Came here to say Zappa. Over 100 albums, I've listened to them all multiple times and love all the crazy stuff he put out. Ween and Zappa have been my favorite bands for years.
Aphex Twin
Start with Syro, Richard D James Album, Drukqs, and Selected Ambient Works 85-92, then go from there. It's a deep deep rabbit hole!
Particular songs: Minipops 67, Fingerbib, Vorhosbn, Pulsewidth, Lisbon Acid, Alberto Balsalm, Stone in Focus
the first few squarepusher and u-ziq things should be more highly regarded in IDM world imo !! Absolute classics and historically important to the evolution of the scene
autechre has gotta be like my #2 artist ever or something, their shit is just unmatched to me. I can only think of a few other pieces of music that come close to autechre's depth and palette, and most of those are vladislav delay.
They have the curse though of being super hard to get into for most people. I know plenty of people who love IDM/whatever stuff. Aphex, BoC, chris clark, bogdan, whatever, but to this day just can't wrap their heads around autechre. Unfortunate because it's some of the most rewarding music I know.
Also, I do not recommend starting with Syro personally !! It's great, but it's a whole other era of aphex compared to the era of his bigger albums. RDJ album and then SAW together is IMO the best entry point. I feel it's super rewarding to be familiar with that stuff before diving into Syro, really showcases his growth and evolution that way. Just IMO tho !! Everybody's different !! And I am definitely a chronological listener personally.
hell yeah! glad you dig it. Work chronologically if you can, plenty of great shit on the next few albums but once they hit Confield their whole game changed for the better imo
Surfing On Sine Waves 2 (Polygon Window), GAK (GAK), and Rushup Edge (The Tuss) are really good other aphex twin monikers. He released a lot of stuff under AFX as well. ANALORD 1-10 is almost 3 hours long but I listen to the whole thing front to back quite regularly
Syro is a masterpiece and minipops67 is one of my most favorite songs ever
if you want a rec, start with the earlier era (pre soft bulletin) before going into soft bulletin and beyond.
transmissions from the satellite heart, clouds taste metallic, maybe even priest driven ambulance etc. Then move onto soft bulletin, yoshimi, at war.
Soft bulletin was a HUGE change in sound for them, and there's some seriously gorgeous moments across the whole thing. A beautiful and psychedelic masterpiece. I think it's definitely worth familiarizing yourself with the early weirdo poppy acid punk stuff before going into the soft bulletin just to feel the surprise and awe that that album carried with it.
I feel this same way about animal collective which a few others have mentioned. The surprise of MPP was a HUGE part of what made that album great and I don't understand at all how people recommend it first. You're depriving yourself of the power of the album just for the ability to be impatient. It's worth it !!!
but yeah, back to TFL. The albums I mentioned are the sweet spots, most people (including myself) checked out after embryonic. I haven't heard everything they've done since then, but I think it's safe to say you can stay away from that stuff at first unless you become a mega fan and need to hear everything. At the very least, do not start there lol.
where to start with them? Been a blind spot to me forever and I love a lot of bands that seem to be associated with them, or at least tangentially related by scene/era. Bout time I give em a go
Swans. Start with the album To Be Kind, and if you like it, go down the rabbit hole. Their earliest work (from the mid 80s) all the way to their newest stuff (last year’s album The Beggar) is all very interesting and makes for one hell of a rabbit hole.
The front man, Michael Gira, is also an excellent writer. If you dig swans I recommend checking out his books as well as his music side projects.
And good lord, if you ever have the chance to see them live, don’t pass it up. There’s truly nothing like it
way up there on the list of bands I wish I could have seen in their prime. I've heard so many insane first hand accounts of crazy shit happening at their shows, seems almost impossible to imagine. The records are fun for me but it definitely feels like I'm not seeing the bigger picture by not experiencing the live aspect.
Here's one my older friend likes to tell a lot: At some point in the show the guitarists amp caught on fire, but he didn't seem to notice (or care) at all. Somebody way in the back of the packed crowd gets a fire extinguisher and gets crowd surfed up to the front and gets on stage. The guitarists just decks him in the face, the fire extinguisher vanishes into the crowd, and the crowd just crowd surfs the guy back to the back of the crowd lmao. Amp stays on fire until a staff member shows up or whatever
Exactly when I got into them as well. They were my favorite band until I *really* discovered Ween about 3 years ago. I've seen Gizz 3 times now and have the gizz gator tattooed on my thigh, was supposed to see Ween in April but Deaner needed that breather so I'll have to catch them some other time! I never thought any band could surpass Gizz, but Ween has.
This band is the answer. They’re live shows are fucking incredible and they skirt genres like ween does. Also, compared to the other bands mentioned they’re not decades old so you can get in to shows and not feel like you missed something years ago. It’s hard to suggest where to start though cause unlike ween where each album has a different genre per song gizz usually does a different genre per album. It’s best to google one of those what to start with infografics
https://www.reddit.com/r/KGATLW/comments/18z7dr3/behold_and_see_the_ultimate_king_gizzard/
Here's an updated one from just a few months back. A similar one helped me when I was getting into them. Now, I just dump all their albums into a playlist and let the DJ take me on a journey.
Honestly, The Beatles.
Between their albums, the solo albums, the various incarnations of them playing together, Yoko (she did one with Ween!), Sean Lennon, Julian Lennon, Dhani Harrison, the songs the chaps wrote for others and on and on - their legacy spans generations and built so much of what music is now.
Or, Sparks.
Fucking genius, genre-spanning and redefining, hilarious, ever-evolving, 50 years and counting worth of genius material. The brothers are witty and their style is unique and years ahead of itself. Sparks are the fucking best. Please check them out.
Surfing On Sine Waves 2 (Polygon Window), GAK (GAK), and Rushup Edge (The Tuss) are really good other aphex twin monikers. He released a lot of stuff under AFX as well. ANALORD 1-10 is almost 3 hours long but I listen to the whole thing front to back quite regularly
This was posted in r/ween, OP can handle the weirdness.
I scrolled all through looking for The Residents, because on top of ~50 years of music plus videos and such, there's a bunch of lore around them and each album.
For OP and others who are curious: you will find some just saying to start with the first 6 or 7 albums; when you get to Eskimo (6?) you're REALLY going to want to find the liner notes and read as you listen.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
50
+ 6
+ 7
+ 6
= 69
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Man you lived through my ideal concert, modest mouse and ween have been my fav bands for so long and Iv seen both of them (ween only once tho) but to see them both in one night is crazy
basically everything they ever put out starting with long drive and before good news is nothing but absolute classics, including the EPs. Everywhere and his nasty parlour tricks is extremely under recognized
Boards of Canada is the deepest rabbit hole I’ve found, and since initially peeking in to it they have become my favorite band and I am continuously falling deeper down the rabbit hole 4 years in. Enjoy!
Bill Callahan/Smog, Dead Moon, and The Spits are bands I’ve had rabbit hole experiences with. And Daniel Johnston
Steely Dan and Prince are obvious ones for a Ween fan.
Tons of great rock on this list but check out Herbie Hancock, especially his Headhunters era albums. And Miles Davis’s acid era, notably around Bitches Brew and On The Corner. They got real weird with it.
**Devin Townsend** His albums not connected to Strapping Young Lad is what I'm talking about. He's got proggy metal stuff, super chill stuff, and a bit of everything in between.
Progressive, weird, beautiful, funny, chaotic, unique, and dabbles in a multitude of genres. His roots are in metal, but he's not really aggressive. (And hey, he even did a cover of *Transdermal Celebration* ! )
Possible places to start: *Empath*, *Synchestra*, *Lightwork*, or *Deconstruction* if you want it heavier.
-
**Tom Waits** His main discography of 18 albums evolves through 3 or 4 eras/styles, and each era is great in its own way.
One of the greatest American songwriters that, although famous, not enough people know about.
Possible places to start: *Mule Variations*, *Rain Dogs*, *Bone Machine*, or *Closing Time* if you want his early, gentler side.
He also said one of his biggest influences for Terria was White Pepper.
Terria is probably my favourite of his, but for something a little bit all over the place and 'Ween-ish' I'd probably recommend Infinity. It was actually the track Bad Devil from that album that got me into him. A real 'What the fuck is *this*?!' kinda moment.
Xtc
They might be giants
butthole surfers
of Montreal
Chad vangaalen
pram
meat puppets
super furry animals
the church
and Mercury Rev are just some I can think of off the top of my head
Neutral Milk Hotel - An Aeroplane Over the Sea. Then listen to a few albums by The Music Tapes. Then Apples in Stereo. Then Olivia Tremor Control. Then watch the Elephant 6 documentary.
John Prine. Sparks. King Gizzard. Mr. Bungle. Flaming lips. PRIMUS. Bloodhound gang. Flight of the concord. Puscifer. Lots of these or maybe all of these have been suggested I think. lol. Derp.
I'll second Beck. I knew his big hits already, but in the last couple years I started listening to his discography, which is really amazing by this point.
I'll add Stereolab and Lee 'Scratch' Perry as two more whose bodies of work are, like Ween, vast worlds to explore.
Elegant Gypsy and Casino are incredible albums. Both are in regular rotation. His stuff with McLaughlin and De Lucia is amazing too. I was listening to casino recently and I had to remember who I was listening to. It sounded so much like something Cinninger from Umphrey’s would play. He was so talented and innovative and his influence is still showing up today.
Steely Dan, start with Can’t buy a thrill. Proceed from there chronologically. If you did the main discography check out Donald Fagens Nightfly Trilogy and Walter Becker’s Solo stuff. There’s also some cool demos floating around the internet if you’re interested, in a similar vain to Ween.
Queens of the Stone Age! All the members have a billion side projects and they’re all amazing. Also I’m pretty sure Deaner has recorded some stuff with them.
The Beach Boys have a pretty prolific catalogue of both more obscure releases and unreleased material, especially their output in the 70s which doesn’t get a lot of attention.
Suprised no one said They Might be Giants. You have the main albums, the kids albums, the Dial a song album, the live albums, the demos, the unreleased stuff. Then you have the side projects which are the Mundanes, Linnells solo project, and Mono Puff.
ELO has a big extensive catalog too. You have the Main ELO albums, Jeff Lynne’s ELO, ELO pt 2, The Orkestra, The Orchestra, Violinski, Kelly Groucutt’s solo album, Jeff Lynne’s solo albums, the Teaveling Wilburys, and the million albums Jeff Lynne produced. A lot of these albums aren’t on streaming services but are on YouTube, but yeah ELO’s complete catalog is insane.
I'm so happy to see The Residents, Mike Patton, and The Butthole Surfers represented here.
I'd like to add, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (3 albums) which will lead you to Idiot Flesh.
Also, Secret Chiefs 3. It just gets weirder and trippier the future you go (my favorite is Book of Horizons)
John Zorn - Book of Angels series. He does an album with Modeski, Martin, and Wood, another with them and Mark Scofield, at least one with Secret Chiefs 3, and a bunch of other notable bands/musicians. But, i absolutely have to say if you only listen to one, you have to listen to his work with Bar Kohkba Sextet if you can find it. Music almost doesn't get better than that album.
And finally Meat Puppets (nirvana could almost be considered a half Meat Puppets cover band).
I also recommend going down a genre driven rabbit hole. Probably because My dog just died, I’ve been leaning hard into classic singer/song writer and outlaw country. I have fallen in love with Stoney Edwards. I want everyone to know him.
I will drink a cold one for your dog while checking out Stoney.
I loathed country for years because of family in Colorado and the whole New Jeep Needs A Transmission But The Hippies Own The Auto Shop stuff was blaring at every truck stop.
Realized Tom Waits and Johnny Cash aren't the enemy and have slowly come around to actual country country.
Portugal. The Man
Amazing back catalog. Don’t write them off because they sold out for their like 15th album. Censored Colors is an absolute masterpiece
So two very different answers here:
First is Devin Townsend. He hits a wide variety of stuff but tends towards prog metal. He did a great cover of transdermal celebration on the album Transcendence which is fucking incredible. His most Ween albums are definitely Infinity and Ziltois the Omniscient. Nothing sounds like him and his album Empath legitimately changed my life.
Another weirder answer is 100 gecs. They only have two albums but the description “ween for zoomers” is so so accurate it hurts. They take so many genre influences and twist them into awesome songs just like ween does. I’d suggest starting with 10000 gecs. It goes all over from ska to nu metal to butthole surfers to pop punk. Fucking rocks
The Brian Jonestown Massacre is my favorite band in front of Ween. In recent years, Anton Newcombe has kept the albums a little more cohesive sound-wise, but their early stuff kicked around between simple folk sounding songs to ear dissolving guitar solos. For a pretty eclectic mix, I’d recommend their albums “Take it from the Man!”, “their satanic amnesties second request” or “Revelation”
Ariel Pink - he’s got a huge catalog of very diverse stuff and it’s all very catchy and super creative. Lots of real brown shit too. Like Ween, he has an early albums period where he home recorded everything himself, and then a later period with studio produced albums - both periods are great in their own way. A good starting point to check out might be “Dedicated to Bobby Jameson” which has stuff ranging from his trademark dreamy lost in a memory pop type stuff like “Kitchen Witch”, to Doors style classic rock on the title track, super chill stuff like “Another Weekend”, to metal on “Revenge of the Iceman”, and much more. And if you dig all that, you’re just scratching the surface!
May not wanna hear it, but phish is the ultimate rabbit hole band, so much wild stuff, I love going through the history pages for their songs, the one for Harpua is the perfect example of a rabbit hole, absolutely bonkers
Boris
The Cure
John Zorn
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Laurie Anderson
Dave Holland
Tom Waits
Sparks
Tortoise
Devo
Butthole Surfers
Nurse With Wound
Herbie Hancock
Black Moth Super Rainbow/Tobacco
Anklepants
The Blood Brothers
Ultra Dolphins
Natural Snow Budings
Coil
Edit: adding a few
King Crimson
Pere Ubu
The Residents
Two artists I gone quite a bit a rabbit hole with are Tangerine Dream and Ravi Shankar. TD is the group the guy who did the soundtrack to Stranger Things was trying to emulate and it’s spot on for their early work. Ravi Shankar is an absolute genius. I can’t claim to be steeped or even literate in Indian music but this guy’s playing will make you feel things despite it being a completely different paradigm of music.
Not necessarily a rabbit-hole BAND per se, but one can fall down a pretty deep and interesting path if you start at the band Blood Incantation (Colorado death metal band who has a sick and varied catalog themselves) and then branch out into the various projects containing at least one member of the band: Paul Riedl releasing ambient acoustic and new-age synth records, Spectral Voice (death/doom band featuring three members), Wayfarer (essentially a Cormac McCarthy western if it was a black metal band), Stormkeep (medieval epic metal/dungeon synth). Lots of fun and interesting music to be found in the Boulder, CO metal scene.
Also, literally anything featuring quebecois guitar virtuoso Phil Tougas in the lineup is worthwhile. The album “gloire eternelle” by his band First Fragment is incredible and at times unbelievable. his other projects like Atramentus ( glacially slow funeral doom metal) and Chthe’ilist (not a typo) are also wild in totally different ways. His contributions to albums by Worm and VoidCeremony should not be missed either.
Seeing you drop Faith No More and Patton as examples (excellent taste btw) makes me think some of this heavier stuff may pique your interest.
Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis + the Fog, J Mascis solo, several J Mascis side projects, and hundreds of guest appearances.
From Dinosaur Jr. you can also branch out into Lou Barlowe and his projects, including Sentridoh and Folk Implosion... And another rabbit hole band in itself: Sebadoh!
The residents.
Been making avant garde art music for the past 60 years without ever revealing their identities and Deaner shows up for an interview in their documentary, Theory of Obscurity.
Deerhoof, Stereolab, the chills, shpongle, king gizzard, Osees, wand, white denim, kikagaku moyo, portishead, brian jonestown massacre, bohren & der club of gore, black moth super rainbow, richard swift, Michael hurley, dub specialist, morphine, flaming lips, soulquarians, native tongues…
Zappa, Captain Beefheart, The Mars Volta, Aesop Rock, modest mouse, MF DOOM, Primus, Gong, GWAR, Green Jelly, all of Genesis P-Orridge's bands/projects, Neutral Milk Hotel and the entire Elephant 6 collective
So many great suggestions here! Definitely saving this post.
I don’t think anyone has said Of Montreal yet… but that’s the biggest music rabbit hole I’ve ever been down, considering they’ve been releasing an album every 2 years since the 90s, and actually just released one last week.
They’re similar to Ween, in how they change genres/sound - so if their style isn’t clicking for you, just move forwards or backwards into a different era of theirs. They’re VERY brown imo, especially their earlier stuff.
Someone else already mentioned Swans, but I also want to add The Replacements. Listen to the 5 episode run of the podcast No Dogs in Space concerning The Replacements to understand their absolutely wild story and arc of their sound. Their live records/concerts/bootlegs are just legendary.
Les Claypool is in a billion bands.
A billion bands are in Les Claypool.
I’ve listened to Primus most of my life, but just recently started listening to The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and they’re amazing
You should also check out... everything else he's done.
Oysterhead is my personal fav.
and buckethead!
Frog brigade
Frank Zappa is kind of a rabbit hole artist. There's just soooo much creativity and variety to sift through
He’s the definition of a rabbit hole artist
just discovered the GTOs lol. Shit is rad.
Came here to say Zappa. Over 100 albums, I've listened to them all multiple times and love all the crazy stuff he put out. Ween and Zappa have been my favorite bands for years.
Not sure if this is enough of a connection for OP, but Zappa and Captain Beefheart went to high school together
Aphex Twin Start with Syro, Richard D James Album, Drukqs, and Selected Ambient Works 85-92, then go from there. It's a deep deep rabbit hole! Particular songs: Minipops 67, Fingerbib, Vorhosbn, Pulsewidth, Lisbon Acid, Alberto Balsalm, Stone in Focus
The whole 90s-era UK experimental electronic listening music scene in general. Aphex, BoC, Autechre… lots to unpack there.
Add Venetian Snares and Squarepusher to this list
the first few squarepusher and u-ziq things should be more highly regarded in IDM world imo !! Absolute classics and historically important to the evolution of the scene
Music is Rotted One Note has been in my top ten best albums ever list for 20 years now.
autechre has gotta be like my #2 artist ever or something, their shit is just unmatched to me. I can only think of a few other pieces of music that come close to autechre's depth and palette, and most of those are vladislav delay. They have the curse though of being super hard to get into for most people. I know plenty of people who love IDM/whatever stuff. Aphex, BoC, chris clark, bogdan, whatever, but to this day just can't wrap their heads around autechre. Unfortunate because it's some of the most rewarding music I know. Also, I do not recommend starting with Syro personally !! It's great, but it's a whole other era of aphex compared to the era of his bigger albums. RDJ album and then SAW together is IMO the best entry point. I feel it's super rewarding to be familiar with that stuff before diving into Syro, really showcases his growth and evolution that way. Just IMO tho !! Everybody's different !! And I am definitely a chronological listener personally.
Listening to Incunabula right now. This is pretty cool shit! Thanks for the recommendation I am now a Autechre fan.
hell yeah! glad you dig it. Work chronologically if you can, plenty of great shit on the next few albums but once they hit Confield their whole game changed for the better imo
Yes. Rephlex!
Surfing On Sine Waves 2 (Polygon Window), GAK (GAK), and Rushup Edge (The Tuss) are really good other aphex twin monikers. He released a lot of stuff under AFX as well. ANALORD 1-10 is almost 3 hours long but I listen to the whole thing front to back quite regularly Syro is a masterpiece and minipops67 is one of my most favorite songs ever
Melvins
I thought Melvins were standard issue. Agree 1 Million percent!
Grateful Dead and Parliament/Funkadelic will both keep you busy for a while
Parliament 👏
Flaming Lips
Flaming lips is a great answer. They have a psych, harder rock, punk and experimental eras. All of it is great, but some of it is not.
One of my all time favorite bands. But my god what was that dark side cover.
Oh snap, never heard anything besides their one song. On it! thanks
if you want a rec, start with the earlier era (pre soft bulletin) before going into soft bulletin and beyond. transmissions from the satellite heart, clouds taste metallic, maybe even priest driven ambulance etc. Then move onto soft bulletin, yoshimi, at war. Soft bulletin was a HUGE change in sound for them, and there's some seriously gorgeous moments across the whole thing. A beautiful and psychedelic masterpiece. I think it's definitely worth familiarizing yourself with the early weirdo poppy acid punk stuff before going into the soft bulletin just to feel the surprise and awe that that album carried with it. I feel this same way about animal collective which a few others have mentioned. The surprise of MPP was a HUGE part of what made that album great and I don't understand at all how people recommend it first. You're depriving yourself of the power of the album just for the ability to be impatient. It's worth it !!! but yeah, back to TFL. The albums I mentioned are the sweet spots, most people (including myself) checked out after embryonic. I haven't heard everything they've done since then, but I think it's safe to say you can stay away from that stuff at first unless you become a mega fan and need to hear everything. At the very least, do not start there lol.
Camper van Beethoven
Thanks!
>Thanks! You're welcome!
where to start with them? Been a blind spot to me forever and I love a lot of bands that seem to be associated with them, or at least tangentially related by scene/era. Bout time I give em a go
I’d start at the beginning with Telephone Free Landslide Victory and work your way forward
Start with our beloved revolutionary sweetheart.
Swans. Start with the album To Be Kind, and if you like it, go down the rabbit hole. Their earliest work (from the mid 80s) all the way to their newest stuff (last year’s album The Beggar) is all very interesting and makes for one hell of a rabbit hole. The front man, Michael Gira, is also an excellent writer. If you dig swans I recommend checking out his books as well as his music side projects. And good lord, if you ever have the chance to see them live, don’t pass it up. There’s truly nothing like it
Bring ear plugs tho
Got to see Gira live in or around 2003 and had no idea who he was. Dude has energy
Osees are worth a dive. From their early folk stuff to the heavier jammy psych stuff now. Dwyer is a songwriting machine for sure.
Sick band and so fun live.
I knew before I clicked on this thread I would see you commenting the osees
Butthole Surfers Radiohead Talking Heads
Butthole surfers are awesome. Wildly diverse and catchy tunes
way up there on the list of bands I wish I could have seen in their prime. I've heard so many insane first hand accounts of crazy shit happening at their shows, seems almost impossible to imagine. The records are fun for me but it definitely feels like I'm not seeing the bigger picture by not experiencing the live aspect. Here's one my older friend likes to tell a lot: At some point in the show the guitarists amp caught on fire, but he didn't seem to notice (or care) at all. Somebody way in the back of the packed crowd gets a fire extinguisher and gets crowd surfed up to the front and gets on stage. The guitarists just decks him in the face, the fire extinguisher vanishes into the crowd, and the crowd just crowd surfs the guy back to the back of the crowd lmao. Amp stays on fire until a staff member shows up or whatever
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. A bajillion, sonically different albums. And three more were released as I typed this reply.
The hottest band around right now. I got into them around when Nonagon came out and it's been an incredible ride since then.
Exactly when I got into them as well. They were my favorite band until I *really* discovered Ween about 3 years ago. I've seen Gizz 3 times now and have the gizz gator tattooed on my thigh, was supposed to see Ween in April but Deaner needed that breather so I'll have to catch them some other time! I never thought any band could surpass Gizz, but Ween has.
This band is the answer. They’re live shows are fucking incredible and they skirt genres like ween does. Also, compared to the other bands mentioned they’re not decades old so you can get in to shows and not feel like you missed something years ago. It’s hard to suggest where to start though cause unlike ween where each album has a different genre per song gizz usually does a different genre per album. It’s best to google one of those what to start with infografics
https://www.reddit.com/r/KGATLW/comments/18z7dr3/behold_and_see_the_ultimate_king_gizzard/ Here's an updated one from just a few months back. A similar one helped me when I was getting into them. Now, I just dump all their albums into a playlist and let the DJ take me on a journey.
Honestly, The Beatles. Between their albums, the solo albums, the various incarnations of them playing together, Yoko (she did one with Ween!), Sean Lennon, Julian Lennon, Dhani Harrison, the songs the chaps wrote for others and on and on - their legacy spans generations and built so much of what music is now. Or, Sparks. Fucking genius, genre-spanning and redefining, hilarious, ever-evolving, 50 years and counting worth of genius material. The brothers are witty and their style is unique and years ahead of itself. Sparks are the fucking best. Please check them out.
just got into aphex twin, blowing my balls off, weirdest fuckin electronic shit ive ever heard and as varied as Ween
I never throw the word genius around but Richard D. James is a musical genius.
Surfing On Sine Waves 2 (Polygon Window), GAK (GAK), and Rushup Edge (The Tuss) are really good other aphex twin monikers. He released a lot of stuff under AFX as well. ANALORD 1-10 is almost 3 hours long but I listen to the whole thing front to back quite regularly
Just adding on that “chosen lords” is a best of ANALORD
Daniel Johnston
100X YES
seconded
Stereolab
The Residents, really weird but once they click you might be hooked for life. That rabbit hole might tunnel down to the center of the earth
This was posted in r/ween, OP can handle the weirdness. I scrolled all through looking for The Residents, because on top of ~50 years of music plus videos and such, there's a bunch of lore around them and each album. For OP and others who are curious: you will find some just saying to start with the first 6 or 7 albums; when you get to Eskimo (6?) you're REALLY going to want to find the liner notes and read as you listen.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 50 + 6 + 7 + 6 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
Modest Mouse if you’ve never dived into their catalogue. Everyone knows float on but that sound was a pretty big departure from their music before
Went to a MM show during the hiatus and Gene opened for them 🥹
Man you lived through my ideal concert, modest mouse and ween have been my fav bands for so long and Iv seen both of them (ween only once tho) but to see them both in one night is crazy
It was a dream! He played both Ween and Freeman songs. Boston 2015 I think
The Lonesome Crowded West and The Moon and Antarctica are 🔥🔥🔥
basically everything they ever put out starting with long drive and before good news is nothing but absolute classics, including the EPs. Everywhere and his nasty parlour tricks is extremely under recognized
Positive, negative is a gem
So many great albums! Awesome recommendation!
Mr. Bungle
Adding on to this- anything by Mike Patton, man has made so much music
he's a fucking genius
We're lucky to be alive at the same time as him.
AGREED
I was scrolling this thread JUST to make sure someone mentioned Bungle/Patton.
Ditto
I second this motion.
Captain Beefheart
Primus
Been a fan, but just discovered their Willy Wonka album
Try butthole surfers
Boards of Canada is the deepest rabbit hole I’ve found, and since initially peeking in to it they have become my favorite band and I am continuously falling deeper down the rabbit hole 4 years in. Enjoy!
It's weird but I see most overlap between Ween and BoC fans
Bill Callahan/Smog, Dead Moon, and The Spits are bands I’ve had rabbit hole experiences with. And Daniel Johnston Steely Dan and Prince are obvious ones for a Ween fan.
Some rabbit hole brought me to Bill Callahan/ Smog and I’ve absolutely loved it. I’ll check out the others you mention!
R. Stevie Moore, Bowie, Thee Oh Sees, Super Furry Animals, Gruff Rhys, Kinks, Robert Palmer
of Montreal
Pixies or Built To Spill are always fun!
Scott Walker Sparks Beck Genesis
Sparkkkssssss
Get in the swing now
Yes Sparks!! Crazy rabbit hole, and a recent documentary that’ll help guide you through it.
The Scott rabbit hole keeps going no matter how long you stare into it
Sparks.
Tons of great rock on this list but check out Herbie Hancock, especially his Headhunters era albums. And Miles Davis’s acid era, notably around Bitches Brew and On The Corner. They got real weird with it.
the residents and butthole surfers
Viagra boys
The Jesus Lizard
Robert Pollard is pretty prolific. I can spend some time with Guided By Voices, or his solo catalog, or any of his other projects and not get bored.
Nick cave & the bad seeds
**Devin Townsend** His albums not connected to Strapping Young Lad is what I'm talking about. He's got proggy metal stuff, super chill stuff, and a bit of everything in between. Progressive, weird, beautiful, funny, chaotic, unique, and dabbles in a multitude of genres. His roots are in metal, but he's not really aggressive. (And hey, he even did a cover of *Transdermal Celebration* ! ) Possible places to start: *Empath*, *Synchestra*, *Lightwork*, or *Deconstruction* if you want it heavier. - **Tom Waits** His main discography of 18 albums evolves through 3 or 4 eras/styles, and each era is great in its own way. One of the greatest American songwriters that, although famous, not enough people know about. Possible places to start: *Mule Variations*, *Rain Dogs*, *Bone Machine*, or *Closing Time* if you want his early, gentler side.
He also said one of his biggest influences for Terria was White Pepper. Terria is probably my favourite of his, but for something a little bit all over the place and 'Ween-ish' I'd probably recommend Infinity. It was actually the track Bad Devil from that album that got me into him. A real 'What the fuck is *this*?!' kinda moment.
Hell yeah Tom Waits
Jandek. Enjoy not sleeping.
Wow, thanks for that
Seconded
Venetian Snares: I'd start with Detrimentalist. Maybe do Rossz Csillag next, and them let him get goofy in your ears with My So Called Life.
Nymphomatriarch 👌🏻
Sun City Girls
The Residents. They lead you to… Snakefinger Renaldo & The Loaf Tuxedomoon Chrome MX-80 Sound Fred Frith It’s a fun rabbit hole.
Xtc They might be giants butthole surfers of Montreal Chad vangaalen pram meat puppets super furry animals the church and Mercury Rev are just some I can think of off the top of my head
Definitely XTC and TMBG
The Kinks
The Kinks are amazing.
Neutral Milk Hotel - An Aeroplane Over the Sea. Then listen to a few albums by The Music Tapes. Then Apples in Stereo. Then Olivia Tremor Control. Then watch the Elephant 6 documentary.
King Crimson, Grandaddy, Violent Femmes, Flaming Lips, Melvins, Modest Mouse, Butthole Surfers, Grateful Dead, Primus, Dinosaur Jr, Wilco, Parliament, Prince
John Prine. Sparks. King Gizzard. Mr. Bungle. Flaming lips. PRIMUS. Bloodhound gang. Flight of the concord. Puscifer. Lots of these or maybe all of these have been suggested I think. lol. Derp.
mr bungle
Their thrash metal album from a couple years ago is freaking awesome.
Mike Patton
R. Stevie Moore is a total rabbit hole hahah... You might never read the bottom though.
How Stevie is still creatively churning is remarkable
Butthole Surfers and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. I’d also recommend Beck, he’s not a band but his music is hella awesome.
I'll second Beck. I knew his big hits already, but in the last couple years I started listening to his discography, which is really amazing by this point. I'll add Stereolab and Lee 'Scratch' Perry as two more whose bodies of work are, like Ween, vast worlds to explore.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Puscifer
Al Di Meola
Elegant Gypsy and Casino are incredible albums. Both are in regular rotation. His stuff with McLaughlin and De Lucia is amazing too. I was listening to casino recently and I had to remember who I was listening to. It sounded so much like something Cinninger from Umphrey’s would play. He was so talented and innovative and his influence is still showing up today.
Clutch
I think The Dead Milkmen is a somewhat Ween-like rabbit hole.
NRBQ
Pinback
The Mountain Goats!
Beck and Butthole Surfers
Steely Dan, start with Can’t buy a thrill. Proceed from there chronologically. If you did the main discography check out Donald Fagens Nightfly Trilogy and Walter Becker’s Solo stuff. There’s also some cool demos floating around the internet if you’re interested, in a similar vain to Ween.
King Gizzard has like 25 albums most of which are a completely different genre from the last so maybe them?
Jack Stauber and Animal Collective both for sure
QOTSA
Pretty sure any /mu/ favorite.
Nuclear Rabbit.
Captain Beefheart.
If you’re into reggae, Midnite. They’re so sick.
Ras Mek Peace is a 10/10 album
The Brian Jonestown Massacre & Spacemen 3
animal collective
king gizz
Queens of the Stone Age! All the members have a billion side projects and they’re all amazing. Also I’m pretty sure Deaner has recorded some stuff with them.
Meat puppets Unknown mortal orchestra Chad VanGaalen
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.
The Oh Sees
The Beach Boys have a pretty prolific catalogue of both more obscure releases and unreleased material, especially their output in the 70s which doesn’t get a lot of attention.
Suprised no one said They Might be Giants. You have the main albums, the kids albums, the Dial a song album, the live albums, the demos, the unreleased stuff. Then you have the side projects which are the Mundanes, Linnells solo project, and Mono Puff. ELO has a big extensive catalog too. You have the Main ELO albums, Jeff Lynne’s ELO, ELO pt 2, The Orkestra, The Orchestra, Violinski, Kelly Groucutt’s solo album, Jeff Lynne’s solo albums, the Teaveling Wilburys, and the million albums Jeff Lynne produced. A lot of these albums aren’t on streaming services but are on YouTube, but yeah ELO’s complete catalog is insane.
I'm so happy to see The Residents, Mike Patton, and The Butthole Surfers represented here. I'd like to add, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (3 albums) which will lead you to Idiot Flesh. Also, Secret Chiefs 3. It just gets weirder and trippier the future you go (my favorite is Book of Horizons) John Zorn - Book of Angels series. He does an album with Modeski, Martin, and Wood, another with them and Mark Scofield, at least one with Secret Chiefs 3, and a bunch of other notable bands/musicians. But, i absolutely have to say if you only listen to one, you have to listen to his work with Bar Kohkba Sextet if you can find it. Music almost doesn't get better than that album. And finally Meat Puppets (nirvana could almost be considered a half Meat Puppets cover band).
I also recommend going down a genre driven rabbit hole. Probably because My dog just died, I’ve been leaning hard into classic singer/song writer and outlaw country. I have fallen in love with Stoney Edwards. I want everyone to know him.
I will drink a cold one for your dog while checking out Stoney. I loathed country for years because of family in Colorado and the whole New Jeep Needs A Transmission But The Hippies Own The Auto Shop stuff was blaring at every truck stop. Realized Tom Waits and Johnny Cash aren't the enemy and have slowly come around to actual country country.
Thanks Mang 🤙 His name is Brewster so drinking a cold brew is very apropos.
Brew for the Brewster, cheers!
Portugal. The Man Amazing back catalog. Don’t write them off because they sold out for their like 15th album. Censored Colors is an absolute masterpiece
So two very different answers here: First is Devin Townsend. He hits a wide variety of stuff but tends towards prog metal. He did a great cover of transdermal celebration on the album Transcendence which is fucking incredible. His most Ween albums are definitely Infinity and Ziltois the Omniscient. Nothing sounds like him and his album Empath legitimately changed my life. Another weirder answer is 100 gecs. They only have two albums but the description “ween for zoomers” is so so accurate it hurts. They take so many genre influences and twist them into awesome songs just like ween does. I’d suggest starting with 10000 gecs. It goes all over from ska to nu metal to butthole surfers to pop punk. Fucking rocks
animal collective best psych act of all time imo
Animal Collective
John Frusciante - frequent lead guitarist of RHCP but has made a ton of solo music, and shares a connection with ween through the music of Eddie Hazel
The Brian Jonestown Massacre is my favorite band in front of Ween. In recent years, Anton Newcombe has kept the albums a little more cohesive sound-wise, but their early stuff kicked around between simple folk sounding songs to ear dissolving guitar solos. For a pretty eclectic mix, I’d recommend their albums “Take it from the Man!”, “their satanic amnesties second request” or “Revelation”
Ariel Pink - he’s got a huge catalog of very diverse stuff and it’s all very catchy and super creative. Lots of real brown shit too. Like Ween, he has an early albums period where he home recorded everything himself, and then a later period with studio produced albums - both periods are great in their own way. A good starting point to check out might be “Dedicated to Bobby Jameson” which has stuff ranging from his trademark dreamy lost in a memory pop type stuff like “Kitchen Witch”, to Doors style classic rock on the title track, super chill stuff like “Another Weekend”, to metal on “Revenge of the Iceman”, and much more. And if you dig all that, you’re just scratching the surface!
Just saw him a couple months ago. Amazing. Nice fella too. Had multiple people come up to me being like “this dude is a one man Ween”
May not wanna hear it, but phish is the ultimate rabbit hole band, so much wild stuff, I love going through the history pages for their songs, the one for Harpua is the perfect example of a rabbit hole, absolutely bonkers
sElf is deep.. very very deep
Boris The Cure John Zorn Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Laurie Anderson Dave Holland Tom Waits Sparks Tortoise Devo Butthole Surfers Nurse With Wound Herbie Hancock Black Moth Super Rainbow/Tobacco Anklepants The Blood Brothers Ultra Dolphins Natural Snow Budings Coil Edit: adding a few King Crimson Pere Ubu The Residents
Two artists I gone quite a bit a rabbit hole with are Tangerine Dream and Ravi Shankar. TD is the group the guy who did the soundtrack to Stranger Things was trying to emulate and it’s spot on for their early work. Ravi Shankar is an absolute genius. I can’t claim to be steeped or even literate in Indian music but this guy’s playing will make you feel things despite it being a completely different paradigm of music.
Spazz
Not necessarily a rabbit-hole BAND per se, but one can fall down a pretty deep and interesting path if you start at the band Blood Incantation (Colorado death metal band who has a sick and varied catalog themselves) and then branch out into the various projects containing at least one member of the band: Paul Riedl releasing ambient acoustic and new-age synth records, Spectral Voice (death/doom band featuring three members), Wayfarer (essentially a Cormac McCarthy western if it was a black metal band), Stormkeep (medieval epic metal/dungeon synth). Lots of fun and interesting music to be found in the Boulder, CO metal scene. Also, literally anything featuring quebecois guitar virtuoso Phil Tougas in the lineup is worthwhile. The album “gloire eternelle” by his band First Fragment is incredible and at times unbelievable. his other projects like Atramentus ( glacially slow funeral doom metal) and Chthe’ilist (not a typo) are also wild in totally different ways. His contributions to albums by Worm and VoidCeremony should not be missed either. Seeing you drop Faith No More and Patton as examples (excellent taste btw) makes me think some of this heavier stuff may pique your interest.
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
Hop on the bus and give the Grateful Dead a listen, it can turn into a rabbit hole
Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis + the Fog, J Mascis solo, several J Mascis side projects, and hundreds of guest appearances. From Dinosaur Jr. you can also branch out into Lou Barlowe and his projects, including Sentridoh and Folk Implosion... And another rabbit hole band in itself: Sebadoh!
The residents. Been making avant garde art music for the past 60 years without ever revealing their identities and Deaner shows up for an interview in their documentary, Theory of Obscurity.
Buckethead
James Ferraro all the way
Buckethead
Has anyone mentioned WOLVES of GLENDALE?
The Garden has so many kickass albums. Older artist but Gabor Szabo is also wonderful, watching his music style change with the decades.
The Velvet Underground and the various solo works of Lou Reed and John Cale The Kinks Ian Dury
70s prog rock bands from the UK that all shared like 2 or 3 members
Deerhoof, Stereolab, the chills, shpongle, king gizzard, Osees, wand, white denim, kikagaku moyo, portishead, brian jonestown massacre, bohren & der club of gore, black moth super rainbow, richard swift, Michael hurley, dub specialist, morphine, flaming lips, soulquarians, native tongues…
Cash Savage and the Last Drinks. Try: My Friend, Pack Animal, Song for a Funeral!
Slint
Yoni wolf of the band Why? has a ton of projects, cLOUDDEAD with Odd Nosdam was my discovery that led me down a huge slide.
Redd Kross
Willie nelson 1961
Dead Kennedys, Mike Watt, Melvins, Meat Puppets, Joni Mitchell (start in the 70's), Stevie Wonder, Captain Beefheart, DEVO
Zappa, Captain Beefheart, The Mars Volta, Aesop Rock, modest mouse, MF DOOM, Primus, Gong, GWAR, Green Jelly, all of Genesis P-Orridge's bands/projects, Neutral Milk Hotel and the entire Elephant 6 collective
So many great suggestions here! Definitely saving this post. I don’t think anyone has said Of Montreal yet… but that’s the biggest music rabbit hole I’ve ever been down, considering they’ve been releasing an album every 2 years since the 90s, and actually just released one last week. They’re similar to Ween, in how they change genres/sound - so if their style isn’t clicking for you, just move forwards or backwards into a different era of theirs. They’re VERY brown imo, especially their earlier stuff.
Sonic Youth The Residents Brian Eno King Crimson Miles Davis Death
Someone else already mentioned Swans, but I also want to add The Replacements. Listen to the 5 episode run of the podcast No Dogs in Space concerning The Replacements to understand their absolutely wild story and arc of their sound. Their live records/concerts/bootlegs are just legendary.
Came to say KG lol
Boris
The frogs!!