Bands That I Like

58 Courtney Barnett Courtney Barnett I first came on board with Courtney Barnett on her excellently titled debut album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit . Songs like " Depreston " and " Pedestrian At Best " spoke to my inner- nineties-child... someone who was just an infant during grunge and missed out on the prime years of that era- this was like a last-minute invitation to that party. Barnett has the energy of Nirvana with the pop sensibilities of Pavement. She first came on everyone's radar with the release of the song :Avant Gardener." If you l isten to " Avant Gardene r," an autobiographical account of trying to turn a life around through gardening, only to be foiled by a severe allergic reaction; it features some of the best lyric-writing in music today. There was something special about this Australian singer-songwriter. Like a grunge hangover. Few speak truth to mundanity quite like singer/songwriter Courtney Barne...

57 Cornelius Cornelius If the sound-programmers of Mario went down a rabbit-hole searching for Lucy on their way to deliver cookies to their Aunt Bjork, than you would be halfway to getting to Cornelius. I first game on board with Cornelius when I was searching for more worldly music, so I was searching for things like "best Japanese albums" or something along those lines. Anyways, I came across Fantasma , which was regarded by many music critics I had already been reading as a masterpiece. I also soon discovered Cornelius did a lot remixes for bands I already listened to. So I went and listened to Fantasma and I can truly see it was an other-worldly experience. I had never listened to music like this before. It was the best headphone-experience I had ever had. Cornelius' discography goes like this: 1994's The First Question Award, 1995's 69/96 , 1997's Fantasma , 2001's Point , 2006's Sensuous , and 2017's Mellow Waves . Here is his offic...

56 Coldplay Coldplay At first- Coldplay was burdened- along with a lot of other British bands of the post O.K. Computer -era (Travis, Doves, Muse, etc.) of being "the new Radiohead." You can understand why: The widescreen melancholy of their first two albums wears the influence of Thom Yorke and company like a comfortable ole overcoat, without the shame or apology. But the influence of U2 would become just as evident with later releases. Singer Christ Martin's empathetic, often falsetto vocals are truly his own. Say what you will- but the man can sing his arse off. After recording two E.P.'s, 1998's Safety and 1999's The Blue Room , the band hit the big time after signing with Parlophone and releasing their debut album, Parachutes , which was as realized as they come. The great bits are magical, whether it's the ambient guitar textures of " Don't Panic ," or the swooning chorus of " Shiver ," or the sing-a-long special " ...

55 Cloud Nothings Cloud Nothings Who doesn't love some good ol' lo-fi pop-punk? I know I do, that's why I quickly became a fan of this band. It all started for me with 2011's self-titled (but already second[!]) album, Cloud Nothings . Then came the one-two punch of 2012's Attack On Memory and 2014's Here and Nowhere Else . Since then we have gotten the Wavves collaboration album, 2015's No Life for Me ,  as well as 2017's Life Without Sound and 2018's Last Building Burning . This is an intense band with intensely catchy garage-rock songs. Cloud Nothings is the brainchild of Dylan Baldi, a Cleveland native who was still in his teens when the buss about his music started. The band began in 2009 when Baldi started recording songs in his parents' basement when he would return home from college on the weekends. After uploading songs " Hey Cool Kid " and " Whaddaya Wanna Know" to his MySpace page, a promoter asked Cloud No...

54 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! I remember playing the first track off of Brooklyn-via-Philly's Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's debut album, a circus-sounding affair  à la "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" Anyways, I was playing it for a friend and he had the headphones on listening & he couldn't help but giggle... That's the feeling Clap Your Hands Say Yeah give you. It was a lasting memory. In fact 2005 (the year their debut came out) as a whole was a lasting memory I was fifteen & really starting to get into independent music. Clap Your Hands was truly the first band to get famous off of blogs & the internet hype. There is a story about when Clap Your Hands were opening for The National, & after reviews came out of their first album, more people were coming for the opener than the headliner for that tour. And for good reason. Rarely does an album come out & hit you right away on a personal level but also have t...

53 Chvrches Chvrches Chvrches (s tylized "CHVRCHΞS" and pronounced "Churches") is an electric-pop band from Glasgow, Scotland, formed in September 2011. The band bridges styles and eras on the strength of its own charisma. Though at times ominous and aggressive, these pop songs maintain a disarming fizziness. I first got on board with their 2013 debut album The Bones of What You Believe . That album is flawless. Those early songs and E.P.'s, like Recover EP , this band came out of the gates hot. Sort of like the Killers, Chvrches have yet to capture the magic like they so eloquently did on their first album. We've got two more albums out of them, 2015's Every Open Eye and 2018's Love Is Dead . Other than an appearance on the Hunger Games soundtrack and a song collaboration with the world-famous D.J. Marshmello, Chvrches have always seemed on the cusp of breaking through to the mainstream, obviously where their eyes are set, which is a shame, ...

52 Chuck Berry Chuck Berry By now it's easy to see that rock & roll was an inevitable outgrowth of all the seemingly disparate musics emerging in the post-World War II years, rather than something that feel out of the sky full-blown on the day Elvis Presley walked in the Memphis Recording Service. All the early rock & roll giants occupied distinctive niches defined by their musical approach. Chuck Berry was the first important writer, performer, and instrumentalist in the rock & roll style, a man whose immediately identifiable guitar playing and powers of observation and eloquence have remained touchstones for succeeding generations of artists, one of the standards by which great rock is measured. Had he been only a profound influence on Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones he would merit distinction: but Berry's signature shows up frequently in current performers from punks to singer/songwriters. At a time when critics discounted rock & roll a...

51 Chemical Brothers Chemical Brothers Manchester, U.K. duo Tom Rowlands and Ed Simmons have put the arena-rock bombast in Britain’s rave scene since ’95 thanks to their ability to blend power-chord guitars with old-school house, hip-hop breakbeats and soul dusties. Little wonder that the Chemical Brothers translate to mainstream audiences all over the world. Longevity and legacy alone prove that Chemical Brothers are one of the greatest electronica acts of all time. It starts with their Virgin Records released debut album 1995’s Exit Planet Dust . If there was a snap-shot of EDM in the mid 90’s, this would be a good document. Their second album, 1997’s Dig Your Own Soul , refines the Big Beat formula and takes it to the next generation: a mix of vocals, walloping drum beats, and disco psychedelia that crush barriers between genres. “ Block Rockin’ Beats ” sets the tone, driving Nine Inch Nails-sized beats through a Schooly D hip-hop sample, while “ Setting Sun ” channels th...

50 Chance the Rapper Chance the Rapper It all started when Dr. Powers suspended Chancelor Bennett for skipping school. He was suspended for ten days. Out of this came Chance the Rapper’s first mixtape, 2012’s 10 Day . The mixtape garnered significant buzz and critical claim, gaining the attention of many music media outlets. Chance saw and his moment and rode that wave. He quickly followed up his debut with another certified-classic, 2013’s Acid Rap . This is when I jumped on the Chance bus. I love an album that catches the listeners attention right away, and five seconds into the first track, “ Good Ass Intro ” I knew I was in for a good time. And Chance hasn’t let me down yet. Acid Rap brought him into the mainstream. We got an excellent remix track with James Blake’s “ Life Round Here .” Don’t forget “ Chance Does Acid In Mexico .” Still riding that wave, hoping he could keep riding that crest, Chance out-did himself with his third mixtape: a gospel rap album for the noncomm...

49 Cat Stevens Cat Stevens Cat Stevens was a British folk singer who scored a Top 10 pop hit at home with “ Mathew and Son ” in 1967. Sidelined by illness for a couple of years, he wound up in the American scene years later. Cat Stevens fit right in to the emerging singer/songwriter movement: Stevens delivers his romantic sentiments and hippie mysticism with an affecting, gentle acoustic touch. Tea forTillerman and the likable under-wrought hit “ Wild World ” established Stevens as a more reserved British version of James Taylor. Teaser and the Firecat contains two more U.S. hits: the chug-chug-chugging “ Peace Train ” and the pretty-verging-on-precious “ Morning Has Broken. ” With Catch Bull at Four , Stevens began to lard his approach with strings, horns, and guitar-led rock arrangements. His delicate melodies and mewling voice are something to be admired. With any singer-songwriter, I would suggest starting with the hits, 2003’s The Very Best Of Cat Stevens is a great p...