Ariel Pink (born Ariel Marcus Rosenberg) is an avant-garde/hauntology musician who is based in Los Angeles. Pink has been recording his music on tape since 1996 but it wasn't until after he passed a CD-R to the New York-based band Animal Collective that his commercial musical career took off. He atte

Absurd, Agitated, Baroque, Bright, Bubblicious, Candy, Cartoonish, Charming, Citational, Clever, Collage, Distorted, Epic, Expansive, Experimental, Flux, Funny, Fuzzy, Grotesque, Hallucinatory, Hypnotic, Indie rock, Intense, Intimate, Joyful, Melancholy, Overflowing, Paranoid, Polychromatic, Pop, Power, Primal, Psychedelic, Queer, Sardonic, Sexy, Smarty arty pop, Sprawling, Urban

Stokley Carmichael once said, "Everything is political." Apparently, poet Linton Kwesi Johnson agrees. The sound of his voice stays low and docile, as the humming of dub beats in the background lends a trance-like mood. But his are not calm words. The wrath of a gentle tiger broils in his laments aga

Agitated, Angry, Gritty, In-your-face, Lyrical, Overflowing, Political, Reggae, Social revolution, Spiritual

Charlie "Bird" Parker blew the sound of his soul through his alto and tenor sax, and for many musicians, hearing his music was like a religious conversion. He is immortalized as jazz music's "first existential hero," a blazing talent that burned out at age 35 from heroin, alcohol, and racism. The t

Bebop, Bright, Improvised, Loose, Overflowing, Pioneering

Constantly surprising and consistently visionary, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington was the rare performer who was both a consummate entertainer and a musical genius respected by his peers. Ellington's orchestra, which he led for 50 years, was a showcase for his vision and a springboard for a lo

Cool, Elegant, Moody, Overflowing, Swing/big band