Being as I'm always looking for more music to check out, I thought this might be a cool idea for a thread. I've come up with a couple to start out...

Coldplay -> Embrace
U2 -> Doves
Interpol -> Editors
Queen -> Keane
Modest Mouse -> Wolf Parade
The Verve -> The Shore
The Postal Service -> Stars

Note that the comparisons don't mean that the 2 artists sound identical, just that their music is similar enough to probably appeal to the same type of taste. Also, I tried to have each of my pairs contain both a popular artist and one with less exposure. So who else has some recommendations...

I don't get the Queen/Keane connection at all, unless you mean both bands are pretentious and overproduced, but you could say that about tons of acts.

If you like finding new music based on a group you like, then you might like www.pandora.com ...

Ever since hearing Keane, I've thought both their song structures and vocal style had a pretty strong resemblance to Queen. Obviously Queen's melodies were usually driven by Brian May's guitar, while Keane relies on piano, but I still hear a lot of similarities in their respective sounds.

Thanks for sharing the link. Looks like a pretty cool site.

Fallout Boy -> Panic! at the Disco (which I think is a much better band)

U2 into Coldplay just does not compute and never has in any of those glib mainstream magazine comparisons. Coldplay just doesn't have the depth or musicianship to rise to U2's level.

Another site, plug in an artist and it will come back with suggestions on other bands that sound similar:

http://www.music-map.com/

I've found a site that's new to me and am enjoying it very much plus it is free.

You type in an artist or song that you like and it will find songs with similar music styles for you to try out. There is an impressive amount of obscure material that it comes up with. I've been having fun with it.

Pandora

I've been listening to this for about a week now. I'm really impressed with it. It plays a lot of the stuff I already really like and a lot of new bands for me to try.

Excellent site. Thanks for the recommendation!!

whoa, this site kicks ass

My cousin showed this to me a month or two ago and it's introduced me to a lot of new stuff. Very good site.

A really nice recommendations site is www.last.fm. Basically you get a plugin for your music player that tells last.fm what you listen to. There's even charts for DVD Talk's most popular songs.

Great site nazz!

[cough] read post #3 [/cough]

Wow. Pandora is fucking awesome. Nice find! I have a feeling I am going to listen to this a lot in my home office.

Enya -> Slayer

[cough]There wasn't a post #3 when nazz posted that.[/cough]

His new thread got merged into this old one in which I mentioned pandora.com, even though the original topic wasn't about the website. Perhaps the merged thread title could be changed to include Pandora.com in it to avoid further confusion and make it clearer what lies inside?

BTW, I'm still enjoying pandora and have about a dozen stations set up to listen to depending on my mood.

My Pandora station has pretty much become exclusively Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Christopher Cross, and Hall & Oates...

I love it

My Belly/Portishead/Bjork station has turned into a Pat Benatar and Scandal station. Not that there's anything wrong with Pat Benatar and Scandal, but that's not what I was going for when I started that station.

I've heard good things about last.fm, but I haven't gotten around to downloading its player. I'll have to check that out soon to if it's any better.

Pandora was the first thing that came up in a yahoo search for internet radio and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I started listening to it. They say that the free version has ads in the music, but I have yet to hear it. I have searched for some decently obscure music and they have had everything I searched for. (at least the band I search for and then they stray to the other bands... It had a few problems with one station I set up... the original artist for the station was Jimmy Buffett and it started off ok, but soon was playing some stuff that was nothing like Buffett... like Guster and Hootie and the Blowfish, as well as some other bands that I had never heard of... I liked the music they were playing, but it just wasn't what the station was supposed to be.

Pandora is great for some stuff, but half of what I type in, they don't know.

If you like...

The Notwish - Neutral Milk Hotel
Coldplay - Sigur Ros
Royksopp - Telepopmusik
earlier eminem - Chino XL
TQ- Vontel
Mogwai - Aereogramme
Fischerspooner - Ladytron
Doors - The Tea Party
Ramstein - Laibach
Psychic TV - Crispin Glover

I know I'm late to the party, but I just discovered www.pandora.com.

Possibly the greatest idea since sliced bread. If you haven't played with it yet, you're missing out.

These kind of recommendations are always a let down in my experience.

For example, over the past few years I have completely fallen in love with Porcupine Tree's music. Steven Wilson is one of the best songwriters I've heard in my life.

I am constantly seeing bands compared to them now, and while some might have a similar sound, none of them approach the level of quality PT has.

Another example: saoirse mentioned Rammstein > Laibach. I heard the comparison a long time ago, and when I checked out Laibach I was underwhelmed.

Maybe these kind of recommendations work better for more mainstream acts, or maybe my standards for these kind of comparisons are too high.