In the past few weeks I've been stumbling on a lot of great music that really deserves a ton more exposure than it's gotten. I'm curious if anyone else has a list of similar artists, but let's add some rules/constraints to make it fun:
Links must be YouTube (preferred), Soundcloud, or Bandcamp. Requirements for all:
(1) The song must be > a year old (i.e. nothing posted yesterday that's about to blow up)
(2) Subjective requirement: The song shouldn't clearly be an artist's "B-Side" (i.e. a track that wasn't made to get big). Every big-name artist has some more obscure tunes.
(3) Subjective request: Along the lines of (2), music should come from artists who you expect not everyone to have heard of...
(4a) If YouTube: If multiple copies of the song/video exist, the video with the maximum number of views must be less than 15,000
(4b) If SoundCloud: The song must have less than 2000 plays.
(4c) if Bandcamp: There really isn't a good metric (other than the release not having a huge list of supporters), but please use your best judgment.
As an example of what I'm talking about, I'll start: SingerSen is a collaboration between a Chinese pop singer Sen, and Guy Sigsworth (who's produced/written music for Imogen Heap/ 1/2 of FrouFrou/Bjork, Madonna, etc)
This is the official video for SingerSen - Cables. It has <3000 views and was uploaded last January. The amount of lack of exposure is just plain wrong:
or SingerSen - Shadows. Less < 6000 views. From 2011.
Ben Prunty - Floating Grasslands is cute. dyF1.6 - Atomsphere is sick. Disasterpeace - Lullatwerp is strange: CryingHorn - Inspirited Vitality Food Pyramid - E-Harmony is for running.long mad long ago we all lived carelessly
you went on a killing spree
why oh why did you decide to destroy mankind
Some real gems in here, thanks! I guess I should add bandcamp to the OK-list, but it's harder to come up with quantitative measure for if something's under-appreciated. Last link is a clear violation of this thread, though ;)
Haha, yeah, I looked up one game's album and it had <10 hits on what.cd. But on youtube? 226k. Obscurity is relative, I still remember /r/listentothis getting riled up over reposts of their favorite artists that obviously everyone had heard of. Music suggestion is a strange game, but occasional people find a way to hit it off!
For those who dig female vocalists Jillian Ann Some of her stuff has more views, but definitely under appreciated. Mina Fedora - Believe Me Nice mellow tones. I want to share Ivy Levan, I've been following her for a few years, but she just blew up, so check her out, I won't link per rules.
I've actually done a number of remixes for her in the past: Jillian Ann - King of Solitude (GS's Carotenoid Remix)
Jillian Ann - Confess (GS Remix)
and have one that I think fell off the release pipeline...
Jillian Ann - Dangerous Games (GS Remix)
https://soundcloud.com/greatscott/jillian-ann-dangerous-games
Bands I'm friends with: Shameless self promotion:
Thanks lil. I wish you could have been at the dinner, it was a fun time. I'm going to begin working on a new podcast soon and I'd like your participation. More to come...
Here's a tune from a group called Plush from South Africa. I've been a fan since a friend of mine gave me their CD "A Few Blinding Views" a few years back. Catchy stuff.
Boy am i late to this thread. Well, here's some things anyway.
I'm a big fan of And So I Watch You From Afar. They're a post-rock group out of Belfast, but they all used to be in metal bands, so they're harder than Explosions in the Sky, the best known post-rockers right now. Here's their bandcamp, give the album All Hail Bright Futures a listen.
Nada Upasana Pundrika by Demitori - Metal City ob Neon Lamb by Dangerous Mezashi Cat Peaceful Daily Life by Falcom Sound Team JDK Spring Rogue by Shibayan Records Apparent Carmina Lunae is so obscure that I couldn't find them on either Youtube or Soundcloud, even though there are a few videos on NiciNico and a few albums on my hard drive.
Oh boy. Here's a big list of stuff. Fear not, I think there's something for everyone. It's going to be entirely bands that I'm friends with since I honestly think most of them warrant more exposure. There's more but some of these people are surprisingly hard to find. Bands I'm friends with: Formalities - Runaway. Okay so maybe this is me. Whatever dad! Realized my EP isn't a year old so here's an old demo track. Faking Amnesia - YEEEEEEAAAAAHHH. And this is my roommate. He makes really dance-y chiptune music. Chip-pop I guess. Skirts - Mean Girls. Over a year old despite the upload date, surf rock. Cottage Jefferson - Goodbye Blue Monday. I've raved about these guys before, but seriously. I Don't Believe Anything is one of my favorite albums ever. If you like Pavement there's no way you don't love this band. Routine Involvements - Hang Ups. This is really atypical of their more recent stuff but you get the idea! Ligaments - Entropica. Good house music. Guy is a prolific electronic musician, always putting something out. Comfy. Might be my current favorite out of this list. It's bandcamp but trust me they meet your criteria. Up and coming band. The album is less than a year old, but this song is two years old. The Wallpaper - Iris. Some really great, reverby slacker pop. Kopps - L.A. Lights. Great female lead synth-pop. Huge 80s influenced hooks and synths. Revengineers - Laiki. Honestly, I think this was at the time the most talented band in the area at the time. These guys are monstrously talented and the drummer is the same drummer from the band Saxon Shore. Vundabar - Darla. I'm not sure how to describe this band outside of a kind of math-y indie rock band, but they're killer! The Demos - Nervous. Hi. This is basically The Strokes lite but it's still catchy. Ovlov - Where's my Dini?. 1. These guys are hilarious people. 2. Do you like shoegaze influenced punk? 3. Listen to this. Kris Keyser - Rockem Sockem. Pretty heavy chiptune. Bit Shifter - The Information Chase. You don't even need to like chiptune to like this guys music, he is one of the most well-known and influential people in the scene. Danimal Cannon - Jean Luc. More chiptune, but this involves metal-influenced guitar shredding over it. Incredibly well-crafted songs. Noisewaves - Do I Look Like I want to Play Volleyball. Post-rock mixed with chiptune and this band is actually from Michigan. Bad Cello - Stop Living. This guy is actually a friend of mine from back home. Pretty innovative stuff, haven't heard too much else like it. French Horn Rebellion - Swing Into It. Electronic Nu-Disco. They're interesting dudes but they make great music. Josh Netsky - Moonville. A folk artist who put out an EP devoted to abandoned places.
Deep Drain - In to the Ocean is way under exposed. De-Tached - Waste a nice new sound. RetConstruct - The End of Men dark and offbeat Bright Dead Circle - live show is newer than one year but amazing live. Cooker - Hello Goodbye an old favorite who no longer exists
Jr. Elevator - Control All The Chaos 'I'll Hide All My Teeth In'. These guys only released one song ever before breaking up, played only a handful of shows. I know them because they were a supergroup of notable Buffalo punk bands I Can See Mountains and All Blondes Go To Heaven, both rather obscure bands in their own right.
Everything Goes Cold makes hilarious EBM. This is Bitch Stole My Time Machine. It is probably good there aren't many bands doing what they do, but it is good they are doing what they do. You need also need The Sensual Batman Experence. GHXST were born too late.
Posting power electronics in a thread like this is probably cheating, but Trepaneringsritualen deserves more love.
I found Matthew Fowler through Reddit, where he's posted his stuff in /r/iwroteasong and a few other music subreddits. I love it. http://matthewfowler.bandcamp.com/track/beginners Even Classical Music has largely forgotten about her - Jean-Louise Ferrenc Most popular video for Amy Beach - Violin Sonata has less than 8k views. One of the best american Romantic composers, not just female composers. Gorgeous. Shameful Self-promotion:
Might have gone overboard...hopefully these all follow the rules you made properly. George and Jonathan - The Next Best Thing Adam Warrock did a pretty sweet track on Pacific Rim, a movie I love, screw off I know it was loud and dumb. Tearaway OST - Renaissance Hop (Record Scratching Tune) Blank Banshee - Paradise Disc /芸能山城組 Form and Shape - All Unfurled (I LOVE THESE GUYS) Gitaroo Man - The Legendary Theme Joshua Morse - Turtle Dance 3 The Lower Class - Mono Analog Module International - Tokyo Rain about:blank: - Acrophobia Arcade High - Outrun This!
This one's kind of cheating, Soundcloud's big in France, YouTube's hits are ~144,000 behind: WebQueawry is awesome, but they told me that have a bunch of stuff that will never see the light of day :( - This guy's a friend of mine, he keeps it as analog as possible -