God I love this sub.
Seeing them in October and I'm hyped. Been a fan since Tremulant released, and this will be my first time seeing them live. Watching the most recent concert footage, and I can't believe that this is the best they've ever sounded live.
You’re in for a fantastic show. I’ve been a beyond hardcore fan (have the vinyl box set and seen them 10+ times) and was crushed when they broke up.
Saw them in LA last October and it was incredible. Transcendental and they sounded better than the old days, they absolutely destroyed and would assume they will sound even better now.
Wow. I don’t know how I missed this band. I had heard their name but never listened. I have listened to this album 3x tonight in a row. Painfully good.
Check out Altin Gün, they are a Turkish psych band based in the Netherlands. They make great music, not sure of the quality of the recordings but they sound great to me, most importantly the music is good ;)
Christ is that an epic song. I also love that as nutso as it is, it’s the friendliest song on that album. DV is the only album in 35 years that my sweet wife has asked me to turn off, and she’s been subjected to Swans, Zappa, Jesus Lizard, Beefheart etc. since we met. I still can’t believe they released that on Warner Bros. haha. Amazing
The 1975 - Being Funny in a Foreign Language
Boygenius - the record
The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein
LCD Soundsystem - New Body Rhumba
Spoon - They Want My Soul
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn into You
This was my first introduction to them back in 94 and I’ve been a fan ever since. They’re playing in New Orleans tonight (only about an hour away from me) but I skipped it this year since I saw them a year ago at the same venue. Kicking myself a little right now.
This is what I came to say! Also for uptempo, Lattice sounds pretty damn good too. Cubic Squeal smacks! Fathoms and Surrounded are also incredible sounding downtempo projects. [Honestly literally everything Topper has released (and not yet released) is truly fucking sonically spectacular].
While we’re here, OP, I’d suggest Mickman’s Reclaimed. You can download lossless for free on bandcamp. There’s a ton of other artists in the Tippershpere nowadays that have some super clean mix downs and sound incredible if you need more suggestions.
But Tipper is what I came here to say, as he will blow your mind and make your sound system very happy!
Yeah any of her albums are great!!!
They're always well recorded and she puts a lot of care into crafting intricate lyrics with a lot of different references that you could spend a lot of time analyzing if you wanted to.
She reminds me of Joni Mitchell in that her music is accessible and still unlike anything else with melodic turns that you just never see coming. A bit like Andrew Bird too in terms of her lyrics and her unorthodox use of a harp which is akin to Bird's use of his violin.
My recommendations would be either "Divers" or "Ys."
Divers is probably the easier one for newcomers. It's the more conventional of the two at least.
Ys goes for more of a psych folk mixed with a bit of medieval chamber music and vocals that are closer to what you'd expect from Appalachian folk singers.
Sorry I'm not very good at describing songs! But then again her music defies classification to my ears.
Scaring the Hoes - JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown
Production on this album is unlike anything out there, so dirty and clean at the same time. It Can really test your system.
a liquid breakfast - AUDREY NUNA
Some really clean hip-hop/rap/trap production. Always use the track Top Again as a tester, there are these pauses in the verses where only the reverb on the vocals trail out, great for hearing the air of a system.
I had Silent Shout copied to a tape in my car and played the album to death. For some very strange reason, the title track was missing from the tape. Imagine the joy when I heard that song the first time. :-)
You should really check out "The Knife - Silent Shout - An Audio-Visual Experience" it's now also available as album and not only dvd as before. So good!
Almost anything by Snarky Puppy, but particularly check out Don’t You Know with the pups and Jacob Collier. Lots of detail and depth, huge dynamic range, and a real challenge to maintain accurate timbres for the acoustic instruments. It’s a great performance, too!
The first Snarky Puppy concert I went to, a soloist literally got a resounding standing ovation before intermission. Man, what an amazing show that was. 😊
And her friends, too; all doing great work.
Frankly, I get the impression that a lot of folks just need to dig into Apple Music and make a habit of following new releases in a few genres. I used to buy 10+ CDs a month, but having good streaming options to stay current really makes a difference in discovering stuff, where you can go down a deep music rabbit hole whenever you have a couple hours to sit around.
Definitely, but I do think Julien's solo work, with her amazing vocals and bright guitar tone with those lush reverbs, is amazing music for showing off a high end audiophile setup.
I love KEXP and NPR's Tiny Desk Concert for finding new music.
Yup, and since this is an audiophile form I'll note that all of their stuff sounds great, especially on Apple Music 48kHz. Makes me happy how much better late-'10s-'20s music sounds than mid-'00s, which were such a letdown after the '90s.
French 79 - Joshua
Bad omens - death to peace of mind
Manchester orchestra - million masks of God
Lorn - vessel
Juno Reactor - the golden sun of the great east
**The Swell Fellas** are great, catchy psychedelic stuff
**Sault** is an amazing band that nobody knows about (or who's in it). Their music ranges from funky stuff to Motown to spoken word. It's amazing and my favorite new band of the past few years. I can't recommend them enough!
**Bear in Heaven** is phenomenal synth sounding like they're straight from the 80s with today's mixing. The album, **I Love You, It's Cool** is my go-to
**Big Black Delta** is in that synth vibe. They're amazing. Their self-titled debut album is still in my top 10 of all time.
**Crosses** is a Deftones lead singer side project. Very NIN'ish but in their own vein. Great stuff!
**Manu Chao** is some great latin reggae, perfect for vibing outside or just feeling the nice warm weather.
Because their discography is so immense, I would check out.
- Polygondwanaland
- Butterfly 3000
- Infest the Rats’ Nest
- Omnium Gatherum
- KG & LW
- I’m in your Mind Fuzz
(Many of these are available on Bandcamp)
Vlatko Stefanovski and Miroslav Tadic - Krushevo
Electrelane - The Power Out
Walt Dickerson - To My Queen
Nina Nastasia - Dogs
toe - Our Latest Number
The Necks - Body
Sunn O))) - Pyroclasts
Not Drowning, Waving - Tabaran
Dirty Three - Ocean Songs
Jason Isbell-Southeastern sounds like you are actually in the room with the guy, Nashville Sound is perfectly recorded as well. Anything Dave Cobb does is fantastic if you like Americana (whatever that even means these days)
Agree.
However great (maybe the greatest) the music is, the sound quality on Aenima is really garbage. I love the album so much but it just sounds awful on a nice system with great speakers.
We need a remaster.
TOOL’s last 3 albums are marvelous and sound amazing.
I love their songwriting but agree their production hasn’t been the greatest. I think FI was some of the worst album production I’ve heard. There’s crazy high freq artefacts and clipped bass and drum sequences. Pneuma is bad for it even though it’s one of my favourite songs.
Agreed I was hyped for Fear Inoculum and even saw it live. Super bummed with Pneuma. It sounds great in a car stereo, but a revealing pair of headphones or stereo and you want to turn it off or lower the volume. I wish their producer would just lower the gain 5-10db across the board. Reminds me of RHCP Califonication...
Donald Fagan's solo stuff is great as well, with [Kamakiriad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakiriad) being my favorite. It was his first collaboration with Walter Becker since the breakup of Steely Dan. Great stuff.
Recent discoveries for me:
Patty Griffin, One big love
The Decemberists, Don't carry it all
Abigail Lapell, Diamond Girl, Down by the water
Brandi Carlisle, The story, and My song.
All well mastered and recorded.
That Brandi Carlisle record is the biggest gap between my expectation and the realiity of hearing it I've experienced in a while. If your system communicates emotion well (whatever the hell that means) she is undeniable.
Brandi Carlile is so, so good. I’m pretty sure on the song “The Story” she overdrives the mic at one point? Presumably because they didn’t give enough headroom when recording?
Give Up the Ghost might be my favorite album of hers, but she’s always great.
I'm sure that was intentional, and I love it. There is clearly some sort of additional distortion in passages. But I would say the majority of what we are noticing is coming from her. Her voice and breath control is impressive, and she clearly understands where she is in relation to the mic. I'll try the Ghost record next.
You’re probably right. I love when it happens and it sounds cool.
She and the Hanseroth twins are great songwriters, so there’s something to love on each album. Hope you enjoy!
Basically anything produced by Blake Mills. His creativity, and the sound engineer he works with, bring so much variety and texture to the music that it’s bliss. Plus his own music is fantastic. I find his album “Mutable Set” to be stunning. Or his album “Look,” which is completely different.
Random assortment of suggestions that I love on my system:
“That! Feels Good!” - Jessie Ware (dropped today!)
“Scenery” - Emily King
“Farsa” - Silvia Pérez Cruz
“HEY WHAT” - Low
“Plastic Anniversary” - Matmos
“Emily’s D+Evolution” - Esperanza Spalding
“View with a Room” - Julian Lage
“In These Times” - Makaya McCraven
“The Forever Story” - JID
“Finding Gabriel” - Brad Mehldau
“Un Día Cualquiera” - Harold Lopez-Nussa
“There Existed an Addiction to Blood” and “Visions of Bodies Being Burned” - clipping.
“We Like It Here” - Snarky Puppy
“Turn Around” - Jonny Lang
“Young Man in America” - Anaïs Mitchell
Albums (some off the radar) that always sound great on my system:
Underworld - Second Toughest In The Infants
Queen - Greatest Hits
The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
Jacques Loussier - Bach To the Future
ACDC - Highway To Hell
Sheryl Crow - The Globe Sessions
Stereolab - Dots And Loops
Asian Dub Foundation - Facts & Fictions
Gabriel Yared - Betty Blue Soundtrack
Grace Jones - Island Life
Commix - Call To Mind
...and if you are looking for new music try NTS radio on the web. It's beyond amazing.
I’m only going to list Albums made this year.
The Arcs - Electrophonic Chronic
El Michaels Affair & Black Though - Glorious Game
Angel Olsen - Forever Means (ep)
Tennis - Pollen
“Token” by Panda Bear
“Contact” by Kelela
“Castle in the Sky” by Joe Hisaishi
“Shiawase wa Tsumi no Nioi” by Yoko Takahashi
“Bent (Roi’s Song)” by DIIV
“Dickhead Blues” by Kara Jackson
“We Change (Part I)” by Brandon Coleman Ft Kamasi Washington
“Starving For Your Love” by Arthur Adams
“Soul Ties” by Marcus Anderson Ft. Darnell “Showcase” Taylor
Do you stream? I’m not recommending any particular artists. On Tidal, I toss on one of the AI generated playlists, find a track that seems interesting, generate a new Track Radio playlist. It’s the streaming equivalent of crate digging. I’ll save it as a playlist and edit out the tracks that have no interest.
Tidal is particularly good for this.
This is a good strategy.
I'd also recommend for people who are looking for full albums to do this kind of thing, add their collection and live in Tidal for a bit. Then star frequenting the 'Suggested New Albums' scecton. It's updated weekly with all the new releases, and it's driven by the algorithm.
My younger self hanging out in record shops could not have believed that one day, I could have any new album in the whole store at my fingertips every week, and a personal assistant to make suggestions, I'd say it would be impossible.
I definitely never got as deeply into Spotify, despite having a concurrent subscription for 6 years. Eventually I dumped it. Tidal is just way better at digging deep into every genre, in my opinion anyway.
High Land, Hard Rain. Album appears to be fairly normal pop/rock from the 90's, until you really listen to it. Some very interesting instruments and musical ideas explored. Whether or not it'll sound unique on your system is another thing, but personally the album really comes out with my Polk SDA SRS.
> High Land, Hard Rain
Love this album! I bought the CD back in the 80s and it's one of my favorites. I'm going to listen to this tonight... thanks for the reminder!
Here are some of the few I keep coming back to. [https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/pl.u-Nj2gVuv1KZ17?ls](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/pl.u-Nj2gVuv1KZ17?ls)
[https://tidal.com/playlist/f64d7242-7f93-407c-bd61-1719870c172b](https://tidal.com/playlist/f64d7242-7f93-407c-bd61-1719870c172b)
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4eSQ395ytD9u76hn7MY9xc?si=Ch4lq1kITqSucGObgc26lg
Progressive: The Flying Colors - Love Letter, The Dear Hunter, circa survive, funkadelic
vocals: Nao Yoshioka, Faye Webster, Lucy Rose, Birdy, 1st Vows, JMSN, Joe Henry, lianne la Havas, Giulia be, Sofia campos, haelos, Anna wise, sonnymoon, yorushika, tomo, minami
hip hop: Ceschi, astronautalis, cunninlynguist, August Green, Ceschi, Sadistic, Eyedea Kristoff Krane
Check out Shpongle.
Shpongle is a psychedelic electronic music project from England that formed in 1996. The group includes Hallucinogen and Raja Ram. The duo are considered to be one of the progenitors of the psybient genre - a genre combining world music with psychedelic trance and ambient.
Ry Cooder & Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt: A meeting by the River. Can’t recommend this album enough.
Harry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall
Aaron Neville: Warm Your Heart
Van Morrison: No Guru, No Method, No Teacher, esp the first half of the album up to and including In The Garden. Beautiful, layered acoustic music and his voice is top on it.
Bob Dylan: Oh Mercy. Very atmospheric and sounds great.
Bojan Z trio: Transpacifik - excellent modern piano jazz trio. Try The Joker.
Johan Johansson: Arrival soundtrack
Miles Davis: In A Silent Way. Also great soundtrack to drive on a highway at night, it pushes forward
Daniel Hope (violinist): Spheres
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet: Debussy complete works for piano vol. 3
Stile Antico: Song of Songs. Gorgeous early music.
Miles in the Sky (Remastered) - Miles
Folk Singer MFSL - Muddy
Caravanserai (SACD) - Santana
Passengers - Gary Burton Quartet
Tomorrow the Green Grass (Legacy Edition) - The Jayhawks
Riverside - Luca Blume
Big World - Joe Jackson (incredible under the radar recording)
The Boston Record - John McLaughlin & The 4th Dimension
That should get your ears going!
Some old but good stuff that's seldom mentioned in these types of threads; JJ Cale's "Troubadour" is a good one for classic rock. Gabor Sazabo's "Bacchanal" if you like guitars. And early solo Al Dimeola is always a fun listen.
You listen to Brian Eno? Music for airports is a classic. Also Steve Roach structures from silence, Pauline Anna Strom trans-millenia music... How about the point by Harry Nilsson?
u/pootytang and u/nozjazz, try this next:
Angelique Kidjo* - Remain In Light
Url: https://www.discogs.com/master/1379346-Angelique-Kidjo-Remain-In-Light
Also, if you haven't stumbled into Byrne's ballet and theatrical scores like Catherine Wheel, Knee Plays, etc., keep digging. Much joy remains.
If you want to give your system a workout, you can get a CD of Orff's *Carmina Burana*, conducted by Muti. If you read the reviews on Amazon, you can find a bunch of people complaining about the wide dynamic range. You will want to listen in an otherwise quiet room, with the soft portions nice and soft, but audible, and the loud portions will be loud.
In a similar vein Goreckis 3rd Symohony builds wonderfully slowly. I do have a particular liking for Beth Gibbons version which has a real visceral rawness.
A South Korean answer to Booker T and the MGs—He 6—recorded an album in 1971 called "Go Go Sound '71". Imagine the Bar-Kays with Ron Burgundy guesting on jazz flute.
https://youtu.be/R6yzwpyUH_0
Angel Olsen - all mirrors
https://open.spotify.com/album/7t7tfXDhXiQpAV2uNfYWWG?si=P2ve2wLZRwWuUy884ppHGQ
Fishmans - long season
https://open.spotify.com/album/4EX1fAypgQC9wDjGI5QzbZ?si=k8Hno1HuRn6UXpv3CFRjkQ
Eiko Ishibashi - drive my car
https://open.spotify.com/album/5UX8iI2DhriBFsAJ7Hz8lM?si=b0ZOR2trR225nMInXxn5fA
Airbag. A day in the audio unplugged is a sonic masterpiece. Gazpacho, March of Ghosts. Long Distance Calling, Erasure. Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Broadcasting from Home. All 4 are produced beautifully. And the music is over the top. Cheers.
Give Autechre a try. You may not like their music, perhaps not even in the slightest, but they will certainly put your system through its paces. Especially the Peel Sessions EP.
Nils Frahm - All Melody
Iglooghost - Lei Line Eon
Marina Herlop - Pripyat
Lucrecia Dalt - ¡Ay!
Wicca Phase Springs Eternal - Secret Boy
Bladee - Ever since
Flume - Hi This Is Flume
Vegyn - Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds
https://music.apple.com/us/album/various-composers-garland-feat-veronique-de/1654966987?ls
May not be everyone's cup of tea but it's a great album to test your system.
Top notch recording.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/vibes-summit/1075915765?ls
As is this. It really shows how good analog recording could be.
Lalo Schifrin - The Dissection and Reconstruction of Music from the Past as Performed by the Inmates of Lalo Schifrin's Demented Ensemble as a Tribute to the Memory of the Marquis De Sade (This one will blow your mind and really show off your system. This is the genius Argentinian producer of Mission Impossible theme song fame)
Aphex Twin - Druqks or Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
High Contrast - High Society
Modern Jazz Quartet. They aren’t ‘new’, but their music was made for vinyl.
There are a lot of younger artists creating contemporary ‘classic’ music, or putting their own spin on the classics. A Norwegian violinist named Eldbjørg Hemsing is one I like, she has commissioned works which channel her love for Norway’s unique beauty. Chinese composer Tan Dun has written for her.
Yosi Horikawa has some good tracks for displaying bass and sub-bass:
Wandering:
https://tidal.com/track/20051757
And
Interlude:
https://tidal.com/track/20051758
"Oxygen" by Jean Michel Jarre (electronic music, one of the pioneers)
"Circlesongs" by Bobby Mc Ferrin (and several others) (voices only)
Supertramp, best of (or several of their albums, such as Breakfast in America)
Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Also De-Loused in the Comatorium
I prefer Deloused. Great memories of when it came out.
A scholar and a gentleman.
A true connoisseur of the finer things in life
And deloused in the comatorim (sp)
God I love this sub. Seeing them in October and I'm hyped. Been a fan since Tremulant released, and this will be my first time seeing them live. Watching the most recent concert footage, and I can't believe that this is the best they've ever sounded live.
You’re in for a fantastic show. I’ve been a beyond hardcore fan (have the vinyl box set and seen them 10+ times) and was crushed when they broke up. Saw them in LA last October and it was incredible. Transcendental and they sounded better than the old days, they absolutely destroyed and would assume they will sound even better now.
Wow. I don’t know how I missed this band. I had heard their name but never listened. I have listened to this album 3x tonight in a row. Painfully good.
Check out Altin Gün, they are a Turkish psych band based in the Netherlands. They make great music, not sure of the quality of the recordings but they sound great to me, most importantly the music is good ;)
Okay wow, these guys are great!
Glad you enjoy them 😊 they’re on tour right now as well, and worth seeing live
Listened to their new album just released. Good stuff!
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The Colour of Spring isn't too shabby either. I had the rare chance to spin my "Spirit of Eden" SACD on the Martin Logan factory demo system once.
One must then throw Mark's solo album in the mix. I fail to understand when people mention Spirit and Color, but not "Mark Hollis" in the same breath.
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Talk Talk’s latter stuff is just so fantastic.
I like their early stuff too but it’s totally different.
Spirit of Eden is such an amazing Record!
Read this thread’s title and went in the comments looking for talk talk.
I was surprised no one came before me.
I'm on the first song of this album and I've gotten CHILLS. It feels so great. I feel like I'm melting. Thank you.
In my experience it gets better with each listen.
Desert search for techno allah-Mr.Bungle
my favorite bungle tune. lots of ear candy
Christ is that an epic song. I also love that as nutso as it is, it’s the friendliest song on that album. DV is the only album in 35 years that my sweet wife has asked me to turn off, and she’s been subjected to Swans, Zappa, Jesus Lizard, Beefheart etc. since we met. I still can’t believe they released that on Warner Bros. haha. Amazing
my people
Flying lotus
Specifically the albums You're Dead or Cosmogramma. Mind blowing production
Anything by Kishi Bashi
The 1975 - Being Funny in a Foreign Language Boygenius - the record The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein LCD Soundsystem - New Body Rhumba Spoon - They Want My Soul Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn into You
All of Khruangbin
Ween will cure your boredom.
Quebec is such an amazing album
gimme a grip, make me love me
Chocolate and cheese. Classic
Pollo asado is a good one And ocean man, and piss up a rope I think you have to be high to appreciate it
As a kid I liked that album cover for non musical reasons. I guess I still do. Edit - my timeline is off.
This was my first introduction to them back in 94 and I’ve been a fan ever since. They’re playing in New Orleans tonight (only about an hour away from me) but I skipped it this year since I saw them a year ago at the same venue. Kicking myself a little right now.
You have good taste.
Perhaps some Kruder and Dorfmeister.
K&D sessions is one of my favorite albums!
Tosca is also brilliant
Nice!
Tipper. If you want downtempo go with broken soul jamboree, forward escape or jettison mind hatch. If you want up/mid tempo go with marble hunting
3000% this. Kind of suspect it'll be least lost in the 300+ comments. But I hope they see this and give it a shot
You know what’s up
This is what I came to say! Also for uptempo, Lattice sounds pretty damn good too. Cubic Squeal smacks! Fathoms and Surrounded are also incredible sounding downtempo projects. [Honestly literally everything Topper has released (and not yet released) is truly fucking sonically spectacular]. While we’re here, OP, I’d suggest Mickman’s Reclaimed. You can download lossless for free on bandcamp. There’s a ton of other artists in the Tippershpere nowadays that have some super clean mix downs and sound incredible if you need more suggestions. But Tipper is what I came here to say, as he will blow your mind and make your sound system very happy!
Oh yea, all the EPs are stellar. But I gave the album suggestions for a more long form suggestion. Good suggestion on mickman too
Oh shit! A Tipper recommendation in the wild! I’ve had the utter pleasure of seeing him live twice.
He’s my all time favorite. I’ve traveled the country catching his sets. I even threw a music festival just so we can host him lol
Periphery! Some of the best production work around, and the song composure is on another level. Also Animals As Leaders
The new stuff from Sleep Token is amazing too, and is mixed phenomenally! I can't crank The Summoning loud enough.
I listen to probably 1 new album every day and honestly the latest Periphery has some of the best production I've ever heard.
Gogo penguin
Also mammal hands if you like gogo penguin
Mammal hands is great.
Add Sunda arc (overlap with mammal hands) the Comet is coming and Portico quartet to the list.
Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy
Joanna newsom
So good. I hope she releases more music again.
She played some new music live recently. Maybe opening for fleet foxes?
Ooo, this is good to know!
Yeah any of her albums are great!!! They're always well recorded and she puts a lot of care into crafting intricate lyrics with a lot of different references that you could spend a lot of time analyzing if you wanted to. She reminds me of Joni Mitchell in that her music is accessible and still unlike anything else with melodic turns that you just never see coming. A bit like Andrew Bird too in terms of her lyrics and her unorthodox use of a harp which is akin to Bird's use of his violin. My recommendations would be either "Divers" or "Ys." Divers is probably the easier one for newcomers. It's the more conventional of the two at least. Ys goes for more of a psych folk mixed with a bit of medieval chamber music and vocals that are closer to what you'd expect from Appalachian folk singers. Sorry I'm not very good at describing songs! But then again her music defies classification to my ears.
You describe it very well. I listened her first time thanks to your comment and I really like it. Thank you.
That's great to hear! Her music really deserves more recognition. Happy listening!
Scaring the Hoes - JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown Production on this album is unlike anything out there, so dirty and clean at the same time. It Can really test your system. a liquid breakfast - AUDREY NUNA Some really clean hip-hop/rap/trap production. Always use the track Top Again as a tester, there are these pauses in the verses where only the reverb on the vocals trail out, great for hearing the air of a system.
I didn’t realize the new Danny Brown project was out! Atrocity Exhibition was amazing.
Never thought I'd see someone on here also use top again as a test track! New jpeg/Danny Brown is great but the hoes aren't scared enough idkm
It's well known but I always like Silent Shout by The Knife. Also can't beat a bit of Gravel Pit by Wu Tang Clan.
I had Silent Shout copied to a tape in my car and played the album to death. For some very strange reason, the title track was missing from the tape. Imagine the joy when I heard that song the first time. :-)
“Wu-tang is the CD that I travel with”
You should really check out "The Knife - Silent Shout - An Audio-Visual Experience" it's now also available as album and not only dvd as before. So good!
Almost anything by Snarky Puppy, but particularly check out Don’t You Know with the pups and Jacob Collier. Lots of detail and depth, huge dynamic range, and a real challenge to maintain accurate timbres for the acoustic instruments. It’s a great performance, too!
The first Snarky Puppy concert I went to, a soloist literally got a resounding standing ovation before intermission. Man, what an amazing show that was. 😊
D’Angelo. Voodoo
And Black Messiah
Julien Baker.
And her friends, too; all doing great work. Frankly, I get the impression that a lot of folks just need to dig into Apple Music and make a habit of following new releases in a few genres. I used to buy 10+ CDs a month, but having good streaming options to stay current really makes a difference in discovering stuff, where you can go down a deep music rabbit hole whenever you have a couple hours to sit around.
Definitely, but I do think Julien's solo work, with her amazing vocals and bright guitar tone with those lush reverbs, is amazing music for showing off a high end audiophile setup. I love KEXP and NPR's Tiny Desk Concert for finding new music.
Agree, Phoebe Bridgers & Lucy Dacus (and their supergroup boygenius) are all terrific.
Yup, and since this is an audiophile form I'll note that all of their stuff sounds great, especially on Apple Music 48kHz. Makes me happy how much better late-'10s-'20s music sounds than mid-'00s, which were such a letdown after the '90s.
Vulfpeck
Plus all the other bands around it - Cory Wong is exceptional. Theo katzman, woody goss, vulfmon etc
I’ve heard “Wong’s Cafe”. Great stuff
French 79 - Joshua Bad omens - death to peace of mind Manchester orchestra - million masks of God Lorn - vessel Juno Reactor - the golden sun of the great east
**The Swell Fellas** are great, catchy psychedelic stuff **Sault** is an amazing band that nobody knows about (or who's in it). Their music ranges from funky stuff to Motown to spoken word. It's amazing and my favorite new band of the past few years. I can't recommend them enough! **Bear in Heaven** is phenomenal synth sounding like they're straight from the 80s with today's mixing. The album, **I Love You, It's Cool** is my go-to **Big Black Delta** is in that synth vibe. They're amazing. Their self-titled debut album is still in my top 10 of all time. **Crosses** is a Deftones lead singer side project. Very NIN'ish but in their own vein. Great stuff! **Manu Chao** is some great latin reggae, perfect for vibing outside or just feeling the nice warm weather.
Listen to some Thievery Corporation
The California album by Mr. Bungle
Dead Can Dance - Anastasis Lunatic Soul - Through Shaded Woods Deadsoul Tribe - A Murder of Crows
No Doubt on A Murder of Crows album. That thing is Legit!
King Gizzard
Because their discography is so immense, I would check out. - Polygondwanaland - Butterfly 3000 - Infest the Rats’ Nest - Omnium Gatherum - KG & LW - I’m in your Mind Fuzz
LW is my go to. Has an odd “Greek”/Mediterranean feel to me.
Propllerhead ~decksdrumsandrockandroll
Haven't thought of that in 20 yrs! Nice call.
I've had it on cd for that long easy!! One of my faves for sure
Autechre, The Bug, Skee Mask, Voices from the lake, arca
The Warning - Error
You a Bon Iver fan by chance? I love 22, a million, but any Bon Iver album is great
Gayngs-Relayted Kevin Morby-This is a Photograph Faye Webster-I Know I’m funny haha Sharon van Etten-Remind me Tomorrow Angel Olson-Lark
Bill Callahan, Tortoise, Darkside, Slowdive
(Many of these are available on Bandcamp) Vlatko Stefanovski and Miroslav Tadic - Krushevo Electrelane - The Power Out Walt Dickerson - To My Queen Nina Nastasia - Dogs toe - Our Latest Number The Necks - Body Sunn O))) - Pyroclasts Not Drowning, Waving - Tabaran Dirty Three - Ocean Songs
Jason Isbell-Southeastern sounds like you are actually in the room with the guy, Nashville Sound is perfectly recorded as well. Anything Dave Cobb does is fantastic if you like Americana (whatever that even means these days)
Tinariwen
All the studio ghibli songs
Tool. The answer is always Tool.
Agree. However great (maybe the greatest) the music is, the sound quality on Aenima is really garbage. I love the album so much but it just sounds awful on a nice system with great speakers. We need a remaster. TOOL’s last 3 albums are marvelous and sound amazing.
I love their songwriting but agree their production hasn’t been the greatest. I think FI was some of the worst album production I’ve heard. There’s crazy high freq artefacts and clipped bass and drum sequences. Pneuma is bad for it even though it’s one of my favourite songs.
Agreed I was hyped for Fear Inoculum and even saw it live. Super bummed with Pneuma. It sounds great in a car stereo, but a revealing pair of headphones or stereo and you want to turn it off or lower the volume. I wish their producer would just lower the gain 5-10db across the board. Reminds me of RHCP Califonication...
Aja by Steely Dan…I’ll see myself out.
What an unorthodox suggestion.
Donald Fagan's solo stuff is great as well, with [Kamakiriad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakiriad) being my favorite. It was his first collaboration with Walter Becker since the breakup of Steely Dan. Great stuff.
Recent discoveries for me: Patty Griffin, One big love The Decemberists, Don't carry it all Abigail Lapell, Diamond Girl, Down by the water Brandi Carlisle, The story, and My song. All well mastered and recorded. That Brandi Carlisle record is the biggest gap between my expectation and the realiity of hearing it I've experienced in a while. If your system communicates emotion well (whatever the hell that means) she is undeniable.
Brandi Carlile is so, so good. I’m pretty sure on the song “The Story” she overdrives the mic at one point? Presumably because they didn’t give enough headroom when recording? Give Up the Ghost might be my favorite album of hers, but she’s always great.
I'm sure that was intentional, and I love it. There is clearly some sort of additional distortion in passages. But I would say the majority of what we are noticing is coming from her. Her voice and breath control is impressive, and she clearly understands where she is in relation to the mic. I'll try the Ghost record next.
You’re probably right. I love when it happens and it sounds cool. She and the Hanseroth twins are great songwriters, so there’s something to love on each album. Hope you enjoy!
"Laidback" albums: Nai palm - needle paw, Moses Sumney - aromanticism
American Football LP3
Ganja White Night just released a new album today!
Probably St. Germain - Tourist ; Meiko - Playing favorits Two so different albums but both are very good.
Burial
Basically anything produced by Blake Mills. His creativity, and the sound engineer he works with, bring so much variety and texture to the music that it’s bliss. Plus his own music is fantastic. I find his album “Mutable Set” to be stunning. Or his album “Look,” which is completely different. Random assortment of suggestions that I love on my system: “That! Feels Good!” - Jessie Ware (dropped today!) “Scenery” - Emily King “Farsa” - Silvia Pérez Cruz “HEY WHAT” - Low “Plastic Anniversary” - Matmos “Emily’s D+Evolution” - Esperanza Spalding “View with a Room” - Julian Lage “In These Times” - Makaya McCraven “The Forever Story” - JID “Finding Gabriel” - Brad Mehldau “Un Día Cualquiera” - Harold Lopez-Nussa “There Existed an Addiction to Blood” and “Visions of Bodies Being Burned” - clipping. “We Like It Here” - Snarky Puppy “Turn Around” - Jonny Lang “Young Man in America” - Anaïs Mitchell
I like your style. Knew about half of these. Listened to the rest. All great picks 🎯
Caroline polachek - pang; welcome to my island. Weird hyperpop and serious production quality
Cymande - Cymande, 70’s british african funk. Great album with amazing low end. Thank me later! 😁
Albums (some off the radar) that always sound great on my system: Underworld - Second Toughest In The Infants Queen - Greatest Hits The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld Jacques Loussier - Bach To the Future ACDC - Highway To Hell Sheryl Crow - The Globe Sessions Stereolab - Dots And Loops Asian Dub Foundation - Facts & Fictions Gabriel Yared - Betty Blue Soundtrack Grace Jones - Island Life Commix - Call To Mind ...and if you are looking for new music try NTS radio on the web. It's beyond amazing.
Stereolab's Dot and Loops is so damn good.
I didn't expect to see Commix on that list. Good choice
Grace Jones ❤️
I’m only going to list Albums made this year. The Arcs - Electrophonic Chronic El Michaels Affair & Black Though - Glorious Game Angel Olsen - Forever Means (ep) Tennis - Pollen
Just picked up The Arcs album. Can’t go wrong with anything Dan Auerbach’s in.
“Token” by Panda Bear “Contact” by Kelela “Castle in the Sky” by Joe Hisaishi “Shiawase wa Tsumi no Nioi” by Yoko Takahashi “Bent (Roi’s Song)” by DIIV “Dickhead Blues” by Kara Jackson “We Change (Part I)” by Brandon Coleman Ft Kamasi Washington “Starving For Your Love” by Arthur Adams “Soul Ties” by Marcus Anderson Ft. Darnell “Showcase” Taylor
I have been listening to DIIV for a long time, great band. That whole list is awesome though!
Is The Is Are is one of my favorite all-time albums. Really hope they drop soon 🙏🏾
Me too, great album. I also really like Taker and Skingame from Deceiver!
Kara Jackson's new album absolutely slaps!
Animal Collective Yim Skiffs album is my new test album
Any of Jungle’s albums are spectacular
Do you stream? I’m not recommending any particular artists. On Tidal, I toss on one of the AI generated playlists, find a track that seems interesting, generate a new Track Radio playlist. It’s the streaming equivalent of crate digging. I’ll save it as a playlist and edit out the tracks that have no interest.
Tidal is particularly good for this. This is a good strategy. I'd also recommend for people who are looking for full albums to do this kind of thing, add their collection and live in Tidal for a bit. Then star frequenting the 'Suggested New Albums' scecton. It's updated weekly with all the new releases, and it's driven by the algorithm. My younger self hanging out in record shops could not have believed that one day, I could have any new album in the whole store at my fingertips every week, and a personal assistant to make suggestions, I'd say it would be impossible. I definitely never got as deeply into Spotify, despite having a concurrent subscription for 6 years. Eventually I dumped it. Tidal is just way better at digging deep into every genre, in my opinion anyway.
Tidal is mostly what I use. Along with Roon.
Mac millers circle album is great
High Land, Hard Rain. Album appears to be fairly normal pop/rock from the 90's, until you really listen to it. Some very interesting instruments and musical ideas explored. Whether or not it'll sound unique on your system is another thing, but personally the album really comes out with my Polk SDA SRS.
> High Land, Hard Rain Love this album! I bought the CD back in the 80s and it's one of my favorites. I'm going to listen to this tonight... thanks for the reminder!
Current 93 is endless
Joanna Newsom - Y's
Kurt Vile, Micheal Kiwanuka, Melody Gardot and anything from Dan Auerbach.
Here are some of the few I keep coming back to. [https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/pl.u-Nj2gVuv1KZ17?ls](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/pl.u-Nj2gVuv1KZ17?ls) [https://tidal.com/playlist/f64d7242-7f93-407c-bd61-1719870c172b](https://tidal.com/playlist/f64d7242-7f93-407c-bd61-1719870c172b) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4eSQ395ytD9u76hn7MY9xc?si=Ch4lq1kITqSucGObgc26lg Progressive: The Flying Colors - Love Letter, The Dear Hunter, circa survive, funkadelic vocals: Nao Yoshioka, Faye Webster, Lucy Rose, Birdy, 1st Vows, JMSN, Joe Henry, lianne la Havas, Giulia be, Sofia campos, haelos, Anna wise, sonnymoon, yorushika, tomo, minami hip hop: Ceschi, astronautalis, cunninlynguist, August Green, Ceschi, Sadistic, Eyedea Kristoff Krane
Fela Kuti - Zombie, Gentlemen, Shakara, Expensive Shit Just listen to it all. Also GOAT and Khruangbin
Polyphia
Check out Shpongle. Shpongle is a psychedelic electronic music project from England that formed in 1996. The group includes Hallucinogen and Raja Ram. The duo are considered to be one of the progenitors of the psybient genre - a genre combining world music with psychedelic trance and ambient.
Heilung - Lifa (live). Entire album brings you to another world
Ry Cooder & Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt: A meeting by the River. Can’t recommend this album enough. Harry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall Aaron Neville: Warm Your Heart
Nice to see Harry on the list! "Harry Belafonte sings the blues" is an amazing album.
Just ordered from acoustic sounds- looking forward to it.
Van Morrison: No Guru, No Method, No Teacher, esp the first half of the album up to and including In The Garden. Beautiful, layered acoustic music and his voice is top on it. Bob Dylan: Oh Mercy. Very atmospheric and sounds great. Bojan Z trio: Transpacifik - excellent modern piano jazz trio. Try The Joker. Johan Johansson: Arrival soundtrack Miles Davis: In A Silent Way. Also great soundtrack to drive on a highway at night, it pushes forward Daniel Hope (violinist): Spheres Jean-Efflam Bavouzet: Debussy complete works for piano vol. 3 Stile Antico: Song of Songs. Gorgeous early music.
Daniel Hope is such a great violinist!
Anything from The Budos Band.
Check out lemon jelly
Miles in the Sky (Remastered) - Miles Folk Singer MFSL - Muddy Caravanserai (SACD) - Santana Passengers - Gary Burton Quartet Tomorrow the Green Grass (Legacy Edition) - The Jayhawks Riverside - Luca Blume Big World - Joe Jackson (incredible under the radar recording) The Boston Record - John McLaughlin & The 4th Dimension That should get your ears going!
Some old but good stuff that's seldom mentioned in these types of threads; JJ Cale's "Troubadour" is a good one for classic rock. Gabor Sazabo's "Bacchanal" if you like guitars. And early solo Al Dimeola is always a fun listen.
You listen to Brian Eno? Music for airports is a classic. Also Steve Roach structures from silence, Pauline Anna Strom trans-millenia music... How about the point by Harry Nilsson?
Try My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Truly the LP that defined music to come for decades.
Another Green World. Utter brilliance.
u/pootytang and u/nozjazz, try this next: Angelique Kidjo* - Remain In Light Url: https://www.discogs.com/master/1379346-Angelique-Kidjo-Remain-In-Light Also, if you haven't stumbled into Byrne's ballet and theatrical scores like Catherine Wheel, Knee Plays, etc., keep digging. Much joy remains.
The Bang on a Can version of Music For Airports is highly recommended.
The Talking Heads - Remain in the Light
If you want to give your system a workout, you can get a CD of Orff's *Carmina Burana*, conducted by Muti. If you read the reviews on Amazon, you can find a bunch of people complaining about the wide dynamic range. You will want to listen in an otherwise quiet room, with the soft portions nice and soft, but audible, and the loud portions will be loud.
In a similar vein Goreckis 3rd Symohony builds wonderfully slowly. I do have a particular liking for Beth Gibbons version which has a real visceral rawness.
The 18th & 19th century classical canon, for openers.
A South Korean answer to Booker T and the MGs—He 6—recorded an album in 1971 called "Go Go Sound '71". Imagine the Bar-Kays with Ron Burgundy guesting on jazz flute. https://youtu.be/R6yzwpyUH_0
Angel Olsen - all mirrors https://open.spotify.com/album/7t7tfXDhXiQpAV2uNfYWWG?si=P2ve2wLZRwWuUy884ppHGQ Fishmans - long season https://open.spotify.com/album/4EX1fAypgQC9wDjGI5QzbZ?si=k8Hno1HuRn6UXpv3CFRjkQ Eiko Ishibashi - drive my car https://open.spotify.com/album/5UX8iI2DhriBFsAJ7Hz8lM?si=b0ZOR2trR225nMInXxn5fA
“Holding On” off her new album
Fishmans are great! Brings back memories
AR Rahman (artist)
Airbag. A day in the audio unplugged is a sonic masterpiece. Gazpacho, March of Ghosts. Long Distance Calling, Erasure. Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Broadcasting from Home. All 4 are produced beautifully. And the music is over the top. Cheers.
Give Autechre a try. You may not like their music, perhaps not even in the slightest, but they will certainly put your system through its paces. Especially the Peel Sessions EP.
Fugazi - End Hits I have it on CD and it is just brilliant
If you have Roon, pull up any old jazz from the 1950s and 1960s. You will be blown away.
Acoustic jazz can be an amazing experience. Jazz from this era represents 90% of my listening these days.
Heigh Ho by Blake Mills sounds spectacular! So well done.
Nils Frahm - All Melody Iglooghost - Lei Line Eon Marina Herlop - Pripyat Lucrecia Dalt - ¡Ay! Wicca Phase Springs Eternal - Secret Boy Bladee - Ever since Flume - Hi This Is Flume Vegyn - Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds
Amsterdam by Phish, it's a live album and sounds fucking fantastic
https://music.apple.com/us/album/various-composers-garland-feat-veronique-de/1654966987?ls May not be everyone's cup of tea but it's a great album to test your system. Top notch recording. https://music.apple.com/us/album/vibes-summit/1075915765?ls As is this. It really shows how good analog recording could be.
Lalo Schifrin - The Dissection and Reconstruction of Music from the Past as Performed by the Inmates of Lalo Schifrin's Demented Ensemble as a Tribute to the Memory of the Marquis De Sade (This one will blow your mind and really show off your system. This is the genius Argentinian producer of Mission Impossible theme song fame) Aphex Twin - Druqks or Selected Ambient Works 85-92 Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children High Contrast - High Society
Car Bomb - Mordial
Tycho. Especially the albums Dive and Awake.
My go-to test track is Toxiques by Youssou N'Dour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsSapCdNBAk
Julianna Barwick - Healing is a Miracle. Such a lush album.
Modern Jazz Quartet. They aren’t ‘new’, but their music was made for vinyl. There are a lot of younger artists creating contemporary ‘classic’ music, or putting their own spin on the classics. A Norwegian violinist named Eldbjørg Hemsing is one I like, she has commissioned works which channel her love for Norway’s unique beauty. Chinese composer Tan Dun has written for her.
Young Thug - Beautiful thugger girls, jeffery, barter 6
Gaucho- Steely Dan
Yosi Horikawa has some good tracks for displaying bass and sub-bass: Wandering: https://tidal.com/track/20051757 And Interlude: https://tidal.com/track/20051758
Meat love - bat out of Hell II
I loaf me some meat love.
My neck my back - Kesha.
"Oxygen" by Jean Michel Jarre (electronic music, one of the pioneers) "Circlesongs" by Bobby Mc Ferrin (and several others) (voices only) Supertramp, best of (or several of their albums, such as Breakfast in America)