Pick one: who is your favorite artist of all time who is still releasing records that you care about?

Whiney asked this on the "pitchfork is dumb" thread and I thought it was a good enough question to merit its own thread. Feel free to give reasons why you still care about the artists you list.

depeche mode

Circle

Wait, no. Robert Pollard.

the Pet Shop Boys are not my favorite artists, but they still release records I care about. This year I finally reached the age at which the Boys released "West End Girls," and a lot of their proto-middle age sensibility, which for years seemed merely prescient and well-observed, now suddenly makes sense.

I couldn't stand most of Yes though.

Sonic Youth, Prince, and Robert Forster are runners-up.

Robyn Hitchcock.

The Fall and Sonic Youth are still releasing albums that are usually the best of the year. 'Imperial Wax Solvent' and 'The Eternal' were rad.

bob dylan

= rockist 4 eva

Madness : 12 months ago i would never have believed that they would release one of the best albums of their career in 2009, but hey, they did.

sonny bono

Melvins is my number one, Ghostface (and Wu in general, really) is number two.

I started listening to both in high school circa 1996 and neither has ever fallen off in my eyes.

Robyn Hitchcock is my all-time favorite and I still love almost everything he's done. "Ole Tarantula" from a couple of years ago might be in his top 5 albums and "Goodnight Oslo" from this year is solid though doesn't reach the same heights. He's grown older and wiser and that's fed into his lyrics and musical approach, which I appreciate.

Sonic Youth

black dice

This would have been a toss-up for me before Prince's horrible 2-album misstep earlier this year; now it is unambiguously The Cure. As long as Robert and company continue making guitar-centric pop songs that are equal parts mopey and dopey with alternating sides of menace and joy, I'll continue shelling out money to them.

I don't know how many other acts besides The Cure I would put into this category; I do know that the list would have to include Depeche Mode, The Prodigy, Skinny Puppy and, wholly to the surprise of me 10 years ago when the entire acoustic guitar-based singer/songwriter milieu was like kryptonite to me, The Mountain Goats. Groups who have fallen off of that list who I thought I'd support forever include Meat Beat Manifesto, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult (assuming they're still releasing albums) and Gus Gus.

stephen malkmus. posts vmic, etc

Pauline Oliveros

pretty much everyone I got REALLY into as a young listener (eg, jr. high/high school) has either a) died or b) stopped releasing new music or c) stopped being interesting. There are a couple exceptions (Neil Young, J. Spaceman, Neil Hagerty) but as I've gotten older I've realized that GOAT /= the greatest when I was 16. Ghostface, for ex, hadn't even put out any records when I was a young'un, and I wouldn't really have put him up there upon first hearing him in college but over the past decade he's definitely earned it, and I listen to his stuff all the time. Hagerty's an interesting one too because even though I knew he was in Pussy Galore and totally dug them upon first listen it wasn't until much later (and well after Jon Spencer had flamed out) that I started to pay attention and develop a real fascination with his post-Pussy Galore stuff.

(had no idea teenage HI DERE was such a goth btw lolz)

Radiohead

Also should mention the sporadic but insanely great work of Killing Joke still thrills me after 25 years.

If you count Heaven & Hell as Black Sabbath... (I do)

(had no idea teenage HI DERE was such a goth btw lolz)

hahahaha this is like the big thing everyone and their mom brings up when they want to give me shit!

Half Man Half Biscuit!

^^^^that is an excellent shout, even though I've maybe got a couple that eclipse 'em

(in other "HI DERE is a wannabe goth poseur" news, I forgot NIN as a band I still care about)

personally I think this thread says more about how the music industry essentially discourages lifelong careers more than anything else

saint etienne definitely (if we're talking about artists we've kept up with for an extended period of time)

Anyway, while Cardiacs remain on hiatus, my answer's gonna be...SFA?

bob dylan

= rockist 4 eva

― iatee, Monday, November 30, 2009 10:33 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^

i can't really think of anyone else i love who's been around more than 20 years who i still care about hearing whatever they do. definitely not anyone else who's released any of my favorite albums of the past decade.

Actually, it's Ulver. By miles. Obviously.

Motorpsycho

mike patton

Nurse With Wound pwns this thread. Because "The Surveillance Lounge" if fucking great by any standard including that of the NWW catalogue.

is

i was gonna say either outrageous cherry or for against, but i think the REAL answer is durutti column, since i've been a fan of vini's for 20 years or so

i should add U2, their last one was their best in ages. i'm probably starkly alone in this one.

stereolab, though they might be finished.

yo la tengo, though they've declined a little.

there are tons of artists i've really enjoyed over the years but few that i was listening to 15-20 years ago who are still around or still active, tbh.

Jonathan Richman and Eugene Chadbourne, though in both cases I'll see them live rather than listen to more of their albums. Edwyn Collins too but I haven't heard anything or seen him perform since his medical thing.

does Richman even bother to make albums anymore?

Another vote for Robyn Hitchcock. Also Scott Walker, The Fall, and Boredoms.

Limiting myself to bands/artists I've been really into for 15+ years. Sun City Girls should be in this space, curse you cancer.

oops forgot The Fall - been hitting them hard recently, haven't really gotten around to the latest records

bonnie prince billy

xpost. Yeah, Jonathan Richman still puts out a decent album every 18 months or so.

Motörhead, Slayer, Napalm Death.

Opeth & Enslaved are the ones I go buy the day they release something new (assuming I haven't already had the promo for months).

Sonny Rollins
Ornette Coleman
Leonard Cohen
Al Green

Radiohead, NWW and Mike Patton are good answers. I've hated every YLT album since Nothing/Inside Out a little more each time, so def not them for me.

i usually say m. gira. been listening to him since the 80's and i still enjoy what he's doing. i haven't bought EVERYTHING on young god, but i really don't think he's ever made a bad record in his life. i say the same about my other hero lawrence. and same thing, never made a bad record and i've been following him since the mid 80's. don't know if he'll make another new record, but i never know with him. i hope he does. (don't know if he counts cuz the go kart record was kind of a while ago already...)

Depeche Mode in their original form. Peter Gabriel as a soloist.

I've hated every YLT album since Nothing/Inside Out a little more each time, so def not them for me.

^^ Count me as another one who feel the mighty have fallen; they were probably my favorite artist of the 90s.

Depeche Mode in their original form.

Depeche Mode in their original form hasn't released a record since 1981. Are you sure you understand this thread question?

(I was going to also ding you on Peter Gabriel but surprise surprise he's releasing an album next year.)

Lawrence is a good call. Go-Kart Mozart are supposed to be releasing a new album shortly, which I am hotly anticipating.

Pearl Jam, NIN, You Am I...I still care about Jane's Addiction but Strays was meh.

I'm not sure I entirely understand the question, but Rose Tattoo (who I haven't totally kept up with) put out one of my favorite albums of last year, and ZZ Top (who I mostly haven't cared about since the mid '80s) made one of my favorite 20-or-so albums of this decade. Also really liked two Rick Springfield albums in the '00s, though calling him "one of my favorite artists of all time" would be severely stretching things. (I actually think he might be better than he used to be.)

many xxposts, Mike Patton is still up there for me, even though half the time he totally disappoints me and half the time he completely and totally wows me.

Wire

Legendary Pink Dots/Edward Ka-Spel

honorable mention: Nurse With Wound

I read that as "Horrible mention"...

Mike Patton is still up there for me, even though half the time he totally disappoints me and half the time he completely and totally wows me.

Out of interest, what recent Patton stuff should I seek out? I've heard the more mainstream end of it (Peeping Tom etc), and while there's some good stuff there, nothing's WOWED me since California, I don't think.

darkthrone

Also really liked two Rick Springfield albums in the '00s, though calling him "one of my favorite artists of all time" would be severely stretching things. (I actually think he might be better than he used to be.)

I heard "Bop 'Til You Drop" on my buddy's XM car stereo last week. I thought of you!

Jandek.
Dylan.
Robert Ashley.

I wish i could say I still cared about new Neil Young records, but that's really pushing it.

robert pollard. i listen to all his new albums/projects no matter how mediocre they are, always hoping for the next 'tractor rape chain' or 'watch me jumpstart' to pop up. it's a hopeless addiction for sure

i cared about chrome dreams II a lot and i kinda liked living with war and fork in the road but he used to be a guy whose records were a "day of release" purchase for me, but i quit after getting burned too often.

robert pollard. i listen to all his new albums/projects no matter how mediocre they are, always hoping for the next 'tractor rape chain' or 'watch me jumpstart' to pop up. it's a hopeless addiction for sure

― bread has no effect on you (ciderpress), Monday, November 30, 2009 7:30 PM (1 minute ago)

yeah i've definitely given up on this recently

but WHY do people give up on artists (and previously GOAT artists at that)? more interested in that than random lists of people tbqh

i hope Kate Bush puts out another album some time relatively soon

1) limitations of the form (hardly anybody gives up on composers for example), coupled with
2) acceptance of these limitations by artists, and
3) assumption of these limitations by listeners possibly?

xpost to Shakey

i aint giving up on pollard since you at least get a bunch of great song titles per album if not songs

4) So much new shit + limited income = goodbye predictably awesome oldster.

Most of my really REALLY favorite artists died/disbanded. (Miles Davis, Minutemen) Otherwise --

YLT -- treading water, the pop's not as perfect and the noise isn't as noisy, getting awfully tired of a band with no strong singers
Tortoise -- turned to the Muzak side of the Force
Bob Dylan -- just can't stand to listen to his voice anymore

"I heard "Bop 'Til You Drop" on my buddy's XM car stereo last week. I thought of you!"

I am a huge cheerleader for the video for this song. It's the Thriller of scifi.

***

Also want to mention that the new Buffy St Marie is GREAT.

xpost - I lose interest in bands when they start catering to labels, management, media, and arena crowds, rather than to their own original muse. Likewise, they so often lose touch with what made them great (ie why does Iommi think that his new Laney gear sounds better than his old Orange or Marshall amps? Why?!)

it's not exactly the same band but Bottomless Pit (ex silkworm) is one of my fav bands still and it seems to continue on the tradition pretty well obv without michael : (

Stereolab was my Favorite Band Ever when I was in college, and part of what I dug about them at the time is that they seemed to be creatively modifying their sound with each album. It kind of blew my mind, for instance, that they evolved from Transient Random Noise-Bursts to Dots and Loops in only four years. But then at a certain point it seemed to stagnate. And while I still listen to everything they put out and generally like it, I haven't really been wowed by the band since 2000 and don't really have any expectations for that to change. So I guess in that sense I've "given up" on Stereolab, even though it's not like I've turned my back on them or anything.

Ghostface/Wu
M0unta1n G0ats
Magnetic Fields
MF Doom
Redman

^^^one of these, all still making records. Biggie, Elliott Smith, Jam Master Jay and Coltrane all died tho :(

I think this has come down to Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys for me, even though I was never the hugest PSB fan back in the day and DM lost me for a big stretch in the 90s...but both of these bands released albums that I really loved over the last year. So, I guess, them.

I wish I was with Dan in saying The Cure, because they really WERE my favourite band ever, but their last four studio albums have just left me feeling deflated...big potential but none of them do much for me.

I would like to say Kraftwerk too - I've come to enjoy the Tour De France album reasonably well, and I'm hoping there's another album in the future (hard to tell, with the release sched of their last three records, really). So let's say them too, with a full-on admission that there are rose-coloured filters over my glasses.

I guess it depends on how far back we're going. Capsule is way up there, but they've only been around for a little over a decade. Sonic Youth still release pretty dece albums, obvs. Ummm...Dolly Parton? kd lang? Morrissey? Pollard is one of my all-time faves but I haven't listened to anything he's put out in a few years.

Oh, duh: Neil Hagerty for the win, probably. Until the Sundays release their surely inevitable next album...

Randy Newman.

^^good one

Depeche Mode in their original form hasn't released a record since 1981. Are you sure you understand this thread question?

Depeche Mode as a band, I mean. What I meant was that Peter Gabriel was not so much my favourite act, as a member of my favourite band (ranked also above Depeche Mode), but he still releases great music on his own too - considerably more so than any of the other ex-Genesis members.

Good question, and I am def. in favor of any spin-off that keeps from bumping the "pitchfork is dumb" thread...this is obv. harder to answer the older you are, if "favorite of all time" has to include people you were into when you were a kid (as in, favorite for all of your life). I still care about Springsteen's records, I guess, even if I don't run out to buy them on the first day.

Never really figured this out, but I think most pop songwriters write their most creative and compelling melodies while they are in their 20s (most, but not all). Maybe there is a part of the brain that works best for most people during those years. Or maybe most people are born with a finite number of melodic ideas, and those tend to be exhausted in their 20s. Most of the time, the least interesting thing to me about great songwriters as they age is their melodies. It would be an interesting thing to research except that it's too subjective. And obviously it doesn't hold outside of pop music either.

(Dan, you would really like the new Gus Gus. It's on Kompakt.)

In terms of career longevity, Bob Dylan. In terms of unbroken I-care streak, Sonic Youth. Prince is just too sporadic for me.

WHY do people give up on artists (and previously GOAT artists at that)?

Keeping up with them starts feeling like work/stops being fun/newer artists become more rewarding/You realize you've been going through the motions trying to like them and maybe they're going through motions too?

(How is that hard to understand? It just seems obvious to me. And I have a real hard time thinking of favorite artists it hasn't happened with. Nobody makes good records forever.)

I still buy Morris Day albums. His last one had a decent track with E-40 called "In My Ride". It's easy to say I still care when he's put out one album since '92.

If we're talking a solid twenty year plus run of regular listening/appreciation/getting their new records without fail then pretty easily Depeche and the Cure.

Yoko Ono

Tom Waits

Lindsey Buckingham (one great solo album in '06, one passable solo album in '08, and a decent FM album in '03)
Scott McCaughey (with the Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows & Baseball Project)

xp I mean, I'm probably the biggest John Cougar fan on this board, but I don't think he's made a good album for 22 years. And I'm way up there as a Bob Seger fan, and he hasn't made a good album in a lot longer than that. And they're still two of my favorite artists ever. That just seems normal to me. (Mark E. Smith, I'd say about as long as Cougar. But maybe I just have an abnorally short attention span.)

this is obv. harder to answer the older you are, if "favorite of all time" has to include people you were into when you were a kid (as in, favorite for all of your life).

^not sure why the question has to imply this^

my instinctual answer before opening the thread was lightning bolt

I didn't hear them until I was pushing 30 but I def consider them one of the GOAT

i'm always kind of impressed with people who are truly fanatical. the ones who still buy everything by a group/artist. there are people who have been buying robyn hitchcock and elvis costello albums for 30+ years!

or crazy tim e. who could tell you about cool 90's paul mccartney b-sides!

and obviously ilm is a great place to listen in on people like that. cuz people still buy cure albums here.

I don't know about Favorite Artist of All Time, but I was a huge fan of the Deux Filles albums, and Colin Lloyd Tucker is still puting out high quality stuff...for like the five people who know who he is.

people who own more than one sugar or bob mould solo album. i tip my hat to them. i mean, husker du saved my life, but i gave up in 1986.

i mean, i own 10 jj cale albums. i think i've done my part. i'm sure the ones i don't have are fine. but do i need them? probably not.

yep, bought my first Robyn Hitchcock 24 years ago, Fegmania, at Rockhead's in downtown St. Paul on Wabasha Avenue, from Greg the record clerk with the strong resemblance to John Waite from the Babys.

First Fall that same year, Wonderful And Frightening World Of, at Musicland in Har Mar Mall.

Har Mar is still there but there's no record store in it. But the whole block where Rockhead's was is gone!

Scott, I'm one of those weirdos - I've bought every Hitchcock album on release day since '88, and hunted high and low to fill in the gaps over the years. I didn't think of it as weird until my record store guy said they order one copy and hold it for me.

artist fatigue is something that transcends the limits of $$ imo

I love wu-tang, neil young, swans/gira

I could download everything they've ever done in a couple of hours

but I don't

But Sugar, man, that's just gross. Why you gotta talk about things like that Scott?

like you, jon, i nervously asked robyn for an autograph once (he was in nyc promoting globe of frogs, i think). except i had no paper so i had him write it on my jeans. he had a miserable cold and he looked like he wanted to kill me. he wrote "clint" on my pants and i actually said "hey!" but i saw the look of murder in his eyes so i shuffled along.

Jesus he was already obsessed with Dirty Harry even then!

i think i finally have given up on mark k. love every red house painters album. love the first sun kil moon album. ignored the john denver and modest mouse stuff and listened to the last album, like, twice. i think i'm off the bus. (still got lots of love for RHP though.)

But Sugar, man, that's just gross. Why you gotta talk about things like that Scott?

see, Sugar saved my life in '92.

jeez, the last fall album that i really LOVED was i am kurious oranj! and i love the fall. i've heard the later stuff from extricate on, but none of it sticks for me. it feels like work, like chuck said.

Ha ha, I was done with Mould after Flip Your Wig. Last Fall album I loved was This Nation's Saving Grace; stopped even caring a couple albums later, so who knows. Maybe they turned great again. I'll probably never find out.

And John Waite actually made a good album last year!

But actually I think my answer to this question might be "Voivod." Even though one of them isn't alive anymore, and I haven't gone out of my way to hear their new album. (Will probably like it when I do, though.)

people who own more than one sugar or bob mould solo album.
hi, i have them all, even the recent crappy one that i only listened to once and forgot the title of
i only have one grant hart solo album though, which is weird because ultimately i like his songs the best. maybe i should get another one.

in answer to the question, i would say probably paul westerberg

Mekons, Robyn Hitchcock

perhaps sadly, i rather enjoyed grandpaboy.

I understand the 'it seems like work' thing when it comes to sticking with an artist but I think that depends also on frequency too. For instance, my two choices have settled into what's been a pretty steady record/release/tour mode separated by four years each time -- if anything, that builds up anticipation pretty easily. Some acts move more slowly than others and while both those groups were frenetically hyperactive early on as time went by it became the familiar stories of longer tours, more time spent in the studio, and increasingly less need to make a living thanks to their increasing success. Sure, it can be argued this means a creative fall-off in turn and only a *truly* blindly obsessed fan of both would think that they hold a certain continuing place in the American pop consciousness now based on their most recent work. But it doesn't feel like an effort at all to keep up with either, if anything it's a continual, reliable pleasure -- and in Depeche's case it's even more so since they're doing things now that earlier Depeche would not have done, while still being 'themselves.' Not an easy task.

I liked "Wrong" this year! And "I Feel You" in the '90s! But I was never much a Depeche fan to begin with. Given what I've heard, though, I can see how, if you were one, they might not be a letdown yet.

it bums me out that i am having a tough time answering this question

The Fall, Wire, Gira, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen- these guys, I'm guessing, viewed music as a way to sustain themselves as artists/writers, and given some success, stuck with song as their main mode of expression. They had that self-image before the band, stage persona, or even the songs came along. (we know Cohen was a writer, but I suspect the others too.) Pet Shop Boys, too, now that I ponder it. They've held up pretty well 'cause music was a medium- rather than a lark, or a path to stardom or a way to party. They got that as collateral, but I bet they'd be plugging away in some other form if the bands hadn't worked out. Part of what makes them interesting, in a way that's different from Tom Waits or Randy Newman or Dylan or Costello, is that they're not as wrapped up in the notion of themselves as songsmiths per se.

also gonna say bruce
it's true

it bums me out that i am having a tough time answering this question
Not me. I learned my lesson long ago from that thread da croupier started about trading in your favorite records and receiving Xgau's Must To Avoids in return.

I've loved Lloyd Cole for more than 20 years but his last couple of albums have me dangerously close to jumping ship.

I loved Siouxsie in the 80s, bailed in 90, returned to The Creatures in 99, then bailed again a couple of years later.

I still have a soft spot for Tears For Fears after 25 years. Their reunion album was ace.

I used to be a Stranglers devotee but when Hugh left, I followed him for a while and then he just got boring.

Oh, one more - been a Shriekback/Barry Andrews fan for 25 years as well and there's just been the one utter shite album (Go Bang).

but WHY do people give up on artists (and previously GOAT artists at that)? more interested in that than random lists of people tbqh

― Gimme That Christian Side-hug, that Christian Side-hug (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, November 30, 2009 7:34 PM (2 hours ago)

whoa this thread blew up and i'm sure someone answered you already but re: pollard, he puts out like 4 or 5 not that great albums a year...it starts to not be worth it

you gotta consider this: LOTS of people are comforted by people who give them the same thing again and again. like people who own 30 george jones albums. they just REALLY like the way he sings. as well they should. and the reason i justify having ten jj cale albums is that my albums aren't in alphabetical order, so whichever one i pull out at random is gonna be as good as any other one to me! i can't lose!

(plus, there are people so fanatical that they relish differences that most people wouldn't notice. early/middle/late george jones is a big dramatic arc to the trained ear.)

the fall... I've given up giving up on them

so many times I sold a post 80s fall album just to buy it back again a couple years later, I don't even bother selling them anymore

I can't say I follow them religiously, but check in often enough with positive results to keep the faith.... extricate, the unutterable, real new fall lp were all vv good, maybe not early 80s great, but solidly interesting

and there are still fall albums I wanna hear but haven't yet, like levitate

skot otm throughout this thread;

xhuxk too

i think that last post of mine was just me explaining to myself why people plug on year after year with the same people...

That's why we're all here on ILX oh wait. :-D

I should probably give reasons - Robyn Hitchcock just keeps doing what he does best, with growing maturity and enough odd little touches to keep the music from getting stale. It never seems like he's changed that much, but he couldn't have written anything like "I Feel Beautiful" or "Goodnight Oslo" 25 years ago.

With the Mekons I just have a loyalty to them - I wasn't a huge fan of Natural, but with their output this decade the next record is likely to be completely different. No one gave a shit about Me (which has a couple great songs) and then they followed it with Journey to the End of the Night, which is my ideal up-at-5am record, and OOOH!, which is angry and weird and has at least one of the best songs of the decade. When I saw them last year they mentioned that while they were making Natural they all got married to each other in a stone circle, and how am I going to give up on a band like that?

sometimes it just feels comforting to hear a familiar voice. i don't always want to meet new people. sometimes i like hanging out with people i already know. that's totally how i feel about paul westerberg. i listened to the old records SO MANY TIMES that hearing new ones sound comforting even if they are boldly shitty.

Pet Shop Boys, too, now that I ponder it. They've held up pretty well 'cause music was a medium- rather than a lark, or a path to stardom or a way to party. They got that as collateral, but I bet they'd be plugging away in some other form if the bands hadn't worked out. Part of what makes them interesting, in a way that's different from Tom Waits or Randy Newman or Dylan or Costello, is that they're not as wrapped up in the notion of themselves as songsmiths per se.

I dunno -- the Boys have held themselves up as songsmiths from the start! Take all their writing/producing gigs, fer instance...

Also, seeing music as a way to party doesn't exclude you from recording good music through your forties or fifties.

(plus, there are people so fanatical that they relish differences that most people wouldn't notice. early/middle/late george jones is a big dramatic arc to the trained ear.)

This. It's a special pleasure, just as much so as coming to grips with a new artist.

boredoms

Last Mekons album I cared about: The Edge Of The World. (But I am not everybody! I'm sort of jealous of people who still care about bands like them and the Fall. I just can't make myself do it.) (And fwiw, I loved both of those bands. Reviewed Fear And Whiskey in the Voice before almost any other people writing about music gave a shit about them, and wrote liner notes to their ROIR tape, even! I was a huge Three Johns fan, too! But that was a long, long time ago.)

I don't feel guilty about turning my back on these artists after they have jumped shark or I have grown tired of them- there are plenty of other fans to replace me, plenty of people to buy Momofuku so that Elvis and Diane can afford to eat at Momofuku. And I don't even need to replace them with new artists, there are plenty of old artists that I either never knew about or didn't paid enough attention to before.

i always try to keep in mind the time lag thing too. if people were first blown away at the age of sixteen by dirty or washing machine then it makes it easier to understand why they would still be listening to sonic youth. (i'm the sad cliche that gave up after goo)

like when ned rhapsodizes about new order's technique. man, it's like he's hearing a completely different album then i did when i first heard it. (i was kinda bummed out by it at the time. but i was already kinda bummed out before that despite liking low life and brotherhood. new order being my godz prior to these albums.)

having said that, reading ned rhapsodize about technique REALLY makes me want to hear it for the first time in years.

xhuxk - do you still dislike Robyn Hitchcock? I remember you frustrated with his whimsy or something on an old thread. I think you'd appreciate some of his more recent work, like the songs clotpoll referenced above.

xpost -- why too kind of you, thanks!

i think my brother still listens to new mekons! he's hardcore. last one i bought was the pussy/kathy acker one and the last one i LOVED was curse of the mekons.

(plus, there are people so fanatical that they relish differences that most people wouldn't notice. early/middle/late george jones is a big dramatic arc to the trained ear.)

Absolutely this. The current Motörhead lineup is the best one, but I like hearing all the changes rung on the basic template throughout the years - especially the four-piece version. Same with Napalm Death; I have nostalgic affection for Scum 'cause how could you not?, but man, Smear Campaign kicked so much ass that I'm willing to put up with the relative non-greatness of Time Waits For No Slave knowing that the next one will be awesome, and I love listening to the weird tangents they went on in between, like the dubby experimental stuff on Diatribes or the space-rock guitars on their last couple of Earache discs.

I have no idea what Robyn Hitchcock has recorded in recent years but that youtube banter with Grant Lee Phillips is hilarious.

On the last two records and the next one he basically has a roadhouse rawk band backing him up (pete buck, bill reiflin and scott mccaughey). It's bringing out stuff from him that's pretty new.

I haven't even tried listening to Robyn Hitchcock in a zillion years. Used to pretty much hate him. Maybe thought a couple Soft Boys songs were tolerable. But who knows -- maybe he got better.

My favorite Motorhead lineup is the first one, the pub-rocky Beer Drinkers one, when they sounded almost like the Count Bishops. When I hear a new album by them, I maybe think one song is worth hearing again, if that -- it's been that way for decades now. Last one I cared about all the way through was Orgasmatron, in 1986. I had a feeling somebody would mention them, though!

People like Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman still make good new albums, right? Too bad I'm not much of a jazz fan.

On the last two records and the next one he basically has a roadhouse rawk band backing him up (pete buck, bill reiflin and scott mccaughey). It's bringing out stuff from him that's pretty new.

i wouldn't exactly call it roadhouse rawk, maybe more on Ole Tarantula, but the latest one has more of a mild psychedelic feel on some of the songs.

for example there's this (written about Brian Epstein meeting a cute boy in a club):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91CkPS8yIjM

Wasn't "mild pyschedelic feel" what Robyn Hitchcock supposedly started out with, in the first place? (I never really got what was supposed to be so psychedelic about the Soft Boys, though, to be honest.)

Wow. That video made me realize Robyn Hitchcock and Nick Lowe are starting to converge.

soft boys had their psych moments for sure! lots of them. i love all soft boys stuff. every bit of it.

Most of the Soft Boys stuff would be at home on the second Nuggets box. Very arch, odd, and British psych. Plus they liked Beefheart a ton.

Eye in moon needed rocket or razor.
(xxp)

my brother was a HUGE hitchcock fan so i heard everything. every bootleg, every single, everything. i only listened, myself, up to element of light. then i felt like it was too rote or something after that point. the bite was gone. "ted, woody, and junior" was a harbinger of things to come. felt the same way about nick cave at some point. like he was actually straining to find a rhyme for spoon and june.

This is why you have to get out while you can:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYu2cnei5H0&feature=player_embedded#at=153

But see Scott each Robyn album has 5 'Ted Woody & Junior's and 5 'Airscape's. And sometimes what seems like a 'Ted Woody & Junior' at first turns out to be an 'Airscape' or vice versa.

Once I realized every record he ever made was gonna be half dud half gold I became much happier. Each new record he puts out becomes a killer EP after a few months and there you go.

xpost re: his current band, no they aren't really roadhouse, but compared to the Egyptians they sure are. The Egyptians were like a super mega muso band every bit as much as the Police or Rush. The current band will actually just play loud in 4 and have basslines you can ignore.

For me, it's Emmylou Harris and Paul Simon.

I wish we got this much Robyn talk on any of the Hitchcock threads I periodically revive. Jon is spot on with the gold to dross thing; I think the latest has the best gold to dross ratio since Respect.

boy you guys are really selling him! half a good album AND peter buck? sign me up!

There's a catch: you're gonna have to trade in some of your Gale Garnett records.

Never!

you know who i can't get enough of, four jacks and a jill. if they were still recording i'd probably be buying.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5SMlnCFhaTA/SaKrtJpiooI/AAAAAAAAGnQ/EkZQYLueuyM/s400/front.jpg

Wait, they were a real band? I thought that was just a joke name made up for This is Spinal Tap.

LOVE this album:

http://booksmusicvideos4u.com/images/EBLP/EBLP00850.jpg

George Clinton. His last year's Gangsters of Love thing wasn't great but I was really excited for it, especially after How Late Do U Have 2BB4UR Absent came out so well. Like, fanboy-level excited.

people are always like "oh yeah Four Jacks & A Jill, they were okay, "master jack" was cool, i guess"...but there was so much more!

major props to anyone listening to new george clinton music in 2008. for real. that is fandom.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/8721/robertforstertheevangel.jpg

It's a strange, strange world we live in.

The Verlaines have never really let me down, even if they've slowly weakened over the years. There's always greatness lurking somewhere in their albums. (Actually, I'm still not so sure about the album they put out a few months ago...)

see, now i'm a HUGE rick wakeman fan but i had to give up after 2002's The Wizard and the Forest Of All Dreams. i tried!

1971 Piano Vibrations
1973 The Six Wives of Henry VIII
1974 Journey to the Centre of the Earth
1975 The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
1975 Lisztomania (soundtrack, he also acted in the film)
1976 No Earthly Connection
1977 White Rock (soundtrack to winter Olympics)
1977 Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record
1978 The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Performs the Best Known Works of Rick Wakeman
1979 Rhapsodies
1981 The Burning (soundtrack)
1981 1984
1982 Rock 'N' Roll Prophet
1983 Cost of Living
1983 G'ole! (soundtrack to 1982 FIFA World Cup)
1984 Black Knights at the Court of Ferdinand IV
1985 Silent Nights
1985 Live at Hammersmith[disambiguation needed]
1985 Beyond the Planets
1986 Country Airs
1986 Crimes of Passion (soundtrack)
1987 The Gospels
1987 The Family Album
1988 Time Machine
1988 A Suite of Gods
1988 Zodiaque
1989 Sea Airs
1990 Night Airs
1990 Phantom Power (soundtrack)
1990 In the Beginning
1991 Rock 'n' Roll Prophet Plus (reissue of Rock 'n' Roll Prophet plus 4 new tracks)
1991 Aspirant Sunset
1991 Aspirant Sunrise
1991 Aspirant Sunshadows
1991 Suntrilogy
1991 The Classical Connection (remakes of earlier works)
1991 2000 A.D. Into the Future
1991 African Bach
1991 Softsword: King John and the Magna Charter
1993 Heritage Suite
1993 Classic Tracks
1993 Wakeman with Wakeman
1993 No Expense Spared
1993 The Classical Connection II
1993 Prayers
1994 Wakeman with Wakeman: The Official Bootleg (live)
1994 Live on the Test (live – recorded in 1976)
1994 Rick Wakeman's Greatest Hits (remakes of old works)
1995 The Piano Album
1995 The Seven Wonders of the World
1995 Cirque Surreal
1995 Romance of the Victorian Age
1995 King Biscuit Flower Hour (live – recorded in 1975)
1995 Visions
1995 Simply Acoustic (known as The Piano Album)
1995 The Private Collection
1995 Almost Live in Europe (live)
1996 Fields of Green
1996 Voyage (compilation)
1996 The New Gospels
1996 Tapestries
1996 The Word and Music
1996 Orisons
1996 Can You Hear Me?
1996 Vignettes
1997 Tribute (Beatles covers)
1997 Voyage (sub-titled "The Very Best of Rick Wakeman"; digitally remastered 2 CD set)
1998 Themes
1999 Return to the Centre of the Earth
1999 The Natural World Trilogy
1999 The Art in Music Trilogy
1999 White Rock II
1999 Stella Bianca alla corte de Re Ferdinando
2000 Recollections: The Very Best of Rick Wakeman 1973-1979 (compilation)
2000 Preludes to a Century
2000 Chronicles of Man
2000 Christmas Variations
2000 Rick Wakeman Live in Concert 2000 (live)
2001 Frost in space
2001 Out of the Blue
2001 Classical Variations
2001 Two Sides of Yes
2002 The Wizard and the Forest of All Dreams
2002 Hummingbird with Dave Cousins
2002 The Yes Piano Variations
2002 Two Sides of Yes – Volume 2
2003 Out There
2005 Rick Wakeman at Lincoln Cathedral
2006 Retro
2007 Amazing Grace
2007 Retro 2
2007 Live at the BBC
2009 The Six Wives of Henry VIII: Live at Hampton Court Palace

as penance for posting that entire discography on this thread i promise to actually listen to a rick wakeman album tomorrow.

"1981 1984"

rick was a prophet! he could see THREE years into the future!

"1982 Rock 'N' Roll Prophet"

see!

"1991 2000 A.D. Into the Future"

getting bolder!

high on fire

Scott I think Softsword: King John and the Magna Charter would be appropriate. Please report back, with proper historical footnotes.

Scott, you'd better be careful, Rufus could wander into your record collection and never come out.

Scott's challenged us with discographies before:

How Much Money Would It Take For You To Listen To All These Asia Albums?

Tom Waits. If the Stooges make another good album with Williamson, then they would take it.

Out of interest, what recent Patton stuff should I seek out? I've heard the more mainstream end of it (Peeping Tom etc), and while there's some good stuff there, nothing's WOWED me since California, I don't think.

some recent highlights...

all the fantomas albums are utterly essential.

as is the patton/dillinger escape plan EP, 'irony is a dead scene' - possibly the most manic and intense work he's ever done.

the four albums composed by john zorn, performing alongside trevor dunn and joey baron (moonchild, astronome, six litanies for heliogabalus and crucible) are fantastic. bass-heavy, occultist, insane math/free-rock stuff.

two albums with eyvind kang - virginal co-ordinates and athlantis. the former is stunningly beautiful and unfeasibly uplifting; the latter a darker, older ceremonial work (also features the wonderful jessika kenney of asva/sunn o)))/wolves in the throne room).

the collab with jon kaada, romances, is gorgeous. as the title suggests, it's explicitly romantic, lush, orchestrated stuff, but with a nightmarish edge.

two soundtrack albums - a perfect place and (improbably) crank 2. the former in a bernard herrman/morricone vein, with touches of exotica and mario lanza, the latter consisting of 30-odd mini songs, all about the beats and thrash guitars. as ridiculous as the film itself (which, if you haven't seen, you must...no, really).

things are somewhat on hold at the moment, what with the great FNM cash-in, but the mondo cane album (60s italian pop interpretations) will be the next release. on the strength of the bootlegs, it should be a stunner...

and there are still fall albums I wanna hear but haven't yet, like levitate

― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 1 December 2009 02:40 (6 hours ago) Bookmark

DUDE

Electric Six

Bob Dylan and Neil Young too, I guess

though with those dinos the keyword is "care about," not "adore"

a few years ago it wouldn't have occurred to me at all but since "chaos and creation in the backyard" : mccartney.
the latest one was a bit meh, though.
but following the thread's rule, I still "care".

My #1 choice for this would be Peter Hammill. He's up to about 50 albums now, more with Van der Graaf Generator, and he still finds new and interesting things to say with each one.

Others:

Einstürzende Neubauten
Gillian Welch (if she ever gets round to making another one)
Richard Thompson
Kathleen Edwards

Throbbing Gristle et al (yes, even Gen that old cunt)

xpost was gonna also say Hammill tho his furrow sometimes feels a little over-ploughed nowadays. I still always want to hear what he's doing tho.

Yeah the problem with Hammill, much as I love him, is that he's a control freak. He's like a little cottage industry, writing, playing, recording, producing and releasing everything himself with the same trusted core of collaborators. I would love to see him bring in an outside producer or some new players, but he's 61 now and it's not gonna happen.

I spent a fair bit of time listening to Thin Air the other month and it doesn't, ironically, reach the heights that often for me, altho it's a decent album. I found myself thinking tho, about what his influences are now or where his music comes from. It very much feels like Peter Hammill's machine, refining the same sound over and over but kind of contextless, sometimes in a good way but sometimes in an airless way.

See that's what I love about him, that sense that you can't compare him to anyone else. It shows what a true original he is.

Plus, the last few albums have all had sufficiently different elements to make them distinct from each other. You've had the solo acoustic guitar one, the long conceptual one, the joyful post-heart attack one and the slow, ruminative one.

I think it puts too much weight on the words is what I mean and I'd like to hear the music get more up-front.

He had a heart attack?

Yes, in 2003.

Yeah, just before the VdGG reunion if I remember right.

Well he seems to have com through it all right!

Some folks thought the VdGG reunion only came about because of his heart attack, i.e. he thought "better get a move on with this while we're all still around." In fact the reunion was planned before the heart attack, although they were thinking along those lines at that time as well.

Noodle Vague, I'd suggest you listen to Singularity (if you haven't already). He puts the music more upfront on that one.

I like the last two Electric Six albums a lot more than I expected I would; maybe ten years from now I'll consider them among my all-time favorite bands, but now it's way too early. (Also don't think they've ever matched their debut, though it's also possible they've never put out a bad album.) Einsturzende Neubauten actually occurred to me -- I started listening to them over a quarter-century ago, and the '00s stuff I got in the mail was pleasant enough in the background -- but it's not like I make any attempt to keep up with them. Ditto Van Der Graaf Generator, whose Present in 2005 I thought was really good (but I've only heard three or four of their '70s LPs, and maybe one Hammill solo LP from then, so again hardly one of my all-time faves.)

Teena Marie's album this year wasn't bad, either. But I still wouldn't say I've much cared about her for the past two decades, and if I miss a new album by her, I hardly feel like I've missed the boat.

Out of interest, what recent Patton stuff should I seek out? I've heard the more mainstream end of it (Peeping Tom etc), and while there's some good stuff there, nothing's WOWED me since California, I don't think.

― Communi-Bear Silo State (chap), Monday, November 30, 2009 7:24 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I'll give you a shorter answer than m to the g did: Start with the first Fantomas record.

Good question! Stars of the Lid have slipped a little down the careometer but as bands I've loved for what feels like most of my music-listening life go they're the only one I can currently think of whose next release I would be excited to hear, at least if Cardiacs are out of the running now ;_;

Half Man Half Biscuit was a good call though, can't say I rush to hear each new release, but when I finally get round to them the recent ones have surprised me by bringing at least as much joy as their old work.

I think age is impacting my answer not so much in terms of being older = needing a longer-running band to qualify (maybe this is true for many of you, of course) but in that the progression of my musical discoveries between age 13 and 19 feels like a whole lifetime in itself, whereas from 22 to now is like, oh, wasn't that just last year? Hard pushed to rep any 00s band here because it all feels too recent. Oh accelerating years...

No-one has mentioned Robert Wyatt yet?

I am seriously considering including The Knife on my list but I've had no desire to pick up anything but Silent Shout; I don't know why some artists turn me into voracious devourers while others crystallize themselves in amber so perfectly that I just want to gaze at the one perfect artifact they've created that pushes all of my buttons (see also N*E*R*D, who have released a ton of stuff that I intellectually recognize as good but boil down to "She Wants To Move" for me to the point where I literally feel no desire to pick up anything else they've done when I want to listen to them).

(obv re: The Knife, I consider Fever Ray to be its own discrete thing; I am also thinking my Knife stasis will quickly shatter once the soundtrack for their electro-opera comes out)

I'm agnostic on Wyatt. Is no-one going to back me up on Richard Thompson? Sweet Warrior was immense.

I'll give you a shorter answer than m to the g did: Start with the first Fantomas record.

that too.

it was a long answer, I grant you. but I did leave out a lot of stuff...

at least if Cardiacs are out of the running now ;_;

i for one believe. somehow.

Obvious answer = MBV. ;-)

I don't think groups that have reformed really count for the purposes of this thread

xps Uh, just realized my real answer to this question is probably the Kentucky Headhunters (who I never got into until this decade, and their studio albums have actually improved. Though the 1990 live in Cleveland set that just got released suggests they always rocked hard on stage.)

anagram: was joking, hence wink.

oh ok, I thought it was the "still releasing records" part that you were winking about, since the follow-up to Loveless seems as far away as ever :)

I'm agnostic on Wyatt. Is no-one going to back me up on Richard Thompson?

Robert Wyatt and Richard Thompson are good choices. I wouldn't pick him, but Mark E. Smith?

My pick would be Sparks. They started the decade with Balls which is one of their most average albums but followed it with two of their best. Lil Beethoven and Hello Young Lovers are really up there with the classic 70's period for me. The way they came up with a song as amazing as Dick around so far into their career is incredible.

The Hold Steady, Richman, Springsteen (just about). Still care about AC/DC records but last one disappointed me.

rebirth brass band, radiohead

My pick would be Sparks

Actually I'd have to second that, though I only really got into them in a big way in the late 1990s -- but the fanatics I do know who have been following them since the 1970s are committed souls, and both live and in the studio they have been ridiculously great these last few years as Kitchen Person notes.

Moritz Von Oswald

Randy Newman

Ecstacy is/was a great Lou Reed record. wish he's come out with something that great again.
Randy, SY, the fall - very good calls.

I tend to drift genre to genre with passing decades, so there aren't terribly many candidates that fit the criteria: 1) living artists I've followed for more than a decade, 2) who released their most recent album in the last 3 years, which 3) I found vital and engaging. My candidates are Autechre, Azam Ali, Anouar Brahem, Cranes, The Black Dog, Sussan Deyhim, Robin Guthrie, Jon Hassell, Lanterna, Portishead, Simon Postford, Carl Stone, Savage Republic, Stephen Scott, Scott Walker, and of them Sussan Deyhim gets the nod.

pretty much everyone associated with Godflesh, God, & Techno Animal. I've been kind of down on Broadrick lately (not a fan of Jesu), but all of these guys seem to be producing interesting (if not always great) music.

Some of my favorite stuff in '09 involved these guys: Transitional, Greymachine, White Static Demon, and King Midas Sound (based on the EPs I have high hopes).

James Plotkin is another guy I've loved ever since hearing the Old Lady Drivers track on Earache's Grindcrusher comp I've been obsessed with tracking his stuff down. This year's Jodis album is pretty nice.

No-one has mentioned Robert Wyatt yet?

― The bugger in the short sleeves (NickB), Tuesday, December 1, 2009 4:12 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

great pick, loved comicopera

Savage Republic

Had no idea they were still around. What '00s albums by them would be worth checking out??

hahaha I confused them with Savage Garden for a brief second

They are next to each other on my CD shelf! (How many people can say that?)

It was David Sylvian until "Manafon"

Low.

Each release pushes their sound forward a bit, always evolving, always consistently great to perfect. Probably the most consistent band out there of the past 15 or so years.

Sonic Youth

Steve Morris, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner, any configuration. There's a new Other Two album in the works, Freebass may not suck as much as I thought and the more I listen to Bad Lt. the more I ... nah, it's still really weak but I can sing a few of the chorus lines now.

xp Chuck: Savage Republic reformed in 2007 filling out about half of the 80s lineup, and to date only have one studio release, 1938, which is clearly SR but with less hoarse shouts, a bit more like the abstract instrumental rock that emerged earlier this decade.

you gotta consider this: LOTS of people are comforted by people who give them the same thing again and again. like people who own 30 george jones albums.

You're looking at a guy with roughly 40 Merzbow "solo" albums and another 8-10 collaborative efforts. For some reason I haven't hit a wall with Merzbow yet. The naysayers say all his stuff sounds the same, but the more you listen the easier it is to differentiate and appreciate his various approaches and styles and so forth.

Portishead sprung to mind immediately. Agree with Whiney on Melvins. Shellac possibly? oh, Daft Punk and The Fall too. Good question!

Portishead is a good one, although I'm not convinced they're ever going to record another album

Wire, Burma, Fall, Buzzcocks, SY.

Q-Tip

Autechre
Erasure (only because I'll never tire of Vince Clarke's arrangements and sound design)

Slayer

damon albarn

Brave Combo. Although in all honesty most of their records are at least a little hit or miss or contain a filler cut or two, I still always buy the new one from the merch table when they come to town.

Apples in Stero, Magnetic Fields, Ghostface, Amadou & Miriam, Hitchcock, Dylan, Spoon and apparently the B52's as I still listen to the last one a ton.

Aphex Twin

The Fall, Iron Maiden, Mudhoney, Nick Cave, and Motorhead are all albums I still pick up the first week.
Tons of the others mentioned are great too. Just don't have the time to track it all down.

Low

underworld (sort of: the last one was more serviceable than anything i care about really deeply)

I was thinking I didn't have one but then, yeah, Portishead duh.

McCartney, Magma, if XTC ever put out another record

Kind of the opposite of what Alfred Soto said: The PSB are my favorite artists but they no longer release records I care about. I guess my answer would be Saint Etienne.

Harold Budd - Because I could live in that sound forever

Sonic Youth - Because, though they're not breaking much new ground, they're still consistently good

Sloan - Because ditto

Low - Because they are still breaking new ground

Neil Young - Just because

autechre, magma, iron maiden

Ray Davies, though I'm not sure that covers avec chorale exactly counts...

yeah so after picking up Deep Cuts, any ambivalence I had about The Knife totally evaporated and they are firmly on my "must follow at all costs" list

having a seriously hard time answering this, but this may be a function of age, i fear

My answer would have to be Dylan, although I was probably as surprised as anyone when around 2001 or so he started to release albums that I had reason to care about again. I first got into Dylan around '90-91, and at that time it was common knowledge that he hadn't released anything great in about 15 years, so I just assumed that he was not someone whose current output I would need to keep up with, and I focused my energies on devouring the back catalog. I had to get over some major skepticism to even pay attention to his current releases.

I didn't list Mouse On Mars last time as I thought the last record was a terrible dropping-off from their previous work, but I still hold out hope for the next one and will want to hear it, so I guess it was unfair to omit them (or was it?)

possibly Aphex should be listed too - sure his 00s work does not hold a candle to his 90s work, but after putting on Analord as background music for a while some of the tracks really began to feel like home, plus if the Tuss is him that was decent enough too

(but SotL is still my largely unimpeachable main answer here)

Kevin Ayers is another one. The Unfairground of a couple of years ago being a pretty strong return to form for a guy who did some brilliant work in the '70s.

"destroyer" is my answer to this question.

we've got this far, and no-one is still in line for a new bowie album ?
i thought his last 2 albums, while not pure classics were bloody good.
so, should he decide to grace the release schedule with a new album in 2010 then i'll be there on release day.

Portishead is a good one, although I'm not convinced they're ever going to record another album

Ah we all said this TEN years ago ha ha.

I'm interpreting this as 'artists you've liked the longest who have yet to really disappoint you' - Broadcast maybe but it's only just nearly 10 years since I first heard their stuff. I'm not expecting to like the new Massive Attack (thought the last album was OK, not a real letdown) but they may yet win this. Daft Punk's last LP did not really satisfy so they're out. I guess I'm interested to hear what Saint Etienne do next, and Kraftwerk if they actually do release some new stuff within next 5 years.

The Fall

I'd like to add Carl Craig.

If I cared about Sparks and Yello more they'd be a good ones.

Um Kate Bush, kinda? Doubt her next album'll be out anytime soon, obv

I can't claim to know more than a small fraction of his discography, but Jeff Mills has been putting out records pretty steadily since the early 90s with some real classics early on, and the ones I've heard from the past year or two have been pretty good too.

surprised nobody has said vini/durutti. thought he had mad loyal fans. i gave up in the early 90's somewhere. sex and death, maybe? he's had a gazillion since then.

(forgive me if someone did say him)

i was gonna say either outrageous cherry or for against, but i think the REAL answer is durutti column, since i've been a fan of vini's for 20 years or so

― electrical audio's sm57 (electricsound), Monday, 30 November 2009 22:55 (3 days ago) Bookmark

well there you go.

um, i kinda like the new Stackridge cd. a couple beatles / floydesque jams.

The "favorite artist of all time" 'd be stretching it a bit (wotever the "it" is...),
but the following are sure some of the musicians who I've been into for a number of years and still care a lot wot they're doing:
Henry Threadgill, Nits, Hoppy Kamiyama, Sparks, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Dylan... Robert Wyatt...

(Then there're also R.E.M. and Jethro Tull, haha - but lets pretend I didn't mention them, uh?)

The Nits! The Nits! The Nits were mentioned! ^^^^^^ Their new album "Strawberry Wood" is immensely enjoyable.

seems that this question is way easier to answer if you're really into techno/house/electronic, i.e. carl craig, wolfgang voigt, MVO, villalobos, AFX

gotta admit most of the artists mentioned on this thread bore me to tears at this point (besides Kate Bush and the Knife,) but i guess that's kinda what its about

So I'm supposed to pick one, but I'll add two alternates.

The Church - to be fair, there's a tremendous loyalty factor here probably just as strong as the Robyn Hitchcock fans have. Honestly though, I'd rather listen to the last five Church albums than the first five and as long as they're alive, obstinate, and spacing out I'm in.

Ed Kuepper & John Doe - both have been releasing solo albums steadily i(outside of the occasional shows by their more famous bands) but all have been dependably great. Kuepper's Jean Lee & The Yellow Dog may just be his best album of all.

Peter Gabriel, Josh Homme, Aimee Mann, Courtney Love

Mukai Shutoku (Number Girl, Zazen Boys, brilliant motherfucker whose disjointed rhythms will direct me toward an ideal future I am not even aware of yet), Henry Threadgill (breaks through the other side every goddamn time, the other side is a fucking sham, Henry Threadgill lets us know this)

thought about this for a few days and came up with Erykah Badu (yeah, surprising, I know)

xp you're the only other person I've ever heard mention number girl... great band. never heard zazen boys though - definitely have to check them out.

I've been checking out pretty much everything kevin drumm puts out since sheer hellish miasma. see no reason to stop.

Killing Joke

duh

De La Soul. Are You In? is beautiful.

Honorable mention: Madonna as recently as Confessions on a Dancefloor, Q-Tip, Ian MacKaye (Fugazi/the Evens), U2, Atmosphere, Mint Condition, Mary J. Blige (slowly emerging fave), MF Doom (though I'm no completist), Orchestra Baobab, with more cautious caring about Alan Sparhawk (Low/Black-Eyed Snakes/etc.), Mick Jones (Clash, B.A.D., Carbon/Silicon), KRS-One, Stereolab (though the live shows have stayed far more vital), Sonic Youth, Springsteen (whose latest made him an all-time fave), Al Green, Juliana Hatfield (another slow burner), D'Angelo (if you call that releasing), and Prince (whose latest I at least feel obliged to care about).

Re: Jonathan Richman, You Must Ask the Heart is one of my favorite albums of the '90s, and he's good for at least a couple great songs per release, so maybe him too. I've loved recent R.E.M. and AC/DC too, but that's pushing the limits of "favorite artist of all time." I can't rep for the Mission of Burma albums, but their live show is amazing.

They have broken up now, but Squeeze's 90s albums were all very good, even though few noticed other than their diehard fans.

Neil Hagerty. I never know what that guy is gonna do next. I guess Jennifer and RTX while I'm at it.

This thread made me realize that I still buy every Sonic Youth album about the week it comes out, though it's been years since I've considered them one of my favorite bands.

Honestly though, I'd rather listen to the last five Church albums than the first five

Agreed. (Except maybe for Heyday.) And I should have mentioned them earlier since I started getting into them at the same time as I did the Cure and Depeche. Pretty good trio, I think.

Watching the new No-Man documentary/DVD the other night made me realize how they count too, though there's so many bands I keep a general eye on that I got into around 91/92 that it's a little hard to distinguish. Still, I like the fact that they have a partnership that has not only steadily continued but keeps transforming.

i should also mention that i'm still a pretty big ned raggett fan after all this time. though there is definitely more filler in his recent work.

Sadly true. But the almanac is always there.

I'm a recent Ned fan working my way backward.

You may find it somewhat complex trying to work your way backwards with those Pi digits, tho.

perhaps sadly, i rather enjoyed grandpaboy.

some GREAT songs on that one (Mono?)

Well I already picked Sparks but I'd also say The Divine Comedy who haven't made a bad album since their debut, actually it's not bad it's just very dull. I'm as excited for the new album as much as I was for the last few.

They have broken up now, but Squeeze's 90s albums were all very good...

The last album, Domino, was mostly lame, but the other 90's albums are good-to-great, especially Play, which may be their best album. They toured last year and are supposedly working on an album for 2010.

The latest Glenn Tilbrook album is pretty enjoyable, except he lets his bandmates sing lead on a couple of songs.

Pick one?

Definitely Autechre

Dinosaur Jr

And Ween up until 1 album ago.

Sunn O)))

Oh yeah, Courtney Love of course! America's Sweetheart is one of the best of the decade

Portishead is a good one, although I'm not convinced they're ever going to record another album

― Huckabee Jesus lifeline (HI DERE), Tuesday, 1 December 2009 19:25 (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Portishead sign to Amnesty

Portishead are releasing a brand new track, - "Chase the tear" for Amnesty International.

It will be available as an exclusive download single from 7 digital http://www.7digital.com/porti sheadamnesty from December 10th with all earnings going towards Amnesty's human rights work and all rights given to the organisation indefinitely.

A video of Portishead performing ''Chase the Tear'' will also be available from 10 December at: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/portish ead and at http://www.portishead.co.uk

International human rights day (10 December) marks the anniversary of the United Nation's historic "Universal Declaration Of Human Rights" on 10 December 1948. The UDHR set out for the first time in a single document the fundamental rights to which everyone, everywhere is entitled - including the right to life, liberty, security, the freedoms of opinion, association and expression, and the right not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.

For more information: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/udhr

oh fuck YES

Kate Bush, Morrissey, and Bjork for me. I'll pretty much enjoy whatever those 3 decide to put out, even if it's crap. Luckily they don't do that

Fred Cole

NoMeansNo

Sonic Youth and Negativland, close seconds.

dc talk

apparently, sade

dj quik is my obvious one

Throwing Muses are an easy one to start with - though, Im not sure if theyre still making albums? Theyre still touring!

Depeche kind of count, as do the Cure, but I've not kept up with their recent offernigs. Most other alltime bands I love are long split up: Cocteaus, Japan...

Ah! David Sylvian.

hard question. for me, the artist would have to have a 20+ year track record of music i've loved. i mean not only would they have had to be consistently active and good, but i'd have had to be a tuned-in fan for at least that long. and they've still gotta be putting out music that genuinely challenges, surprises and moves me. which narrows the field considerably.

first band i think of is the flaming lips, and i wouldn't have said that prior to embryonic. they were a favorite band of mine for the better part of a decade, but i've been steadily losing interest since 1995. nice at this stage in the game to be given something both great and totally unexpected.

and i'd like to say like michael hurley & sir richard bishop, but i came late to both, so they don't count (for me, anyway). and i'd like to say sonic youth, but they haven't put out a record i REALLY dug since washing machine.

billy childish (thee mighty caesars, headcoats, etc) & mick collins (gories, dirtbombs, etc) are long-time favorites, but i sometimes worry that both have their best years behind them. boredoms & tom waits? have liked recent stuff by both, but getting iffy...

The only band I can think of are Animal Collective, and I don't know if it's due to the backlash, but I'm surprised no one's mentioned them yet.

Plenty of artists and bands, but the award for longest running goes to Iron Maiden. Got to know the band in 1981 through their Killers album and have been hooked ever since. I lost some interest in them (and metal) around 1990 and completely lost them during the Blaze Bailey period (which, listening back, wasn't that bad a period, actually), but since the return of Dickinson and Smith I can safely pick up any new release again; they deliver. And they're still one of the best live bands out there. These old geezers, I don't know where they find the energy, but wow!