Heh. Beaten to it.
Nearly missed this:
Er… what? Highly :dubious:
Interesting thing about Art of Noise was that at the time they were considered weird, but they pioneered several types of music styles that are still used in today contemporary music/ They continue to be one of my favorite groups. Some of my favs from them are “Moments in Love”, “Paranoimaia” and “Close to the Edit”
I like those weird sounds (produced by the theremin machine). Is this stuff still being made?
You can still make theremins, but I don’t know i anyone’s making theremin music. Certainly there’s plenty of wonderfully weird electronic music out there. Check out Jean-Michel Jarre’s stuff (he’s the son of film composer Maurice Jarre. I have his album Oxygene, which is fun).
Years ago they finally issued the record of Louis and Bebe Barron’s “Electronic Tonalities” for the soundtrack of Forbidden Planet (They couldn’t call it “music”, because they weren’t in the union). Worth looking up.
GYBE just rocks - have seen them live 3 times now. However I live in Germany now so the chance of seeing them a fourth time are zero to none 
Well, when you blast it while driving, one does gather some odd looks… 
I don’t make this stuff up y’know. Actually the “chord” sound he produces is made by sort of overdriving his voice to produce overtones, it’s not at all like a clean harmony*.
- You want Agnes Nitt for that.
I once heard a clip on a website of a man making bizarre scat noises over an old recording. [searches] Ah, here he is- Shooby Taylor.
I know that Devotchka uses a theremin (along with a violin, a tuba, and an accordion, plus the more “normal” instruments.) The best description I can come up with for them is one part Calexico, one part polka, with Jeff Buckley’s long-lost multilingual brother on lead vocals. Divine.
Uncle Bonsai is probably the least-known group that I really like. I also love a number of a cappella groups, including Toxic Audio, Vox One, and the Bobs.
Anyone posting to or reading this thread will LOVE (I’m talkin’ 'bout LUV L-U-V.) WFMU, especially Beware of the Blog. Go there. Do it. Now.
I like remixes. Negativland and I get along real well, as do me and rx. rx’s stuff is downloadable, in fact: His album “The Party Party” contains such gems as Dubya singing “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” and “White Lines” as well as original music created out of a collage of various politicians’ voices.
I like odd covers. Jonathan Coulton did a bluegrass cover of “Baby Got Back” and I was sore pleased, and there was much rejoicing all up in my neighborhood. Similarly, Nina Gordon singing about a crazy mother-fucker called Ice Cube and other Niggers With Attitude who come Straight Out of Compton (link goes to mp3) is right up my alley. (Too bad it’s only the first verse of the song. She does it well.)
Then there is the inexplicable, such as the “She Be She Strike” tape. It’s allegedly from when an Inuktitut-speaking janitor took over a CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) radio station in the far, far north when the normal crew went on strike. It contains such gems as the guy doing pothead humor and singing a catchy little tune about Ayatollah Khomeini. It would make more sense if I understood his (primary) language, but I get the feeling it’s strange in any language.
Hey cool…On a tangent: Does anybody know why so many klezmer bands are taking up the theremin? It is strongly associated with Jews for some reason, but why, I can’t figure out. Melisma, maybe?
Divine was Jeff Buckley’s brother??!! :eek:
This is the first I’ve heard about klezmer and theremins. I’d like to hear some.
Is Sigur Ros “weird”? Regardless, I sure love their music.
By the way, Fast ‘n’ Bulbous, “bulbous also tapered”!
That’s what I think of when I hear "fast ‘n’ bulbous, too.
I’m listening to some extremely weird beatless and semi-beatless electronica/instrumental craziness from the likes of Tim Hecker (check out his Mirages album) and Fennesz (the amazing Venice and Endless Summer albums). Get into it.
Darkest of the Hillside Thickets- A metal band that is heavily, almost singularly, inspired by the work of HP Lovecraft.
Ghoultown- Gothabilly, think spaghetti western meets horror movies and add some goth and rockabilly.
The Handsome Family- A husband and wife team, gothic country. Easily some of the most sad and disturbing lyrics out there that I have found.
I also try to collect music that features an armonica, or was written with the armonica in mind.
About 2 years ago, my friends and I (we were not yet a band at this point) had an extremely raucous and drunken late-night jam session for which I pulled out my old alto sax and our keyboardist Nate played trombone. We recorded it with a micro-cassette recorder hung by a rope in the middle of the basement. Later, I transferred the tapes to my PC and, after fiddling with them using an audio editor, improved the sound a little bit and cut up the tracks into mp3s.
The standout track is our fast-paced, dixieland-style instrumental version of Pop Goes The Weasel (in a minor key.) I can listen to this song over and over again, it just rocks so hard. The weird instrumentation, plus the sound quality, make it sound like it was recorded in the 1920s on a wax cylinder. Here’s a link to the song in case you wanted to actually hear it.
Some other notable tracks from this session were an a capella version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity and a parody of Green Day’s Time Of Your Life (about gay rights) - “although it might be wrong according to Jesus Christ, you know we’re having the time of our lives” - Nate made up the lyrics on the fly, a feat that continues to amaze me.
I can still listen to all these tracks and enjoy them. But maybe it’s just because I’m playing in them.
Let’s see…
The Dresden Dolls.
The Tiger Lillies.
Rasputina. (Not as weird as the previous two…though I have a mix CD made entirely of my “favorites” from all three.)
I’ve got a few creepy hits from composer Krzysztof Penderecki.
I’ve had the Red Chinese anthem The East is Red stuck in my head, off and on, for the last few weeks. Along with some other commie hits I found on sovmusic.ru. (That what I love about communist media—no copyrights! 
)
I have an MP3 of a voice and harmonica rendition of “Revelry of the Dying” that I filtered, then overlayed onto a recording of a (blank) Edison wax cylinder’s playback, so it sounds like a track from a steampunk war movie, or Tik-Tik of Oz’s funeral, or something. I think that’s pretty weird.
I also have a MIDI of the theme song to Cannibal Holocaust that I’ve been grooving on the last couple of days. Catchy song. (doooo-do-do-doooo…do-do-DO-do-do-ooo…)
Speaking of catchy music from cheesy movies with unspeakable violence and hideous gore, there’s also the Samurai-serial killer’s song from Guinea Pig 2. (“Fall, fall to the bottom of hell…pool of blood, sea of fire, and needle mountains…” isn’t as euphonious in English as the original Japanese, it appears.)
Okay, what do I win? Aside from the aghast, if vaguely sad stares?
Let’s see here, there’s Eugene Chadbourne, his song, Fried Chicken for Richard Speck is not to be missed. He’s rather infamous in these parts for having performed at The Bluebird Cafe, which is where musicians who want street cred in this town play (it having hosted the likes of Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and other big name stars), with an electric rake! Yeah, that didn’t go over very well.
Another is Jane Wayne County, a transgendered performer who did a little number called, If You Don’t Want to Fuck Me, Fuck Off.
The Benzedrine Monks of Santo Domingo, who do Gregorian chant versions of popular tunes.
Lou Reed’s Metal Machine, if you’re pissed at your record label, this how you get out of your recording contract! 
The Fugs, when I heard their song Dirty Old Man in middle school, I knew instantly what I wanted to be when I grew up.
Blowfly who did a song Come Fuck the Devil.
Psychic TV’s got some good stuff as well.
There’s tons more that I used to have, but sadly my collection has dwindled over the years, and i don’t remember what most of them were anymore.