Expanding my musical awareness

Hi all,

I know there are a few threads about favourite albums, best drumming albums, etc, and I've gone through them and found some great stuff (Palmystery = wow!).

So I am trying to widen my musical knowledge by listening to styles I'm not familiar with. I am mostly a rock/metal kinda guy with prog tendencies, but would be interested to hear suggestions of albums/artists of other styles. In particular I am thinking about world music and latin rhythms.

I realise this is wide open, but basically anything that gets me thinking outside of the usual 2 + 4 backbeat rock pattern and helps me expand my musical vocabulary.

Let the thread commence!

The one band that jumps to mind is Orphaned Land.
They are a rock/metal kinda band with prog tendencies, but mix it up with Middle Eastern rhythms. You can expand and stay in your comfort zone all at the same time.

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire

Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior

drummingdunc said:

I realise this is wide open, but basically anything that gets me thinking outside of the usual 2 + 4 backbeat rock pattern and helps me expand my musical vocabulary.

Click to expand...

I could post a list that would take me hours to type out, lol...

... but "outside of the usual 2 + 4 backbeat rock pattern", this fits the bill

Hiromi trio http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rxYw7Y45Eo

How bout some music without drums:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umVBhm2zZa4

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

dig this album....

when it dropped in 1997 it blew my mind

amazing from top to bottom

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

There are alot of good rock bands using different rhythms and time signatures. I am a bit tired of the metal thing and especially the growling/yelling vocalist but I have really been sucked in by Djent recently.

Karnivool
Chimp Spanner
Planet X
Oceansize
Porcupine Tree
05ric and Gavin Harrison
Meshuggah
Periphery

And of course the classics Tool and King Crimson.

That is a wide-open question! Here are some truly random suggestions with influences from latin/world:

Rock+ Latin: Santana- Santana III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA-qoG48HR8

Prog+Latin(?): Mars Volta- take your pick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE6YN9VcPPA

Jazz+Spanish: Miles- Kind of Blue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB669XXjnUg
Coltrane- Ole: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rnN67Y7_lg

Fusion+ World(?): Weather Report- Heavy Weather: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n-iCSz6rug

Jazz/Funk+ Africa!: Fela Kuti: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ue-4aZhpp0
Manu Dibango: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWK_Josc0Og

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass or maybe Gloria Estefan and the the Miami Sound Machine

Well, I was kind of in the mood to do a music dump, so why not

Cynic(prog metal), http://youtu.be/gw-6IIBXNSQ

Local Natives (indie folk) http://youtu.be/DvzZC9gDbLo

Neon Indian (Techno/chillwave) http://youtu.be/kwe2rG_Sxs0

Canvas Solaris (Prog/tech/metal?) http://youtu.be/lz4h7hd9QfE

Intronaut http://youtu.be/S1LmYsCzAgw

Some other bands to check out would be Porcupine Tree, Broken Social Scene, Jean Luc Ponty, Exivious, King Crimson, and Tool, but I imagine most of those probably at least heard of before.