Nine Bands You Should Be Listening To: Part 2

4. Converge- Can brutality be beautiful? Converge doesn’t stammer to answer this question. Their response is an insanely fast and intense as hell conglomeration of metal, poetry, spirituality, and splendor. If music could somehow be an infusion of words, notes, and volatility, the end result for this band would seemingly be an incineration of sound. Converge has been together since late 1990 and within months of that, recorded their first demos. Ever since then, they’ve been putting out unyielding albums and don’t show any signs of letting up. Sometimes dark, elegiac, cryptic, and despair-ridden, Converge writes some of the most eloquent tunes in music today. No stranger to addressing contemporary issues as well, they are one of the most underrated bands to grace this industry. Recommended: Minnesota, My Unsaid Everything, Albatross, Heaven In Her Arms, and Concubine.

5. Jai Agnish- Where folk and electronic music meet Christian themes of faith and hope. Jai Agnish creates an attractive sound that appeals to the ears of listeners of many genres and styles. He is the creator of Flygirl, an acclaimed zine that mixes the same premises as his music. His 2000 debut, Automata, exemplifies what he enjoys in life—Christianity, peculiar toy-like sounds, and a snappy melody. Recommended: How You Dream, Deaf Today, and Climb To Remind.

6. Miles Davis- I’m sure I’m getting a lot of blank stares now. C’mon, who doesn’t like Miles? One of the names everyone should be able to answer with when someone asks you about jazz. Miles Davis was an architect of music and his notoriety stands far beyond many other "rock stars." After I got to college, I started to explore more musical genres than I had previously given attention to. Jazz was the first. I scored some traditional jazz and big band stuff. From the likes of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and even Nat King Cole, that’s where I got hooked. In trying to listen to a lot of the different styles and types of jazz, I became more familiar with the significant figures who stood out from their peers. Miles Davis was one of those greats. A world-renowned trumpeter, composer, and musician, Davis played on more than one hundred albums. Many times as both: a player and bandleader. Davis was one of the most prolific artists in recording history and was nominated for an amazing number of Grammy’s (he actually won 6 or 7) and was a frequent visitor to the pop charts. The reason why? He was just that good. His arrangements and instrumentations told stories in a way that no one had ever heard before. And, it was mostly all instrumental. Did you get that? He told stories without words. The music’s validity and depth accurately portrayed the man behind it. From his fights with his psyche and intellect to his own self-endorsed battles with substance addition, Miles Davis wrote some of the greatest songs you never heard. Some consider Miles Davis' work the magnum opus of Jazz because of his constant progression to the music and his capacity to birth several of the music’s most notable styles. He will forever remain a legend in the hearts of those who adore him and recognize awe-inspiring music. Recommended albums: Birth of Cool, Round About Midnight, Cookin', Workin', Kind of Blue, and Bitches Brew.

Stay tuned for more. 7, 8, & 9 tomorrow...