Newish Music To Me

So I posted about my favorite metal bands before, and how they can always fit me better than anything else. But there are still times where I like to listen to other music. Lately I've been expanding what I listen to so here is a list of some of the bands I've recently found. (Again the order has no meaning)

1) Mouse On The Keys - Post-rock/jazz fusion trio from Tokyo, Japan; formed 2006. The group consists of its former members, “Nine Days Wonder” (a leading band on the Japanese post-rock scene) Akira Kawasaki (drum, keyboards) and Atsushi Kiyota (piano, keyboards), along with Daisuke Niitome (piano, keyboards), who has played drums and composed music for funk/hiphop bands. The unique sound of the band’s drums, two pianos, and two keyboards combines the sense of urgency from rock, hard core and heavy metal with tastes of early/contemporary classical, jazz and various dance music.

2) Tera Melos - Tera Melos is band from Sacramento, California, that incorporates many styles of rock, jazz, ambient electronics and unconventional song structure. They are currently a three-piece (formerly four), consisting of a guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, bassist, and a drummer. Tera Melos play a brand of music characterized by quickly alternating rhythmic patterns, start-stop dynamics, improvisation, two-handed tapping on the guitar, extended open-ended bridges, and the use of effect pedals and samplers. Though the band has typically eschewed the label of math rock, they are considered recent innovators of the genre

3) sBACH - An American band from Nevada City, California, led by Spencer Seim of the band Hella and drummer of The Advantage. Although Seim plays all instruments on recorded material, he plays drums live, and has a live band which includes Ben Milner (of The Advantage), Justin Hunt, and Keith Dailey all playing guitar and synthesizer.

4) Quantic - He records under various guises, notably, Quantic, The Quantic Soul Orchestra, and The Limp Twins. His music draws upon elements of salsa, bossa nova, soul, funk and jazz. Holland plays guitars, bass, double bass, piano, organ, saxophone and percussion. Much of his sound is original composition with little in the way of sampling of other artists' material.

5) Nosaj Thing -  An electronic music artist based in Los Angeles who derives his influence from hip-hop and classical instruments.

6) Minutemen - An American punk band formed in San Pedro, California in 1980. Composed of guitarist D. Boon, bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley, Minutemen recorded four albums and eight EPs before Boon's death in an automobile accident in December 1985. They were noted in the California punk community for a philosophy of jamming econo, a sense of thriftiness reflected in their touring and presentation, while their eclectic and experimental attitude was instrumental in pioneering alternative rock.

7) MF Doom - An American hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for Metal Face or Metal Fingers. He has appeared in several collaborative projects such as Danger DOOM (with Danger Mouse) and Madvillain (with Madlib).

8) KMD - An American hip hop trio in the early 1990s, best known for launching the career of acclaimed rapper and producer MF DOOM, who at the time was known as Zev Love X. Other members of the group were Rodan and DJ Subroc–Zev Love X's younger brother. When Rodan chose to finish high school instead of continue working with the group Zev Love X and DJ Subroc brought in Onyx the Birthstone Kid to fill in the vacant rhyming position.

9) J Dilla also known as Jay Dee - Was an American record producer who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan. According to his obituary at NPR.org, he "was one of the music industry's most influential hip-hop artists, working for big-name acts like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes and Common."

10) Bonobo - The stage name of Simon Green (born 30 March 1976), is a British musician, producer and DJ. Green has recorded and performed solo DJ sets under the name Barakas, and together with Robert Luis from Tru Thoughts as Nairobi and Barakas.