Obscure Type Music
June 25, 2011 - 12:39pm
Just thought it would be fun to post music that isn't or wasn't exaclty mainstream. Bands who maybe had something, but didn't get to be household names.
This was covered by the punk group "The Dictators" back in the 80's. But here's the original by "The Flamin' Groovies", "Slow Death".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5DwlFm59Qk
Shocking Blue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH475IxSMTs
High Tide.
The Death of Suzzy Roche (aka Everyone in the Laundromat is Equal)
Quitting Time
Face Down at Folk City (song starts at 3:34)
Popularly known as "throat singing", the more proper term is Overtone singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M3YFK3sJ54&feature=related
Related to yodeling, where the voice moves from one tone to the other, intead of singing both at once as in overtones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEIBmGZxAhg&feature=related
Jimmie Rogers, believe it or don't, is in the Rock n Roll hall of fame, for inspiring this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBLzTD2wTzg
Chester Arthur Burnett attempted Roger's yodeling, and it came out as a "Howl"-- sometimes in overtones.
leon thomas in berlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S5OflDihYk
Oh, I see! I saw the headline "Obscure Type Music" and was trying to assemble these three concepts in my head. What came out was a very obscure "typewriter" song back in the 50s. ie an old fashioned manual typewriter used as a sort of percussion instrument. Can't recall the title or the artist of course.
In the early 80s when we were starting to do "tracking", some one came out with a christmas song using samples of cat noises. This in turn reminded me of that Cat Organ picture from the 19th Century.. and this in turn leads to the Monte Python "Mouse Organ".
Today it is utterly banal to use samples out of context as tonal or percussive sounds. The minds of young musicians are utterly open to ideas that would have--and did--shock people of earlier times to the core!
Could it have been "The Typewriter" by Art Fiedler and the Boston Pops?
I heard this a million times as a kid - it was a big hit on the Regina FM station in the 60s.
I heard Ugarte Anaiak at the Vancouver Folk Music festival in 2002. From a distance I thought it was some kind of techno music made on a synthesizer. Only when I got closer could I see that it was actually all made with wood. and metal
Turns out it is traditional basque game (rather like throat singing) played on wine barrel staves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDsyIjVrQ_c
http://www.bcbasque.com/2002/07/29/ugarte-anaiak-folk-festival/
I like the use of what would be local, common materials.
Of course, the Band Aerosmith is anything but obscure, and I think we are all aware of this song by them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFpKzNyddA0
Then again, most would probably exclaim that it's a cover of the Yardbirds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd1gRHk28IE&feature=related
But we are only entering the outskirts of obscureville when we find out the Yardbirds were covering Rock-a-Billy icon Johnny Burnett:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtcVvWRvrIU&feature=fvwrel
We might be aware of the real author of this song by reading the fine print on our albums, but few probably know that this much covered song actually came from a Big Band, Tiny Bradshaw:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci4EQDD4CqA&feature=related
If you're into the flaming groovies, check out the "back from the grave" compilations! It's an eight volume set of the most punk rock garage rock from the 60's...it's pretty incredible!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xn64y2tKec
and of course the legendary 49th parallel!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dQY6dq_v1M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAqrTrdIe8Y&feature=related
Do Lee Hazlewood-Nancy Sinatra duets count as "obscure type music"?
I've always thought this one was pretty freaking out there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQiDs9tKZv4
Does the weird and wonderfull electric guitar music of Buckethead fit the bill for "obscure"? Or is it just showing off? Or just weird? - do people listen to BH?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86DEKFissl4---
Deep Forest? {world music}
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I had another listen to Koyanaskatzi etc by Phillip Glass, without the video/movie. Putting on the car stereo on a long trip really changes the mood of things!
But watch the movie too, together it is something great, in my books. It can be linked through this page> http://www.moviesdatacenter.com/Movies/Koyaanisqatsi.html
"Do Lee Hazlewood-Nancy Sinatra duets count as "obscure type music"?"
I thought the term "obscure" might be a bit problematic. I guess my intent is music that you know about, but you think most others don't.
I think what Milo posted is gold, and I'd never heard of the "49th Parallel". I asked Rebecca West if she had, and she was very non plussed. "Oh yeah" she said, like they were the Rolling Stones or something. I guess it's all relative.
London Ontario had a pretty thriving punk scene at one time. Although this band is most often identfied with Toronto, and Torontonians of a certain age might remember them, others might not.
Someone attached a cool video to this, fun to watch and listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrPOKNU5Ds4
I saw this guy at "The Edge" in Toronto. He was billed as "Tex Mex". All I remember from that night was, first, wondering how the hell I'd get out of "The Edge" in case of fire, and Joe playing guitar. On the tables. Hanging off the wall. Out in the street in front of "The Edge."
Great live. There's a lot of really cheesy 80's videos at youtube I wouldn't post. But this one is probably most representative of what I saw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoEIOEZRmkQ&feature=related
I can listen to just about anything. Upbeat kinda dance music. Black Box from 1991 or so. Everybody Everybody She says that she's sad and free, even if she is only lip synching. Way cool song. What a fabulous, rich voice, though.
Draggin the line Tommy James
Seasons Roland Kirk
Switchblade Link Wray
And, alright-alright I'm stuck in 1989. Here she is again, and because I'm still deeply in love with her...
Ride on time excellent workout music btw
ok that is a very odd assortment of music so i'll offer a couple of favourites that you might already know
first, colourbox
http://youtu.be/QMk7MvTcQiw
2nd, robert gordon
http://youtu.be/WwB7itzYIMo
and of course conway twitty
http://youtu.be/5Uoy9fcfMWU
for no particular reason but i like it
http://youtu.be/6-9v1fpET00
enjoy the ride
switchblade is one of my favorite link wray songs! it reminds me of being in seedy los angeles after dark...
tommy if you're into that, there's some great compilation records called "wyld canada" i think there's a couple of volumes...tons of great bands like that!
http://ocanadarm.blogspot.com/2007/01/wyld-canada-va.html
It's funny Link Wray came up, his song "Rumble" is looked upon as ground breaking. It's achingly simple, the guitar part, but I think the bass is the thing to listen to in this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjs5QWjvNWc
I had this weird memory of this song, that I finally found this week. I couldn't remember the artist, or the title (duh, when you hear the chorus) and only maybe a sound memory of a couple of lines of the chorus. But I have a crystal clear visual memory of where I was when I heard it, and the transistor radio I heard it on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj5zuHui1a8
Starts off rather ordinary, then there's some fuzz and cowbell, and muted guitar doing something interesting...
Get out your origami surf boards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OqJKnRnOcU
This rocks.
Not an obscure song, but this eleven year old girl just sits down and starts playing, and she about nails it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4N_ahXI2-4&feature=related
She doesn't make it ring like Earl Scruggs, but I have to wonder how good Earl was at eleven.
I'm not sure how obscure these guys are for those into Jappanese heavy metal, but maybe most of us don't know much about Boris.
Here's a Statement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_GgowniQWk
Yeah, if you just fell in love with Wata, get in line, buddy.
big fan of a lot of the japanese punk from the 80's...here's one of my faves The Stalin!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLqpg2mEO2s
and of course Guitar Wolf is fuckin' awesome!!! And they have their own feature length movie called "wild zero" which is absolutely killer...and pays tribute to link wray!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_D9OjDoQ0&feature=related
The last 9 minutes of side 1 of the 1971 LP by Triniterre (Plume Latraverse & Dr. Landry)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrXOHWLNqb8&feature=related
It's funny Link Wray came up, his song "Rumble" is looked upon as ground breaking. It's achingly simple, the guitar part, but I think the bass is the thing to listen to in this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjs5QWjvNWc
That was one of the few instrumental songs ever to be banned from radio-the FCC apparently thought it could cause gang violence(of course, this was in the late 1950's, when all gang rumbles quickly turned into highly choreographed musical production numbers, but still...).
Yeah today they just shoot each other in drive-bys. I think the 1950s were pretty innocent times by comparison. Switchblades still not a good idea, though. The main thing of it is that it was cool tune in its day and kind of like Eric Clapton's Cocaine was in the 1970s. Or Jr Walker & the All Stars 'Shotgun' and lyrics 'shootem for he runs now...' I think some of it is artistic interpretation, or something like that. Anyone, feel free to bail me out here.
Link Wray is also credited in part with introducing distortion and overdriven guitar sounds into the world. Apparently he somehow punctured the speaker in his amp prior to a show. The distorted sound apprently drove the crowd into a frenzy link had never seen before, so from then on he always used that amp and never fixed it. That's the sound you hear on rumble and all those early recordings.
Now, every amplifier has a "distortion" or "overdrive" option and the sound has become synonymous with rock n roll!