Obscure Music Artists

[Wyldercat]

What's your favorite obscure band(s)? Like, I'm talking unpopular music here. What's your favorite? Why do you like them? Who's your favorite member? Etc. Just talk about some unknown music you like!



For me, most of my music is pretty mainstream, but there's some good alt groups I like. Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks is really the only obscure group I regularly listen to. (Glass Animals too, but they're getting pretty popular now.) I don't know much about the group admittedly, but I really like Avey's voice, and all of their songs are just really interesting to listen to. There's some cool distortions and motifs that are sampled, and it just creates a really aesthetically pleasing experience to listen to them.

[Insoholic]

My favourite band has to be "Digital Daggers". Though, I can't say that the band isn't popular, because it has been featured on many television shows including "The Vampire Diaries", "Nikita", "Teen Wolf", "Pretty Little Liars", and others.

[Admirer]

Crystal Castles, Ghostemane, Heirsound, Cavetown, Purity Ring, Circa Survive, Son Lux, shinigami, VELVETEARS, Dance Gavin Dance and many, many more LOL. I'm a sucker for music and have a lot of bands that not many people listen to.

[Bloo.]

I am in love with some songs by Steam Powered Giraffe c: "Honey Bee" is by far my favorite, it's just so feel good and sweet! Can't say I have a favorite member though ^^

[WolfQueen]

Crystal Castles, Ghostemane, Heirsound, Cavetown, Purity Ring, Circa Survive, Son Lux, shinigami, VELVETEARS, Dance Gavin Dance and many, many more LOL. I'm a sucker for music and have a lot of bands that not many people listen to.

i LOVE circa survive and dance gavin dance oml!!!
_
Lync is a very good hardcore-punk band that's only been together for a short time in the 90's. they sound angry but there's balance in the song and between tracks. it doesn't sound all the same unlike most hardcore bands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEUpAYQc0-c

(Sandy) Alex G isn't as heavy but he has a really tender sound imo. sounds kinda folkish and it reminds me of simpler times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPuxLpVus-k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vxOzwDEXv0

Built To Spill is the most popular out of the two but i don't see this band being talked about anywhere. ;; they're truly amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6omZ5GsuGrI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb1RlzyWHm4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-f7zsW7EV4

pavement, spoon, dinosaur jr., marcy playground, red vox, the world is a beautiful place, ween, silversun pickups, the fall of troy, and aesop rock are other artists/bands i listen to that are at least somewhat obscure.

[Kuri]

Even i've heard some of those.
What about Mare Cognitum? example
(For all i know they're hugely popular, but i nobody who's heard of it.)

[Admirer]

Crystal Castles, Ghostemane, Heirsound, Cavetown, Purity Ring, Circa Survive, Son Lux, shinigami, VELVETEARS, Dance Gavin Dance and many, many more LOL. I'm a sucker for music and have a lot of bands that not many people listen to.

i LOVE circa survive and dance gavin dance oml!!!
_
Lync is a very good hardcore-punk band that's only been together for a short time in the 90's. they sound angry but there's balance in the song and between tracks. it doesn't sound all the same unlike most hardcore bands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEUpAYQc0-c

(Sandy) Alex G isn't as heavy but he has a really tender sound imo. sounds kinda folkish and it reminds me of simpler times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPuxLpVus-k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vxOzwDEXv0

Built To Spill is the most popular out of the two but i don't see this band being talked about anywhere. ;; they're truly amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6omZ5GsuGrI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb1RlzyWHm4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-f7zsW7EV4

pavement, spoon, dinosaur jr., marcy playground, red vox, the world is a beautiful place, ween, silversun pickups, the fall of troy, and aesop rock are other artists/bands i listen to that are at least somewhat obscure.

HECK YA DUDE
HIGH FIVE

[Telluric]

streetlight manifesto. ska punk isn't a huge genre with a gigantic following like pop or rock, but they have such a rough and real sound to them, and god, the lyrics are close-hitting and profound. in my opinion anyways.
if you like the idea but don't like the faster stuff, toh kay[the lead singer] has made two albums of acoustic covers of their songs, and those are lovely in their own right.

hey rosetta! is another lovely band, with soft, melodic songs, surprisingly deep lyrics for what they sound like. they're somewhat slow pop, and i'm planning to listen to more of their stuff.

amaranthe
need fast rock songs to get ya motivated? amaranthe's your band! i have gotten comments from multiple friends saying things like "this should be an anime intro!" and rightfully so. def great stuff for feelin' powerful.

i have yet to listen to a lotta stuff from placebo, hedley, kansas, franz ferdinand, billy talent, volbeat and innerpartysystem but i'd also say give 'em a listen if you want to expand your horizons [in the edgy department xD ] -

[Warriorstrike]

I recognized a few of the artists mentioned in this thread, and I'm happy to see that there are others who enjoy them, too. c: I apologize in advance for my extensive list.

I'm not sure how far on the list these artists/bands go for popularity, as I tend to be unaware of what is popular to some genre groups. These artists are ones I've simply never heard anyone talk about, aside from the person who recommended them to me or fans of the artist online. I've stumbled across most of these through chance or by a recommendation list based on my own listenings. (Spoiler tags because everything is long.)

Broken Bells:

My introduction to this band was by a very strange and particularly uneventful moment in my life. I was looking through some very random videos on YouTube, and one of their songs ("The Mall and Misery") was playing extremely quietly on the radio in someone's room in the video. I had to Shazam it to discern any of the lyrics. (Shazam works and I would 10/10 recommend for identifying songs.) I was not disappointed. ^^ This band has grown to become my favorite group, at the moment. The duo consists of two gentlemen-- James Mercer and Danger Mouse/Brian Burton-- two individuals whom some may find familiar on their own. Mercer is the lead vocalist for another band, The Shins, and Danger Mouse can be found as a musician, producer, or songwriter for a ton of other artists, such as The Black Keys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Electric Guest. Broken Bells has two studio albums-- their first a self-titled and the second, After the Disco. I like to call these two the "day" and "night" albums, because I found myself listening to the former during the day or afternoons, and the latter at the late hours of the night. Their music style resembles something of psychedelic/alternative rock. There are a few excellent bops and a plethora of tracks great for reflective, uninspiring, or otherwise introspective moments that occur throughout our day, perhaps through our lifetime. I've found many of their tracks to be fascinatingly specific to both widely felt and obscure emotions that somehow seem to translate to many different states of life. If you're not careful, the lyrics might just glide over your head and leave you with a melody that spins around and around.

First recommended song: "The Mall and Misery"

Electric Guest:

Since I had mentioned this band above, I might as well mention them on my list, too. These guys I found a bit more recently and have some parallels to Broken Bells, but they have a wider variety of music in terms of style. I believe they have become a bit more popular in recent years. They've got some indie pop/electric rock stuff-- some excellent for dancing and others for endless pondering. I'll recommend my two favorites, of which are confrontational to their audience and stir a kind of nostalgia.

First recommended songs: "American Daydream" or "Troubleman."

Kishi Bashi:

An excellent, incredibly talented artist who has created music that will transport you to another world-- someplace more peaceful, somewhere in space, somewhere frolicking around in your mind, basically. ^^ He plays a lot of indie rock, too, but I would put him closer toward an electronic pop music space. He's also a very skilled violinist.

First recommended songs: "Hey Big Star" or "Can't Let Go, Juno"

grandson.:

I was not ready for this kind of intense gritty trap infused rock and electronic music. He only has a few released songs, so you'll go through them fast, but the replayability is very high. I don't think I've quite heard anyone like him but certainly there are elements that I've heard in other artists. This guy's the one I go to if I need a song to jolt me back to my senses or expel energy. A lot of his work sounds like it belongs in a superhero movie and no one can convince me otherwise. He's got a lot of confrontational and political stuff, too, if you're into that.

First recommended songs: "Bills" or "Bury Me Face Down" (You really cannot go wrong with any of his stuff, though.)

I MONSTER:

I think they're becoming more popular, as well, but if you haven't listened to their music, I'd say it's worth a listen. Another group with electronic pop/psychedelic influences. Some of their stuff is fascinatingly creepy and a bit unsettling, but in a good way. One of their albums has bug faces on the cover, so there's that.

First recommended songs: "Daydream in Blue," "Heaven," or "These Are Our Children"

Rainbow Kitten Surprise:

The name itself should be enough to tempt anyone.

First recommended songs: "Devil Like Me"

I'll probably remember more later and only make the list longer. c:< I'm really glad you decided to create a discussion like this, Wylder, and I look forward to checking out some of the artists that have been posted here. Discovering new music is one of life's simple joys and is one very special when shared amongst others.

[Morqque]

I'm the guru for obscure music. In the "obscure" genre. I like the bands ZIN-SAY; Denki Groove; Picky Picnic;
Kurt Harland; Igorrr; Yellow Magic Orchestra; P-MODEL; Shemales from Outta Space of Death; Uchoten; and a handful of others.
ZIN-SAY being my all-time favorite band. You can check out my last.fm which has a collection more https://www.last.fm/user/kasa-jizo
And my youtube playlist which is primarily for lesser known tracks https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTKtTb0VJD0BCFtZcp9GyciQ6ogye2tDy