I could do this all day (and I probably will), but first, what artists and genres do you like and not like?
Let's say that I'll be very pleasantly surprised if anyone recommends any jazz, hip-hop, or reggae that I wind up loving. Other than that (and the Beatles), I think a basic rule applies: if someone loves it, it's likely worth listening to.
Elvis Costello's first few albums, especially "My Aim is True"
Absolutely everything by the Pixies
Everything by P.J. Harvey except "Is This Desire?"
The box set "Beg, Scream and SHOUT! The Big Box of 60's Soul"
The Hives, "Veni Vidi Vicious"
Public Enemy, "Fear of a Black Planet", "Apocalypse 91" and "It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"
The Amazing Royal Crowns, "The Amazing Royal Crowns"
The Dirtbombs, "Ultraglide in Black"
The Peacocks, "Come With Us"
Stone Roses, "Stone Roses"
Hepcat, "Scientific"
Wilco, "Being There"
Los Lobos, "Kiko and the Lavender Moon"
Queens of the Stone Age, "Songs for the Deaf"
The Pharcyde, "Bizarre Ride 2 the Pharcyde"
A Tribe Called Quest, "Anthology"
The Very Best of Edwin Starr
The Temptations Ultimate Collection
Little Richard, "The Georgia Peach"
James Brown, "Star Time! 20 Golden Greats"
Stevie Wonder, "Talking Book", "Music of My Mind", and "Songs in the Key of Life"
Wire, "Pink Flag
The Sex Pistols, "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols"
The Clash, "London Calling" and "The Clash"
Thanks Ted! This list looks promising, because everything that you've included that I'm familiar with, I like.
My pleasure. There was a pretty good thread about Top Ten albums over on Crooked Timber a while ago. Here's the link:
http://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/000840.html
I should be working on my BA, you know.
Richard Thompson - 1,000 Years of Popular Music (why this one, when it doesn't have any of his own songwriting on it? Well, most of his albums are pretty uneven, and I think this one is really impressive. But of his own stuff The Old Kit Bag and Shoot Out the Lights are good.)
Miroslav Vitous - Universal Syncopations. Jazz, though.
Alamaailman Vasarat - Käärmelautakunta
Bill Monroe & Doc Watson - Live Duet Recordings
Bob Drake - The Skull Mailbox
Fripp & Eno - No Pussyfooting
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Hala Strana - s/t
Decembrists - Her Majesty the Decembrists; The Tain
Cul de Sac - Death of the Sun
Death Ambient - s/t
Area - Maledetti
David Sylvian - Blemish
Fenn O'Berg - The Magical Sound of Fenn O'Berg
Deerhoof - Apple O'
Eyvind Kang - Live Low to the Earth, in the Iron Age
Einstürzende Neubauten - Die Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T.
Flying Luttenbachers - Systems Emerge from Complete Disorder
Comus - s/t
USAISAMONSTER - Tasheyana Compost
Fred Frith - Clearing
Henry Cow - Unrest
Incredible String Band - The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Ghost - Snuffbox Immanence
Head of Femur - Ringodom or Proctor
Hans Reichel - Lower Lurum
Hella - Hold Your Horse Is
John Zorn - The Big Gundown
Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
King Crimson - I am a total King Crimson fanboy. Discipline & Larks' Tongues in Aspic
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
Univers Zero - 1313
Tom Waits - Alice; Rain Dogs
Nico - The Marble Index
Sun City Girls - 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond the Rig Veda
Richard Youngs - May
Volapük - Pölyglöt
Faun Fables - Mother Twilight
Tim Buckley - Happy/Sad
Charming Hostess - eat
Greaves/Blegvad/Herman - Kew. Rhone.
Sam Cooke - Night Beat
Scott Walker - Tilt & Sings Jacques Brel
The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas
Now that's what I'm talking about! Stuff I've never heard of, let alone heard. Thanks Ben!
Oh, and Sufjan Stevens' Seven Swans is really good, as is Aksak Maboul's Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits.
Robyn Hitchcock (especially I Often Dream of Trains);
Farmer Not-So-John (just because);
Gram Parsons (to consider that this was actually edgy music);
The dB's or any other Peter Holsapple or Chris Stamey venture (this is real pop music).
I'll have to check back on this thread to free-ride on your request.
Cake, especially Comfort Eagle Witty, slight folk flavor
Tortoise, Just plain brilliant musicianship - the layering is amazing
Cibo Matto, Two ex-pat Japanese women, singing pretty much exclusively in English, often about food. Viva La Woman is edgier, Stereo Type A rocks more and is more accessible
Sigur Ros, An Icelandic group singing in a made-up language, backed by ethereal instrumentals
And, from the history file, Soul Coughing, especially Ruby Vroom
From the jazz file, try some Kenny Garrett, esp African Exchange Student. (Disclaimer, I'm not a Jazz Head)
Of course, your mileage may vary...
Also, the album I'm listening to RITE NOW (Ellery Eskelin, Andrea Parker, & Jim Black - Five Other Pieces (+2) [largely uninformative review]) is really, really good. I don't know what you object to in jazz so beats me if you'd like it (not that that stopped me in the other comments I made, which are a real hodgepodge), but to my (largely jazz-ignorant) ear it sounds pretty atypical—having an accordion as one of the two pitched instruments in a trio will do that, I guess.
Anyway, if you're not ogged, you should check it out.
Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
By far the best Hip Hop album i've heard in the last 5 years...
March records (http://www.marchrecords.com) is the best label in the world, if you like poppy nerd rock. They have a page of free mp3s -- try before you buy. Their 2 big collections, "Pop American style" and "Moshi Moshi (pop international style)" are end-to-end fantastic.
Other good new (at least to me) things:
Grandaddy -- if you like GbV, you will like these guys
the Notwist -- Germans who actually rock! But avoid remixes like plague.
Bertrand Burgulat -- French electroweirdness, but better than it sounds.
Edith Frost -- country, but good
Spring -- Spanish (or French?) slightly electric. "The last goodbye"
Anything by or featuring Gram Parsons
Good old (to me) things:
Elvis Costello and Burt Bachrach -- "Painted from memory"
Magnetic Fields -- "Holiday", "Charm of the highway strip", "69 love songs"
Yo La Tengo -- everything before the last two
Galaxie 500 -- "Today"
Damon & Naomi -- "More sad hits"
Elliot Smith -- Anything. Damn shame about him.
Old 97s -- "insurgent" country? Whatever. But it's all great.
Built to Spill -- Anything.
Heavenly -- Great 90s indie pop from Britain. Anything, but very especially the P.U.N.K. girl EP
Club 8 -- cutesy, swedish or norwegian or something, electrical - a softer St. Ettienne. "Spring came, rain fell"
Belle and Sebastian -- the Smiths of this generation. Anything.
Quasi -- Organ-driven post-punk duo featuring the drummer from Sleater Kinney and occasional sci-fi lyrics that are nearly filk. But avoid the new album, it is ... not good.
Matthew Sweet -- "Girlfriend"
Ok, that's enough for now.
"You Gotta get there to Come Back"- The Stereophonics
"Way to Blue" - Nick Drake
"Three Snakes and One Charm" - The Black Crowes
"Saxophone Colossus" - Sonny Rollins
"Newport '63" - John Coltrane
"Live at the Wetlands" - Robert Randolph and the Family Band...I cannot say enough about their energy.
that's all i've got for now
Oh yeah, and also "Quality Control" - Jurassic 5
Band, album, description.
*Luna, Penthouse. Key tracks: "23 Minutes in Brussels," unlisted cover of "Bonnie & Clyde" sung in French. As close to the Velvet Underground as you're gonna get these days. Also worth tracking down is their Days of Our Nights LP, which contains an absolutely gorgeous version of "Sweet Child o' Mine" (you heard me). It's remarkable.
*Nada Surf, Let Go. Key tracks: "Blonde on Blonde," "Hi-Speed Soul." They also do a song in French, but that's more coincidence than anything else. My favorite album of last year that wasn't by the White Stripes.
*Old '97s, Satellite Rides. Key tracks: "Buick City Complex," "Rollerskate Skinny." For my money (yeah, I still pay for CDs...), Rhett Miller is the best melodist/songwriter going right now.
*Kelly Hogan, Beneath the Country Underdog. Key tracks: "Mighty Thin Line Between Love and Hate," "Papa Was a Rodeo." Kelly's voice is either miraculous or a gift from the heavens, take your pick. Mostly covers, totally wonderful. My wife's favorite album.
I can't recommend these four highly enough. And Ted's right: anything by the Pixies, at all times.
Everyone should listen to Big Star all the time, esp. Sister Lovers. Bands I like right now include the Doves, the Shins, Lemon Jelly, Jet, the Datsuns, Ween, Fountains of Wayne, The Beta Band, Nightmares on Wax (get Carboot Soul),
mojave 3, Belle and Sebastian, The Moore Brothers, the Thrills....um...the Meters were probably the funkiest band ever. I second that emotion on Luna's Penthouse. You might try the crazy hip hop stylings of Kool Keith, aka Dr. Octagon. And hey, everybody loves Dr. Dre's The Chronic. It'll take you back to the summer of '94, man.
Let me second the recommendations of Cake (fashion nugget's the key LP, in my estimation) , the Pixies and the Magnetic Fields (esp. "Holiday"). If you favor the Pixies, you will likely also enjoy The Throwing Muses/Kristin Hersh/Tanya Donnelly.
Oh, and you can do a lot worse than listening to Seattle's KEXP (www.kexp.org). (Free, thank's to Paul Allen's largesse).
Speaking of Charming Hostess. I just went to their website and noticed that "Punch" (recorded some time ago) is finally out. But even more exciting is their new release "Sarajevo Blues" based on poetry by Semezdin Mehmedinovic. The war songs are very timely.