Obscure bands. Awesome bands.

I didn't know they were so well-known.

I know The Darkness is fairly popular, but no-one I actually know has heard of them.

West Bank Killa is one of the greatest rappers of all time.

Italian alternative rock/metal Art Disorder. So obscure I was only able to listen to one song of theirs (available for listen HERE, it's the last one), but it's pretty good nevertheless and I sure would like to hear more...

Not a band, but a single guy: Todd Edwards. Why he's not more popular in the US is beyond me.

Hidria Spacefolk, I'm Not a Gun, and Set Fire to Flames.

Sumo Cyco. They're an unsigned band from Canada. I have high hopes for them.

Here's one of their first music videos, "Limp":

edited 30th Jul '12 11:58:46 PM by StevenJEmanuel

Brocas Helm. They're not together anymore and they didn't release many albums, but the ones they DID release were amazing. Almost every song by them has an amazing intro. They're definitely worth checking out if anyone is interested in power metal.

Set Fire to Flames I have heard of/listened to; I enjoy what I have heard. But those latter two you've mentioned... yeah, you broke the Obscurity Meter.

(Speaking of which, I am totally going to name a band Obscurity Meter or some variant thereof, just because.)

Obscure? Awesome?

One word: Slugbug.

The Pica Beats.

They have a song called Poor Old Ra. It's about feeling sorry for Egyptian Sun Gods. This is not the only good song on their one album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv5GuKI5838

Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you, Subway:

I like Oingo Boingo quite a bit. Catchy, strange-sounding music. Sarcastic lyrics. Psychotic, over the top singing courtesy of Danny Elfman. I guess they could be considered sort of famous, but really their only famous song is Weird Science. In my opinion they're earlier albums are better (ain't that always the case?)

edited 3rd Nov '12 6:12:24 PM by DuckTwacy

I just got the Oingo Boingo album Only A Lad on CD in the mail today.

It certainly feels a lot more like what I hoped "New Wave With A Brain" sounded like. Only A Lad as an album statement is a borderline counter-culture anti-authoritarian masterpiece as far as pop-music-as-art goes. Haven't felt this about a pop/rock album since I bought The Sex Pistols' Never Mind The Bollocks during the Howard Years in an impotent rage against society I didn't know how to fight yet since Twitter activism hadn't been invented yet.

Yeah, it's definitely a very intelligent album. The title song in particular has a great message to it. Also, while I like the song, I feel that Imposter would be lacking in something if you don't know what triggered it: the band getting poor reviews from critics. It seems to me like more of an Author Filibuster than a broad statement like some of the other songs on the album. As Elfman himself even introduces the song in this clip "This song is dedicated to a couple of A-HOLES AT THE L.A. TIMES!"

From the top of my head:

• Isis
• The Roots
• Ulver
• Embryo
• Fugazi
• Scratch Acid

There is probably more, as I'm a huge music geek and I'm constantly dredging up new and ever more obscure bands.

EDIT: Holy SHIT, how could I forget Pere Ubu? Their first lineup might just be my favourite band ever, and I forgot them! I don't deserve this life!

edited 4th Nov '12 12:05:48 PM by Uilleam

The only song on Only A Lad that makes me feel conflicted is "Capitalism" as it defends a system I have problems with but at the same time it gives a boot in the pants to the kinds of person who I don't like judging me for my life choices given the circumstances they were not around for, were it written today it would have blasted SJ bloggers and hipsters who wear Che Guevara t-shirts while eating Big Macs.

The kind of song that causes me to feel two sides of a sociopolitical debate in a new way I care about is a rare gem to be treasured.

Yeah, that one's always sort of confused me too. But I'm pretty sure I read that Elfman wrote most of the songs soley to piss people off, calling it "serious satire". So I don't really know.

I totally buy that he was trying to offend as many people as possible, I mean, he opens the album with a song about paedophila and ends it with an ode to masturbation.

Clearly this is a deeply nuanced commentary on the mistreatment of the common man.

@Uilleam: Ulver and Pere Ubu are friggin' godly, but not quite as obscure as I'd expect around here... or used to expect, seeing as how many of our more fanatically obscurantist users have moved on, to my dismay.

Pere Ubu are actually pretty acclaimed and well-known for a post-punk band (unless we're talking about every album after Dub Housing, which are all critically overlooked)

Granted, Henry Cow and Slapp Happy are already renowned legends of their respective fields but Desperate Straights doesn't get enough love

Passionate MC

Not everyone overlooks post-Dub Housing Ubu, although sometimes it's not for good reasons (Song of the Bailing Man, ladies and gentlemen). I personally quite liked the two albums that followed it, although The Art of Walking really requires me to be in the mood to listen to it.

Can't judge Bailing Man, have yet to give a full listen.

But there are times I'm convinced "Horses" on Art Of Walking might just be their absolute best song.

Mechanical Poet, Orchestral Progressive Metal from Moscow

edited 14th Nov '12 11:39:59 AM by Rgriff