What's your favorite band that's still in their prime?

¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨

Band? Does Ne-Yo count? The White Stripes?

Badfinger

uh.. Portishead?

LCD Soundsystem

this is depressing.

boredoms?

(also) lately: Deehunter & No Age

*r

Depeche Mode. Their second prime though.

Spoon

Budgie

The fall

The problems are...

-it's often really hard to tell if a band are in their prime - they could be still growing? You can't really stick your finger on something and say "that's the prime" until they're past their prime.

-bands tend not to end up in "favourite" category until they have acheieved enough of a back catalogue to deserve that appellation - by which point, it's statistically likely that they are already past their prime.

Hongroe

You can't really stick your finger on something and say "that's the prime"

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/3519/glitterzs7.jpg

several dancey duos spring to mind

bands much tougher - will answer after hearing gang gang dance

Context, noodle, context. I mean, that bloody sentance I just typed doesn't make sense until you get to the end of it!

You can't really stick your finger on something and say "that's the prime" until they're past their prime.

Soz K8 it was just a bad double entendre

of montreal (beating out deerhunter and radiohead?)

i think i take "prime" to mean they havent started the almost-unavoidable phase of the musical artist's career arc in which they release a couple disappointing records in a row. pretty subjective, still

Marnie Stern, Lindstrom, Black Dice, Junior Boys, Britney Spears, Phoenix, Lightning Bolt, The Knife, No Age, LCD Soundsystem

The White Stripes. easy. (would also rep for past-their-prime [?} bands like Sonic Youth, DB Truckers, um...i guess that's about it.)

Of Montreal and Animal Collective.

Menudo

Flaming Lips or SFA -- tho both may be a touch on the downside of their careers.

Melvins! :D

Stars of the Lid, The Dead C, Jandek.

Montgomery Gentry

"Of Montreal and Animal Collective"

High on Fire

Enslaved, LCD Soundsystem, The Sword, Fabolous, Young Jeezy

la la la ladytron

too many to list

this is depressing.

Seriously. Definitely not Yo La Tengo...definitely not Sonic Youth...

Tortoise, maybe? Evan Parker?

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Tahiti 80

the dream, blonde redhead

Matthew Shipp

Of Montreal

also in their prime who I enjoy would be TV On The Radio, Spoon, Phoenix, Ne-Yo .. I'm somehow unsure if Junior Boys counts for this .. I'm also unsure if Clipse are in their prime right now

i'm glad to see a lot of people here love of montreal so much

MIA
Drive-By Truckers (Blessing and a Curse is their mulligan)
White Stripes (Icky Thump is theirs)
No Age
The Hold Steady
LCD Soundsystem

Oh yeah I forgot No Age and Wolf Parade

wolfmother?

Right, Phoenix. Mos def.

Of Montreal, Girl Talk, ummm.. Jay-z (but not really.. but 'Jocking' was great).

Jay Reatard foremost, with second votes for High on Fire, Ladytron, LCD Soundsystem. Also, the Gossip.

i'm surprised nobody's said radiohead ...

jay reatard, deerhoof, the fennesz'z, liars, black mountain, NIN, LCD soundsystem

black angels
black keys?

i'm surprised nobody's said radiohead ...

― rjberry, Monday, November 3, 2008 5:49 PM (2 hours ago)

i mentioned them!

also lcd i forgot

So since this thread has kind of turned into "list your favorite contemporary bands who are killing it" i guess i will add that Der TPK and Sapat are great, and even though i haven't seen them live, their records stand as some of the best from the past couple years in my mind.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

The Ex

times new viking

runner-up oneida (who are still super rad but I'm not sure if they'll ever match up to or surpass their absolute best stuff)

I'm in a Pitchfork kind of mood, so...

Grizzy Bear
Sheawater (Rook and the re-recorded Palo Santo were both a bit of a let-down, but I'll be generous)
Pumice
Final Fantasy
65dos

I was shocked the Ex went so long without being mentioned!

Corrupted, probably

The A Frames are still around, right?

also hoping on Six Finger Satellite

Derhoof

Or Deerhoof, I like them both and can't decide.

Not any band particularly, but many individual artists seem to be at their peak: Flying Lotus, Ricardo Villalobos, Phillip Sollmann (Efdemin) et al.

Forgot to mention: Rustie.

Boris
Herman Dune
Times New Viking
Deerhoof

wolfmother?

considering they've split, and sucked once they recorded, you might have missed the bus slightly

Only way I could answer this was to rephrase it as "what band's next release do I most anticipate?" And right now I'm dying to hear how The National follow-up Boxer. As much as I loved that album, it feels to me that their best stuff is yet to come.

Elbow may also be the right answer to this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/noodle_vague/6ptj2ua.gif

Oh Snoop, you know the truth!

Torche
Electric Wizard(last album might be their best)
Boris
Grails
Zombi
Nadja
Mastodon

Flaming Lips or SFA -- tho both may be a touch on the downside of their careers.

"may be"

SFA have been on the downslide since 2001.

Flips since about the same.

But they do what they like, and they like what they do...

Not sure I'd agree with all the Of Montreal votes for the records (the newest record seemed to be a much paler, less interesting version of the last one or two), but I as a live proposition I'd definitely agree.

I'm tempted to say El Guincho, but I suppose he falls into 'exciting new(ish) act' rather than necessarily 'act at the peak of their powers'.

also hoping on Six Finger Satellite

I love 6fs but it's hard to categorize them as being in their prime. the new album they just recorded is supposed to be good but their recent career has been kind of like watching a dazed prizefighter try to lift himself off the canvas.

also, these current favorites are in their prime:

white mice
tinsel teeth
blues control

Harvey Milk

(the newest record seemed to be a much paler, less interesting version of the last one or two)

naw it's just as good as hissing fauna, but different

Not sure I'd agree with all the Of Montreal votes for the records (the newest record seemed to be a much paler, less interesting version of the last one or two), but I as a live proposition I'd definitely agree.

I'm tempted to say El Guincho, but I suppose he falls into 'exciting new(ish) act' rather than necessarily 'act at the peak of their powers'

otm about el guincho's classification

but i think describing skeletal lamping as pale is kinda missing the mark. if anything, it's overstuffed with ideas (not my opinion). grozart's otm, it's a really incredible record, and it requires that you spend a lot of time with it to appreciate, which kinda flies in the face of what most indie music is going for recently imo.

Sic Alps

Duchess Says, Cloudland Canyon

the Legendary Pink Dots have been in their prime for like 30 goddamn years

Corrupted

Deerhunter
No Age
LCD Soundsystem
High Places
Matthew Dear
Melchior Productions
Air France
Lindstrom
Quiet Village

good idea for a thread. makes me want to test-drive some of yalls suggestions out.
first I'll try white mice
then Quiet Village
and finally High on Fire

the Legendary Pink Dots have been in their prime for like 30 goddamn years

OTM! I almost mentioned them but I think The Ex are even more unarguable.

white mice last couple of albums are great but live is like whoah

Theo Parrish

ok, cuz the white mice myspace was just wacky noise.

ummm, I'm gonna have to test drive some more groups until someone hits my genre.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Tahiti 80
― henry s, Monday, November 3, 2008 4:40 PM (Yesterday)

are you in these bands?

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, mebbe?
New Pornographers.

im getting confused by every one saying phoenix. i mean 'united' was 8 years ago. have i missed something?

ok, cuz the white mice myspace was just wacky noise.

yeah they do that sometimes

I guess I could list some bands that've just released a strong debut - it's a bit harder to think of bands that've been around for a while and are still releasing their best work. Maybe Nellie Mckay.

SFA have been on the downslide since 2001 2003.

Being that Phantom Power was a significant improvement on Rings..

Not that many mentions of Radiohead. Is it wrong to consider them still in their prime? I mean round 'Hail to the Thief' I thought they were pretty much done, they sounded tired imho, but last year with 'In Rainbows' they pretty much stirred the media and the audience all over again and garnered the most positive reviews since uhm 'Kid A'?

But then... obviously their true prime was 'Ok Computer' and I doubt they'll ever receive the manic attention they had going on 1997.

The Church
Spectrum?

Sic Alps and A Frames seconded. Also:
Ohsees
The Intelligence