Boards

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

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.

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)

best British rock LP ever.

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

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.

We want some more information and a link!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

(1971)

Just 3 funk drenched jazz jams
Light one up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jdwbkqm88U

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

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

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

"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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://open.spotify.com/user/seaninsound/playlist/71WG3FufQyqWtUCcMrxG0R

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

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!)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

the album is called "Put Your Gloves on and Wave"

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

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

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 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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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>

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.

(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

22 to go

beautiful.

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

Quaint little guitar and piano ditties with vocals so low they make Matt Berninger sound like an alto

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" 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

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

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.

Wonderfully weird wacked out guitar music by the Phoenix trio. Their best album form a massive discography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfQljgzAtRE

A truly amazing album. So much diversity through out the whole album. Check it out.

http://soundcloud.com/wahwah45s/sets/scrimshire-the-hollow/

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

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

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.

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMlxQPZjW38

so new people can post in the morning. Also, can someone delete the 3 or 4 obvious JAGs, thanks?

http://open.spotify.com/user/jarock87/playlist/7pFb0n4NIU887vTtzqZHxG

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/

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

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

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

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

Who's got the juice?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Freakishly intense, violent cello-rock from a Columbus band who split up after a record and an EP.

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

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

Bookmarked.

Keep up the good work.

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

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...
-

Ambient drone in the same vein as Run DMT but better in my opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BQSpJ54L0I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5i_6cFpX7Y

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 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.

great list here- well done to all.

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

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

(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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

When everyone goes on about forgotten indie classics few mention this timeless classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-s7JoLT178

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

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

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

Excellent Shoegaze/Psychedelic album. Name Your Price download as well. http://relayband.bandcamp.com/album/still-point-of-turning

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

Wonderful understated shoegaze tinged post rock with subtle smokey beats to. A classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNXLw6mP69A

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.

http://open.spotify.com/album/0yEWQ0tjbp6oaCaYelPgzS

Lost noughties classic..John Leckie produced their follow up then they imploded

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

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

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