Music Forum / Bands similar to Radiohead

This is kind of the typical music suggestion topic. I absolutely love Radiohead but obviously they're a very unconventional band so it's difficult to compare them to anyone. But what artists and/or albums would you guys recommend? I've been directed to the Flaming Lips and the Pixies among others so far, personally I just haven't been able to get into the Lips, even the Soft Bulletin -- I donno, maybe I'll like it over time like anything else. I haven't heard much stuff by the Pixies apart from a few songs but I don't really know what album to "start" with.

So I'm just throwing this out there. Reply with whatever you want. Thanks.

From www.allmusic.com:
Blur
The Verve
The Beta Band
Manic Street Preachers
Pulp
Unbelievable Truth
Spiritualized
Coldplay
Abandoned Pools
The Flaming Lips
The Standard
Arnold
Alfie
Clinic
Mercury Rev
Super Furry Animals
Elbow
Kent
Embrace
Air
Travis

UNKLE
Thom Yorke

i had been meaning to get into the pixies for a while, so i picked up their greatest hits album, so i would say that's a pretty good place to start.

While this suggestion topic is open, I'd also like to ask a question...

I've recently purchased The Moon & Antarctica, and it's a fantastic album IMO. I was wondering for those of you who know Modest Mouse well, what albums can be best compared to this one by MM, because I don't really know where to start.

Thanks in advance.

Edited by Jazz, 29 January 2007 - 08:11 PM.

This is kind of the typical music suggestion topic. I absolutely love Radiohead but obviously they're a very unconventional band so it's difficult to compare them to anyone. But what artists and/or albums would you guys recommend? I've been directed to the Flaming Lips and the Pixies among others so far, personally I just haven't been able to get into the Lips, even the Soft Bulletin -- I donno, maybe I'll like it over time like anything else. I haven't heard much stuff by the Pixies apart from a few songs but I don't really know what album to "start" with.

So I'm just throwing this out there. Reply with whatever you want. Thanks.

Ester Drang. Try them.

Bands similar to Radiohead

n/a

While this suggestion topic is open, I'd also like to ask a question...

I've recently purchased The Moon & Antarctica, and it's a fantastic album IMO. I was wondering for those of you who know Modest Mouse well, what albums can be best compared to this one by MM, because I don't really know where to start.

Thanks in advance.

In my opinion that's their best. You may want to pick up Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks though, its an EP of b-sides from those sessions. Good News for People Who Love Bad News is similar in production but has a generally poppier sound to it. The Lonesome Crowded West has a similar vibe to TM&A, but it's more lo-fi.

Finding a band quite similar to Radiohead is going to be very very hard.

The only thing harder than that is finding someone similar to Frank Zappa...

Give Pandora a try.

Radiohead is like a gateway drug. I've learned to appreciate and love all different kinds of music since. I don't think there are many bands close to their sound(s) but I would direct you to The Flaming Lips, though apparently, it doesn't seem to be working out well for you. Hmm...I love Yoshimi and The Soft Bulletin. I would try those albums a few more times; they are the height of their accessibility anyway, I think. Also try Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, it is just as classic of an album as Kid A or OK Computer.

I've also seen comparisons to The Arcade Fire, though I can't really see it. Hmm, yes. Moon and Antarctica is great, as well, maybe try that one out. Maybe some Bowie; Brian Eno has also contributed a great deal to expanding pop and rock music and pushing its limits, something that is quite apparent in Radiohead's discography. Yeah, just try their influences, also. The Pixies, Talking Heads, etc.

The only thing harder than that is finding someone similar to Frank Zappa...

Captain Beefheart.

Judas Priest and Iron Maiden

They're all British. ;-)

what about porcupine tree?
I've never really listened to radiohead, but from what I've heard it's somewhat comparable.
porcupine tree is great anyway.

I'd definetly try out Modest Mouse...

As for bands similar to Radiohead there are a few depending on the era. The Verve album Urban Hymns sounds like a more atmospheric and slightly bloated (production wise mainly) Bends. Grandaddy's Sophware Slump (the only album I've heard by them) splits the difference between The Soft Bulletin and OK Computer lyrically, vocally and musically, but it still lacks the energy of the punchier moments of it's two obvious influences. As for stuff like Kid A I don't know enough electrona-based outifits in rock to say... Same for Amnesiac except you can toss some jazz in there too.

Anyway I have to agree that Radiohead is a gateway drug to being far more open minded about music. I listen to so much stuff now that my parents are downright baffled by that it's amazing (before that I was listening to mainly 70s-era stuff like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Rush).

Ride6

Buckethead.

Anyway I have to agree that Radiohead is a gateway drug to being far more open minded about music. I listen to so much stuff now that my parents are downright baffled by that it's amazing (before that I was listening to mainly 70s-era stuff like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Rush).

I think my gateway was Death Cab's Transatlanticism. Any more my parents don't know what I listen to. I had them get me a rap cd for Christmas (Clipse--Hell Hath No Fury), and they were like ok... Once I put Arcade Fire in the car stereo on a trip somewhere and they turned it off midway through the song that starts off "Alexander, my older brother." My mom likes contemporary christian stuff (gag), and my dad likes Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Bob Dylan, and Crosby Stills Nash and Young.

Just feeling out the waters... CoasterForce, do you like acoustic or slide guitars? (i.e. are you open to folk and country?) also, what other bands besides Radiohead do you like? genres?

While this suggestion topic is open, I'd also like to ask a question...

I've recently purchased The Moon & Antarctica, and it's a fantastic album IMO. I was wondering for those of you who know Modest Mouse well, what albums can be best compared to this one by MM, because I don't really know where to start.

Thanks in advance.

That was pretty much all I listened to for a few weeks when I first got it. It has that long slow portion in the middle that I don't have the patience to sit through anymore. Now I pretty much just listen to "The Lonesome Crowded West" and "Building Nothing Out of Something" Modest Mouse wise. It's a little different style, but similar enough that you'd still like it. I occasionally pop in "Good News For People Who Love Bad News" to hear a few favorite tracks. That's probably the closest to The Moon and Antarctica stylistically, but it gets old faster (still worth getting IMO). Oh and there's a new album coming out soon, so keep an eye out.

Radiohead...is pretty much the same for me. For about 6 months, or maybe more like 8, all I listened to was Radiohead. I got all the albums, I downloaded all the B-sides, then the new album came out and I listened to that over and over again. I guess I wore it out, because I hardly listen to them anymore. I'll play them a little bit from time to time, especially Idioteque, but it doesn't really affect me. Sometimes I think you're better off looking for music that's very different from what you're already listening to actually. It's all music really, and if you can expand your tastes into a new genre there's that much more great music to look for. And by rotating what you listen to, you won't get tired of it as fast. Like the way they used to rotate crops to keep the fields fresh way back in the day. Just think of your ears like healthy soil and variaties of music like different plant crops. Sow some seeds, expand your tastes. You'll be better off in the long run.

Thanks guys give me some time and I'll look into some other stuff...and Ed you're so right. I'll try to do that.

PBob: I'm not a big country person, bands like Wilco just aren't for me. I do like acoustic guitars though, just not if it's strictly "country." As far as other artists go...where to begin. I'm a big fan of The Strokes, especially their first two albums. The Shins are pretty good for me, I like some of the stuff on their new album and Chutes too Narrow, also random songs from random indy bands here and there. I like the Format too, but they're more pop than anything else...still I like a lot of their stuff. And finally I enjoy some classic rock, including the Beatles and the Stones, but that's a given, I listen to them only occasionally or when I'm bored of modern stuff.

I remember when I wrote Wilco off because of their supposed country leanings.

That was a serious mistake on my part.

yeah...again maybe ill like them over time...but i've given yankee hotel foxtrot many full listenings and not a single song clicks with me.