Gijs Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 I'm looking for pop music that is interesting on a instrumental level. The term 'pop' is a bit misleading. I'm looking for music with let's say 'normal' siging voices. So no opera-like singing. The band/person who makes the music has to be alive and kicking. Do you know any 'pop' music that is interesting harmony-wise, instrumentation-wise, etc.? And that is active at this point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrsbit Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 There are plenty of obscure hipster bands playing weird music out there. I can even name some off the top of my head, having spent a sizeable amount of time in nerdier parts of the internet: Deerhoof, Giraffes? Giraffes!, Battles, Naked City, Animal Collective, and such, to pick random examples from a sea of names. Not that I care much for any of those, but they pretty much fit your description. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinjessome Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Just pick up a copy of SPIN Magazine. ;) Also, you might be looking for folks like: Patrick Watson Tom Waits ...just a few off the top my head that might be interesting enough. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebhines Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Coming from one of those "nerdier parts of the internet" that Ian mentioned, I'd have to say Jonathon Coulton (if you don't mind the occasional humorous song about monkeys, robots, and sea creatures -- although his new album tends to be more serious and sometimes more abstract). He's primarily a singer/songwriter, and the instrumental parts never really overshadow the song, but they do tend to have something interesting going on in them, whether it's neat chord progressions (he's admitted an over-fondness for half-diminshed chords and modulations to the flat-VI key), or some type of contrapuntal line, or just an interesting texture. He also has a good sense for how to layer a song -- when to build it up, and when to break it down. He's best known for the song "Still Alive" which underscored the credits on the video game Portal, and which he (with theramin and celesta) for his new album. But his repertoire is much more diverse. It's hard to pick out any one song that represents his entire style, but two that I think have particularly noteworthy instrumental accompaniments would be Creepy Doll (featuring some very contrasting sections, a bass drum that imitates a heartbeat, a descending chromatic line on a glockenspiel, and the use of canon to depict "following"), and, from his new album, Fraud (which features a bizarre poly-metric pseudo-counterpoint that somehow vaguely reminds me of a Bach invention). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maestrowick Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 heck, check me out on iTunes,"Sir Wick" : ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrcramer Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I like this: and the downward gliss, from 1:18 and later 2:04 is nice too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gijs Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Thanks guys! I found some cool stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicalRockerGirl777 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 have you heard of lady gaga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gijs Posted December 22, 2011 Author Share Posted December 22, 2011 have you heard of lady gaga Have you heard of McDonalds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClarkN Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 does Parov stelar count?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRtHYiWmsoA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gijs Posted December 22, 2011 Author Share Posted December 22, 2011 does Parov stelar count?: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=JRtHYiWmsoA Although it is nice music, I'm looking for music with voice and interesting instrumentals, harmony, maybe counterpoint etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
920bpm Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I would recommend: Dirty Projectors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4he_jgJrMCk and Cornelius and Shugo Tokumaru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinjessome Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 ... and Cornelius ... +1 for Cornelius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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