I have noticed over the last few years that it's becoming harder and harder to find music that I want to listen to. I have the distinct feeling that this is not due to the lack of that music being produced, but more to the fact that it's not being promoted.

To that end, I was thinking that we should start up a thread to offer music that we've found that we like that was ``hard to find''. This could range from the fact that it's on a tiny independent label to the fact that it was just not well promoted, or even to the fact that they had one big radio hit and we dismissed them too quickly.

I would suggest that as we list the band, we give a tiny review of the sound and link to a legal web site that has a clip of that band available.

(Of course, you all might disagree with me here and just let this thread die. )

I'll get it started:

Rival Schools : United by Fate
A good, solid rock album by the members of various defunct hardcore bands. While it's definitely hardcore influenced, it's much rock-y-er, with more melody and less crunch.

Local H : Here Comes the Zoo
Many of you are probably familiar with Local H based on their overplayed ``Bound for the Floor'' (that ``copacetic'' song), but don't dismiss them so easily. Their earlier albums are, IMHO, very reminiscent of Nirvana, and this latest one adds a lot of big 70s rock influence (in a good way). Regardless of the time period, though, their lyrics remain as caustic as ever. Listen closely.

I think this is a great idea. I was thinking it would be cool to have just a "song of the day" type deal. Yeah so, my recommendation for the day is the song "Where is my Mind" by the Pixies off of the album "Surfer Rosa". They're good 80's punk/grunge.

My favorite hard-to-find but very cool suggestion is Mouth Music, but it's out of print. I recently tried to get a copy of it on CD as a gift and was unable to. I ordered what I thought was a CD copy from an international distributor, and got a cassette instead. I just now placed an order for a Used copy through Amazon and I'm hoping this one pans out.

The album is essentially a collection of old Scottish folk tunes, known as "puirt-a-beul", sung in the original Gaelic (with the translations written on the lyric sheet). However, they have been set to interesting modern rhythms, productions, and arrangements. This is mixed with some pure-instrumental stuff as well as some pure a-capella singing of the folk tunes as they were originally written. It's a very atmospheric album with great textures. Standout tracks are "Martin, Martin" and "Chi Mi Na Morbheanna".

I think this is a great idea too. (I think "the song of the day" would be better in a different thread so as not to make this thread too long. so I would start a different thread for that, visuvius).

My first pick would be Screaming Trees (my favorite band). They were casualties of their own behavior to some extent. When they had the chance to ride the grunge train, they got in drunken fist fights and wouldn't tour at all. But they definitely had one of the best albums in recent years with their final one, "Dust". The album is simply beautiful. Please give it a listen. (the link will also lead you to info on Mark Lanegan, the coolest man on the face of the earth).

Next I would have to say Queens of the Stone Age, the rockinest band around today. I've talked about them in another thread. They are the ones carrying the torch of Rock and Roll as far as I'm concerned.

SadHappy is fantastic as I've said before. Go buy "Live - Before We Were Dead" It's just amazing.

I've got plenty more, but that's it for me.

PS- Tony, have you checked GEMM? I did a search on "Mouth Music" and came up with many CD results.

Thanks for that GEMM link, I did not know about that one.

Husker Du.....the band nobody hears about.....

Local band in Utah, The Given. Their sound is a lot like that of Collective Soul, or Matchbox 20. Check out "Soul's Mouth". The are a lot louder and harder live. They play "Come Together" with a hard edge that just rocks. I have tons of their live stuff.

two suggestions I found recently and love (each for different reasons)
Two Ton Shoe
and
Big Bill Pickle
Both can be found on MP3.com but have CDs out.

AFI is cool

My sister pointed out the band Dispatch to me. From what Ive learned they openly promoted Napster and are an Indy band. After downloading their stuff off audiogalaxy and finding I liked it I bought all their CDs so I could rip them at a better bit rate. www.dispatchmusic.com go ahead and download some of their stuff from audiogalaxy they wont mind, and If you like it pick up the CD.

Speaking of pro-Napster bands, check out The Get Up Kids, a not-really-all-that-obscure, but, IMHO, top-notch, emo band. Unlike many of their contemporaries in the emo scene, they seem to actually bother writing melodies and tunes, instead of just having boring music underneath their ``poems''. And they tend to rock a little more, too.

oh ya the get up kids rule.. ive seen them live a few times.. im a huge emo supporter.. going to see saves the day in 2 weeks

I think that Brian Setzers "New" project is pretty stunning (remember Brain from the 80's band the Stray Cats?). He calls the new band the '68 Comeback Special and the CD is called "Ignition". It has sort of a Rockabilly / Blues sound but is definately pure Rock 'N Roll. As usual, tons of the incredible guitar work that Brian is famous for. A clear departure from the "orchestra / big band" sound he's been doing for a while now.

I loved that Big Band album he did ("Brian Setzer Orchestra"). I heard he went back to the small band format because it was simply too expensive to take the big band on a road tour. Too bad, I'm told the show was incredible and I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to see it while they were still doing it.

Didn't realize the new one was out yet, heading over to Amazon now, thanks.

Aaugh! Support your local independent music retailer!

Jesus, so it's not enough to buy the album rather than downloading it from the net, now I also have to buy it from a local shop?

Come on, we have to allow people SOME freedoms.

But you'll even get it faster at your local shop, and likely cheaper (unless you live somewhere with a really high sales tax). If Amazon allowed me to download the music while they shipped me the CD, I'd consider buying from them, but until that happens, I'd rather support someone local.

Besides, you can probably stop by on your way home from work, and maybe find something else you want to listen to, as well.

The reasons I buy from Amazon is that (a) they are cheaper than my local record store, (b) rarely do I have time to go to the local record store and shop, and (c) I prefer to have box from Amazon handed to me at my desk so I can put it straight in to the PC and begin ripping it (or, if I get the disc at home, put it straight into the HSX109).

If I know I really want the CD and I don't necessarily need it this instant, an Amazon order is actually a lot more convenient than going to the local record store for me.

I can e-mail the 192kbs mp3's I ripped form the CD to you if you want, then you wouldn't have to wait. If you like it and want your own CD you could buy a copy. let me know.

If I wanted to download advance copies of the music, I am perfectly capable of doing so myself, thanks anyway.

Whoa... wasn't trying do offend you or do anything illegal. I was only offering because you never know what your getting when you download from the internet (quality, filenames, ID3 tags, etc....). I figured you were completely capable of handling the aquisition of samples, I was just trying to simplify it for you.

When you say "local record store" do you mean an independant or chain or both? If it's a chain, don't make me laugh!

I went into Tower Records once to look for a CD by the band Kyuss. So I want this specific album by a band that nobody else in the store had probably ever heard of, and they had one copy for NINTEEN DOLLARS! Yes, I had to spell that out in capital letters, because it's ridiculous! $19 for an obscure CD? meanwhile you can get the latest Brittney for $12. Where's the sense in that? How can they ever expect to sell their older CD's if they are so expensive? I don't see the logic!

Now, if you mean an independant store, then you still get high prices on a lot of stuff. It has to be a really obscure store to find any kind of gem, and the only stores around me like that aren't local, they're about 60 miles away!

Online shopping is fine by me!

I mean an independent record store. The kind where the money you pay stays in your hometown. Obviously, if you have no such establishment, then you're on your own. I have a number of good local stores who are often cheaper than the big chains for everything (except the platinum-at-first-pressing CDs, probably). I think that everyone should try to support local establishments of all natures and try to avoid big corporate empires wherever and whenever possible. But, in most cases, the local store is about a hundred times more likely to go out of their way for you than Amazon or Record Bar is, which is a practical consideration you might also want to take into account. But I'm not saying that you should drive 50 miles out of your way to do it. But, then, Tony lives in San Diego, doesn't he? I can't imagine that there are no good local shops there.

But whatever floats your boat.

Negativland......you need this

http://www.negativland.com/audio/acapella.mp3

Which Tony? Tony lives in the boondocks of California..

Calvin

Fabris. You're right. I remember all of that stuff about forwarding 802.11b now. Nevermind.

"I don't see the logic! "

Volume. The logic is that Britney will sell more. Shelf space costs money and Britney's space costs less per album because she sells more. The stores don't care if old albums sell, they just want albums to move. This is why I drove to six different stores looking for "Big Horizon" by David Wilcox before I finally found it. . . and he's not even really that obscure. I could have used Amazon, but I just had to have the album immediately.

-Jeff

I can see that, and I understand, but I still say that it doesn't make any sense to make an obscure CD such a high price that nobody will buy it! Let's face it, not even preteens will buy a 19 or 20 album if it isn't Nstink. The average Kyuss fan, no not one Kyuss fan would buy one of their main albums for that much.

So we've established that nobody who hasn't heard of the band will buy the album, and we've established that fans of the band won't buy the album. The million dollar bonus question: Who's left to buy the album??

The answer: nobody! (sorry if it sounds like I'm mad at you. I'm not. I'm mad at Tower ) So at that point the album is taking up space that will never be cleared.

ps-if anyone feels the need to buy me Kyuss - Blues for the Red Sun, feel free (look it up on allmusic - good rating ).

"sorry if it sounds like I'm mad at you. I'm not. "

It doesn't

"So at that point the album is taking up space that will never be cleared."

You are absolutely right at this point. I figure most record stores who do this knid of pricing should should just stick to Britney and leave the rest alone.

-Jeff