do basically the same thing inside the basic same motif ["ambient" musicians specially; It's really hard to find one that actually has a melodic line/motif and not just huge reverb and delay because "volume pedal"] and it kind of lets me down [not that I should expect anything really], but maybe because I'm expecting to hear that motif and fail to find any.

Yeah, it is easy to get lost in heavy reverb and take the easy way out. But it's also tough to have a rhythm that doesn't make things super conventional. Finding that balance between enough of a rhythm and plenty of room to shift gears and scribble on top (maybe using heavy reverb but more of a steel pedal sound/harmonized with a 3rd or a 5th) or just a constant note and play 3rds and 5ths on top..just a think line of melody leaving enough room for pads and vocals to swell up the rest...or just the sound of a hair dryer. Sometimes I wonder if just the sound of a hair dryer would be enough. Life is too crazy. AHHHHHHH!!

I'm not really a musician (I only dabble with software), but I looove artists whoring out the reverb. Especially the Devin Townsend-esque wall of sound that just piles layer on top of layer until everything sounds like a cacophonic clusterf*ck.:)

Sort of like this (don't fear the cover art):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnEuyY7kBLs

Re: Re93animator's Favorite Music!
 

Just curious as I try to navigate your musical taste, are you a fan of Alcest?

I'm not too familiar with them (I think they toured with Opeth?). Youtubeing them now, and they sound good. I like the style, though I'd rather it be a little more aggressive or... macho (for lack of a better word)? Probably something I'll explore further later on. Gracias.

Yeah I was expecting you to say something about how aggressive it's NOT. Haha. I listened to their first album last night and dug it, just was curious what you thought about them.

I usually go the "simple" route. I play a motif of few notes and repeat them with the looper [usually 8 times to allow room for breath]. I then try to find a note that is harmonic in relation to those few other noters and let it hang over there with a healthy dose of reverb.
Add a second motif in relation to the first one [usually an octave higher] with fast Leslie/vibrato with my Flanger with it's rate almost maxed out [paired with chorus and delay for good measure]. Record it all and add a sweet soft solo on top as the cherry [which adds the prime motif].

yeah I know Devin. He teamed up with an Fxs company called Mooer and they developed a pedal with 2 delay engines + reverb+looper called Ocean Machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEpYJrGDi8E

I WANT TO BUY IT!!!!

Devin Townsend's rare country ambient album is so damn good! The most recent, I think? So good...

The dude sure takes a lot from Fripp

Casualties of Cool. Yeah. I especially liked The Bridge. His most recent is called Transcendence. Pretty much more of what he's known for, but Stormbending is one of his best songs IMO.

Thy Catafalque / Gire –The basis for Thy Catafalque is black metal, but they’ve become extremely dynamic. Frequent are experiments with classical, techno (?), ambient, and a sort of Hungarian folk sound. Gire is another project with Tomas Kitai (solo stuff is pretty good too); basically, the same thing with more death metal in lieu of black.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFi9_WwtdEM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8qIpKGFW4
They've gotten better with age IMO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxMXpasRGrE

O.L.D. – Their early grindcore vocals may be off-putting, but they got more experimental and creative as they progressed. I think Formula is crazy underrated. James Plotkin has a bunch of other interesting music worth exploring as well (specially Flux, which just sounds like more of Formula).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McN3j7e6Y4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6DgWFldJL0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFuZzh1aCIg

Disembowelment – Death doom band with one LP. One really good LP. Less experimental than the aforementioned metal bands, but they still dabble in proggy ambiance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr4jNutSDUE

Catafalque/Gire is akin to Dark Wave sub.genre ; that mix of metal with Synth music [more ambient is Dark Wave, more aggressive is Industrial]