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[Chattox]

In this thread, I'd like to bring together a collection of little known musicians, regardless of genre or style, for people to discover. Some unknown musicians tend to have far superior music to more 'mainstream' bands, and for this reason I think we should share those local bands of unheard of singers that we know about with each other. I don't want this to degenerate into a flamewar about exactly what 'mainstream' is and when a band or singer qualifies as such, so try and keep that to calm discussion at least, thanks.

I'll start, with a very funny duo I discovered just yesterday, Pig With The Face Of A Boy. There's a little music player on the right hand side though it doesn't have all the songs from their album. I particularly like Hitler's Favourite Song and My Darling.

Other less popular bands I know of and would like to share are Leatherat, an english folk rock band, 3 Daft Monkeys, an almost steampunk sort-of-folk-rock band, and Bellowhead, who play very good songs, very loudly. All 3 of these bands played at the Cropredy music festival this year which I was at.

I'd also like to suggest The Decemberists though they've been becoming a lot more popular recently (I met two people who'd heard of them in a week! A week!)

[Realmfighter]

YANN THE MAN TIERSEN

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[Muz]

Pig With The Face Of A Boy really wasn't my kind of thing, I thought it had that weird British humor. I've heard of The Decemberists for quite a while. Reminds me back of when I thought I was the only one who heard of My Chemical Romance.

Those other two posted links are awesome, though. I normally dislike classical/instrumental music.. it's horribly pretentious 90% of the time, with people putting a lot of effort and nerdrage into music that just isn't that good. But Yann Tiersen is just incredible.

Anyway, I suggest Dark Sky. They seem like a well funded, professional band, but I can't even find lyrics or anyone who's heard of them, so I guess they count. Their top music video has only 1867 views, lol. The entire album is about as good, with different sounding songs.

[Hoborobo234]

Future of the Left are an excellent welsh band. In fact on my work experience I reviewed their newest album for a local magazine. they play sort of heavy metal sort of stuff. I dont really know what they call the genre but it's somewhere on the lines of Aggression rock I think I heard someone call it.

La Brass Banda are a bavarian band that play hip-hop fusion brass music. They are very fun and high energy but I would rather buy a live concert ticket than their albums. I saw them at WOMAD this year and they were the best performance there all weekend. Their live performances are just so good and I think they do shows all over europe.

[Eagleon]

Ed Alleyne-Johnson
KiloWatts (delicious crunchy glitchy downtempo stuff Two Days Off and Auditorium (from a later album) are my favorites)
Sigur Rós
Eva Cassidy (although many do know of her, she was considered largely a folk/country/blues/jazz singer, so her transcendant (IMHO :3) vocals often go unrecognized by the younger crowd)
Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts (Familiar to many anime fans Even if you don't like anime they're excellent in their own right)
I could probably go on, but that's enough hehe.

[Osmosis Jones]

Matthew and the Atlas ; Think a mellower version of Mumford and Sons, kind of folksy, passionate rock.

[Aklyon]

does the guy who made the music for VVVVVV count as little-known?

[Helmaroc]

Some most of these aren't extremely obscure, but definitely not 'mainstream'.

BEARDYMAN (and his friends) - beatboxer/dj/sometimes comedian type of guy...not a big hiphop/rap/beatboxing whatever fan but this guy is awesome.
Melvins - 'sludge metal', slow and dark repeating guitar with very unique vocals, maybe not for everyone but I know there are a lot of metal fans on bay12. They're still together and recently put out a new album, but I prefer their older stuff.
Earth - 'drone metal', simplistic, kind of similar and I believe inspired by Melvins, but slower and less lyrics...I think it's relaxing. I have listened to only a few tracks though.
Neutral Milk Hotel (again, not extremely obscure) - described as 'indie' but don't be afraid...nice and simple, acoustic guitars, I love it.
School of Fish - 90's alternative rock, but gentler than grunge. They broke up after two studio albums and then the singer died of cancer so they never really made it big, but 3 Strange Days (linked) is a great track imo.
John Butler Trio - pretty well-known in Australia, I would guess, less so in US...'jam band'...acoustic slide guitar rock I guess. They've become more commercial/pop recently but some of their older and instrumental stuff is just amazing. The first song is pretty hippy anti-war save the earth so maybe mixed feelings for some of you there but the second track is a wonderful guitar piece.

[RedKing]

The Red Elvises, a Russian-American surf/lounge/retro rock band. Also provided the soundtrack (and supporting roles) in . (Oh shiznit! They're in town near my birthday this year!  )

Southern Culture on the Skids, one of the foremost rockabilly/trash rock bands in the Southern US. Can come off as "gimmicky" to newcomers, but actually quite musically talented. They've gained some exposure by having a few songs wind up in videogame and movie soundtracks. Best enjoyed live as the stage show is its own spectacle, complete with fried chicken thrown into the crowd.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Current 93.

Perhaps not that obscure, but awesome anyway.

[Chattox]

Tin Hat Trio are also an awesome band, again I don't know how obscure they are in the states, since I can only really go by popularity in the UK where I live, and since 90% of brits have little to no taste in music, most good bands are pretty obscure here. Another few are Haggard, Sopor Aeternus (from back in my dark and gloomy goth days), and Dream Evil, though I have a feeling they're not nearly as obscure outside of the UK. As is the case with most good music, really.