Gosh, if ANYONE of you know this, I’m going to FREAK… ok, let me start by saying there is a bunch of small island in the pacific known as the Mariana Islands…and he is THE best local artist from there…name’s JJ Concepcion… my fav. CD from him is “Primo”…alright, lost all you guy’s interest so I’m going to shut my mouth now…but he’s my fav!!
Without question, my favorite CD that no one has ever heard of (well, in America, anyway – outside of these shores, I am not so sure) is Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock. It is such a far cry from their synth-heavy 80’s eponymous novelty hit that you will swear it isn’t the same group.
Their last CD as a group, released in 1991, it contains five lengthy pieces of “classical jazz” that alternate between sparse, near quiet passages to dense, chaotic interludes and depict (to me, anyway) an individual’s (some say singer Mark Hollis’s) descent into the emotional abyss of clinical depression. It’s also gotta be one of the most beautiful goddamned things I have ever heard. Stunning. Still. Even now, ten years after I first heard it.
When I put it on for my friends (I have to hand select the ones I play it for – not everyone is capable of appreciating such greatness), their reaction is almost always the same: the opposite of mine, face pinched, as if having just eaten a lemon, peel and all. Disappointed yet again, I take it out of the CD player and stuff it back in its case, then put on something equally rare from my collection, but a bit more palatable (the Sugarcubes “Birthday” CD5 with the Jesus and Mary Chain backing up Bjork, for instance). I pretend as if I never even brought it up in the first place.
Then, later, when I am all alone, I put the headphones on, slip in Laughing Stock, and descend into my own little madness for 45 minutes.
Bliss.
That is a good one. I had the single with all of the versions on, but it got lost.
David “Dudu” Fisher is so obscure that even people into musical theatre haven’t heard of him. From Israel, he was a cantor until he saw Les Miserable in London. He attended the next audition and got the part of Jean Valjean. He laer played the part in Israel, and wants to bring Phantom there.
He has recorded two CDS of showtunes in Hebrew, and also an English CD that is usually found in cheap CD bins. I’ve introduced a lot of musical theatre fans to him, and their mouths just fall open when they hear his voice.
The Microphones - Don’t Wake Me Up.
Brilliant fscking album.
OBTW, I’ve got Röyksopp’s Eple (Actally, I have Melody A.M., but it counts, right?) so whoever posted it should get two lashes with a wet noodle.
I’d have to agree that Martin Sexton - The American is a great album. Fabulous to sing along to while you’re driving with the windows down. I thought I should add Stacey Earle - Simple Gearle.
Being the Jeferson Airplane fan that I am, I purchased this CD from Best Buy, and I was glad I did. It is a truly great recording.
“Killer Klowns” by the Dickies, its from the great B movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space
tony, i gots to agree with you on that one. DICKIES RULE.
PACIFIST KLOWNS DROOL.
also, a band called flick . . . their cd, “the perfect kellulight,” is an admirable attempt at a radiohead sonic-experimentation thing.
Seven More Minutes by The Rentals.
Its probably very popular in the US but if you are an Australian like me, then chances of you having a sing song with some friends to this one are slim to none.
Weezer have a bit of a following down under but unfortunately we Rentals fans are few and far between. I actually got the CD whilst in LA, otherwise I am sure I would never have heard of them here.
On that though, there are so many great Aussie bands who just cannot get off the ground in the international arena. We have to bring suitcases of CD’s when we travel if we ever want to hear them. Give Eskimo Joe a listen if you ever cross paths…or Powderfinger…the list could go on!
My favourite album of 2001:
“Grinning Cat” by Susumu Yokota
I’m into some relatively obscure, but by no means inaccessible, electronic music. I’ve just posted my picks for 2001 and invite you to peruse:
Martin does some great stuff. A very good friend of mine that used to be the tour manager for Moxy Früvous bacame tour manager for Martin last year. Caught a bunch of his shows and loved every one. His drummer, Joe, is not only one of my favourite percussionists, but also has a dead-sexy New Yawk accent. Love those guys.
I’m duly impressed, lots and lots of great bands in here. Some of these are probably a lot more well known than I’d like to think, but I rarely have anyone know them when I play them at parties or whatnot.
Miles Davis/Michel Legrand - Dingo
Prefab Sprout - Jordan - the Comeback
Moxy Früvous - the B album
Hotel Faux Pas - Wiggle Like This
Stereolab - Dots and Loops
And for those of you that are CMJ fans, # 50 is my stone-cold favourite ever. Well worth grabbing.
Shit, I’m trying to go off the top of my head and I don’t have my CDs here. Possibly more later…
I just went back to my stacks and looked at CMJ #50. I agree. It’s one of the better ones. I ended up buying Stereolab and Cornershop, as I recall.
But I actually wound up buying at least SIX of the CDs featured on CMJ #77: Joe Strummer (terrific), Kittie (OK, but can’t listen to it straight through), Cobra Killer (virtually inlistenable, but fun to bring out at parties), Charlatans UK (solid, if unspectacular), Arto Lindsay (see Kittie), and (my favorite of the bunch) Le Tigre (best damn New Wave record released in the last five years). One or two is the norm, but SIX is a record for me. And I have been a subscriber for a LONG time.
As an aside, has anyone who subscribes to CMJ received their October issue (Ryan Adams on the cover, I believe)? How about November? They have had some distribution problems a couple of times in the past, but this is the worst I have seen.
“Stickey’s Children” by Duck Duck. Great ska/humor band from the early '90s. I love those guys.
Also, I love “Pure” by the Golden Palominos. Probably not so rare, but I haven’t found anyone else who has it. Great, great stuff.
I agree too, and they are wonderful live. Not that I knew who they were before the concert though (they played with Lit and The Offspring a couple of summers ago).
I never really thought much of his music (I don’t particularly like Stepping Stone, or My Baby’s Got Sauce for example) until Rodeo Clowns came out as a single…boy, that one stays in your head 
Though I’m not a fan of the Push Stars, I do like everything I’ve heard off of that and other Rasputina albums. One of my buddies is a former classical musician, and he was all excited because “They rock and they play chello!” so I started listening to them too…
Now that I’ve read more of people’s cds, does anyone else like Self and/or Radish? I’m not sure how obscure they are but I usually get blank looks when mentioning either.
Steriod Maximus…very good…
At the moment I’m listening to Odessy Number Five by Powderfinger. Sort of Foo Fighters meet Radiohead.
I also would recomend Unit by Regurgitator. Think Devo raised on late 80’s rap/pop music.
Gotta love 'em! I have a few of Mr. Harvey’s CDs, but I suppose that my favorite is BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert. It includes some of my favorites:
[ul]*
[li]The Faith Healer[/li][li]Midnight Moses[/li][li]Gang Bang[/li][li]Framed[/li][li]There’s No Lights on the Christmas Tree Mother, They’re Burning Big Louie Tonight[/li][/ul]*
No-one seems to have heard of The Mermen. I love their Glorious Lethal Euphoria. The Mermen describe their music as “anti-surf.” Think surf, but with more aggression and more complexity. They somehow manage to redo “Pipeline” and cover a Brahams piece (maybe I should list this in the “Best Covers” thread) on that same CD. And it somehow all works together! Amazing.
Victor Mecyssne’s Personal Mercury is another great obscure CD. Mecyssne writes original blues tunes with sharp, perceptive lyrics and slow, sensuous melodies. He’s also got a deeply textured voice that flows over you like crushed liquid velvet.
I’m a fan of a lot of Brazilian and Brazil-inspired stuff. David Byrne’s Beleza Tropical is one of my favorite CDs of all time. So is Roberto Carlos’s E Prohibido Fumar. They’re both pretty well-known in Brazil, I’ve heard, but very few Americans seem to know who they are.
(Incidentally–I didn’t know about either of those CDs, either, until my boyfriend introduced me to them. He teaches Spanish and Portuguese, so he knows a lot of really cool music. He recently picked up a copy of Caetano Veloso’s Noites di Norte, but I haven’t listened to it yet.)
BTW–I’m also a Moxy Fruvous fan, but I much prefer their funny, wacky, geeky, and/or semi-political stuff to the semi-serious teeny-bopper pop crap they often turn out.
[slight hijack] Any other Tom Lehrer fans on this board? I don’t have any of the CDs, but my parents had a lot of the original stuff on vinyl. I’ve got a copy of Too Many Songs by Tom Leher, but I miss the recordings. [/slight hijack.]
Anyone familiar with the band Scraping Foetus Off
the Wheel? They seem to change their name with each
album, but always with the Foetus theme: Foetus, Inc.,
You’ve Got Foetus on Your Breath, etc. I really like
the Foetus LP “Nail”. The others aren’t that special,
but “Nail” rocks.
When I was in high school I found this alternative
music album in the very tiny alternative bin of a local
music store. It was something unheard of but I bought
it on a whim and ended up loving it so much I played it
twice (or more) a day. Just awesome- but no one I knew
ever heard of that band…until I was a year or so out
of high school when suddenly everyone was advising me
to check out “this cool new band” that I had already been
listening to for ages!
I guess you never can tell…
Romana
P.S. Oh, yeah, and that band? It was Nine Inch Nails
Yes, several.
The originals? Several years ago I found a copy of Songs by Tom Lehrer on 10-inch vinyl.
Rhino Records has a great box set called The Remains of Tom Lehrer that includes just about everything he ever recorded. There’s a videotape called Hey, Mr. Producer (a tribute concert for theatrical producer Cameron Macintosh) which includes Tom Lehrer. And while we’re talking about favorite, obscure CDs, there’s That Was That Was the Week That Was, a compilation from the '60s TV show, some of the most viscious political satire I’ve ever heard.