OK, this is how it is. My music tastes evolve all the time. This is one step in the genealogy of music I like. Progressive instrumental rock. Prog. Prog rock. Art rock. Avant-garde. Psychedelic rock. Or a recent description that I read that fits perfectly: “novel sonic texture.”

You see, I’ve always thought that voices are just another instrument to add to the ensemble. A few people I know really like having singers in the music they listen to. I appreciate good music without singers. I think it’s harder to pull off, and allows you to focus more on the skill of the instrumentalist and the composure of the song, rather than catchy lyrics.

Anyways, here’s a list that I hope to update frequently. Please check these bands out if you’re at all interested, and please suggest some bands that aren’t on here in the comments below, you’ll get credit for your find! I give the band name, a little desc. about my experience with the, and the links where you can listen to their music. I hate MySpace, but it provides some decent grounds to listen to music. (Hopefully sometime soon I’ll get ambitious and add some a pic of each band.)

Have at it.

1980
Found this band a while ago, really sweet music, wish they had more albums.
1980

a silver mt. zion / fly pan am / godspeed you! black emperor
Pretty good artists, I think these three bands are mostly composed of the same people.
A Silver Mt. Zion
Fly Pan Am
Godspeed You! Black Emperor

grails
Kind of a more mellow-y sound, good music to chill to.
Grails

isis
Probably one of the more well known in the genre (I think).
Isis

pelican
This is probably the band that got me into this genre of music. Still really dig all their stuff, they’re just awesome. Well worth a listen.
Pelican

red sparowes
Second one after Pelican who I really got in to. Guitar players from Isis and Neurosis.
Red Sparowes

russian circles
Friend introduced me to this band just after I had started listening to Pelican and Red Sparowes. Very good.
Russian Circles

stars of the lid
Just started listening to these guys. Not sure if they will make it in to my regular listening group (a little slow / mood-music-y), but pretty good.
Stars of the Lid

this will destroy you
Good (fairly mellow, despite the name) stuff.
This Will Destroy You

Then some where there’s probably some more singing, but still awesome:

minsk
Love this guy’s voice, the rhythm of the songs really drive in my opinion. Another Chicago band (like Russian Circles).
Minsk

old man gloom
Some of this stuff is a bit more metal-esque, but not all. Love how he has an album titled Christmas.
Old Man Gloom

porcupine tree
Another pillar of the genre I think, awesome stuff. 4 Chords to Make a Million might be one of their more “poppy” songs (I’d guess, dunno), but an awesome song none the less.
Porcupine Tree

riverside
Along with Pelican and Red Sparowes, this has to be one of my favorite bands currently (my all-time favorite is Clutch, though not really this type of genre…). Really good singing and music all around.
Riverside

rosetta
Pretty high up there on my list too. Absent off of the Galilean Satellites album is probably one of my favorite songs of theirs (love the part at 3:10 into the song).
Rosetta

Well, I finally made a Muxtape. Now mind you I listen to quite a bit more “hardcore” music, but I thought I’d make it at least minimally bearable by the general public. So without further ado, click the tape!

Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

So, unfortunately there are no actual pictures of my dad on a wave (he had a rough time catching a ride this day I guess), and I’m also sniping these pictures from my mom’s Flickr account, but I thought I’d post them, because I’m pretty proud of my dad and his surfing, and him passing it on to me (which hopefully I will be able to do up here in the UP, at least some windsurfing). So without further ado, a couple “surfing pics:

My dad prepped up inside before he goes out.

Unloading the board at Tiscornia:

Pre-surf pose with his buddy Jack:

Saint Joseph’s lighthouse:

And apparently there are some kitesurfers in the area now:

In an attempt to clean up my MP3 collection, I’ve gone through and started pulling music out to correctly tag with the wonderful MP3Tag. Part of this process is to include album art so it shows up on my Zune, and in my Zune player on my computer (which I like a lot better than iTunes right now).

So, here’s a screen shot of my Zune player stretched across both monitors (usually only have it take up one, but wanted more albums), can you recognize any of the album covers? Chances are no, since I listen to some strange music, but maybe! Click on the thumbnail for a full size version.