Music you should listen to...

No seriously.

As the "a blog" post implies this was originally intended to be an email for a few friends whom i thought would be interested. But now, you all (the many readers i have ...) get to sit through it.

There Are 5 bands worth listening to. Yes you may have heard them before. Listen again.


Furthermore, these bands are all interconnected. I know right?

Lastly perhaps you'll say, "oh that's not my style of music".
Wrong.

I'm hear to broaden your horizons. One look at my Ipod will show you my eclectic musical tastes. A song for every second.

Musical Style is cyclical.

If you like rock? listen to country. you like country? listen to hip-hop. you like hip-hop? listen to jazz. you like jazz? listen to blues. you like blues? listen to rock.

You may say, "Matt that's crazy, what about other music, like metal or punk?" or you may say, "Matt your crazy, hip-hop and country?"

Try it.

Figure out where sub genres fit (I'd put metal and punk in the rock category), some music spans multiple genres.



Hip-Hop to country? Yup ... most rap (not to be confused with hip hop, but that's a different argument) and most country musicians sing about the same things. Breaking girls hearts (or having hearts broken), drinking alcohol, and driving cars (or trucks).

I'm right you know it.

Anyway - the point is, broaden your musical horizons.

Back to the original post...

5 bands you need to listen to more.

The White Stripes
The Black Keys
The Greenhornes
Holly Golightly
The Raconteurs

Now for the interconnectedness:

The Black Keys are based out of Akron, OH and the Greenhornes are based out of Cincinnati, OH. The Greenhornes have opened for the Black Keys (at least once.)

Holly Golightly and The Greenhornes collaborated on a song "There is an End" for the film Broken Flowers. (which i have not seen.)

Two of the members of the Greenhornes and Jack White of the White Stripes created a side project called The Raconteurs (along with Brendan Benson who didn't make the '5 bands you should listen to' cut).

Now, finally, to make it a little easier i have links to a handful of my favorite (or close to it) songs by said bands:
The White Stripes - Dead Leaves and a Dirty Ground
The Black Keys - Busted
The Black Keys - Heavy Soul - sound quality is poor, find yourselves a solid studio version of this cut.
The Greenhornes - Shame and Misery
The Greenhornes & Holly Golightly - There is an End - from the film Broken Flowers
Holly Golightly - Tell me now so i know - supposedly written by Ray Davies originally, but never released.
Holly Golightly - Walk a Mile
The Raconteurs - Steady as She Goes - the song that prompted the forming of the band.
The Raconteurs - Bang Bang - a live cover of Nancy Sinatra; they do a lot of nice live covers.
The Raconteurs - Blue Veins