Entertainment For Lively Minds
The name of artists under 30 you like?
There has been a lot of grumpiness about musicians today compared to [insert your favourite date here] and I am at fault as anyone else here. Even the artist that generally seem to be of interest herein are not exactly spring chickens - this was brought into focus when my 12 year old was talking to her friend in the back of my car. As I forced them (their phrase) to listen to some of my music, her friend said; "why do all dads like sad oldsters like Elbow?"
At this point this set me thinking: I like to think I have a wide range in music - Keith Jarret (did you here that Jo?) to MF Doom - but is there anyone under 30 that I like? Mmmm. I quite like what I have heard of Ed Sheeran (pathetic I know). I think I should like Adele - but I find her (metaphorically) too major chord for my liking.
Anyone got any recommendations?
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The question has made me realise
that I don't know the ages or age group of most of the musicians that I like. I enjoy a lot of the stuff I hear on the radio, stuff my 13 yr old brings to the table and I guess most of them are under thirty, but they don't count as I don't own any songs nor would I go to see them live.
Popping into my head as I write this are the XX, so I'll have them for my list!
Bon Iver's Justin Vernon was 30 this year and Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes is even younger (both according to Wikipedia) but most of my collection was made by the over thirties.
How old is Burial?
He's probably about 28.
Or 4,000. Nothing inbetween.
Maybe it is
a question of not checking ages, as I have albums by both Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes. Not sure about Burial - always suspected he was older.
Anna Calvi
- her album is my fave this year, Blackout is the most played track in my iTunes even though I only got it in August of this year.
The Horrors are all under 30, I think and I even went to see them live a couple of weeks ago.
(It was very loud)
Scrolling through my Spotify list, I found these two...
Emmy The Great is, er, great.
Au Revoir Simone - have made some really gorgeous records, too.
I am 41. Mostly I play 'old,' but good music is good music.
Nope...
...can't think of a single one...
Zach Condon
The man behind Beirut is remarkably still only 25.
Thank christ for that!
I've got one then.
How old is Fionn Regan?
How old are Tunng?
If I can get three I can be happy and go back to listening to music by old, beardy, dead/nearly dead geezers.
The magnificent
Big Deal.
Miles Kane.
Girls Aloud.
Arctic Monkeys.
The Sand Band.
Devon Sproule.
Laura Marling.
Laura Marling
yeah, got it. Miles Kane ..haven't, etc
An observation : are Girls Aloud still under 30. Wow, they have been around for ages!
Have an up
for Miles Kane, add The Vaccines (just) and Two Door Cinema Club
Predictably....
...loads. Off the top of my head:
GaGa
James Blake
Nicola Roberts
Lykke Li
The Horrors
Rihanna
Laura Marling
Katy B
Janelle Monáe
Anna Calvi
Eliza Doolittle
Gemma Ray
Sugababes (although not for a while: I'll be interested to see if the original line-up gets back together and does something fun.)
Lauren O'Connell
Dan Deacon (he's 30)
Beyoncé (she's 30)
I suppose the only thing notable about that list is that it doesn't include any skinny boys with guitars.
The Horrors
Are frighteningly skinny and definitely wield axes
Oops! True!
They're a bit of an exception, though!
Respectfully...
a lot of these artists are not very much under thirty.
If you're a teenager the difference between someone who's 28 and someone who's 35 is pretty meaningless.
A better challenge would be "artists under 25".
And, in response to the OP, kids don't *want* you listening to their music, or music by/for people their age, no matter what they say. Do you remember that? I do.
I fully appreciate that
and I wouldn't want it any different. I just felt that the kids had a point. That said I do listen to a lot of stuff that has been mentioned, so maybe it's just a question of people here NOT worrying too much about age.
But your 25 challenge is quite right: tweenies/teenagers would still see most of the artists suggested here as oldsters product.
Matthew Halsall
The brilliant Matthew Halsall, trumpet maestro of Manchester, is only 28.
My two most listened to albums
That were made in the last ten years have been Kings & Queens by Jamie T, 25 and Made Of Bricks by Kate Nash 24.
The Jamie T album sounds like Joe Strummer's solo work, The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite and Weller, with a large dose of hip hop mixed in.
Kate Nash got slagged at the time for being a Lily Allen copyist, but to my ears she sounds like she should be on Stiff Records circa 1979. There's more than a touch of Madness to her first album, musically and lyrically.
So...they might be 25 and under, but there's a certain amount of they could be from 1979 to their work!
Nash
Yes! I hadn't quite made that leap, but you're spot on.
the villages are i think all under 14??
and i think Michael Kiwananuka is in his early twenties
'The Villagers' is really just one bloke,
Conor O'Brien, he's seriously talented and yes, seems to be about 12 years old. His self-produced/performed album 'Becoming a Jackal' is a minor classic. He's recently given his band more license in arranging songs and it hasn't been such a good move. Elsewhere, The Arctic Monkeys are simply miles ahead of their contemporaries and the Young Knives continually delight. If Girls Aloud are all still under 30 I'd be happy to include them in the Pantheon as well.
I was about to write Villagers
but found you have beaten me to it so let me just agree whole heartedly.
Villagers
He/they were on the second stage at Cambridge this year. He expressed concern that we were very quiet for a festival crowd. I think he honestly didn't realise that the whole place was rapt. Very impressed.
Age Shoudln't Be An Issue
I'm in my mid fifties - I've assumed that a lot of the people I listen to are "young" or younger than me, at least.
Folk seems to be a fertile ground for producing some amazingly talented singers and musicians. I've seen several performers over the last year or so who are under or just over thirty. (I'm too lazy to look up their actual ages): Jackie Oates, Jonny Kearny & Lucy Farrell, The Unthanks, Jason Steel, Kris Drever; There is a lot of good new music being produced by young people.
Edit: I'm going to see Karine Polwart tonight in Market Harborough and Carrie Rodriguez on Friday in Buckingham. Both are in their thiries, both were in their twenties when I first saw them.
It shouldn't, definitely.
It isn't, I don't think, for most people. But I think there are a reasonable, though not majority, contingent of the Massive for whom anything by younger artists who aren't consciously playing "some old" is a bit suspect.
Good Point
I probably fall right into that category - I'm very concious of the fact that the above mentioned performers are normally the youngest people in the venue on the night by some way. I wonder how that makes them feel?
Karine Polwart
Saw her a couple of years ago and was hugely impressed. Something endearingly quirky about her.
Damn.
I was going to say Miu Sakamoto but she is an elderly 31. The daughter of musicians Ryuichi Sakamoto and Akiko Yano, I have downloads of most of recordings. The song Child Of Snow below was released when she was 19 and is based on a piece composed by her old man. I've just learned she is to be the voice of the new Japanese Vocaloid software named Mew.
If I can't have Miu then I shall plump for Connie Talbot from Britain's Got Talent.
Made when in their 20s
Every note recorded by the Beatles was played by a person in their twenties, same generally goes for the "classic period" of most bands in my experience. Does that count? I do like lots of bands/ artists who are in their 20s, but if they're still together and producing quality stuff into their 30s and above; that's when I'll start to love them. Not many do though; there's always a cull
George Harrison was only 19
when "Please Please Me" was recorded.
(Harrison born 25 Feb 1943. Please Please Me Recorded 11 Sept and 26 Nov 1962, and 11 and 20 Feb 1963).
George H
Didn't they celebrate his 20th birthday after they'd cracked America?
Jimi Hendrix
Does that count?
Seriously...
Most of Bob's list above
Miles Kane
Arctic Monkeys
Dry the River
Emmy the Great
Tame Impala (who are at most 12)
etc...
Elbow
Regarding Elbow, is it that they're old, or is it that they 'sound' old? Elbow have always sounded a bit worn out and tired, even when they're big and belting.
Whereas music from the past that was being bought by youngsters but being made by older folks:
Blondie (Debbie Harry was in her 30s when Heart Of Glass was a single); Pulp (Jarvis was also in his 30s when Common People was out); Oasis (Noel was nearly 30, although Liam was a lot younger); The Police (two members around 30 when Message In A Bottle was out, one other nearly 40!).
Punk made it an issue about musicians being older, but it's not always the case that music consumed by a teenager is actually made by youngsters.
Debbie Harry
Incidentally, Debbie Harry is only 3 years younger than Paul McCartney....
Quite a few
Lykke Li
Hello Saferide
Professor Green
Katy Perry
Noah & the Whale
La Roux
DEV
Lissie
The Vaccines
Ariel Pink
Cults
Yuck
Beach House
husky Rescue
Beach House!
How could I forget? Also Beirut. Also Best Coast. All the Bs.
Only the old die young
What a strange post! Why on Earth should age matter? If I like something I don't check the arist's age before I download it!
My recent/current stuff includes Glen Campbell, Doris Day, Josh Rouse, David Mead, the Pierces and the Secret Sisters. I would hazard a guess that the last two are under 30 and, generally I'd think most artists I like are over 30 ,but I never give it any thought!
Here are some on my ipod
Arctic Monkeys
Devon Sproule
The Vaccines
Slow Club
Caitlin Rose
The Voluntary Butler Scheme
I'm going to guess that fun. are also under 30 so should be on my list but I had to look all the above up as I didn't know (or previously care, how old they all are)
Lady GaGa..
a bit OTT obviously but knows how to construct a decent pop song, so that's her sorted. Well under 30 I would imagine.
She's 25.
Which, given that in "Just Dance", "Poker Face" and "Bad Romance" she's written and performed the three greatest songs of the 21st century so far, is pretty amazing.
By the way, the above is a simple fact. There's no point in anyone arguing. ;-)
No argument here!
No argument here! She's an amazing songwriter, all right.
New Orleans
Being my favourite musical bag, I know of quite a few from that very fertile musical ground.
Trombone Shorty is about 24 and has been a pro muso for 15 years. Glen David Andrews is his cousin and is possibly even better than Shorty.
My young favorites have gotten old
I've been trying (and failing) to think of under-30 artists I truly like. At first I thought of Bon Iver, Fiona Appel, and Robyn but it turns out they're all over 30. I was going to say The National but it turns out the lead singer is 40. All of my once young favorites have somehow gotten old.
All I'm left with is: Janelle Monae, MGMT, and Amy Winehouse (who'll always be under 30). I did like some of Gaga's and Adele's songs but now that they're played to death every time I turn on the car radio I'm feeling done with both of them. And Gaga's new album is weak.
The over-30 oldies seem to be getting most of the attention in the music press too these days (Noel Gallagher, Waits, Radiohead, Coldplay, etc. etc.). Maybe they're crowding out the newcomers?
Gaga's new one.
About half of it is pretty weak, I'm afraid to have to admit. I wanted to love it so badly, but it's really only OK. But the bits that are good are better than almost anything else around.
Quite a letdown
Some good tracks here and there I agree but overall it was quite a letdown for me. None of it is as good as Bad Romance or Paparazzi etc. And it's partly her fault for overhyping it: When you go around announcing that your next album is going to be the album of the decade, you should probably have the goods to back it up.
I was a Gaga fan
but with that You & I song she's managed to record a song I intensely dislike. Coming after the Meh/Ace of Base -ness of Alejandro,Judas,Telephone, Born This Way...well, let's just say she's made more average stuff than amazing stuff. It's all starting to look a little tired. Doubt she's bothered mind as she's set for life. Bad Romance and the early singles are still splendid.
Your 12-year-old's question...
...might be more about the 'sad' bit than the 'oldster' bit. I'm with the other posters who haven't got much of a clue about artists' ages but I'm sure a lot of stuff made by the over-30s crowd doesn't at all fall into the melancholic category.
Some favourite bouncy Oldsters (and I'm guessing at age here, obviously):
Quantic
Gogol Bordello
Battles
Chilly Gonzales
Bonobo (OK, it's a little wistful at times)
Mr Scruff
DJ Shadow
Death in Vegas
LCD Soundsystem (?)
Orkestra del Sol (...actually they are probably about 17)
Equally, it would be stupid to suggest that music made by The Young must be 'happy'.
But to answer her whole question - why do all dads listen to sad oldsters? - using a line from Tibor Fischer, it's because life's been kicking the shit out of us for 40 years.
I think the use of SAD
was modern youngsters' argot for anything that is Shit.
Aaah.
Yes that's really shown me up to be an old codger. Shamefully, I think it was my generation that started to use the term.
Age
Most of the artists I like were under 30 when they did their best work. Current favorite is Laura Marling, also Emmy The Great seems young and is doing good work. There's a gospel artist called Josh Garrells who makes great music, would guess he's young. Don't really know ages of most artists.
No one even mentioning the mighty Mumfords then?
I'm shocked. I quite like them...
My Dad is eighty
and when we watched an old clip of the Sex Pistols on TV recently, he remarked, "They were actually quite good, really."
Pogo
Aka Nick Bertke, the 23 year-old Australian electronics whizz behind this, and others like it. I'd call it a Mash-up, but it's more of an 'implosion' really. Of all his stuff, I find this one particularly beautiful.
Age? Don't Know
Don't really know the ages of most of the new(ish) acts I like; but certainly Adele and Laura Marling. I am, however, rather surprised at the acts mentioned by some Word readers e.g. Sugarbabes, Beyonce, Katy Perry,Rihanna - but each to their own!!
Don't worry.
Those of us responsible are relatively small in number, so the Massive's realmusic:pretendmusic ratio remains reassuringly high.
Katy Perry pops out some
marvellous singles. Laura Marling seems to be on a 'letspretendI'mJoniMitchell' vibe with little to say. I'm suspicious of her.
I'm really glad someone else feels that way.
I could only enjoy her 'Later...' performances by shutting my eyes because her face was totally emotionless. Like the ghost of an owl.
Ghost of an Owl
...TMFTL, I'm afraid.
Ignore the slightly "wacky" name
We Were Promised Jetpackss were the first band that came to mind when I saw the question
Scrolling through the Ipod in my head
Arctic Monkeys
Lykke Li
Laura Marling
Rihanna
Girls Aloud
The Saturdays
Best Coast
Vampire Weekend
Frank Turner
Eliza Doolittle
Everything Everything
Florence and the Machine
Marina and the Diamonds
Goldheart Assembly
Frightened Rabbitt
Local Natives
Hot Club De Paris
Tinieh Tempah
Jamie T
Janelle Monae
Little Boots
My Latest Novel
Two Door Cinema Club
etc
*Some may be slightly older than 30. I'm guessing their ages.
Of course it helps that I'm still five years away from the big three zero milestone myself.
That's cheating.
If you were 25 and were listening to music made exclusively by the over 30s you'd have to be some sort of pervert, surely....?
Sorry Grandad
Sir
[gesturing with pipe] Quite right young feller.
Now go and find your own thread on, I don't know, skateboards or something.
Quite right too
he comes on here flaunting his youth, now where are my slippers? :)
The Ipod in Your Head
Anything like the Windmills of Your Mind?
The Rifles and The Crookes
both under 30. The former finally made it in/on to The Word; the latter deserve to be massive - I went to see them last week with my 16 year old daughter so age doesn't always divide things (although she was embarrassed, obviously).
Saw The Crookes play a live gig
in the street outside Record Collector, Sheffield on Record Store day this year. They are good - surprised there hasn't been even more of a buzz around them.
Saw them at Tramlines
They were good - like something between the Housemartins and the Smiths.
When you're young
Haven't the majority of the best pop/rock records been made by under 30s? The thirties seem to be when it all starts turning bad - usually. Something about the attitude, energy, getting away with wild dress sense/hairsyles/behaviour, subject matter of songs etc. that suits <30 best. Hence we need the young blood. Anyway Anna Calvi, The Horrors, a bit of Rhianna, Gaga re musique de nos jours I am thinking.
Sven that is
wy I asked the question. For example, The Beatles were over by the time they were 30. Ergo, the under-thirties of today surely must be producing their best music now?
Yeah
I am sure they are. But they're all rather overshadowed by the past in a way that didn't used to be the case. Is there a scene of now? Doesn't seem to be the same focus on certain key performers perhaps. The impact of it all is somehow less. I guess the Arctic Monkeys were the last lot to cause a big stir. Gaga's faded a bit. Not sure what's new young and big now.
To quote Weller
'The kids know where it's at'
60s stars
Dylan - Blonde on Blonde before 25; Brian W - Pet Sounds before 25. George Harrison - Revolver by 23.
How come
Nobody's mentioned Julia Johnson yet?? Oh, ok then...
65 days of static
As I understand it, not an overly popular band around these parts.
I quite like them, they fill up the gaps between Mogwai albums and their reimagined 'soundtrack' to Silent Running is suprisingly affective.
Kasabian
is Pete Doherty still under 30?
The Rifles
Tinie Tempah
Vampire Weekend
Doherty is 32
and his lost teenage waif persona is becoming increasingly untenable.
The DuPree sisters
Collectively known as Eisley
A few
Laura Marling/Noah & The Whale/Mumford & Sons/Bombay Bicycle Club/Arctic Monkeys/Vampire Weekend
probably some more too, but unsure of their ages!
These New Puritans
Look about twelve and are absurdly talented.
Bob Dylan
he's forever young.
As is Neil.