Music recs

[oyceter]

So! I somehow ended up with a $25 gift card to iTunes. I have not bought music in forever because I never know what to get.

Clearly, I need advice!

I go for both singles and albums, although right now, I'm leaning a little more toward albums, as I get lots of singles and never really get a chance to know artists better.

I generally like obnoxiously bouncy and peppy music and loud rock/alt country/rock-pop, since I usually listen to music while driving. Current favorites are the White Stripes' "Hotel Yorba," pretty much everything vonnie_k has recced ever, "30/90" from Tick, Tick, Boom, and Thea Gilmore's "This Girl Is Taking Bets," among many.

Or! Something sexy and gravelly like Leonard Cohen's "I'm Your Man" or something slow and deep and bittersweet and still singable like the cover of "The Queen and the Soldier."

Comments

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Christine Collister sounds intriguing...and I second the Johnny Clegg rec. And maybe Angelique Kidjo, too? She has lots of upbeat stuff. BLACK IVORY SOUL is a good starting place.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Oooh, yes, Angelique's stuff is yummy. And Baaba Maal, not quite as insanely bouncy as the South African stuff but still all sorts of catchy and pretty -- Nomad Soul is probably a good place to start, there's some English-language bits that help make it a bit more accessible.

Chris Collister is love, I just wish her solo stuff weren't so hard to find. Along with all the years of working with Richard Thompson, she and fellow Thompson-collaborator Clive Gregson have a bunch of albums out as a duo, and then she's done a few purely solo efforts. She's got a lovely rich resonant velvety alto, reminds me a bit of June Tabor or Mary Fahl from the October Project. (She's also got FABULOUS taste in songwriters; on The Dark Gift of Time, she covers stuff by Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Bruce Cockburn, and Billie Holiday.)