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Here's something else that's not metal: hip hop/bluegrass fusion, as performed by Gangstagrass.
https://youtu.be/9vwFciHiWlk
https://youtu.be/r72-j1hbYdk
https://youtu.be/GKgRdYk7OWM

It's not bad.

Just finished listening to:

Gorguts - Pleiades' Dust (2016)

Another dissonant, challenging, strangely compelling listen from Gorguts. Like Colored Sands (mentioned a few posts back), the tension between chaos and order really sucked me in. Musically it seems to have one foot in Death Metal, and the other in Modern Classical (yes, you read that right). The lyrics tell the history of the House of Wisdom (a.k.a. Grand Library) of Baghdad, destroyed in 1258 AD when Baghdad was sacked by the Mongols. If the preceding description hasn't completely put you off already, IMO you really ought to give this a listen.

The entire EP (it's 33 minutes in length which would've been considered a full-length album back in the day, but I guess is now considered an EP): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhbYsjl-k9s

...and I've now moved on to:

Sass Jordan - Racine Revisited (2017)

A 25th anniversary remake of her fan-damn-tastic 1992 blues-rock album Racine (which I have owned a CD of since shortly after it came out). The original version was already one of my "desert island" discs; now I am torn regarding which version I like better. The remake has a looser, more organic, warmer, "live in the studio" feel that really clicks with the material and her (just a bit grittier after all these years) voice.

The opening cut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx9C3iYLEdM

Sam Phillips - World On Sticks (2018)

I mentioned this in passing a few weeks ago, but it deserves more attention. After her 1994 breakthrough album Martinis and Bikinis she pretty much dropped off the radar, and I assume most people dismissed her as a one-hit (or at least one-album) wonder. But ever since, she's been sporadically releasing quirky little understated gems. While I found 2013's Push Any Button to be merely OK, there's a lot to love about this album. One of her best, and highly recommended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQUxFfz ... xIiVhL4V60

IMO Don't Do Anything (2008) and Fan Dance (2001) are also standouts in her discography, for those who are interested in digging deeper.

The Cars - Move Like This (2011)

I had no idea they got back together in 2011 and released a studio album. It's actually pretty good! They don't break any new ground, choosing instead to stick fairly close to the "classic" Cars sound of their first couple of albums. But it's well done, and they don't sound bored to death like they did on the entirely forgettable Door to Door album (the last thing they did before they broke up the first time).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=detPnpN ... 08A7072392

Speaking of The Cars, for a brief time during their extended hiatus there was also a band that billed themselves as "The New Cars" (LOL), featuring a couple of the original members plus Todd Rundgren (!) on vocals instead of Ric Ocasek. Rundgren fits in surprisingly well, and does a reasonable job of imitating Ric's vocal style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPnGQqG ... YEe4-ruU4Z

NPR using Rydberg excited atoms to listen to and play back 'Under Pressure' by My Chemical Romance.

Edit: can't give a link to the NPR bit because what comes over the radio never seems to actually be on their website.

Pineapple Thief - Dissolution (2018)

Alt-rock/prog-rock hybrid very much in the vein of Steven Wilson's post-Porcupine Tree solo projects.

Hmm... incongruous two-word band name with the initials "PT"... I wonder if this was a conscious nod to Porcupine Tree? They're also on Wilson's Kscope label, and former Porcupine Tree (and King Crimson) member Gavin Harrison is currently their drummer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWSkoUL ... TZLTNUGuwr

Fates Warning - FWX (2004)

Wasn't into these guys much back in their heyday ('80s-'90s), but have been checking some of their stuff out on Spotify lately. I really like this album! Sort of prog-metal-ish, in an old-school Queensryche sort of way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GNyRBXPYc8

The "A Hat In Time" Soundtrack! It's a great tune to start an adventure!

Journey - Journey (1975)

Their debut, from before they found Steve Perry and went full-on arena-pop-rock. Meandering prog rock with jazzy undertones, drenched in Gregg Rolie's electric piano and Hammond organ, with some great guitar playing from Neal Schon. Nothing at all like the Perry-era stuff... might as well be a completely different band. While somewhat dated-sounding at this point, IMO this is an overlooked/underrated gem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDJRh4ls8VY

Speaking of Journey, listen to the first half minute or so of this track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TlHv6UdIIM

Remind you of anything?

Journey and Kansas toured together not long before Kansas released Leftoverture. I'm assuming the similarities are not a coincidence...

Apart from my PC's supper loud AC system? going back to the old ones - Queen.

King Crimson - In The Court of the Crimson King, 40th Anniversary Remix (original release 1969, remixed and remastered 2009)

A prog rock classic from a classic (and still active, if you can believe it...) band. I had this on vinyl back in the day, bought one of the many CD reissues/remasters sometime over the past ~3 decades, and now this more recent reissue by Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree), remixed from the original multi-track tapes.

Previous reissues all suffered to varying degrees from poor fidelity; IIRC the first CD release of this was widely panned for poor sound quality, which was due to the record company's inability to locate the original master tapes. This reissue brightens up the sound, and has a clarity and transparency which seems to be lacking from my other CD copy (and the original vinyl for that matter), revealing details which were not clearly audible previously.

Unfortunately, this comes at a price: the cymbals are occasionally a bit brittle and harsh sounding.

There's also an odd editing decision where Wilson has excised a couple of minutes of the meandering improv which closes "Moonchild" (apparently Fripp either agreed to or perhaps even requested this). I'll be the first to admit that that improv is my least favorite part of the album; but chopping part of it out feels like a George-Lucas-style attempt to rewrite history. At least the full version of "Moonchild" is included as a bonus track; on my PC and phone playlists I will be swapping that in instead of the edited version.

The bonus tracks also include a few other odds and ends, the most interesting of which are alternate mixes (one of them purely instrumental) of "I Talk To The Wind".

Edit: One other nit - there seems to be a glitch in the remixed version at ~5:09 into the title track. One of the notes of the flute solo is essentially MIA; it's still there, but barely audible. I didn't notice this on the first listen, but once you realize it's (not) there it kinda jumps out at you if you're accustomed to the original. Comparing against the older CD release, the flute was being panned back and forth between the left and right channels at this point. Looks like this somehow led to a glitch in the remixing process.

I've been listening to a lot of John Mayer, Jason Mraz, as well as Billie Joe's new stuff (The Longshots) lately.

Violet Orlandi - Wake Me Up When September Ends

Surprise! It's not metal.

I've been listening to her covers for a while now. She's got one of those voices you're not sure is real the first time you hear it.

Listening to some of B2B, Nsync, Usher, Ashanti musics, it's mix on youtube.

Back to normal for me with Korn's new track(can we still call them tracks?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3v5yMF1hTs

I'm much more of a metalhead now at 40 than I was 25 years ago when Korn was new to the scene. I know it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm glad they're still around and they sound just as heavy as they did way back then.

Redocbew wrote:

Back to normal for me with Korn's new track(can we still call them tracks?)

I still call them "tracks". Anyone who says we can't can listen to this TRACK on repeat until they are ready to poke their own eardrums out with a rusty red-hot 8d nail.

Redocbew wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3v5yMF1hTs

I'm much more of a metalhead now at 40 than I was 25 years ago when Korn was new to the scene. I know it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm glad they're still around and they sound just as heavy as they did way back then.

Tell me about it! I'm much more of a metalhead now at... *ahem*... old enough to get the senior discount at some places... than I ever was.

I was never really into Korn either, but IMO that's a pretty good TRACK.

And speaking of metal, I am listening to Opeth's Blackwater Park right now. Quite possibly the best Progressive Death Metal album ever. The opening TRACK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ppq3u66_xs. OMG, f'in amazing!

I used to listen to Korn somewhat regularly, but most of the stuff I liked from them was 10 or 15 years old already by the time I found it. For whatever reason, I wasn't really into it during the time it was new, but now I am.

Andy Rinehart - Jason's Chord (1993)

Quirky, jazzy, world-music-y release from an obscure singer-songwriter, featuring two of my favorite musicians (guitarist David Torn and bassist Mick Karn). Haven't listened to this in ages, and decided to haul it out tonight. Kind of like meeting an old friend again after a long absence. Hi Andy!

https://open.spotify.com/album/7tJcQ7hmbW8Pny4LwB3qHa

Torn, Karn, Bozzio - Polytown (1994)

OK, after the Andy Rinehart album, I just gotta listen to this to continue my Torn/Karn fix. Bozzio is the icing on the cake. This is one of my "desert island" discs. OMG, sooo good...

https://open.spotify.com/album/3Vp1MnWSZup8CzfS16E6UY

Pink Floyd, Division Bell (1994).

This is a culmination of years of talent. It invades the brain, in a good way.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 'Live Anthology' all 4 disks, on scrambled play.

LoneWolf15 wrote:

Pink Floyd, Division Bell (1994).

This is a culmination of years of talent. It invades the brain, in a good way.

Agreed, 'High Hopes' is my favorite track.

just brew it! wrote:

I still call them "tracks". Anyone who says we can't can listen to this TRACK on repeat until they are ready to poke their own eardrums out with a rusty red-hot 8d nail.

My parents must have despaired at how many times I played that over and over when I was in 7th grade.

Mr Bill wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

I still call them "tracks". Anyone who says we can't can listen to this TRACK on repeat until they are ready to poke their own eardrums out with a rusty red-hot 8d nail.

My parents must have despaired at how many times I played that over and over when I was in 7th grade.

NopeNopeNope...

Along with THIS.

thankfully both tracks are a bit earlier than I am, but there's great music from that era, and neither of those do it for me.

LoneWolf15 wrote:

thankfully both tracks are a bit earlier than I am, but there's great music from that era, and neither of those do it for me.

Hey, The Shaggs are from that era!

Wikipedia wrote:

The conceptual beginning of the Shaggs came from Austin Wiggin's mother who, when her son was young, had predicted during a palmreading that he would marry a strawberry blonde woman, that he would have two daughters after she had died, and that his daughters would form a popular music group. The first two predictions proved accurate, so Austin set about making the third come true as well.

Sounds like a recipe for success, eh? Or not.

Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR9d4ESlpHY (the user comments are fantastic)

...and after you listen to the above, consider this bit of info:

Wikipedia wrote:

On February 17, 2017, the Shaggs announced a reunion show at the Solid Sound Festival in June

TheNightTimeProject - "Pale Season"

Melodic and kinda melancholy progressive metal... kinda in the same vein as Katatonia (two of them are former Katatonia members) or more recent Opeth. I actually found this one by accident on Google Music, and am glad that I did... really cool album. Was perfect for a long drive on a rainy day.

The Aristocrats - You Know What...? (2019)

Another great release from this phenomenal instrumental power trio.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=O ... kwmI7zhb1U

(Gotta love the "Parental warning explicit lyrics" notice... the album is entirely instrumental... there's an f-bomb in one of the track names.)

Is it bad that I've had the Soviet National Anthem randomly popping into my head over the past several days (despite not knowing any of the words)?? Perhaps I'm somehow being reprogrammed?

Also: https://youtu.be/tHNcAZYPY_E

The Egg wrote:

Also: https://youtu.be/tHNcAZYPY_E

I'll see that and raise you this:

https://youtu.be/zsC2ETsZL0g