Foreign music

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Do you have a favorite band and song from outside your country of origin?

I live in the United States. Here a few of mine.

Until We Bleed - Lykke Li (singing) and Kleerup (music), both from Sweden
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rGvq3cdJkk[/youtube]

Miss You - Trentemoller from Denmark
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DUCKGyojpE[/youtube]

Heartbeats - The Knife from Sweden
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrjwqXwyzNU[/youtube]

What Else Is There - Royksopp from Norway (The singers name is Karen from The Knife)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOt15JsLloU[/youtube]

Erase/Rewind - The Cardigans from Sweden
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRn0wUJdvr8[/youtube]

Yes, several of my favorite bands are or were Australian, but I live in the U.S. (for now, at least).

My favorite group is Japan's Kobukuro, with "kokonishikasakanaihana"* being my favorite song of theirs. I also like some of the work by the Finnish quartet Loiutma, especially their "Ievan Polkka", and Japan's SMAP, Kinki Kids, and Ayaka Hirahara.


*Sorry, I don't have an IME available on this computer to type this correctly.

Reserved to post some stuff later.

Royksopp and the Knife are some of my favorites. I know a few more downtempo musicians.

I am originally from Belgium but live in Germany. None of both countries really have a music scene that appeals to me, apart from a few German bands that are decent (Tokio Hotel, Rammstein, Alphaville for example). I guess the German music scene does have enough talent, but my favourite bands are all foreign. One exception if I may consider Germany my country (for now at least?): I am a big fan of Silke Bischoff who come from Germany indeed.


My other favourites are foreign:

UK: Placebo, Echo & The Bunnymen, Muse, Manic Street Preachers, The Smiths, Bauhaus
USA: A Perfect Circle, Marilyn Manson, London After Midnight
Israel: Orphaned Land
France: Indochine

No. I listen to music as music, not as specifically listening to x nationality or gimmick. People often ask me who my favourite female-fronted band is, and I don't have an answer for them then either, becuase I judge a band on how good it is, not how good it is within its own boundaries.

While I dislike tags and classifications in some way, I find them coming in handy sometimes. Personally I like Middle Eastern music, so for me geographic tags as classification could be handy to expand my horizons and discover new bands that I am likely to like, just by searching through the Arab music shelf of a record store I am likely to discover some stuff I like. Same with genres I guess, if someone is wild of 50Cent or Rihanna he may discover some new bands he will likely enjoy just by searching for bands having the same classifications.

I think classifications can be useful as long as it does not get tribalist. By that I mean: as long as you don't limit yourself to one specific type of music or to one label.

Orphaned Land have become one of my favourite bands, while I would probably never have heard of them if I hadn't read they are from Israel. By reading that and realising they may have an oriental sound, my interest was created and I loved it from the start. Sometimes a classification of any sort just comes in handy, as long as you don't restrict yourself by ignoring music outside of your prefered tag.

the tags and classifications on music can be unfair sometimes... but still rather handy. most of the music i listen to isnt very popular, and none of the music i listen to comes from america (unless we count Dethklok) so when the musically-ignorant kids ask me what i listen to (psh, like they care, they never said another word to me anyways.) i gotta tell them something theyll understnad. so i just say "most of the bands i listen to are from japan... hey you ever heard death metal from japan? its better than death metal from the netherlands XD" but they dont get it anwyays XD heres some of the main bands i listen to (not all)

Dir en Grey (yay godly bass)

Dolly (more godly bass, but more of a dark carnival theme to their music)

D'espairsRay (not much musical talent per member that i can pinpoint, but they sounds great and have a trace amount of industrial influence)

Shinkou Shuukyou Gakudan NoGoD (some almost-godly bass with the godly gutiarists, as well as having spiffy outfits. the only visual kei band i have seen to have unattractive members *as visual kei means emphasis on appearance and usually has 'pretty' people*)

Malice Mizer/Moi Dix Mois (my god, how fancifull. stuffed full of pipe organs and harpischords, as well as synthesiszed orchestras, its like baroque music with a death metal feel to it)

Versailles (a newer band than Malice Mizer/Moi Dix Mois, and less centered on synths and pipe organs. focuses entirely on guitars and vocals, not much in the way of the bassist, and more classical than baroque)

Sadie (similar to some of the stuff Dir en Grey had during the Vulgar album period. makes good music videos)

HYBRID-ZOMBIEZ (broke up in 2006, i believe. their lead singer never disclosed his/her gender, but sounds decidedly female... just not... doesnt sound like he/she would be an asian female, sounds more like an anglo-saxon race female)

ChelseA (very similar to HYBRID-ZOMBIEZ in having a feminine-sounding vocalist, cept ChelseA's vocalist told us his gender. ChelseA, i believe, disbanded in 2005, but i forget)

UnsraW (an angura-kei band from nagoya. sounds more like light death metal. still death metally, just not so heavy and thick, and thesinger has a LOVELY singing voice when not yelling, i love singing along XD)

lynch. (very similar to UnsraW, but lynch. tends to be heavier and a bit more hyper. the vocalist for lynch was the first vocalist for Deathgaze)

Deathgaze (THE number one in japanese death metal *angura-kei* thoguh theyve gone through 2 vocalists *theiur first being the BEST* and now has their bassist as a vocalist *his growling kinda sucks, but his singing is nice*)

Aural Vampire (darkwave/techno/electro 2-person group their music has actually been heard in american nightclubs before and they toured germany some time last year)

there are others but since theyre not on top of my mind i wont list them <_<;

Some of your comments are starting to get into philosophical discussions about labels and such. To stem that all I meant by "foreign music" is simply music that is not from your country. That's all. Try again? Yes? Good.

[quote="StrawberryJam"]Dir en Grey (yay godly bass)/quote]

Hell yes, Dir en grey is the s**t! XD "Obscure" is my most favorite song evarrrr.

My country of origin is Canada and most of my favourite music is not from there. Hard to know where to start, really.

Yes, many.

My Music Map on RYM

If I like lyrics and music, I would listen to any band I consider worthy.