Broadening My Musical Horizons

[METALMAN]

I think I've got a pretty varied music collection but I'm always looking to investigate some new genres.

I'd quite like to get some more blues music. By that I mean good blues music, not rubbish like B.B. King or Eric Clapton(minus Cream). Perhaps more along the lines of Robert Johnson.

I've got quite a lot of folk music, most of which seems to be American. While I'd appreciate any suggestions of good folk music from any country, including more American, I'd quite like some good British/Irish folk music. All I've really got now is Fairport Convention and Nick Drake.

I'd quite like some country music but I've heard so much awful country music that I'm not really sure where to begin when it comes to filtering good from bad. I have some Hank Williams already and I suppose The Byrds could be called country at a stretch. Maybe "alt-country" if possible.

Post rock as well please. I have lots of Sigur Rós, a couple of Mogwai songs and that's about it.

I've got quite a good jazz collection taking in the likes of Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, my favourite - Keith Jarrett, Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman. I'd appreciate suggestions of some more obscure artists I might have missed or even albums by those I've already mentioned that I've bypassed. I'd especially like some good electric jazz. By which I mean with bass and electric guitars, organs etc. Along the lines of Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew". Following on from that, and I know skummy might hate me for this, but I'd really love some good jazz fusion music. Things like Weather Report.

Those ones in particular, but I'd open to anything else that is exciting. Thanks!

[Cactus Drags]

The scope of post-rock is massive (I swear it's essentially come to mean "instrumental music with guitars and drums rather than a classic orchestra"), but I've started to get into a fair bit of it too, so I'll list some of what I'm into now (my favourite albums in brackets). I went from Mogwai to 65daysofstatic (The Fall of Math). If you like 65DoS, you might well like Maybeshewill (Not for Want of Trying), and not just because they both shun the use of spaces in their names. Explosions in the Sky are good for that airy, kind of country feel (The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place), and for some reason I always associate This Will Destroy You with EitS, although I can't remember off-hand exactly how similar they are. Iglomat's album (self-titled) is bloody hard to track down, but they're in a similar vein, but a little bassier, I guess. And finally, I've recently gotten into God is an Astronaut (All is Violent, All is Bright), who are kind of like EitS but with a bit of a synthy kick, and If These Trees Could Talk, whose album I can't remember the name of, but their band name is wonderful.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I'd quite like some country music but I've heard so much awful country music that I'm not really sure where to begin when it comes to filtering good from bad. I have some Hank Williams already and I suppose The Byrds could be called country at a stretch. Maybe "alt-country" if possible.

Hank Williams III is alright, there's also Neko Case, Bonnie "Prince" Billy has some fantastic songs. Shooter Jennings (Waylon's son) might fit that bill, never listened to him though. I think you have some Townes Van Zandt, but if you don't, he fits the category nicely and "Our Mother The Mountain" is a fucking fantastic album. Oh, and there's Dale Watson, similar to Hank III - he's an alt country singer who despises the country music of the 90's and '00s and has a fair few songs about "authentic" country.

[Skummy]

I double the love for Townes Van Zandt and Hank III. If you like The Byrds, then Gram Parsons could be a safe bet - he's about the only bit of that '60s alt-country stuff that I like, and I like him a lot. Lee Hazlewood is absolutely phenomenal too, you can do a lot worse than check him out.

For Irish folk music, definitely check out Christy Moore if you haven't already.

As you guessed - I'm not fond of jazz fusion. At all. But for jazz to check out - Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane's "Olatunji Concert", John Zorn/Naked City, Joshua Redman, Pharoah Sanders and, of course, Sun Ra are all fantastic, and many of them have incorporated electric instruments into their work - Sun Ra especially being among the first to use synthesisers. Also, check out Spaceways Incorporated - don't really know anything about them, but they did an album of medleys of Sun Ra and Funkadelic tracks, and there does seem to be something of a Bitches Brew influence in there too. The Thing are a fantastic Norwegian jazz group worth checking out too, their version of Have Love Will Travel by The Sonics is pure class.

As for post-rock....Godspeed You! Black Emperor are the obvious choice, along with A Silver Mt. Zion/Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, which is pretty much their only decent side project. World's End Girlfriend is another one definitely worth checking out in that area.

[VerbalPuke]

If you'd like blues along the lines of Robert Johnson, check out some guys like Muddy Waters, Elmore James (king of the slide guitar), T-Bone Walker, and Howlin' Wolf. Those are among my favorites of the delta blues.

[TheBusinessman]

It's a little more rockish, but the black keys are really good. Dan Auerbach is there front man and he put out an album too. The Heartless Bastards are pretty good too.

[Skummy]

Ah, forgot the blues bit. Son House would be my first suggestion - he was an influence on Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, and was partly responsible for spreading the story of Robert Johnson "selling his soul to the devil". Anyhow, he's years ahead of his time, and just really bloody good. Blind Willie McTell is quite good, too, though a lot cheerier than the likes of Robert Johnson. The Blind Boys Of Alabama are fantastic as far as modern blues/soul/gospel goes. Leadbelly's worth listening to, another one well ahead of his time.