Bands That I Like

 134 GZA GZA Not too many people could get away with calling themselves The Genius, but then again, not too many people have the lyrical skills of Gary Grice, a.k.a. The Genius, a.k.a. GZA. GZA is one of the most creative MCs in the game. His crunchy flow is utterly unique, hist matery of words is one of hip-hop's greatest treasures. This is Wu-Tang Clan's #1 lyrical assassin- a man you should put some respect on his name. His studio albums include: 1991's Words From The Genius , 1995's Liquid Swords , 1999's Beneath The Surface , 2002's Legend of the Liquid Sword & 2008's Pro Tools . Liquid Swords is one of the best hip-hop records of all time, produced entirely by Wu-Tang leader RZA during his prime. Hard-nosed hip hop at its finest. GZA would make the listener confront the unsettling: war with self, the world at large, pushing oneself artistically- GZA balanced the materialistic with the intellectual line no one else could. Lyrical mastery. Prime pro...

 133 Gypsy & The Cat   Gypsy & The Cat The 21st century's answer to Simon & Garfunkel. This is a band I just randomly discovered when scrolling & reading through Pitchfork reviews. I checked out their song " Jona Vark " & instantly became a fan. You could call these guys semi-acoustic chill-wave. They are a duo: guitarist/drummer Xavia Bacash & classically trained pianist Lionel Towers. Although the two went to high-school together, due to their three-year age difference, they didn't meet until they both found themselves deejaying around Melbourne, Australia. Both shared a love for French house & '80s pop. Soon they decided to make music on their own under the guise of Gypsy & The Cat. After uploading their music to MySpace, popular Australian radio station Triple J picked up on the band, specifically their track " Time To Wonder ." Soon the internet hype followed. The band have released three albums: 2010's Gilgamesh ...

 132 Gaussian Curve   Gaussian Curve This was one of those random Pitchfork finds. With a site that reviews four albums per day, sometimes I find myself scrolling & randomly clicking and stumbling upon new music. This ambient trio's first album 2015's Clouds had a 7.9 rating- and at this point in time I was desperately looking for new avenues of music- getting bored with classic rock, jam bands, and whatever else I was listening to. This instrumental music floats you to new places. The band (consisting of Gigi Masin, Jonny Nash, and Marco Sterk) first met in Amsterdam in November of 2013 when they had an impromptu jam at Sterk's studio. The jam was promising and when independent label Music from Memory encouraged the band to record, the trio got together in March 2014 and recorded Clouds in just two days. It was a spontaneous, weekend-long exploration of shared musical passions. They were merely three new friends expressing themselves, and having huge amounts of fu...

 131 Grouper  Grouper Reverb. Echo. Effects. Acoustic. Droney. These are some words you could use to explain Grouper's earlier work. Grouper is the solo project of Liz Harris. Her first album was self-titled & self-released. Grouper's second album was 2006's Way Their Crept . There was something special about that mid-ought's droney-underwater sounding indie. Grouper would go on to release five (!) more albums before I came on board as a fan: 2006's Wide , 2007's Cover The Windows & The Walls , 2008's widely acclaimed Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill & 2011's double-album (but separately released) AIA: Dream Loss & AIA: Alien Observer ... just to be followed up by 2012's double album: Violent Replacement Part I and Violent Replacement Part II . It wasn't until Grouper's more structured-releases that I became a full fledged fan. It was with 2013's The Man Who Died In His Boat that I finally jumped on board as a full-fled...

 130 Grizzly Bear   Grizzly Bear I first got on board with this band with their 2012 album Shields & the amazing track " Two Weeks ." I was a fan right away- but a lot of people would argue I should've been a fan already... the band had already had plenty of previous great albums: 2009's Veckatimest , 2006's Yellow House , and 2004's debut Horn of Plenty . It was Veckatimest that really exploded the band into the stratosphere- and by stratosphere I just mean internet blogosphere. It is always great when you can discover a band & work your way backwards through their discography & finding consistency. There is a certain beuaty in consistency. That was certainly the case with Grizzly Bear. The band began from humble roots, forming as a bedroom project of Boston-bred singer Edward Droste in Brooklyn in 2002. Holed up in his Brooklyn apartment, he laid the groundwork for the band's otherworldly debut album on a small hand-held tape recorder &...

 129 Grimes   Grimes The musical project of Vancouver, Canada's Claire Bouche started in 2007 when she decided to start messin' around with a little music programming software called Logic Pro .  She soon had a viral MySpace page. Unfortunately her early releases (songs like " Ham Mer Maid ," " Gloam ," " The Crazy Doctor ," & " World Brain ") haven't gotten the proper re-release OR compilation they deserve. 2010 saw the release of her proper-debut album, Geidi Primes & her sophomore effort Halfaxa . Other than " Fifteen Minutes To ," 2011's Darkbloom E.P, & some random Soundcloud stuff, it wasn't really until 2012's Visions release, her third album- an album recorded in just two weeks, in which Grimes took the world by storm. It's no surprise either.... Listen... when you have a song as good as " Oblivion ," it's not like it was gonna' take long before the world took notice. ...

127 Grant Green   Grant Green Grant Green is one of the greatest jazz guitarist of all time. This as a random find for me when I just typed "Jazz Funk" into Spotify & found the genius that is Grant Green. His guitar playing is so rhythmic and innovative- he invented soul-jazz, with a hint of funk- before funk was even a thing. He would eventually record " Ain't If Funky Now " in 1970. He was active in the jazz scene from 1959-1978. He was born in St. Louis in 1935. His fluid playing made him a star for Blue Note Records. His playing is as recognizable as they come. His discography is deep, as you might expect for a jazz legend. I personally started off with 1965's His Majesty King Funk . You also can't go wrong with 1965's Idle Moments . Honestly, any song or album you choose will show Green's genius & brilliance. He played with his heart AND soul veering into funk, soul, jazz- his versatility is endless. Unfortunately, drug problems brou...