response 2 of 77:

Nov 23 01:42 UTC 1996

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.

response 4 of 77:

Dec 7 17:04 UTC 1996

John Fahey, the guitarist.

response 6 of 77:

Jan 4 14:12 UTC 1997

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.

response 8 of 77:

Jan 11 01:48 UTC 1997

Yeh!  Wings of Honneamise!  I liked Cloud City Laputa even better, though.
*Great* music.  I'd buy that soundtrack.

response 10 of 77:

Feb 25 17:10 UTC 1997

Public radio must get a bigger response than I thought.

response 12 of 77:

Mar 3 23:52 UTC 1997

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.

response 14 of 77:

Jun 30 06:15 UTC 1997

  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..)

response 16 of 77:

Jul 2 06:13 UTC 1997

  "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..

response 18 of 77:

Jul 5 17:31 UTC 1997

  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..

response 20 of 77:

Jul 6 19:15 UTC 1997

Really?  First I heard about it :)

Well, I'll buy it if I see it, mcnally

response 22 of 77:

Jul 7 05:42 UTC 1997

 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..)

response 24 of 77:

Jul 10 07:41 UTC 1997

My to-buy list is waaaaaaay to long to ever be completed

response 26 of 77:

Jul 13 03:29 UTC 1997

Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaays Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo?