Ipp-odd and Beyond: Music
Heard any good music that didn't make it onto the House soundtrack? Here's where you can discuss it.

Let's get this rolling. Name your five favorite artists. Then tell us about an artist that most of us have probably never heard before and should check out! Suggest a song or two to download. For me: 1. Bon Jovi 2. Keith Urban 3. Daughtry 4. Elvis Presley 5. Nickelback/SHeDaisy/Melissa Etheridge.... etc. I can count. I just can't narrow it down. ;) And you should know, but probably don't: Trent Willmon. He's a country singer out of Texas who mixes a good bit of rock n roll in with the traditional sounds. Download This: Good Horses to Ride, Island, All Day Long

The Beatles The Band Alan Price Phil Ochs (Southside Johnny, early Stones, early Rod Stewart, Tom Lehrer, Dylan, early Springsteen...) Download Hearts of Stone (Southside Johnny), House of the Rising Sun (The Animals -- Alan Price on organ) and Outside a Small Circle of Friends (Phil Ochs) Listen to a clip of Outside a Small Circle of Friends first -- it's definitely not for everyone.

I'm actually familar with Southside Johnny. :) Jon BJ frequently "borrows" his bandmembers when he needs extra musicians. I love the Better Days CD. I need to fire that up on my iPod. I used to work out to that CD all the time and I definitely need to work out after the meal I had tonight, the first of three Christmas dinners I'm going to attend.

Oh, those narrowing it down to five favorites is so near impossible. Here goes: Beatles Elvis Costello Crowded House The Jayhawks The Kinks As for who/what people may not have heard of that I enjoy---even more difficult to narrow down. (And guess who's heard what or who likes what.) Alas, here are a few: 1. Andrew Bird. I caught him at Bumbershoot this year and just loved how he incorporated the violin into his pop landscape. It further helps that he's really damned attractive. A download: Imitosis. 2. More difficult to look at, aesthetically, is The Magic Numbers, but they are pure pop perfection. Comprised of two sets of brother/sisters, these folks produce the best harmony this side of the Mama's & Papa's. A download: Forever Lost. As a bonus, I absolutely love their cover of Beyonce's "Crazy in Love." 3. I'm From Barcelona. There's something about bands that have dozens of members (and could be confused as cults) that just crack me up. Everything ends up sounding like some really happy hippy free-jam. I would love to see a true battle of the bands between IFB and the Polyphonic Spree. A download: Collection of Stamps. 4. Nicole Atkins. Gorgeous voice, original style. She looks a bit like Kate Pierson of B-52's and sounds like....hmmmm....Neko Case, maybe? A little bit? At any rate, one of my favorite releases of the year, for sure. A download: Neptune City. 5. Razorlight. I find them infectious. A great little Brit combo that sound a bit like the Strokes with a stylish/retro nod to the Kinks. I'm having a hard time narrowing down one download for them, so I'll go with a few: Before I Fall to Pieces, Golden Touch, and America. 6. Rocky Votolato. I've seen him play live 3-4 times now. Very talented young singer-songwriter and I have to give him extra props for being a northwest native. A download: the gorgeous single White Daisy Passing. I could probably go on forever at this rate, but it's someone else's turn! :-)

Okay this is tough as hell - how does one narrow down across genres? Moods? Anyhow, here's the best I could come up with for now: Aretha Franklin The Kinks Sloan Nick Drake Pulp As for bands people may not have heard of, that's another thing that I could go on and on about. Jens Lekman - Swedish pop diety (IMHO) who has written one of the best albums of the year, Night Falls Over Kortedala. Download: A Postcard to Nina - a perfect short story in song form. The Harlem Shakes - NYC-based band with one record out. Upbeat and interesting. They are seriously fun live. Download: Felt Wings, Sickos The Format - In Dog Problems, they produced the most perky yet bitter break up album I've ever heard in my life. It's a carnival ride of almost every pop style you could imagine. Endlessly entertaining and inventive. Download: Timebomb, She Doesn't Get It Patrick Wolf - Madly creative English multi-instrumentalist. On his most recent album, The Magic Position, he collaborated with Marianne Faithfull, which made me love him even more than I did before. Download: The Magic Position, Bluebells, Accident and Emergency The Rakes - London-based rockers. This year's Ten New Messages was a bit more polished than 2005's Catch/Release but lacked none of the punch. Download: The World Was a Mess but His Hair was Perfect, We Danced Together, Suspicious Eyes I'd also have to argue that 3 of my faves might not be all that well known, so I'd like to recommend a few tracks from them as well: Sloan - Long lasting Canadian rock band comprised of 4 very distinct singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalists. That gives every album a Whitman's Sampler flair, but in the best of ways. They can bring the perfect Big Dumb Rock song (harder than it may seem) as well as the best down tempo fare. They are also hands down one of the best live bands ever and their fans make every show a special event (Sloan fans are seriously devoted and sing every. single. word. I know, I'm one of them.) Download: She Says What She Means, Money City Maniacs, I Love A Long Goodbye, On The Horizon, Don't You Believe A Word Pulp - Brilliant British pop band featuring one of the best frontmen to ever grace a stage, Jarvis Cocker. They're officially on a (permanent) hiatus now and Cocker has a fantastic solo album. But old Pulp stuff rules. Jarvis has a way of communicating the working class mundane grubby side of life that instantly engages you. He's as great an observer of British life as Raymond Douglas Davies and that is the highest compliment I can pay a person. Jarvis is also a serious horndog which adds much hilarity. Pulp has a large catalog spanning the better part of 20 years, so I'll just suggest a few tracks to download: The obligatory Common People (their most famous song), The Fear, This Is Hardcore, Babies, Do You Remember the First Time? Nick Drake - English singer songwriter who died much too young (aged 26) in 1974. His gentle voice and sad, haunted words will break your heart again and again. Download: Northern Sky, 'Cello Song, Time Has Told Me, Time Has Told Me, Fruit Tree Bailey - you and I seem to have alot of bands in common! I have to second your recs of Andrew Bird, The Magic Numbers (They certainly aren't pin ups, are they? Bless.) and I'm From Barcelona. I'd also like to sell tickets to the IFB/Polyphonic Spree brawl. :-) :-) You just know someone's gonna get beaned by a cello or clonked with one of IFB's platform shoes. I also have to say that IFB is one of the most terrifyingly coiffured bands in recent memory. The terror of all that 70s influenced hair in the We're From Barcelona video is enough to make you weep. I was a teenager in the 70s. We didn't even want that hair! ;-) Great song though. Okay. That's enough from me. Note for the future: Don't start me talking about music!

Did y'all know music existed more than 50 years ago? :) Top 5, in no particular order... Charlie Christian - early electric guitar player, who managed to have an enormous influence on jazz, bop, and rock though he died of TB only 3 years after rocketing to fame with the Benny Goodman band. Look for the Benny Goodman Sextet or the jam sessions at Minton's. Lester Young - legendary tenor sax player. Member of the Count Basie band & friend of Billie Holiday. Hard to go wrong with any of the small group sessions with his name on them. Or any early Basie. Or anything with Billie. Billie Holiday, Lester Young and others from The Sound of Jazz, 1957. Magic. Artie Shaw & his Gramercy Five - small group swing. The first session uses harpsichord instead of piano! Jay McShann - Kansas City blues/swing/boogie-woogie piano man. If your toes don't tap to his music, check your pulse - you're probably dead. Teddy Wilson - another piano man, more elegant than McShann. Played with Benny Goodman when blacks and whites simply did not perform together in public. Recorded with just about everyone who was anyone in 1940s & 1950s jazz. Wilson in Berlin, 1965; Benny Goodman Quartet, 1972 A name you don't know, though you probably know his music... Raymond Scott. His songs were used extensively in Warner Brother's cartoons and also show up in Ren & Stimpy. The original recordings with his 6-man quintet (no, that's not a typo...) are enormous fun. You can find some samples on raymondscott.com and a video on YouTube.

I heart Lester Young! If we're talking jazz: John Coltrane. I still remember the first time I hear A Love Supreme, I swear I broke down crying for a good fifteen minutes or longer (good music does that to me). Actually, any musician in that group are people I almost idolize - McCoy Tyner (I'm a piano girl originally), Jimmy Garrison (although I also really love Paul Chambers), Elvin Jones. Just, wonderful. And my first jazz album ever bought is still one of my favorites - Blue Train. And to contrast the two, My Favorite Things. And they're all such a contrast to each other as well - the first is one of Trane's latter albums and Blue Train his first solo album. You can really hear the growth between them - from a more bluesy light feel in BT to a heartfelt prayer in aLS. And I could keep going but I have a gig to get to. Someone keep me off this subject as I could really go on for hours with him (did you know he refused to wear underwear?).

Another jazz great who should be mentioned: Oscar Peterson, who died Sunday. His "Hymn to Freedom" was featured in the House episode "All In." I'll admit I tend to shy away from jazz performers from the post-bop era. I'm a simple soul who likes music that sounds like everyone is playing the same song :) Some Coltrane is fine for me, some is just way to out there.

I've been using my break to get reacquainted with a couple of my favorite Scottish/Celtic fiddlers - Alasdair Fraser and Natalie McMaster. Samples of their albums can be heard here Alasdair Frasier - Alasdair Fraser Natalie MacMaster - Natalie MacMaster.

My favorite band is Queen, followed by the Eagles and U2. My favorite male singer is Billy Joel, followed by Robbie Williams and Elton John. My favorite female singer is Kylie Minogue, followed by Kelly Clarkson and Madonna.

Another jazz great who should be mentioned: Oscar Peterson, who died Sunday. Aww. The best recording of any sort of West Side Story music was his. I love that recording. My favorite female singer is Kylie Minogue See, I read that and think Doctor Who. Which means I think of Murray Gold as well. Now that is a score writer. Otherwise Geeg, I love your band selection. See, I have a hard time picking a favorite, unless you mean composers of educational music (school ensembles), then it's Ralph Vaughn Williams, Eric Whitacre, and Gustav Holst. And I also like Percy Granger (who invented a bra for his girlfriend so they could go running together). Yes I know odd facts about composers. But, my favorite genres are more 1970s rock, 1960s jazz, and current British indie bands; Magic Alex is the newest in that list for me.

On the subject of little known bands, I gifted myself The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place by the Texas post-rock instrumental (meaning no singing) band Explosions in the Sky. Awesome. Their music is often used on Friday Night Lights to wonderful effect. Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean is one of my favorite tracks.

I just picked up (in CD form) the new Iron and Wine CD, which is fantastic, and via iTunes gift certificates downloaded The Magic Numbers (fantastic britpop with two sets of siblings -- they opened for Rufus Wainwright this summer) and the new Steve Earle release. But I've got to say, I was listening via the iPod shuffle when I heard Paul Westerberg's It's A Wonderful Lie came on. If they don't use it on the House episode, "It's a Wonderful Lie" I'll be shocked. How many songs out there refer specifically to misanthropes? (Both links are to you tube versions.)