Over the last couple of years, when our favorite bands have broken up, we’ve written a couple of posts suggesting new(ish) bands whose work you might enjoy if you like the work of the band who’ve just split. Being as we’re big REM fans, we figured we’d do the same when we got the news they’d gone their separate ways. So we sat down and started thinking and… well, it’s harder than it looks, really. You’d think there’d be heaps of bands that sound like REM these days, but curiously enough, there aren’t. Or not good ones, anyway. Sure, there was the slew of bad ’90s-era REM imitators like Live, and there are bands like Coldplay citing them as an influence. But beyond that, it’s something of a struggle. Still, we’ve soldiered on manfully, choosing ten of our favorite REM records and pairing them with ten newer records you might enjoy if you like them. (And let’s be clear here — we’re not suggesting the records we’ve chosen necessarily sound like the REM albums, just that they may appeal for similar reasons.) Your ideas are, as ever, welcome. … Read More