I honestly don’t even comprehend lyrics most of the time. Singers ruin a lot of bands for me and there are only a handful of things I like that are not purely instrumental.

If lyrics are present I do want to know what they are about so I know what I’m listening to but I have to really pay attention because my brain works musically and my focus is always automatically taken by what is happening rhythmically/melodically/harmonically. I just don’t have any need for that egoic relatability or whatever engages us in lyrics, and generally I’d prefer it to be left out but I understand that some music is really created just to envelope a story and may be very uninteresting without that element.

as to classics you NEED to listen to. I don’t like many classics but I’ll offer a few that others may not:

Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante (seriously.. and if you survive it, try their other two albums. the first album was very influencial on nu-metal while being not-at-all nu-metal)

Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album (and everything else, but that’s a good start, along with the ’Come to Daddy’ EP)

King Crimson - Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (for the instrumentals and beginning of them being one of the most influencial prog bands, especially on the metal side)

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing (total classic of instrumental hip-hop)

… I suck at ”classics” unless we’re talling weird stuff that probably goes nowhere near your tastes.. all else I can think of that may fit is Björk but you’re already into it (she’s a good one to web out from in ways I suggested above, having worked with sooooo many people, from Mike Patton to Bogdan Raczynski to etcetc)

The way it was for me before streaming services and suggestions from algorithms, was that I would go read about artists I like via wikipedia or discogs. I have a pretty expansive and eclectic music library and almost everything came from following threads like that.

I remember seeing some version of Napalm Death at a festival and kind of liking it, that led me to the internet where I read about the original lineup and a guy called Mick Harris.. I saw he did a project called Painkiller which was mixing grindcore with jazz and dub and thought that may be cool so I bought a vinyl blindly on ebay… HOLY F*€K, John Zorn. that was then an ever expanding spiral as that guy is as prolific as they come and has worked with more people than I could count, and almost any style of music you could imagine. Following threads from the bass player I discovered Praxis, Mix Master Mike/turntablism in geberal, Buckethead, Jonas Hellborg, a load of great dub and funk, even going backwards in time to a love of Parliament via the Bootsy/Bernie connections with Laswell.

I have basically zero interest in Napalm Death and pretty low interest even in Zorn (despite his brilliance). None of the above demonstates my taste, but I found so much great music just by following those threads from every instance where I heard something I really enjoyed.

also it’s often worth checking other artists on the same record labels as most of the somewhat independent labels show some sort of interlinking qualities even where style varies (this is how I am currently exploring electronic music through my Aphex Twin obsession, with other Warp projects like Autechre and Squarepusher hitting me hard!).

Discogs is the best for finding actual working links between projects, and Wikipedia is great to find the out histories and influences of certain artists you like, which may lead to great discoveries :)

also if you really like a particular artist, find a sub of forum about them or something close and go ask there.. these places are all a mixed bag but usually there are passionate people with a lot of good suggestions :)

The first Mr. Bungle album is essential (as are their others, but the funk wanes).

If you like Primus then check out Stump (not any metal, not much funk, but an obviously huge influence on Primus and a great band!).

I attended a performance of Afghani folk musicians playing some traditional repertoire plus I believe some original works, various stringed instruments and percussion with a woman singing and playing something like a harmonium. some moments of that performance probably topped anything else in the emotion felt and I believe expressed. They also followed the performance with a talk about the oppression of musicians under the Taliban and their personal journeys to keep their traditions alive (this was maybe 10-15 years ago, when the Taliban were not in power but not particularly long after).

You know when you have a photo and you reduce the size in photoshop to about a quarter or less than the original, then you save, then you blow that reduced copy back up to the original dimensions and it looks all messed up? Or you watch a 1080p video stream and then reduce it to 360p and it just seems so blurry?

That is what we do to music when we listen to lossy compression, although we don’t perceive it the same way as we are more used to visual difference and also tend to always have pretty decent screens, while perhaps our audio gear is less-than-great.

We lose so much detail in the compression - not of melody and rhythm but the actual sonic texture and “air” - that no matter how people argue, it cannot be the same as a lossless format It is exactly what is is: a lot resolution copy.

It is true to say that the difference may not be noticeable without a certain quality of playback equipment, but I absolutely hate MP3s and the likes, and this is one (of many) reasons I won’t use Spotify or other streaming services. I don’t buy CDs, though, I keep a library of FLAC files and usually download music through Bandcamp - the quality is not a CD thing but is about whether or not audio has been compressed, so formats like those just mentioned, or lossless streaming through Tidal or Apple music, should sound just as good if the rest of the signal path is the same. You’ll probably find these same feelings any time you upgrade a part of your playback equipment - it all makes a difference!

Kayo Dot - Hubardo (absolute masterpiece of progressive metal and beyond, and a 100 minute concept story carried perfectly through).

on that note:

HAPPY HERRO’EEN!

https://youtu.be/5sT0WSwgHLc

99.999% of the time I prefer the vocals to not come in at all and am often put off when they do, but the times when I appreciate them I don’t really care when they come in as long as it works with the composition. If making an album with vocals, I would like variety between tracks but without any set rule.

I really like Kevin Hufnagel’s ‘Songs for the Disappeared’, probably my favourite of his solo albums next to his baritone uke stuff. I think it is still his only acoustic guitar album, but some of his other solo albums are processed electric guitar and some are very interesting (plus his band work with Dysrhythmia is superb).

I think music streaming is indeed a big problem and I won’t use any of it, instead I buy digital releases from independent artists on Bandcamp or, if unavailable, I feel like piracy is largely the higher moral option as at least it doesn’t support the services that have caused so much damage and would only give the artists I like a cent or two for the 20 times I may listen to an album in a year.

That said, I don’t believe streaming services are a great contributor to crazy ticket prices, that is just down to opportunistic greed. RATM or Blink 182 are bands of rich guys who know that many obsessive fans will pay what they want, especially when many who grew up with that music have now had careers and filled up bank accounts. If you can charge $500+ for a ticket it’s a good way to make a big pile of money without the need to even be creative and write new music. It sucks, but a lot of these bands only get together or keep going because their bands are businesses. System of a Down apparently hate each other and haven’t made any new music since I was still a fan some 15 years ago or so, but they still do concerts when they can get a fat cheque. and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that really, except when it contradicts a deceptive image (à la RATM, who were always as fake as could be). I get that it sucks for fans who can’t afford the prices but this is how art works within capitalism and we have to accept it.

Thankfully the most I have had to pay for a concert ticket in the last decade or so was about €120 for a three day festival of exceptional music at the now-no-more RIO events in France. The last gig I went to was an american death metal band for 190SEK (€16-17), and I’ll probably go see Cleric at about the same price and maybe Kayo Dot at an event in NL which is €40 for five bands or so. Most of these artists probably have day jobs and can’t live off music alone, but I have attended cheaper gigs of bands who seem to be making it on record sales and touring, even in the streaming age. It may be that the fanbases of these kinds of artists are a little more into buying music and see the need to directly support those more independent artists so streaming isn’t messing them up as much, but it definitely doesn’t seem any of these artists are starving while doing these small, cheap concerts where ticket sales are just a tiny fraction of those of these bigger bands - they just aren’t taking in enough money to buy a new home and car every time they do a tour or a few fests.