Radical song-based music

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I am currently seeking my own creative inspiration in songs/albums that adhere to the templates of traditional song-based material (unlike much of the trackier music I have been listening to for the past few years), but that stretches boundaries (sonic, structural etc) whilst doing so.

Am I making myself clear? The hell I am.

So these are the kind of records I;m thinking of (my knowledge in this area is poor):

Love - Forever Changes (the more I look at the songs here, the more in awe I am of Arthur Lee's arrangement abilities);
Patti Smith - Horses;
Tim Buckley - most things;
Scott Walker - Scott 1-4;
Beta Band - Three EPs;
Some of Faust and Can's more 'song' based material.

I guess that I'm totally ignorant as to the modern equivalents of this stuff. Can anyone help?
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
God, I do think I'm becoming a rockist in my old age....but the question stands!

Also, minimal techno torch songs such as Ada's cover of Maps are of interest.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Problem is, it requires a month long answer or none, and it's 17:17 and I'm hugry for my dinner!

What, you don't have a month to spare on this?? This or your dinner? Priorities!

But a short answer would be hugely appreciated too.
 

swears

preppy-kei
New(ish) bands that I think can really string a song together without sounding like old hat:


Junior Boys
Lo Fi Fnk
The Tough Alliance
Erland Oye
Ladytron
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Great call on Junior Boys - forgot to mention them in my initial post. On a broadly similar new millennium indie-dance tip, I always loved the Superpitcher remix of DNTEL's Dream of Evan and Chan.

Ladytron - top band.

Just remembered how much I love Julee Cruise/Badalamenti, too.
 

vimothy

yurp
Can O, NERD, Radiohead, Bjork, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, SY, Darkthrone, old music in general, Parliament, Neurosis, The Melvins, VU, The Stooges, Boris, Fennesz, Les Rallizes Denudes, Swans... Shit, I haven't got all day to sit around listing bands for you!
 
old music in general

This seems to be getting very broad. If you like the Beta Band you might as well give Henri Texier's Amir / Varech and Jim Pepper's Wichi-Tai-To a go seeing as they ripped both off.

other music at the edges of songform:

Bobby Brown- The Enlightening Beam of Axonda <<< I love this record

Arthur Russell- World of Echo

Robert Martin- Long Goodbye

Lamborghini Crystal- Demon Channels / Draco Shop-Bop Volume I
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
Some off the top of my head...


Captain Beefhart - Clear spot

Flaming Lips - The soft bulletin

Animal collective - Sung tongs

Panda Bear - Person Pitch

Royal Trux - Accelerator

Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones

Kate Bush - Hounds of love

Roy Harper - Stormcock

Big Star - Third

David Bowie - Low

Ariel Pink - The doldrums

Serge Gainsbourg - Melody Nelson

and so on...not much recent stuff there admittedly
 

straight

wings cru
prosumer and murat tepali are doing some beautiful dusty song orientated house at the moment. I love the grandiose emotion of efterklang, there are few groups who can straddle the line between beautiful songs and also having incredibly intricate, glitchy arrangements without it seeming tacked. im also really enjoying bon iver, nice heartfelt americana with just enough extended technique to keep an old noiser like me happy. Also the new morgan geists new album is wonderful, probably the record ive listened to the most this year. Either that or the first kelley polar album.

Fantastic 'state of song' article in the wire last year, worth checking out
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Further to Junior Boys, did you ever hear (Austrian noisy guy) Fennesz's remix of 'Last Exit'?

It's superb... maybe my favourite Junior Boys related thing (and according to Last.fm they're my favourite artist!?).

From there...

Transit - Fennesz (with David Sylvian singing on top)

A Fire In The Forest - David Sylvian (singing on top of Fennesz ;)

And then you could look at all of Sylvian's 'Blemish' for a bunch of songs that often do some funny (ok, miserable, dark) stuff.

I'd second Erlend Oye as well... I reckon his tune 'Ghost Trains' with Morgan Geist is particularly great. Geist's upcoming album has a whole lot of tracks with Jeremy Greenspan from Junior Boys too... good times.
 
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CHAOTROPIC

on account
Er, of bands with lyrics & 'songs', but expressed more originally:

TV on the Radio (Young Liars EP is the best).
Later SWANS stuff, obviously.
Slapp Happy's 'Desperate Straights' collaboration with Henry Cow was pretty cracked structurally if you can take Dagmar's voice
& if you can, then Art Bears are good too (ex Henry Cow & Slapp Happy guys build songs in the studio by sending each other tapes in the post).
Cardiacs if you like the idea of crushing up Frank Zappa & the cast of Dad's Army & injecting them into a speed freak. ADHD in song form.
CocoRosie
Robert Wyatt's 'Rock Bottom' is fucking amazingly original.
The Legendary Pink Dots are usually interesting with song structures. Something like 'Island of Jewels' maybe.
Anything by Mr Bungle!!!
Residents
Agree with whoever said Royal Trux, for sure. Top band.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Can O, NERD, Radiohead, Bjork, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, SY, Darkthrone, old music in general, Parliament, Neurosis, The Melvins, VU, The Stooges, Boris, Fennesz, Les Rallizes Denudes, Swans... Shit, I haven't got all day to sit around listing bands for you!

Well, don't bother then. Jeez :rolleyes:
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Thnaks to everyone else

"If you like the Beta Band you might as well give Henri Texier's Amir / Varech and Jim Pepper's Wichi-Tai-To a go seeing as they ripped both off." that's news to me - thanks for the tip-off.
 
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