Best Bands That Nobody Has Heard Of
 

I know everyone reading this forum has somewhere between two and two hundred bands that they think are pretty sweet, but nobody has heard of them. Maybe they are too local. Maybe they just haven't gotten the correct exposure. Maybe they really suck and you are their only fan.

Take up to three of those bands and post about them. Give a brief synopsis of their musical style. Provide a link to their website if they have one. If someone else posts a band that you have heard of, make sure you let them know.

Perfect Thyroid, or more properly,
http://www.jimmyt.com/PTlogo.GIF.

A ska/funk (skunk) band. Their drummer is outstanding. 4 or 5 people in the band can sing, and the lead singer (also Skunk) has a rich baritone and is careful enough with his diction that you can understand the lyrics. Standard horns.

Lyrics are generally save the world/everything is beautiful.

They were around for about 10 years, and broke up a couple years ago. Their best album was "Which One Of Us Is Me?"

Everyone I have played the album for is now a fan.

Bionic Jive - One of the best rock bands in the world with a solid hip-hop oriented lyricist. Nothing at all like weak ass limp biskit. This is what rock/ hip-hop fusion was meant to be. Their song Ricochet was featured in the commericals for the movie Transporter. They were also featured on Farm Club.com tv show and toured with Eminem and D12.

Skunk Anansie - South African political rock band. Female lead singer has an amasing voice and a reptillian jaw. Broke up a few years ago but recored a few albums first. Their biggest US hit was Charlie, the themesong to that movie where Kevin Bacon was the invisible man.

Wax Poetic - New York based acid jazz, neo funk/ soul band.

RPM (Restoring Poetry in Music) - Emcee with live band ala The Roots but with a completely different sound. Amazing lives shows in DC, Philly and NY area.

Denzil - Pub. Weepy british acoustic stuff, very funny and sad at the same time. Absolutely brilliant stuff. You can find it on ebay.

Splitshift - Started out as a KoRn cover band that evolved into a band that combines many different styles of rock/metal today.

Blue Illusion - Great bad that is sure to make it's mark in the coming years. All the band members are still very young (just out of high school i think) and sound incredible for their age. They have the feel of Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Pleasure Techinicians - DJ group out of Pittsburgh that mixes live instruments with the computer generated sounds, makes for an interesting sound that you usually dont hear, especially in America.

DJ Z-Trip - A House DJ that has been around for a few years but just got signed and is working on his first major label release to possibly be out sometime next year.
http://www.djztrip.com/

Hemlock - A hard-core metal band from Las Vegas, NEvada. They've been together since 1993 an have toured with HAtebreed, Drowning Pool, SOAD, Papa Roach, Slayer, Machinehead, and others, but just haven't broken big yet.
http://www.hemlockworld.com/main.htm

Index Case - A Metal foursome out of Indianola, Iowa that just just broke it big with a track on the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre soundtrack titled "listen". Performed to great reviews at the SXSW Music Festival this year and are are working on thier melodic, moody metal to have their first major label release on Elektra Records sometime next year.
www.indexcase.com

what a good idea

regina spektor- this girl is fiona apple getting into a fight with bjork, then making up to sweet love with tori music in the background. :D

but really, she's good. her voice is reminescent of the former two artists mentioned above and she plays piano on the album. she has recently been seen opening for the strokes.

and can be found at http://www.reginaspektor.com
or heard at http://cdbaby.com/cd/spektor2

crosstide - this is a local band in the portland area but i think they have the potential to really go far. they have a pretty big local fanbase and have opened for sparta, taking back sunday, elliott, the velvet teen, hot rod circuit, further seems forever, jimmy eat world, etc.

melodic emo http://crosstide.net

Seems like most people have never heard of Frank Black and the Catholics. The lead singer, Frank Black, was the lead singer of the Pixies (when he went by Black Francis). Their style is hard to catogorize, sometimes Black screams a lot, other times the music is very folk rock sounding. Their sound has changed a lot from album to album as well. In my opinion the earlier ones are better. All i know is that I've seen them live 4 times and have never seen another band put on a better show.

Wow, I havn't listened to them in awhile. I saw them a bunch in the mid 90's. Definently a good live show.

Bad Examples - Local Chicago bar band lead by Ralph Covert, who is simply one of the most talented songwriters I've ever heard. If you're willing to throw abandon to the wind and hear for yourself, pick up either of the two "Songwriters" CD's off his website. They are simply Ralph with his acoustic guitar singing songs from a list that his fans put together. Pretty great.

www.ralphcovert.com

Knee Deep Shag. Rock band with lots of charisma and soul. Out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. They play Chicago lots.

Todd Snider. Singer songwriter who just blows me away. Amazingly funny and sensitive lyrics.

The butterfly effect, the mayan project, two great alternative bands you should try heraing them

yay.. someone outside of australia knows of the butterfly effect! *high five*

if you think these guys are great, do yourself a favour and checkout these three lads.

COG - the greatest band australia has produced in the last 10 years, and should be bigger than silverchair is.

several music mags/radio shows i've heard/read, refer to them as australias answer to tool. their live show is not one to be missed - huge sound, huge atmosphere, simply unbelievable

www.cog.com.au

I'm gonna say Downface...their music is AWESOME, yet I can't find a CD anywhere

I've heard of him, in fact, my old roommate used to put on raves, he brought Z-Trip into town. He played at a local club one night, and played at out house the next. He plays the most eclectic set I've ever heard. Anyone that can make 'I'm Henry The Eighth I Am' sound good deserves to be a superstar.

My fav bands that no one has heard of.....

2 South Florida bands

One is Two Story Double Wide... they call their music Cowpunk, its just groovy stuff.
www.2sdw.com

and

Spazimoto... they just rock
www.spazimoto.com

And my fav band that not a whole lot of people listen to is Bella Fleck and the Flecktones (well they are 1 among many more lol)

Cross Canadian Ragweed

They play a local (as in the Oklahoma/Texas area) variety of rock that i've not heard of anywhere else called. Its called "red dirt." Some of it has a bit of a country tone (occasional slide guitars), but most of is quite a bit harder. Kind of a derivation of the classic southern rock groups of the 60's and 70's (Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jethro Tull), but without the cheesiness. They'll split your ears with a hard-rock tune, then give ya a soulful bit of country poetry.

Listen to:

Boys From Oklahoma
Carnie Man
Train to Birmingham

http://www.crosscanadianragweed.com

has anyone else heard of/listen to red dirt music?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by frozenstellar
[B]yay.. someone outside of australia knows of the butterfly effect! *high five*

if you think these guys are great, do yourself a favour and checkout these three lads.

COG - the greatest band australia has produced in the last 10 years, and should be bigger than silverchair is.

several music mags/radio shows i've heard/read, refer to them as australias answer to tool. their live show is not one to be missed - huge sound, huge atmosphere, simply unbelievable


I saw these two bands play together in Melbourne at the Tote.
UNBELIEVABLE is all I can say, It was for The butterfly Fly Effect's E.P. launch and COG was their main support. Awesome night out indeed!:D

The Mentors?

El Duce?

Anyone?

Someone in another thread that I can't search for now, mentioned Pain. They are punk, with a ska overtone, and the lyrics and delivery are somewhat similar to They Might Be Giants.

N'Dea Davenport - Acid Jazz vocalist formerly of Brand New Heavies but best as a solo artist.

Shezor V.s Skizoid. Amazing stuff.

Fatty Deluxe and the Jolly Llamas. Bunch of Deadheads that played some really sweet tunes in C'Ville right when Dave Matthews was breaking out and spoiling the area for everyone else.

Avant Gaardvark. DC band, lead bassist, 100% hairless drummer. Were incredibly funky, now just defunct.

Over the Rhine is a cincinatti based band that signed with Virgin a couple of years ago. Their stylings change a bit on every album, as the band keeps restructuring itself - but worth listening to on any occasion due to their hearty lyrics. Great female vocalist~

EDIT: For all of you out on the west side of the world, they have been doing a west coast tour and a european tour for the last couple of years. Their shows are unbelievable, and usually fairly cheep tickets!

dexter danger, mindless selfindulgence and glassjaw three great bands from all around country i like punk and that general type of music an that is what it

Laughing Colors - Great straight-ahead rock band out of Annapolis, MD. They regularly tour the Mid-Atlantic region, but really haven't broken out further than that. I've been to atleast 10 of their shows, and every one was amazingly energetic and professional. Their guitarist, Cory Hall, and drummer, Will Dorsey Jr, are both particularly impressive. Check out www.laughingcolors.com for a few sound clips.

The Black Keys - well, they've been on Conan and got great reviews from Rolling Stone, but you still probably havne't heard of them. they're a blues duo (singer/guitarist and drummer) that absolutely rock. think white stripes but good and add in some authentic mississippi delta blues. www.theblackkeys.com

PasaMala - Local band with whom I am friends. People have compared them to Rusted Root, if you know who that is.

Swervedriver.

90's band with a sound of their own. Should've have been huge.

(www.swervedriver.com)

Bella Fleck == awesome. Good call.

I don't think too many people have heard of the Kabalas, and I don't think many will. They were featured on a few compilations, and released three CD's of there own. Very good music, fun to watch live. I would definitely say pick up one of their cds if you see it.

I was gonna say them! They are definetely one of my favorite groups of all time, and almost nobody around here has heard of them. You either love em, or you hate me, I don't think there's any middle ground. And I sure as hell don't know how to categorize their sound.

I've heard of Over the Rhine.

Thrush Hermit, a really great Halifax band. They're broken up now, but everything they put out is excellent. Couldn't find an official site, but here's a fan site.

http://houseofhermit.tripod.com/main.html

well quite a few people have heard of glassjaw but great choice anyway.... they're my all-time favorite band

some other lesser-knowns that i love:

snapcase (melodic hardcore)
modest mouse (emo-ish indie)
himsa (hardcore)
kyuss (stoner metal, they spawned queens of the stone age)
dillinger escape plan (math/grindcore)
blood brothers (hardcore-ish)
the locust (grindcore)
desparecidos (emo mostly)
norma jean (hardcore)
black dahlia murder (straight-edge death metal... odd but true)
the faint (techno-emo)
da vinci's notebook (a-capella comedy)
the apex theory (mediterranean alt-metal)

oh and chingal0, i love the mentors

The Flaming Sideburns!

Woo Hoo!!!

Totally agree about Frank Black. Great stuff.

I'm not sure if these all count as bands nobody's heard of but here goes:

I'll start with the Supersuckers because I just saw them live last night and they rocked hard. It's pretty hard to classify their music though, they're anywhere from Punk to Hard Rock to Country and everything in between. Best bet is to check out some tracks from the multimedia section on their site: www.supersuckers.com

Another great band that nobody's heard about (at least outside of Canada) is The Tragically Hip. Their music has really changed a lot from album to album but their roots are bluesy rock. Great live band. www.thehip.com

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm a little dazed from the concert last night. They put on a great show, but man was it loud.

Nightwish (superb gothic metal)

I've heard of Modest Mouse, Supersuckers, Davinci's Notebook, and the Tragically Hip.

Nodes of Ranvier (good ole' hardcore)

I recently discover The Spill Canvas. One dude with an acoustic guitar. Awesome awesome stuff.