Obviously there are all kinds of different music out there, so post someone that you don’t think many people have heard of and describe them. If you’re convincing enough, I might buy their CD or download some of their music.
Thomas Nuendel, whose debut solo CD is titled Through Not From. Thomas is a jazz/folk/classical violinist with a rock & roll edge. This CD includes a helluva neat version of St. James Infirmary Blues, a rock version of the folk classic Morrison’s Jig, cool versions of If I Only Had A Brain and (Simon & Garfunkel’s) Kathy’s Song, a couple originals (Nil Nisi Morte Bonum is hauntingly beautiful) and one bizarro silly spoken word track about a dancing horse with an ego problem. The CD was produced and arranged by Jerry Barry, also an outstanding musician who has worked with The Minstrels of Mayhem, Jim Hancock, and the late great Malcolm Smith. Before recording this solo CD, Thomas appeared regularly on the Renaissance Faire circuit with the Minstrels of Mayhem, and provided the show music for the Flaming Idiots and performance artist Danny Lord.
He’s a really talented guy, and while his music incorporates lots of different styles, it doesn’t really fit into any particular genre.
Plus he has really cool dreads for a white boy.
For ordering info contact: nappythomas@yahoo.com
Steve Million - wonderful jazz-ish piano composer. Not avant, not fusion, not anything in particular, just wonderful, solid, melodies not repetitive or predictable enough to be pop, so it’s jazz.
Los Straitjackets - Ventures for the new millennium.
Cashmere Jungle Lords - Dominic Carpin and whoever he’s got playing with him, it’s western jungle surf music. Not much recorded output, but “Southern Barber Supply” is pretty great.
I’d recommemd you check out Jeff Buckley, specifically Grace. IMHO, he was a modern day bard with an angelic voice that could make real angels weep. He rocked, he rolled, he seduced… when I hear his voice, I know what beauty is. Unfortunately, he’s not around anymore (tragically, he drowned in the mighty Mississippi a few years back) and whenever I hear the song “Grace”, it gives me chills:
There’s the moon asking to stay
Long enough for the clouds to fly me away
Well it’s my time coming, I’m not afraid to die
My fading voice sings of love, but she cries to the clicking of time,
Oh, time. Wait in the fire…
And she weeps on my arm
Walking to the bright lights in sorrow
Oh drink a bit of wine we both might go tomorrow
Oh my love…
And the rain is falling and I believe my time has come
It reminds me of the pain I might leave behind… Wait in the fire
And I feel them drown my name
So easy to know and forget with this kiss
I’m not afraid to go but it goes so slow…
*
It’s very sad that he won’t be making any more amazing music. He was incredible.
sigh
Dead Can Dance is haunting and soothing, they’ll take you on a journey. It’s a mix of Celtic/ Middle Eastern melodies and beats, and will move the core within you. Wonderful stuff… it’s almost magical. Only about 60% of their stuff has lyrics and each CD is a new world and style.
Here are some of my favorite CDs at the moment:
Anathema, A Fine Day to Exit
Arcturus, The Sham Mirrors
Candlemass, Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
Einherjer, Odin Owns Ye All
Emperor, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Ephel Duath, The Painter’s Palette
From Zero, One Nation Under
Into Eternity, Dead or Dreaming
Haggard, And Thou Shalt Trust…
Kyuss, Blues for the Red Sun
My Dying Bride, Turn Loose the Swans
Norther, Mirror of Madness
Opeth, Morningrise
Paradise Lost, Gothic
Porcupine Tree, In Absentia
Queen Adreena, Taxidermy
Rain Fell Within, Refuge
Tapping the Vein, The Damage
Therion, Theli
Trail of Tears, A New Dimension of Might
Within Temptation, Mother Earth
I’d be surprised if you manage to find any songs from any of these albums on your average file-sharing service.
Ditto.
**Reason For Leaving **
Somewhere between Reggae, Funk and 311.
**Know Boundaries **
Incredible Funk/Hip-Hop Hybrid, also quite a strong Rage influence.
Both out of madison.
The Negro Problem. A very talented group, led by a big black guy named Stew. Excellent lyricist… some of the wittiest lines you’ll ever hear. The music can sound like rock, blues, pop, and gets some hints of jazz. A very offbeat band.
Oh, and if you haven’t picked up David Byrne’s latest CD, Grown Backwards, you need to. You’ll never be a real boy until you do.
The God Machine - Scenes from the second storey, although it might be hard to track down
Shellac - 1000 hurts, At Action Park, Terraform
Minimal rock music, in that it rocks like a motherfucker and nobody plays guitar like Steve Albini.
a whisper in the noise
A bit like Shellac but with a string quartet
Tortoise, or any of the bands on the Thrill Jockey label
Converge - super heavy rock
David "Dudu Fisher–Israeli singer who made his stage debut as Jean ValJean in the London Les Miz. This man’s voice is absolutely amazing. I cannot begin to describe it! The best singer I’ve ever heard. If you run into anyone from Israel, ask them about Dudu Fisher. I once ran into someone who served in the Israeli Army with him.
He has recorded two songs from Phantom in Hebrew, and one of my dreams is to have him do the whole show.
Well, if haven’t listened to Big Star, you must buy their 2-albums-on-one-CD collection (#1 Record + Radio City) immediately. Very, very influential power-pop band from the early '70’s that never went anywhere due to record company problems.
Those who know of them, love them. If there are better, more beautiful, catchy songs in the rock canon than September Gurls, Back of a Car, Thirteen, and Give Me One More Chance, I don’t know of them.
Try The Cynics newest one Living Is The Best Revenge, a perfect blend of jangly Byrds style pop (Ballad of JC Holmes) and raging fuzzed out garage punk psychedelia(Shine) to awesome 60s covers like Roky Erickson’s classic "She Lives In A Time Of Her Own). THe Cynics have been Pittsburgh’s greatest band for almost twenty years now, and they’re still as great as ever.
Augie March.
They are a band from Melbourne, Australia who make stunning, literary music. Their lyrics are breathtaking, and verge on the poetic, and tend to be very different to usual rock lyrics.
For instance, There Is No Such Place begins:
“There is no such place, o, yes, I have seen it too
Just a little different from how you do.
A river winding blue among the dunes and a marble bed
And a sun that doesn’t set, but settles”
The Hole In Your Roof:
“What do the men say to the women when they lay down at night
all naked of arms from the old imagined fight?
And how do the women hear? In kind and in likeness of light -
“In kindness you needn’t and neither do I, we are both of us capable of
flight”. And as if to give proof
She jumped through the hole in the roof.”
Their music tends to range from Jeff Buckley-esque guitar atmospherics, to rollicking blues and banjo-picked folk songs. It’s very ambitious, but such is their talent that their output not only matches their ambition, it seems as if they fulfil their ambitions with ease. If they had the distribution, I’m sure they would be held in as high esteem as bands such as Radiohead are.
You should get either of their albums, Sunset Studies or Strange Bird. If you wish to listen to some tracks first, see if you can hunt down either of the aforementioned The Hole in Your Roof or There Is No Such Place, or try Heartbeat and Sails, This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers or Sunstroke House.
Bond is a classically trained string quartet who play electrified instruments in front of what can best be termed a rock orchestra. The music is fun, upbeat, driving, and superbly played. I don’t understand why they seem to be completely unknown in the U.S. after two hit worldwide albums.
M Ward
I’ve been listening to Denver Harbor recently.
They’re the Band Formerly Known as Fenix TX. A bit punky, but decently good. They’ve been playing them quite a bit on The Edge 103.9 here in Phoenix, and I dig 'em.
Not completely obscure but they don’t get regular air play (except in Ohio) so maybe you haven’t heard of Over the Rhine. They are somewhat folksie with an edge. Karen has a beautiful voice. They do some covers and a lot of original material. There are some MP3’s on their site.
You may not have heard of Mars Volta.
Iron and Wine
Pinetop Seven
Wylie and the Wild West
The Creek Dippers
Scott H. Biram
Freakwater
The New Pornographers