Dark/sad singer-songwriter music

[CAIRATH]

Lately I have been on a singer/songwriter kick (just seems to fit my mood at the moment) and I'm wondering if anyone could recommend some artists in similar vein. Personally I mainly listen to dark/sad/depressing music so that is mainly what I'm after. Though feel free to recommend lighter stuff incase other people might be interested. A description of what they sound like would be nice though.

Things I've been listening to a lot these past few weeks:

Leonard Cohen (probably my favourite)
Scott Walker
Bob Dylan (mainly Highway 61 Revisited and Blood on the Tracks, some of his other material that I've heard seems to be ruined somewhat by the backing music for me)
Nick Drake
Linda Perhacs
Brendan Perry (Dead Can Dance dude's solo release)
Tom Petty
Tom Waits
John Frusciante (RHCP guitarist whose solo work I really like, not a fan of RHCP at all)
Bob Drake
etc.

So, I've been playing some of these records way too much and am quite eager to find more good stuff to check out.

 

[saut]

good list. heres two more that would interest you:

M. Ward
In Gowan Ring

 

[Triste]

I'm a BIG fan of singer/songwriter/melancholy rock...

Jeff Buckley and Elliot Smith...pretty standard fare for the genre...

I also like Red House Painters...

and there's Blackfield, a Stephen Wilson project...I've heard some songs that are really good...

This band from Dublin called Saso....they're great... myspace.com/sasoband

actually all those artists have myspace pages where you can hear some of their music...I just can't be assed to do it....you can do a search in the myspace music section for whatever band you want.

epitonic.com is also a great resource for independent music....you should check it out.

There's some other artsits but I can't think of anymore right now...

 

[i aint play this]

Here's my recommendations:

David Sylvian(check out ''secrets of the beehive'', he is a former member of the 80's synth band japan, really rich vocal ambient/dark music, simply stunning))
Mark Hollis(ex-Talk Talk singer)
Ben Christophers(almost like a desperate broken-hearted junkie version of Thom Yorke)
I really dig Dylan, Buckley and Tom Waits too.
Some of Simon & Garfunkel's stuff is a bit dark/melancholic too...

 

[illidurit]

hmm I came to this thread to recommend leonard cohen

 

[CAIRATH]

I wish he had a twin brother or something. :\

 

[i aint play this]

^Suzanne is an incredible song tbh

 

[Frosties]

John Frusciante (RHCP guitarist whose solo work I really like, not a fan of RHCP at all)

To Record Only Water for Ten Days took me some time, but now I really like it. I think the fact that it sounds like it was recorded in just some basement adds to it's appeal. Makes it.....homely....... sorta....

 

[CAIRATH]

Inside of Emptiness and The Will To Death are my favourites at the moment. The others seem to be hit and miss.

 

[MasterOLightning]

Elliott Smith for sure. The early albums are more dark and minimal, while the newer ones feature more songs with a backing band and more rock tracks. His eerie demise effectively darkens many of the songs.

 

[i aint play this]

Most of Elliott Smith's music is kind of cheesy and over-sensitive, some songs are ok, but some are really regular emo pop(and at times, annoying) imo, of course he is not exactly ''emo'' but his songs are mostly whiny and repetitive instead of being deep, meaningful or beautiful...i think he is really overrated. I think he can't be compared to someone like Buckley, Buckley was a real genius and his music was really beautiful and had real depth.

 

[BloodSword]

Most of Elliott Smith's music is kind of cheesy and over-sensitive, some songs are ok, but some are really regular emo pop(and at times, annoying) imo, of course he is not exactly ''emo'' but his songs are mostly whiny and repetitive instead of being deep, meaningful or beautiful...i think he is really overrated. I think he can't be compared to someone like Buckley, Buckley was a real genius and his music was really beautiful and had real depth.

Absolutely agree!! Smith is just to whiny for my taste. Leonard Cohen is brilliant. I don't really know if he falls into the singer/songwriter category, but check out Kevin Gilbert. Some music could be considered dark. "Shaming of the True" is ridiculous it's so good. And "Thud" is another one by Gilbert worth checking out.

 

[daz436]

His eerie demise effectively darkens many of the songs.

that's one of the best sentences i've read in ages, i want to use it in conversation with someone as soon as possible.

 

[i aint play this]

Absolutely agree!! Smith is just to whiny for my taste. Leonard Cohen is brilliant. I don't really know if he falls into the singer/songwriter category, but check out Kevin Gilbert. Some music could be considered dark. "Shaming of the True" is ridiculous it's so good. And "Thud" is another one by Gilbert worth checking out.

Never heard about Kevin Gilbert...are those the albums titles?(''Shaming of the True'' and ''Thud'')

 

[NFU]

perhacs. period.

 

[CAIRATH]

Do you have anything else to recommend?

 

[BloodSword]

"Shaming of the True" and "Thud" are the album titles. Shaming of the True,IMO is the better of the 2. But, Song for a Dead Friend off of Thud, is one of the darkest and most poignant songs I've ever heard.

 

[i aint play this]

^thnx, i'll check it out tbh

 

[NFU]

Do you have anything else to recommend?

me? dozens.

 

[Prognostic]

lmao.

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