Mellotron - Birmingham Made

[Crichax]

Do you have any recommendations for any artist who uses Mellotrons?

I know of one who was extremely underrated and posted his last song 6 years ago. His channel is MrMpalmer33, and he made some of the catchiest original instrumental songs I've ever heard. And some of them were inspired by the Xeelee Sequence, an amazing science fiction book series written by Stephen Baxter. Unfortunately, in the comments section of one of his songs (Bolders Ring), you can find ancient comments arguing that Star Trek and Halo are pieces of crap in comparison to their almighty lord Stephen Baxter. Defaces to the art that will go down in history along with it.

https://www.youtube.com/user/MrMpalmer33

 

[Raging Capybara]

I like prog so basically every band I listen to uses Mellotron.

But I'll recommend a modern band because the classics everybody knows about already. I really like this band, especially this album:

The Mellotron simply never stops! I think they used "Choir 1" in every single track, and it's beautiful. The whole album is filled with ancient instruments and I love it, the most modern thing used in this record was probably the Minimoog.

 

[Dutch Courage]

I am assuming you are asking about current or recent musicians? In the 1960's and early 70's, bands that used a mellotron to some degree read like a who's-who list of mainstream rock music, from the Beatles and Rolling Stones and Moody Blues on down. Kraut-rock like Tangerine Dream was full of it. Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark used one in the 80's, and owe their career to it. Oasis used one a lot, and Radiohead has been known to dabble in one. Tom Petty had some hits using one.

My listening includes a lot of contemporary psychedelic rock, and the mellotron thrives in that world. I'm still a big proponent of grizzled old veterans Brian Jonestown Massacre, who actually own a battered old mellotron (they cost tens of thousands of dollars and up), although more often they use mellotron samples, which is a cost-effective way for a lot of cash-strapped indie bands.

Other modern-ish (some are getting mighty old) bands/artists who at least sometimes use a mellotron off the top of my head: The Mars Volta (prog/psych), Lenny Kravitz (retro-rock), The Charlatans UK (madchester/britpop), Screaming Trees (psych/grunge), Porcupine Tree (prog), Marilyn Manson (shock rock), Barenaked Ladies (novelty pop), Dinosaur Jr. (grunge/alt-rock), Black Moth Super Rainbow (psych/electronica), R.E.M. (when they became a trio and turned pseudo-electronica), Primus (alt-metal/prog), Tori Amos (singer/songwriter). There are lots more...