Your most influential artists

[Omni-Psyence]

I was giving this some thought earlier and felt rather curious about what other people are influenced by and how it affects their artistic growth. We tend to gravitate towards art that enhances ourselves emotionally, or confirms our beliefs. Of course we all listen to music for our own various reasons but these are two of the strongest ones I can think of. There is a lot you can learn from a person if you have a good grasp of what art really, truthfully makes on tick.

Some of my most inspirational artists would be producers like Robert Nickson and Protoculture. These two guys consistently craft trance music that leaves me in awe. Something about the former's masterful minimalist yet progressive style that does away with a lot of fancy production tricks but never makes me want for more. The latter is really skilled at those fancy production tricks ;) But he's more on the melodic side as well, but coming from a psytrance background. I really appreciate the amount of artistry it takes to utilize the modern production tools we have to their fullest extent, while also retaining a firm grounding in composition.

What are some of your influences, and why?

[Psil0]

Mine vary depending on what genre I write for.

For Drum and Bass, it's mostly Concord Dawn and Photek

For classical I tend to gravitate towards people like Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Danny Elfman, Debussy, Bach, Vivaldi, and Chopin

For metal, it's: August Burns Red, Protest the Hero, Veil of Maya, Born of Osiris, Wretched, As Blood Runs Black, The Black Dahlia Murder, Meshuggah, Periphery, TesseracT and Dream Theater.

For me as a guitarist, it's: John Petrucci, Jeff Loomis, Chris Broderick, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ryan Knight, Alexi Laiho, Frederik Thordendal.

[Wurfel-Waffles]

At 4 hours ago, Omni-Psyence wrote: What are some of your influences, and why?

I listen to wide range of musical genres so I basically pick up influences wherever and whenever any piece that I like. However there are quite a few composers that I get influences most.

Classical: Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Gershwin and Brahms.

Contemporary Classical: Ludovico Einaudi, John Adams, Yanni, Phillips Glass, Jon Gibson, Yann Tiersen, Carl Orff, Orlando Gough and Walter Zimmermann.

Film Score: John Williams, Charles Chaplin, Ennio Morricone, Jerry Goldsmith, Joel Goldsmith, Hans Zimmer, James Horner, James Newton-Howard, Howard Shores, Tan Dun, Thomas Newman, John Powells, Thomas Bergersen, Joris de Man, Jonne Valtonen - Purple Motion (Future Crew), MichaÅ' Kotlarek (Plastic)

I also have keen selections in electron genres, particularly old school and demoscene-related. Fascinating soundtracks packed in 64 kb or 4 kb always amaze me.

Trance: Paul van Dyk, Darude, Daft Punk, Jesper Kyd (Crionics).

Drum & Bass: Little Bitchard (Mfx), Gargaj (Conspiracy), Leviathan (ASD), KB (Farbrausch), Desktop (Fairlight), Azazel ()

Dubstep: stGenius (PlayPsyCo), Lamb (Marshmallow), Zoom (Conspiracy), Dalezy (Rebels).

Chiptune: Rez (Razor1911), Dubmood (Razor1911), HOODLUM, Floppi (Fairlight), Ghidorah (Razor1911), Actor Dolban (keWlers), Andrew Sega (Five Musicians).

Hardcore demoscene genres: Dixan (Mfx), Polaris (Northern Dragon), TBC, Cueder (RGBA), PARADOX, Hyochan (SKiDROW). Chromag (Rebels), Peter Hajba (Future Crew), Man With No Alias (Synesthetics).

[Omni-Psyence]

Thanks for all of the feedback so far, everyone. I appreciate the involvement in my thread! Being new here, I'm not as acquainted with the subtler details of NG forum's culture so I wasn't sure if this kind of thing would go over well (although I don't see why not). However I'd like to say I'm really interested in the why's of all of these choices. Does anyone have any particularly powerful reasons for their influences? I know it's a bit of a trick to put exactly into words how you feel about someone's art, to explain the deep intuitive reasons for attraction towards any given piece so don't feel obligated to make up something if you're not feeling it.

I also have a very heavy background in metal. I've been listening to Anubis Gate more and more often and they've been one of my favorite bands for quite some time. Three reasons off the top of my head for why I value them so highly; they are a progressive metal band that plays catchy, heavy riffs. To me this is really important in metal, but some bands don't do this much. I also love the thematic element of their music. Philosophizing on the human condition is another of my passions and they treat this subject very well. Finally, the producers, both Jacob Hansen and Kim Olesen, have managed to bring their A game on every album and deliver finely crafted songs without compromising their vision or integrity. I respect that quite a lot from other artists.

[FatKidWitAJetPak]

This thread really shouldn't belong here unless it is NG related, but I can easily make a list of audio artists from Newgrounds that have inspired me throughout my musical journey.

Kingbastard

This guy makes anything from psychedelic progressive ambient with a heartwarming touch of guitar and drums, to head twisting lo-fi glitch pop funk. He has a wide array of genres, most oriented around his personal view on the world around him. I have been listening to this guy for a few years now, and I can tell you that he is very talented, very expressive, and has at least one album you will enjoy in his extensive collection of musical candy.

Haywyre (HaywireHaywire) Chill trip-hop, old school beats, and a unique look into the world of electronic riffs and wobbles are going to fill your ears with a waterfall of jamming, intelligent, and inspiring music. I started listening to him back in 2009 when he was making simple and old school beats. Now he is on the top ten in beatport with his new album, "The Voyage". He makes some original stuff. Give him a listen if you ever want to explore the "boundaries"

I have more, but sadly I must go at the moment. More to come later.

[Omni-Psyence]

At 6 minutes ago, FatKidWitAJetPak wrote: This thread really shouldn't belong here unless it is NG related, but I can easily make a list of audio artists from Newgrounds that have inspired me throughout my musical journey.

Kingbastard

This guy makes anything from psychedelic progressive ambient with a heartwarming touch of guitar and drums, to head twisting lo-fi glitch pop funk. He has a wide array of genres, most oriented around his personal view on the world around him. I have been listening to this guy for a few years now, and I can tell you that he is very talented, very expressive, and has at least one album you will enjoy in his extensive collection of musical candy.

Haywyre (HaywireHaywire) Chill trip-hop, old school beats, and a unique look into the world of electronic riffs and wobbles are going to fill your ears with a waterfall of jamming, intelligent, and inspiring music. I started listening to him back in 2009 when he was making simple and old school beats. Now he is on the top ten in beatport with his new album, "The Voyage". He makes some original stuff. Give him a listen if you ever want to explore the "boundaries"

I have more, but sadly I must go at the moment. More to come later.

Hey, thanks for posting! Sorry that this isn't strictly NG related, but giving just a 10 second glance on even the front page of the audio forum shows several non-NG related audio threads that seem to be existing quite fine. If I'm truly breaking rules by posting a thread of this nature, I apologize... but would also be incredibly bemused as to why. The discussion of our music passions relates directly to the entire artistic nature of creation, dissemination of ideas and exchange of emotions which is really what music is all about.

Haywyre sounds very interesting I'll give em a look!

[Omni-Psyence]

I've just glanced over the rules again and I do see where it says these threads aren't necessarily welcome. However I'd like to point out a caveat, I did indeed create this thread specifically with musicians in mind and to start discussion on why our influences are relevant to us as creators. I did/do not intend this to be just another "favorite" thread... if that makes any sense. Thanks everyone.

[Oakwood]

My influential artists have varied over the years. When I started making (decent) music (because I really sucked in the beginning) it were mostly Armin van Buuren and Tiesto, because I didn't really know any others. Back then Tiesto was still making trance, which was also the genre that I was making. About the time that Tiesto started doing electro I got to know more artists, mostly progressive house, such as Daniel Portman and Deadmau5. I kinda moved to their style and I still am making that kind of music.
Nowadays I no longer listen to Portman and barely to Deadmau5 (because I realized his songs are all the same) and I have so many artists that inspire that I don't know where to look. Pendulum, Skrillex, Avicii, Knife Party, SHM, Thomas Gold, Afrojack, to name a few. You can clearly see that these artists vary a lot in style, and that's also why I can't stick to one style to produce. The good side of this is that I can actually produce a lot of different stuff, the downside is that you get different groups of fans who will be disappointed whenever you release something that isn't the style they like.
(Also, I am not implying that I havea huge fan base, cuz I don't lol)

[KKSlider60]

Right now, my most influential artists are, from the classical world: Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Verdi, Chopin, maybe even Mussorgskij; while for contemporary music: Solar Fields, Two Steps from Hell, Carbon Based Lifeforms, any project that makes good use of electronic sounds ;3

I used to worship Lustmord, Steve Roach, Brian Eno, even lots of Metal bands of any kind and many others, but my taste evolved since then.

[la-yinn]

For most of anything I've written, it usually started out with a minor detail from *anything* I was listening to at the time and trying to replicate that and going from there.

However, after that point I don't listen to anything to refer it to. Sometimes people take their, say, drum patterns and compare them to a released track but I personally find that you're going to lose some accentuations that make your stuff your 'own'.

To answer the question: I've mostly been inspired by breakbeat and / or big beat music like the prodigy, a lot of stuff from Zircon (who's also on NG! ---> /user/zirconmusic/ ), old skool hip-hop for the vintage sounds.. a shitload of dnb (Telemetrik, Goldie, Enduser, Noisia, Spor, Syncopix). Fair amounts of dubstep for 2-step rhythms and alternative basslines (definitely in more early-on dub the subs can be mental) .. lets see... I can't really leave out metal, because I've listened to so much of it. Symphonic power metal, death metal, black metal, Nu metal, thrash metal.. Then of course punk, in various levels of intensity. AFI's a real goodie!

I'd say Zircon, Reso, Telemetrik and Dillinja (EARLY WORKS ARE HUGE, WOW) have inspired me the most. Any track made by them will have me intrigued, haha.

I could write out so much, really. I'll listen to anything and think 'hey, this sounds nice a nice idea' - never limit yourself!

Yay, music. :3

[Buoy]

whoa you guys write a lot. Me:

My guitar teacher: taught me everything I know about music theory and jazz and shit. Is the reason I now almost always use 7th chords and more than one key.
Air and Gorillaz: have influenced a lot of my bass lines and some melodic stuff too I guess.
Porcupine Tree: Influenced a lot of my guitar playing and song structure.
Röyksopp: Inspired most of my electronica

[SineRider]

Hmm I could list a ton of different artists, but I'll keep it to three

Aphex Twin (+his many different aliases) - This is probably the most apparent of my influences if you have heard my music. I tend to mainly write ambient and electronic music. I can say that Aphex Twin is largely the reason I got into electronic music and ambient music. Hearing both SAWI and SAWII were mind blowing for me. I was so used to listening to alternative rock and hiphop off the radio. I'm glad my brother introduced me to his music.

Elliott Smith - I was never really into the whole stripped down acoustic guitar singer songwriter until I heard Elliott Smith (Owen as well) I can't get enough of his tunes. They are beautifully depressing. Truly the songs of a tortured soul. His honesty and beauty really show through his lyrics and music. I also recently have been study harmony and his mixing of folk-like, pop harmony, and jazz harmony is wonderful, along with his fingerpicking guitar style.

Miles Davis - I can solely blame Miles Davis and his two quintets for getting me into Jazz and Cool Jazz. This is also a recent development in my taste. I get lots of Jazz shoved down my throat at my school. Some people can't stand that, but honestly I can say Miles Davis' music is what changed it for me. Birth of the Cool is my favorite.

[FatKidWitAJetPak]

Hey, thanks for posting! Sorry that this isn't strictly NG related, but giving just a 10 second glance on even the front page of the audio forum shows several non-NG related audio threads that seem to be existing quite fine. If I'm truly breaking rules by posting a thread of this nature, I apologize... but would also be incredibly bemused as to why. The discussion of our music passions relates directly to the entire artistic nature of creation, dissemination of ideas and exchange of emotions which is really what music is all about.

This rule is here at the top of the audio forum rules, simply because if this forum was directed towards all music in general, it would be flooded with "hey guys check out this song by pink floyd," which has happened in the past. It is there to maintain the focus to new grounds related activity and all forms of audio production. Although, I am sure we can easily switch our focuses over to which new grounds artists inspire us. I dont think anyone will come in and lock this, but you never know.

[Buoy]

The thread is obviously perfectly fine for the forum and people should stop rule-wanking so much. Especially over that particular 'rule'.

[FatKidWitAJetPak]

At 2 hours ago, SBB wrote: The thread is obviously perfectly fine for the forum and people should stop rule-wanking so much. Especially over that particular 'rule'.

Lol, it really doesn't matter all that much. I don't think there is anything wrong with this thread either.

oh and your banned

[Buoy]

At 22 seconds ago, FatKidWitAJetPak wrote:

At 2 hours ago, SBB wrote: The thread is obviously perfectly fine for the forum and people should stop rule-wanking so much. Especially over that particular 'rule'.

Lol, it really doesn't matter all that much. I don't think there is anything wrong with this thread either.

oh and your banned

Nooo my banned :(

[jpbear]

At 2 minutes ago, SBB wrote:
Nooo my banned :(

my banned?

[Back-From-Purgatory]

Just gonna add my 2 cents here on why this thread is still alive and isn't breaking the rules (From past experience).

The thread is promoting discussing artists that influence your own music, as such you're discussing how they influence your writing style. It is a fine line, but in the end, it is a productive idea to discuss stuff that helps you become a better writer... as long as it doesn't just boil down to people saying, "I like this just because", it's probably safe to say this thread is within the rules of this forum.

2 cents.

That said, I'm influenced by everything I listen to, so it's hard for me to list off an artist that is most influential to my own work. Obviously I take a great deal of influence from metal bands, but my overall style I like to think is a creation of my own mind and isn't necessarily overly influenced by any one band.

[durn]

That said, I'm influenced by everything I listen to

Agreed. Oftentimes I find it takes me a long time for what I've heard to actually impact what I'm making since I don't tend to try and copy other people's synths/styles... but eventually it trickles in. A house track I'm working on now gives me shivers because it takes me back to being 16 and listening to Chicane for the first time, stoned outta my mind. Hmm... maybe that's why it took so long to influence me. :3

[Rampant]

I think every musician has been influenced by at least two or three musicians before him, who in turn were influenced by composers before them, and so on and so forth. For example, The Beach Boys were influenced by The Beatles who were influenced by Buddy Holly who was influenced by the African American blues and early rock'n'roll of the 1940s, and so on and so forth.

So, I could say I'm really influenced by Brahms, Elgar, and Faure. Which I am. But, that means I'm influenced by at least six or seven other composers: Brahms was heavily influenced by Beethoven, Elgar was heavily influenced by German Late Romantic composers (Wagner, Brahms, Strauss, etc.), and Faure was influenced by "the restraint and beauty" of Mozart, the "tonal freedom and long melodic lines" of Chopin, and beautiful codas from Schumann.

[SoulSecure]

I think some of the biggest artist influences on my music were Koji Kondo and Akira Yamaoka. My first two albums, (unreleased) were pretty distinct from one another. Independent Masturbation was a sloppy art album that was never truely finished, which had an Ocarina of Time influence about it and even featured a remake of the Song of Time, hence Koji Kondo. Spiritual Agony had clear influence from Silent Hill (Akira Yamaoka) in the more experimental and gritty direction it went in. That album had a rap on it that was about Silent Hill in general.

After deciding not to give an internet release for Spiritual Agony, I started on my current album back in 2010. Currently, I'm seeing a lot of Yamaoka in my work, but honestly I'm influenced more by things around me and musical styles than I am artists and bands.

[FatKidWitAJetPak]

I think it is also safe to say that the world around me influences my music creation. In fact, most of the time my ideas come from the sound of me walking through a forest at night, staring into the night time abyss created from the endless spectrum of trees.

[Usernamemyarse]

I probably shouldnt say this as a pasty white guy from rural Norway, but RZA from wu-tang clan probably is the one artist i keep going back to for my percussion.
As for melodies, probably Yann Tiersen (Strange mix, i know).

[SoulSecure]

At 1 hour ago, Usernamemyarse wrote: I probably shouldnt say this as a pasty white guy from rural Norway, but RZA from wu-tang clan probably is the one artist i keep going back to for my percussion.
As for melodies, probably Yann Tiersen (Strange mix, i know).

That's not strange. RZA is a beast!