Top Tens

[girl anachronism]

Great thread idea and have thoroughly enjoyed checking out all the contributions so far.

This one might be considered a little bit of a cop-out, as there are so many genres/subgenres etc. that fall under the large umbrella of instrumental music. Heck, on reflection, and before I post this list and someone calls me out, a few of these actually contain vocals, however, in these examples, they are not lyrical and serve as another instrument, adding additional sounds to the layers of instrumentation.

What fascinates me most about instrumental music is its ability to evoke reaction without any sort of lyrical content to portray the artist's intention, tell stories, or act as a guide or reference point. In relation to that, a lot of the instrumental music I tend to listen to tends to be of atypical song structure, sometimes almost completely freeform, often downtempo, and although containing widely utilised and recognised instruments, they may often be used to create sounds different from the "norm". I can quite easily sit for hours and immerse myself in the subtly changing layers and topography of drone and doom, get lost in repetitive phrases in psych and feel a wry smile coming across my face when enjoying the delights of the less serious space rock bands.

So, without further ado, and in no particular order; my Top Ten Sans Lyrics.

Gnod with White Hills- Run A Round

Gnod are a loose collective of drone and psych noise musicians based in Salford. This is the opener to their 2010 LP "Drop Out", a collaboration with space rockers White Hills. Like a lot of similar psych music, the bass and drums remain almost at a constant, both grounding and propelling the rest of the track, which is dripping with swathes of feedback and fuzzy melodies adding a bit of grime. Towards the end, the dynamic changes, with the descending guitar melodies intertwining and pushing to the fore. Everything about this pulsating track just makes me want to dance around really unfashionably.

Tyondai Braxton- Raise Yr Arms and Cross Them

Perhaps better known as the frontman of Battles, Tyondai Braxton is a composer and performer in his own right. To me, this is the standout track, in the much more minimalist surroundings of 2002's History That Has No Effect. Always one to appreciate a bit of guitar pedal trickery, this track provides so many "how on earth...?" moments. Feedback knobs set to the right on delay pedals, this track has the potential for an out-and-out noise meltdown, but remains controlled, the squalls of delay taking a backseat to the swell of lush cello and the crashing, repetitive drum sequence. A wonderfully tense and brooding track.

Metronomes- Hirta

http://www.myspace.com/metronomes/music/songs/hirta-45259965

Unfortunately, the only YouTube video I could find of this track was one by the UK Canoe Society, in which some guy interrupts the track after thirty seconds to instruct watchers in how to do something called "the goon stroke" (I've learned something today). Thus, I've had to revert to 2004 and post a MySpace link. Anyway, this delightful little guitar piece is by Al Paxton, formerly of Stapleton, under the name Metronomes. I've picked this one, as I love the simplicity of it, it's really well put together and doesn't overstay its welcome. From 2006's album Canoe.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor- Moya

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqKCVlNBVGg

This needs no introduction, really. Hard to pick just one GY!BE track, but this one won out.

Barn Owl- The Darkest Night Since 1683

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6rnNyswOc4

I got into this band around this time a year ago; our friend Dave (Free Tibet) came round one evening with a CD-R with absolutely no annotation other than the words "play fucking loud" written on the disc. It was a recording of Barn Owl's set from 2011's Supersonic Festival. Since then, I've been pretty much hooked, with Barn Owl vinyl always on heavy rotation. Perhaps one of the heavier tracks from 2011's Lost In The Glare, this droney track utilises blown-out sounding dirge, scraping and creaking cymbals and shimmering guitars to maximum effect.

[girl anachronism]

ARP- Pastoral Symphonies I. Dominoes II. Infinity Room.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52o4ezMR_xU

Alexis Georgopoulos intention with his second ARP record; The Soft Wave, was to create a feeling associated with the Mediterranean coast. With it's fuzzy, analogue, Eno-esque synths and warm repetitive bass, there's definitely a feeling of summer hedonism that's recurrent throughout this track, and the album.

Dirty Three- I Really Should've Gone Out Last Night

2000's Whatever You Love, You Are perfectly showcases the fantastic orchestration that Dirty Three are capable of. With pizzicato, melancholic guitars, ambling drums and lush bowed passages, this track exemplifies their ability to go from achingly lamenting, to uplifting effervescence and back again in the blink of an eye. Stunning.

Stars Of The Lid- Tippy's Demise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtaR7KN3eEc

Wonderfully evocative and mesmerising, like every beautiful piece of droning ambience SOTL produce.

Olafur Arnalds- Ljósið

Opulent, melancholy and concise chamber music.

Earth- Father Midnight

[Teabags]

That sounds fucking excellent, do it!

xx

It's going to take some thinking. But I'll do it. Probably tonight.

[Flights]

Stars Of The Lid- Tippy's Demise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtaR7KN3eEc

Wonderfully evocative and mesmerising, like every beautiful piece of droning ambience SOTL produce.

That whole album is incredible. Beautiful music.

[Murrr]

I'm surprised you don't include Cannibal Ox. I know they didn't do much buck but The Cold Vein is easily one of my favs. Though I guess it was hardly a pioneering album.

It's an excellent album, but I wanted to stick to the golden era. Thinking of doing an El-P/Def Jux list next though...

[Teabags]

Please do.

[jester1470]

Agreed, and good choice of song. Paul Heaton is a severely under-appreciated lyricist. He wrote socio-political satire better than most punk bands. The band went off the rails when they replaced the original female vocalist, but they released wall-to-wall hits before that. The Housemartins are brilliant too.

They've always been an easy target because they were viewed as safe pop when sometimes the lyrics were far more dark than anyone realised, they were consistently good, and even the dodgy covers album had a great version of SClub7 and one of the best versions of "You're the One that i want". They remain one of my favourite bands to drive too, and seeing them live just before they split up was an epic gig, really enjoyed it though i haven't managed to get into Paul Heaton's solo career, though we will see him as support to Squeeze in December.

Has made me consider doing a" top 10 artists who are misunderstood and the songs that might change your mind !!"

[Stroopy121]

Has made me consider doing a" top 10 artists who are misunderstood and the songs that might change your mind !!"

DO IT.

xx

[Eupraxia]

I'll contribute my top ten tonight. Top ten ethnic sex music songs.

[Jaaakkkeee]

This is like cracked.com. and I love cracked.com. I love lists. yus.

[Stroopy121]

I'll contribute my top ten tonight. Top ten ethnic sex music songs.

Songs about ethnic sex? Or ethnic songs about sex?

xx

[Eupraxia]

Both.

[Mr Owl PhD]

This might be an interesting point of contrast to some of the other lists, but I thought I'd do one on 'Twee Pop'. I'm sure you're all big fans anyway, but maybe some of this might be unfamiliar. This isn't really an attempt at anything definitive but is a selection of stuff that I like and see as being a bit related.

It's a bit hard to know where to start, and in some ways a less 'macho' approach to pop music goes back to at least Buddy Holly, but arguably the genre emerged in Scotland in the mid 80s with bands like the Pastels, the Vaselines and the Shop Assistants:

At around the same time in Olympia, Washington Beat Happening were developing their distinctive, simple pop tunes:

The scene developed in the UK through the C86 'shambling' type stuff into some classic bittersweet tunes from bands like the Sundays and the Popguns:

One of the biggest early twee bands were Talulah Gosh, who transformed into Heavenly. Heavenly were the Beatles of twee, and their sound gradually transformed to become punkier with harder hitting lyrics. Songs like Hearts and Crosses were where twee met riot grrl:

Rather than going on to present Scrapheap Challenge like one of the other people in Heavenly, Rob and Amelia formed the band Tender Trap and are still doing music these days. That band took their name from this song by Australian band Even As We Speak, who were also on the legendary Sarah record label. This track is from their only album 'Feral Pop Frenzy', which is possibly my favourite album ever. It's kind of cheesy but done in a very knowing way and the whole thing seems incredibly playful and effortless. A band that showed that pop music could be anything you wanted it to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN8rChNa7qI

[Mr Owl PhD]

One of my favourite bands ever were Po! who came from Leicester and did lots of folk-tinged twee pop during the late 80s and 90s. They were probably the least rock n roll band of all time, and seemed so nervous of success that they split up shortly after one of their songs was made single of the week in the NME. Ruth Miller was a great songwriter, who wrote about things no one else writes about like girls' marching bands, ponies and hanging about in bus shelters to alleviate the boredom of provincial life. She's also the first person I ever sent an email to. True story.

Back over in America, Tiger Trap took their name from a Beat Happening song and pursued the same kind of simple, punky pop tunes. They did one album and every track is a winner:

Another glorious band from America were Small Factory who combined great, punk pop with excellent boy-girl harmonies. I had a couple of albums by them back in the day but only heard this, their first single from 1991, a few days ago. It's really good.

Twee has spread around the world and much of the most influential stuff in recent times has been made in Sweden, a country that's no stranger to popness. Club 8 are a quintessential Swedish twee band:

There are plenty of great pop bands these days that take their cue from the likes of Heavenly, Camera Obscura and Beat Happening: Los Campesinos, Fear of Men, Betty and the Werewolves and a thousand others. One of my favourite bands of recent years were a group I stumbled over in Auckland, New Zealand called Teacups. Fantastic, sweet, clever, folk pop with great harmonies:

[Paranoid Android]

I'd like to do a top 10 but have absolutely no idea what it could be of.

[Monster Zero]

I’m going to go with an alternative history of Nick Cave, which is a lot to condense and rather than go with the obvious stuff I’m choosing some possibly lesser known stuff.

‘Shivers’ by The Boys Next Door, his first real band that morphed into The Birthday Party, this is the stand-out track from their one and only album, relatively simple in structure but very atmospheric -

‘Zoo Music Girl’ from The Birthday Party’s ‘Prayers on Fire’ album. This album would be the advised entry point to The Birthday Party if you are merely curious -

‘Dead Joe’ from The Birthday Party’s ‘Junkyard’ album. The band became more discordant and chaotic as they progressed and this is one of their heaviest statements -

‘Mutiny in Heaven’ from The Birthday Party’s ‘Mutiny’ EP. Their final 2 EP releases (‘The Bad Seed’ and ‘Mutiny’) saw many of Cave’s later lyrical interests and the subject matter for his novel ‘And the Ass Saw the Angel’ come into play. This song matched an almost jaunty backing arrangement with frenzied multi-layer vocals and lyrics concerning religion, drugs, death, etc -

‘Saint Huck’ from Nick Cave and the Bad Seed’s ‘From Her to Eternity’ album. The musical arrangement still has traces of The Birthday Party but the subject matter could almost have been taken forward some 10 years to the ‘Murder Ballads’ album -

[Monster Zero]

Speaking of which, this version of the old American song ‘Stagger Lee’ appeared on ‘Murder Ballads’. It’s a great version in its own right but I’m including it mainly for the video, which sees Cave adorned in a baby pink skinny Take That t-shirt while doing some sexy dancing -

‘Come Into My Sleep’, a B-side from the ‘Are You the One That I’ve Been Waiting For?’ single. His mid-period album ‘The Boatman’s Call’ was highly lauded but for me some of his better work during this period was being hidden away on B-sides such as this -

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have always been masterful in reinterpreting the songs of other artists and released a full album of covers ‘Kicking Against the Pricks’ in the mid-80’s. This version of Pulp’s ‘Disco 2000’ takes the yearning lyrical subject matter of the upbeat Britpop anthem and turns it into a slow, waltz-like, mournful thing of beauty -

Another fantastic cover, a version of the Neil Young song ‘Helpless’, just beautiful -

Over the past few years Cave has been much in demand as a creator of soundtracks in collaboration with the Dirty Three’s Warren Ellis. ‘Song for Bob’ appeared on the soundtrack to ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’. Ellis’ typically mournful violin work is accompanied by Cave’s simplistic piano melody to create something that would appeal to those who like the work of bands such as Labradford, Eluvium, Stars of the Lid, etc.

[Guest Giles Walker]

You guys have great taste in music (in my opinion)

I am worrying that my top tens are going to be too in the vein of niche dance music or hip hop. I think i might do a top ten "records between rave and jungle, when things were all a bit weird" next.

[Teabags]

Awesome bands I listen to with awesome female vocalists.

Easpa Measa (IRE) - Neo-crust with 2 vocalists, 1 male 1 female

Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation (JAP) - Once an all female grindcore band. Now have a male guitarist.

Lycanthrophy (CZ) - Mental fastcaore/powerviolence with a female vocalist and a male bassist also doing vocals.

Token Tantrum (SWE) - sludge/crust band that broke up years ago but released two really ace records. Her vocals are nasty as fuck, its ace.

Robot Has Werewolf Hand (USA) - dual vocal fastcore from Buffalo.

[Teabags]

Idiots Parade (SVK) - fastcore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa5FlRXZE5M

Hagridden (NL) - fast aggressive garage punky stuff. Recently played at GGI Fest in Glasgow.

Despise You (USA) - seminal powerviolence from LA. Main vocalist is a bloke but they do have a female vocalist as well occasionally.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed (USA) - Grindcore kings. They have 4 members, 3 of which are vocalists, one of them being Kat Katz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPU0_tYFxEI

Kylesa (USA) - sludge/hardcore band. I think its 3 vocalists they have, all of which plays guitar/bass. one of the guitarists is female. 2 drummers as well.

[Soda Jerk]

Female vocalled hardcore is great. All this stuff is rad. I actually didn't know Easpa Measa were female vocals. I just thought they were ripping in a high pitch sort of way.

You heard Oathbreaker? Again, the vocals rage so hard, I didn't realise it was a girl on vocals until quite recently.

[Woodsinho]

Here are 10 songs that I like by bands that at one time or another have been labelled Math Rock (sometimes very loosely):

You Slut! - Mybloodyjesusexploreronfire

Giraffes? Giraffes! - Totally Boneless!!!

Don Cabellero - Dick Suffers Is Furious With You

Alright The Captain - Neo Tokyo

Three Trapped Tigers - 3

[Woodsinho]

And So I Watch You From Afar - Gangs (Start Never Stopping)

65daysofstatic - Retreat! Retreat!

Lightning Bolt - Assassins

Brontide - Matador

Russian Circles - Death Rides A Horse

Next Up: TOP TEN NU METAL.

[Stroopy121]

Female vocalled hardcore is great. All this stuff is rad. I actually didn't know Easpa Measa were female vocals. I just thought they were ripping in a high pitch sort of way.

You heard Oathbreaker? Again, the vocals rage so hard, I didn't realise it was a girl on vocals until quite recently.

Oathbreaker have a woman vocalist? I had absolutely no idea. Awesome.

xx

[Teabags]

I actually didn't know Easpa Measa were female vocals. I just thought they were ripping in a high pitch sort of way.

On that note, this is NOT a female volcaist, it's Roddy from Atomgevitter doing vocals.

http://thisclose86.bandcamp.com/