Cuillin, a Canadian band (I think from Nova Scotia) that infuses rock and Celtic-style music. (Imagine a tamer version of Dropkick Murphys.) Can’t seem to find their music anywhere, though.
Minibosses, a band that rocks out old school Nintendo music. I actually first heard of these guys through an SDMB thread a while back.
What non-mainstream bands or music do you like?
Yell County (link to previous SDMB thread) - great rock n’ roll from one of our own!!
The Weakerthans. The perfect band for a certain phase of life. The part where you just got out of college and got nothing going on and it seems like you’ll be stuck in that mode forever.
Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band - only one album and now dissolved, but man, I loved this group.
Years ago I picked up a tape called World Entertainment War in a bargain bin for 50 cents. Really blew me away. Kind of a cross between Sly and the Family Stone and Steely Dan.
The Marlboro Man can spit in to the wind and not get sprayed
He smokes and smokes and smoke but he never coughs
Loves martinis with his brown rice and sex with his TV
Comitting crimes that don’t break any laws
No truth or consequences!
Atherton I met the lead singer at Wilco concert, when he took my picture with Jeff Tweedy (I did not have my camera as I never expected to meet Jeff Tweedy) and he was hanging out backstage, too. They’re an alt-country band, so their genre isn’t obscure, but I doubt too many people heard of them. I adore them, though. I think Skyline Motel is one of the best albums I’ve heard in the past two years.
The Atomic Bitchwax: a former side project of Monster Magnet’s lead guitarist Ed Mundial who’ve gone forward on their own: loopy, improvisation-heavy hard rock with a profound stoner-rock influences (naturally) and many lyrics about science fiction, fast cars, and getting high.
The Flesh Eaters/The Divine Horsemen/Stone by Stone: various musical incarnations of the incandescently talented, incredibly prolific Mr. Chris D(esjardins) --an undeservedly obscure songwriter, singer and poet who’s been doin’ it since the late 1970s.
High On Fire: holding the fort in the SF Bay Area for the last several years,with a mean-metal crunch and moan that’s hard and evil and frighteningly beautiful.
*Roky Erickson! ROKY ERICKSON! **ROKY ERICKSON! ***
Oh, man. Where should I start?
McDonald and Giles
Emitt Rhodes
Kak
Renaissance (their first album, which is an entirely different group from what anyone knows)
Hayes Carll
The Anemic Boyfriend
The Flying Lizards
Soft Machine
The Bonzo Dog Band
Python Lee Jackson
Jeremy and the Satyrs
Blotto
The McKrells (local band)
Loudon Wainwright III
Otis Taylor
Deborah Coleman
Just as a start.
You people give me way too much homework.
(thank you)
I assume you know about **Big Star ** - too obscure to start; now too well know as a cult influence. Amazing, influential music…
You’ll find a lot of those down East. The Punters, for example, are very good.
And for video game music, you can’t beat The Black Mages - although they have a more restricted list of music, sticking to Final Fantasy tracks. (Nobuo Uematsu, who wrote the music for most of the FF games leads the band, and is the organist.)
Thanks, WordMan! Your set of autographed Yell Co. pom-poms are in the mail! 
I’ll add the Loud Family (and Game Theory from the 80s), both bands featuring Scott Miller, one of the best songwriters I’ve ever heard.
If you like Big Star, this is kind of like them on steroids. The albums Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things and Interbabe Concern are must-haves by LF, along with Big Shot Chronicles and Lolita Nation by GT.
Pretty much everything I listen to these days. It’s my job!
The Asylum Street Spankers
One of the greatest bands ever out of Austin. And now on tour!
Go listen, they got a jukebox on their website:
Saw them at “Eddie’s Attic” last Saturday night – man, what a show!
Ever hear of the Jags? I think they were better known in the UK; they only put out two albums.
I really dug a band called Sanctuary. Their first album, called Refuge Denied, was produced by Dave Mustain and rocked. The band split or something and some of them are now in a band called Nevermore. Not huge Nevermore fan though. Side note, I saw Sanctuary in a little place in New Mexico. They apparently were not exactly happy with the sound in the place. For the last two or three songs the sound man cranked the PA. He just cranked all the knobs all the way up. It was insanely loud. The back wall of the theater was bouncing. It was nuts.
There was another band called 9.0 that I got into. They had a great guitarist named Craig Small. The band was on Shrapnel and never got very big. One day I was at my apartment which I shared with a guy named Bryan. I was in the kitchen and had a 9.0 cd on while I was doing dishes. I heard someone come in and I walked into the living room. Bry walked in with Craig Small. I said ‘Dude, your Craig Small!’ and he said ‘Dude, your listening to my cd!’.
Another band that kicked ass was Savatage . The guitarist, Criss Olivia had a great tone and a great feel. He died, which really sucks. The vocalist takes a bit of getting used to though…
I am a huge Fates Warning fan. They have been around forever and have changed a whole lot along the way. I think they had one song that made MTV.
Another great band is New Model Army . I don’t know if they would qualify as obscure, 'cause I think they are reasonably big in Europe, but no one in the U.S has heard of them. Back when I was like 18 the toured and I met the band. We all got drunk on wine and argued politics. They are a bit to the left.
Slee
Yes, I will fight for my country!
I dig NMA; I saw them in Atlanta with like 10 other people in the audience back in '87-ish.
Check these out:
Current 93
Nurse With Wound
Inade
Fire & Ice
Lucisferrato
Residents
Cyclotimia
Lunar Abyss Quartet
Reutoff
Beyond Senory Experience
YAY! There’s omebody else on this board besides me who likes straight-up NOISE!