I have very eclectic musical tastes and I’m always looking for new musical experiences - Tell me about your secret music - What old or new musical genres or groups should we know more about?
The Blue James Band: http://www.bluejamesband.com/
These guys are great musicians, currently unsigned, travelling the Southwest USA promoting their self-produced CD. The music is excellent, and the bass player is fantastic. Obviously influenced by Victor Wooten, this guy has to be experienced in person!
Get your favorite English cast recording or movie soundtrack in a foreign (non-English) language if possible: www.castalbumdb.com is a good place to start.
Being a RealAudio compendium of classic jazz and jazz-related pop music of the 1920s and early '30s, much of it obscure and a good bit of it unavailable on commercial CDs.
This site, based in The Netherlands, is a good example of the kind of musical retrospective that generally can’t be done in the USA due to our restrictive copyright laws.
Michael Penn, amazing pop,
Naked Funk, sort of acid jazz style techno with a definite r&b influence on some songs.
Silly Rabit, Dirt is the name of their only self released CD, if you can find it get it, fantastic party music with elements of funk, hard rock, hip hop and reggae.
Tom Waits, not excatly secret but if you havent actually gone out and listened to his stuff you dont know what you are missing.
Thievery Corporation, more technoish stuff, its a blend of 2 dj’s, a live band, and singers from all over the planet, saw them live a few months ago and they had 8 singers on tour with them. world music meets techno? doesnt do it justice.
M.C. 900foot Jesus, hip hop meets jazz, this guy puts out some great and very original tunes.
Video game music. 
I have to admit, some of them aren’t enjoyable unless you’ve played the game, but they’re great for long drives because they’re generally composed to be nonintrusive and mood-setting.
Personally, I think the games with the best soundtracks have been:
Chrono Trigger (a lot of the themes are on the repetitive side, but they have a nice New Age feel to them)
Chrono Cross (many overworld themes borrow from CT)
Final Fantasy VI (the opera scene and final ending montage especially)
Legend of Mana
I also find J-Pop, especially opening/closing themes of anime, strangely addictive. At least those songs don’t annoy me nearly as much as, say, Britney Spears.
Heaping obscurity on top of semi-obscurity, if you are a fan of…
Arcade Fire you should check out Wolf Parade
Neko Case you should check out Carolyn Mark
Modest Mouse you should check out The Weakerthans
The Minutemen you should check out The Doers
The Rezillos you should check out You Say Party! We Say Die!
I think The Deftones are one of the most consistently good bands that don’t get enough attention.
I’ve recently heard a few songs by Deadsy, and they’d be up your alley if you enjoy either Marilyn Manson or Orgy, or both.
My standby recommendation to almost everyone is Iron and Wine. Mellow, acoustic, folksy… and good.
Outlaws has to have one of the best soundtracks. I miss that game.
Two absolutely must-hear albums:
Ulver, Perdition City
Death, Sound of Perseverance
Dropkick Murphys.
Stinking Lizaveta is an instrumental trio from Philly that does a sort of improvisational hard rock. Their albums aren’t that great but there live shows have phenomenal energy. They are incredibly talented and their music spans a lot of genres: metal, surf music, jazz, etc. check 'em out if they come to your town
God, where do I begin?
I’ve been listening to the Dresden Dolls recently—they decribe themselve as “brechtian punk cabaret.”
There’s also Apocalyptica and Rasputina—a couple of cello rock bands, but very different from each other. (If they were used in the soundtrack for a “Steampunk” movie, Rasputina would mostly be for the social settings and “coming of age” montages; and Apocalyptica would be for the scenes where coal-fired mechanical juggernauts are tearing each other apart.)
Soundtrack composers Michael Giacchino (try “Call of Duty” and “Op. Market Garden” on his sample page—yow) and Yoko Kanno are almost mainstream these days, but still deserve mention. (And HOW!)
A little arabesque: Mavi, Mavi by Ibrahim Tatlises (warning: this is about the only arabesque album of the few that I’ve heard that doesn’t bite). This album is quite kickin’, and you should play it loud. Of course, nobody else will probably like it, so be advised. And of course it’s in Turkish, but that makes it better. A must hear before you die.
Johnny Winter And, by Johnny Winter And. Hard rocking, but obscure enough to make it enjoyable, and the original version (I think) of Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo.
Hamburger Concerto by Focus. Some lute, some harpsichord, some progressive jazz.
Tabernakel, by Focus guitarist Jan Akkerman. See above.
Anyone who’s looking for interesting female singer-songwriter-musicians (to go on the same shelf with Kate Bush, Jane Siberry and Tori Amos) might take a listen to
There are songs from each of her albums at that page (with her permission) and she also has a MySpace page:
Her official web site.
I’m continually puzzled as to why she wasn’t discovered years ago. She has 10 excellent albums, a unique style of music, a beyond gorgeous voice that ranges from early Kate Bush highs to Annie Lennox lows, is beautiful, charming, and puts on a great live show. I fear it’s her name (and it is her real name), but I hate to think that people wouldn’t even want to sample a few songs because of something so shallow. I think radio programmers just look at the name on the CD and toss it aside, never even bothering to give a listen. If she were known for her music and amazing voice, her name would be as accepted and considered as normal as Norah or Kate or Tori. It’s sad and frustrating to me.
MY main problem is I am not sure what counts as obscure anymore. Bands I used to love and thought no one knew about are now being played on main stream rock stations, and selling out local concerts. (Are the Fiery Furnaces still obscure or did Blueberry Boat make them well known? I don’t know anymore) Two goups I love that I can say ARE obscure(ish) are Gogol Bordello and Janet Klein and her Parlor Boys. Two totally different types of music, two bands best experianced live. Gogol Bordello is Gypsy Punk Rock, and features the most insanly talented accordian and fiddle players I have ever had the pleasure of watching. Janet Klein is 1920’s style Jazz and features more great musicians than it is fair to have in a single band, including the inimitable Brad Kay (a man who made me wish I had actually stuck with my piano lessons).
Seek out both bands, thier albums are good too.
For anyone who enjoys intelligent, contemplative music, I cannot reccomend Tim Story enough.
Tim’s music is often starkly beautiful and haunting. There is a human perceptiveness there that belies it’s usually fairly simple structure. I love it!
Goth metal gods Type O Negative (http://www.typeonegative.net/) are so good it’s painful. Peter Steele’s voice is mindblowing, it’s so deep and epic, and the music is equally unforgettable. Don’t be fooled by their goth veneer – Type O Negative’s dark lyrics of desperation have a hefty dose of black humor. Check out Everyone I Love is Dead: “Seems three years/Or maybe four/someone drops dead/whom I adore…/Godammit.”
Type O Negative is probably the best rock band out there that no one’s ever heard of. Some highlights:
– The classic tribute (and parody) of morose Goth girls, Black No. 1.
– Because there’s not enough love songs about incest, check out Stay Out of My Dreams.
– Peter Steele supplies the voice of Satan in Black Sabbath.