General Music Discussion - Discover New Music!

Off-Topic
#1

Let’s talk about and share music!

To borrow from a similar thread elsewhere, this thread can serve as a new outlet for finding and sharing tracks and artists. See what your fellow Rokkenjimans are listening to, their views on various genres, or maybe what they’re creating! Share what you’re listening to, your views on various genres, artists, tracks, etc. If you make or tinker with music or covers, share them here!

Some template discussion points:

  • What’s your favorite genre? How’d you get into it?
  • Any favorite songs or artists right now?
  • If you were stranded on an island and had only one CD to listen to, what would it be?

Alright, Club Rokkenjima! No penalty games here, but let’s put our heart into it anyway! Go!

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Introduce Yourself!
Introduce Yourself!
Introduce Yourself!
Introduce Yourself!
Introduce Yourself!
Introduce Yourself!
Introduce Yourself!
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Introduce Yourself!
#2

I recently discovered just how much I like Akiko Shikata, the artist behind the Umineko and Higurashi opening songs. There are a lot of artists who have a couple of good songs and a lot of… meh ones, so I don’t usually investigate artists a whole lot, but she’s been consistently good throughout her entire discography, only getting better and better.

This discovery was prompted by @HeliosAlpha (I believe?) posting a Youtube link to her album Turaida on Discord.

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#3

Favorite genre is mostly just J-pop and stuff. Got into it because my brother was into anime trance at one point which led me to Only My Railgun which led me to watching Railgun which led me to watching anime in general and listening to anime openings and endings.

My all time favorite song is Dango Daikazoku by Chata but currently some of my favorites are Snow Halation by μ’s, Yozora Nandemo Shitteru no? by CYaRon, Owari no Sekai Kara by Yanagi Nagi, Hitohira no Sakura by Riya, and Dokonimo Ikanai by Yanagi Nagi.

Favorite artist has been Yanagi Nagi for a while now but I have plenty of songs from μ’s and their subgroups as well as Aqours.

My favorite album right now is probably Follow My Tracks by Yanagi Nagi but Owari no Hoshi no Love Song by Yanagi Nagi x Maeda Jun is absolutely amazing as well. But if I could listen to only one album for a really long time, it might just be GiIvasunner’s Highest Quality Video Game Rips Volume 1 because of the huge diversity :smile:

Edit: My favorite high quality video game rip is Snow Bottom Segue by Triple-Q while my favorite rip from volume 1 is the GiIvasunner Staff Roll by MtH

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#4

I kind of have two favorite genres, which act as extremes in tempo and mood, but are universally tied to my love for video game and anime music. First up is symphonic rock, a genre which combines progressive rock with orchestral elements. If you’ve ever listened to Bravely Default’s soundtrack, you know exactly what kind of music I’m talking about. But I didn’t exactly get into symphonic rock with Bravely Default. It’s a common staple of JRPGs to combine rock and orchestral music into one.

My other favorite genre is new-age music, which is much slower and is intended to bring an atmosphere of relaxation to the listener. I often use new-age music for when I’m waking up or when I need a breather track after rocking hard to other forms of music. It’s a little difficult to define what exactly makes a piece new-age, and some people tend to use the words ‘contemporary instrumental’ instead. Examples of new-age musicians include Ryou Mizutsuki and Yoko Shimomura, who are well-known for piano or synth pieces that are slow, soothing and melodic. How did I get into new-age music? My father loved the genre as a teenager, and he even had a mixtape full of songs from new-age musicians such as George Winston. In hindsight, one of the songs on that tape sounded remarkably similar to a piece from the visual novel Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai, whom Mizutsuki had a hand in composing. :smiley:

I have many favorite artists, some of which don’t even fit into the genres I mentioned above. Rather than give you guys a massive history lesson on which artists I like, I’ll just show you some of the artists I currently like, with one song from each of them that I really like. (This also counts singing groups that would be otherwise fictional, as the people who compose their songs are too many to count.)

If there’s not a link attached to it, that means I can’t find it on the interwebs. You are free to look them up yourself, but I can’t guarantee it’ll be the same song.

On an island? Probably the AIR soundtrack. :stuck_out_tongue:

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#5

My favorite genre… I guess you could say it’s electronic, but I really like anything that sounds really modernized. I got into it via, youtube more or less, just listening to a bunch of tracks on there.

I don’t really have a favorite artist, but I have been enjoying listening to the stuff from Wagakki band,they do some great Japanese instruments mixed with a modern style, it’s fantastic.As for favorite songs:
Remote Control and Nevereverland.

Geez… only one CD? It’d be a CD with all of the Umineko soundtrack on it, definitely, that will never bore me.

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#6

Do you like Phil Collins? I’ve been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn’t understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where Phil Collins’ presence became more apparent.

I think Invisible Touch was the group’s undisputed masterpiece. It’s an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Take the lyrics to Land of Confusion. In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. In Too Deep is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I’ve heard in rock.

Phil Collins’ solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and Against All Odds. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist. This is Sussudio, a great, great song, a personal favorite.

In all seriousness though… I’m a big fan of prog, 40s-90s music, and mashup albums. I blame Weird Al for muddling my tastes in my formative years and getting me to appreciate everything. Even polka. Especially polka. Also They Might Be Giants, mainly from the sorta-early period where their weird and masterful lyricism was backed up by more legit alt-rock instrumentation. But they’re still pretty cool.

Also if you like electronic music or game music and are interested in history, I recommend checking out 1968’s The New Electronic Pop Sound of Jean Jacques Perrey. Which is not so new, and probably doesn’t sound so electronic, but is kind of catchy in context.

#7

I’m pretty open to anything really so I don’t really have a specific genre… I can go from rock to the recent Pikachu song.

My favorite singer at the moment is also my favorite voice actor, Rica Matsumoto. I just love her genki songs! They gets me so pumped up!

As for my favorite band, at the moment they’re Dead by April. I can’t wait for their newest single, but who knows when that’ll be out.

#8

I LOVE RICA MATSUMOTO!! She took over as VA for one of my favorite characters in a series and she was PERFECT, and her music is so good! (I wish she and my other favorite VA, Miki Itou, could do a duet together, or work on something together!)

I am pretty much open to all kinds of genres except dub step, Nightcore, vaporwave, and those kinds of songs that are more headache-inducing from so many beats. I’m a real big fan of classic rock since I grew up on it, pop is something that can be hit or miss but is usually good, foreign music (a lot of Japanese music, but I also have Finnish metal, German hip hop, Russian pop, French pop, Germsn metal, and of course Vocaloid) is good at being catchy, some hip hop and rap I like… Living out in the country introduces you to a lot of country, which used to be really depressing but now a lot of it is songs about partying and romance stuff. So my music is extremely varied.

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#9

I’m terrible at recognizing music genres but I think my tastes center somewhere around indie rock and soundtrack.

To name a few, Arctic Monkeys, Royal Blood, Queens of the Stone Age, Florence+The Machine, Marina and the Diamonds, Glass Animals. I’d love to listen to more Japanese artists but I can’t find many I like. Most of the ones I’ve tried or liked before have started sounding somewhat uninspired and boring (Kalafina for example, See-Saw was so much better :/). Akiko Shikata seems to be really interesting though. Phantasm from the Sci;Adv VNs is amazing, too bad she only has two albums and I don’t like her usual style.

Favorite soundtracks are everything from Persona franchise, Yuki Kajiura’s compositions and now the 7th OSTs.

#10

I ashamedly still enjoy a few songs from Evanscence. My usual preferred genres are rock (sans punk), a bit of rap, jazz and new wave. Sting is the love of my life and everyone should give the dude a try. I also like Within Temptation, Eminem and Coldplay as well as U2. As for Japanese artists, I like Kenji Kawai, Akiko Shikata, Kalafina and ALICE project.
I also enjoy listening to quite a few vidya soundtracks.

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#11

Hmm, I’ve been listening to Amy Winehouse lately, is anybody else here a fan?

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#12

I’ve honestly been pretty hooked on Hamilton music lately… Aside from that, I listen to a lot of Love Live music and Parachute (they’re my favorite band)

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#13

I don’t have particular genre I really love, since I can love any songs that struck me. These songs usually have deep lyrics or surreal feel, though, the music can also feel different. I particularly love Kikuo’s (Vocaloid producer) songs. I forgot what his genre is, with upbeat music but surreal, but I particularly like that kind of music. I’m also a sucker for MANYO’s songs, though. MANYO usually uses piano, violin, and other soft stuffs like that, so they’re kinda opposite of each other, but I really love them. I also love Kalafina’s songs (Yuki Kajiura, I know). I also love BUTAOTOME, particularly their relaxing songs more than their upbeat songs. Yeah, my taste is pretty random…

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#14

Thinking of how Kikuo’s songs are in terms of the general juxtaposition between the generally darker lyrics mixed with a happier sounding vocalization and sometimes instrumental, I’m reminded of PinnochioP. Though the specific style of instrumentals between them, – between Kikuo and PinnochioP, – are a bit different, maybe it’s something you’d be interested in?

Some of my favorite vocaloid songs are done by PinnochioP actually. Songs like Slow Motion have lyrics which seem just fine but are more existential in nature when taken on the whole. Phrases like “This song has about two minutes left, but how long until you’ve kicked the bucket?” hook me.

They actually released something yesterday that I happened to like. “Apple dot com.”

I don’t think there’s much to really analyze with a track like that, but I was pretty entertained by the song overall. It features the same sort of contrast that Kikuo has.

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#15

Thank you for the recommendation! I have to say I pretty much like the songs you gave me. While Kikuo’s songs mostly feature vague meanings, PinnochioP’s songs seems to be more straightforward. Kikuo’s songs nowadays have dark music as dark as the lyrics (KikuoHana’s songs, my favorite album yet honestly), so brighter ones again is really welcomed.

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#16

Hmm, what if I don’t wish to? I’ll gladly take that offer on, since you were so generous as to ask me. :smile_cat:

I’m joking, but anyhow, I’m mostly into alternative, both contemporary and older music. I could never pick a favourite artist but there are quite some that I like, like Bjork, Fiona Apple, Thom Yorke, PJ Harvey, James Blake, Arcade Fire, alt-j, Portishead, Amy Winehouse, the list goes on. Mostly I look for eclectic music, I’d say, and intricate sounds, meaning made by many intricate arrangements, I find it very creative. I don’t really listen to older rock music like you though, so unfortunately we can’t talk much about that. But you can always ask me for a recommendation for new music, if you want to.

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#17

You mentioned so many great artists that I love! I myself appreciate variety in music like in any other form of media including literature. I get bored exploring only one artist or genre so I usually look for great works from a broad variety of them. But I still have some sort of preference since I like art rock, art pop and stuff like that probably the most. Your taste in alternative music seems pretty similar to mine so I might try out Portishead which I have yet to listen to.

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#18

Hahahaha my mother taught me that it wasn’t nice to force people to reply me, so I am just being a good girl lololol
I would love to get some recommendations, since I just know Amy Winehouse (and I hope she is in the Golden Land nowadays, because her voice was superb), I might have heard of Björk but I don’t remember. Do you like artists like Florence and the Machine,Sia,AURORA, Of Monsters and Man, Mumford and Sons?
And of course! I would love to get to know new songs !! Especially because I haven’t heard much of these artists :smiley:
Oh by the way, do you have a Spotify account?

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#19

@CherryRocker Oh, I’d gladly give you some recommendations, including Bjork and Amy Winehouse. Bjork may be a bit more diffiuclt to get into, as you are mostly into rock, but she’s definitely one of the most creative artists and as for Amy, both of her albums that she released are magnificent, I’m especially enjoying listening to songs from her first one, recently. As for the artists you mentioned, I love, love, love Florence + the Machine and I like Florence Welch a lot, she seems to be into many things that I like too. Sia, I don’t really like, I’ve heard of Of Monsters and Men but they didn’t appeal much to me. Mumford and Sons are okay, I’ve listened to a few songs by them. AURORA, I’ve never heard of, what are they like? And no, I don’t have a Spotify account.

@Doldod Definitely give Portishead’s music a few listens, I like their haunting and emotional air a lot. I’ve especially enjoyed their second album, Portishead, a lot lately.

Also, shouldn’t we move this to the music thread…?

Edit: Thanks for moving it @Aspirety!

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#20

For music, I want to find more bands/artists that are like Talking Heads, as they are a recent favorites of mine. If anyone has recommendations of New Wave music, I would love to know! :smile: