So what music do you really like that few people seem to know about? For instance, I'm a huge fan of the band King Crimson, along with a few of the solo careers of band members like Adrian Belew, Trey, Gunn, etc. But you won't hear it on the radio, maybe once I actually heard it playing in (the now departed) NAC during GNO. So what music is your best-kept secret?77 responses total.
1990's Scandinavian folk/folk-rock/electro-trad: the Swedish bands Hedningarna and Hoven Droven are at the top of the pack. I'm convinced that Hedningarna's second album, KAKSI, is the best of the decade. Acoustic trad instruments, electric guitars, bagpipes, powerful drumming, keening female vocal harmonies.
Don't get me started about obscure music. :-) My best recent pickup is Tony Trischka "World Turning." Trischka is actually Bela Fleck's teacher, but I think he plays much more interesting and soulful banjo than Bela Fleck. On "World Turning" he plays everything from 19th century minstrel tunes to Bluegrass thrash with members on the Violent Femmes. In between he plays some fine duets with Alison Krauss, a couple tunes with Peter Buck on Bazoki, and some funky bluegrass with former members of the Horseflies. Can you tell I like this disc? :-) I always thought the experimental German group Can who played throught the 70s was underated. They play funky disonant jazz rock imagine the Talking Heads crossed with the Alman Brothers. Other IMO underated musicians include Jane Siberry, Brian Eno, The Dog Faced Hermans, The Louge Lizards, etc.
Biff Rose. If you heard his 1968 album, Thorn in Mrs. Roses Side, you would probably want a copy. Now I know someone with a CD recorder, I just might ask the favor to get it on a CD.
John Fahey, the guitarist.
Anime soundtracks from Japan. Although, companies have finally realized there's a demand for them and fans don't want to pay $25-$60 a CD.
I haven't bothered to buy any Anime soundtracks. I like the music OK, but really only in the context of watching the stuff. Although some of the Ruiji Sakamoto [sp?] soundtracks from the movie length anime I've seen would be cool.
I find that true for many Anime soundtracks, but some stand alone. I enjoy the Riuichi Sakamoto soundtracks (like Wings of Honneamise). Another soundtrack I'd recommend is the Akira soundtrack. It has four long tracks that mixes traditional Japanes music with the story. You could get a sense of the plot from the soundtrack alone.
Yeh! Wings of Honneamise! I liked Cloud City Laputa even better, though. *Great* music. I'd buy that soundtrack.
re #4 John Fahey has a new CD out that is a mix of his acoustic guitar and some electroinic collage pieces. I heard a little bit of the CD on NPR and I really liked what I heard. The name of the CD is "City of Refuge."
Public radio must get a bigger response than I thought.
that is actually an irony. Mainly because most of hte music i do listen to that is not top 40 or so, isnt played inthe area, unless its country..... which really makes me shudder... i get hives from Country music that is of now... country that made rock -n- roll is different though
Anna Holmer--I don't really know how to classify this. She's a vocalist, but I think 'singer' would be going a bit far. On the album of hers that I have, she sings nonsense syllables when she sings at all, as well as making other mouth noises, etc. The music is slightly like techno...but only slightly. I really don't know how to describe the style any better. I'm also a big fan of Brian Eno and King Crimson, mentioned before.
Speaking of King Crimson...and how it's never on the radio... While flipping through stations on our car radio I ran across the tail end of 'People', off of THRAK. First time I've ever heard any of their stuff coming from anything other than my CD player. :)
I have occasionally heard "In the Court of the Crimson King" and "Epitaph" on "classic rock" stations and have heard stuff from Discipline, mostly "Elephant Talk" and "Thela Hun Ginjeet" on "alternative" stations doing some sort of 80's nostalgia thing but you're right, they don't get a whole lot of air play (not nearly as much as they deserve..) What's your favorite Crimson? Haven't been wowed by the latest lineup. 80's Crimson is all good but I think my favorite single album is "Lizard" (which is probably an odd choice..)
"Red" is still the album I pull out -- if only for "Fallen Angel". Or maybe the collection "A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson"...
"Red" is good but I think I listened to it too much (though my favorite track was "Starless") I practically never listen to "In the Wake of Poseidon" or "In the Court of the Crimson King" anymore but all of the others still get occasional play..
Really? Lizard is one of their few albums I don't own..what's it like? Hard for me to pick a fovarite--er, favoriet. whatever. Their differend albums are so much like different bands that It's impossible to compare them. My all-around favorites are probably Discipline and Beat, but lately I've been listening to their earlier stuff--Starless & Bible Black, Red, and Lark's Tongues in Aspic.
It's very hard to describe "Lizard" and most people don't like it at first (if ever..) the first 4 tracks are kindof weird songs with a different sound for Crimson, largely due (in my opinion), to the rather eccentric piano work that's sprinkled through the album. The fifth song is long, probably took the whole 2nd album side back in the day, and, oh hell, I'm just not very good at describing what makes this album interesting or whsy I like it so much.. Just give it a try..
Wow, we have a regular Crimson fan club going here. I had never heard of them until one of my friends made me a couple of mix tapes with some of their music. Since then I've decided that as soon as he gets back in town, he's making me copies of their other songs.
Really? First I heard about it :) Well, I'll buy it if I see it, mcnally
Yep. That or I tickle him until his eyebrows turn purple.
re #20: Well, just remember the bit of my post that goes "and most people don't like it at first (if ever..)" I *now* think it's a fabulous album but even for me it took some getting used to. Anyway, since this is the "Best-kept Secrets" item I'll mention a couple of bands I really like that, while not exactly secrets, don't get the sort of attention I think they deserve. I'm sure I've mentioned some of them before, so please excuse any redundant plugs, but honestly these groups are worth repeated mentions.. Our first band, Yo La Tengo, gets plenty of good press in the music press but little promotion from their record company and almost no airplay, which is a shame because their albums generally feature one or more songs which'd be well suited for it. Their albums usually cover quite a bit of territory, spanning the wide range between the group's devotion to Velvet-Underground-influenced pop gems to experimental guitar-feedback workups that sometimes go, buy often don't. There latest album, "I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One" is a respectable offering but I would recommend another album to start. Good choices would be their soft and pseudo-folky "Fakebook", an album of interesting covers mixed with some of their best-written originals, or pehaps "Painful", a more "alternative"-sounding album from a few years back that's a good starting place because of its accessible VU-flavored songs and its consistency (a problem on some of the earlier Yo La Tengo albums..) Moving on, I must yet again put in a plug for my favorite album so far this year, "The Charm of the Highway Strip", by the Magnetic Fields. The Fields are a project of singer/songwriter Stephen Merritt, also responsible for projects by the Future Bible Heroes and the 6ths. I can also now recommend the album "Wasps Nest", by the 6ths. Merritt wrote the songs but being self-conscious about his voice recorded them with vocalists from various indie acts (Luna, Yo La Tengo, Barbara Manning, the Bats, Mitch Easter, Superchunk, and a bunch of other bands I just can't remember.) Personally I like Merritt's voice despite his limited range (I think it works well with his songs) but "Wasps Nests" may be more to some people's liking than the Magnetic Fields stuff.. Although their last album or two have not lived up to my expectations I'd like to plug another band that I think languishes in wholly undeserved obscurity, the Mekons. During the 80s and 90s they produced several excellent albums, especially "The Curse of the Mekons" and "Rock 'n' Roll". Unfortunately A&M, their label at the time, seems to have had it in for the band and these two releases are only available in the US as imports. If you can't afford to take a flyer on an import you can settle for their first American release on Warner, "I (heart) Mekons", which while not as completely excellent as eithe of the aforementioned two albums is still pretty good (and worth having IMHO for the song "Millionaire" and a few other cuts..) And finally a plug for another hard-to-find gem, Material's album "Seven Souls". No description can do it justice and a run-down of the project (New York-based super-producer Bill Laswell gets togethe with a bizarre crew of musicians including Jamaican rhythm section Sly & Robbie, Egyptian violinist & Oud player Simon Shaheen, world music musician Foday Mosa Suso, and frequent Laswell guitarist Nicky Skopelitis and record a heavily arab-influenced musical track while Beat Generation junkie poet William S. Burroughs reads poems about the mythical Egyptian afterlife) is far more likely to scare people away then it is to attract them to this wonderful album. Suffice it to say that the album works on just about every level and instead of the nightmarish mess you might expect based on the above it's actually an astonishing surprise. Buy it if you ever find a copy (and if you don't like it I'll buy it from you -- I've got several friends who very much want CD copies but can't find them..)
Wow...seven souls sounds great...I'll put it on my *looooong* to-buy list.
My to-buy list is waaaaaaay to long to ever be completed
Oh yeah, well I can fit more voooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowels into my words than you can, so there. :)
Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaays Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo?
<orin hits snowth with the dagger of enforced relevan>
Relevan? Is that anything like sudsies?
More like relevancy.
Aw, man! That's no fun!
My latest obscure music fixes: Boom Crash Opera - fairly 'mainstream' poppy stuff, but very good. Bob and I bought it because it came in a cool box - kind of a big chinese-looking octagonal cardboard thing - and had a tape and a CD in it and was only 94 cents. It's been sitting on the counter in Encore music for ages. Moodswings - Part techno, part pop, part new-agey, part electronic weirdness. It's actually better than that description makes it sound - really. And the album's title is Psychedelicatessen, which makes it worthwhile. Poignant Plecostomus - And you thought I was bad at describing the other two. I'm not even going to try. It's a *very* cool five-piece local band - bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, electric violin. Fun stuff. See them live, if you can.
If you like "Psychidelicatessen" you'll probably also like the Moodswings' first album, "Moodfood." I actually ran into one half of the Moodswings, Grant Showbiz, at a concert in Detroit (he was doing the soundboard for Billy Bragg..) Introduced myself after the show and congratulated him on their excellent "Moodfood" album and he was amusingly thrilled to learn that someone (anyone!) in America had heard the album and knew who he was.. He was so nice, in fact, that he promised to have his agent send me a couple of promo copies of the Moodswings releases I didn't have, which they did -- a few weeks later a package from London arrived in the mail.. Very nice guy!
How many albums do they have out? This is the first anything of theirs that I've seen. Not that that's saying much...
There's the earlier album ("Moodfood") and a live album ("Live at Leeds")
as well as an alternate, promo version of Moodfood with different track orders
well as a track or two that didn't make the final release of the album.
Also received a 12" single of a related project that doesn't strictly count
as a Moodswings release.
When they're not releasing albums as the Moodswings they spend most of their
working time producing albums for other people as Hood and Showbiz.
At discount records today I saw a whole heap of Moodswings stuff. If only I had money... <breaks into a stirring rendition of 'if I had $1000000'>
Hmmm.. Interesting, do you recall what was in the heap?
About ten billion copies of Psychedelicatessen, a copy or two of moodfood. No variety, but heaps of it...
orin, I have money again, I can lend you some... if we ever get around to seeing each other (blat.)
The Holly Cole Trio.
(Yeah, but I'm already deep enough in debt)
When are you not? Besides, I went shopping with Ruth today, I'm broke again. Missed your chance.
the dismemberment plan the verve suede <the london> Greta the autumns Triplefastaction Fig dish Nada Surf Fountains of Wayne Moist Fretblanket Cause and Effect God Lives Under Water The Ghandarves Seed
What is God Lives Underwater like? I keep hearing about them. (Oh, and welcome, Melissa)
Try John McLaughlin, though it might not be as obscure as what you're looing for. Broadcast has put out some of the most interesting sampled / loop based musics. The R.L. Burnside albums with Jon Spencer are refreshing in their experimental, humoruos but bluesy approach. I better start using some spaces here. Billy Cobaham put down some good drums on several Fusion albums. Jean-Luc Ponty fused jazz-eastern along side Joun McLaughlin GooseCreek Symphony is still playing at their ripe old age, and their music keeps getting better. However, their albums aare virtually impossible to obtain. GooseCreek fused bluegrass-gospel-rock and roll.
Well, I suspect that a number of you already know my obscure musical obsesions, but I'll tell you again. First and formost is Fish, who used to be the lead singer for the band "Marillion," but split away from them some 10 years ago and has been (barely) living off of a solo carrier, in which he has made some brill stuff like "Sunsets on Empire," his most recent album, which was co-writtain and produced by Steve Wilson, who is the big cheese in another fave band called Porcupine Tree. This band is a recent addition to the prog rock scene (yes, it still exists) and breaths some fresh air into the genra with it's prog/psyc/ambiant mix. No, I'm not reciting the press release. I only have their album "Signify," but from what I've heard it's their best one yet, and I'm inclined to believe it. Another favorite is Black 47. What can I say? This band isn't for everyone, because, well, their lead singer's voice is somewhat lacking. Despite that, what we have here is an Irish-american political/whatever Celtic Rock/Rap/Ska? band. I really love their stuff, such as the way they turned "Danny Boy," into a song about homosexuality. I have all three albums released so far (their now working on a 4th one, huzzah, huzzah), and my favorite is their second, "Home of the Brave." Mostly this is my favorite because of the overallproduction is superior, and it has some truely kick-ass songs, such as the 'Danny Boy' mentioned above. They are based in New York City, and if I ever go down their, I will make it my mission to go see them "Playing Reilly's on a Saturday night...". And those, gental folks, are my three favorite preformance folks. It just so happens that they are somewhat obscure also, so hey! This seems like a good place to plunk 'em down.
The Self-titled album by the New York Voices is a very nice addition to the collection of those who are into jazz vocalise. These studio musicians do a fine job on standards such as "Desert Caravan" and "round Midnight," and have some good original material, some of which will remind you of the Swingle Singers or the Manhatan Transfer, some of which is suigenerous. Unless you're in to folk music you probably don't know about Stan Rodgers and in particular his fabulous album called "Between the Breaks Live," a live album that avoids all the pitfalls of the usual live album and delivers some apparently unique performances of his music. Circa 1981, this one may be hard to find.
Heh. Interesting item. I have so many obscure albums that I think everyone should have a listen to that I wouldn't quite know where to begin... Right now I'm listening to Shona Laing, who flirted with the charts with "(Glad I'm Not a) Kennedy" (or whatever it was called). A perenniel favorite of mine is Liberty Horses, whose major claim to fame is being related to Kirsty MacColl, whose major claim to fame (I think) is her duet with The Pogues, "Fairytale of New York", wwho are (unfortuantely) the least obscure of the lot.
My most obscure at the moment is The Finn Brothers. Its a really odd album, though, even for them.
My current obscuremost is a disk by Loren Wilson, who's this one guy who lives in Hyde Park. He sent out email to the school mailing list saying that anyone who can prove that they've met him gets a free copy, so I sent in and claimed mine. It's pretty damn good for "that one CD by that one guy I met at a party once."
Just heard "Atom and his Package" an 80's esque type that also reminds me of Blink 182 and Goldfinger. Very odd. I can listen to it some of the time, but other than that, it gets on my nerves.
He's still around? Damn, that's cool. I had some clients bring some of his stuff in a few years ago.
Obscure music? I'm well into Nick Drake who was a singer/songwriter that only released 3 albums and died young. He really deserved to make it big. I'm also into a lot of experimental stuff, like Coil, Nurse with Wound and Current 93. I'm a metal head at heart tho <g>
(Hi Patchie, welcome to the music conference!)
>#53 thanks. Nice to find somewhere on the net where people are polite to new faces <g>[D[D[D[D[D[D
My current "new find" is Sister Soleil...for those of you who have seen the Stella Soleil video for "Kiss Kiss", this is her band from Chicago...and it's a bit different from Kiss Kiss. *VERY* excellent...recorded in Peter Gabriel's studeo, with him doing backups on one song, and one song done with a guy from Slipknot.
Really? Because that song and video kinda get on my nerves... I wondered if anyone else had heard of her...
resp:52 :: Patchie, what can you tell me about Current 93? All I know about them is that they were associated with the reissue of an old album by English folksinger Shirley Collins.
Actually, Mary, I adore that song and vid. :) Next Tuesday, it will be mine.
well, when i tend to watch the video channels, it's on a lot, so perhaps I am over exposed to it... I like the background sound, the almost synth strings, but there is something that turns me off about her
resp:55 (I remember you telling me about the Stella/Sister connection, so I looked for the discs at the student radio station... and they'd been *PURGED*! I'm *REALLY* hating this whole purging process, because it's going too far, too fast. they also dumped the first Goats album, the Majesty Crush album, and almost eliminated the Holy Cows album.) <shudder>
resp:#57 Current 93 are a very odd beast. I have yet to hear two albums by them that sound in any way connected. They do stuff ranging from scraping industrial headache to absolutely beautiful acoustic stuff. If you have ever heard of Nurse with Wound, one of their members is a long time colloaborator of David Tibet from C93, which should give you some idea of how "out there" some of the stuff can be. I would recommend "all the pretty little horses" and "Nature Unveild". C93 can be quite hard to get hold of though, so I would recommend getting some stuff from another source before you go out and buy some. (not that I condone the use of MP3s or anything :)
Carson: I got mine for my birthday, but Kirk got it off of Amazon. I have also seen it in the local Recordtown. I think that you would probably like this album. :)
Coil is awesome.
RE #63 Yeah, Coil rule rule. I love "music to listen to in the dark (1)" Haven't got volume 2 yet though.
i honestly have trouble imagining anyone with a cd collection as eclectic as mine. ill give you a small taste. abba, beastie boys, genesis, culture club, chicago, cure, praxis, george winston, guns and roses, suicidal tendencies, billie holiday, yes, soul coughing, styx, luna, kid 606, radiohead, neutral milk hotel, pavement, jeff beck, prince, john denver, kiss, seal, smiths, madonna, method man, tribe called quest, pachbel, mighty mighty bosstones, pixies, breeders, led zep, stereolab, melissa ethridge, indigo girls, sarah mclaughlin, rem, the king and i, the fantastiks, godspell, jesus christ superstar, mercury rev, spacemen 3, hopewell, milli vanilli, def leppard, berlin.... i could go on and on.... id be amazed if i ever found anyone with music tastes anywhere near mine.
That doesn't sound that exceptionally eclectic.. I've owned music by at least half of the acts you mention..
well, that was just me spouting about 1/50th of my collection.
I guess my point would be that very few people who really care about music restrict themselves to one kind (or even just a few..)
re 65: So mine must be beyond yours.
You want eclectic? Here goes... (representative sample) Classical: Bach, Beethoven, Faure, Shostakovich, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Moussorgsky, et al. Big Bands: Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, et al. Jazz: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, et al. Ragtime: I have some but don't remember the artists. Barbershop: The Happiness Emporium (quartet), Rural Route 4 (quartet), the Alexandria Harmonizers (chorus), et al. Pop: Beatles, Byrds, Association, Beach Boys, Eagles, Mariah Carey, Culture Club, Yaz, et al. Filk: Tom Smith, Leslie Fish, Frank Hayes, Mercedes Lackey, Heather Alexander, et al. Humor: PDQ Bach, Dr. Demento, Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer, et al. Folk: Harry Belafonte, Miriam Makeba, et al. Medieval: several groups whose names I can't recall. Modern classical: John Cage, et al. Note that this is just off the top of my head.
Oh, I forgot to mention. Not all of that is on CD, of course. My collection is partly CD, partly cassette, and partly LP.
(Oh, _this_ game. Let me know when you're finished :)
Ok, I'm late to this item, but here goes... re #0: (scott) Check out http://thedent.com/musicians.html -- Adrien Belew worked with Tori Amos on her new covers album called "Strange Little Girls." re #8: (otaking) Cloud City Laputa? Do you mean Laputa: Castle In The Sky, by Miyazaki? (http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/laputa/) re #22: (mcnally) Do you know if Yo La Tengo started in Tallahassee, FL? I thought I heard someone say that once. I actually saw them perform here a few years ago at the CowHaus, great stuff. re #43: (orinoco) God Lives Underwater isn't all that unknown. They've done an assortment of remixes.... re #55: (eeyore) Sister Soleil started up in '98 I believe. I was fortunate enough to hear her entire album (after finding the song "Red" on mp3) because a friend of phenix's (Josh, I believe) had a copy of it that had been released to a radio station in a2 (I don't rmemebe rhow he got his hands on it)... re #70: (blaise) Yay for PDQ Bach! I was first exposed to PDQB at Interlochen. (: SOmewhere back there, Brighn mentioned The Pogues -- if you like that stuff, I suggest a little Drop Kick Murphys. (: Though they're not so unknown anymore, I'm a hardcore Moxy Fruvous fan, and remember when they were pretty unknown.
Yeah, I got my hands on the Sister Soliel....great stuff. :) I'm looking forward to the new Tori cd...
re #73: Yo La Tengo are from Hoboken, NJ. I don't know of any particular connection with Tallahassee.
eh. I must've just been misinformed. thanks for the correct info. (:
Re #73: Yes, I meant Laputa; Castle in the Sky.
You have several choices: