I love music, it rules my world. I love making music, listening to music and going to gigs so this is my thread to find out what everyone else is into. Hopefully I can get some hints here for new stuff to check out that I otherwise wouldn't.

Basically it will go like this:

1) Favourite genre of music. Just name one that your most into, it can be a specific sub sub culture. (ie. egyptian heavy metal, celtic goa trance etc.) If it is an obscure genre explain it a little for all our enjoyment.

2) Three of your favourite bands/musician/producers. (try and keep it to 3. A 2 page list is way too much to digest, I actually plan on checking out some stuff here)

3) Name some obscure band/artist that most people don't know and why they're cool. (same as above, keep it to 1)

Easy! And no negative comments about other peoples picks, it's all subjective. If you really like reggae-polka-acid techo-bagpipe-freestyle fusion then good for you! (and that really would be worth checking out, crazy!)

Here's mine.

1) Genre -
Liquid Funk Drum and Bass. (basically Drum and Bass with jazz/funk stuff on top, all about subby bass and smooth rhythms)

2) Three favourites -
Shapeshifter - Live Drum and Bass band, big rolling anthems with soulful vocals over the top.
Strung Out - Melodic Hardcore Punk band with awesome technical guitaring and lots of detail in the songs.
Pitch Black - Two person electronic dub/dance group. Basically really crazy trippy ambient dub over the top of hipnotic repetitive beats.

3) Obscure -
Enduser - A solo producer who's music essentially sounds like a CD skipping and f**king up with distorted, cutup beats. Probably the most messed up music I've ever heard, sounds like a descent into insanity. Awesome!

Go on, tell the world how great your music is, you know you want to!

Ah, but talking to other people and hearing their opinions is much more fun than trawling through internet radio stations by yourself.

why does it have to be obscure? why do you scorn Gwen?

This is an awesome thread. I love this kind of thing.

Genre

Alternative rock, I guess. Whatever the following groups fall under. I also listen to rap and country though.

Three Favourites

Evanescence (Alternative Rock) is basically classical piano (and many other classical influences) with angelic vocals and alternative rock. This is my favorite band.

_{(Official | Wikipedia)}

Seether (Alternative Metal) is basically heavier rock, though they do some acoustic as well. A lot of it sounds angry, broken hearted, or regretful. This feels awesome when somebody breaks your heart...

_{(Official | Wikipedia)}

Linkin Park (Nu Metal) are basically really creative in combining rock/rap. They have a vocalist that sings amazingly well and an "emcee" that adds some rap to the mix. The music is awesome too. I can't describe it. It's just a really awesome group. And you're just in time for a new album release.

_{(Official | Wikipedia)}

Obscure

Eisley, which is again another form of alternative rock. They have a unique sound to them and it's very beautiful.

^{(Official | Wikipedia)}

1) Favourite genre of music.
I tolerate most genres quite happily

2) Three of your favourite bands/musician/producers.
A. R. Rahman wikipedia
Our Lady Peace
The Rabbits http://therabbitsmusic.com (shameless plug)

3) Name some obscure band/artist that most people don't know and why they're cool.
Sergei Prokofiev (not obscure at all) - I liked his ballet "Romeo and Juliet" and Peter and the Wolf
Ilayaraja (famous Indian film composer) wikipedia

And I've never heard of the guy! I've been finding some bits and pieces of songs on the web and they sound really good. I've been getting into film scores's lately ever since I bought the 'Ghost in the Shell' soundtrack by Kenji Kawai. Completely different from A.R. Rahman but good stuff.

Yeah! 'Use The Force' (on 'Travelling Without Moving' was the song I picked to be in the background of a skateboarding vid I was in!

Oh, sorry, I didn't notice Mr. Rolleyes had chosen Evanescence. I singled them out because they were in Argentina last weekend, and I like many of their songs, but unfortunately they are in so many radio rotations that you end up hating them.

Genre:
Depends on my mood. It swings from lounge to hard trance to dance and then fluctuates to some of Eminem, Linkin Park or Bjork.

Three favourites:
Faithless
Moby
Jean Michel Jarre
Air (hey, I can't count )

Obscure:
Buena Vista Social Club (ok, they may not be obscure, but different to my general tastes).

Currently listening to Juno Reactor (Odyssey and Labyrinth), Malcom Maclaren's "Round the Outside" plus a few lounge albums. I always have time for my 3 favourites (they really help to pass time at work).

For me it doesn't matter how many times I hear music that I love... My mood doesn't always fit it, but I still know that I like it.

Excellent. Some more albums to keep an eye out for - Transmissions and Babylon Rewound.

Oh, and can anyone recommend a good Ian Pooley album or two (hard as they are to get hold of in the shops here)?

Haha! The first time I saw Pitch Black was at the last Gathering that ever happened, Takaka Hill. Wasn't at Canaan Downs sadly (awesome location) but I've been there for Phat'05 (Salmonella Dub, Shapeshifter, Concord Dawn...). That whole area is one of my favourite places in NZ. Takaka's like the little hippy town the world forgot!

Hard Trance Fan = likes Hard Trance music? Not a suprise...

I used to be a big fan of Hard Trance (enough to be a DJ once anyway ). If you go to gigs around Wellington you might know my friend Racheal, aka. DJ Random, she was one of the ones who started 'Cheeky Chicks'.

BTW. I've never heard of Juno Reactor before now, but I found a vid on Youtube, that's some EPIC stuff!

Even the bands I like end tiring me up, that is why I have many, so that I can randomize them

The only two songs I never get tired of are Ghost Love Score by Nightwish (this is the last half, the full song clocks at over 10 minutes, you can notice Tarja is a professional opera singer) and the live version of Ice Queen by Within Temptation (bad quality, but it is too late to find a better version).

When in my first years at secondary school, I listened to dance music (I kind of remember Ace of Base, in example). During my last days there I switched to metal, with bands like Guns'n Roses and Metallica, then Argentinian heavy metal (Rata Blanca is my last bound to that time). While studing engineering, I switched to doom metal, and until three years ago or so, I only listened to death metal (Arch Enemy is my last bound to that time of my life). However, my ears said enough, so I switched to something softer, and have been pretty happy with the change. I really like the mixture between metal music and an opera singer.

Hehehe, I never said I didn't like the founders, but I started listening to them after Angela joined, it is not as if I grew up with them, so I am used to her grunts.

Yeah, you are right. I meant death metal, got the genres mixed while thinking in my youth. I bought their Live Apocalypse DVD, ripped it to watch it on phone, but somehow ffmpeg crashes every time it must create the file. By the way, Arch Enemy was here on February, I went there, but everything was booked (I didn't expect them to fill the 1,500 or so tickets, guess they have enough fans here ).