My web-techin’ friend Aditya commented recently, asking this:

“Could I make a suggestion, seeing as how you love to review music and have a much varied taste (quite visible here :P) …

I have been looking for some nice and slow acoustic / organic songs. Songs which have only a piano playing, or a guitar being strummed, those kinds! A little variation would be ok ….

A few examples would be ‘Goodnight’ (Dry Kill Logic), ‘Ache’ (James Carrington), ‘Hallelujah’ (James Buckley)… Could you suggest some more?

Thanks!“

So, of course, I did a little research and compiled a list, which is below.

Some are recommendations that I had immediately, knowing what Aditya was looking for, and others are results of some research I did this evening, using resources like Pandora and good ol’ Amazon.com. I also did some simple searches, using the terms of his question, like ‘acoustic rock’, and hit a goldmine of information that I simply just didn’t think of by my sweet little self.

The songs I have selected were chosen because they exhibit acoustic rock, earthy lyrics, and had a similar feel to the tracks he provided in his comment. I stayed away from really soft acoustic stuff, like Sarah McLachlan, because I know that Adi mostly enjoys hard rock. Still, he may open up to other artists and genres, now that I’ve give him some other options.

The list is really endless, but this gives you a good start. Another piece of advice I give people is to Use Pandora! It is an excellent tool, all you have to do is put in an artist or songname and Pandora creates a radio station for you based on those musical qualities. You can use one of the examples, and Pandora intelligently gives you music you want to hear, and then you are in control of the sound you want to hear.

List of recommended songs:

Note: If an MP3 was available for each song, it is linked to next to the song title, and will open in a new window. Or you can do it the smart way and Right-Click/Save As.

• Mexico (MP3) - Incubus
• Drive (MP3) - Incubus
• I Miss You (MP3) - Incubus
• Change the World (MP3) - Eric Clapton
• Tears in Heaven (MP3) - Eric Clapton
• Yesterday (MP3) - The Beatles
• Breaking the Girl (MP3) - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• My Immortal (Acoustic) (MP3) - Evanscence
• Broken (MP3) - Seether Ft. Amy Lee
• Fast Car (MP3) - Tracy Chapman
• Ain’t No Sunshine (MP3) - Al Green

List of recommended artists:

Note: Links open in new window.

• David Gray
• Incubus
• Fiona Apple
• Nick Drake
• Beth Orton
• Days of the New (Sample: “Whimsical“)
• Dave Matthews
• Dave Matthews Band
• Sarah McLachlan

I hope this helps you, Adi, and anyone else who is looking for something similar. This helps me, too, by finding new artists, so if anyone else needs suggestions or recommendations, don’t hesistate to leave a comment or send us an email at do.you.lovethemusic at gmail dot com.

Until next time,

Jen