1. Chad Urmstead/Dispatch
Props to you if you actually know who this guy is. If you don't know, he's the lead guitarist for the indie band Dispatch. Essentially, the reason he's on this list is because of his ability to combine genres of music. In "The General," he combines folk with a sort of balladsy rock. All throughout Dispatch's music there can be strong traces of genres ranging from reggae to folk to rock to hip hop to even some Spanish roots. They can play it all. And do it really good too. The reason, I think, for their ability to do this is Dispatch's members can play such a wide variety of instruments. Look 'em up, check 'em out. They're awesome.
2. Jón Þór Birgisson/Sigur Rós
Just by looking at this picture you can get an idea of why.... Jon (I'm just gonna call him that for right now) is mentioned here. He plays the guitar with a Cello bow. I mean, c'mon, how boss is that? But seriously, Jon and his band are on here because their experiments with different instruments have yielded a unique post-rock sound that differs from other groups. Take Jon's use of a bow, for example. This has given them, not a drastically different sound, but a subtly changed one that allows them to emphasize on the classical sound of their music. Just another thing that I found cool about this band is the fact that they sing in Icelandic, which makes sense because their from Iceland. It allows them to sing about things that would sound terrible in English, but make it sound beautiful because they're singing in Icelandic. In their song, "Heysatan," (which actually means hay stack in Icelandic) one line of their song goes, "And I slipped... fuck." In English, that would just sound terrible, but in Icelandic, it sounds as beautiful as any other line in the song.
3. Joanna Newsom
This picture also sorta gives it away, but at least in this case the uniqueness is not how Joanna plays the harp, but rather the mere fact that she does, and is amazing at it. Not only is she incredibly good at harp (I would know, I listen to it for an hour or two every day =P), but she has the ability to combine it with other instruments to create a very unique sound. You might, however, find some of her earlier stuff hard to listen to, just because her voice was honestly atrocious. And it's not just one of those acquired tastes, like Billy Corgan or Mark Kozelek. If it were I'd have acquired it by now-I listen to a lot of her stuff, new and old. She has, thank God, recently developed her once incredibly annoying voice into a set of decent pipes. Apart from being a harpist, she also plays keyboards for the San Fransisco indie rock band The Pleased.
Props to you if you actually know who this guy is. If you don't know, he's the lead guitarist for the indie band Dispatch. Essentially, the reason he's on this list is because of his ability to combine genres of music. In "The General," he combines folk with a sort of balladsy rock. All throughout Dispatch's music there can be strong traces of genres ranging from reggae to folk to rock to hip hop to even some Spanish roots. They can play it all. And do it really good too. The reason, I think, for their ability to do this is Dispatch's members can play such a wide variety of instruments. Look 'em up, check 'em out. They're awesome.
2. Jón Þór Birgisson/Sigur Rós
Just by looking at this picture you can get an idea of why.... Jon (I'm just gonna call him that for right now) is mentioned here. He plays the guitar with a Cello bow. I mean, c'mon, how boss is that? But seriously, Jon and his band are on here because their experiments with different instruments have yielded a unique post-rock sound that differs from other groups. Take Jon's use of a bow, for example. This has given them, not a drastically different sound, but a subtly changed one that allows them to emphasize on the classical sound of their music. Just another thing that I found cool about this band is the fact that they sing in Icelandic, which makes sense because their from Iceland. It allows them to sing about things that would sound terrible in English, but make it sound beautiful because they're singing in Icelandic. In their song, "Heysatan," (which actually means hay stack in Icelandic) one line of their song goes, "And I slipped... fuck." In English, that would just sound terrible, but in Icelandic, it sounds as beautiful as any other line in the song.
3. Joanna Newsom
This picture also sorta gives it away, but at least in this case the uniqueness is not how Joanna plays the harp, but rather the mere fact that she does, and is amazing at it. Not only is she incredibly good at harp (I would know, I listen to it for an hour or two every day =P), but she has the ability to combine it with other instruments to create a very unique sound. You might, however, find some of her earlier stuff hard to listen to, just because her voice was honestly atrocious. And it's not just one of those acquired tastes, like Billy Corgan or Mark Kozelek. If it were I'd have acquired it by now-I listen to a lot of her stuff, new and old. She has, thank God, recently developed her once incredibly annoying voice into a set of decent pipes. Apart from being a harpist, she also plays keyboards for the San Fransisco indie rock band The Pleased.
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