Abney Park's Airship Pirates.
Every time it comes on in the wild I get excited.
Excellent choice. I was going to go with Future Soon by Coulton.
This is hilarious, i love it. My favorite Jonathan Coulton song is Sticking It to Myself.
I dunno if it would be classed as obscure any more seen as it now has over 2m plays, but when I first heard it 4 years ago it was for sure obscure.
I also remember when it was obscure but i keep seeing it pop up as a meme of absurdity, which it is, of course. I think most people don't realize the level of virtuosity on display.
I've always been into freeform radio stations that color outside the lines, college stations like WPRB from Princeton, WFMU from NY/New Jersey, KFJC near the Bay Area, etc., have discovered a ton and a half of stuff that's way off the beaten path and has caught my ear.
Here's a good example I picked up around twenty years ago from KFJC, it could have been any one from too many choices to count, but for some reason this was the first song to pop into my mind right now.
If memory serves, I believe it's a field recording taken in the Sahara Desert, a nomadic people from around Morocco or Tunisia, and can only imagine the magical environment, close my eyes to try and visualize the crisp dry Saharan air at night, a large bonfire, the sky exploding with stars above, and this trance-inducing, mystical chanting.
Little Scandinavian band called Kashmir, mommy in love, daddy in space
Showbread - Mouth Like a Magazine
https://youtu.be/RPviF7Wp_bw?si=pv5vnQFFPNRMoD1o
The band dropped off the map years ago. I barely understand the words, and that's when I read the lyrics. But from the chorus, I gather that the song is about hypocrisy, and that scratches an itch of yelling at people for being hypocritical
Yine, by Kurban (Turkish band) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=edxm5-boYGA&pp=ygULeWluZSBrdXJiYW4%3D
Hell yeah, can't go wrong with hard rock.
I have a number of songs on my playlists in different languages that i dont unserstand and it's interesting how it shifts the focus away from lyrics and toward the interaction between the vocals and the instruments. The voice is another instrument, after all.
This song just slaps, that's why I like it. Fun to play on guitar, too!
Native Howl - Thunderhead https://youtu.be/CvBiXBSEGDY?si=qBzVCUfOj1l9BEf6
No Life King - Black Pyramid is under 40k views so probably that.
My first thought was Cryptkey - Windhand, or some Electric Wizard, but they are definitely more popular in general.
A great one for your Halloween playlists is "The Crazy" by The Children MacNuggits.
But if you want even more obscure, a college friend of mine started a homebrew record label and got every band on campus to submit their best track for a compilation... and then he did it five more times
Twenty years later, I still listen to some of these songs daily, but especially: (warning, these are download links, not streaming)
Cold Heaven - "Eurydice"
The Heavy Pets - "(A Dragon's Just) A Dinosaur in Drag"
Zinc Finger and the Major Groove - "Too Much of a Girl"
The Passerines - "Young"
I don't know how obscure this is because it was on the Skate 3 soundtrack. However, I've never met a person that knew the song, and it's not on any music streaming services, so I think it's a little obscure.
https://open.spotify.com/track/7uhfJ11SoxlwREvTV80QA5? Lucy(Hurt People Hurt People) by Olivver the Kid
I like how simple this song is musically while converting multiple things behind the lyrics.
My favourite "obscure" artist right now is a Vancouver band called Slightest Clue. Post/Punk alternative group.
Burrito Mojado, the Fabulous Hedgehogs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqfanMci3-A&t=0
This is hilarious, i love songs that are silly and fun while still being good.
Glad you like it. They made two albums, both pretty goofy. The main guy ended up in Vegas. Did some interesting stuff.
Been following this band for a while now and every now and again they release a banger.
They never draw huge numbers which doesn't make sense to me given their songs.
This fucks.
Maybe Tomorrow by Abby Simons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WkKi4CbWN0
This is from an old Youtube channel, Abby would write, record, edit, and post a new song every week for a year... almost.
When the song pops into my head from time to time, I miss the way that youtube felt.
Whatcha Doin to Me by The Reds
https://youtu.be/EqG_PN6Gt3E?si=bfgDl1RkCRnID4ov
I've been listening to it for over 40 years and it still fucking rocks.
A song about the infamous East of Adelaide area of London, Ontario which is notoriously run-down compared to the rest of the city. A lot of the things mentioned in the song will sound very familiar to others who have lived in similar trashy neighbourhoods. The song became popular enough in London that one of London's former mayors, Joe Fantana, played the song with the band on the drums.
Tythe, Rachel Dradd - The Light https://youtu.be/nx4WcxFdDns
Yes, of course! Half of the music i listen to is instrumental.
That was a good song. It gives me vibes of melancholy and longing.
It's super chill.
Memo From Turner from the soundtrack of the movie Performance.
It sounds like The Rolling Stones but it's only Mick, plus Ry Cooder on slide guitar.
I like the mix of speaking voice and singing here. Also the pitch "issues" of both the slide and Jagger add to the song---almost microtonal vibes.
Idk how obscure it is but FIGURE IN THE BACKGROUND by Snake Pool
This is a fun one. The driving beat from the drums and the bouncing bass make me smile and it's impossible not to tilt my head back and forth to the beat.
Probably not obscure per se, as it is the main theme of Raziel and Kain's conflict in Soul Reaver, but Ozar Midrashim - Information Society, is one piece that I deeply enjoy.
There's a metal cover of the game's music, "Between the Zones", with Wasteland Midrashim and Forgotten Lament being some I enjoy a lot.
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