What music do I need?

I am going to go on a minor iTunes spending spree.

What music should I get?

Caveat: this is input for the output range of the Mighty iPod Oracle, so be careful what you recommend.

My tastes are not as limited as the current iTunes list might indicate - a large fraction of our music collection is on "cassette" and "LP" Gramophone Record... (including, sadly, much of my classic Icelandic rock collection) - I need to get digital copies of these, but have moral resistance to paying for the same music again - what I really need is a handy ADC gadget for Macs (hm, google time? oh, yes. Interesting...).

I will of course feel free to laugh incredulously, sneer, or giggle at any suggestions - but since I am old, out of touch and generally unhip, I can also anxiously seize upon actual helpful suggestions...

Tags

More like this

I'm getting a little sick of the current rotation on iTunes, which means it's probably time for another shopping spree. I've got a couple of albums on my list to buy already (the new Tom Petty, the new Richard Thompson), and I've heard a couple of good tracks on KEXP that I'll check out (new songs…
Friday, rainy friday. We go back to the Fountain of All Wisdom, and ask the Mighty iPod a more refined question. Oh, Mighty iPod: are there gauge fields, hidden in the Standard Model, which show up as extra hair on astrophysical black holes, and could we see evidence for this in measurements of…
Oh boy, a jet lagged friday. So we ask the migthy one an easy one. Wazzup? Tell us, oh Great iPod - whence now, scientifically and generally? Whoosh goes the randomizer. Whoosh. The Covering: Another Man's Done Gone - Billy Bragg The Crossing: Avalon - Roxy Music The Crown: Old Brass Wagon - Twin…
The iPod giveth, and the iPod taketh away. Back in the day, there was this technology called "audio tape," which people used to record music. On a typical tape, you could record maybe ten or elevent pop songs, and then you had to flip it over, and record another ten or eleven songs on the other…

Me personally, I'm pretty sure you need some Calexico. I only have Garden Ruin, which everyone says is a significant change from their earlier stuff, so maybe it's the best. Took me a few listenings to the first cut (I know, they don't "cut" anything any more), "Cruel", to convince myself that yes, it is indeed a protest song. The music is also... well, just listen to the clips on iTunes.

By Johnny Vector (not verified) on 18 Jul 2006 #permalink

The 2 Tone Collection: A Checkered Past - might want to pick and choose. You already have some of the songs, but I really like that one.

And for something totally different, Carl Hancock Rux - Rux Review. Just plain awesome.

Try the Mediaeval Babes. Mirabilis is quite good.

About a year ago I discovered "Electro-Shock Blues" by the Eels, which is amazing, but you might also try "An Evening at Town Hall" by the same. The Mustard Plug "Masterpieces" collection would be choice, as well. Or maybe something by Neil Hamburger.

Head over to head-fi.org and check out their music forum. Or, use pandora.com to discover a few artists. perhaps a visit to last.fm may also give you some ideas.

Hey Steinn, I got my wife this for her birthday ... all the vinyl she accumulated in the 80s is now in her iTunes. Works very well!

scott h.

These guys,
http://www.davestruestory.com/

Jane Birkin's "Arabesque"

Bill Cosby/Quincy Jones, "Original Jam Sessions: 1969"

Gil Evans "Out of the Cool".

At least, thats whats on my iTunes right now...

Modest Mouse is nicely dark and brooding--plus the last time I was in Iceland they played the "Float On" video every 5 minutes in the dorm room I stayed in and I still liked it!

Dar Williams, if you don't have already, politi-folk/pop, depending on her mood (and the time period) the "Mortal City" album is her best. Added bonus is that it would provide interesting lyrics for the iChing.

Arcade Fire--kick ass canuk indie band

And recently downloaded the iTunes free single of the band Office which I am listening too now

If you're looking for something different....

Lately I've been on a big 60s/70s Italian film soundtrack kick. It's about the only thing I can listen to uncritically lately. Classic Italian soundtracks veer back and forth among pop, jazz, classical, and experimental styles -- often all within a single track. There's a compilation out there somewhere called "Beat at Cinecitta" that provides a nice introduction to the more poppish stuff. I'm particularly fond of the tracks from Fumo de Londres by Piero Piccione.

Ennio Morricone -- the score from Danger: Diabolik is one of the greatest things that has ever existed. There's no "official" soundtrack release (the original studio tapes were lost), but if you poke around the sharity blogs you can sometimes find this ripped and edited from the DVD soundtrack. (Arrr, me hearties, 'tis worth the risk, it is.)

Also, Morricone's score from Bird with the Crystal Plumage is fantastic. There's much more to Morricone than spaghetti westerns (although Once Upon a Time in the West is gorgeous). Morricone's cheap throwaway scores for forgettable gialli are often better than most composers' major works -- he's a genius.

Riz Ortolani (Mondo Kane) is fun and kitsch. Bruno Nicolai is uneven, but Lord knows there's lots of it. Piero Piccione's stuff is especially jazzy -- he's like the Italian Quincy Jones.

If you're in a more high-brow frame of mind, of course, there's those wonderful Nino Rota scores for Fellini.

Beethoven's 5th and 7th symphonies by Carlos Kleiber and the Vienna Philharmonic. If it's not on iTunes, get it anyway on CD. Amazing: best classical recording ever, strap yourself into a chair for the first movement of the 5th.