Your Great Music List

[Tyria]

It's pretty simple: list what kind of music you like and the tracks of songs that you enjoy. Also try to describe the music: is it beautiful, has a fast/slow tempo, makes you think about X, makes you feel Y, etc.

Get creative and let's see what we can all come up with!

 

[Andy]

I can listen to almost anything but if you ever catch me with my headphones on I'll be probably listening to hip hop or film soundtracks. Hip hop, well, I am annoyed by most of the lyrics ( Eminem is one of the few exceptions ) but the instrumentals can be awesome. Combine that with film music and you can probably tell I don't care about voice or melody too much. I love music that invokes thoughts, images and colours in my head. I find most classical music too slow, pop too forgettable, metal uncomfortable for listening and hardcore techno too repetitive. I can't say I have a favourite track, but I will try to list a few.

James Dooley - Trinity (this is pretty much a placeholder for the many epic songs you can hear in film trailers)
Hans Zimmer - Money (Frost/Nixon soundtrack, makes me think)
Eminem - The Way I Am (intense and one of his best lyrics imo)
Dmitri Shostakovich - Waltz 2 Russian Waltz (there's something...clever about this one - though maybe it's just because I have it tied with Kubrick's genius Eyes Wide Shut)

 

[Tunesimah]

I have two musical tracks that I follow.

One wants lyrical cleverness, catchy melody, upbeat playfulness... sometimes a sense of nostalgia. This side goes for music like They Might Be Giants, Sparks, The Beatles, Flaming Lips, The Unicorns, Weird Al... so basically clever pop music

The other wants, complex rhythms, deep textures, new sounds, emotional melody... all wrapped up in a compelling, attention grabbing musical package. This side likes Don Caballero, Squarepusher, Four Tet, old school video game music (SNES, NES) Pink Floyd, Battles, Drums & Tuba, Yes, Jethro Tull...this side likes prog rock, jazz fusion, interesting electronic music, and anything that's experimental yet still good.

My go to music, all time favorites are They Might Be Giants... and probably Battles... even though they are pretty recent. Something about their music is the pinnacle of that complex, interesting, and yet still fun music that I can't get enough of.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

For a list of stuff I like, just check out the ratings on my RYM profile far from everything I like is listed there but it's a start.

I have too many criterion to list, but I especially like complexity, innovation, atmosphere and emotion.

 

[Agent Intellect]

I'm mostly into underground hip hop, and could probably go on about various artists and songs I like, but I've been listening to Nirvana lately (yea, I'm way behind) and I love the song "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter". It's such an unappealing sound during the last minute or so of it, yet I can't stop listening to it.
YouTube- Nirvana - Radio Friendly Unit Shifter

 

[nickgray]

I suck as a reviewer, but having not much else to do... well, why not? The list could go on, and on, and on, but, this, let's call it top 5, should be sufficient. ~40hrs. of music here.

Shostakovich - String Quartets, 15 grim, nervous and depressive works, each quartet gets darker and darker than the previous. Dmitri Shostakovich sure knew what clinical depression and anxiety is.

Mahler - Symphonies, nine of them (no "Von Der Erde" and 10th), incredibly sophisticated and intricate, and though perhaps many love them for their emotional impact, I find enjoyment in their complexity the most.

Beethoven - Piano Sonatas, a groundbreaking achievment by Beethoven, which virtually defined further development of piano as instrument and piano sonata as a form of music. And they're really great

Chopin - Nocturnes, among the finest solo short works in music, gloomy, dark, beautiful and dead serious.

Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen, a 14-hour epic, perhaps one of the greatest works of art ever. It takes weeks upon weeks just to scratch the surface of it and many months to achieve some sort of understanding of this magnificent cycle.

 

[RandomAspects]

I have 2 different groups of music that I switch between.

The first group is mostly instrumental. This includes soundtracks to favorite films, minimalist piano compositions, jazz, cello and violin pieces, etc. They tend to have a few layers, but nothing too complex. Some have faster tempos, some have slower. The ones that are stretched silghtly and are more leisurely are wonderful. Michael Nyman, Harry Connick Jr., Bocherrini, and Yann Tiersen are some of my personal favorites. I prefer this msuic over the 2nd group.

The second kind is usually fast-paced electronic, synth-pop or some alternative music. I don't listen to it for the lyrics or how layered it is, but for the fast tempo, rhythm and beat. MIKA, Ok!Go, Cosmicity, Franz Ferdinand, etc. Really great as motivation whenever I have to get something done. It's like a white noise that helps my productivity.

 

[illiterategenius]

Modest Mouse
Radiohead
MF DOOM
Elliott Smith
TV on the Radio
Tool
Nine Inch Nails
Queens of the Stone Age
PJ Harvey
The Shins
Cursive
Madvillain
Built to Spill
Deftones
Nirvana
Bright Eyes
Blonde Redhead
The Breeders
Alice in Chains
Rage Against the Machine
Califone
Cat Power
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Interpol
Viktor Vaughn
Blur
Broken Social Scene
Mogwai
Ugly Casanova
Sunny Day Real Estate
DANGERDOOM
Frédéric Chopin
Beck
Grizzly Bear
A Perfect Circle
Pinback
Autolux
Sleater-Kinney
Liars
Sonic Youth
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Clipse
Andrew Bird
Mos Def
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
Bowerbirds
Iron & Wine
Marilyn Manson
Beastie Boys
Feist
Swan Lake
Pavement
The Good Life
The White Stripes
My Brightest Diamond
The Velvet Underground
Portishead
Bill Hicks
Sufjan Stevens
The Rolling Stones
Arcade Fire
Ween
System of a Down
The Roots
Stars
Animal Collective

 

[illiterategenius]

As far as the whats/whys/etc...

So many things attract me to so many different types of music. Describing something like this is an interesting feat...music touches me like religion touches others.

My three favorite bands are TOol, Radiohead and Modest Mouse. (With MF DOOM and all of his alter egos being my favorite rap) All three of those rock bands touch different parts of my psyche...Radiohead is my paranoid, over thinking, reclusive and numb side. Tool is my emotional side. Good and bad. Anger and love. Modest Mouse is the part of me that will always be restless, thoughts.

The music I love has movements, suites, time changes...it is angular. But then I l can listen to something as quiet and simple as Elliott Smith. Or Swan Lake. Listen to Hand at Dusk by Swan Lake. That song destroys me. I like lyrics that are linear enough to make sense some type of logical sense (to me) but poetic enough so that their meaning is not obvious.

I don;t have the time nor energy to properly describe my love of music.