• The Wisconsin

I think it's important to listen to more music than you write. Or, maybe that's my excuse for not writing as much music as I should. Still, I think it'd be interesting to hear what people like to listen to.

I'd have to say that I really like the music of Passion Pit. They're super weird, but they offer a really great sound with sick beats and electronic focus. Ronald Jenkees and the Glitch Mob are two others I'd recommend, who I'd like to see more reflected in my music.

So, who do you listen to? Who inspires your music?

  • The future

George gershwin, Tchaikovsky, john barry, hmm. more modern stuff.. information society, amon tobin, noisia, hrrm.. danny elfman.. tacos.

  • Melbourne, Australia

Many, many inspirationals for me.

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (and Vic Wooten as a bassist)
Igor Stravinsky
Arnold Schoenberg (doubly so at the moment)
Toru Takemitsu
John Cage
Olivier Messiaen
Pierre Boulez
Stan Kenton
Bjork
Feist

Just... so many, could go on and on and on and on.

I think though the most inspirational people are those brave enough to pursue what they love irrespective of any criticism, lack of support and/or financial hardships that may occur.

  • sacramento

Danger
Thomas Bangalter
Le Knight Club
Daft Punk
Mr. Oizo
Kuedo
Luke Abbott
Porter Robinson
Young Montana?
Flying Lotus
Hideki Okugawa
Pavement
Dinosaur Jr.

the list goes on for days, but all of the above make me want to stop whatever im doing and work on something.

Just off the top of my head,

Bernard Parmegiani
Francios Bayle
Oren Ambarchi
Rolf Julius
Robin Minard
Daphne Oram
Delia Derbyshire
Alvin Lucier
Brian Eno
David Byrne
Jim O’Rourke
Steve Albini
Demdike Stare
Deaf Centre
David Bowie
Lambchop
(late period) Talk Talk
Jason Molina
Ry Cooder
Richard Thompson

Oh fuck, I missed out Xenakis, Tod Dockstader and Elaine Radigue...

  • Adelaide SA

heart bjork,
Colin Stetson,
Ravi Shankar,
Elbow,
Klaus Schulze,
John Cage,
Eno,
Messiaen,
Ryoji Ikeda heart,
Autechre and Aphex Twin,
Beck,
Tom Waits,
Boredoms,
Disasterpeace,
So much good stuff...

  • Melbourne, Australia

Stockhausen!

  • FL

Daft punk
Starscream
In Flames

  • Simi Valley, CA

Kraftwerk, and Autechre are my main inspirational artists these days.

Last edited by VCMG (February 10, 2012 6:51 am)

This is going to sound like such an ass kiss buuuut mainly people in the scene :

Cheapshot, Minikomi, trash80, little-scale, Alex Mauer, Virt, Anamanaguchi, Chaos Royale, Hally, Q330, Dubmood, linde, G & J, Hizmi, sabrepulse, 4mat Elwood.

Please a few non sceney people : Tim Follin, Tom Waits, Madeon, The Kinks, The Zombies, Big Star, Queen, Eero Johannes, The wildhearts, pixies, quincy jones, zztop, Amy Winehouse, LOADS of showtunes,

Quite an apt thread: a new album by Ruby Throat arrived in the post this morning and, whilst I had planned to work on some tracks today, I can't stop listening to it. Perhaps not to everyone's taste but Ruby Throat move me like no other music can.

  • cincinnati, ohio

whenever I'm writing I find myself very easily swayed from doing so-- working with LSDJ can give you a headache or sometimes just listening to the same patterns over and over again can get very grating and boring.  However, I find myself (when writing/composing music) with a greater predilection to do things entirely removed (one foot in, one foot out, whatever) from music.  Sometimes listening to music is helpful (covox, NNNNNNNNNN, Nullsleep, Bit Shifter, Bokusatsu Shoujou koudou) , but more often than not I usually sit down and read, or watch internet.

IMPORTANT FOR BRAIN:  Dr. Seuss, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard (these things help my brain move freely without the constraints of what could be construed as 'normal brain patterns')
IMPORTANT FOR SOUL: Minecraft, 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari', 'The Phantom Creeps', The Muppett Show

Seriously, that is pretty much the sum of everything that goes into my music/composition. 

I constantly roll this simple thing over in my head--

Dr. Seuss wrote 'The Cat in the Hat' using only a list of 200 words, and followed up with 'Green Eggs and Ham' using only 50.  His ability to convey morals and teach reading concepts with constraints/rules reminds me very much of programming with LSDJ/nanoloop.  The 'less is more' ethos is sometimes very easy to lose sight of, but with so many great artists having created so many great pieces of...art....it is very inspiring to think that one can do the same, following an almost identical formula (albeit with your own twists, we are indeed 'only human' after all)

  • FL

I find simplicity to be beautiful, efficient, and fascinating.

  • Crotchester NY

yuyoyuppe
yazuki
effe
Fall Out Boy
Coheed and Cambria
At the Drive-In
Skrillex
fun. / The Format
Das Racist
Lamb of God
Mars Volta
Queens of the Stone Age

  • Utah

Tangerine Dream, Cluster, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Kitaro, John Carpenter, Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, and a ton of weird 1980s italo & electro.