Artists who introduced you to a genre of music

[AdamDam]

Have you ever become interested in listening to a genre of music that you weren’t very familiar with previously?

If so, who was the first artist that you enjoyed listening to within the genre, and what did you appreciate about their sound that led you to explore this genre further?

Feel free to share; cheers!

[StompingLlama]

December 18th 2020 was the day I discovered Stoner Rock music, and this was the song that got me hooked!

The Fuzzy Distortion and witchy vocals blew me away with this track. 

[AdamDam]

Thanks for sharing, @StompingLlama!

I was listening to the title track from Scorpion Child’s Acid Roulette album, after reading your post, and I agree that it is a great stoner rock track; I really like the retro-sounding keyboard/organ, melodic vocals, and of course the heavy distortion!

Stoner rock has become one of my favorite genres of music as well; and one artist that I think got me into listening to this genre more often is the instrumental psychedelic/stoner/space rock band Mantra Machine:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1G7ekxJSIyTQdbw5TBtB3H?si=IYYbndNkTzi2jqI-Emy0xw

Though I listened to a couple of stoner rock bands (Dead Meadow and Sleep) during high school (around 2007 or 2008), I wasn’t familiar with the term “stoner rock,” at the time, and didn’t branch out into discovering other stoner rock bands or even start listening to this genre relatively often until about 10 years later.

It was around that time that I was suggested Mantra Machine on Spotify (I think from Discover Weekly, or possibly from recommendations on the Home screen). I really enjoyed their Nitrogen album, with its effects-laden guitars and groovy bass, as well as spacey keyboards; and I had also noticed that Mantra Machine described themselves as being influenced by stoner rock (as well as psychedelic- and space rock) in the About section of their artist page.

Being curious to listen to more artists in the stoner rock genre that I was only just becoming familiar with, I’ve since found myself listening to this genre quite a bit. Within the past year or two, stoner rock has often showed up as my most listened-to genre according to Last.fm, and my most recent Tag Timeline illustrates this trend within the past few weeks:

Cheers!

[Sebasty]

I think Datach'i is one that really opened my eyes when it comes to music made with modular synthesizers, by showing how beautiful and warm the songs coming out of the eurorack can be. Before that point I guess i only saw people talk about artists that make weird sounds using weird methods, and I as a listener that hears music before taking interest in the background/production, I didn't find anything worth listening to.

This was the first track I heard from him:

spotify:track:4DIPXwZwsrfsiFSufyOg5U:small 

I adore those chords so much.

And now when I see a modular synth i bubble with excitement. lmao

Amon Tobin's alias Figueroa opened a door to the world of folk. I heavily gravitate towards the more epxerimental / psychedelic side of folk though, i love drone folk, I love psychedelic folk. Artists like Dando Shaft, Dave Bixby and Maitreya Kali have all embedded themselves in my playlist and in my local library.

Figueroa itself is also a really awe-inspiring alias. Such earthy sounds and soulful singing (the lyrics to Better Run, If You Knew My name and Put Me Under are so simple yet hit straight on the nail). The only difference between the folk I've discovered and Figueroa is that Amon doesn't play any instruments. He has mastered an otherwordly degree of sound warping, and all guitar plucks and other sounds are the result of careful synthesis.

Hello, soft cheeked

I have a question:
How???

Oh I'll also add a play button to a Figueroa song, here it is:

spotify:track:6qzyd6NWapUvnZQXOBIyIi:small 

(Amon Tobin is marked as co-artist simply because it's an attempt to bring all aliases under Amon's artist page for visibility purposes.)

[AdamDam]

Thanks for sharing, @Sebasty!

I was listening to “Monarchs” by Datach’i, and I agree that the modular synthesizers sound great on this track! Though I’m not very familiar with how different types of synths work or sound comparatively, I enjoy the expansive, otherworldly quality that the eurorack creates on "Monarchs."

It’s also great to hear how Figueroa led you to appreciating these subgenres of folk music. I was listening to “Better Run,” and enjoy how the warped guitar chords create an eerie mood throughout the track, as well as how the percussion joins in nicely midway through. The other tracks on The World As We Know It all sound great as well; I especially like the title track as well as "Back to the Stars."

Cheers!