i second the belle and sebastian…
a friend of mine just turned me on to them…
great stuff
-david
i know you’re down with the Milk (and i still pimp 'em as training music) … i haven’t gone completist on spoon as of yet.
From the Detroit area my favorites…Twistin’ Tarantulas, Makkafroi, Broadzilla, and Gore Gore Girls. First is rockabilly, second is mellow blues/rock. The last two are hardrock/metal/punk bands with some gals who are hot and rock!
Material Issue–Freak City Soundtrack is great, and obscure. eddie.
Great thread - a lot of good recommendations (e.g. Fugazi and Slaid Cleaves). I’m not sure some of these recommendations qualify as unknown or obscure (e.g. TV on Radio, Third Eye Blind, etc.). Many of them I’ve never heard of and will have to look into.
Here are a few more - maybe they are unknown to some of you: Spacemen 3 - “The Perfect Prescription” – this came out in the 80s and is totally psychedelic – pretty unusual for the 80s The Bad Plus - “These Are Vistas” & “Give” These guys are superior jazz musicians disguised as a power rock trio. Or maybe they are a power rock trio disguised as superior jazz musicians. Upright bass, piano and drums. They riff off of modern rock & pop tunes and play originals and wail harder than most metal groups with incredible virtuosity. Their version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” will blow you away. Bran Van 3000 - bizarre Canadian rap/electronica/art rock group with a sense of humor from a few years ago. Originally signed on the Beastie Boys’ Grand Royale label. Funny lyrics and song titles (e.g. “Gimme Sheldon”) and cool beats keep it humming along.Red, Hot & Riot - not a group, but a collaboration album with numerous artists riffing on old Fela Kuti afro-jazz/rock tunes (if you don’t know Fela, you must check him out as well). So hot. The Goats, “Not Your Typical American” - now defunct Philly left-wing rap trio from early 90s with excellent obsolete (yet still relevant) political lyrics **Juana Molina **- beautiful “sleepy” rock from Argentinian diva Jurassic 5 - new take on old school hip hop straight from LAStephen Malkmus & the Jicks, “Pig Lib” - great straight-ahead album from former Pavement front man complete with witty lyrics (if you don’t know Pavement, you must check them out).
“Meat Puppets - Too High To Die”
Miss them incredibly. Saw them like 4 or 5 times in Portland (88-94). They always played so fast and sloppy. Always a great show. Second only to the Surfers. … I think one of the brothers Kirkwood is pretty much gone (drugs) but the other is OK? Nostalgia indeed.
Ike Reilly–Salesmen & Racists or Sparkle in the Finish
" bluesy folk punk is all nods to Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, the Velvet Underground, and on one occasion Def Leppard (“Our Lady Of Arturo”), but his wordplay is pure hip-hop. Sneering observations tumble rhythmically from his maw on tunes about sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, and not being particularly good at any of them. It’s underdog rock for proud underachievers."
(4 out of 5 stars)
You’re living in the wrong town if you never hear these bands on the radio. I bet I haven’t driven to work once in the last year without hearing interpol, modest mouse, and the postal service.
If you like irish inspired punk look up Dropkick Murphy’s and Lick the Tins.
My favorite local seattle band lately is Visqueen. Other good local music, Hagfish, The Divorce, MXPX, The Muffs, The Girls. Anything from the label Dirtnap Records is usually fairly rockin’.
Most of this stuff and most of the stuff posted in this thread I wouldn’t normally categorize as unknown, but seeing as this is a triathlon forum and not a NME one: Elliott Smith: just about anything, my faves are XO and his self-titled release Aesop Rock: Labor Days - awesome hip-hop with terrific, thought provoking lyrics Red House Painters: the 1st self titled(there are two) or Ocean Beach Dead Can Dance: Within the Realm of a Dying Sun or Towards the Within Nick Drake: really, anything The Goats: Tricks of the Shade - hip-hop All About Eve: Scarlet and Other Stories Grant Lee Buffalo: Mighty Joe Moon PJ Harvey: To bring You My Love Built to Spill: Keep it Like a Secret
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Gotta love Spacemen 3 and The Goats!
Let’s not forget Man or Astroman?. One of the greatest surf bands ever.
I second that emotion! Are they still around, Tibbs?
http://www.bobschneidermusic.com/
Bob Schneider from Austin, I think he used to date Sandra Bullock. Anyway, ‘Songs Sung and Played on the Guitar at the Same Time’ is a great album. He also has a couple of other bands, the Scabs and the Ugly Americans. Good stuff if you like Tom Waits, Wilco style of music.
My CD player is a constant rotation of the Killers, Interpol, Muse, The Smiths and Green Day…stuff most everyone has heard of.
ok, i do hear some of my bands on the radio … though not nearly as much as the cookie-cutter faux-grunge crap that clogs my ears …
also, one of the local “alt-rock” format radio stations just went SPANISH-LANGUAGE!!! not that i have any kind of problem with spanish-language stations, but in an area (baltimore-DC), where the radio is already devoid of any non-mainstream stations, we can not afford to lose even a marginal contributor to the independent music scene!!
I third Spoon’s Kill the Moonlight. That suckah was in my cd player for months. I’m an Austinite and those guys are soooo underrated. Ironically, I found out about the album cuz it showed up in the Best Albums of 2002 in the New Yorker.
Go Figure.
Speaking of unknown Austin/Chicago bands, Poi Dog Pondering was/is a great live band. The last album that was on my screen was Volo, Volo which is pretty decent. A lot of their studio fare doesn’t capture their live energy.
Let’s not forget Man or Astroman?. One of the greatest surf bands ever. Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard is my god!
Uranus is a planet, seventh from the sun
Uranus is a planet; it’s not the well-known one
My CD holder fell over last night, I think I should do it more often, the Gems:
Too late to catch them but captured for our enjoyment forever on plastic list: Little Sister Live (Club Dada), The Flaiming Oh’s Live at Moby Dicks, The Suburbs Live, The Gear Daddies Can’t Hardly Wait, The Plimsouls, Del Fuegos Boston MA,
Still around, The Nadas Live
And the one that made it to the car this morning, as the linear notes say, “From the mean streets of Baton Rouge to the jungles of Vietnam” from Austin Texas, Michael E. Johnson and the Killer Bees, Live in Berlin.
A few more … some better known than others:
Townes Van Zandt
Lucinda Williams
Owen Temple
Cory Morrow
The Pixies
Charlie Robison
Bruce Robison
Flatlanders
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Iris Dement
Not really good training music, but Dan Bern’s 1993 album titled Dan Bern is great. He’s a singer/songwriter with a unique sense of humor.
I, Swinger by Combstible Edison is also very good if you’re in the mood for lounge music.
check out www.kexp.org
A local seattle station. they stream on the web.
they are a public radio station that plays everything from rockabilly to electronic to punk to roadhouse. They also have a large archive collection of live stuff from bands playing in their studio you can listen to.
Racer X - especially Second Heat album. I defy you not to increase cadence whilst listening to ‘Scarified’