Suggest an artist
 

I'm always looking to being exposed to new music. Awhile back I posted a facebook message asking my friends to suggest an artist. I fell in love with an artist that was suggested and am hoping to find more music that I would enjoy.

So if you have a favorite artist that you think others may not have been exposed to, (Local musicians are always a great suggestion and I am sure they would appreciate the exposure) please post their website or possible youtube link. Post what draws you to the artist you suggest.

ETA:
To add a little meat to the conversation, please listen to the artist in the post before you. Make a comment on what you like or do not like and why. Then continue with your artist and please mention what you like about them. Thanks to Smeth's wonderful suggestion as this will generate some good dialogue.

The artist that was suggested during my FB quest a few years back.

Chicago represent!

(Not that I knew they were from Chicago... I found that out after looking them up.)

Apparently The Hush Sound is on indefinite hiatus while the members pursue independent projects. The female singer is fronting another band called Gold Motel. Thought you might like to know :)

I can't say the music stands out to me, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless :)

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Since the idea of this thread is to expose people to musicians they may not have otherwise heard of, I ran my last.fm profile through the Obscurometer to find the most obscure artist I listen to. Unfortunately, it only checks the top 50 artists of the 2,189 in my library, so there are probably other equally obscure artists that it isn't showing me. I'm sure I'll come back here with more suggestions anyway.

With that said, I present Greg Weeks. You need to be in a particular mood to appreciate the music - it can be incredibly lethargic - but it's perfect when you're in the right mental space.

I had a hard time picking out which song to post, but I've settled on "The One True Song" from his album Awake Like Sleep. It sounds exactly like the album title would have you believe. If you'd like to hear more, including some of the more trippy songs as well as Greg Weeks' psychedelic folk band, Espers, check out my upcoming blog entry (link coming as soon as it's finished).


If you like Greg Weeks' music and want to buy it... too bad!

Not really, but it's pretty difficult to find some of his albums. His website is very basic and still focuses on Awake Like Sleep, even though it came out in 2001 and he has released 3 albums since then. I've yet to find a place to buy a physical copy of Awake Like Sleep, but Blood Is Trouble is available through Barnes & Noble while The Hive and Slightly West are available through (physical copy or mp3 download).

I am going to suggest two bands out of Montreal:

Handsome Furs
I saw them live last year and they were fucking awesome. The band is husband and wife, Alexei Perry and Dan Boeckner. Dan Boeckner is also in Wolf Parade.


The Besnard Lakes

Another husband and wife team at the heart of this band. They are a band that you'd get if Led Zepplin and the Beach Boys had a baby band...

Jookabox has become a new favorite of mine. First song is what got me hooked, second one is kind of spazzy but I love it.




I was bad and didn't listen to previous posts yet as I am watching a show with others. I will come back and add my comments later.

Lita's fine, though I always thought she'd be better served by focusing on talent rather than looks.


Not exactly unknown; but likely something you haven't heard.
Remember Ritchie Blackmore? Smoke on the Water, stacks of Marshalls, playing to 275,000 folks at California Jam with an ego to match. He's playing renaissance music with (now) wife Candice Night. She's got a bit of a Stevie Nicks thing going on; but seems to have the voice to pull it off. Ritchie's solo starts around 3:30 into this.

I really enjoyed The Hush Sound and Blackmore.

Here's a fairly new Finnish group. There's not much on YouTube by them yet. The whole album sounds peaceful, but a bit too much the same.

I like these ones the best:

I don't get out to listen to rock or indi bands very often, but I made a point to check out Geri X the last time I was near Tampa and she was fucking awesome. I think I originally found her on Cherry Peel. Here's her most famous song, Kiss on Both Eyelids:

I'm also a big fan of chipswow, a.k.a. Scampi: YouTube - chipswow's Channel

They are more of a project band than a musical artist. Their work is exemplary.

Here are the Yoshida Brothers





You might recognize their sound from a Nintendo wii commercial a few years ago.

They are a pair of brothers and performers of the traditional Japanese music style of Tsugaru-jamisen which originated in northern Japan. They debuted in 1999 in Japan as a duo playing the shamisen.

Here's another great Finnish version of Nothing else matters, Johanna Kurkela's beautiful voice together with the vocal group Club for Five.




And the same group performing Brothers in arms:

I like Johanna Kurkela's voice. The song seemed nice, but it lacked a little energy. I think perhaps the arrangement just didn't click for me. Still, I'll certainly look up more by Club for Five and give them another go.

My friend Chuck Lawton, who write for Wired's Geekdad, has an awesome little band called The Vitrolum Republic. They do a sort of steampunky Decemberists kind of thing that I really love.

You can hear them at The Vitrolum Republic

or check a video of them at The Vitrolum Republic at Mount Mary college

This video has surely taken these guys from obscurity in the past few months.


This was them over a year ago.

I like! That first video is especially awesome for obvious reasons, and I hadn't seen it before now. Definitely a band I'm going to have to hear more of.

You've also managed to out-obscure my previous post according to last.fm, and that's no small feat! (Atomic Tom has 4,855 listeners on Last.FM, while Greg Weeks has 12,379 listeners)

Pretty sure I've posted this next guy in my blog before, but Dizzee Rascal is a British rapper, collaborating with Calvin Harris...

Manu Delago

Martha's Trouble
This is a local band with a few CDs out. A couple of weeks ago I heard them on the coffehouse on Serius. I was impressed. I really like their sound, and they are nice people who do a lot for the community.

Martha's Trouble takes the obscure trophy with only 1,340 last.fm listeners! Not the kind of music that excites me, but enjoyable. They have 7 albums, so they must be doing something right :p

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Somehow I missed Janelle Monáe when her album came out in May, but I was finally introduced to her last week when both Sound Opinions reviewers agreed - for only the 3rd time in 20 years - that her album was the best of 2010. Hearing that, I decided to check it out and I can see why they like it so much.

Her debut album - The ArchAndroid - fuses a wide variety of genres, so it's impossible to give a full impression of her sound with only a couple songs. Nonetheless, here are two that I really enjoy, plus an interview from when she was promoting her EP, before the release of her album...