In my circle of friends, I'm the guy that's always listening to something new. One week it's reggae, the next it can be downtempo acid jazz, and so on. I don't claim that gives me superior taste, but I often wind up sharing new tracks that I've heard with my friends who, for lack of a better word, listen to mainly "popular" music. That doesn't imply what they're listening to is shit, but just that if it isn't played on the radio, they probably haven't heard it. Very few of them have a desire to go out and dig up some more obscure stuff.
God, that came out way more pretentious than I was hoping.
Here's what I'm driving at: I've found a lot of smaller or little known bands that I would love for more people to hear. I know I'm not alone in that regard, and I bet that a fair amount of you have a certain favorite group that hasn't had a Top 100 hit, isn't getting (or never had) any radio airplay, and has never had a viral music video. If you were listening to one of your favorites, had someone go "oh that sounds awesome, what's their name?" and turned someone onto something new, this is the thread to share it.
I've got no power to enforce these following rules, but here's what I have in mind:
- The band can't have a major Top 200 album or Top 100 hit in the US. Not because that makes them "too mainstream" or anything stupid like that, but it simply means it's probably easy enough to find. This is about stuff that you feel isn't getting the exposure that it should.
- Preferably little to no radio airplay. Simply for the reason above; if it's going out over the air, it's probably popular enough that it doesn't need your help to promote it.
- Keep in mind that this is shit you want other people to hear. I'm not going to ostracize anyone for their music taste (because mine is as weird as you can get, probably), but if you listen to something ironically or as a guilty pleasure, that's probably the wrong thing to choose for this thread. This is stuff you think is awesome, not stuff you know is crappy but you like it despite that. Just...use your own judgement.
- Since this is primarily an English language forum, feel free to suggest any non-English music that is popular where you are (or that you know is popular in its home country if you don't live there) but doesn't have a lot of western exposure. Chances are, you're in the minority here, and that trumps the first two categories. I'm always looking for non-English stuff to listen to, so as long as their success hasn't leaked over into western markets (for instance, Rammstein, as awesome as they are, is one of the biggest German bands to cross that barrier and probably doesn't need the extra push, as they hit the Top 200 in the US).
Really, I want this to be all about awesome, different music that deserves to be heard by more people. New or old, doesn't matter. And with that exposition out of the way, my first entry:
Grimy Styles
Grimy Styles has to be one of the most relaxing bands to listen to, period. The base is dub, but they blend in some crazy amounts of diversity, whether it's Middle Eastern, Afro pop, or American Soul. As an instrumental group, I find that my mind winds up drifting while listening to it, at least until they get into an uptempo kick and add a bit of whimsy back into things. It's not your typical reggae group, I'll say that much.
Enough talk, here's three of what I consider to be their best tracks.
This was the first track that I ever heard, accompanied by a Just Cause 2 clip of airplanes being tethered together, oddly enough. I think this is the most relaxing thing I have on my iPod at the moment, bar none. The guitar work feels light even as it goes into the solo, before drifting off for the remainder of the run-time.
Smokin' On the Deck (you'll have to excuse the Grooveshark link, Youtube doesn't have this in acceptable quality) - I absolutely love the bass line. It's also a good showcase of something with a bit more energy than "Sound Czech", although it's still pretty relaxing as is typical of most of their material.
Spectre (again, my apologies. We are dealing with fairly obscure bands, keep in mind) - This has some nice tempo changes to it, and some great drum work. Extensive use of a melodica, too, which you'll find runs through most of their music.
All of those tracks are off of their album called "Rewind", which you can find on iTunes here. Along with that, they have one other full length album called "Restoration of the Bathhouse". I don't know if they tour anymore, but they were primarily Austin, Texas based, which put them far out of my reach, unfortunately.
Anyway, that's the first band I'd like to share. I'm looking forward to seeing what hidden gems you all have been listening to; if this thread hooks one person on a new band, I'll be more than happy.
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