Who Is The Most Obscure Artist You Listen To?

Bouffant Jellyfish

 

Buddy Max- a self-releasing country/polka/spoken word genius from Lecanto, Florida. I actually interviewed him in the early 90s and he told me he used to record new music over the master reels of his old music. He put out about a half dozen lps and a bunch of 45s and I think he showed up on one of those "outsider music" Irwin Chusid/WFMU comps. Here's a taste:

 

Guided By Voices

 

haha.. all I keep thinking when reading this thread is how many of these acts scored $500,000 advances from record companies against future royalties. Whichever ones did... nice going!!

 

Got quite a few albums from this band.

And of course we must bring up this:

 

What about a somewhat obscure single "Two Buffaloes" by Rolf Harris, still keeps me in stiches.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aVK5YSPEqXY

As for as artist I like Lucia Pamela -- "Walking on the Moon"
It reminds me of what my mom would sound like if she made a record.

 

Ernest Ranglin - Jamaican jazz guitarist - check out his tune Surfin' see if you like it....prolly not that obscure but no one I know has ever heard of him

The Haunted - only released 1 album 1967 great Psyche Garage Rock from Montreal

 

Sully, Alphastates, Sugarplum Fairies

 

Not totally obscure, but not names you hear everyday...

Eloise Laws
Margie Joseph
Jon Lucien
Mission ('80s R&B band/group)

 

The most obscure artist I listen to...? I dunno, maybe these guys...When People Were Shorter And Lived Near The Water

 

Oooooh....I should mention Syrup!

 

Chimney Factory
The Radioheads
Rope

 

Just this week I've listened to The Whatnauts, Terry Callier and Henson Cargill. Cargill's a little less obscure than the other two, having appeared on the Tonight Show when his hit "Skip A Rope" was on the charts.

 

And wow, I'd completely forgotten about Moxy Fruvous. I once dated a girl who was deeply into their music.

 

I suspect that Heidrun, a Viking folk metal band from Sweden might be the most obscure band I listen to. They seem to be rather obscure even in Sweden. I believe their only album is Framåt Gå released in 2012. I hope they continue and succeed:

 

Pavement

 

Yothu Yindi

 

A post-grunge band called Lotion. Not obscure due to the inaccessibility of the music; they just never seemed to capture anyone's imagination (although I think I remember the nme giving their first LP 9/10 back in the day).

Anyway, they never get mentioned anymore but I'd thoroughly recommend their albums Full Isaac and Nobody's Cool.

 

This is about as obscure as I get...

Conspiracy - Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood of Yes. I think they made 2 albums. My favorite is called "The Unknown"

Gentle Giant - More often than not, people I talk to have never heard of them. I love their untitled debut album, and I absolutely adore their live album "Playing The Fool".

Be Bop Deluxe -Again, a group that people I talk to have never heard of. Their better albums include "Axe Victim", "Sunburst Finish" and "Live!! In The Air Age".

Van Der Graaf Generator -This prog act often caused my friends to say "What the @#!$ is this? Don't you have any Skynyrd?". Deep philisophical lyrics bordering on the edge of psychosis. Found their album "Still Life" in the $1.99 bin. I was intrigued by the lyrics on the back of the album and I took a chance. Love them, and found that until the internet I thought I was all alone! Best albums: "Godbluff", "Pawn Hearts" (which has Robert Fripp guesting on lead guitar), "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other" and "World Record".

Peter Hammill -The voice and songwriter of Van Der Graaf Generator, Peter Hammill has quite a lot of solo albums. Many of his solo albums are performed entirely solo by way of overdubs, giving them the feel of Pete Townshend's "Scoop" albums. And a few of his solo albums have the other members of VDGG playing with him. "Fool's Mate" is a good PH album, recorded around the same time as VDGG's "Pawn Hearts". I really love his album "pH7", and also "Chamelion In The Shadow Of The Night". Peter Hammill's vocals often drive people away from PH/VDGG. You'll either love his singing or hate it. A friend of mine said "He sounds like a psycotic Davey Jones". Maybe he's right!

U.K. -Not sure if they qualify as obscure, but there aren't any CDs in my local stores. I thought this band had a bright future, but their untitled debut album came out in 1978. And those of us who followed rock music in the late '70's knew that the music industry was about to change for the worse. The 1978 "U.K." album is among prog-rock's best. A band with John Wetton, Allan Holdsworth, Eddie Jobson and Bill Bruford just had to be great. And they were great. The first U.K. album is the best one. If you see one, buy it. Their second album, "Danger Money" had its' moments, but something was missing. No guitar player. Just keyboard & violin fills by Jobson. And no more Bill Bruford. In his place? Terry Bozzio. John Wetton's songs started to sound more radio friendly ("Nothing To Lose" and "Rendezvous 6.02"), which brought this album down a couple of notches. The third U.K. album was a live one with the Wetton, Jobson & Bozzio line-up. The album has a song called "As Long As You Want Me Here", which seemed to hint at what Wetton would be doing with his future band Asia. A band that began life sounding a lot like King Crimson suddenly sold out to sound like Asia.

 

The Cichlids Be True To Your School

 

Uncle Green who later changed their name to 3 lb. Thrill is probably the most obscure. Or anything Mitch Easter-related like Let's Active or his one solo album. Or the Mitch Easter-produced Game Theory and Scott Miller's later band The Loud Family. I also like everything John Faye has done in The Caulfields, The John Faye Power Trip and IKE.

 

The Hellacopters. 1999's Payin' the Dues is worth a try for anyone who has a soft spot for the hard stuff.

 

Right now I'm listening to Astrid Haven, a band out of Charlotte, North Carolina. My nephew is in the band. It's not really my type of music, but, hey, it's my nephew!

Which reminds me of another band out of Charlotte that I used to like a lot, but haven't listened to in quite a while, the Spongetones. I have their first 2 releases on vinyl and used to spin them quite a lot back in the 80s.

 

I've got an Ernest Ranglin CD -- In Search Of The Lost Riddim -- quite cool stuff.

On topic: just about any outfit that tried their luck, made a release and failed will end up blazing a trial to obscurity. Anyone familiar with their local live scene can probably rattle off quite a long list of coulda shoulda woulda beens that would draw blank looks from anyone beyond the city limits.

It's probably more interesting when someone latches on to some unknown artiste from the other side of the world by pure chance. Admittedly this is getting more likely now with the internet, and buzz can transcend borders.

One example of this for me: Zebulon Pike (instrumental stoner metal band from the US) that was mentioned in passing somewhere (so fleeting that I cannot recall) and which hooked me immediately:



Kinda obscure, but they prolly have a decent online following, which means I prolly woulda stumbled upon 'em eventually anyway.

--Geoff

 

(... continued from post above)

But one serendipitous example of obscure-enough-that-I-would-never-have-heard-of-em-if-it-wasn't-for-dumb-luck-ism that I can give is Swedish band Granada ... I stumbled upon their self-titled CD in a beachside op-shop last week, had no idea what it was, but for $0.50 I took a chance, and I love it. Tried googling and didn't come up with much, seems they released a CD or two back in the early 2000's then faded away.



Love this CD to bits right now.

--Geoff