Seeking inspiration. Recommendations?

[rocky]

I've hit a little bit of a rut for finding new bands, albums and productions
that make me feel all special and tingly.

The last album that I heard that 100% totally and completely blew me away was Happy Hollow by Cursive, with Mike Mogis at the controls.
I've also been listening to lots of old and modern hip hop lately and enjoying the sounds.

My favourite labels are no longer releasing bands that I get excited about. It's worrying! Making me sure that I'm getting old.

So, what are the records that are making you all want to make records?

I'm keen to hear anything, from Jazz to Punk Rock to Techno. I just want it to change my life.

[kslight]

H&K --- Friends of mine that own Junior's Motel recording studio in Iowa...I actually had these guys play at my wedding reception and everyone loved them. Especially Catch a Rainbow (I'm not wild about THIS mix of Catch a Rainbow, but the original mix that I heard back when I first worked at this studio was life changing, not to mention the video...which is also not to be found online.). Kirk (aka Junior) is a great engineer with a very classic unintentionally retro all analog recording studio that I love to work out of. I have tons of respect for a lot of his work. And Eleven Windows has a reference to Shawn Crahan (see below) in the song as he likes to record out there...

http://www.myspace.com/httpwwwmyspacecomhk


Dirty Little Rabbits --- Also friends of mine from Iowa...I'm not sure that they really translate as well into a studio album the way they F'ing rule live. Totally refreshing sound...I love that they have a keyboard player that totally rips the Hammond apart. "Side" project of Shawn Crahan (aka Clown from Slipknot), but in my conversations with him I think that DLR is really his passion more than Slipknot is.. The singer is also from (if you have 90's flashbacks) Sister/Stella Soleil. I've watched these guys grow over the last 3 years and I think when their album finally comes out in a couple months they will take over the world. The first time I saw them there was like 15-20 people...now they sell out 300-500 capacity venues in Iowa (which is amazing in Iowa) and Omaha. They are also on Warped Tour. I truly wish at times that I still lived in Iowa because I probably would have been a lot more involved in this project than just a spectator.
Album recorded to tape at Soundfarm in Iowa.

http://www.myspace.com/dirtylittlerabbits

Here's an old live video of them before they started getting big and with their old guitar player before he got fired...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKZlKkTO8ak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsEom8Tk ... re=related

The Dead Weather --- Kind of reminds me of a downtempo Dirty Little Rabbits...similar configuration actually...female vocalist, keyboard player... OH YEAH and Jack White plays drums... And they already have a new album coming out...their debut Horehound is fully recommended.

http://www.myspace.com/thedeadweather

[timcoalman]

Your question was wide open so took some liberty in answering. I find that I use the following CDs as reference points continually because they have such a wide spread of production, instrumentation, and approaches to sound capture and reproduction. Of course I would hold out Swans: Soundtracks for the Blind as the one (double) album that still has such a range - from handheld tape recordinings to 24 track studios - that i am continually amazed. Mixed and mastered wonderfully. I am more a musician who sometimes records my own material and that of friends. So it might be proper to say this is the music that impacted me during the formative years (which seems to always be the years that we reference when undertaking our adult efforts).

African Voices, Songs of Life
Andreas Ammer & FM Einheit - Radio Inferno
Codeine - The White Birch
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Dirty Three - Ocean Songs, Horse Stories
Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
Einsturzende Neubauten ? Faustmusik and Heiner Muller ? Die Hamletmaschine,
Peter Gabriel ? Passion Movie Soundtrack ? The Last Temptation of Christ
Michael Gira/Swans - The Burning World, Children of God, World of Skin, Love of Life, Soundtracks for the Blind, Swans Are Dead, Various Failures
Japanese Masterpieces for Shakuhachi
Kodo
Lullaby for the Moon - Japanese Music for Koto and Shakuhachi
Kohachiro Miyata - Shakuhachi ? The Japanese Flute
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Shahen-Shah, Greatest hits Volume 2
Passion ? Sources (compilation)
Pellum 1-2-3
Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
Portishead
Shankar - Pancha Nadai Pallavi, M.R.C.S.
Talking Heads - Movie Soundtrack ? True Stories
Tool - Anima
Tom Waits - Bone Machine
Frank Zappa - Orchestral Favorites

[cgarges]

Check out the "Listening To Music" forum on here. Lots of good stuff worth investigating.

This thread in particular might be of interest:
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=66514


Also, check out the "Listen To My Stuff" forum. There are lots of really great, creative, and talented people right here on this board.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[DIY4track]

Crass was an anarcho punk rock band that was playing music from the late 70's to the early 80's.

Sex pistols was commercialzed, pre packaged and their cds would have come in happy meals as a toys for children if they could have gotten the rights for it.

Crass was influential, controversial and 'dangerous' at the time. They supported feminism, anarchism and peace.

There music isnt the typical punk sound either, there music gets very different sometimes, strange too.

listen to these songs as they encompass a spectrum of their music in a nutshell.

the first song is from their 2nd or 3rd cd, all female vocalists and instrumentalists.

Crass - Beta Motel

Crass - Bloody Revolutions

Crass - Big A little A

Crass - Walls (sounds like a dance track)

Its all produced on shoe string budgets... the quality was not meant to be perfect.

[came2rck]

weed dude