Your Favourite Awesome and Obscure Music

Hi,

I am in a music finding mood. I generally despise whatever music is in the charts (auto-tuned, over-produced product with no passion IMO). So I was wondering what your favourite obscure bands are- hopefully we can all discover a new band or artist =).


Through Spotify I have suddenly found an amazing sounding artist called Vitalic. I've just ordered their album, and am currently using Grooveshark to have a listen (Spotify is being really crap recently.)

Another obscure band I am fond of is 'Rabbit Junk'- screamy, electronic music that I never thought I'd like in a million years. But it is awesome.

How to Destroy Angels- whilst maybe not 'obscure' is a bad that I don't think many people are that aware of- I believe it to be Trent Reznor's 'new' project since NIN have withered away a little bit.

I have an undying love for the Boards of Canada. Dreamy, sweeping soundscapes that I truly adore- and I hope someone else thinks so, too.

Edit: I NEEDED to add Mr Bungle. Simply genius.

These are off the top of my head. I'd love to hear from you guys, and see what really cool music you know of that isn't particularly mainstream..

 

Phantomsmasher. Ridiculous, over-the-top electronic-blended music over live and often digitally chopped drums, lots of blastbeats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoHny8VgQvI

'nuff said. Get the entire album, it covers some ridiculous mileage when it comes to aural/emotional exploration.

 

That is some crazy stuff- certainly interesting. I'm not sure I could 'lose' myself in it though- it seems a bit difficult to listen to. Do you find that?

 

psychostick because beer is good

here is there music video for beer is good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-jOEAufDQ4

 

Here's some of the weirder selections from my current favourites playlist:

Can - Butterfly
Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4
Ryoji Ikeda - data.matrix
Oval - Textuell

I might consider giving a prize to whoever can get lost in these... or should you be rewarded for finding your way back after?

 

My current obscure music of the moment is To Separate the Flesh from the Bones . They are a death metal/grind core band featuring Pasi Koskinen (ex-Amorphis, Shape of Despair, Ajattara), Mika Karppinen (HIM), and Niclas Etelävuori (Amorphis, ex-Moonspell).

I found them after searchingother bands which led me to them and as soon as i checked out some of their songs i instantly liked them.

So far this is my favourite song of their's- The spoon [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRK7sFl871A]

 

I've never found a person other than myself who's heard of the capricorns.

 

my obscure music at the moment is mid to late 90's euro dance music, bit of nostalgia really.

stuff like this really http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1yABzXVkMw pretty fucking terible but what ever hehe

 

- Everything from Pink Floyd until 1979
- First four albums of Mike Oldfield
- Volker Kriegel ZOOM "spectruem" session
- Everything from Billy Cobham

 

It certainly isn't for everyone.

Hell yes.

 

Èmilie Simon - especially her first two albums. Also, Client.

 

They are not so 'unkown', but nevertheless totally awesome ;-)

Boards of Canada:

Skyliner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V_eTQd9c1k&feature=related

roygbiv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT0gRc2c2wQ

Left side drive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg1yWHPSkRM

 

I've become kinda obsessed with 764-HERO. Indie rock band from mid 90's to early 00's. They're not very well known. I have all of their singles and all but one of their albums.

 

The Crystal Castles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_ajt8w7QVo&feature=related (not official video, but best vid I could find with remotely acceptable sound quality)

Burial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQpuvf441FE (again fanmade video, but incredible song IMO that's "underground" or "obscure")

Just a taste of the incredible underground "obscure" songs out there I've listened to, not really "obscure" so much as a relatively more obscure genre and not mainstream, which I usually find songs in those categories to be some of the best I've heard.

 

Also, anyone heard of Taco?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG3PnQ3tgzY

Kinda has an 8-Bit sound with a classic jazz feel, at least in this song. Epic electronic-oriented artist imo, and def. "obscure" not well known.

 

Wow, I'm not the only one ^^

If you don't know who Ikeda Ryoji is or what his music is, picture yourself a mix of minimalistic beats made with mostly short white-noise impulses, very hi-pitched sine frequencies (and low-pitched ones for the bass), all with very sparse filtering or arrangements. It's more or less music made of pure sound data. I find his work to be very interesting, and utterly enjoyable if you're in the mood. A little fan-made video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S_2r0J7bHo

In the same style, if you like it, check more artists from the same label, Raster-Noton, like Alva Noto, Byetone, Kangding Ray, Frank Bretschneider... You might also enjoy some likeminded artists such as Yasunao Tone (who for example made an album out of sounds he obtained by recording the sound made by cds he intentionally damaged, called Solo for Wounded CD), Mika Vainio (of the band Pan Sonic, who has been making some crazy and thoroughly inventive music for the past 15/20 years on both his "home" label Sähkö and a lot of other independent structures), Snd (a duo from Sheffield who purposedly do not use any music software but instead use their programming skills to invent new ways of building rhythms) or Tetsu Inoue (a minimalist ambient artist also akin to weird concepts, as he once used the blueprints of the London Waterloo Station as the base material of an album, literally)... And the list could go on almost forever. Here are some examples of previously mentioned bands/musicians :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZHvbJS32j0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfCTldNDq0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=713cOh7tByU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svZHWEd0pQQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO43e4esRoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLnMLJ1O8sE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oydkEn0FLdk

Anyway, I should stop talking now or I'll freak people off this topic forever...

 

Speaking of...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZokZRtgf6bU

Pretty sex.

Also here are some songs I stumbled upon recently that I quite enjoyed.

Peter Bjorn & John - Second Chance (RAC Mix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuZuF1jZKWw

Architecture In Helsinki - Contact High (Clock Opera Remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx44HPLdjZ0

Blende - One sided (Louis La Roche Remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyWuA7Pux9M

 

This is the best youtube video I can find of them.

One should listen to the studio version. Much cleaner.

 

Midnight City by M83

http://youtu.be/AwMgAHp7FeA

Electronic Dream Pop

 

If you like Shmups, you´ll know this song (U.N. Owen was her? from a Touhou game): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u74FXxXvjio&feature=related

Same song covered by Toho Ska Paradise Orchestra:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28RDDVexxwQ

Recommended. I somehow got totally obsessed with japanese Ska over the last months. Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra is great aswell but not so obscure i think, also the Ska Flames, who are simply awesome. :Rock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwyiwC9pf74

edit: Too much use of the word awesome...