Favourite Obscure Albums

It’s pretty easy really…there are so many albums/bands/artists out there that we’ve not been exposed to.

Knowing my music taste as you do, how the hell did I not know about Porcupine Tree until you suggested I might like them around this time last year?

That’s one of the benefits of all the music threads here…we can continually get exposed to new music.

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No 1 Song In Heaven is a song I’m aware of. They did a whole album with Franz Ferdinand in 2015, calling the act FFS.

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Yes and the other is Propaganda.

Yes, they have probably influenced bands that have gone on to sell more records than them.

They called their “best of” album “Plagiarism”! But it was not a re-issue but a re-working with collaborating bands.

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On a fifa soundtrack too

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Used to haunt the Corner hotel in the 80’s catching these guys.
Or their sorta alter egos, the Phantom Band

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Great thread can’t wait to have a listen to some of these later on

Ooh… The Astros! Nice call. Jimi Hocking is one talented guitarist. He/they used to play at The Armadale. Someone at Triple M (Billy Pinnell probably) used to have a thing for them. They were one of very few indie/unsigned acts that they ever played (even if very occasionally).

For what was effectively an inner suburban pub The Armie used to get some good local bands. Jimi was a regular in the back room. The Sharp cut their teeth there too (started as a cover band playing Violent Femmes, Blondie, The Cure etc.) Incredibly tight for a 3-piece… you could see they would go on to bigger things…

Actually, this is a pretty good obscurity too…

It’s not the one with “the hits”. This one is much looser and fuzzier. Lots of chorus pedals and phasers. Does sound very Cure-ish in parts. Being a 1990’s CD it has way too many songs, but the good stuff is really very good. Skivvies are back!..

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Hour of the Nightingale - Trees of Eternity

Trees of Eternity was a musical collaboration between Finnish guitarist Juha Raivio (Swallow the Sun) and Sweden-based, South African-born singer Aleah Stanbridge. Their music is often described as down-tempo, doom/death-inspired melancholia with angelic female vocals.

Trees of Eternity was formed when guitarist Juha Raivio and singer Aleah got together in the studio to work on the song “Lights on the Lake” for the upcoming Swallow the Sun album New Moon. The plan was to feature Aleah’s vocals on part of the song already prepared by Juha, but when they instead began to experiment with a vocal line Aleah had written for the occasion the session quickly headed off in a new direction and the project took on a life of its own.

On April 18, 2016, singer Aleah Stanbridge died from cancer at age 39. Two days later, Juha wrote on Facebook that the album has been ready to be released for a while and that the plans are still in motion. He was also planning to release Aleah’s solo songs. On August 11, 2016, the band’s debut album, Hour of the Nightingale, was announced to be released on November 11.

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Extremely rare for the period (early 70s) - a rock band of four women. Largely ignored and forgotten until very recently with a documentary and an emergence of some old live footage on Youtube.

The band name won’t evade the swear filter. In the US, this word has a different meaning (your butt) and therefore is not considered vulgar.

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Probably obscure, but maybe more underrated in the 90s indie sphere, Silver Scooter provide catchy sweet tunes that serve as a link from Superchunk to Death Cab For Cutie perhaps. I still play this often 25 years later. “Pumpkin Eyes”, “Tractor Pull”, and “Solid Glass” are almost anthemic in their boisterous hooks.

Absolutely loved Klaatu. Had the cassette playing on rotation in my 180b until I had an accident. Sort of soured it for me then.

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Supersystem - The Feelers

Kiwi band’s debut album that a mate gave me when I visited him in NZ back in the early 2000s.

I’ve never heard them played on the air anywhere here in Oz but they were big in NZ. This hit top spot in NZ.

A mix of rock/pop, I still play it on a semi regular basis.

Genuine question.
Does anyone rate Diamanda Galas?
I don’t.

Edit: also surprised not to see Can, who I also do not rate.

From the early Naughties. Very low key band writing alternative rock.

Never heard of either of them.

Only know Diamanda by name, never listened.

Can are too lauded to be obscure. I like Ege Bamyasi, I think that’s a solid album, where the others maybe work better as background music as you flake out on a settee tripping on something.

Can are OK, but not totally my cup of tea. Most of what I’ve heard of theirs has been a single riff or idea repeated over and over with other things periodically fading in and out of the mix, stretched out to 6+ minutes.

Since it’s often a single refrain their stuff is well suited to being sampled (or outright stolen in the case of Elastica… famously…) and used as the basis for another song. They’ve been used to good effect by the likes of The Killers, and Nine Inch Nails, amongst plenty of others.

I would suggest you’re not missing anything.

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I know the Wire ripping, but what was the Can they used?