In my first year of college, I unplugged the earphones on my old Samsung laptop that had Linux Mint and lots of bugs instinctively, and the whole class ended up listening to Agalloch, screaming, shouting, and wailing. I hope my Electronics professor liked it.
Back when I was in school, I found dance music interesting and Avicii was one of the very few artists amongst the ones I heard who consistently surprised me with new sounds.
I discovered Parvaaz during my college years while exploring new artists on Bandcamp and Saavn. Their then-recent album Baran was a revelation, blending blues and psychedelic elements with Urdu lyrics, and even featuring some Kashmiri, which caught me completely off guard.
I like how they play guitar in a synth-like fashion, similar to the Strokes. This upbeat, hopeful music is rare in my library. I'm not at IndieWebClub today and Tanvi thinks Good Kid is too basic for her taste.
After listening to Opeth's Blackwater Park on repeat for about a month, I sought to find similar music and that is where I stumbled upon Novembre. They've gone through several stylistic changes over the years but remain one of the artists from my childhood that I look up to.
Jal was synonymous with Urdu rock throughout my youth. Looking back, the lyrics feel melodramatic, yet there's no denying the brilliance of their vocal work that seamlessly blends rock and traditional elements.
Leprous captures my perfect metal aesthetic. Long atmospheric build-ups, thoughtful dynamics where silence and volume serve the song rather than genre expectations, and drum patterns that groove while remaining completely unheadbangable.
I found Joe through a curious coincidence. During Android 4.0+'s rise, someone ported Sony/Ericsson's excellent music player to all Android phones and posted it on XDA Forums. The demo screenshots featured The Extremist's cover art with "Cryin'" playing. Joe's guitar work caught my attention, though I didn't explore much of his music.
'The Joy of Motion' introduced me to the band and to instrumental metal itself. The experience was revelatory, like discovering what classical music could become in the modern era.
An old bassist friend of mine introduced me to Thank You Scientist through live recordings of FXMLDR and Mr. Invisible. The unpredictability had blown my circuits. What was next? Saxophone solos? Lithophones? Goats?
This music takes me back to a particular drive home. We were 12 hours out and chose to push through the night without any coffee or cigarettes to help us stay awake.
It's all so simple, yet you carry such sadness, Adrianne, and somehow you make me feel it too. She writes with unflinching honesty and crafts dissonant soundscapes with technical guitar parts.
Growing older, I've grown less focused on lyrics in music. Sleep Token's lyricism doesn't resonate with me, but their unparalleled fusion of metal, rap, dance, and hip-hop sets them apart from any band I know.
