Radiohead reminds me of Pink Floyd a bit. Their album “OK Computer” the most.
Daniel Johnston comes to mind for some reason. His song “Story of an Artist” defines him best.

If you like Pink Floyd, try Porcupine Tree, they’ve been around for a while and have some great stuff.

Flyleaf is good, I think they were in the Die Hard 4.0 movie also.

It may not be your thing, but there are some nice Aussie bands out there, try Cog or even Dead Letter Circus.

You may even like Ashes Divide or A Perfect Circle.

Love that Soosdon video – Though the music isn’t what I typically listen to (I’m more of an old-school Jazz fan myself), I’ve definitely got an appreciation for a variety of eccentric musics thanks to my parents and a few professors in college – something I’m extremely thankful for.

Although it’s classically said to be a trait of getting old, I don’t think it’s actually the case here. I have always had a very diverse taste in music, I like some old crap, some new crap… touching on damn near anything but rap, R&B and “new” country.

That being said, mass majority of the stuff that’s come out since around 2001 has just been SHIT. It doesn’t matter if they’re new artists with their first album or old artists I’ve liked for a long time… I seriously cannot think of a single album I’ve truly loved that has been released since the turn of the century. Yes there have been a few good singles… but not a single album that I’d want to throw on repeat and realize 5 hours later that I never loaded up anything else.

Sad to say, but I see the same trend in TV and movies as well. Pulling up my torrent RSS feeds, I have a whopping 16 shows set to download (essentially the same thing as setting a TiVo to record the show, except I don’t record them myself). Of those 16, only half are US shows… and of those only 3 are shows I actually watch (the others are for my partner).

The media industry, at least in the US, has just gone to crap. I think they’re too bogged down in “protecting” their content and are failing to notice that most of it is so crappy it’s not WORTH protecting. *sigh* What’s one to do?

Take a look at pandora.com. You seed a radio station with an artist or song, and they play songs with similar qualities. It might not be good for finding something completely new and different, but it’s really good for finding lesser-known bands.

Me and Lazy Peon must be the same person!

Im currently wearing my Porcupine Tree shirt at work that I got from their concert last month in Sydney… First ever Australia tour in 20 years of playing.
(This on a shirt!

And then I’m seeing Cog next week in the Gong. Should be EPIC!

Here is a list of good stuff I suggest:

1. Porcupine Tree – Fear of a Blank Planet, Blackest Eyes, Lazarus, Trains… everything!
2. Cog – My Enemy, Run, What If
3. Butterfly Effect – A Slow Descent, Without Wings
4. Karnivool – Themata, Lifelike
5. Incubus – Vitamin, Certain Shade of Green
And if your feeling gutsy for some heavier / darker metal:
6. Opeth – Serenity Painted Death, Deliverance
7. Katatonia – Evidence, July, My Twin

Tekkub… take a look at 1->4 of mine… if its your type of music, then you’ll like the whole albums :)

I found Cruxshadows through Ringo as well…. I liked the Lyrics to Winterborn that hes used in at least 2 books i’ve read, and took a chance and got a Store to order in Dreamcypher for me. As a semi goth its ideal! They are awesome!

I have a rather ecclectic music taste, and some of the bands I’ve discovered lean more to metal/electro/orchestral/Rock/Opera so with no apologies..
If you like Flyleaf try some of the following Nightwish ( old and new. ) Epica ( think orchestral metal)
Sirenia, Within Temptation, Tristania, Lucuna Coil, Kidney Thieves, ( they did soundtrack for Game Dues Ex Invisible war) Scarling, Jackoffjill In this Moment, Battlelore – those are also mainly Female lead vox , I like Breaking Benjamin – not Emo.. have a steady Rock sound without heading down the commercial feel of Snow Patrol and The Fray

Yes, I’d advise Nightwish and Within Temptation as well. They are a bit more musical than what I heard from Flyleaf, but they certainly go in the direction of Evanescence… or rather, Evanescence goes in their direction ;) If you don’t mind (rock-)operatic singers every now and then, they’re really good.

How about “lostprophets”?

wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lostprophets) puts it as:

“Lostprophets are a Welsh band formed in 1997. They have produced several demos (none of which are still produced commercially), three studio albums and eleven singles. Their first album, Thefakesoundofprogress, was originally recorded in a week for £5,000 (GBP) and intended as a demo, but the band re-recorded and re-released the album on a much wider scale through Columbia Records in the USA, although they remain with Visible Noise in the UK. They released Start Something in 2004, and Liberation Transmission in 2006, both to mixed reviews and commercial success.”

They’ve a website at http://www.lostprophets.com/ and MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/lostprophets (allthough I’m clearly not cool enough to know what the MySpace page is there for, as it doesn’t seem to have any content when I go to it!)

Some of their Tunes have fun gaming and movie references in them, too, just as a bonus.

(Disclaimer – I’ve nothing to do with them – they’re just my favourite “drive to work” music at the moment…)

I like going to I-Tunes and picking an old song I like and following the “also bought by others”trail. Listen to the samples and I am usually surprised by what I find.
I also listen to the freebie of the week just to hear new things.

If you like Evanescense, try Lacuna Coil.

I would also recommend Porcupine Tree, often compared to Pink Floyd but they are a pretty diverse band and you can get a lot from them. They are probably my favorite band.

You might want to have a use of http://www.last.fm it’s a great website for finding new music and of course great for tracking what you listen to if you’re into that sort of thing.

Da Yoopers? That’s about the last thing I would have thought of reading in a blog about WoW. You just made this guy from the UP’s day.

Here are several bands that I think would fit into your taste. Bear in mind that some of tehm may fall into teh “prepackaged” crap category, but are actually very good.

Here you go:

3 Doors Down – Thier new disk absolutely rocks!
Shinedown
Disturbed
Hoobastank
Royal Bliss
Foo Fighters
Alter Bridge
Paramore
Sixx AM – Nikki Sixx side project
The Donnas – very cool chick rock
Submersed
12 Stones
Killswitch Engage – Does an awesome cover of “Holy Diver”
Skillett

That should keep you busy for a bit.

Couple groups come to mind – H.I.M. (because you like Evanescence) and Tool (just because they really rock and they have a Pink Floydish style in what they do. They don’t sound like PF, but they approach music in a similar fashion.)

Since you use iTunes there are some great ways to discover music. There are some great podcasts from NPR and some other sources that cover just music. Some of them even provide a ’song of the day’. I found this was a great way to discover some excellent Indie groups and international artists as well as some up and comers in rock:

Irish and Celtic Music Podcast
KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic
KCRW’s Today’s Top Tune
KEXP Song of the Day
MPR: The Current Song of the Day
NPR: All Songs Considered
NPR: Live Concerts from All Songs Considered
NPR: Music Podcast
NPR: Second Stage
NPR: Thistlepod with Fiona Ritchie
WMMR: Jaxon’s Local Shots
WMMR’s Preston and Steve Podcast (a morning talk show, not music, but these guys are effin’ hilarious and I think you might just get hooked if you listen to them. They take their daily broadcast and podcast it mon thru fri.)

Hope this helps.

Bronc/Willowbear

Since no one has mentioned it yet..

System of a Down

They rarely see radio time. They’ve kinda fallen off the face of the earth as of late/might even have broken up but I still love killing stuff in this game with their tunes pumping in my veins. Toxicity and Hypnotize FTW! If you’re looking for hard, they’ve got it.

Oh yeah, you could try Stabbing Westward, Type O Negative, Rammstein..sorry for the double comment..

Well if you want ‘killing stuff’ music:

System of a Down
Serj Tankian (lead singer for System of a Down, very distinctive vocals)
Disturbed
Drowning Pool (”Bodies” for those hardcore multi-mob pulls – Let the bodies hit the floor…let the bodies hit the floor – this song just plain rocks, in fact I just had to play it while writing this!)
Static-X (great killing stuff music, I’ve seen a number of wow videos with their songs – Machine)
Korn
Saliva
Sum 41
Ministry
White Zombie
Rob Zombie

Don’t know if anyone has mentioned this one yet but if you like Evanessence you might like Jem. They did the song from Ultraviolet, and also a song or 2 on The OC. They don’t rock quite as hard as Evanessance, but I like them all the same. You might also like Chicane. Kind of Techno (my hubbys says the genre is actaully Trance) but more ethereal. It’s got the driving beat of techno but with some good music.

“I’m So Sick” reminded me a bit of the group Garbage — they’re not quite as heavy on the wall-of-sound thing, but check it out.

And I still am awfully fond of the group Great Big Sea, which is a completely different thing.

And check this out — heard about it on CNet’s Buzz Out Loud tech podcast the other day:
http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/05/20/bbcs-sound-index-is-good-but-we-wont-get-the-data/

Once you do find stuff you like (I suggest Dresden Dolls, Rasputina, and Dan le Sac vs. Scoobius Pip) try to find it on live365.com since yer first complaint was the local radio stations, there’s a truck load of stuff on there, tailored to whatever DJ you happen to find, and it’s free.

Also if you want samples of stuff browse myspace for a bit, lots of bands have pages now and you can listen to a few tracks and buy them right there if yer feeling the need.

@Stale

YESS, somebody mentioned Opeth before I did.

Considering you dig on some old school thrash, if you haven’t gotten Megadeth’s United Abominations yet, it’s killer, and Cristina from Lacuna Coil guests on an update of “A Toute Le Monde”.

Other than that, if you want some good, crazy, heavy stuff, check out Meshuggah and Lamb of God.

Check out pandora.com. It’s an online radio station where you put in bands or songs you like and it plays similar types of music. It is a great way to hear stuff that you may not have known about.

They are a little old but the Pixies have several kick ass albums. Their best song is Where’s my mind.

In my mind anyone who likes rock must LOVE Pink Floyd :D Same goes for Led. Rock’s my fav genre.

Radiohead (all around artsy feel, a lot of electronic sounds)
Tool (my fav band of all time)
Pantera (down and dirty metal)
Rush (pretty sure you already know these guys)
Phish (for the hippie in you)
Rage against the Machine (because it’s the truth)

This is a very brief list, but I’ll take this opportunity to confirm that YES, the majority of new stuff today pales in comparison to classic rock. The heart of the music, the art, takes a back seat to making a profit. It’s sad.

Tekkub – the younger generation has been producing crap, according to its preceding generations – since pretty much forever. I still have, somewhere around here, a copy of the letter of complaint from some Austrian elders of a few years back about that crap the youngsters are dancing to — they call it a “waltz” or some such nonsense… Knowledge of history makes me laugh when it rhymes.

BBB, my recommendation (like you have the time) is to do something where the folk who DO listen to all this hang out and have freedom to listen to whatever they want. Bad news, of course, is that a lot of them have moved their music to MP3 players and listen on buds/phones, so you can’t hear it anyway. Second best is to do a random walk across music sites and sites where music gets played. As an example, get your d10 ready, go to youtube, enter “music” for a search term, then d10 and pick the number – and keep going. yes, you’ll eventually wander into WTF zones – just start over. (For that matter, you get WTF zones when listening to the kids.)

I remember a study we reviewed in my Consumer Behavior class (10+ years ago) that demonstrated that there is a strong correlation between Age and our favorite music. The researchers chose a list of songs that spanned from the 1920s to the most recent music of the time. The songs chosen were near the top of the charts for the year they were popular, but they purposely excluded the #1 songs. They then conducted a study where people of many diverse age groups would rate the music. They concluded that the music the year that the listener was roughly the age of 22 was most appealing. The belief is that our listening preferences are formed in our late teens and early twenties. You can see the effects of this research all the time in our advertising today. The next time you watch a car commercial, take notice of the music that is playing. The music is purposely selected to be appealing to the desired demographic.

please send the list to me too!

Pandora.com rocks

I still listen to King Crimson if that tells you anything about my misspent youth

Recently started subscribing to http://www.emusic.com/ which has no major labels and is all un-DRMed mp3. If you crawl around there there is some interesting stuff. It works out pretty cheap per song and the first month they give you 50 free!!

Other music sites that try to connect you with music like yours are MOG.com which I really like, and this thing called iLike which can link with iTunes as a side-bar and gives you recommendations there.

Rock wise my most recent discovery is Audrey Horne, great name if you remember the connection, and their album Le Fol. Modern rock with a kind of an old school feel.

BBB,
Irish and Celtic Music Podcast – is a podcast not related to NPR
NPR: Thistlepod with Fiona Ritchie – this is NPRs celtic music podcast if you couldn’t tell from the host’s name. I love the name Fiona)

Looks like we share a lot of the same tastes. My tastes are pretty eclectic so there a number of genres that I haven’t listed anything for that I enjoy. Blues is my favorite genre. I’ve been collecting CDs for years now (and yes I’m old enough that I still have LPs and 45s and know what an 8-track is and looks like as well as listened to them). My collection is large enough that I can’t fit all of my music on a 60gig iPod. I think I could even give an 80gig a run for the money. So if you need a source to sample from I can supply a lot.

In regard to no good newer music there are a couple groups that I’ve discovered on my own and some through my son:

The Killers
Wolfmother
Avenged Sevenfold
My Chemical Romance

The Killers are the first group that I’ve run into in a long time that I have bought every album.

Bronc/Willowbear

B3,
As others have stated, Tool is very Floydian. I eased in with AEnema, then the rest of the albums (Opiate, Undertow, 10,000 Days, Lateralus)

I am a big guitar fan, Rodrigo y Gabriela (flamenco guitar, badass), Tom Morello is a god especially when he played with Rage Against the Machine (my politics have swayed since first listening to this band though), The Nightwatchman. Yngwie Malmstein, Steve Vai

Ska/Punk – Sublime, Might Mighty Bosstones
Irish Folk/Punk – Flogging Molly
Boston Punk – The Dropkick Murphy’s (also do quite a bit of Irish Folk)

@sid67 (and BBB), probably Holbrook and Schindler (1989) (more completely, Holbrook, M.B., and Schindler, R.M. (1989). Some Exploratory Findings on the Development of Musical Tastes., Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 16, 119-124.)

I highly recommend Amir and Mazar’s 2007 study on the subject. (Download from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=980078) Basically, they appear to have determined the link isn’t AGE, it’s IDENTITY. The music (movies, cars, clothes, etc) that tie to your sense of self at the time you formed an independent identity is going to be your preference. There are logical outgrowths not tested. For example, if your identity did not tie to a type of music, then you are less likely to identify that type of music as preferred. (I need to point out that Amir and Mazar used movies instead of music to avoid the potential flaws Holbrook and Schindler identified).

The consequence of this is that if your “identity” was eclectic on a material, or if the material was insignificant as an aspect of your “identity”, you will probably continue to have eclectic tastes in regard to that material.

The key time is that vague period when you quit being someone identified as “someone else’s so-and-so” and become “you”. In Holbrook and Schindler’s study the peak of that curve was 23.47 years of age, but there were hits in the mid-teens and others in the late 30s. Whatever is part of the, “Hey, I am ME.” realization stays part of you pretty much for the rest of your life – with exceptions and variations.

If I want a radio station that doesn’t sound like all the other ones, we have a local station owned by BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) that plays songs I don’t hear anywhere else on the air — they also have a streaming feed. http://wber.monroe.edu/site/html/index.php The shows vary in quality, but I always hear something new. (Perhaps because I don’t listen to them all the time.)

If you haven’t discovered Jonathan Coulton yet, give him a listen, too. http://www.jonathancoulton.com/store/downloads/
Frequently recommended: “Skullcrusher Mountain” http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/Skullcrusher%20Mountain and “Re: Your Brains” http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/Re%20Your%20Brains I think both of those have showed up as soundtracks to WoW Machnima (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ryNJVreiY and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjMiDZIY1bM) , so you may have heard them already.

(Sorry for the link overload.)

This thread rocks. Knew about last.fm, but not about pandora.com.

I’ve got a Zune and the Zune Marketplace has the “related” bands/songs/etc. but it’s definitely not as “smart” as pnadora.com is.

Thanks!

Pink Floyd were a great band but thier music is depressing!

Kirk, yea I know that’s the classic history… the point I was trying to make was that I feel I have a diverse taste in music and am open to most anything. The other half of the classic history is that the younger generation doesn’t like the older generation’s music either, which has never been that case for me. I seem to like and hate music equally across the generations… except now the new stuff. And as I said, it’s not just new artists I’m not liking. There have been artists I’ve loved for years, artists who I have their entire discography… and their newest albums just don’t grab me.

Let me paint the picture in another way. Back in “the day” I ripped every CD I had to mp3. I downloaded whole albums en masse. in the course of probably 3 years my music library exploded with a wide array of new and old music. But in the past 4 years or so I’ve picked up maybe 2 dozen new albums… and those one can’t even grab my interest.

Ugh, who knows, maybe I should just accept that no matter how I try to not fit the stereotype, I really am just old. Damnit I’m only 25!

You might like Corvus Corax. They’re a German band that plays early music on bagpipes and drums, but in a very hard driving style. I think the genre is called “folk metal”. As a bonus, they look like they belong in WoW….

Two similar acoustic bands are Wolgemut and L’Ensemble Cercamon.

If you want to get re-immersed in the music scene that surrounded you when you were younger – have kids. Share all of the good stuff you listened to when you were still in school. Then when they hit JHS and HS, listen when they say, “Hey, listen to what Timmy (or Brad, or Kyle, or whoever) let me borrow today.” Let them play their music in the car -loud. Pay attention when they rave about their fav band of the week.

Some of the bands I have been exposed to through my teenagers: Emure, System of a Down, Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu…..gah! I’m getting old and drawing a complete blank! I’ll have to come back and post again when I check out their CDs. *grin*

Neile thanks for the heads up on Corvus Corax. They sound very cool, now I’ll need to get hold of their music. I just checked out there music (btw they HAVE a WoW vid on you tube) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7TLcHIjOw8&feature=related

One thing I’ve noticed here in the UK is that the “youth of today” don’t seem to have the same fascination with live acts that I did in my youth…

Many of the “festivals” now are DJ events where someone plays mixes of tunes, rather than playing the music…

At least two twenty year olda I’ve talked to recently had NEVER been to a live gig… I soon corrected that when I found out…

Well BBB, we are about the same age. Aghast at turning 40 this year. My origin of musical tastes come from the 70’s, High school was the early 80’s. I chose the new wave/punk rock route. Ill give you one album and song from each decade that I like(ed)…

70’s – ZZ Top, Rio Grande Mud (album) or Ramones, 53rd and 3rd (song)
80’s – The Police,Ghost in the Machine (album) or The Butthole Surfers, I saw an X-Ray or a girl passing gas (song)
90’s – Soundtrack, Pulp Fiction (album) or Cypress Hill & Sonic Youth, I love you Mary Jane (song)
00’s – The Killers, Hot Stuff or Aesop Rock, None Shall Pass (song)

@ Stobnor

They are missing out… My first live gig was when I was 16… Since then, I go to every gig I can get my hands on (and can afford). This year alone, I have been to 6 or 7 concerts and 3 festivals and its only May!

Dude…the most important website you will ever use:

http://www.pandora.com

Heh, late to the party, but if any one is still reading I’ll add at least $0.02.

Noted above, but good enough to repeat:
The Donnas
Tool
Phish
Might Mighty Bosstones

Was VERY surprised it took as long as it did to see ANY Ska. Too many ggod groups here to name, so start with:
Mephiskapheles
The Toasters
Madness
Reel Big Fish

More recent that I didn’t see above:
Weezer
Belle and Sebastian
Green Day
The Brian Setzer Orchastra

One Offs (love the songs, don’t know the group):
The Gourds – Gin and Juice
Los Lobos – Hotel California

And finally, while he has good albums, if he is EVER near you, go see John Eddie live!

Definitely late to the party, and I saw that BigBunz tossed a couple in there that I have listened to a lot. Nothing like throwing The Killers in the truck on a hot Montana day before some whitewater rafting. A couple of other bands/songs that I’ve been turned on to have been from the downloadable content from the XBox game Rock Band (My other addiction in addition to some hot druid bear tanking action).

The Strokes – Reptilia
Wolfmother – Joker and the Thief
Finger 11
Social Distortion
Rehab – Sittin’ at a Bar (Not little Bear friendly)
The Killers

Da Yoopers made my day too. Catching those UP radio stations across Lake Superior around deer opener to rousing a rendition of “Da Turdy Point Buck” brought me back to my youth stomping around the Arrowhead on MN where I grew up. ;)

………..having read the Da Yoopers thread and dutifully come back here to post =)

Powerhouse female vocalists huh? Really not my thing – I think I was put off by the crazy radio overplaying of Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart when I was a kid and it was number 1 for like 6 months or something. That’s a song I actually have to switch off or leave the room if I hear it.

However, totally agree with the Donnas, I love ‘em. Ramones mixed with AC/DC with female vocals. Top!

Anyway I am suggesting all these assuming you might be able to ‘try before you buy’ off the internets somewhere.

So I’m trekking through my iTunes looking for female vocals and avoiding the softer side…..

90’s Indie Rock or similar style – Curve – Die Like a Dog?, Daisy Chainsaw – Love Your Money?, Elastica, Lush, Juliana Hatfield, PJ Harvey, The Breeders, 50 Foot Wave

Oldies but goodies – Hazel O’Connor – Will You?, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Starship, Grace Slick

Rockers – L7 – Shitlist, Skunk Anansie – try Weak, reckon you will like that

Not female vocals, not hard rock either but I have a feeling you might get something out of Hamell on Trial.

I am probably repeating stuff that was already named with this playlist:

Within Temptation – Deceiver of Fools (favorite song by my still favorite band)
Opeth – Damnation (whole album)
Tristania – Wormwood
Theater of Tragedy – Cassandra
Sins of thy beloved – Lake of Sorrow (my personal Lord of the Rings reading soundtrack)
Edenbridge – Starlight Reverie
Sirenia – Sister Nightfall
Nightwish – Walking in the Air
Björk – Hunter (not goth metal but great)
Wolfsheim – Blind (not female I know … still …)
Vintersorg – Cosmic Genesis

Have you tried http://last.fm – they have a “listen to bands like ….” feature which has already brought me a few nice ones. They even have social features (friendslists and you can see what songs your friends liked … though a colleague warned me they are only feeding their data to the music industry … oh whatever … )

Check out the “Infinity” Album by Beto Vasquez who brought together 3 female goth metal singers to make a really nice album. I think my favorite song from that album must be “Sadness in the Night”.

For some middle-agey metal try:

Haggard
In Extremo (mostly German texts though)
Subway to Sally (also German)

From what you named above with Evanescence, Flyleaf and Cruxshadows you might consider coming to Germany to attend the M’era Luna festival if you’re much into goth metal, dark wave and electronic industrial :D I still hope we’re going this year: http://www.meraluna.de/ (though I personally find this years lineup weird …)

Well hope you find some good stuff and have more fun with music again!

Bye Yashima

Well, it seems to me that the listing of mainstream bands has finally started to die off, and now you’re getting into foreign/otherwisenonmainstream bands being suggested.

I noticed that someone already mentioned Skillet (I’ll second that one, though I give warning that they ARE a band that focuses on Christian lyrics), and you yourself said that Flyleaf was enjoyable, so I’m not all that worried about suggesting Disciple or Demon Hunter. Both tend to have a fairly harsh sound, especially the latter of the two. Thousand Foot Krutch tends a bit more towards a rock-hiphop feel, but they’re also quite decent.

BBB, My son is the producer of a band named “Red”. Based on the stuff you like, you should really give them a listen. They just got off tour with Flyleaf.
Video “Already Over” just premiered on MTV2 Saturday night during Flyleaf’s playlist.

Site=http://www.redmusiconline.com/palebird/index.html

Video= http://www.musicremedy.com/r/Red/videos/Already_Over-20719.html

Go to Pandora.com, put in bands you like and it will give you similar music, internet radio with a twist.