Obscure Music Challenge Game

[hmbscott]

I like new music, new to me that is, and so I'm throwing down the gauntlet! Can you suggest 3 works that I probably have never heard of and that you love? Bonus points if all three are completely different genres. I'll kick it off with three of my obscure yet awesome favorites, complete with plagiarized Wikipedia blurbs. In no particular order.

Big Star #1 Record: That group & album name is hilarious! #1 Record is the debut album by the American rock band Big Star. It was released on April 24, 1972. Genres Rock, Power pop (#1 Record is now widely regarded as a seminal work), Jangle Pop. Years active 1971–1975, 1993–2010. The entire album is amazing, and though obscure, its was very influential and sounds like it is, or should be, a part of the American song canon! I especially like Feel, Don't Lie To Me, and Thirteen. And now for something completely different.

Biig Piig: Jessica Smyth, known by the stage name Biig Piig is a 25 year old Irish singer based in West London. Genre Neo soul (whatever that is ;-). Years active 2016–present. I love the lush production and pumping bass! I recommend starting with songs Kerosene, Oh No, and Rainbow Tables. I like virtually everything she's published. Next, pushing the envelop a bit.

Vanishing Twin: According to Wikipedia Vanishing Twin are a London-based psychedelic pop quintet, founded in 2015. Although, I would describe them more as an experimental jazz/pop/noise fusion. Years active 2015–present. Beautifully weird, diverse influences, and well recorded! Try The Conservation of Energy, Eggs (do you pick up on a Bolero reference?), and Truth is Boring, all from their debut album to get a flavor of their range, and there's three more equally awesome albums to explore.

I hope you find at least one of these recommendations are new to you, surprising and fun. Looking forward to your reactions and your obscure musical suggestions!

 

[Larpy]

This is a good idea for a thread but I've been reluctant to post because I just don't know what counts or does not count as obscure to people I've never met.  For instance, Big Star has been an important part of my life since the early 1980s when I was in college, but I've never even heard of your other two picks.  I thought of posting a list that included the Louvin Brothers, Os Mutantes, and the Vulgar Boatmen, but are they really obscure?  Depending on age, location, and musical taste, no.  So I wasn't sure.

That said, what the hell, I'll give it a go.

1) Judee Sill, Judee Sill.  Sill was the first musician David Geffen signed when he started Asylum Records in 1971.  She made two brilliant records for Asylum that went nowhere and she disappeared, dying young at age 35 from a drug overdose.  She was the very definition of a cult artist until her records were reissued on CD.  Her LPs only sold in the thousands in the 1970s and were hard if not impossible to find until the internet came along.  Now she's much less obscure but I bet many of you are unfamiliar with her.

If so, I recommend a listen to her first, eponymous release (though her best song, the astonishing "The Kiss," is on her second LP).  Sill switches from folky acoustic guitar to gospel-tinged piano playing and sings in a plaintive but appealing voice that sounds very southern Californian.  Lyrically, her songs have a preoccupation with a mystical, quasi-Christian yearning for salvation (that for me avoids cliché) and has aged better, in my mind, than Robert Plant's Tolkien-inspired mysticism in the early years of Led Zeppelin.  Hey, it was the early 1970s.

Musically, Sill was an intriguing mix of folk, gospel, and Bach.  I've never tired of listening to her music.  The round at the end of "The Lamb Ran Away with the Crown" rivals the one at the end of the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows."  That's high praise.

2) And now for something completely different:  Kanda Bongo Man's 1993 Soukous in Central Park.  This is African Soukous music at its most joyous and mesmerizing.  I'd describe Soukous (which began in the 1970s in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo) as what happens when west Africans hear Cuban rumba music on the radio and play their version of it using electric instruments and west African poly-rhythms.  It was hugely popular in the 1980s and 1990s in west and central Africa and France.  Kanda Bongo Man is not among the most heralded Soukous singers and band leaders, but this live recording of his is touched by magic.  Buoyant, exuberant, and infectious from beginning to end. If you get the Soukous bug listening to this, check out the music of Tabu Ley, especially the later recordings after 1970.  He was the Soukous master.

Oh, and if you're a fan of the electric guitar, you really ought to listen to what Soukous guitarists do with the instrument: cascading notes played quickly but cleanly and smoothly, simultaneously intricate and melodically memorable.

3) Jason Molina recorded under various names (Jason Molina, Songs: Ohia, the Magnolia Electric Company) but all of his records ultimately revolve around his songs and his haunting voice.  He sang in a midwestern (U.S.) twangy tenor that communicates heartache and vulnerability as well as any singer I can think of.  (In fact, his singing reminds me a little of Alex Chilton's singing when he was in Big Star, and who has sung with more vulnerability in their voice than Chilton on Big Star's Third?)  Molina's songs are usually chordally very simple (all he needed were two or three chords), but I find almost all of his songs melodically gripping.  I'm no music composition theorist, but I suspect his melodic sense was more modal than modern scale-oriented.  Whatever the case, I find his voice and melodic sensibility spellbinding.  Lyrically, he was preoccupied with loneliness and pain (returning again and again to lightning, ghost, and bird imagery).  He was no happy camper, so anyone who doesn't care for downbeat lyrics should keep a wide berth.

His most accessible record is probably The Magnolia Electric Co. from 2003.  It's a boisterous Americana-esque production recorded with a studio full of sympathetic musicians.  Check out the first track, "Farewell Transmission," and the last one, "Hold On Magnolia."

Personally, my favorite Molina records are Ghost Tropic and The Lioness.  They're stripped down affairs, often featuring just Molina and a guitar or two, with minimal drums. 

Well, that's my contribution.

 

[hmbscott]

I picked the term "obscure" just to try to elicit lesser known gems, that selfishly, I might not have heard before.  This is just supposed to be a fun way to share and find new music.

I kind of expected that many folks on this forum might have heard of Big Star given that #1 Record has been around 50 years. That said, it was obscure to me. I only stumbled across it maybe 6 months ago when I was hunting for vinyl and discovered #1 Record's repressing offered by Rough Trade (promptly bought). But, I also think their story justifies the obscure label: "Many critics praised the album's vocal harmonies and songcraft but #1 Record suffered from poor distribution and sold fewer than 10,000 copies upon its initial release." Given that it's now on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, I suppose it's obscurity is debatable .

Larry, I see what you did there ;-) sneaking in 6 mentions ... clever. I am pretty sure I have heard of a couple of the six, but had never listened to any. All of your official entries are new to me, thanks!

Judee Sill: What an amazing voice! I am reminded a bit of Karen Carpenter. The recordings are excellent as well. Ridge Rider, Crayon Angels, Down Where the Valley Are Low and The Lamb Ran Away with the Crown especially caught my ear. Her singing has a gentle beauty and I agree, is brilliant.

Kanda Bongo Man Soukous in Central Park: Yeah! that's really fun. I can hear that cuban influence, and maybe reggae too, or perhaps that influence is from the other direction? Yesu Christu was a standout for me. You've given me lot to explore here.

Jason Molina: Wow he has a huge canon. I finally settled on Eight Gates to focus on. A 2020 release of previously unreleased tracks recorded in 2008. It's very much to my taste, despite the downcast lyrics - not really my thing, but I do have a taste for guitar and simple beautiful interesting sound, interesting verging on avant-garde. Eight Gates delivers. Whisper Away sucked me in immediately. She Says was especially poignant given his comments at the start of this posthumously released track. it's evident that many of the tracks aren't finished polished efforts, which only adds to the interest and appeal for me. They are so intimate and real.

 

[Karl5150]

I'll go with 'lesser known'. I'm not a musician, so my view as to what makes a record (lesser known or not) good is generally based on production but mostly how it makes me feel and how often it finds its way onto the turntable. That said:

Tommy Bolin's Private Eyes. Not as well received as Teaser, I find it more accessible. A guitar-god who sadly never made it even to the 27-club.

You want electric guitar? Try the compilation Too Fast To Live, Too young To Die by Robert Gordon, showcasing his collaborations with Link Wray and Chris Spedding. Includes a version of Bruce's Fire (sure, we're on a 1st name basis) and a couple of Marshall Crenshaw tunes.

And now for something completely different - 801Live. Featuring among other art-rock greats, Phil Manzanara and Brian Eno, it was an early live album where the mic and instrument/amp outs went directly to the mixer.

enjoy, Karl   

 

[hmbscott]

Thanks Karl, all new to me.

Tommy Bolin: I'm sorry he died so young, we lost a master. Love the groove of Post Toastee.

Robert Gordon: punk rocker turns to classic 50's rock and channels Elvis, he's kind of awesome! Love his version Fire.

801Live: Interesting live music! Tomorrow Never Knows was a real standout for me.