• 03-07-2008, 05:28 AM
    Swish
    Name your Top 5 bands of the 21st Century.
    I was just thinking about the bands I really need to see while they're still cranking out records, and have been fortunate to see most of my favorites (The Decemberists, Wilco, The Waterboys, Echo and the Bunnymen, Los Lobos, Lucinda Williams, Luna, Pavement, Over the Rhine), and now I'll get to see Spoon as well next month

    If I had to name my favorites of the last several years or more, it would have to include, in no particular order;

    Wilco
    The Decemberists
    The Shins
    Spoon
    Andrew Bird

    I suppose I could have listed p.j. harvey, but I think her best records were recorded in the 90s, not so for the others. While there are a lot of others I enjoy, I'd have to say this list is the top 5 without a doubt. I think.

    Swish
  • 03-07-2008, 05:59 AM
    N. Abstentia
    Porcupine Tree
    Modest Mouse
    Opeth
    Hurt
    Alter Bridge
    Los Lonely Boys

    All amazing bands. If there were more bands like these, it would change my outlook on the current music scene :)
  • 03-07-2008, 06:12 AM
    Swish
    Someone needs to learn how to count!
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by N. Abstentia
    Porcupine Tree
    Modest Mouse
    Opeth
    Hurt
    Alter Bridge
    Los Lonely Boys

    All amazing bands. If there were more bands like these, it would change my outlook on the current music scene :)
    Before you know it, Slosh will chime in with 7, Finch with 8, Davey with 9, Bobsticks with 10...total anarchy!

    Swish
  • 03-07-2008, 06:17 AM
    Mr MidFi
    Spoon
    Wilco
    Built to Spill
    Radiohead
    Porky Tree

    Honorable mentions:
    New Pornos
    Andrew Bird
    My Morning Jacket
    The Notwist
  • 03-07-2008, 06:47 AM
    ForeverAutumn
    OMG. That's just too hard! I'm going to really piss off Swish and give three lists of 5.

    My non-prog, non-Canadian list would probably be the same as Swish Daddy's except I might replace Spoon with Ray Lamontagne. Although I would have to give Spoon honourable mention along with Josh Ritter.

    Wilco
    The Decemberists
    The Shins
    Ray Lamontagne
    Andrew Bird


    My prog list would include:

    Threshold
    Ritual
    Riverside
    Porcupine Tree
    Dream Theater

    And then there's the Canadian stuff which most of you have probably never heard (although, most Canadians have probably never heard this stuff either).

    Luke Doucet
    Rose Cousins
    Three Days Grace
    The Trews
    Justin Rutledge
  • 03-07-2008, 07:07 AM
    kexodusc
    Top 5?

    Hmmm....based solely on their output since Jan 1, 2000, in no particular order:

    Opeth
    Dream Theater
    Porcupine Tree
    Coheed & Cambria
    Gov't Mule

    FA, I saw the Trews last month at the ECMA's. Not bad. They were upstaged by a newer band called Age of Daze that's touring Canada right now. And Joel Plaskett who took most of the awards.
  • 03-07-2008, 07:21 AM
    Slosh
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Swish
    Wilco
    The Decemberists
    The Shins
    Spoon
    Andrew Bird
    I could live with this list. Err, on second thought I'd have to boot off The Shins for Grandaddy.

    . . . . .And, and as much as I like Wilco I need me some Calexico on there too.

    I'd really like to put Wayne Robbins & The Hellsayers up there too but some of us have been waiting 4 years now for another album. If it's half as good as their debut it will still be amazing (and based on what little I heard on My Space it should live up to expectations).

    And I heard Jeff Mangum is supposed to be working on something. And maybe by 2020 we'll have another Wrens album.

    Right, this could go on forever.
  • 03-07-2008, 07:22 AM
    ForeverAutumn
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kexodusc
    Top 5?

    Hmmm....based solely on their output since Jan 1, 2000, in no particular order:

    Opeth
    Dream Theater
    Porcupine Tree
    Coheed & Cambria
    Gov't Mule

    FA, I saw the Trews last month at the ECMA's. Not bad. They were upstaged by a newer band called Age of Daze that's touring Canada right now. And Joel Plaskett who took most of the awards.
    Age of Daze huh? I'll have to check them out. Thanks. I like Joel Plaskett when he's upbeat. Songs like Nowhere With You and A Million Dollars are great. But I find much of his stuff boring.
  • 03-07-2008, 07:33 AM
    Troy
    Porcupine Tree
    Estradasphere
    Umphrey's McGee
    Echolyn
    The Van Allen Belt
  • 03-07-2008, 07:38 AM
    Brett A
    If I may list and individual (he's not a band per-se).
    Will Oldaham
    aka Palace
    aka Bonnie Prince Billy
    I like many of the other bands listed so far, but honestly can't think of four more I get excited about.
  • 03-07-2008, 08:16 AM
    N. Abstentia
    Yeah I had more than 5, I'm a rebel! And on top of that I'm gonna give honorable mention to Umphrey's McGee and Coheed & Cambria as was mentioned earlier.

    I would have added Dream Theater also, but they were highly popular in the early 90's.
  • 03-07-2008, 08:25 AM
    ForeverAutumn
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by N. Abstentia
    I would have added Dream Theater also, but they were highly popular in the early 90's.
    Perhaps, but they've turned out some of their best work in the 2000's IMO.
  • 03-07-2008, 08:29 AM
    nobody
    Hard call cause most of mine kinda cross the century line, but here's the first five that come to my head...although they would certainly chance on another day

    <b>White Stripes
    Boards of Canada
    Kings of Leon</b> (even though I can't stand their third album; the first 2 are the kind of catchy rock records I'll listen to for years to come)
    <b>Sigur Rós
    Erykah Badu
    ISAN</b> (Ok, so I went to 6, kill me now)

    But, what do you do about stuff like, say <b>Outkast</b> who are going in this century, but who made my favorite albums last century? Heck, Baduzium came out last century too and I still tossed her in there, since most of her stuff has been in the 21st.

    And, then there are bands like <b>The Raveonettes</b> who I like enough to buy everything they put out and listen to often, but for some reason never quite think of as in the upper echelon.

    I know I'm forgetting someone, and the next tiem I see this thread I will realize I left my favorite band off or something.
  • 03-07-2008, 08:51 AM
    Slosh
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Brett A
    If I may list and individual (he's not a band per-se).
    Will Oldham
    aka Palace
    aka Bonnie Prince Billy
    Agree, along with a slew of other alt-country-ish bands such as Holopaw, Califone, Sixteen Horsepower/Woven Hand, Giant Sand, Tracker, Richmond Fountaine, The Black Heart Procession (okay, that's kind of a stretch.)

    Oh, and I forgot to mention Pinback and Super Furry Animals in my last post. Five just ain't nearly enough.
  • 03-07-2008, 11:16 AM
    Ex Lion Tamer
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr MidFi
    Spoon
    Wilco
    Built to Spill
    Radiohead
    Porky Tree
    Remove Porky Tree and add Modest Mouse and you have my list
  • 03-07-2008, 11:50 AM
    johnny p
    Yonder Mountain String Band
    Tea Leaf Green
    Umphrey's McGee
    Medeski Martin and Wood
    Steve Kimock


    I like Widespread Panic, but they just aren't the same without Mikey......
  • 03-07-2008, 11:58 AM
    Davey
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slosh
    I'd really like to put Wayne Robbins & The Hellsayers up there too but some of us have been waiting 4 years now for another album.
    Yea, I hear ya. Actually have Fri off and that one is playing as I type. Queen Anne's Revenge just segued into Maria Drops Her Music Box Into the Sea, just fantastic. Can feel a Lonesome Sea kinda day coming on, probably fueled by some of those ESB Ales in the icebox. They just posted a somewhat encouraging update ... btw, really glad to hear they are mastering it again at Kitchen Mastering since the first one sounds just great, really get a chance to crank up the volume control. Kudos to all involved.

    Wednesday, March 05, 2008
    All You Need To Sleep Update

    Hello, hello, hello.

    They (the ghosts in my head) tell me that an update is needed. So, here it is: the second album, All You Need To Sleep, is almost entirely, completely done. We do remixes in early April, both here in the states and by our friends in London, and then it's off to mastering at The Kitchen in Chapel Hill, and then, and then . . . in June, we will finally, finally be done with it. We should apologize for taking so long to finish it. But this is "independent" music at its most sincere—completely self-funded and self-diagnosed by poor, full-time-job-working people with no trust funds, no rich friends (who will give us money), no budget other than what we can scrape together, and no ulterior motives other than making a great album that we can be proud of.

    While in Europe last year we met some pretty amazing people, especially in The Netherlands and Belgium, who constantly reminded us, with their generous demeanor and sorrowful eyes, why we make music and why it is so important to us to play it. It was in Utrecht where it really hit me, that there really is "more to the picture than meets the eye."

    But lapses happen. Bad, expensive-as-shit mixes happen. Months go by while we save up more money to remix. Girlfriends leave and cats get caught in the trees. Borders are crossed and tires go bald. Babies are born.

    Thank you (whoever you are) for waiting, understanding, listening—and in honor of you, we promise to put up (in varying sound quality) more rare recordings to show the different shades of the Hellsayers: live performances, demos, outtakes, failed experiments--some for days, some for hours—you never know here. But if you're interested, you'll hear some weird shit.

    Love,
    Wayne
  • 03-07-2008, 01:06 PM
    Davey
    Kinda somber list, probably no surprise to the "regulars", but with a minimum of 3 records on my list of favorites since 2000 ...

    Califone
    Jason Molina / Songs:Ohia / Magnolia Electric Co
    Sixteen Horsepower / Woven Hand / Lilium
    Black Heart Procession
    Andrew Bird or Caribou

    And like Sloshy, the band I'd most like to hear a second record from: Wayne Robbins & the Hellsayers

    And in the whatever happened to _______ category, I could sure use another record like that now, I'd list the self-titled The Glands ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7RfKt1a40o

    But mostly the dark, southern gothic, americana sound, that's what plays most here, especially if it's got some of that junkyard percussion folky stuff going on, with the quirky and fragmented lyrics, then it migrates to the top and tends to stay awhile. Be fun to hear another from the Ugly Casanova bunch. Or those Three Mile Pilot(s).
  • 03-07-2008, 04:24 PM
    Brett A
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Davey
    Jason Molina / Songs:Ohia / Magnolia Electric Co
    I LOVED Jason Molina's output up to the Songs:Ohia- Magnolia Electric album, then he seemed to plateau. (I think). I haven't checked back w/him since What Comes After the Blues.
    His first album and Didn't it Rain/Magnolia Electric are personal favorites in my collection.
  • 03-07-2008, 05:04 PM
    tony_abreu
    In no order.
    Pink Floyd
    Tool
    Frank Zappa
    Led zeppelin
    Deep Purple
  • 03-07-2008, 05:09 PM
    tony_abreu
    ooooppps!!! 21st century
    Coldplay
    Radiohead
    White Stripes
  • 03-07-2008, 05:15 PM
    Davey
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Brett A
    I LOVED Jason Molina's output up to the Songs:Ohia- Magnolia Electric album, then he seemed to plateau. (I think). I haven't checked back w/him since What Comes After the Blues.
    His first album and Didn't it Rain/Magnolia Electric are personal favorites in my collection.
    Was just listening to Black Ram today from the box, really nice. Right up there with Didn't it Rain/Magnolia Electric Co for me. But I'm kind of a pushover for this stuff. I love Nashville Moon too.
  • 03-07-2008, 07:50 PM
    3-LockBox
    <TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">Porky Tree
    Echolyn
    Modest Mouse
    Dream Theater
    Ritual

    honorable mention: RPWL

    </TD></TR><TR UNSELECTABLE="on" hb_tag="1"><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNSELECTABLE="on">


    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
  • 03-08-2008, 07:07 AM
    tentoze
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Davey
    Kinda somber list, probably no surprise to the "regulars", but with a minimum of 3 records on my list of favorites since 2000 ...

    Califone
    Jason Molina / Songs:Ohia / Magnolia Electric Co
    Sixteen Horsepower / Woven Hand / Lilium
    Black Heart Procession
    Andrew Bird
    I'd leave #2, 3 and 5, and replace 1 and 4 with Decemberists and Will Oldham (and his variants).
  • 03-08-2008, 10:44 AM
    Swish
    You wish is my command.
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nobody
    (Ok, so I went to 6, kill me now)
    I don't like getting my hands bloody these days, so I've just proclaimed a Swish Jihad against you.

    Swish
  • 03-08-2008, 11:04 AM
    bobsticks
    Great thread SwishDaddy...and challenging too if one adheres to the actual criteria of the thing...which i didn't do anyway...found it too difficult to eschew solo artists and evolving collectives. Hey, at least I left the labels out of it.

    At the end of the day I resorted to a Davey-style counting of repeat offenders within my collection, but that's probably easier than to try an quantify how much enjoyment I got outta something in 2000...I can't remember all of yesterday. The results are a bit bizarre:

    Califone
    Diana Krall
    Wilco
    Jason Molina/Songs:Ohia/Magnolia Electric Company
    Rammstein

    Honrable mention to Andrew Bird, Alison Krause, and Martin Atkins

    Of course, none of this diminished the fact that 80% of what i buy was produced before 1970...
  • 03-08-2008, 12:14 PM
    Jim Clark
    Man, too many with just one stellar release or just one release period (Notwist, Electric President, Postal Service, Killers, The Stills, The Dears, The Wrens, Lali Puna, the Faint) Then there's the ones been around for years still making it happen (johnny Cash (or was still making it happen), NIN, Greenday, and the newly minted Gary Numan) . My top five given some kind of minimum standards:

    The National
    Snow Patrol
    Moonbabies
    Interpol
    and then probably something like Radio 4. Yep, that works for me about as well as anything else.

    jc
  • 03-08-2008, 01:03 PM
    nobody
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Swish
    I don't like getting my hands bloody these days, so I've just proclaimed a Swish Jihad against you.

    Swish
    I'm still waiting for that all Arabic punk band called Jihad....but, Jihad Swish has a nice ring to it too.
  • 03-09-2008, 08:20 PM
    MindGoneHaywire
    Most of what I came up with was based on one album, or maybe two...and what makes this thread both great & difficult at the same time is the number of acts in this decade who have one or two songs that I think are top-notch...but the albums just aren't there.

    But I'll refrain from my rant about how the album is a poor unit for music, in the sense that so few can manage consistent recs...and how few ever really did. I do choose to focus on the individual tracks that I do like...and the very few great albums, whether now or 40 years ago.

    For me in this decade the White Stripes are #1. Five solidly good recs, I don't think anyone else comes close even though I do think others have made an album here or there that's better than any WS rec. After them...couldn't do five. Sorry. Here's 10:

    Green Day
    Amy Winehouse
    Libertines
    New York Dolls
    Rosalia de Souza
    Madeleine Peyroux
    The Hives
    Bob Dylan
    Ditty Bops
    Little Killers

    Honorable mention:

    Beck, Bebel Gilberto, Little Willies, Neil Young, Les Hommes, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Wilco, Arctic Monkeys, Asylum Street Spankers, Ray LaMontagne, Jet, The Donnas, Easy Star All-Stars, Hot Club Of Cowtown, and Jane Monheit.

    Yeah, there is no good music anymore, is there.
  • 03-10-2008, 11:57 AM
    Stone
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nobody
    I'm still waiting for that all Arabic punk band called Jihad....but, Jihad Swish has a nice ring to it too.
    I don't know of any band just called Jihad, but there is:

    Jihad Jerry

    and

    Andrew Jackson Jihad

    I haven't given really any thought to my top five, but it would probably include:

    Ted Leo + Pharmacists
    Blood Brothers
    Andrew Bird
  • 03-10-2008, 01:04 PM
    Brett A
    Well, if we can carry bands over from the last century, the ones still making music that I get ga-ga over would have to include

    • Lambchop
    • The Mekons
    • Leonard Cohen
    • The Mekons
      Did I mention the Mekons?

    And i would really love to see Amy Winehouse live to make more music (even if she didn't make more music, I hope she stays alive.)
  • 03-11-2008, 06:10 PM
    Spancticles
    Red Sparowes, Mars Volta, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Stolen Babies, Diablo Swing Orchestra
  • 03-13-2008, 09:20 PM
    thereyet
    Top five of the 21st Century...


    1. Modest Mouse

    2. Radiohead

    3. Bloc Party

    4. Porcupine Tree (thanks Mr. MidFi)

    5. Built to Spill

    Nice thread Swish!

    ty