Who is the greatest current one-person band / songwriter to come to prominence last 10 or so years?
Here is my short list for consideration. I'd really like to hear other ideas. Post them up under the comments section.
Jason Anderson (Wolf Colonel)
Owen Ashworth (Casiotone for the Painfully Alone)
Ben Barnett (Kind of Like Spitting)
David Bazan (Pedro The Lion)
David Berman (Silver Jews)
John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats)
Marty Donald (The Lucksmiths)
Phil Elvrum (The Microphones / Mt. Eerie)
Ben Folds
Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie / The Postal Service)
Damien Jurado
Ted Leo
Jeffrey Lewis
Chan
Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields)
Mirah
Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes)
Will
John K. Samson (The Weakerthans)
Fred Thomas (Saturday Looks Good To Me)
Jeff Tweedy (Wilco)
Roddy Woomble (Idlewild)
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5 comments:
Mirah has consistently destroyed me (especially with her incredible album Advisory Committee) so I vote for her. However I suggest the inclusion of the one-man band 'Mr. California and the State Police.'
--dan
Beck! We all know he was around before 10 years ago yeah yeah. But for reals. FOR REALS.
AC Newman!
Sufjan? Sufjan!
Ditto on David Berman. Actually that might be my number one.
AND KEVIN BARNES mostly because I just saw of montreal last night but also because it's TRUTH.
Hey Mike,
Phil Elvrum might get my vote too, but I think your list is lacking the BEATS!!!
How about Mike Skinner/The Streets? How about G. Scott Herren/Prefuse 73? How about Kieran Hebden/Four Tet? And of course, my favorite electronic music character, Rjyan Kidwell/Cex. Oh, and my go-to in high school, Ben Lee/Noise Addict.
If you were desperate for a technicality, some might also mention Brian Wilson, whose solo work was basically useless until a year and a half ago when it was the most important thing going.
For this exact moment, I would give it to Mike Skinner, because all the others' most recent records were less than their greatest work. And I could never get into "Smile."
Best,
Mahoney
Wow! What a great response! Cassie, don’t accuse me of being a girl-hater! Most of the musical girls I like are in bands: The Softies, Low, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Dressy Bessy, etc. I do love Mirah, even though I have not listened to most of her stuff. She has a voice that is prettier than pretty much all of the boys on the list combined. I have never gotten to see Ani Difranco play live, and have it in my head that she doesn’t play that often in Western NY and thus kind of resent her for it, although that may or may not be true. I have only heard a few handfuls of her songs and would probably also be won over if I saw her live. I don’t know that much about Fiona Apple other than I saw her sing on TV during the Hurricane Katrina relief telethon and it was by far the best performance of the whole deal. I believe she sung “Extraordinary Machine.” You’ll have to let me borrow some of her albums. I’d probably like it.
Phil Elvrum is awesome because he pretty much invented the nature-core folk sound. Yes, greatness can mean being the first. Also, Mahoney’s picks like Kieran Hebden and Mike Skinner pretty much invented their own genres (folktronica with Four Tet and who knows what The Streets is – “Cockney-MC” or something like that). Prefuse and Cex I’ll have to overlook now because they are pretty much all instrumental and I was thinking more along the lines of a lyricist.
I also overlooked Beck because I haven’t really ever listened to his stuff. I think I now have a tendency to shy away from the major labeled indie rockers (Beck, Fiona Apple, The Strokes, Flaming Lips, etc.) and thus have been missing out on some good stuff. Sufjan I haven’t gotten into yet. AC Newman I’ve only heard a few songs. Of Montreal are awesome, though I’ve listened to very little of their stuff.
Ok perhaps we need to look at the arguments. I was thinking that perhaps the best most great new songwriter was the one that would invent a whole new genre and do things unlike anyone else. The biggest examples of this would be The Microphones and Four Tet. But then again, greatness can also mean subtlety; going into familiar water and doing things differently. This could mean The Magnetic Fields (Ironic yet affecting art pop), Casiotone For The Painfully Alone (used ‘toy” instrument for sad songs instead of typical guitar), or The Weakerthans (sad folk punk about being a socialist) is great. Anyway, what a fantastic, unending argument!
I can’t believe on my initial posting of this list I failed to realize it would make for an incredible mix CD.
mike
Just a note, Mike - Ani DiFranco is from Buffalo, NY and actually plays there a whole lot. For whatever reason, she doesn't make it onto a lot of indie rock listings, as people mysteriously opt to list her music as "Folk" ... so it sounds like you just weren't getting the word. I haven't listened to Ani in years, it feels like, but she really is amazing - You might find her live double album, 'Living in Clip' someplace used. That's the one you need.
Also: New Cex Album This Month!!
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