DiS Users 100 Albums you've never heard
The format of this thread will pan out something like this:
Artist "Album" (Year)
Brief Description.
Youtube/Soundcloud/other link to example track.
One Album per line.
When we get to 100 albums, we close the thread (or keep going if we've a mind).
I'll get things started with some of the ones I've posted already.
- Relevant artist taggings:
- None
Thread not appearing correctly? Click here to rebuild | Report this


Virginia Astley - From Gardens Where We Feel Secure
(1983)
Some hazy impressionism in perfectly minimimal and lazy english countryside ambient recordings with piano and gentle voice
just great with pimms and lemonade on the lawn
It's the cycle of a summer's day and it's brilliant
sample track; A long summer since past
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=002pBPeRorg
Fingers Inc "Another Side" (1988)
The first and greatest Chicago House album from Larry Heard and Robert Owens. It was a double album, and spooky and brilliant from start to finish.
http://youtu.be/qa3YBDXY7c4
The Orchids - Unholy Soul
(1991)
Glasgow 'twee pop' (though more than that) on Sarah records
Here's the album opener
Me and the Black and White Dream
gah, it's not on yt
probably on spotify ... go have a look
Or just buy the record
it is on spotify
here you go
http://open.spotify.com/album/6J3djwRqNLMqdr5xtOCXYT
Blue Aeroplanes - Friend, Lover, Plane
This is actually a double compilation LP from (1988)
The Blue Aeroplanes were what you might imagine from a group locked in to the situationist early Factory records mindset but growing up in the countryside and dreaming of New York, Lou Reed, Warhol among the long grass
a great live band with umpteen guitarists and a singer who doesn't sing, just delivers a sneer - though more lyrical than Mark E.Smith
here's a track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcVhp1ezeTw&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLC70F33FFA87FC12C
oh, and its FriendLoverPlane
all one word
Bussetti- "Where Have You Been?" (2006)
enjoyable spacey funk; roughly what Massive Attack would sound like if in a tiny jazz club.
They've split up now. Album only available from TuneTribe.
http://www.myspace.com/bussetti has some of their songs, but the best solution is to actually buy it.
Brilliant Corners - Everything I Ever Wanted
Another compilation record of early EPs from another Bristol band of the same period (1988)
Much more 'bedsit' that The Blue Aeroplanes
Just a great dolescum jangle pop record. Love it completely.
can't find any decent links , I'll look again later
OK, the opening track is on youtube
Rambling Rose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUks1xPLqss
Arvo Pärt - Für Alina
minimalist masterpiece (first performed in 1976 but the album I have is the ECM release from 199)
a cycle of 3 versions the minimal piano & cello piece Spiegel im Spiegel punctuated with two versions of Für Alina
you have heard these pieces before
just sublime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmafNVimRbI
I think a fair few people will have heard this
but it's still a great shout because everyone should hear it.
Anastasia Screamed "Laughing Down the Limehouse" (1990)
Boston band, who took the hardcore/artcore sound and created an album that sounds unique and beautiful. Chick Graining's vocals are all over the fucking place, in the most brilliant way. He went on to form Scarce, had a brain aneurysm in 1995, went into a coma, but recovered.
(can't find a link - I'll load one up myself later)
Anastasia Screamed "Samantha Black"
Possibly one of may favourite singles from this era - from the Limehouse album. Just great.
http://youtu.be/73-9k4BlFBw
Roisin Murphy - Ruby Blue
(2005)
Moloko front woman and undisputed Sexiest Living Organism In The Universe Ever leaves her old boyfriend and hooks up (musically) with the totally bonkers Matthew Herbert and makes totally not bonkers stuff like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU9q8PQ3sns&ob=av3e
and totally completely bonkers stuff like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SebvKzcWlzs
time for some new stuff Roisin if you're listening
Great album
Was not a fan of the follow up album, but this one was ace.
Both are great. I like the new one better actually.
Ruby Blue is def more swanky while overpowered is more pop focused. The recording and sound on both lp's is perfection.
I love the toy percussion sounds. This song is insanely good. "Dear Diary" is genius. I've been listening to this album for many years now.
album, not song.
She's so damn great.
The Jaz - To Your Soul
(1990)
Perhaps most notable for being the young Jay-Z's first recorded output before he and his mentor Jaz went their separate ways (he appears on 3 tracks) but overall a strong, funky hip-hop record of social consciousness
Very much a record of its time but I love that time - Afrocentric Nubian empowerment in New York City and the high point of the Nation Of Islam's influence on young, black America - hip hop of this period seems to have a mission and a purpose
Here's Jaz & Jay-Z on The Originators - funky as hell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1thvEtGM5M
love this little break on the record too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cowoMlmDUyY
brilliant
Screaming Blue Messiahs - "Gun Shy" - 1986
best British rock LP ever.
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM5jRl4Ijtg
Screaming Blue Messiahs - "Gun Shy" - 1986
It's good, but still prefer their '84 debut "Good And Gone" - the title track and Tracking The Dog are fabulous and, arguably, the best stuff they did. Bowie was a big fan. Saw them at the T&C with the 3 Johns in support - outstanding night! Much missed.
yep
lots of love for that first screaming blue messiahs record.
lovely stuff
Compulsion - Comforter
(1994)
Lumped in with some half arsed New Wave of New Wave scene by the NME this Irish band was basically a mid atlantic grunge band
they fucking rocked
this is a great debut record - proper beefy
Guitarist Garret Lee later went on to sully his name by producing stadium snooze records for U2 and Snow Patrol
Here's the dubiously titled Rapejacket
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyUD5cyEcZk&feature=related
Human Sexual Response - In a Roman Mood
(1981)
Often described as a New Wave band this Boston four piece produced 2 great albums. This one being the one with lesser critical and commercial success but the one I prefer.
It features a cover and a couple of throwaway tracks but the overall work is really well balanced with some great vocal harmonies and particularly the slow songs have real weight.
For 1981 it was an indie/alternative/college rock album ahead of its time and you can clearly here how it influenced a whole raft of later bands (The REM track Low from Automatic for the people is this album's track Bodyguard in lesser form)
Pick of the tracks for me is the slightly surreal Land of the Glass Pinecones which luckily for us someone filmed them doing a live version of and put on ytube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swXqa_jkfvs
awesome stuff
oh, and I forgot to mention
members went on to play in Bob Mould's Sugar and in Frank Black's Catholics
^this is for Human Sexual Response
hear*
Troubles - Sen'Taur
Sorry....
Post-rocky goodness from some (then) members of Hope of the States.
It really is quite stunning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnmuhNFlkHI
Fucks sake.
This is for Troubles.
Melanie "Candles In The Rain" (1970)
Melanie Safka was a flower-power folk singer, but her songs were not really protest songs, just idiosyncratic musings on life and love. And her voice is completely amazing, like a child singing about worldly things - a precursor to Liz Fraser or Kate Bush.
http://youtu.be/WEQzX4AO4X4
It's Immaterial - Life's Hard And Then You Die
Technicolourful, multi-genred mid 80s indie-rock more atmospheric than almost anything else from the era with gorgeous melodies, fantastic arrangements, tight-as-hell playing, sumptuous production and heartfelt-yet-often batshit lyrics.
Ed's Funky Diner (shoulda been a huge follow up hit to their *actual* hit. wasn't. the title not being in the words can't have helped) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL1h39PxInI
Festival Time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbdaNAk58B8
i cheated and picked 2 U tube clips.
great record this
Surely 'Song' is the essential, hardly heard, It's Immaterial album?
hm well
SONG is a bit one note for me, so not the one i'd recommend to folk. even less known than the debut though yeah probably, i just don't like it as much.
It's that quiet, consistent, intensity that I love about 'Song'
A truly classic record, one I prefer even to the much trendier and better known Talk Talk albums.
yeah i like it plenty just hasn't got that unhunged all-over-the-place vibe as the debut
dunno if you've seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_3_bcjxwVk
I do like the first album
but it has the slight suspicion of 'novelty record' hanging over it.
Note: Just posting the name of the album is lazy posting
We want some more information and a link!
I can fill that in underneath later yeah?
good enough for ya?
http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/music/4324063#r6557656
Gary Numan - Telekon
This is in the new NME list too
is it?
bollocks
I was trying to avoid repeating any of their suggestions (though many of them are obviously excellent)
This record (1980) is about as stark as music can possibly get
it will totally freeze your insides and turn you into a robot
It is the diametric opposite of soul
this is I Dream of Wires
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOwwW9SOoOw
actually
Remember I Was Vapour is much closer to the overall mood of the album
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oefjfRxeXcs&feature=related
Troyka- "Troyka" (1970)
Not to be confused with the modern jazz outfit (who are also great), this is atonal, strange but very very catchy freak-rock/hard-rock.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aMDtRSxthA sounds like Led Zappa
Clem Snide "Your Favorite Music" (1999)
Beautifully fragile alt-Americana, capturing a sense of melancholy about little towns along with their inherent beauty and solitude. One of those albums which will break your heart and make you dance.
Example track: 1989 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWbDx9LIl80
Enjoying this track a lot. Might get this.
Great!
A few more tracks from the same album:
I Love The Unknown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RviyzMbbRz4
Your Favorite Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hrjaWtiGV8
The Dairy Queen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53R-c1zLc8k
All of these
such a perfect album.
Clem Snide "Your Favorite Music" (1999)
Totally agree - outstanding album. Eef Barzelay is a brilliant, droll-as-fuck songwriter. Just as brilliant is the follow-up, '91's "The Ghost Of Fashion" - check out 'Moment In The Sun' and 'Joan Jett Of Arc'. See them (or one of his solo shows) live, well worth the effort.
Ghost of Fashion is great
he's like the alt.americana babybird.
fix
Thousand Yard Stare - Hands On (1992)
Unfairly thrown in with the grebo and shoegaze genres of the early 90s, sounded like neither although they did play the legendary Slough Festival in 1991 with Ride and Slowdive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzpzVy7NAzk
^Excellent guitar album...
...might stick that on later.
The Will Be Fireworks - There Will Be Fireworks
This album is just stunning. I'd say the best debut album by a Scottish band since Aereogramme's 'A Story in White'
I guess if you were lazy you could brand this post rock but there's much more going on in there. If you like The National then you're probably going to like this record a lot.
Cannot recommend it enough.
Stream / buy here - http://therewillbefireworks.bandcamp.com/album/there-will-be-fireworks
(2009)
foreign thoughts is a tune
How does the rest measure?
think they're working on another just now
I'd say the rest of it pretty much measures up to Foreign Thoughts
It's quite a consistent album, if you like that track then you'll definitely like the rest of the album.
Yeah, they are working on the follow up right now. There's a couple of tracks surfaced and they sound fantastic so far. Plus they released an EP at Christmas time.
cheers man
will definitely have a gander.
Kent - Isola 1997 (english version 1998)
pablo honey/bends era indie from Swedish Band.
If you were here
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=if+you+were+here+kent+you+tube+&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCAQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DS2YfiqRgINI&ei=BEMyT_WRO8j14QTgxsWZBQ&usg=AFQjCNErre_vu8E_Rt0Csr0H9Iuxoy9zUQ&sig2=eGBLPodkiKIpl5AYtTHt3A
Yep.
This is a great indie rock album. I don't think they ever did anything anywhere near as good as this though. Their other albums seemed pretty week to me. Also - always thought it was strange that a Scandinavian band would name themselves after an English county.
rebuild
Th' Faith Healers - Lido (1992)
One of the three initial bands on the Too Pure label, along with PJ Harvey and Stereolab, their sound is midway between that of their former label mates - bluesy rock guitar, menacing female vocals and staccato krautrock rhythms.
They have recently reformed to perform live at the Breeders and My Bloody Valentine ATPs.
Example track - Don't Jones Me:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nM6CPzoZ0I
totally forgot about this record
I have a promo of it somewhere
on cassette!
this is so good
thanks
Went into a small second hand record store over ten years ago.
Was looking for some Ride. There was none. Didn't wanna go home empty handed. Bought this solely on the basis of the cover photo. Wasn't disappointed. A really really marvellous album full of guts and conviction. I revisit it regularly. File under: Always makes me glad to be alive.
Motoro Faam - And Watercycles (2008)
Who cares if i go on about this all the time? There's a reason. No vocals, guitars, bass or drums, neither time signatures nor 'hooks', but simply the most breathtaking album i've ever heard. i guess you'd call it 'neo-classical', and i've heard 'ambient' and 'post-rock' used by some, but i can't find anything i'd line it up next to. the piano work is stunning, as are the samples, and the 5th and 6th tracks are musical perfection for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TmOGUJ4o-I
I started listening to this last year because of your repeated mentioning of it
thanks!
this is great
cheers!
no problem :)
Medications - Completely Removed (2010, apparently. Dischord)
Former Faraquet and Smart Went Crazy duo make crackin', jangly off killer pop album. Brilliant album.
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=GB#/watch?v=p4-jO5hPl8E
I'll try again - do listen!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4-jO5hPl8E
Love those harmonies when they appear!
smashsmashsmash
Larry Heard - Genesis
1998
Lush deep house from the master. Blondes, Teengirl Fantasy etc listen and learn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-68mINkobs&feature=youtube_gdata_player
best thread all year
difficult to guess what records DiSsers have never heard
Safe to assume that DiS has heard every Album made by
Talking Heads
Human League
New Order
Smiths
etc. for example
but is it safe to assume they have heard every album made by
Redhouse Painters
Galaxie 500
Stereolab
Lush
Chapterhouse
etc???
or maybe there's pretty big pop albums from the past and present that they've never heard because y'know they preferred their earlier stuff and that
what's the consensus here? If I talk about Buffalo Tom or Luscious Jackson will everyone just tut and shake their heads?
I'd say go for it...
...a lot of DiSsers are grasshoppers so it's entirely possible that, given most of those artists were releasing stuff 20 years ago, much of that could have passed them by.
(plus I like all of those bands)
well, no time now
maybe later if there's space left on the list
Donald Byrd - Ethiopian Knights
(1971)
Just 3 funk drenched jazz jams
Light one up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jdwbkqm88U
Augie March - Strange Bird (2002)
i'm fully aware that i bang on about this lot every chance i get. but they're worth my haranguing. moderately well known in Australia but virtually unheard of outside, their Strange Bird LP is one of the finest things i've ever heard. got killer reviews - P4K, Rolling Stone, iTunes (when it was re-released in '04), every single Australian publication going - but none of it has proved to matter much. a lost gem, if ever i heard one.
this is one of the singles; Little Wonder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht0FaJcQVgg
Clann Zu - Black Coats & Bandages (2004)
Waterford-born Declan De Barra emigrated to Australia in 1998 forming five-piece Clann Zu, though always injecting their work with a sense of Celtic-folk, they'd always hidden behind more electronic experimentation. Stripping everything back on their 2nd full-length LP and furthering their Irish proved devastatingly effective.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujtsAOvWibY
furthering their Irish?
Technically correct I guess as they included two Celtic-language tracks. Think I meant to type 'roots' somewhere in there though.
Julian Cope - Fried (1984)
I talked about this a whole bunch a couple of weeks ago. Possibly my favourite album ever.
Reynard The Fox, Sunspots, me singing, bill drummond said, the laughing boy - all GREAT
here's sunspots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0z8LukyzjY
Also, Skellington
Acid-fuelled campfire songs. All recorded live. Bloody brilliant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y45Zq-yKpRw
is that the one with him in the turtle shell?
yes
had my mind blown by Laughing Boy aged 16 at a mates' house
it was on the MGMT Late Night Tales mix too last year. definitely time for a Cope revival innit, i mean it seems criminal how under rated the guy is. he deserves some kind of knighthood just for single handedly reiniventing Scott Walker in the 1980s when no one else was even arsed about him.
Trixie's Big Red Motorbike - The Intimate Sound Of Trixie's Big Red Motorbike (recorded 1982-84, released 1995)
"The most obscure band ever". A brother and sister combo from the Isle Of White who made the twee-est of pop music during the early 80's. They used a bed as a bass drum and mail order guitars.
Probably one of my favourite bands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVfMbm31QO8
disappeared into obscurity
their records sell for decent money on Ebay. There's recently been an attempt to gather loads of information about them, and there is a retrospective album coming out on Valentine's Day.
Preferred their early, less commercial stuff tbf...
not at all :D
me and John D Traynor liked them
Wade - Hope to God
A couple of blokes from Red House Painters that aren't Mark Kozelek and a couple of women I've never heard of before or since. Early to mid 90's I think. Can't find any links but it's great.
+/- (plus/minus) - let's build a fire (japan bonus tracks version) - 2006
Alternative,indietronica, the masters of the sudden riff stop and start again, I could have just as happily listed the two previous album (s/t long playing debut album & you are here) as they are both exceptionally good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKrEmgxNltI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpgr4NWPLRc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87VOuf0sw1I&feature=related
Marie "Queenie" Lyons - Soul Fever (1970)
Absolute classic of funk and soul. Can't believe it's not better known. To my ear she's always seemed like a female Otis Redding
Forgot the links:
Fever (cover of the song made famous by Peggy Lee):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHOnM4yDOrc
Your Thing Aint No Good Without My Thing:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcofLWmIdD8
thee more shallows - more deep cuts - 2004
3 piece experimental indie rock. As the second of 3 great albums more deep cuts stands at the corssroads between the slightly more traditional indieness of their debut and the more electronic indie of their 3rd album book of bad breaks, Related bands are Ral partha vogelbacher & fops which both feature the frontman dee kessler, they've got most in common with bands such as dismemberment plan, grandaddy, clor, modest mouse and the like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1Idq00hSOA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XNf9b1tFEY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7oqYfZPFFY
enjoying this
this is rather lovely, thanks!
absolutely great shout! came here to say this
was listening to them quite a bit last month
hope they come back soon.
THIS THREAD RULES
totally agree
keep 'em coming
New Kingdom - Paradise Don't Come Cheap (1996)
One of those albums that is genuinely difficult to place genre-wise. left-field stoner hip-hop act make giant leap forward with a second album that mixes beats with psychedelic rock but not in way that is even neither remotely 'rap-metal' or worthy goatee-stroking hip-hop (trust me on this). A critical hit at the time but beyond the backpack hip-hop crowd didn't make much of a splash. One of my favourites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHcBDHrE45I
Gisli - How About That? (2004)
Like a more straightforward, peppy version of Beck, but with plenty of his own idiosyncrasies. His lyrics are great, swinging from laugh out loud funny to genuinely tender, and he can switch styles with ease, going from acoustic ballads to almost-rap to thrashy rock numbers.
How About That? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeGrog57GbY
Worries - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWdNLBNHOPE
Spore - s/t (1993)
From Boston, released on local label Taang! Records.
Dark, intense noise rock with the very angry lead singer Mona Elliot's vocals going over the top. One of the tracks on this album is featured in the film Natural Born Killers (but not found on the official soundtrack). Spore released a second album (Giant) the following year before disappearing into oblivion. Members of the band would later turn up in Victory At Sea, 27 and Isis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biOztAL8DIQ
Doyle and the Fourfathers- 'Man Made' (2011)
Manc combo. Some people may have heard this, but it was my overlooked record of last year. They had a self-released debut which wasn't very good, but this combines the chiming harmonies of Steely Dan with the miserablism of The Smiths and Big Star. A world of male loneliness is covered by lightness, and reached only in lyrics and scattered guitar breakdowns. They've got a classic in them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Zbv6E2a3E
Lincoln- 'Barcelona' EP (2002)
Americana, yes, but without the faux-pretensions. Straight outta Stoke Newington with more brass than a New Orleans funeral parade. File next to Lowgold- 'Just Backward of Square' (which should also go on here).
There are no videos on youtube (other video streaming sites are available) so have an equally swoonsome Lowgold track instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4jWlRfDa6k
I was thinking about posting Lincoln's "Mettle" in this thread
What the fuck happened to Lincoln?
Thing's were all set, right?
Genuinely great band
There was a story on a blog i saw the other week and the keyboardist left a few comments on the message board at the bottom of it. The blogger managed to reunite him with the lead singer i think so perhaps a revival on the cards?
Apparently, they really struggled to make ends meet and so went off and had babies and stuff.
here's the playlist from when we did this last year
http://open.spotify.com/user/seaninsound/playlist/71WG3FufQyqWtUCcMrxG0R
Logh - Everytime A Bell Rings An Angel Gets His Wings
I spent a winter obsessed with this album not long after DiS launched. It's got the heart-break of Low and a touch of post-rock, and yeah, isn't too dissimilar to Aereogramme and Jeniferever (whom appear as a similar artist to them in quite a few places... and it may be listening to them which led me to discovering Jeniferever on last.fm). Really lush and perfect for an icy winter's day such as today.
http://open.spotify.com/album/5zO0pYyIVxUxJe6ql733Nh
I was the opposite way round...
Emailed Jeniferever's agent to try and book them, and got offered Logh. Then remembered I had no money and didn't book anyone, but I did enjoy getting into Logh - love the first three albums.
Jordaan Mason & The Horse Museum - 'Divorce Lawyers I Shaved My Head' (2009)
Songs about broken people/sex changes/horses/an apocalypse. 'Distinctive' voice (you know what this means). Noisy/quiet. Been compared to 'In The Aeroplane..' - sort of fair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agYseY1EkYk
(Wild Dogs: Divorce!)
Toy Love
Seminal NZ punk band, fronted by Chris Knox (later of Tall Dwarfs, and solo) produced just one fantastic album, on EMI I think it was - that has sunk without a trace - except for being compiled into the excellent 'CUTS' a couple of years back.
Check out www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUu5wbUCbMo
The album CUTS is at http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/cuts/id213517467 - but is hideously expensive
Toy Love - 1980
Cuts was released in 2005
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Love_(album)
This Heat - Deceit (1981)
Loadsa people will have heard it, probably. But nevertheless, Deceit really is the great lost post-punk album of the era. I would argue it ranks no 2 below Metal Box and above Unknown Pleasures. Musically, conceptually, or in any other way you can think of.
'Makeshift Swahili':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzZMhAM2SqU
Amazing album.
Better than Metal Box or Unknown Pleasures.
Absolutely love This Heat
there's too many great albums of the era to construct a list tho - it's definitely about equal with Metal Box, Unknown Pleasures, Buy the Contortions, Y (the Pop Group), Chairs Missing and so on
Detachment Kit - Off this blood - 2004
indie rock - pretty similar to Les Savy Fav/Dismemberment - great mix of screamy punk tracks and gentle perfect indie scores.
sadly only 2 of the 14 pretty much perfect tracks are on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdM5K4gB79k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKtShBaWzUg
*Of
Modern eon - Fiction Tales 1981
This one is a bit of a classic in its genre. Liverpool based post-punk act Modern Eon released but one underground record during their short tenure, and though it didn't make the splash that their contemporaries (Echo & the Bunnymen, The Chameleons, Modern English) did, the record is held in high regard by those who've discovered it, and its lush production mirrors and even outdoes some of the best records of its kind.
Modern Eon formed in 1979 and released a handful of singles before cutting their lone full length, 1981's Fiction Tales. The band appeared on John Peel's radio program, but misfortune soon fell upon them as their drummer, Cliff Hewitt, injured his wrist. The band did a quick tour with Cliff's tracks pre-programmed on primitive drum machines, but the band failed to record their sophomore effort, a shame, especially as they were rumored to have demoed new material. After Modern Eon's demise, sax/guitarist Tim Lever would join up with Dead Or Alive, who made the charts with their more new wave-styled sound. (systemsofromance blogspot)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISQJdOMU2Ug
Why have I never heard this before?
got this on vinyl gathering dust in the basement....top album
Television Personalities - And Don't the Kids Just Love It (1981)
I know there was a Television Personalities album on that NME list, and I imagine a few DiSers have heard it, but I'd like to include it for those that haven't heard it. It's my favourite Television Personalties album. Garage-y post-punk with plenty of eccentricity and humour. I suppose a modern comparison could be Let's Wrestle - their style and sense of humour always reminds me of this album.
'Look Back in Anger'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnTq7EuaEsM
The Band of Holy Joy - Manic, Magic, Majestic (1989)
BOHJ started out as a raggle-taggle troupe from New Cross telling drug-addled tales from underneath the arches. All twitching trombones and fiddles and accordions, and THAT voice.
But there was always great beauty in there too, and by this album they had become the great drunken romantics they had always planned to be. Almost, almost, almost pop music.
"Do you remember that Summer, the one that was all drugs and drunks, like somethin' out of the worst film you've ever seen".
There's not much out in the ether, but there is this. Tactless, rather bizarrely involving Vic Reeves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7mws1Xb_yQ
What The Moon Saw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSiwobr7v4Q
One of the most beautiful tunes ever - I remember seeing them play this on SNUB TV, just incredible.
how many are we on?
The Majestic Twelve - Searching for the Elvis Knob (2003)
I've definitely mentioned this on here before, but it's worth another mention. Singer was in another band called Pandora's Lunch Box in the '90s, apparently they got offers from all the majors but he turned them down and pretty much quit music to look after his grandma (released a few solo cassettes in this time under his own name - Kenyata Sullivan - they've got some good stuff on, though I can't say I'm taken with the PLB stuff). Came back and released this album with a new band, and it's just a perfect little American acoustic-y indie-pop album, with maybe the same kind of folk/country tinges that REM arguably had. Followed it up with a second album called (I think) Schizophrenology, but it was really disappointingly bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqh0w7xpCb4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB0CjIuFX18
Not sure where you'll find it, but it's probably online somewhere.
June Of 44 - Four Great Points
Or has everyone heard this?
If not, it's kind of math rock-ish 90s American stuff. But the lyrics are great, and the whole album is equal parts angry, sad and sarcastic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjwAtsChTg8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9rSaRVvQRA
Medusa - "Can't Fucking Win" (2010)
Very melodic, hook-filled hard rock/punk with influences from Nirvana, the Offspring, Sex Pistols and Van Halen, from the North, where we'll do what we want.
Excellent work.
http://soundcloud.com/medusauk
Halifax Pier
Occasional "super"group whose memmbers play with Do Make Say Think, Rachel's, Red Sparowes and Pinback among others, sparkling post-rock inflected acoustic songs, some instrumental, some vocal, strange but beautiful
No youtube link for my favourite song but theres an mp3 link below the discography here
http://temporaryresidence.com/bands/halifaxpier.php
or a youtube link to another lovely tune here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwNt3UgJLkU
sorry
the album is called "Put Your Gloves on and Wave"
sorry
the album is called "Put Your Gloves on and Wave"
Fuck you DiS
that's lovely
Bergen White - For Women Only
One-time arranger for Elvis decides to make a 60's pop album. And it's full of magnificently crafted songs with, as you might expect, superb arrangements. Yes, it's got a shit name and a terrible album cover and, perhaps not incidentally, completely flopped at the time. But well worth getting your hands on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JsWvGtJMHA&feature=related
Awesome choice
Such a great, great record, from 'She Is Today' at the start through to the real sadness at its heart. You have good taste.
I'm So Hollow - Emotion/Sound/Motion (1981)
Post-Punk by numbers from Sheffield, with a boy + girl singer thing going on & some lovely melodies. Catchy as anything but still pretty atmospheric.
This is the first track, Entrance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12azcvy-QeA#t=00m55s
Automat-Automat (1978)
A lovely piece of early Italian electronic music using just the one synthesizer (MCS70). A collaboration between Romano Musumarra and Claudio Gizzi. Still sounds futuristic to this day, i think. Here's the first piece, The Rise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-YbLgiXmtc
The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers
the only thing i can say about this album is YOU HAVE TO BUY IT. I was in vinyl exchange in manchester about 15 years ago, and this album was being played, i liked it, so i hung around the whole album length just so i could listen to each track, when it finished i went up to the counter and ask what it was, and was took it was the Modern Lovers, brill i though, so then i asked "can i buy a copy then please", NO was the answer, they only had one copy and they werent going sell it to me, fortunately it was reissued a few years later so everyone can enjoy. This is Pablo Picasso from said album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc2iLAubras
The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers
Jonathan rules! The JR & The Modern Lovers gigs I saw at the Mean Fiddler, The Town & Country Club, etc in the late '80s were some of the best I've ever witnessed, amazingly charismatic, humourous performer & crowds utterly ecstatic. Snap up these albums on Rough Trade/Sire - Jonathan Sings!, Rockin' And Romance, It's Time For.., Modern Lovers 88 - all superb. If "Just About Seventeen" or (from '77) "The Morning Of Our Lives" doesn't move you, you're already dead.
Roadrunner is in school of rock
this is how I know about this band. The shame.
Though my mate gave me their debut to rip which is wear I heard the whole thing.
I bought Suede's debut on vinyl from vinyl exchange on my last visit to Manchester for 15 quid. Good store.
mine
Slobberbone - 'Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today'
(2000)
Intelligent, catchy, check-shirted alt. country made by relative youngsters trying to sound older, with eyes on the bottle and a total understanding of what the genre demands. OR a version of Uncle Tupelo fronted by Jay Farrar's younger, cannier brother trying to usurp his big bro at his own game. Every track's a winner.
Pinball Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2YLRXvvr4M
Lumberlung
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5FfJHAMZuU
Also. 'Slobberbone' is a completely perfect name for the band. Stephen King is a fan, according to Wikipedia.
barrel chested is a belter as well....seriously under-rated band
Speaking Canaries - Get out Alive : the Long Version
the side project Damon Che (from DON CAB), this is technically a compilation I think - and it's an extended version of Get Out Alive : the Last Type Story. I seriously can't recommend it enough, it's probably the best 'indie' rock record of all time - combining ridiculously catchy songs, massively long noise rock jams, with some of the most insanely good guitar work I've ever heard. Damon Che is ridiculously talented - he plays all guitars, basses and drums on most of the songs. If you like the best bits of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr or any other massively guitar lead indie rock you seriously need to get this - shits all over say anything by Built to Spill
it is pretty difficult to come by though - it's kinda a label bought only thing - the short version is slightly more available though I think
here's some samples (from the the Last Type Story, though these versions are pretty much the same I think):
Menopause Diaries (poppiest song on the album)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKzRXmmOTg0&feature=related
Life Like Holmes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzdZg5cZBho&feature=related
Rachels- Music for Egon Shiele.
Very beautiful...very much an influence on Max Richter i've thought. Released 1996 on Quaterstick records. The packaging is a work of art...hand produced I believe...Piano minimalism with viola and cello. One of my favourite lps.
The Sea and the Bells
is probably my favourite Rachel's album. Great, great band.
Great Live.
Saw them play around the time of this album in the old Lift club in Brighton....they decked the little place out in candles and asked people not to smoke, and amazingly no one did...very special gig.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfqg_Pt2Pzg
King Missile "Mystical Shit" (1990)
I love this record because it is clearly a bit of a piss-take album, but the most poetic, accomplished, and completely realised piss-take of all time. Also, it is pretty tight musically, in a kind of Beefheart way - which was a surprise to everyone who had listened to King Missile's first two releases. It is also the album with "Jesus Was Way Cool" on, which is possibly their most well-known "hit".
http://youtu.be/67l13rnYnMs
Wasn't "Detachable Pen!s" their big hit?
Was a big Shimmy Disc label fan so stumbled upon them circa their 1st record just down to buying everything SD put out regardless of who it was. Great band.
The Intruders "Cowboys to Girls"
One of the first philly soul groups to sing Gamble and Huff. They were awesome because they were not actually that great at singing, it always sounded a little strained, but the song-writing was amazing, in a sweet ghetto-bubblegum-pop kind of way.
http://youtu.be/sJ4mJhvHI8I
(1968)
please could someone do a playlist?
I'd hazard that a lot of this is not on spotify.
But I could probably scramble something together with one track per album?
[[[[VVRSSNN]]]] - s/t (2003)
Also credited in some places as being by Adam Forkner (which it is). And it's pronounced "version". Low-key electronic/pop on K Records, featuring the likes of Phil Elvrum of the Microphones, Calvin Johnson, another member of Yume Bitsu (which Adam Forkner was in), and a few other people you'd generally associate with K.
http://vimeo.com/311383
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFWSSTNO4BA
yume bitsu was one of about 10 bands that popped in to my head for this thread
probably the s/t album although i'd put giant surface music.. as a close second
Daryl Hall "Sacred Songs" (1980)
Daryl Hall recorded this, minus Oates, with Robert Fripp, so it's kind of like pre-eighties Hall & Oates crossed with guitar prog. There are at least three amazing tracks on it, and the rest is strong. It was recorded in 77 when Hall & Oates were not really the commercial catch, but not released until a few years later after they hit big.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2seO4g3BlQ
ah cool
I dig the Daryl Hall stuff on Exposure (Fripp's solo album, recorded at pretty much the same time I guess), which is excellent I think, but not listened to any of this before.
Emtidi - Saat (1972)
German psych/krautrock beatless synth-dominated brilliance, each side featuring a couple of short songs that could almost be Fairport Convention and then a 10+ minute euphoric wash that easily sits alongside the likes of Tangerine Dream.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbqtahHHQi8 <- short one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgBNZvQ4cPQ <- long one (and one of my favourite tracks of ever)
Should be considered a classic.
Jake Thackray - Live Performance (1971)
A full live show by the Yorkshire troubadour - my pick for the best lyricist of all time - recorded at the South Bank Centre in 1970. Taking the best of material from his best two albums (The Last Will And Testament Of Jake Thackray, 1967 and Jake's Progress, 1969) as well as material from an abandoned 1970 album (which probably would have been his best had it been released, no idea why it wasn't), this is an album which won't fail to cheer you up. Definitely one of my desert island discs for this very reason. I laugh every time I hear it.
Leopold Alcocks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWJJ3loRqUA
The Lodger - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIcj6bhiYoQ
Full album - http://open.spotify.com/album/4vFbf8F88YOyNEjehTfdvh
Oh man, I started listening to him last month. Put on something and was so enchanted.
Reminds me of David Thomas Broughton, vocally. Going to listen to some now in fact.
Excellent
You have to listen to this album if you haven't already. So good.
Yeah, have been doing so for the last hour or so.
Lovely stuff.
Lotti Golden- Motor cycle.
Heard this a few months back when it was an album of the week on Radio 6 freakzone. Awesome mix of shangi las, velvets, beat poetry and garage....released 1968 I think....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBpM2d74zjk
Momus / Voyager
Highly literate, posh Scottish perv gives up writing about loveless sex and scumbags at middle class dinner parties and instead makes an out and out gorgeous dance-pop album.
Inspired by being head over heels in love (he'd fallen for
a teenage girl who he'd later convert to Islam for and marry)
space travel and the best of mid-period acid house he described it as 'conveying a strangely solitary joy,
the dizziness of someone dancing alone with headphones on, possibly on ecstasy'.
Sometimes heartbreakingly beautiful and tear-jerkingly optimistic, it's on CREATION too!
This 1993 album is available free from Momus' own website, just click the red song titles:
http://imomus.livejournal.com/423104.html
Here's 'Voyager' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T40kgK5SlR4
Tender Pervert gets my vote as the essential Momus album
although 'Voyager' is a beautiful song.
Favourite Momus song - 'Closer to You' from The Poison Boyfriend
Dessa - A Badly Broken Code (2010)
It's ok, this'll be my last. I bang on about this all the time, but I assume y'all have still never heard it otherwise it would be at the top of all your lists (surely?). Best album of 2010. Tied only with Solillaquists of Sound's No More Heroes for best album of the last five or so years. Best lyricist since Buck 65 was at the top of his game in the early '00s. One of my favourite albums full stop. And one I still can't stop playing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eQL3BrRqM8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt6KS8bCPIc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptr-_QZXd6o
Like if Ani diFranco went hip hop, but better.
Vampire Rodents - Lullaby Land
Just the most disgusting filthy but brilliant mix of genres, styles & moods. It's what DJ Shadow would of made if he was a psychopath.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsxRh3D60bg&feature=related
Little Lost Irish albums sub-section
The Jimmy Cake - Dublin Gone, Everybody Dead (2002). Beautiful, Euphoric, tragic. I guess this would be classified under post-rock but there's much more to this accordion-led instrumental glory than your average post-rock band. You can listen to 'The Opposite Of Addiction', 'Limestone Tiger' and 'Death Fall Priest' from the album here: http://www.thejimmycake.com/
Messiah J & The Expert - From The Word Go (2006). Unfortunately, this band have to endure being described as Irish hip-hop, which I guess they are, but that description does them no favours. The lyrics are some of the wittiest this side of Morrissey and the production is full of unexpected twists and turns, yet remains danceable and poppy. Here's videos for 'Megaphone Man': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ4vBk9YDis and 'Jean is planning an escape': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29jdmP-mHII
The Last Post - Love Lost (2002). A short album full of slow, melancholic tunes. Clearly indebted to The Beach Boys, country and 80's indie, yet manages to remain unique. There's not much online, though you can buy the album for a penny on Amazon, but here's a (rather rubbish) video for 'Silence Seems To Say': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3q_IP0XdcU
No mention of Stars Of Heaven here?
Not completely unknown due to Peel's championing of them, but one of the most underated bands ever, & certainly not as widely known as they deserved.
I don't really know Stars of Heaven
I've heard of them but don't think i know their music. But there's been loads of great Irish albums over the last decade or so that get little acclaim outside of Ireland (sometimes they get little acclaim in Ireland). Could easily have posted another ten that deserve more attention.
I've only heard Spectre & Crown by The Jimmy Cake, but it's pretty good.
bedhead - beheaded 1996
indie rock, post-rock, slow core - great time signatures - slow meandaring guitars buildling to mighty post rock crescendos, and a low sung/spoken vocal - a mix of juno, radar bros and the lapse. The 2 brothers in the band went on to form 'the new year'. All 3 albums are excellent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kDBvl8QMmI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgJPy-KeSMs
love Bedhead
but Whatfunlifewas is their best.
Silent Eclipse "Psychological Enslavement" (1995)
I remember 1995 as the first year I heard a Hip Hop record from a UK artist that sounded relevant and dangerous, and this was it. It was hyper political, from a islamic standpoint, and it sounded amazing - like London's own Public Enemy. Darren James, who was Silent Eclipse, has dissapeared without trace as far as I can make out.
http://youtu.be/xTqJgICm2zg
Probably not obscure enough for this thread
Seafood - When do we start fighting
Kinda lost in the post-Britpop stramash to rip off Wire and Gang of Four as much as legally viable. Not in any way original. Not clever or arty. Just straightforward enjoyable guitar based jollity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0lwf5EO0OQ
<Readying myself for sarcasm and scorn>
Ha ha, no scorn here,
but I reckon most people in this thread would've been into Seafood circa 2001.
The first album, Surviving The Quiet is definitely their best
This one is still good too though yeah.
Cats and Cats and Cats- 'If I'd Had An Atlas' (2010)
math-pop, and more than math-pop. Seeing as they've just announced their split, I thought they ought to have a place on here.
Seefeel - Quique
(1993)
Experimental ambient dub/ techno post-rock electronica whatever
kind of rave shoegaze
quality through and through
Filter Dub
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2GWnEc4FEI
yes, people were doing this 20 years ago. Sounds pretty now if you ask me
Brilliant album and in my top 10 ever
Also see their Polyfusia compilation for more excellence. Totally with you on sounding pretty now. Can't think of much that surpasses it from the last ten years.
I make that 78 albums so far
22 to go
Catherine Wheel - Adam and Eve - 1997
beautiful.
apologies about forgetting the link.
here you go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO9WfBVx9-o
Dimmer - I Believe You Are a Star (2001)
I'm on a roll with the kiwi gig. Available on Bandcamp. Lush in a dark sort of way. Shayne Carter's first post-Straijacket Fits album
Frederick Squire - March 12
Quaint little guitar and piano ditties with vocals so low they make Matt Berninger sound like an alto
2010
sorry forgot...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tACaECl45mg
forgot this also
christ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tACaECl45mg
The Daysleepers - Drowned in a Sea of Sound (2008)
Love shoegaze music, and seeing you on my feeds always reminds me of them. It's a personal favorite of mine, anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Oqe_NgsDU
Two Fingers Of Firewater
Two Fingers Of Firewater "Two Fingers Of Firewater" 2008
Probably the best example of British Americana I've ever heard. Excellent scope, catchy bits, deeper bits and just the perfect length. Raucous and mellow. Fired and tired. Easily my favourite thing about 2008.
http://open.spotify.com/track/1mkaVPOsGc6ud17ZUk7YKk
Honeydrips - Here Comes The Future (2008)
A really great dream-pop record. I had never heard of this group until a few comparisons were made when jj released their first LP. Very great album if you are interested in the genre.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL03RhLes84
Peeps Into Fairyland - Happiness (2001)
Not much online apart from this ancient DiS slating - http://drownedinsound.com/releases/2823/reviews/2984
I should probably rectify this. Imagine Idlewild going folk, but in a "let's record in our kitchen" way, not in a shit way.
aw
i quite liked them when I saw 'em live.
Saw them supporting Idlewild
14(!) years ago, seem to recall my 17 year-old self being impressed
Sun City Girls - Torch of the Mystics (1990)
Wonderfully weird wacked out guitar music by the Phoenix trio. Their best album form a massive discography.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfQljgzAtRE
brilliant band/album
Scrimshire - The Hollow (2011)
A truly amazing album. So much diversity through out the whole album. Check it out.
http://soundcloud.com/wahwah45s/sets/scrimshire-the-hollow/
big star - third-sister lovers (1978)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsQ977u8Wuk
every song drips with emotion...though many albums are the sound of a band breaking up, this one is of a band being pulled limb from limb in slow motion...
people should be lined up and shot if they haven't...
...heard this album
I have a feeling there are some jags creeping into this list!
Ambulances - The Future That Was (2009)
Psychedelic indie pop produced by Kramer of Galaxie 500 and Low fame who demanded to work with the band. For fans of Teenage Fanclub, 3rd album Velvet Underground and Galaxie 500 I'd say.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyx8rfxIC2I
fix
Neil Young "Time Fades Away" 1973 (Reprise)
Still not released on CD (C'mon Neil!) Awesome collection. If you love On The Beach, Tonight's The Night, Zuma, etc, you've probably got it. If not, search the 2nd hand shops and cough up. worth every penny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ2elaZVaaM
Misty In Roots "Live At The Counter Eurovision 79" 1979 (Kaz)
Not just one of (if not the) greatest reggae albums ever, but one of the greatest live albums full stop. Dripping with atmosphere, band on full-throttle form, this is the original drum 'n' bass sound. No wonder they were John Peel's favourite roots band for many years. Forward the bass - mash it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZtIU8BHM8I&feature=related
Turn it up as loud as your speakers can stand...and then a bit more.
Worth it for the introduction alone...
... absolutely brilliant album. Heavy and righeous as hell. Another great live reggae album with a totally different vibe is Aswad's 'Live & Direct', recorded at Notting Hill Carnival in '82 or '83 - a wonderful, joyous, energetic performance - you can almost hear the sunshine.
John Peel often described this as the greatest album ever made
and yet it's been more or less completely unavailable for years.
John Frusciante - To Record Only Water For Ten Days (2001)
Lo-Fi collection of drum machines, synths and guitars. Played and produced by Frusciante alone, he builds layers of sounds to create oddly textured tracks. Manages to sound organic despite the electronic influences. His voice is raw from years of drug abuse. Couldn't be further away from his previous bands work.
Away & Anywhere:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFBVrbZcNug
'Cold House' - Hood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMlxQPZjW38
this can maybe close for the night I think
so new people can post in the morning. Also, can someone delete the 3 or 4 obvious JAGs, thanks?
Happy listening
http://open.spotify.com/user/jarock87/playlist/7pFb0n4NIU887vTtzqZHxG
The Abodes - Chubby (2008)
An album that shakes a lo-fi tailfeather at Beck, the Beta Band, Ween and early Happy Mondays. Made by two daft blokes from Manchester and heard by very few:
http://slackershack.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/under-the-radar-the-abodes-chubby/
'Let's Play Domination' World Domination Enterprizes 1988 (Product Inc)
Briefly touted noise rock band from the mid 80s with a strong dub and hip hop sensibility. One of the best singles of the year was 'Asbestos Lead Asbestos'. Whole album is great bar appalling cover of Lipps Inc's 'Funky Town'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUordYmGrQk
Nico - The End (1974)
This is the third John Cale arranged experimental rock albums with Nico. Brian Eno also collaborates with them on this album. Its surprising that some of the most morbid music out there is from a fashion icon. Unsettling and beautiful music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuWiriChrQs
Gaslight Radio - Hitch on the Leaves (1999)
brilliant album of eerie, dreamy shoegazey stuff. An amazing band that i will always keep banging on about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A6FowMtjmQ
Shoes and Socks Off - Robin Hood Waiter Champion Have Not (2010)
Great acoustic album from previous Meet Me In St.Louis frontman. He also has a great back catalogue but I think this is his best release. Imagine Thom Yorke gone acoustic or something like that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1LQTfcoHcQ
I'd like to here more hidden gems from the 50s-70s
Who's got the juice?
New Musik there are two albums I cant make my mind up
sugar-sweet-happy hides the much darker underneath with 30 year old sweet and dirty synth sounds
from their first album 'from A to B'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95DhjbBOrZc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvARmk0cML0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qbuAa_4kks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ3P6Pbt6I4
from their second album 'anywhere'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY4ysgsSJqU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKsel1le8vo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqmhwCQqdcw
and the last line of this and the fade out seems so sad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAb1nWe0Cgg,
The Jacksons - Triumph
MJ released Off The Wall and then went back to his brothers to do this. It's absolutely brilliant, and rivals any of his solo stuff. Just proper great funky disco pop, with the odd heartbreaking ballad thrown in.
Not really a "lost" album (it sold almost 2 million), but I do think it tends to get ignored because it was sandwiched between Off The Wall and Thriller. To me, it's right up there with those two.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiMuecKZQQQ
I've always had a soft spot for this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I7YRBjv2vk
which is from the Victory album (1984) but any excuse to post it really
hmm the album id compare it with would be destiney and
that had 'blame it on the boogie' and 'shake your body down to the ground' jeez Id forgotten that last one, I danced so many times to those songs, 'shake your body...." seemed to be an anthem in birmingham.
Comus - First Utterence (1970)
probably the outright weirdest 'folk' album from the era - not in a jovial/surrreal way like Holy Modal Rounders. strange, quite dark, pagan, with eastern and psych influences - a massive influence certainly on people like Dave Tibet etc. (admittedly they are pretty funny, but still AWESOME)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nPer5U-zi0&feature=related
BLK JKS - After Robots (2009)
this somehow got lost in the shuffle a few years ago. difficult to describe except that it is a fucking epic listening experience. looking forward to see where they go from here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p39dhBLK1U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pv9PivRJUE
Snowman - ?bsence (2011)
Maybe not obscure enough? I dunno,lovely album anyway.They've changed their sound a bit too, very epic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDmvNruK_0A
Hmm, Absence, then
This was in my top 3 or 4 from last year.
Brilliant album, and I doub't most have heard it, it seemed to go quite unnoticed tbh.
Akufen - My Way (2002)
Wonderful glitchy house album that was way ahead of its time when it came out and still sounds awesome today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4vMNTSoL6M
Matson Jones - S/T (2005)
Freakishly intense, violent cello-rock from a Columbus band who split up after a record and an EP.
oh and a song 'A Little Bit of Arson Never Hurt Anyone'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGT3cZAM2Tg
Sunhouse "Crazy On The Weekend" 1998 (Independiente)
People always talkin bout the new Nick Drake and it's almost always bollox. Gavin Clarke was more like the next John Martyn: voice a lazy, sounding half-cut or nodding-out, hooks sparse but haunting; band backing him with sympathy, but not sentiment; stories of the harrowed seeking redemption or resigned to the margins. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunhouse Shane Meadows is a fan. Watch Twenty-Four Seven if you haven't. Beautifully bitter-sweet. Probably the best album Independiente released.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kROmz5YZNvI
American Music Club 'California' (1988)
Rich, dark, heartfelt Americana inflected with jagged New Wave guitar and ethereal pedal steel. Wonderfully written, beautifully detailed songs of love, loss and loneliness sung in a gorgeous, treacley bruise of a baritone. It's The National 20 years early! (but better)
Western Sky (possibly the most beautiful song ever):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XLkm2OeApw
Amazing album
I'vegotit twice on CD in case one breaks, or something. 'Firefly' is one of the most beautiful tracks ever made by anyone, ever. Oh, that slide guitar. Come on beautiful, we'll go sit on the front lawn.
Sometimes I lean towards the solo version on 'Songs of Love Live', but the slide guitar tips it
I listened to this again today before nominating for this thread, and I was struck by how brilliant the less well-remembered songs are. I mean, you tend to remember Firefly, Blue and Grey Shirt, Western Sky, Last Harbor, but how brilliant is Lonely (favourite line on the whole album - 'I fall on my bed like rain') or Highway 5 or Somewhere?
A truly, truly brilliant record. Shame it's so hard to get hold of for any prospective new discoverer.
I'll share my American Music Club claim to fame with you because few people appreciate it, but you may
I saw them play in San Francisco in 1989 at the shows they recorded 'United Kingdom' at. They played two shows in a small Hotel bar (The Utah Hotel), one after the other with a 30 minute break. Towards the end of the first set, which was quite moody, Eitzel kicked a glass over on stage which spilt all over a woman sat at a table by the stage. The set ended and a mortified Eitzel spent most of the interval initially apologizing then chatting to the woman. They were best of friends by the time the second set started, and that set was utterly joyous. I've always felt honoured to have witnessed those shows, they sum up the band for me. Sorry to hijack the thread!
That's pretty impressive
I first saw them on the Everclear tour, so that would probably be in 1992. I've had many great nights watching AMC and Mark Eitzel live, most recently seeing him open a show in a freezing cold church in Manchester with 'I Left my Heart in San Fransisco'.
He's very easy to love. Did you know he'd had a heart attack fairly recently. Apparently he's pretty well recovered.
Didn't know about the heart attack :(
Tim Smith of Cardiacs doesn't seem so lucky. Saw AMC on the last tour, and took mrs. Shimmetry for for her first experience. Of course she loved Mark.
Found several copies
on eBay, reasonably priced too
If you haven't got it - buy one!
Chrome - Half Machine Lip Moves (1979)
This is the single strangest, most bizarre and most enthralling record I've ever heard
I don't even know quite how to describe it apart from the fact that everything about it sounds so wrong and mis-shapen, yet it still manages to groove. It's like listening to The Birthday Party played backwards, and it's maybe the only record where the term 'like xxxx on acid' is actually an applicable descriptor. Batshit insane, brilliantly put together, completely forgotten piece of genius which manages to sound at once arcane and futuristic, but also incredible outdated. It's like sputnik came back to earth and started jolting out weird weird sounds.
I mean, just listen to this. It's bloody amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKPxxQlTJSA&feature=related
Wow.....
Sounds almost like a really angry Yoko Ono fronting early Public Image Ltd. I rather like it!
great record
alien soundtracks is pretty killer as well
I applaud everyone who has posted in this thread
Bookmarked.
Keep up the good work.
Elm - Bxogonoas
Jon from Barn Owl's first solo record, released in 2009 in an edition of 100 (CDr in a lovely stamp-pressed envelope). Some of the darkest, most deeply atmospheric music I've ever heard and just completely evocative of the desert. Mainly guitar based, but with harmonium, incredible ambient vocals, flute etc too...somewhere between latter-day Earth, Neil Young, Popol Vuh and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM3-ZATiplE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaYe1pRRyvA
Think I prefer Jon's solo stuff, especially the Elm, to Barn Owl
Skinny - Taller (2001)
British electronic album, but with traditional songwriting, lovely melodies and great vocal samples.
Sample track - Morning Light. Perfect soundtrack to that post-party/one night stand walk home. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttnUtt6hsMk
Other standout tracks are "Sweet Thing" and "Failure"
...This might not be obscure enough to make the list...
-
Dead Drums - Fashion Defense / Human Hair (2010)
Ambient drone in the same vein as Run DMT but better in my opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BQSpJ54L0I
ada - blondie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5i_6cFpX7Y
Connie Converse - How Sad, How Lovely (2009)
Wonderful folkyness. All recorded in the 50's collected together and released couple of years ago. This was mentioned in a similar thread last year(?) It seems right to go in this thread.
http://connieconverse.bandcamp.com/
Wheat "Hope And Adams" (1999)
Wheat were relatively unheard in the US, but this album moved a few units in the UK, and made a few lists. But even that was not enough really because in my opinion, Hope And Adams is tone of the most beautifully realised, and sincere indie album I have ever heard. It has been described as lo-fi. I don't know why - the production is fantastic and multi-layered.
Wheat "Don't I Hold You"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrmTRwaHN4M&sns=em
Just beautiful.
Brilliant album
Genuinely not a bad moment on it, Slow Fade is one of those songs you just never want to end, especially as it's so damn short. I remember Lamacq & Peel giving them a fair bit of airplay at the time, & there's a bunch of BBC sessions streamed on their website (http://www.wheatmusic.com/mothership.html).
They signed to Nude just before the label folded IIRC & after that didn't seem to get any attention over here, it would appear they're still together though.
I love this album
produced by the chap who did Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev and a bunch of other good stuff at the time (Dave Fridman?).
Such a great album. Their other albums have been nice, but this one in particular is just stunning.
are we there yet?
great list here- well done to all.
I say we keep going - until it fizzles out
Then we can somehow separate the wheat from the chaff, and compile our own list to blow the socks off the NME (although, there's isn't that bad either, to be honest).
Cornelius - 'Point' (2001)
Japanese experimental pop that makes other records in that bracket sound lacking in both experimentation and pop. It's quite likely that the Brewis brothers have multiple copies - see 'Point of View Point' for compelling evidence. It's also probable that Phoenix are fans.
The inventiveness on display is startling and a joy to behold, in the bold, punchy rhythms and perky melodies, and most noticeably in the production. Ut's overflowing with brilliant textural contrast, each element standing out in vivid high definition. and the dynamics put modern pop music to shame. play it loud, it'll blow your mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuzNvbHY6yA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQO_ZrWw-38
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhAqRroei7g
classic record.
Duster - Contemporary Movement (2000)rp
FAO anyone longs for the kind of sleepy/dreamy, spacey indie rock Deerhunter displayed on Cryptograms and Fluorescent Grey: go listen to Duster. This is indie rock made from the fine dust that troubled astronauts on the moon; the strange ecstasy of orbit experienced by astronauts; the thin air in the upper atmosphere; the dust that the space shuttle kicked up upon touching down, returning from space; the dazed comedown of life on Earth vs. life beyond its confines.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP2KKV1Pzww
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyaSLlNY0cw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIVRNP4e_cY
WZT Hearts - Thread Rope Spell Making Your Bones (2007)
(I've tried to spread the word about this one in, like, two other threads)
noisey, smeared synths, alternately splattered and droning, with occasional free jazz drums... abstract, yes, but there is a strange pervading atmosphere and a warped strain of melody that lures you in and grips you.
http://open.spotify.com/album/3Ott8uXqNj403rdhVgWhmW
this is killer
I really, really like it. Extremely strange, almost impossible to pick up on anything, and then there's a little line or pattern you can't help but remember.
it pleases me greatly
that you like it. been trying to turn people onto this for a while.
unsuccessfully, always.
Unrest - Imperial F.F.R.R (1992)
I'm sure there are 4AD fanboys (or girls) scattered about the boards, or people who were there as teenagers or actual adults back in the glory days of the label, but I think it's safe to assume that a lot of youse haven't heard of the brilliant Unrest, and as such, haven't heard this record of weightless, radiant & exploratory indie pop.
smarter than the C86 types, more ethereal than the Calvinists: Mark Robinson is an unheralded genius of the indie world, and if after spending a bit of time with this - the band's finest effort - you aren't convinced by the effortless blend of joyous sunkissed melodic pop and light-handed avant garde-leaning shimmer, well, fuck you, buddy.
>>>
'Imperial'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWbQToMr68c
the album on Spotify
http://open.spotify.com/album/2cFT3E5jpi82TT9f4G01df
Bleeding Heart Narrative - All that was missing we never had in the world (2008)
this begins with an astonishing rupture of noise, a completely blown-out and distorted wall of breathtaking orchestral noise: it's misleading, to some extent. much like the torrent of chaos that begins 'Returnal' by OPN.
you get a better impression by the chilly, cascading piano of the second track. this is a record of a rainy, blue hue; evocative of a dark, old country manor, all mulled glass,
dark wood, and haunted, ornate space.
that name gives the impression that this is going to be some kind of wanky post-rock effort, but again, it's misleading. it's post-classical (think Rachel's; you will do when you
hear the stately, keening strings), delicate and atmospheric, and a little bit lo-fi (the piano is especially evocative of the haunted keys in 'The Glow Pt. 2').
my personal favourite is the string-conjured 'This Is The World Before This Is', which ghosts in on whispers and meltwater violins, before a crevasse of viola, cello and possibly
double bass opens up below, like the groaning of old wood recounting its ancient memory.
the record branches out into subtle, intricate drone ('A Nest'), and returns to the bleeding noise and static ('Though Your Feet Have Left Footprints'), but ultimately ends on with
shimmering, haunted corridors of resonant piano and shadowy strings, before pushing it home with bruised, sympathetic, reconciliatory indie rock guitars, drums and vocals.
'Lillian Gish'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktL8OnyutZo
Jessamine - Jessamine (1995)/The Long Arm Of Coincidence (1996)
I've decided to talk about these two as one, as the positive things I could say about one I would also say of the other.
fans of Mogwai's earlier records and The For Carnation, if you haven't already traversed the alien textures and pantheresque crawl of these two records, then I recommend you check them out post-haste.
this is true space rock, beyond the ecstatic launch and populist bombast: Jessamine were dredgers in orbit, recycling satellite debris and orphaned signals, whilst documenting hushed, repressed cabin fever within the eerie maintenance passages and looming corridors of their craft.
all paranoid journal entries, anomalous radar blips, interstellar radiation and vacuum-sealed disturbances, it's no wonder their music remains secreted in the lesser-ventured annals of the early nineties. listen in the dark with a good sci-fi novel to hand.
'Jessamine'
http://open.spotify.com/album/0lmvDccwR6djtjV10au4uA
'The Long Arm of Coincidence'
http://open.spotify.com/album/6FRlaXnatZ9fELNhWZ5A8v
check out 'Periwinkle', it's the best.
Cyann & Ben - Spring (2003/4)
French indie/post-rock band. Three records, three winners. This, their debut, was released on Goooom which put out the first couple of M83 records. Male and female vocals, great appreciation of space and texture. Understated and quietly stunning.
This particular song would probably vie for a spot in my top 5 of all time....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSwxYNqNgyU
Oh and after they went on hiatus a couple of years ago half of the band formed Yeti Lane, who have had a little bit of coverage around these parts.
Silver Jews - Bright Flight (2001 - Drag City)
Before I went to uni and moved away from home, my best mate and i would actually sing along to every word to this album like a pair of losers. Total classic.
A R Kane - i
Dream Pop, Dance Pop, Weird Pop. Whatever the hell it is it`s pretty unique and great. It`s on Spotify.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYbC3_4l1cI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cftzYIgIf6E&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbUX1Qn5mL0
The God Machine - One Last Laugh In A Place Of Dying (1994)
When everyone goes on about forgotten indie classics few mention this timeless classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-s7JoLT178
Dazzling Killmen - Dig Out The Switch (1992)
Unbelievable post-harcore/math rock. When I first heard them I was annoyed that i hadnt heard of them before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLMv4U1V3U0&feature=related
The Redneck Manifesto - 'Thirtysixstrings' (2001)
Not as dull and over-dramatic as post-rock, more melodic and structured than math-rock, this is somewhere between the two, with hypnotic guitars and occasional wonderful bursts of noise. Legends of the Irish music scene who've influenced Adebisi Shank and ASIWYFA amongst others, and are now their Richter Collective label mates. Also influenced Foals, apparently.
You can listen to the whole album (and download it for a ridiculously low price) here: http://theredneckmanifesto.bandcamp.com/album/thirtysixstrings
Vaz - Demonstrations In Micronesia (2000)
2/3s of Hammerhead make some of the best heavy rock in years. As a 3 piece consisting of guitars, bass and drums its a formula that many have taken but few have something created a unique sound like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yIIq2atRws&feature=BFa&list=PL494BD96E7B91A08C&lf=results_main
OMG
I was going to do this one myself! amazing record!
its immense
however i did um&ah about which was my favorite so i play all 3 back to back. great afternoon i had!!!
Relay - Still Point Of Turning[2006]
Excellent Shoegaze/Psychedelic album. Name Your Price download as well. http://relayband.bandcamp.com/album/still-point-of-turning
Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Out Of Season
Aboslutely gorgeous stuff from Beth and former Talk-Talk bassist Paul Webb. Played this to death when it came out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2oujWSZCcg
http://open.spotify.com/artist/6Lt6KFXX3P0v6vfrynQAMo
Bowery Electric - Beat
Wonderful understated shoegaze tinged post rock with subtle smokey beats to. A classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNXLw6mP69A
*1996
(cmd+F - no way) The Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
Can't believe no-one has put this up. The most original & most uplifting album of all time. You can try and dismiss this and say its such and such, but no your wrong. An album that immediately after listening to it I wanted to start a band up and just play anything. so influential.
"100 albums you've never heard"
"Can't believe no-one has put this up"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVblTB-v2gk
yep just because you've heard it doesnt mean everyone else has.
i could say the same about the majority of this thread but i dont because i know many wont have heard it.
My computer -Vulnerabilia
http://open.spotify.com/album/0yEWQ0tjbp6oaCaYelPgzS
Lost noughties classic..John Leckie produced their follow up then they imploded
*(2002)
Ahleuchatistas - Location Location
they get very little mention but superb musicianship by a 2 piece (drums and guitar). superbly crafted arrangements and loads of gizmos and gadgets to build it all up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1RBYmx6AG0
Distorted Pony - Instant Winner
brilliant noise rock from the early 90's that blows modern 'noise' rock bands to pieces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arrC-bgxu_I&feature=related
Animals That Swim
I Was The King, I Really Was The King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR32O2vXLHQ
Urban pop music but not in the way that means these days.
Or an older track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdRX1n41z-Y&feature=related
Mummy Fortuna's Theatre Company - Born of Man & Flies (2002)