Most Unique Band...
 

What band do you think has the most unique sound? This means that they don't have any spinoff bands, and they have a style so strange, it makes you go, "Whaaa?"

My vote goes to Rakoth, from Russia.

I describe them best as Medieval-Symphonic-GrindCore

They have 2 vocal styles, one sounds like a wandering minstrel and the other sounds like Golem from LOTR.

There is the basic guitar, bass, drums...but
They also have a pan flute, piano, and lute.

It sounds literally like medieval music, mixed with death metal

If you would like a sample, check out the elitist records website to download a sample (I suggest the song "Fear wasn't in the design" or "The Dark Heart of Uurukal"

mars volta

no gimics, just fucking brilliant

I'm gonna say Super Furry Animals. The best way I can classify them is Welsh pop-rock-phychidelia-techno.

How about Tangerine Dream?

Pink Floyd - yeah I know there are imitators, but nothing even comes close.

Bering Strait. A Russian Bluegrass band that has electric guitars and drums. Quite unique.

i'd say fantomas. Its (one) Mike Pattons curent bands. The first album had no words, just noises from Patton.

String Cheese Incident. You never know what they are gonna play. Theyll jam bluegrass, funk, jazz, rock, latin music, and covers in the same night. And when your not ready for it the keyboardist will get off his organ and bust techno with a JP8000. Great band amazing shows

Backstreet Boys.

The Apex Theory... it's some of the most experimental rock ever, I mean, their music is DEFINETLY rock (they played on Ozzfest last summer), but it also has influences of all other kinds of stuff... to get a taste of what I'm saying, listen to the following songs:

(Sort Of) general rock:
4RA's
Apossibly
Bravo
Aisle Always
Swing This
Calm-It

Total deviations from that path:
Shhh... (Hope Diggy)
Trust Ease
That's All!
Drown Ink
Mucus Shifters
In Books

Check them out, about 95% of the people I recommend them to like it. A lot.

I like a lot of your replies, but some of the ones I believe definately don't fit into this category. For one, Apex Theory is not unique, I have heard them, and they sound a lot like many other post-grunge/metal bands.

As for Mars Volta, true, they are brilliant (I do believe Sparta is the more talented of the At The Drive In members), but they are really good. They do sound a lot like Fearless' new band Brazil (as well as many others)

As for Fantomas, Thank you for that reply josh. I think they are absolutely amazing, (especially the CD of horror movie theme song covers). The fact that Slayer's drummer plays for them seals it for me.

Pink floyd is another interesting one. Very unique, but the whole rock opera and psychadelica thing has been done over a lot (Pink Floyd is just known for it).

That's all for now. I'll definately check into everyone elses unique bands. Thank you.

bands that may not be most people's favorites , but I love because they are in their own league....

Pink Floyd - actually, i've never listened to them very much but their sound and style is an obvious major breakthrough.

Smashing Pumpkins - from a radio perspective, another alt band. if you look through their hisory you'll notice how truly unique and amazing they are. my favorite band ever.

deftones - again, if you listen to em on the radio..... another rock goes metal meets a little rap. these guys are in their own catagory like PF. Chino uses his voice like its the missing instrument. if you like energetic music, give them a few listens.

TOOL - maynard and co. they threw all music rules out the window long ago. the music is just.... awesome. i mean some of the beginning music in Stinkfist and Euology is just amazing. the lyrics are simply amazing......

anyhow, just some examples.

oh, don't forget Cake :)

i'm certainly not going to claim a band to be the most unique, but System of a Down is pretty damn unusual - plus they get lumped into this infamous "nu-metal" crowd which i think is an injustice.

good stuff

Another Very, very unique band is Mindelss Self Indulgence.

Saviour Machine is the most unique band I have ever heard.

Another vote for Tool. Musicly and lyricly they're very original. Maynard has a unique singing style to match a very unique sound. Some artist refered to them as "Too good".

MSI


EDIT: With a nod to the Golden Palominos and Pixies

Sigur Ros

Ohh yea! Forgot about them. Good one.

System of a Down... they write some wacky crap

and Weird Al! :D think about it... he is every genre at once and no one is copying him. obviously his music is rarely orginial but the concept is very much so.

They Might Be Giants and Ben Folds Five are two bands I can hear and not mistake for anyone else.

Going to have to agree with the 2 that mentioned System of a Down, I can't think of any other band that sounds like them.

I dont think Yes ever had any imitators. Some of the finest rock ever made, imho.

Medeski Martin and Wood. Damn good, very unique. Just a bass, organ and drums making some very good jazz. I can't think of anything that compares. Sure there is funk, and there is acid jazz but MMW puts it together like no other.

Kraftwerk.

Gandharvas!

the residents, ween, dog fashion disco, mindless self indulgence, the lotus eaters

Mod Flanders Conspiracy. some of the weirdest shit I've ever heard. Covers everything from hardcore, to emocore, jazz, and experimental noise.

Mu-Ziq, Cornelious, Atari Teenage Riot, Matronix, Dragon Ash,Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, LazyMuthaFucka, Mr. Children, Tweeker, Saul Williams, BJORK!!!!

and the list goes on and on and on...

Sigur ross. So much dreamy feedback and the lead signer has an amazing voice and sings in Icelandish (sp?) which makes it sound even better. I've never heard anything like these guys, they are truly out there.


Buckethead. Not a band, just an AMAZING guitarist. He plays with a KFC bucket on his head with a Michael Myers mask and somehow manages to fingertap his guitar using 8 fingers like a piano while doing a robot dance at the same time. This guy's style is just amazing, he doesn't sell out to one genre he experiments with classical, funk, jazz, blues, metal, etc in every song. He's never been heard speaking in public and only talks through his pet puppet Herbie. If this guy isn't unique I don't know what is.


Pink Floyd and TOOL for trying to open our minds to other "things". No one really sings like Maynard and Carrey is one of the best drummers out there.

system of a down are not that unique. its basic metal stuff that has real radio friendly melodic breakdowns. its nothing new guys- its just somethign different on the dial.

i think theres a metal thread goin on now, check that out.

also im gonna say sigur ros really is amazing, but they arent THAT different from their other post-modern-rock-ambient contemparies, there are some. ros is just damn good at it.

oh also DREDG

how could i have forgotten them.

oh oh and fucking Soul Coughing!

: )

I tried to just keep it at one, but I have to shout out my two favorites. Staind and Disturbed! Both Aaron Lewis and David Draiman are smoking singers and the bands are very well put together and have a crazy sound that I can bug out to anyday, anytime, any year.

I can't really think of any, mainly because when a unique band comes along, you get 50 bands trying to sound just like them. Even if they don't accomplish it, it's no longer unique.

Mindless Self Indulgence is definitely one. I love their stuff!

Another one that comes to mind is The Avalanches. The Australian group that uses almost entirely (I think it might be 100%) samples. Very cool stuff with a very unique sound and a lot of variety.

Primus

Gotta say The Doors. What other band had their lineup? The fact that the four of them were all great and whatnot helped too.

Oh, and Jethro Tull. Those flute solos are great.

Every other great band, even Radiohead, has too many imitators to be unmistakable.

i also agree with Soul Coughing, Ben Folds Five, and They Might Be Giants.

and i stand by System of a Down... my roomate is big into them, if you listen to the stuff that doesn't make it to radio, it is some of the most unusual sounding riffs, vocals, and beats out there. radio-friendly melodic breakdowns my ass. you have to dig through their stuff to find any song that sounds radio friendly.

TOOl and Opeth....TOOl for obvious reasons and Opeth for going from a Pink floyd sytle to extreme deathmetal.

The first time I heard Rocking The Suburbs on the radio, I thought it was Weird Al.

ah yes. MSI. shockrock. good stuff. so's tool

Godspeed You Black Emperor.

You may not agree but I think Radiohead is pretty damn unique.
As for ground coverage I would have to say the Notwist. They're from Germany and their first release in 1990 is like post-punk/hardcore but their singer maintains a calm voice in their heavy sound. I love them probaby as much as I love Radiohead. Their newer stuff is more electronic but still great. They use banjos and all sorts of stuff. Great great great.
BulletBob mentioned Primus. My former favorite band. Inspired me to play bass.
Mr. Bungle is quite unique.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Converge is unique.
Anyone ever heard of Manu Chao? He's definitely unique.
Although I'm not a big fan of him I think Bright Eyes could be considered unique. The other Saddle Creek bands are really good.
Calexico has a good sound, although maybe not unique they're still awesome.
Buckethead.
I think Thursday is pretty unique too. Even though I'm afraid they might get too big. I think the whole "emo-core" or anything associated with core or emo or melodic-core anything is just a gimmick. a lot of it is shit and most of the people that label their band that or what they listen to are unoriginal and should be put against the wall.
Faith No More.

That's all I can think of right now.

Tool, Aphex Twin ( well the selected ambient works vol 2 album, haven't heard much else), Sigur Ros, The Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa all have a pretty much unmistakable unique sound.

very fucking cool stuff here. Saw Godspeed a few months ago at the Abbey Pub in Chicago. A good show, but not the type of music to be played at deafening volumes. Best experienced at medium volumes with a good audio setup that will reveal all of their subtle nuances.

god, i love this thread.


all of you have named some great bands.. all the ones I was going to name, in fact.

it's good to know there are some originators still left in music. people who are blazing their own path instead of following someone elses.

bands already mentioned: mars volta, mr. bungle, dredg, sigur ros, bjork,

here's a throwback..... what about Queen? They were doing stuff unlike anyone else... you can't mistake a Queen song when you hear one.

I'd say Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. They did a lot to start the whole progressive bluegrass thing, and how many bands do you know that have an electric banjo player, an insanely good bass player(vic wooten), and a drummer who plays a guitar-like instrument that makes synth drum sounds.

no means no, frank zappa, king crimson, negativland, the frantics, the wedding present, air...look them up and enjoy
if you like darker stuff try unto ashes, galloping corpses, brujeria, hermann nitsch, premature ejaculation, december wolves, rudimentary peni

Man, how could we forget Queen. They definitely belong here.

A lot of great bands have been listed, but I'm going to throw in my vote for Mars Volta. I'm absolutely in love with their CD.

dog fashion disco

I agree with Jethro Tull and TMBG... Good choices there.

I may get hit hard for this one, but I think Rage against the Machine is fairly unique. You don't get many ripoffs of them.

oh also Flogging Molly! They are effin sweet

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Viva AT THE DRIVE-IN...along with its offspring Mars Volta and Sparta...
another band that comes to mind is....Mindless self-indulgence but i guess you could say they're a marylin manson spinoff..whatevs

hmmmm....lets see here. I would say that a couple of unique bands are The Beta Band. They are like folkish, hippy, rocked out hip hop. I used to hate them but after my girlfriend played them over and over again i realized they actually had talent.
Another band with a unique sound is Cibo Matto. Never heard anything like their album "Viva La Woman".
And finally, I hate to say it (cause i'm embarrassed that I still like them alright!!!)....but the old Beastie Boys. They can go from 70's funk, to 90's Hip Hop, to 80's DC punk.

Back to SOAD, just listen to their self titled album, the whole thing, I know of no other band thats like that.
Rage, well they are my favorite band of all time, trying to decide if I think they sound totally unique.... ok yeh I think they do sound unique up until Renegades. That album just blew.
At the Drive in, yeh they are a pretty rare breed, also a good band though.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Sigur Ros, Mindless Self Indulgence, Tool, The Roots

Lou Reed formerly of Velvet Underground...his album MEtal Machine Music is probably the most unique thing I have ever heard

I have to put another vote for MSI, Mindless Self Indulgence. They're somewhat new enough so their haven't been any followers, nor do I think of them as spinoffs.

But this thread gots some great bands listed
Tool
Radiohead
The Mars Volta
Beta Band
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Bjork
Aphex Twin

All are unique in their own right, but MSI right now seems to hold the lead for uniqueness.

TOOL and System of a Down.

System of a Down's lyrics are really off the wall and i also really hate how they got thrown into the nu metal genre.

Oh and Rage Against the Machine. Zach de la Rocha is a fucking genius.

Mindless Self Indulgence is the best band ever.
The Locusts, I believe is their name, they're weird too.

SPARTA and AT THE DRIVE IN....... god they kicks ass

Mars Volta, MSI (mindless self indulgence), SOAD (system). Pink floyd.

I never listened to AT THE DRIVE in. but i got the mars volta cd just because it had alot of hype from some website i go to. it's one of the most active choatic things ive ever heard. very talented and eclected weird and wonderful.

MSI is just nuts. i know they take some stuff from MR. Bangle. but thier nuts. what can i say. they'll write a song about anything. including the hit nikolodeon song Clarissa Explains it All. nuiff said.

If you think system of a down is watered down or pop. by any means see them live. thier wierd and original as shit. Mostly because of Daron's strange stage presence...yes see them like. best show you'll ever see.

I forgot all about the LEFT RIGHTS. it's an offshoot of MSI. but it's zany as hell. download Poo Out My Ass. catch and fun and you'll bust a gut laughing.

finally Pink Floyd. They're very unique. i consider them the pioneers. they're not operetic rock by any means. sure The Wall. but thats just the commercial stuff. THe way thier cds all flow together. is incredible. Listen to Meddle or even better ANIMALS very unique stuff.

There are alot of bands that have unique sounds, its just trying to find a band that has a listenable unique sound, that is hard. I like Modest Mouse, Starlight Mints, Dismemberment Plan, Broken social Scene, Beck, Sigor Ross, Radiohead, Bjork, danielson family, Single Frame, Postal Service, Interpol, and losts of others, but these are some of my favs.

The Roots, Sonic Youth

Replying to a few suggestions:

String Cheese are certainly versatile, and good at what they do, but taken individually, none of it is really different.

There are a lot of satirical songwriters around; Weird Al just happens to be the best known.

I always thought Ben Folds Five sounded a lot like the Whitlams

Careful with Floyd; they were far from alone in their genre. The difference with them is that they were the only ones to make the genre sound any good at all.

Jethro Tull have an unmistakeable sound, but only because of the recorder. Take that away, and you'd easily confuse them with any of a dozen other bands from the era. The instrument is unusual; the sound isn't.

We also need to distinguish between unique and unmistakeable. Eddie Vedder's voice is unmistakeable, but Pearl Jam aren't really unique. Likewise, anything composed by Jim Steinman and anything played by The Who. By the same argument, I would deny that TMBG, The Doors or TOOL are unique, even though they are all unmistakeable and talented. They are all examples of established genres; they just happen to be remarkable instances thereof.

I started downloading a bunch of his songs today. That guy is good... like off the wall good. Up there with Eddie VanHalen, Joe Satriani, and Jeff Beck. "Big Sur Moon" is my favorite so far.

anyone for Elixir?

give it a try.

Of the bands I actually listen to, I'd say Devin Townsend hands down... I have yet to hear anything that sounds similar to his stuff...

Of course I'm sure there are tons of unique bands I've never heard of, but one of the weirder ones I have heard is Mindless Self Indulgence...

BTW, I'll have to check out the Midievil Panflute Death Metal... sounds interesting...

pink floyd
system of a down

and to many who wont agree Queen lots of copies out there but they did it without becoming a sick joke.

Pink Floyd for their time. Primus because it's lead bass. I gotta go with Ween.

Apocalyptica doesn't have any imitators. Still they play same good music. Even if they started out doing Metallica covers. I think that Michael Kamen came up with Metallica S&M after hearing Apocalyptica.

Heavy metal played on 4 cello's gives a really interesting sound. It's pretty good actually.

Most unique for their time: Led Zeppelin
Most unique now: Alabama 3, Queens of the Stone Age, White Stripes

What about Sigur Ros?

2 skinee J's

Deep Purple
Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin
Yes
Golden Earring
CCR

Don't think I've ever heard anything like any of them. They're all a little different, but they're all good and always will be good.

Anything with Mike Patton.

Fantomas, Mr. Bungle, etc...

A3
Beta Band
Bozzio, Levin, Stevens
ELO

this is a hard topic... there are a lot of bands that I find completely recognizable and sounding not really like any other band, but I can also hear how derivative they are. They have their own sound, but it's built on others' sounds and I don't think that fits the question posed here. ELO is a perfect example.

There are also a lot of bands that are completely unique in image or message, but the music isn't really anything new. GWAR, for example.

Oh, this might work...
Morphine

Zen Guerriila is among the most unique to me - love that acid blues craziness - but I do agree that Fantomas really did create a whole new thing as well...

OK, everyone that has said Mars Volta so far... I hadn't heard them so I located the music and spent the past 40 minutes or so listening and ummm...

I'm guessing none of you are any older than 25 and missed the whole prog-rock boom of the 70's that inevitably collpased under its own virtuosity-to-a-fault weight. At first, I was thinking it was kinda cool, but teetering on being too pretentious for its own good but about 5 songs in, I realized it was a schtick. They're just piling sounds on top of each other and hoping it sounds ok. And those sounds... it's anything goes as long as it's not "how everyone else does it." But, in trying SO hard not to be a formula, they have their own formula... hi, here's the riff. STOP! ooooh, spacey reverb (cue pyro in 3...2...1...). riff again! (so you don't think we completely lost track of where we were) noodle, noodle, noodle. fade into dub effects, reversed bongos, phased synths, twiddle, twiddle, twiddle back down to quiet then start the process all over again.

Imagine EVERY hardcore band you can think of whipping through ELP's "Karn Evil 9" all at the same time. Without practice.

Looks like Rick Rubin produced this - doesn't have his stamp on it to my ears, though. It really sounds like they were going for something that they didn't quite hit. And don't get me wrong, it sounds like they really were passionate about making this music... they just didn't convey that passion very well.

Anyway, since I hadn't heard of them before this thread... thought I'd share the review here. ;)

Godspeed You! Black Emperor......... most original sounding band ever. Even the name is unique as they come. anywhere from 7 - 15 members.... just... .hear their stuff. I recommend the song 'east hastings'

Meshuggah - I've never heard anything like them, at least (go listen to 'Future Breed Machine' and 'Soul Burn', you'll see what I mean)
Opeth - From a lyrical standpoint, I find them amazing (only band I've ever needed an English-English dictionary to understand, and English is their second language!)

sleater-kinney.
no one quite like them.

also rasputina. hard rock girls with cellos!

Ever since I've started trying out some independent bands, I've been running into plenty of highly original work by people I have never heard of (no surprize here). At this point, I can probably name a pageful of band names that I think are artsy, totally different from anything else I've ever heard, but still extremely listenable. I'll start with a couple for now...

- Stendhal: a mix of classic rock and crazy yet beautiful noise. Fast paced at times, like Mars Volta (though without the piercing voice), and dark and brooding at others. And then they start with the noise... whoa. Only problem is that they are not catchy at all. Oh how I wish I could hum their stuff on the train, but its humanly impossible...

- Pineal Ventana: fast-paced tribal punkish sound, with psychotic vocals. Very spontaneous, and often disturbing, but oh so much fun to listen to. :D

Emperor

Talk Talk

(Late Talk Talk, after Colour of Spring)

Morphine definately deserves a place in this category. Drums, two-string slide bass, and bari/tenor sax.

Tool
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Converge
The Locusts
Pink Floyd
Dredg
Meshuggah
RATM

Sorry to be language police, but this thread has gone on too long without someone noting: "most unique" is not gramatically correct. Something is either unique or it is not; you can't put a modifier to it.

Anyway, I'll suggest Blue Man Group as unique, for their sound based on melodic percussion.

I was just scanning but I believe I saw someone mention Boy Sets Fire.... I don't find them unique at all, as a matter of fact, them and Stretch Arm Strong are complete knockoffs of one another.

As for another unique one, I'll agree with Opeth, really the only Death Metal band to do the other kinds of stuff they've been doing and also Porcupine Tree, very hard to find any other bands that sound like them.

others....

Massive Attack
Turbonegro (maybe not soundwise but the whole 'thing' they do is THEIRS and ONLY theirs)
Dead Kennedys
Bad Brains
Dillinger Escape Plan (there's nothing even REMOTELY similar to the way they play out there..... some botched imitations but nothing similar.)
Glassjaw (the way their sound is thick and layered is really rather unique)
Snapcase (for lyrical content)
Slayer (however oft imitated, never equaled)

Tool

30 Seconds to Mars is pretty unigue too

FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY

BEST....MOVIE....EVER....

Nightwish is quite unique.

I'll have to disagree there, they're just your average Finnish power metal band with some rather operatic female vocals...

wow.... i can't believe i wasn't the only person to say godspeed..... booya!

Radiohead. Straight up, no question

Morphine is awesome.

And to whoever said meshuggah, they are not original at all and they are one of the worst bands i have ever heard. They definitely also put on the worst live show i have ever seen.

"And to whoever said meshuggah, they are not original at all and they are one of the worst bands i have ever heard. They definitely also put on the worst live show i have ever seen."

I won't bother commenting your last two points, but what other bands do you know that sound like them?

The white stripes sound pretty original to me