Music/Bands you think are really pushing the bounds these days

[CharlesB]

What acts/ albums etc. Do you feel over the past few years and currently are pushing the boundaries of music/pop/ etc

For me it'd be:
Klaxons
LCD Soundsystem
The Rapture
Wilco
Nels Cline
Gnarls Barkley

 

[zaika]

Bjork.

 

[Brad Bowers]

I wouldn't know, I don't listen to modern music.lol

Brad

 

[Feraud]

There seem to be a lot of music related threads recently..

 

[CharlesB]

There seem to be a lot of music related threads recently..

Music is a sign of a joyous world.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

and 'pushing the bounds' just screams "golden era'.......

 

[Feraud]

Music is a sign of a joyous world.

I agree. Just wondering if we could concentrate our ideas into as few threads as possble. It might make life easier for someone who is looking for the info..

 

[sweetfrancaise]

Ooh, music that's pushing the bounds?

Noisettes
West Indian Girl
Cold War Kids
Modest Mouse
Yeasayer

As to whether "and 'pushing the bounds' just screams "golden era'", well, why not? There's no such thing as a period without change, and music evolved just as everything else did.

I think that this thread doesn't quite fit into the others that have been posted. It's a huge topic, covering all sorts of possibilities. How does music change us, our culture, how we view past years? How has the past half-century evolved to get to the point we're at now?

Look at Django Reinhardt, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby. They all changed the music of the golden era. Swing and jazz were brand new to pop culture and pushed many boundaries of what was considered acceptable. I mean, look at the way dancing changed due to the trends in music between the beginning of the 20th century and the end of WWII, a major social movement changing relationships. I'm probably not articulating myself as well as others could, those with a bit more knowledge of music history, but I think this thread has a deserved place here.

 

[Feraud]

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=20159

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=21707

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=15222

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=18411

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=27874

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=27879

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=27672

I have no objections about the discussion of music, its influence on us, how it has changed, etc. etc.
Just saying it might be tough to remember in what thread we read about that particular band..

 

[jayem]

Les Savy Fav
Bjork (for sure!)
Animal Collective
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Team Sleep
Radiohead to an extent...

I can go on....

 

[pigeon toe]

Cocorosie!

 

[Deleted member 3716]

the most innovative band i heard lately are from the 60's
do you think this means i'm not Down With The Kids? lol

they are called the Silver Apples.
i was literally blown away when i heard them.
i was sure it was some trendy electronic dudes.

from wikepedia:


The group grew out of a traditional rock back called The Overland Stage Electric Band, working regularly in the East Village. Simeon was the singer, but began to incorporate a 1940s vintage audio oscillator into the show, which alienated the other bands members to the extent that the group was eventually reduced to the duo of Simeon and Taylor, at which point they renamed themselves The Silver Apples, after the William Butler Yeats poem The Song of the Wandering Aengus. The arsenal of oscillators used eventually grew, according to their first LP liner notes, to include "nine audio oscillators piled on top of each other and eighty-six manual controls to control lead, rhythm and bass pulses with hands, feet and elbows". Simeon devised a system of telegraph keys and pedals to control tonality and chord changes, and reportedly never learned to play traditional piano-styled keyboards or synthesizers.

 

[Quigley Brown]

My opinion is that music can only go so far in originality and innovation before it becomes the same stuff, just different artist. I think all originality and innovation in music ended around the year 2000.

 

[CharlesB]

how can i forget The Go! Team

 

[KL15]

As a music major, I don't think anyone's really pushed the bounds for about 15 years now. And that's not anyones fault, the industry doesn't allow for much of that anymore. Sad.

 

[pablocham]

Jay Reatard
The DC Snipers
No Bunny: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jgIgLjgIk90

 

[SamMarlowPI]

As a music major, I don't think anyone's really pushed the bounds for about 15 years now. And that's not anyones fault, the industry doesn't allow for much of that anymore. Sad.

seconded...ed...

 

[Riley Dee]

TG!T

how can i forget The Go! Team

Ditto...

CharlesB, you may have already heard the album, but if you like The Go! Team, Caribou's new-ish album Andorra might be worth checking out:

http://www.myspace.com/cariboumanitoba

 

[Blackjack]

Interesting...I wrote an article on this some years back. To get to the point of it, even though there are an infinite number of musical combinations as far as notes go, the number of "workable" or musically pleasing combinations is very limited within the confines of a musical form. Since the era of pop music really started around the turn of the century there have been millions of songs written. Every workable combination of melodies and chords has pretty much been covered. It would be almost impossible to write a totally unique melody line today. Someone, somewhere by this point has used it. So we change slightly or rearrange to make original music today, but folks as the man said "It's all been done before".
So when Grandma says "They don't write em like that anymore" she's right, and they never will.

 

[CharlesB]

Interesting...I wrote an article on this some years back. To get to the point of it, even though there are an infinite number of musical combinations as far as notes go, the number of "workable" or musically pleasing combinations is very limited within the confines of a musical form. Since the era of pop music really started around the turn of the century there have been millions of songs written. Every workable combination of melodies and chords has pretty much been covered. It would be almost impossible to write a totally unique melody line today. Someone, somewhere by this point has used it. So we change slightly or rearrange to make original music today, but folks as the man said "It's all been done before".
So when Grandma says "They don't write em like that anymore" she's right, and they never will.

In all honesty, I do not think it is required to be simply about song structure or lyrics. The way in which technology is going we are able to craft new sounds, formerly impossible rhythms, the sonic textures and palette today is what I find most appealing.