Who today is pushing the musical boundaries?

Death Grips

 

He's too much of an a-hole to listen too.

 

Viet Cong have a catchy name, but they're basically an Interpol knockoff.

 

CKY is really unique. If someone can find me something that sounds like them, please post it, because I'm unaware of anyone else who does what they do.

 

Enslaved...metal, jazz, prog, splash of 90's era Quarterstick recordings on the new album.

 

Push it .... push it real good.
Ehhhhh, pushing the envelope for too many years.
Time to lick your stamps and paste them in.

 

What about Ariel Pink? He's quite unique and seems to be following his own path.

 

D'Angelo
Robert Glasper

 

Both bands are certainly influenced by Joy Division. Viet Cong is pushing the sound way further than Interpol ever did. They're a much heavier and better band. For instance, this one sounds like experimental electronica into early Eno into 80s new wave. It's way more interesting than anything Interpol ever put out.

 

More votes for Julia Holter, alt-J, Popstrangers, Glass Animals, Ariel Pink, Arthur Beatrice, Syd Arthur, fka Twigs, etc. Plenty of compelling music out there, no need to search terribly hard.

Out of curiosity, which Interpol records sound just like Viet Cong? All I ever heard from Interpol was bad Joy Division knockoffs, which isn't what VC are doing at all.

 

St. Vincent

 

Husband/wife friends of mine noticed this, as well, when Viet Cong came on XMU in the car.

Will have to defer to you on this one. Find them somewhat interesting, but don't detect anything truly ground-breaking or astounding in their sound.

 

No, go on please. I'd like to read what you have to write. Sometimes left-field can make it big (see posts about Sigur Ros) and become mainstream.

 

If you love guitar music, and love some of the past and present Fahey disciples like Leo Kottke and Glenn Kotche and JimO'Rourke and all the others, Steve Gunn is one of the most prolific artists recording today, under his own name, and with many collaborators. Below is the one from 2013 with Mike Gangloff, Melodies For A Savage Fix, pretty amazing ... http://freq.org.uk/reviews/mike-gangloff-steve-gunn/ ... btw, also just saw that his great 2013 RSD collab with Hiss Golden Messenger, Golden Gunn, got a repress on silver vinyl, good news ...

 

Swans are the first band that comes to mind. The Seer was very different. If you haven't given it a whirl set yourself an hour or so and give it a go. Pretty dense and tense.

Other artists...
Lantlos
D'Angelo (although I draw a bunch of Prince comparisons, just really interesting and authentic RnB)
Shellac
Parquet Courts (very refreshing, kinda like Pavement meets Talking Heads meets The Ramones and like nothing being played by any other 'indie' bands)
Nick Cave - almost spoken word now, atmospheric and so modern sounding despite his vintage

The above artists are by no means changing anything though... just taking their own sounds to a new place, which is appreciated in todays, at times rather stale music environment.

 

Kronos Quartet

 

PJ Harvey

 

Flying Lotus
Death Grips
Die Antwoord. This one is arguable musically but in terms of visual art and video they are certainly pushing boundaries.
....off the top of my head.

 

You don't have to leave the pop-rock music sphere to find appealing music that treads its own path. Among the best 21st century artists let's not forget Norah Jones' colorful, cynical-yet-hopeful, but always tuneful The Fall, or, for those who love songs that tell stories, the modern prog rock of The Decemberists. Lately, I've been listening to Pink Martini and also Caro Emerald, who re-jigger the sound of the '40's & '50's into something that sounds very fresh in the 2000's. How about Calexico? Superficially, they do the same thing that Santana did merging American & Latin American popular music 30 years before, yet sound very different.

And there are those older kids who keep coming up with creative solutions to the Tired-of-the-Same-Old-Thing Blues; meaning folks like David Byrne and Bill Nelson who have been nudging boundaries since 1970-something. And nobody even mentioned those brilliant soundscape crafters with the knack for sharp social commentary, Porcupine Tree!

 

Yes, Calexico are pretty much there own genre.

 

lol

 

Beat me to it. Great band.

 

Sums up Kanye pretty well.

 

Probably because they haven't been together for the last 5 years, have they? Steven Wilson would be a good addition to this thread though, his latest is very good, nice sound, and maybe doesn't push any boundaries of old, but sometimes works outside of the "normal" rock boundaries of today.