Brazilian music is famous worldwide — from bossa nova, to choro, to samba.
Bossa is cool, choro is amazing, but my favorite things about samba is that despite being “pop music” it still has complex rhythms and harmonies.
My top favorite thing is the prevalence of the 7 stringed guitar and their use of counterpoints (i.e., parallel melodies).
I love how what (I think) started as guitarists just playing harmonies, turned into them improvising bass lines and counterpoints every once in a while, which eventually became them doing MOSTLY counterpoints and bass lines and barely playing the harmony lmao.
These bass lines and counterpoints, from what I understand, are often times arpeggiations of the chords and so forth, but they add such an amazing effect to the music.
Examples:
- This guy solo playing over a recording.
- This solo guitar + singer.
- Most music by Cartola which features the absolute timeless 7 stringed legend Dino. This one is a classic.
Technical Death Metal. Depending of the band you get this ridiculously crazy and sophisticated instrumentalism and polyrhythmic beats like Archspire, other times you get more progressive, experimental groups like Blood Incantation that mix and match genres and soundscapes.
In fact, the newest album from Blood Incantation is a good example of that, one moment you’re listening to fast blast beats and then it suddenly takes a hard turn into pink floyd and slowly starts crescendoing back into fast Death Metal over the next couple of minutes. It’s an absurd aural experience to say the least, but I really like experimental music that pushes boundaries even when it doesn’t totally work.
Ok I was curious. I’m not a metal fan in the slightest but I gave Archspire a listen. That was really cool! Felt like an evolution of Polyipha. I probably won’t listen to them again but I really enjoyed hearing it for the first time - excellent recommendation!
Same. I also ended up looking into Blood Incantation. Apparently they recently released a twenty minute video. I watched some of it. Definitely cool.
Drum N Bass
Less of a genre, more of an era, but I absolutely love music from the '60s. It’s just infectious. Some of it is infectiously happy - e.g., Dancing in the Street by Martha & The Vandellas, or Dance to the Music by Sly and the Family Stone. Some is infectiously melancholy, like The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel, or Abraham, Martin, and John by Dion. And some you just can’t help but sing along to, like Creeque Alley by the Mamas and the Papas, or Good Morning by Oliver. And of course all the amazing classic rock, experimental sounds, and folk music from that era! Even some of the novelty songs are super memorable (I’m lookin at you, MacArthur Park!).
I love many genres of music, so the open ended creativity in the downtempo electronic scene is where I usually find myself regularly being rewarded with something that feels new. Any genre or mix of many can be worked in and explored with the gloves off. And I love deep groovy bass work.
I also can’t get enough of electronic downtempo/chillout/lounge music, mainly prefer instrumental stuff but if it’s gotta have vocals then make them female. got any artist recommendations? I love all the old Pork Records stuff (Fila Brazillia, Baby Mammoth, Leggo Beast, Bullitnuts), and Elektrolux records (Fresh Moods, Guardner, Index ID, Naoki Kenji, The Sushi Club), Tosca, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Peace Orchestra, Nightmares On Wax, Bonobo, etc.
I usually lean more into the psychedelic side as I went deep into the psytrance scene in my twenties, like Ott, Shpongle, Bluetec, Ishq then had a major trip hop phase with Morcheeba, massive attack, Portishead, RJD2 and many artists you mentioned. Supertask has been one of my recent finds that has been impressive. Mostly I am song to song not heavy into particular artists. Here is a small platter of artists you haven’t mentioned.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4kFtWXruto5D6tbFDaMMXq?si=ei3olPlcT8i3vKs0mCAe1g&pi=u-cqsPkzARTy2G
Bach. Both easy to listen to and a never ending trove of new discoveries. Emotional and yet silly. Spiritual even for an atheist. Simple yet cerebral. Occasionally melancholy yet always life affirming. Rule bound, yet jazzy.
Dreamcore
I can’t really describe it other then it tends to be dreamy, buzzy, otherworldly, tends to use binaural beat type sounds, vestibular. If you liked Earthbound’s music you’ll probably like it a little
Sort of similar to lo-fi and muzak but it sounds qualitatively distinct to me. I find it very soothing and relaxing
Murder ballads. I don’t know that it’s a genre of music per se, so much that it’s a subject that people have sung about across different genres. It’s just so antithetical to what we normally consider music, normally it’s love songs and such. Epic examples include:
- In the Pines (famously covered by Nirvana)
- Violent Femmes - Country Death Song
- Mack the Knife (Louis Armstrong version is the best)
Pat Boone - Moody River?
It’s hard to pick a favorite, but right now I’m really into Funk. Funk as a whole, definitely, but the subsect that is Bubblegum Funk is just so relaxing and chill, I’ve been listening to it while working lately.
What’s bubblegum funk? I’m picturing Tom Tom Club’s Genius of Love.
I came back here to see if there were new additions, since I came across the post early on. I also really enjoy funk, with a favorite being Primus, well, anything Les Claypool really (His stuff with Sean Lennon, much more …trippy rock?, with Claypool Lennon Delirium, still excellent). They are a really heavy lil corner of the funk/rock spectrum though.
I am def going to check out some bubblegum funk now, it sounds like it should be an opposite spectrum sound experience!
So, thank you for allowing me to suckle on your presence a bit?
Blues, because it has so widely influenced other forms of music.
“The blues has become the basis for nearly every form of American popular music over the past 100 years: jazz, R&B, rock, hip-hop.”
My favorite new blues tune:
Progressive metal.
One of my favorite bands has a song where it sounds like everyone is playing a different time signature simultaneously, and it feels out of time and chaotic… And then snaps into focus perfectly, before breaking up again. (I can’t identify the time signatures, no. I can hear at least two, and I’m pretty sure three. I think the drummer is doing polyrhythms?) You can listen to the same song five times in a row, focusing on a difference part each time, and hear something new each time. Or take Opeth’s “River”; the same same song seems to effortless combine elements of country, blues, 70s rock, NWBHM into something that feels both classic and new. (“New” despite being originally released in 2014.) Or, shit, An Abstract Illusion’s “Woe”; it’s nominally split into 7 tracks, but the lack of breaks between songs means that the whole thing flows into a single piece. Or, or or!, “Castaway Angels” by Leprous; Leprous stretches and strains the definitions of what metal is, and is not. While some of what they do is clearly metal, are they still a metal band?
The only thing that’s a real constant in progressive metal is that the bands all have impeccable musicianship.
Same for me. I’ve been playing drums for over 13 years. And progressive bands are the most enjoyable music to play for me. Those time changes and polyrhythms seem complex when you first listen to them. But once I get it, it gets stuck in my brain. You can hear new details you never appreciated before.
I love meshuggah. And they play most of the times two songs with different time signatures. The drummer is playing both of them at the same time, bottom half playing along with the bass and top half with rhythm guitars.
I will always regret not learning to play drums; my parents insisted that I learn clarinet instead. (My brother got to play drums though. Bastard.) Oh well. I have too many hobbies to try and add another one at this point. :)
It happened to me. I started with trombone. Moving to drums was the best thing I’ve ever done. It is never too late I guess
It’s only too late because I have too many other things that I do with my time. If I had a thousand lifetimes, or never needed sleep, it would be different. Unfortunately, you need to make choices about how you spend your time in life.
It would never be more than just a hobby; I’ve seen people I know try to make a living as musicians, and I simply don’t have that kind of passion to live in poverty just to get a taste of the dream.
It is what it is.
Any metal with growing. I don’t care for lyrics unless they are funny. This applies to music where you can actually hear them too.
Try suggesting a metal band too extreme for me. I don’t like the lo-fi black metal because of the lo-fi part.
They def won’t be too extreme for you (I mean lmk if any are I guess), and some you’ll likely know already probably, but you’ll probably like some of them just judging from your challenge (mixed subgenres):
Insect Warfare Skinless Nunslaughter Toxic Holocaust Devourment Whitechapel Cattle Decapitation Eyehategod Nails Wormrot Anal Cunt His Hero Is Gone Carcass Dropdead Infest Cryptopsy Necrophagist Magrudergrind Sete Star Sept Suppression ACxDC Lovgun (bisou, 2012)Some of those are more yelly than growly, but check 'em out! Since you didn’t call out a specific genre like goregrind or something I got a little carried away haha.
Thank you!
My theory on metal:
Metal is 90% terrible / discordant background, with 30 seconds of pure blissful harmony that you just wouldn’t appreciate if that 90% terrible contrast didn’t exist.
With time, and repeated exposure, you pick up on the small harmonies within that discord that will continue to blow your mind for the next 10 years as you recognise more patterns in the chaos.
This usually means that your least favourite song by Metal Band X a decade ago is now your favourite, and your most favourite song of theirs a decade ago now sounds like a mere nursery rhyme.
/endtheory
Powerpop. What’s not to like? Jangly guitars, vocal harmonies and killer hooks.
Corridos (like Los Tigres Del Norte, Vicente Fernandez, Chalino Sanchez)- their accordion players have no fucking business being that good!
Old country (like Lefty Frizzell and Ernest Tubb) - Them dulcet tones and godDAMN that slide gitar.
Dubstep, proper dubstep and not the brostep sound that was popularised in the later 00s.
I love it because I love bass, I love a proper system and standing there feeling the music course through you. I also love how very diverse it is within the one genre, there are so many different styles and sounds to explore.
Any good dubstep recommendations? Most of the stuff nowadays is just Electronic music with dubstep influence.
Check out [email protected] where I post 2 new releases every day if you want a constant stream of recommendations.
For some immediate recommendations of things that have been released in the last few months which I’ve particularly enjoyed -
Lysergene - A City of a Thousand Trades
I tried to pick a few things that are all different kinds of styles / feels. If you want more of a particular type though hit me up and I’ll try and recommend some more :)
Hey!
Sorry somehow I missed this response in my inbox!
Whilst I did listen to some of the old stuff around the time of its inception it wasn’t my primary music focus so I’m not too knowledgeable about things I can recommend for older stuff.
I would suggest having a dig through some of the labels that have been around for a long time. People like System Music, Deep Medi, Sentry Records or Nice Up Records to name a few.
The skream track you linked is more dubwise style having a heavier dub reggae influence which isnt really my jam either but Nice Up Records seem to concentrate more on that kind of sound so may be a good place to start.
If you liked the Mystic State album linked I would highly recommend checking out the label D-BLK, they have been releasing a lot of really good music that is just a bit different to everything else. This is one of my favourites from recently by Shu.
Sorry I can’t be more specific with any recommendations as I love to spread the dubstep love but I’m not so knowledgeable about the older stuff as I really started immersing myself properly in this scene more around 2016-ish.
I hope you can at least find something you like amongst what I have linked!
You could also check out Swamp 81 which is Loefahs label but that isn’t really dubstep, they put out a lot more 130bpm, left field bass sort of stuff, still some great stuff in there but again not my wheelhouse as much so I’m not as knowledgeable even though I do like a little trip into 130 every now and then :D
Hey awesome thanks! This helps a lot, I’ll check all that out!
No worries. If you want some more label suggestions or find something you particularly like and would like more similar please feel free to PM me and I’ll happily help however I can to point you in the direction of more!
Goddamn bruh, you’ve got some pretty refined taste. How do you even find this stuff? The music on the last two projects is more my style, but i liked everything that you recommended. Definitely joining your community! Thanks a lot o7.
I’ve been into this style of music heavily for about 8 years now and was aware of it pretty much since its inception in the 00s, I also DJ this kind of music, so I have a large list on bandcamp that I follow to try and stay up with as many releases as I can. I’ll also listen to shows on SoundCloud from places like rinse FM, swu FM, infernal sounds dubstep and subtle FM to name but a few and will search out tracks and new artists I hear on there. I’ll also occasionally check the Juno charts if I have run out of new music to listen to and in the last year started building up a follow list on Spotify to check new releases there that I may have missed from all the other avenues.
Lysergenes style is sort of known as “Dungeon” so you could use that word to find other artists but I strongly suggest you also check out Distance (this is my favourite track) he has a lot of that kind of style stuff and is an amazing producer.
Not sure on a name for Omes style but if you like his stuff an artist I can recommend is Kercha.
Don’t wanna throw a million names at you at once otherwise you won’t bother but happy to make more recommendations I’d you want them. I look forward to hopefully seeing you around the community :D
Have a great day!
Thanks for the recommendations bruv. Have a great day as well!
Shoegaze.
The waves of euphoria I feel being blanketed in a wall of melancholic distortion and fuzz makes my brain go brrr.
I just love shoes
