The Music Thread

[Nimphy]

I have never understood why genres are so important to so many people. I'm not saying that it's bad, but it just is something that I don't myself understand.  I usually don't know what genre I'm listening to, so all music seems equal to me. Good music is good, no matter what.

It's kind of funny when you say that nobody close to you cares about metal. It's quite different here. The ones who have never listened to metal are in minority.

I never understood it either. All music is beautiful. There are songs I love and songs I don't like in every genre. But who knows, maybe we're both ignorant and have no ear for distinguishing music? Really, though. I don't even know where to put most songs I like...

Well, it must be a cultural thing. I'm in the minority here, for not listening to... whatever Italian  singers are these days. Common opinion is that metal is a mess of shrieking and loud instruments, and that a goody-goody student like me would never listen to it.

[Solovei]

That's cool too. I don't know if this is rude to ask, but do you feel more Russian or Canadian? Equals?

Kind of odd that you end up liking Nordic music that much. I do listen to bands outside of Finland, but usually I like only, say, 3-4 songs per band. With Finnish bands it's different, they just "speak" more to me and I'm more likely to like their whole discography.

I can't recall any Canadian music. But there is some random Russian songs I like. My mother listens to Vladimir Vysotskij and I do like some of his songs. Have you noticed big differences between Russian, Nordic and Canadian music? There must be some.

Anyway, recommend something.   It doesn't matter if it's Russian, Nordic or Canadian. All new music is exciting!

I'll answer these in order, I guess!
Um, it varies usually depending on who I'm with or what's going on. Usually when Russia does something stupid (like, say, invading Ukraine or passing stupid laws about gay people >_>) I'm glad I don't live there anymore, but part of me is also really proud of having a different upbringing and a longer cultural history than my Canadian friends.

In terms of music though, it doesn't seem that odd to me - I've always tended to like "foreign" music? When I was in grade 9 I got really into Japanese rock/metal, and it took me a while to get back to North American bands. Now I suppose I kind of disregard the country of origin and just focus on the music. I don't know if I can speak to ALL Nordic bands but of the ones I listen to regularly tend to have more interesting lyrics and instrumentation, and just a general... I don't know, detached coldness to them that I like?

I don't listen to that much Russian music, mostly bands that my mom liked when I was growing up, which I guess would fall into "Classic Rock" by now? Although you have to consider that during the Soviet Era it was really hard to get any kind of rock music into the country, so while maybe folk and pop music of a sort may have developed, anything that was "Western"-sounding was probably forbidden. So you have a bit of a gap when other countries in Europe were evolving their sound, but that was more difficult in Russia because of the political climate.

Anyway, sorry for this big wall of text! Here's some songs I really like:

Mew - Comforting Sounds (Danish band, sort of indie I suppose?)
Samaris - Góða tungl (Icelandic electronic band; I think all their lyrics are 19th-century poems?)
Of Monsters and Men - Dirty Paws (Another Icelandic one, you might know this one already as this band seems pretty popular right now, at least in North America)
Mumiy Troll - Delfini/Dolphins (A Russian band, named after Tove Jansson's Moomintroll comics which are really popular in Russia.)
Arcade Fire - Wake Up (Finally, a canadian song! Arcade Fire is pretty similar to Of Monsters and Men above, but they have been around for longer and their music just FEELS more North American, I can't really describe it...)

Whew, that was a lot of songs. I noticed also that I don't think I've ever heard any Finnish bands, could you share some?

[Fimbulvarg]

I don't listen to that much Russian music, mostly bands that my mom liked when I was growing up, which I guess would fall into "Classic Rock" by now?

Gruppa Krovi by Kino is actually pretty good, even if you don't understand much Russian.

[Eich]

Thanks for introducing me to Helios! I have been listening through that album, loving everything.

I mostly listen game music and other instrumental BGMs, but my absolute favorite song right now is the main theme from How to Train your Dragon.

I've never had anyone take to Helios before, this is kind of awesome.  I honestly think that Halving the Compass and Paper Tiger are some of the most well put together songs ever made.  Post-rock became one of my favorite genres, after finding him.  You might also like Tycho.

I like almost every kind of music, except for praise, country (the US pseudo-genre), and most rap.  I grew up on Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty, Billy Joel, and everyone in between, and when I got into my late teens I started listening to more recent stuff like RHCP.  Now I mostly listen to whatever I can find, as long as it's well composed, and my current favorite musician is Uppermost.  He's a remix artist with kind of a techno vibe, but he freaking OWNS his style, and his songs are super interesting to listen to.

[Lenny]

I'm also a game and movie soundtrack person I'm currently in love with Howard Shore's Hugo soundtrack, and Joe Hisaishi's Mononoke Hime and Kaze no Tani no Naushika soundtracks.

Other stuff I listen to are Kaizers Orchestra, Steven Wilson (people who like Tychos and Helios might like his music, especially the later ones like The Raven that Refused to Sing), Zaz, Alexander Rybak. There's more (maaaany more), but those are the ones I listen to consistently.

I also have to thank you, Eich, for Helios. Listened to Halving the Compass, devoured the album and am now completely hooked.

[Sunflower]

I'm more a classical music type (plus folk and early music).  I find that Finland's greatest composer, Jean Sibelius, makes a great background for both Minna's epics.  He was deeply interested in Finnish folklore and the Kalevala, and set several of its episodes to music.  (He even tried to reproduce traditional runo-singers' rhythms.)

Directly relevant to ARtD (and a good start because it's short):  The Swan of Tuonela. 

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Finlandia, a musical tribute to his homeland.  The slow, solemn part at the end later got turned into a Finnish patriotic hymn. 

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Kullervo, a retelling of a Kalevala hero's wretchedly tragic life.  Luckily, the music has cheerful parts (and a hot, sexy part in the 3rd movement).  It also features an evil talking sword.  Music: 

/>Texts of the two sung parts are on the last 4 pages of these program notes: https://www.grantparkmusicfestival.com/uploads/pdf/Program%20Notes-Sibelius.pdf

Jaeger March

This music is rated M for Manly.[/font]

[Pessi]

I like so many kinds of music I hardly know where to start. I'm very fond of many classical composer's work including our own Sibelius (we should have the song part of his Finlandia as our national anthem instead of Pacius and Runeberg's Maamme), but am a fan of many old music and folk groups as well as groups making new music based on folk. Of Finnish groups I might mention Loituma, who had their moment of fame when their Ievan polska went viral on Internet (I'm more fond of their less frivolous songs like Kun mun kultani tulisi), Värttinä (their old songs mostly, the new aren't plesant to my ears), Räikkä who sing "medieval" music with their own funny and often vulgar lyrics like Täydellinen pyllynpyyhin (The Perfect Bumwipe), and Gjallarhorn, a Finnish Swedish group with an angel voiced Singer, who make almost magical songs like Konungadöttrarna. One of my favorites is also the Swedish group Hedningarna with their Finnish singers and their mixture of both countries musical traditions and more modern sounds like in the song Räven, where the Swedish words about a scary but tempting fox-woman mix with a Finnish spell for raising love.

Edit: One more Finnish music maker I like: Eino Juhani Rautavaara. His Cantus Arcticus is especially fine.

[Hedge14]

Hey Nimby! I listened to both Therion and Blind Guardian.
From Blind Guardian I chose to listen album Nightfall in Middle-Earth. It did not leave very strong impression on first listening, but it was very solid. They wasn't any songs that I hated, and their sound is good. I think there should be more variance between the songs, now they seemed all very similar to each other. Favorite song: "Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill)"

Therion made good first impression!  Album I chose was Les Fleurs Du Mal.
Poupee de cire, poupee the son is my favorite Eurovision song and the cover was kind of funny. Overall there is much more things going on this album. Initials B.B was my favorite.

Btw, both bands had very good vocalists. So thank you! I might try other albums too.

Thanks for answering my questions Solovei! It's cool to get good things from both cultures. :)

You're right Nordic music does have "coldness" in it. Maybe you like lyrics because they are different in what kind of themes have compared to North American music. Exotic things do seem often cool. So maybe it's not that odd in that regard. Nowadays it's so easy to stumble upon music from other countries. So nobody is forced to listen only to local or super popular international music.

History of Russian music seems very interesting. That gap probably is not so strong anymore, but it will give Russian music different "flavor". I have heard only pop and rock from Russia. Pop was really upbeat and quick and did not seem so simple as Western pop is. Rock seemed pretty similar. Maybe the differences were in lyrics instead?

Your recommendations were really interesting. Mew was ok. Samaris I liked a lot, it has very Indie sound. Of Monsters and Men had very silly lyrics, so I did not enjoy that much. Mumiy Troll (Really? :D) sounded like Finnish poprock in Russian. Kind of cool actually. And finally The Arcade Fire. Good, but kind of flat song.

[Fenris]

I listen to a lot of different kind of music, but favorite genres are heavy metal, rap and rock, although I also listen to classical music, country, 'choir music' for lack of a better term (usually those of a militaristic bent, like the Red Army Choir or various american civil war era music), blues, a bit of pop & disco and so on. I can't think of any genre without at least some songs or bands I like, so its a bit erratic. Mostly grew up with heavy metal (Iron Maiden, Metallica, Judas Priest, Saxon, all the good stuff).

Some favorites:
Suspekt - Proletar (danish rap)
Plumbo - Ola Nordmann (norwegian folkish rock)
Raubtier - Panzarmarsch (swedish industrial/heavy metal)
Alestorm - Shipwrecked (scottish power/folk metal)
Korpiklaani - Vodka (finnish folk metal)
Sabaton - Ghost Division (swedish power metal)
Glittertind - Varder i Brann (norwegian folk metal)
Could probably list songs and bands forever, so that'll do.

[Pessi]

I know this is almost like saying I'm not actually a Finn after all, but I've never gotten the hang on metal music. Thanks for the link to Plumbo though Fenris, I liked that. Isn't Ola Nordmann a kind of personification of Norway, the same way we have Suomi-neito?

[Fenris]

I know this is almost like saying I'm not actually a Finn after all, but I've never gotten the hang on metal music. Thanks for the link to Plumbo though Fenris, I liked that. Isn't Ola Nordmann a kind of personification of Norway, the same way we have Suomi-neito?

Yeah, Ola Nordmann is both used as a kind of national personification and can also describe the 'average joe' (Kari Nordmann is a feminine form), with Nordmann literally meaning Norwegian. The song mostly describes Norwegian self-stereotypes (wanderlust, technophilia, loving the sea and such).

[Eich]

Blitz post time.  I'm going to save my extensive list of OSTs for another day, but here's a (very small) mixer to show a variety of things I enjoy, that y'all might like as well.  The most important one is saved for last, so feel free to skip to that one, but I also highly recommend Take Me Somewhere Nice, Arrival of The Birds, and Neon.  I slapped these together pretty quickly to be a sort of playlist, so hopefully the one or two people who listen to all of them will experience some small level of flow.

De Hofnar - Zonnestraal - Best un-ironic, non-jazz saxophone I've heard; I can dig it.  (Anyone know what the title or band name means?  The words seem Scandinavian...)
John Mayer - Neon - I've spent 2 years learning this song... and I still can't play it right.
Mogwai - Take Me Somewhere Nice - Those of you who liked Helios might enjoy; this one has some singing.
The Cinematic Orchestra - Arrival of The Birds/Transformation - Words?  Nope.  I have none.
Ludovico Einaudi - Nuvole Bianche - Some beautiful piano.  Like -really- beautiful.
The Black Keys - Wicked Messenger - The lyrics in this one are poetry (especially the last verse).  Then again, it's a garage rock cover of a Bob Dylan song, so why wouldn't it be?
Iron and Wine - Boy with a Coin - Cool.  For any other guitarists, this one's pretty easy to play, but it sounds really cool.
Mike Dawes - Somebody That I Used To Know - Guitarists... prepare to either pull put your hair and gnash your teeth, or be inspired beyond your wildest dreams.  Seriously, everyone, don't just listen to this one, watch it.  It's one of the most incredible things I've ever seen or heard.

[Lenny]

Eich - regarding De Hofnar - Zonnestraal ... it's Dutch De Hofnar means The Court Jester, and Zonnestraal means sunbeam.

[Eich]

Eich - regarding De Hofnar - Zonnestraal ... it's Dutch De Hofnar means The Court Jester, and Zonnestraal means sunbeam.

Huh, I thought Hofnar sounded like a funny word...
Thanks for the info, that's been bugging me for a while.

[Lenny]

Haha 

No problem at all! And I have to thank you for linking The Cinematic Orchestra, that piece is absolutely breathtaking.