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Who is moving music forward today?

#21
I grew up playing terrible punk rock venues, so cal backstage parties, etc. The fight to win people over was as relished as playing well or rocking out.

Grizzly Bear winning me over as time goes on. That footage on Letterman is so good. Listen to that mix!! Just beautiful.
 
#24
Firstly, I feel similar to Justin about Muse. But I have to give props for them working slap bass into a song in 2010 and it being a hit.

Djanimals - amazing young hiphop/glitch/pop/amazing artist recorded by a friend of mine (currently signed to stones throw): http://youtu.be/V3Qf1XQUtVQ

extra life - not everyone's cup of tea, but if this isn't the definition of passion and fire I don't really know what is: http://youtu.be/68CsFcY_okA

I'll think of more..
 
#26
Adebisi Shank, irish band(its got this energy which i can't quite describe and a nice OZ reference in the name) Russian Circles.(moving heavier music in all the right directions). Fourtet, Autechre (definite forward motion there). Oh yeah and ZU!!! saxaphone, bass guitar and drum madness.

just had a listen to chk chk chk 'heart of hearts' i couldn't help but pick up my bass and jam along! and Major Lazer= awesome
 
#28
The newest record from Nick Cave's band Grinderman is pretty fantastic. Great minimalist noisey rock n' roll from badass older dudes.

In my opinion, Kanye West's new album is a great example of forward thinking music. If all artists in the Pop realm had as much devotion and desire to create art while making hits, I might be able to turn on my radio once in a while. The record has some great nasty guitar and grimey fuzz bass tones and he even samples King Crimson.

Other artists in the past few years:
Animal Collective (obviously)
Deerhunter/Atlas Sound
The Unicorns/Islands
Zola Jesus
Marnie Stern
Lightning Bolt
No Age
Gary War

Also, heavier music in the metaly/sludgey/droney genres has been consistently getting better and better soooo many awesome records and new bands keep coming out.
 
#29
Yup - Grinderman. DO YOURSELVES A FAVOR AND WATCH THE GRINDERMAN ON JOOLS HOLLAND FOOTAGE. They will destroy you.

Deerhunter AND Atlas Sound records of late all been excellent.

Zola = so talented, though I think she needs help w/ her lyrics. Very promising.
No Age - yup.
Animal Collective - can't front - they are the real deal.
Dirty Projectors - I thought they had too much "affect", but now I'm more down with them.
Autechre - very very good, obviously.

J
 
#33
i think there's a definite tendency for people to confuse "moving forward" with "doing their own bizarre thing off to the side". take a guy like captain beefheart for example. back in the day he made some of the weirdest and most ingenious music ever, but did he really move things forward? no, because not enough people knew about him and no one could imitate his music. i think naming very obscure bands that make strange or extremely unique music is a bit of a mistake here because they're statistical outliers, and have little effect on the music industry.

i'd say MGMT is a band that really pushed music forward, not because they were incredibly adventurous but because they were/are rather different, popular, and inspired a bunch of other artists to follow in that vein. Cee Lo Green is another one, both with Gnarls Barkley and his solo stuff. he's pushing music forward with a totally modernized fusion of all sorts of black american pop music, and has definitely raised the bar for vocal virtuosity among rap artists.
 
#35
IronLung1986 said:
i think there's a definite tendency for people to confuse "moving forward" with "doing their own bizarre thing off to the side". take a guy like captain beefheart for example. back in the day he made some of the weirdest and most ingenious music ever, but did he really move things forward? no, because not enough people knew about him and no one could imitate his music. i think naming very obscure bands that make strange or extremely unique music is a bit of a mistake here because they're statistical outliers, and have little effect on the music industry.

i'd say MGMT is a band that really pushed music forward, not because they were incredibly adventurous but because they were/are rather different, popular, and inspired a bunch of other artists to follow in that vein. Cee Lo Green is another one, both with Gnarls Barkley and his solo stuff. he's pushing music forward with a totally modernized fusion of all sorts of black american pop music, and has definitely raised the bar for vocal virtuosity among rap artists.
Click to expand...

But what about the bands who hear Sir Beefheart and think, "Now that is ingenious. How do we incorporate some of that into what we're doing?" That conversation, conscious or not, is often a powerful motivation. I mean, listen to the Pixies and then listen to Nirvana. Listen to what Godspeed!, Mogwai, and Stereolab were doing and tell me that today's post-rock/metal bands were not inspired by what they were doing? It may be that it's off-the-wall and hard to realize its effects but -- subtle or strong -- they are there.
 
#38
They aren't that new of a band, but I really think the Gorillaz keep coming up with ways to combine a plethora of different styles and sounds in a way that is completely new. I've recently been digging this one:

 

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