[ltr317]

My comments to JoshK's recommendations:

recommend a crossover, electronica pick
Postal Service - Give Up

A "super group" of Dntel, Death Cab's Ben Gibbard & the chick from ...can't remember, just excellent. [/quote]    The chick....is Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley (My favorite female singer and my favorite band in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!

[/quote] Might check out My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves & Z. [/quote]  I also like Evil Urges.

[/quote]Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha [/quote] This is a great album!


[/quote] can't believe no one recommended the Shins. [/quote] - I do.

Paul

[jqp]

I second/third Alan Parsons Project

Alan Parsons - engineer of Dark Side of the Moon

Alan Parsons Project - also I Robot



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgJA7lPkb1o

[Hicks]

Hopefully not repeats of others' suggestions. Hicks' choices are great!

So, based on my own collection, the suggestions have some similar feeling, structure or vocal style to the item you listed:

radiohead - the bends, ok computer / coldplay - a rush of blood to the head ~ I suggest: Death Cab for Cutie - Plans

depeche mode - ultra, violator ~ .. this one was the hardest for me since they are such icons and you selected much later albums than the classics I suggest: The Presets - Beams, and Unai - A Love Moderne

massive attack - mezzanine / portishead - dummy ~ I suggest: Emilia Torrini - Love In The Time Of Science, and Lamb - Between Darkness and Wonder   

thievery corporation - the richest man in babylon ~ I suggest: all thievery corp!, Kruder & Dorfmeister - The K&D Sessions, Tosca - Suzuki or Delhi9,  and Groove Armada - Vertigo

air - premiers symptomes / rokysopp - melody a.m. ~ I suggest: Trentemoller-The Last Resort, and Lemon Jelly - Lost Horizons

and check out..... Sigur Ros

have fun, ed

Nice selections here too!  Have you heard the Lemon Jelly EP comp lemonjelly.ky?  Lost Horizons is pretty good, but lemonjelly.ky is amazing! 

Grizzly Bear[/b]'s Veckatimest has been one of my favorite albums of the year.

Indeed, great album, I loved Grizzly Bear's previous album Yellow House too.  On a similar tip, but more sparse, I really enjoyed Bon Iver- For Emma Forever Ago from last year. 

[JP78]

Here is what I would grab:
Sound Tribe Sector 9 "Artifact" and "Peaceblaster" (Artifact first)
Galactic "From the Corner to the Block"
Blackalicious "Blazing Arrow"
Hot Chip "The Warning", "Made in the Dark"
Horrace Silver "Cape Verdian Blues"

sts9fan - i now understand where you get your moniker  . artifact was an exceptional album; peaceblaster i have earmarked but haven't yet listened through. they present a very interesting concept of electronic-funk jam band.

galactic and blackalicious i didn't find quite the fit in my hip hop listening sessions. i find myself gravitating towards the east cost hip hop style of the roots, tribe, talib, and mos def...just a fundamentally different presentation than the west coast flavor. the furthest to date i had made it in my exploration of west coast hip hop to this point was del, so thank you for the new exposure.

as for hot chip; well i found myself wanting to scorn them but still couldn't keep my foot from tapping and getting into the electropop music.  i haven't committed to the band yet, but i haven't yet found a way to admit to myself that i enjoy the silly pop fizz sound that has an undeniable groove .

i don't have access to cape veridian blues on rhapsody. would you recommend any of his other albums?

thanks for the recommendations.

[sts9fan]

I am glad you like sts9 and I know you will be trapped by Hot Chip.  They have an undeniable groove and the title track of "The Warning" is a great song. 

[K Shep]

My comments to JoshK's recommendations:

recommend a crossover, electronica pick
Postal Service - Give Up

A "super group" of Dntel, Death Cab's Ben Gibbard & the chick from ...can't remember, just excellent.

   

Thanks Paul,

I just ordered Postal Service - Give Up from Amazon. 

Kirk

[JoshK]

Its a great album Kirk, hope you enjoy.

[K Shep]

Wait...should I be thanking Josh? 

How about, thank you for the great recommendation Gentlemen.  I previewed the CD on Amazon and recognized one song and love the vocalist.  Order placed.

Kirk

[JP78]

A couple of things popped into my head...  check out:

Electronic:
Death in Vegas - Dead Elvis
St. Germain - Tourist

Jazz/jazz-funk:
Medeski Martin and Wood - Uninvisable, Combustication, Friday Afternoon in the Universe...
Jimmy Smith - Root Down

Hip-hop (jazzy flava):
Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Mauraders, Low End Theory
Digable Planets - Blowout Comb, Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)
Guru - Jazzmatazz

Since you mentioned many albums that I own as well, you may already know about or enjoy these as well:

DJ Krush, (DJ) Greyboy, DJ Shadow, or any old MoWax comps like Heads, or Heads 2

Jazz is at the root of everything that I mentioned with a bit of funk thrown it for good measure.  Hard to go wrong with any of the Blue Note reissues from the early-mid sixties...  great time for straightforward Jazz, and Blue Note has put out a lot of excellent compilations that can serve as a springboard to get deeper into the artists.  Grant Green is one of my favorites, and I was introduced to his music through one of those comps.

Sounds like you already have a good sized collection of music, Pandora or LastFM do pretty well with their suggestions, if you stay on top of it and rate a lot of the songs that come up.  Allmusic Guide is a good source too, click on their genre links and browse through the top artist lists.  Amazon even does a fair job of recommending other artists if you throw a few CDs that you like into your shopping cart and browse what other people picked up when they purchased the same titles.

Cheers,
Greg

man, you guys are not making it easy to catch up .

death in vegas - i gave it a quick listen through today in the car. certain tracks seem like real gems, but other parts are a bit to structured electronic for me (does that even mean anything?). i need to give this one another go when i'm up for the challenge.

i already have st germain, tribe, digable planets, and jazzmatazz. i also have a smattering of krush and shadow...will get my hands on some greyboy and mowax soon.  it seems we both share some excellent taste  .

years ago i picked up the mm&w album tonic and was completely turned off since. the selections you offered up are light years better...i haven't found a single album out of the bunch i can listen through sequentially and love the entire disc, but i'm certainly enjoying several tracks and and with all the mm&w albums out there i have a hunch i will track down one jam session that really agrees with me.

oh, and by the way, that grant green is an absolute badass. i was surprised to read of his influence to george benson as well as tribe called quest. i picked up green street, grantstand, and goin' west to start...from what i've heard so far, there's a lot more of grant green in my future  .

seriously, there is so much more music you guys have given me i think my head's going to split trying to wrap myself around it. what's a good ear equivalent to coffee beans at the fragrance counter? 

thanks so much,

jp

[funkmonkey]

JP-

I've been checkin' out a lot of the suggestions as well.  Cool that you are finding some to your liking.  I know what you mean about MMW, they wander into free jazz a bit, which can be hard to take (my wife hates them).  You might want to re-visit Galactic( I think that Live at Tipitinas is a better intro than From the Corner...)  they really are not a "hip-hop" band...  that influence is more recent and perhaps their least enjoyable facet.  Another jam-band to check out is a new one to me but this disc has been getting several replays since I got it a few months back...  Garaj Mahal - Blueberry Cave

I have yet to hear something I don't like by Grant Green.  My favorite discs from him include: Idle Moments, Matador, The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark, and you already mentioned Green Street.

An electronica disc that a friend turned me on to last year has become one of my favorites : Arsenal - Oyebo Soul  different vibe than Death in Vegas...  more in line with Thievery Corp.

For Greyboy Freestylin' and Mastered the Art were standouts for me.

Not like anything you mentioned but she has worked with both Guru and the Roots... Erykah Badu...  Baduizm (my favorite of hers) is a good listen all the way through and touches on several styles (it will also test the depth of the bass in your system)

Cheers

[Slowdown]

Great thread. I recently found allmusic.com. I am probably the last person to discover this site but it has a function where it will let you listen to albums,tracks or artists similar to what you are playing. Huge database with excellent suggestions.

[sts9fan]

I would argue the least enjoyable part of Galactic is/was Houseman.  That guy was a drain.   
I would not classify From the Corner westcoast exactly it really has a wide flavor due to all the guest mcs.  Not saying it's for everyone.  I also lime MR Lif who is a Boston mc on that album.

[JP78]

Awesome suggestions here, especially Death in Vegas- Dead Elvis, a forgotten electronica classic. 

Here are some suggestions to go along with your selections:

radiohead - the bends, ok computer

Muse- Absolution, Blackholes and Revelations

depeche mode - ultra, violator

The Notwist- Neon Golden, M83-Saturdays=Youth

coldplay - a rush of blood to the head

Elbow- The Seldom Seen Kid, Keane- Under the Iron Sea

massive attack - mezzanine

DJ Food- Kaleidoscope, The Orb- Orbus Terrarum

the roots - when things fall apart

Blue Scholars- Bayani, Madvillain- Madvillainy

thievery corporation - the richest man in babylon

Hint- Portakabin Fever

air - premiers symptomes

Fila Brazilia- Powerclown, Zero 7- Simple Things

pink floyd - dark side of the moon

Catherine Wheel- Happy Days

rokysopp - melody a.m.

Ralph Myerz- A Special Album

portishead - dummy

Tricky- Maxinquaye

ah, since work started this is the first time i've finally had more than a two hour time block to get back into the music. i haven't forgotten about all the recommendations...it just takes some time and the right frame of mind to listen to fresh music. and i'm going to try to resolve all the recommendations now in chronological order.

hicks - you da man! my profuse thanks for all the detailed recommendations. i've been meaning to get through your list for a while, but every recommendation here merited an uninterrupted listen through. even when i didn't like the music enough to purchase the album, i felt every item you listed deserved to be listened to for the sake of broadening my horizons.  you've successfully taken up countless hours of my spare time with one simple posting .

while i did end up having several of your selections, i ended up purchasing many of the recommendations. highlights for me were fila brazilia (still running through my ears) and muse; both artists i'm sure i will be revisiting works of when i feel the itch to explore more music.

thank you again, and please keep the suggestions coming. also, i've updated the original post in an effort to succinctly pass along all the help that has so kindly been offered here.

[JP78]

Not like anything you mentioned but she has worked with both Guru and the Roots... Erykah Badu...  Baduizm (my favorite of hers) is a good listen all the way through and touches on several styles (it will also test the depth of the bass in your system)

funkymonkey - in an effort to give something back, i'd recommend you check out the roots album i have listed 'things fall apart'. if you don't care for the hip-hop goodness, there are a couple stand out tracks featuring the very same ms. erykah badu that you mentioned  . if you're a fan of erykah, you need to specifically check out the track 'you got me' on that album...it's exceptional.

[Hicks]

.

hicks - you da man! my profuse thanks for all the detailed recommendations. i've been meaning to get through your list for a while, but every recommendation here merited an uninterrupted listen through. even when i didn't like the music enough to purchase the album, i felt every item you listed deserved to be listened to for the sake of broadening my horizons.  you've successfully taken up countless hours of my spare time with one simple posting .

while i did end up having several of your selections, i ended up purchasing many of the recommendations. highlights for me were fila brazilia (still running through my ears) and muse; both artists i'm sure i will be revisiting works of when i feel the itch to explore more music.

thank you again, and please keep the suggestions coming. also, i've updated the original post in an effort to succinctly pass along all the help that has so kindly been offered here.

Awesome, my pleasure!

There's a new Muse album dropping on 9/9 that I'm eagerly anticipating. 

Also for Fila Brazilia, the compilation of remixes they did for other artists titled "Brazilification" is outstanding as well.