Artists/Bands you can't live without

[steve ridgway]

Hawkwind and Young Gods: mixed bag but did keep a few tracks of both in my favourites... Kissing the Sun and Donnez les Esprits hit the mark for Young Gods. I also quite liked Hawkwind's You'd better believe it, Lost Johnny, Psychedelic Warlords, It's so Easy. there's some leeway there to look at those again in more depth.

Klaus Schulze was a surprise. Qobuz didn't have Picture Music so i listened to Moondawn instead. Turned out to be really absorbed by it (with a break between both halves). Sounds like one i may look at further too with Tangerine Dream.

I'm glad you found a bit you liked. Art Zoyd Phase IV, Univers Zero Ceux Du Dehors and Henry Cow Western Culture may be a little more impressive to the (avant garde) classical listener.

[Madiel]

I only ever had Beds are Burning and Blue Sky Mine, but boy did I wear out those tapes back then.

Feel free to throw in some names by the way, even more so if off the beaten path.

Well my favourite single album is by a short-lived band called george (lower case) and the album is called Unity... wasn't even the more popular of their 2 albums. The 2 singers were brother and sister and the latter, Katie Noonan, has continued a fair career but I still think Unity was an absolute peak. Pop jazz electronic all kind of fused.

For pop music I can't go past (Megan) Washington, utterly gorgeous voice, she took a little bit of time to figure out how to use it. New album next month...

Missy Higgins has done some good things.

Meanwhile I have got stuck on my absolute favourite Paul Dempsey song which is one of those rare things I can play on repeat almost endlessly, and am not remotely tired of after 4 years. It's called Idiot Oracle.

[Old San Antone]

The thread title, "Artists/Bands you can't live without" is a foreign concept to me.  I could certainly live without all bands, or music itself, if I had to.  I suppose the OP is asking who are my favorite artists/bands, or at least that's how I must interpret it in order to post here.

1. Duke Ellington
2. Bob Dylan
3. Guy Clark
4. Louis Armstrong
5. Ralph Stanley

[Mirror Image]

I could certainly live without all bands, or music itself, if I had to.

I believe that for a second.

[Madiel]

A stronger man than I. There is family history of hearing loss, I now have tinnitus in both ears, and quite frankly at times I am fucking terrified.

[Old San Antone]

I believe that for a second.

As I have gotten older, and have had experienced some health concerns, my priorities have changed.  So, in the big picture rock/pop bands do not loom so large as to be things I couldn't live without.  Believe what you want.

A stronger man than I. There is family history of hearing loss, I now have tinnitus in both ears, and quite frankly at times I am fucking terrified.

I would miss being able to hear sound or losing the ability to play my guitar and banjo.  But truthfully it would be possible to live without it.  I'd like to think I could adjust and still find purpose in living.

[Madiel]

Well I'd like to think that too. But to be quite honest I'm not that confident. Given that music is essentially my main psychological therapy and that I recognise how antsy I get if I don't have an opportunity to listen to it, basically daily, I'm by no means sure that I will be okay if I can no longer listen.

[Papy Oli]

Well my favourite single album is by a short-lived band called george (lower case) and the album is called Unity... wasn't even the more popular of their 2 albums. The 2 singers were brother and sister and the latter, Katie Noonan, has continued a fair career but I still think Unity was an absolute peak. Pop jazz electronic all kind of fused.

For pop music I can't go past (Megan) Washington, utterly gorgeous voice, she took a little bit of time to figure out how to use it. New album next month...

Missy Higgins has done some good things.

Meanwhile I have got stuck on my absolute favourite Paul Dempsey song which is one of those rare things I can play on repeat almost endlessly, and am not remotely tired of after 4 years. It's called Idiot Oracle.

I assume the george is this one ?



Nice voices on the first songs, Like the atmospheres too. Will have a proper listen tomorrow.

Their sound has linked my mind to some artists in the same vein in my collection:

For his voice, Try Ben & Jason - $10 dollar miracle, Emoticons, Let's murder Vivaldi, Romeo and Juliet are drowning, The wild things, etc...

For her voice, check Bic Runga, the Beautiful Collision album. she's from NZ, so probably on your radar already anyway ?

I'll check the rest of the names you gave tomorrow.

[Madiel]

Yes that's the george album. I even love the booklet artwork...

I'm aware of Bic Runga but have heard very little, she only had brief prominence here. So now I've got homework 

[Carlo Gesualdo]

The answer is 3 Letters long , yep I know short but sweet  CCR
who does not love CCR here , or worst whom does not love CCR  and is an american shame on you(just kidding) lol
 

Great band Lots of greats  it's ''It came out of the sky'' super fun one of my favorite for lyrics & music that kick *ss.

[AnotherSpin]

Assuming this is predominately focused on non-classical artists...:

Miles Davis
Grateful Dead
Velvet Underground
Spacemen 3
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Brian Eno
Outkast
The Band
Bob Dylan
The Radio Dept.
Kendrick Lamar
Nick Drake
Cocteau Twins
My Bloody Valentine
Keith Jarrett
Blind Willie McTell
Allman Bros
Iggy & the Stooges
Talk Talk
Otis Redding

I was scrolling through an old thread and noticed that your list includes everyone from those few who has been especially important to me throughout nearly all the decades of my passion for music: The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett -- interesting

I can add some of those related to the early period of my music enthusiasm: Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, The Who. The Beatles and Stones, of course. But with all of these, it's more about nostalgia than a desire to endlessly re-listen and discover something new again and again.

[foxandpeng]

There aren't any bands or musicians that I couldn't live without. There are a few that I would be sad to never hear again. Assuming we are speaking of non-classical artists, here are 10 to start ...

Dark Tranquility
Amorphis
Insomnium
Winterfylleth
Mgła
Karg
Agalloch
Solstafir
Tuomas Saukkonen's various bands
Summoning

[ritter]

There aren't any bands or musicians that I couldn't live without. There are a few that I would be sad to never hear again. Assuming we are speaking of non-classical artists, here are 10 to start ...

Dark Tranquility
Amorphis
Insomnium
Winterfylleth
Mgła
Karg
Agalloch
Solstafir
Tuomas Saukkonen's various bands
Summoning

My ignorance is proven by the fact that I've never even heard of any of those ten bands... 

[Spotted Horses]

The thread title, "Artists/Bands you can't live without" is a foreign concept to me.  I could certainly live without all bands, or music itself, if I had to.  I suppose the OP is asking who are my favorite artists/bands, or at least that's how I must interpret it in order to post here.

1. Duke Ellington
2. Bob Dylan
3. Guy Clark
4. Louis Armstrong
5. Ralph Stanley

Closest to what I might write.

I couldn't say there is any performing artist I couldn't live without. But there are Artists that I have listened to very persistently, or who, when they release something new, I must hear it.

Off the top of my head:

Bob Dylan
Dar Williams
Indigo Girls
Susanne Vega
Sonny Rollins
Thelonious Monk

[Madiel]

My ignorance is proven by the fact that I've never even heard of any of those ten bands... 

We can be ignorant together.

[JBS]

My ignorance is proven by the fact that I've never even heard of any of those ten bands... 

Metal bands, I think. I've seen one or two of the names cross my Twitter timeline. But metal is not usually part of my listening, so I have no idea of how the various types of metal are differentiated. The big hair bands of the 80s/90s are as heavy as I get.

[foxandpeng]

My ignorance is proven by the fact that I've never even heard of any of those ten bands... 

Ignorance is unlikely. There is simply so much music out there, that we could each listen to music all day long, and have no crossover whatsoever.

Jazz, Folk, Northern Soul, Prog Rock, Hip Hop, Big Band, Country, Atmospheric Black Metal, Shoegaze, Hardcore, Doom, Rap... even just listing the genres, sub-genres and styles would take all day, never mind the byways and hidden corners where we could explore, and the countless bands and solo artists that inhabit them.

I also think that it's of folk here are probably not populists, listening only to the Top Ten or the obvious compilations that many are drawn toward. Nothing wrong with that, but I suspect many here are more individualistic and prone to following rabbits down burrows...

[foxandpeng]

Metal bands, I think. I've seen one or two of the names cross my Twitter timeline. But metal is not usually part of my listening, so I have no idea of how the various types of metal are differentiated. The big hair bands of the 80s/90s are as heavy as I get.

Agreed. Mostly metal bands of one stripe or another. Part of that enormous and rich tapestry where varying tastes and obsessions live...

[foxandpeng]

Ignorance is unlikely. There is simply so much music out there, that we could each listen to music all day long, and have no crossover whatsoever.

Jazz, Folk, Northern Soul, Prog Rock, Hip Hop, Big Band, Country, Atmospheric Black Metal, Shoegaze, Hardcore, Doom, Rap... even just listing the genres, sub-genres and styles would take all day, never mind the byways and hidden corners where we could explore, and the countless bands and solo artists that inhabit them.

I also think that many folk here are probably not populists, listening only to the Top Ten or the obvious compilations that many are drawn toward. Nothing wrong with that, but I suspect many here are more individualistic and prone to following rabbits down burrows...

[Karl Henning]

There aren't any bands or musicians that I couldn't live without. There are a few that I would be sad to never hear again.

Yes, allowing for that dial-down:
The Beatles 
Stevie Wonder 
King Crimson and divers Robt Fripp projects 
Frank Zappa 
Genesis