Albums With A Cult Following -- You and Only You

I guess Gravatar's "Now the Road of Knives" is pretty obscure, and I like that one a lot.

only thing of this ilk that a truly truly love.

I thought I was ahead of the game when I saw Trouble Everyday but then google revealed they were getting UK radioplay and then Maria T pulled the homecourt advantage on ILX and then pitchfork reviewed them and they opened for the Killers and dagnabbit.

I always wanted to hear that....I remember he does a verse on the posse cut on Ice T's the Iceberg...Freedom of Speech....

I LOVE this album, especially since it's dunked in some deep sonic Paisley (i.e. Prince). Totally slept on record nowadays.

Off to ebay!

No, there are others that like it, I'm sure. I'd be surprised if anyone on here said they did, though. (Matos, I've seen your comments on this on here. FITE!)

Problem is that the amount of limited edition releases really opens this up to the obscurest of the obscure, though at the same time filesharing obviates that to a large extent.

If I had to pick something at random, the Lothars' second Christmas album would do it. Weird, lovely, funny and pretty damned unknown unless you know them, and even then it's no guarantee!

An obvious one I've loved for years and which I know has more of a cult following is Divine Styler's Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light, which I rave about via the AMG as well as here.

There are other choices, though. Let me think on this one. Good thread lovebug!

Find threads from I Love Music, containing maryanne amacher.
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Find threads from I Love Music, containing "a fierce pancake".
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Supercollider Supercollider (1991)
Supercollider Dual (1994)

I did start a thread on their being overlooked a while ago though here.

Trash Can Sinatra's - Cake

-- Ned Raggett (ne...), March 1st, 2005.
=============================
Who Me? I could be making a fortune off this thing but i've not made a dime. In fact, it's only been duped once. I've got his 2003 set two on double disc. The 01 set is the best though, i've got the entire show, starts with the sound of a bong hit and ends with DJ Krush speaking into his headphones wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! What a sweaty, sweaty night that was.

Come again? ;-)

Off to ebay!

-- Austin (austin.swinburn@gyeahmail.com ), March 1st, 2005.

very silly ('if i was a country western singer / i'd cut your head off and kick it down the street / coz thats the thing ive found, living in this one-horse town / that the only thing thats dirtier than dirt, is my feet').
Oh and you won't find it on ebay. it was a handmade cd-r of a few copies only by the look of it. i stole it from my radio station - though i play tracks from it all the time anyways, so its win-win really

also:

Thank you very much for starting this thread, lovebug. It got me to google "a fierce pancake" for the first time ever, which yielded me Kev Hopper's homepage and post-Stump projects, which looks like a great new thing for my ears.

funny, i was just talking to my older brother about our early adolescent love affair with that album (goodbye jumbo). for the life of me, i can't figure out how we heard about it, why we had it or anything. but we did listen to it a lot. i don't have it now, but i kind of want to hear it again.

24 Grandes Canciones-Eydie Gorme y Los Panchos. Lots of great versions of Spanish language classics, with Eydie Gorme perhaps there to bring in the gringos, but really not watered down at all.

The Poll Winners-Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne, Ray Brown. Laid back but swinging versions of standards, including "Green Dolphin Street" and "Satin Doll."

I think it's an underregarded classic of its kind.

Of course, on ILM it's probably old hat, but .....

But you have never heard of Browning Mummery. Fans of dark Eno-like ambience with a more shamanic feel (Lustmord is close) would like it.

Arnett Cobb -- Blow Arnett Blow

also the Sam Yahel Trio albums. But he definitely has a cult following of more than one, at least in NYC where he plays every wednesday night.

well, that's a great album. all of their albums are.

my cult of one: caacrinolas first cdr. weird black metal with heavy goblin influence. the band goblin. maybe real goblins, too. i think the two guys in the band were better known as members of some european free jazz unit.

-- el sabor de gene

Goblin - everyone in the local lesbian goth community here in Sydney seems to be a fan.

You've got me, moley -- haven't heard it. (Or of it.) Sounds great, though.

well, that certainly invalidates everything they've ever done.

Surely, I am the only person on Earth who worships at the shrine of Mathhew Fisher's 1st album.

I used to include Readymade, 'On Point and Red' until I started reading Ian Mathers on Stylus.

Obscure record probably never listened to by anyone in the past 15-20 years- Moral Support "Insanity"- vintage synth-pop from Quebec, sort of in the vein of Rational Youth but much dancier and very very good.

Yeah, if it has "Eager Bereavers" not "Buffalo" though.

Anyhow, my entry is for "Here is my Spoon" Ed Barton.

Carnival Art - Thrumdrone (sort-of Pixies but a nicely varied record)
Something Happens - Stuck Together With God's Glue
Overwhelming Colorfast - Overwhelming Colorfast (sons of Husker Du)
DB's - Amplifier
Cerebral Corps - Attributed To (very underrated inna proto Elephant 6 style)
Rain Parade - anything really, love them

Anyone remember "The Town Of Forgotten Talent" by Foster Pilkington?

Ned raised some good points up-thread, especially about file-sharing. This piece also suggests that nothing is obscure in the digital music age. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

I think he's Christy Moore's half-brother.

There's nothing totally obscure that I love, but some semi-obscurities:

Cheri Knight, The Northeast Kingdom
Juana Molina, Segundo
The Low Road, Demolition
Stretch Princess, Fun With Humans
Emm Gryner, Girl Versions
ReBirth Brass Band, Hot Venom
El Gran Silencio, Chuntaros Radio Poder
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, Meets King Pennet
Genya Ravan, Urban Desire

for my entry i would have originally put 1000 Years of TRouble by Age of Chance, as i seriously thought no-one else loved it .. but following the creation of the website and assoc AOC discussion group i found folks all over the world were still up for trouble .. so now i have to scratch my head and come up with :

ingo star cruiser - ps i cuddle a box

first lp release on the wonderful moshi moshi label .. and one i hold very close to my heart. twisted lo-fi pop madness that dreams of better production, but sounds better cos it doesn't have it.

Apparently, I'm the only person who thinks MC Lyte's Eyez on This is one of the best rap albums ever released.

I used to get all stroppy about Belfegore by Belfegore, but there is a group of ILX'rs who share my appreciation for it.

Beyond that, maybe You Suck Crap by Babyland? The Criminal Special by Senator Flux? I dunno.

That could have been The Tube. He performed "I've got no chicken but I've got 5 wooden chairs".

He did also do some 'surreal Nationwide type'stuff for Tony Wilson's "The other side of Midnight"

Hi there!

And me, as I've repeatedly wibbled on ilm about. That Kev Hopper homepage is indeed pretty interesting.

I would never deny the power of appearances.

I don't know anyone that's heard Toulouse's New Points, New Lines, but I have it and love it. I've read about two people on ilX who were searching for it, but I don't know if they ever acquired it. I can't find The Way the City Stretches at all, though...

My longtime cult record is the eponymous, lone release by Orchestra Luna. In fact, I've been meaning to start their own thread, for ILMers to recommend me anything that sounds like their prog-meets-showtunes record.

Must be loadsa peeps here who know (and love) it well enough, I believe.

6x -- Thunder Bomb Atlanta-based band (I think) on Daemon Records, yer basic pop-punk with girly vox but more sprightly and tuneful than a good many. "I'm So Tired" in particular is a song I can listen to over and over. But then, I'm a sucker for the girly pop-punk.

ILXers knowing of its existence is unquestioned - 'twas quite heavily hyped, same as the Cale/Lou Reed "Drella" thing. As for loving it...who knows? Man, I useta see that Eno/Cale record EVERYWHERE, in the racks in every single store back in '90. Which could conceivably have meant that they (the retailers) never sold any of 'em to paying customers - except just the one to Alfred! So maybe he really is an army of one.

I remember people being very dismissive of them at the time and me being at an impressionable NME reading age, having to hide the love a little. But I was going through some old tapes the other night, and found this one out again. Their later stuff dropped off pretty quickly, but this was rather lovely. Can't believe he ended up writing songs for Robbie Bloody Williams.

Sir Shina Adewale and Superstars International's first record is one of my favorites. They were a '70s Nigerian juju band formed by Segun Adewala and Sir Shina Peters.
http://africanmusic.org/artists/adewale.html

I haven't met anybody who loves this 90's industrial, at least not any more: "Engine" by Die Warzau and "Concentration" by machines of Loving Grace.

-- chris besinger (fakefak...), March 1st, 2005.

I used to have that one, and liked it okay, but didn't play it enough to keep it. It's good to see someone does, though, because I remember it being pretty neat.

my band played a show a few months ago with a band called special pillow, fronted by a guy named dan cuddy who used to be in hypnolovewheel, and they were pretty great, in a kind of vaguely americana-ish psych kind of way. i should've picked up their cd but i didn't.

Revive!

I was thinking about this thread (and a few others) over the weekend while playing a CD by Hypnotic Clambake. Obscure enough that they could have gone in the "I have never heard this band that begins with the letter H" thread, or maybe a worst name thread, or maybe that great "I own every record by... what was I thinking?" one Mr. Seward started.

I do own all 6 CDs by this Boston (now New York) band, despite the fact that I have only seen them live once, so they are not friends, or locals whom I see once a month, just a band whose self-released music is pretty cheap on amazon or ebay, and which I liked enough to gather the whole set.

Their genre: accordion and horn-driven klezmer-rock hijinx, similar to Brave Combo, with a penchant for smartass lyrics that probably put them much too close to Weird Al or They Might Be Giants for the average ilxor.

So tell me more about a wide, weird swath of discs in your (and probably ONLY your) collection!

http://assets.mog.com/amg/pop/cov200/drd700/d745/d74512pakuc.jpg

First google hits for this one include myspace, artistdirect, geocities, and angelfire.

xp: Man, I find myself singing "Niagara Falls" about once a month! I only saw them once, but they jumped off the stage and led the audience in a conga line through the streets of Baltimore at 1 in the morning.

Other than my sister, I'm the only person I know who worships Too Much Joy, but I understand that there are still fans out there somewhere.

This Is The Thread Where I Tell The World How Much I Love *Karen Alexander* And Her Album *Voyager*.

I find myself singing "Niagara Falls" once a month too -- may band covers it!!

I remember seeing Best Kissers when I lived in Seattle in the 90s, can't recall a thing about them.

My band, obviously.

I would say that too, but my drummer is really into our old band as well.

long gone LA slightly shoegazey band Night For Us ... Full disclosure, I once subbed on bass for them, and helped out with their first album.

hmm, guess i'm not the only one: http://www.la-underground.net/2007/07/los-angeles-sort-of-remembers-night-for.html

best kissers in the world

Picking Flowers For!
I probably own the album as well but I can't recall any of their other songs. But Picking Flowers For was *such* a great song.

Too Much Joy's Trouser Press review sounds intriguing, and the Karen Alexander review is exactly what I'm looking for. Who do you LOVE?

Okay, another one: Reptile Palace Orchestra, sort of the Three Mustaphas Three of Madison, Wisconsin. From Turkish and Macedonian dance songs to "Little Wing" and "Cosmic Slop." Chanteuse in an evening gown and violinist with psychedelic FX aplenty. I own all 5 CDs, plus a live boot. (Collecting live shows: one way you can always spot a too-far-gone cult member.)

Love Jones - Here's to the Losers

Had that album for a while -- can still hum the title track.

I know others also revere A Little More Haven Hamilton, Please by June & the Exit Wounds, but they sure don't show up 'round these parts...

Has anyone heard "I, Thighpaulsandra" yet?

I seem to be the only person in the world who still wonders about The Shanks "Brang" CD. You'd think the Fall-und-art influence would have roped in...somebody else.

Kiss: The Elder
Oasis: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Merrymakers: No Sleep Til Famous.

Kiss: The Elder

You'd be wrong there.

Dare I invoke this again, but I went on a pilgrimage to find the Elder door, and I found it. East 86th off Park Avenue towards Lex, if you give a fuck.

http://vassifer.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/img_5381_1.jpg

Hahaha okay that is beautiful.

Knew you'd appreciate it.

The Dandy Warhols - Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars

I am the truly earless

chronicle of the black sword - hawkwind

Lewis Furey S/T? anyone?

Repulse Kava - Flow Gently Sweet Alpha
Expando Brain - Mother Of God! It's Expando Brain

The Gospel According To the Meninblack by The Stranglers.

.... though I'm probably not entirely alone there.

i will go to bat for the crash test dummies' "give yourself a hand" any day of the week

^^^I will go to bat for "A Worm's Life"!

Well, the last 4 tracks.

i've only ever heard that one once, when it first came out, and it didn't do much for me. will have to check it out again.

It's a really surprisingly underrated album, I think it and The Chemical Brothers' "We Are The Night" were my two "gosh I actually dig this shit" choices from the RYM all-time bottom 1000 records

lol @ my turn of phrase tbh

have you heard "give yourself a hand?" it's probably rated even lower. but i love it, it's great night driving music.

Ooh, I got one. Despite the fact that seemingly every sentient being in the free world thought the debut album by Birdland was a steaming pile of dung, I quite like several tracks on it.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TNbLlKOxn08/SRHQmKX5rCI/AAAAAAAAAIw/zf-xbhSW2cc/s320/birdland+birdland.jpeg

Not heard GYAH but it is on Spotify so I guess my evening's sorted

First 8 tracks of AWL vary from ok to excellent (especially the title-track and maybe He Liked To Feel It, My Enemies t a stretch), but the last four are where it kicks off: a miniature suite of utterly differing, riveting little diamonds

"he liked to feel it" was such a bad choice of a first single. way too similar too MMMM MMMM MMMM lyrically. the first line is "there was a boy" fercrissakes.

I don't think they ever released 2 Knights And Maidens as a single, which was a terrific oversight imo

that's a good song. that whole album is really solid, to me.

Best song on A Worm's Life is obviously An Old Scab (which is mighty and moving), but picking just one off GSHF is much harder. I can probably narrow it down to God Shuffled His Feet, I Think I'll Disappear Now, How Does A Duck Know? and 2 Knights And Maidens, all of which are great in ways I can't quite explain (beyond 'alchemy')

Listening to AWL right now and those first 8 tracks are just fine tbh, really do give it another go :)

GSHF could possibly use a poll, and I don't say that about many albums

Have narrowed it down to title-track and 2 Knights fwiw but I'm Bimblin' so stfu

Robbie Fulks' "Couples in Trouble" is an amazing, wide-ranging album that sounds like very little else he's recorded. I wish he'd kept using this more eclectic style on more recent albums because from the sound of this album, he could do any style he set his mind to.

Ooh, I got one. Despite the fact that seemingly every sentient being in the free world thought the debut album by Birdland was a steaming pile of dung, I quite like several tracks on it.

― Alex in NYC, Saturday, 13 June 2009 23:38 (Yesterday) Bookmark

I once worked with a guy who, after finding out I didn't really care for punk, gave me a 2 hour lecture on this band and then ripped me a copy of this. Not like the Ramones or the Damned or whoever people actually like - for him the genre was all about Birdfuckingland.

That's a bit ridiculous.

my vote'd be for "i think i'll disappear now," if only for the line "you float by like a summer vacation." plus, the tempo. it's really loose -- easygoing, you might say -- which at first seems to reflect the narrator's state of mind. he's single now, life is uncomplicated. but after meeting her again he's starting to chafe against the life he's living now: "i'll buy a fast car, i'll drive it fast from here," which really jars with the tempo of the song. then in the last verse he's talking about the past and how he'll move on and he'll forget all about it and all that, but i can't help but feel like he's stuck and trying to rationalize how he's fucked up. at that point the tempo's less about being easygoing and carefree than about being directionless. and that bridge! "aren't you gonna miss me? aren't you gonna even say one thing to me anymore?" that's what we're left with. for some reason the end of that song gives me the mental image of watching a car drive off toward the horizon, and it's somewhere out west where the sky is kinda dusty and the road's really straight.

good song.

lotsa xposts

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Hurricane_no._1.jpg

great britpop record superior to all oasis imo

bug that is superb and true; the bridge, especially when it returns for a second time, even more impassioned and lushly-orchestrated, is a thing of beauty, and the song is desperate in a particularly controlled, leisurely way, which makes the effort of control seem all the more tortured

HOOS that is unexpected and somewhat cheering

I could do a similar exegesis on "An Old Scab" but that song speaks for itself a little more, employing pathos, bathos, musical flourish, musical resolution, and similar techniques of controlled emotional violence to evoke some really quite moving meditations on ageing, depression, helplessness and mortality, all in a sub-4-minute pop/rock odyssey

CTD really do have the nicest little guitar solos

the bass playing on GSHF is really tasty too.

they are a proficient, deceptively imaginative band with an original and compelling style who do not have a proper ILM thread of their own ;_;

they wanted to be the Canadian XTC and largely succeeded on their own terms

"The Gospel According To the Meninblack by The Stranglers."

you are certainly not alone. i love that album to death.

How does a duck POLL: The Crash Test Dummies "God Shuffled His Feet" Poll

Big Pig - Bonk

I've already pumped them on ILM before but Sardina: "Presents"

http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/img/3/6/6/6/11426663.jpg

From the first time I saw the cover to this album I felt like it was something special to me, something that nobody else would understand. Now I can see some of the flaws but still I think I like The Soft Parade more than probably 99% of humanity. That first song slays, the closing is tribal psychedelic sugary fun. The "I'm gonna love you" part in "Touch Me" I would gladly trade a zillion "God Only Knows" for.

I'm the only person I've met so far that recognizes Hetch Hetchy's Swollen as the best Hugo Largo album, and hence in the running for best dream pop of the 80s.

Its not my fault that other otherwise sane people aren't Paul Lansky completists. And yet, even amongst them, few recognize More Than Idle Chatter as the best psychedelic album of the 90s.

I've always loved the Soft Machine. Tell All the People, Runnin' Blue, all these weird schmaltzy bizarre Robbie songs. I love them to death.

and by Soft Machine, I mean Soft Parade.

Jewlia Eisenberg's Trilectic, who I have no doubt have more super fans, but sometimes I feel like I'm the only one.

"I'm the only person I've met so far that recognizes Hetch Hetchy's Swollen as the best Hugo Largo album, and hence in the running for best dream pop of the 80s."

Hetch Hetchy: Classic Or Dud?

so sad that i'm the only hetch hetchy fan on ilm. so cold...feel...so...all...alone. post-punk southern gothic at its finest, folks!!!!
― scott seward, Monday, May 7, 2007 1:21 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark

http://www.rhythmsisters.com/images/Album3.jpg
Does anybody else love this record as much as I do? I remember them being written about in the NME many, many years ago, but they seem to be totally forgotten.

i'm the only hetch hetchy fan on ilm. so cold.

Clearly I've failed this thread's mission, but you now know that your taste isn't, in some fundamental and unique to yourself way, defective. Here's a blanket.

AR Kane -New Clear Child
Boogiemonsters - Riders of the Storm: The Underwater Album

http://www.fastatmosphere.com/Merchant2/graphics/en-US/mmui/SpittingSongscover.jpg

http://www.leftoffthedial.com/pathwaysboat_cover.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41qDnBdy9XL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/4b/b1/2d72124128a02e27828c1010.L._AA240_.jpg

"The Gospel According To the Meninblack by The Stranglers."

you are certainly not alone. i love that album to death.

Me too. I think it was also a top 10 record in the UK.

Big Pig - Bonk

Back in the day, "Devil's Song" by Big Pig was minor floor-filler in the goth clubs of Champaign/Urbana.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pkv51AYRgCM/RzImQWYBJVI/AAAAAAAAAQw/ju2yq8ciDP8/s400/sapm_album.jpg

http://207.228.243.82/crud/lumumba.jpg

I'm a huge fan of Bonk as well.

Abort - Tribe
When I Was a Boy - Jane Siberry
Gold Afternoon Fix - The Church

loveless - my bloody valentine
west coast - studio

http://iusedtohavehair.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/barenaked-ladies-gordon.jpg

Change my display name to Fatbeard Badshave y/n?

euler i used to play the shit out of "shrine" back in the day on my radio show. what a jam!

fuck I love that album! "Slo-Mo Kikaida" is pretty much a perfect power ballad and it still get me worked up. "Shrine" is also badass; it had a video I think but youtube is letting me down.

When I Was a Boy - Jane Siberry

#25 in the 1993 Pazz & Jop poll so you're hardly alone there.

I used to love Big Pig. I got into them because I was a teenage Yahoo Serious fan.

"succeeds where daylight fails" by tyrnaround. i seem to be the only person who remembers they exist let alone have actually heard this fantastic record

Gold Afternoon Fix - The Church

Hardly alone.

When I Was a Boy - Jane Siberry

http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=17927

"My sole tether to reality was Jane Siberry's When I Was a Boy. It's not an exaggeration to say that Boy, along with very patient friends and my shrink, are responsible for my survival."

This thread is a challenge.

Still feel like June Panic's "Baby's Breadth" is the big overlooked song suite of the decade

http://www.musicaldiscoveries.com/artwork/hnglowstarsfc.jpg

Eusebe: Tale's From Mama's Yard. This is a mid-90s British rap album by a trio consisting of two girls and one guy. It's quite poppy and a bit smooth, but is also has some clever political and social commentary. Apparently the group never released anything else after it. The album was released by EMI, so it's not like it's some obscure indie record, but I've only managed to find one online review of it. It has 0 ratings on Discogs.com, and Eusebe itself has 99 listeners on Last.fm, but apparently the majority of those have only listened to the radio edit of their single "Summertime Healing". I even started a thread about Eusebe:

Whatever happened to Eusebe?

...but it seems only two other ILXors have ever heard anything by the group.

Despite the fact that seemingly every sentient being in the free world thought the debut album by Birdland was a steaming pile of dung, I quite like several tracks on it.

yup. i still play the white vinyl copy from time to time, and do indeed enjoy it.
though when i spotted a recent compilation of the album and all the other stuff they recorded on one cd for a few quid i let it pass.
a few tracks is more than enough !

my extra entry after the posting 4 years ago :

http://www.discogs.com/image/R-176946-1240627649.jpeg

absolutely love love this album : underworld + yello + klf = dance pop brilliance from 90

grrr.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2439/3628492460_0ebfbd499d_o.jpg

Damn, leavethecapital, I thought of that Rhythm Sisters album only a couple of days ago! Probably because of a reference to "California Girls" somewhere (it being mentioned in "American Boys" on here).

who's landing in my hangar? - human switchboard
maybe not "me and only me", but it sure seems that way

Not alone with Human Switchboard. I was just listening to that the other day. So classic.

The Steppes: Drop Of the Creature

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-29a62ZAl2M/SF6cusT5iNI/AAAAAAAAAUU/s1D6kOzhH_g/s320/o133767.jpg

Yay!! Some Human Switchboard love, great album.

Gold Afternoon Fix - The Church

Hardly alone.

Well, I never see anyone else repping for GAF. Even the band hate it.

I remember Expando Brain, the band, but have never heard the album. The set I saw ended the guitarist just banging on one chord for five minutes, and making it totally entrancing. Don't think they had a record out at that point.

Even though I don't listen to much indie rock these days I'll still rep for the first two Downy Mildew albums (Broomtree, 1987 and Mincing Steps, 1988). Three ilx threads on them but not much positivity!

Well, I never see anyone else repping for GAF. Even the band hate it.

It's a flawed album but anything that ends with "Grind" has it over a sea of general mediocrity by most acts.

Human Switchboard got tons of press in the early 80s but yeah, they've been largely forgotten in the rediscovery sweepstakes. critics are fickle!

i bought that human switchboard album at a library sale when i was a kid and i don't think i listened to it much. which i still had it, cuz i'd probably like it more. they thank xgau on the back, don't they? yeah, they were definitely critic bait. not that there's anything wrong with that.

definitely listened to the teenage jesus EP and buzzcocks records i got at that same sale a whole bunch more. thanks, Jim Stockman, whoever you were! (he wrote his name on all his albums)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XcBeBwmYqBk/Rj5yMdspKTI/AAAAAAAAAHM/gkZMEo6GPRk/s320/cresta.jpg

fun fact: human switchboard's lead singer went on to be an A&R guy for epic and the president of hollywood records

I think I am going to change mine to "God Bless Tiny Tim". Just heard it the first time yesterday and I am head-over-heels and I don't know why!

Human Switchboard got tons of press in the early 80s but yeah, they've been largely forgotten

I don't think it's ever been released as a CD. If it was, it would spark a major resurgence (or maybe just a surgence) because it's so good.

They've got a massive presence on Youtube, though...

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=human+switchboard&aq=f

Wow, the Hollow Men!!! I have (and love) that album.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/9221/1188118647conchettaweb.jpg

sweet, babyish, sparsely arranged jazz-pop that falls squarely in the Teresa Brewer camp. predates her role in Hawaiian Eye, her chart success with "Sixteen Reasons," and that kooky McCain scandal. do people's grandmas still listen to this?

not an album, really, but i am in love with this stuff by a Canadian bedroom DJ type who goes under the ridiculous moniker of "Villa Savoye." really smooth deep house shit that kills. posted some stuff on my blog a while back. got it from a guy who used to roadie with Excepter's ipod.

Sheep On Drugs, ... On Drugs. Their second album, which I don't think is quite as widely adored as their first.

unfun fact(from HS wiki page):He(Bob Pfeiffer) then went onto work for Epic records, eventually becoming president of Disney owned Hollywood Records before he was unceremoniously let go in the mid 90's. In 2006 he was indicted on one count each of witness intimidation and aiding and abetting wiretapping. He eventually plead guilty to wiretapping and admitted in federal court that he'd stalked and harassed an ex-girlfriend and was using speed during that time.

That's nuts. Maybe the lyrics of I Used To Believe In You were a precursor.

Crazy, but it sorta fits with the stalker-ish love songs.

Here's another record I just love to death. Everyone knows So Alone, but this is better. Who would have thought folk rock singer-songwriter Johnny could be so compelling? Makes you sort of hate the dude for wasting his talents so blatantly. Just beautiful guitar playing and singing on this.
http://www.thunders.ca/discs/hurtme1.jpg

Edward II. I don't own their earlier recordings billed as "...and the Red Hot Polkas," but the one I have ("Wicked Men") is an unusual mix of UB40 lite-reggae plus accordion that I really like a lot. Great live act.

Time for a revive...

Revolution 9, You Might As Well Live
Attacco Decente, The Baby Within Us Marches On
Breathless, Between Happiness and Heartache
Naked Lunch, This Atom Heart of Ours
Departure Lounge, Out of Here

I can't remember how I ever heard it in the first place, and probably just picked it up in a cut-out bin on a hunch, but The Dangtrippers' Days Between Stations was a righteous jangle-pop baptism for me in the early '90s. And while looking for a cover scan, I learned Zero Hour is re-releasing it this year (and their second album too, which I never heard...hooray!)

http://i26.tinypic.com/35l9aud.jpg

oh crap, that's giant. sorry!

http://thevontrapps.noisychaos.com/images/Elysium-glisten150.jpg

Elysium - Glisten (1995)
Autumnal femme-vox dreampop on the Dewdrops label (run by Brant of the 4AD mailing list). Band later became The Von Trapps, whose EP never grabbed me.

Listening to this sample from the aforementioned album, there's a lot of Natalie Merchant in Elysium's mix of Cocteau guitars and melancholy.

That Elysium record sounds like the kind of thing I would really like, so thanks for the tip. Looks like a bugger to track down, though. No copies on ebay or discogs, nothing on what... Hmm, I like a challenge.

I should probably have added one-line reviews of my picks, so...

Revolution 9 – more or less a solo album by John Moore (JAMC, Black Box Recorder). Dark acoustic riffing, think Songs From A Room for the 90s.

Attacco Decente – hard-hitting leftie folk from Thatcher's Britain, heavy on the dulcimers.

Breathless – dreampop with vox by Dominic Appleton (This Mortal Coil).

Naked Lunch – wintry Mercury Rev-ish sounds from perhaps Austria's leading indie rock band.

Departure Lounge – dreamy melancholy from Tim Keegan & collaborators.

Also:

Somewhere in Europe, Gestures, The Iron Trees Are In Full Bloom, Savage Dreams. Uneasy industrial concrète from the wastes of England.

Tiny Lights - Prayer for the Halcyon Fear

Can't even find a fscking copy anywhere.

Tiny Lights - Prayer for the Halcyon Fear

Can't even find a fscking copy anywhere.

There's copies of the vinyl up for sale on discogs, email me if you just want the mp3s I can probably help you out.

Animals That Swim - I Was the King, I Really Was the King

is the first one that comes to mind, though i think they've been mentioned on ILM once or twice in the past

I've got that album, I wouldn't say I feel cult-like about it...

Definitely love Breathless

Robt Omlit of OC might fill the bill for me, though he only ever self-released tapes.

Cultural Amnesia

scattersh0t - extras3xual behavior

made by a really talented dude when he was in college here, it was basically a local release but sounds amazing and is some of the best electronic music i've ever heard. i don't even have the full cd, just a handful of mp3s that i've listened to eight million times since like '02.

Boulderdash - We Never Went To Koxut Island

this doesn't really count because i have 2 friends who are also really into it too but it's my fav chillout electronic album and i rarely see it talked about

Departure Lounge, Out of Here

Not just you! I love almost everything Tim Keegan's been involved with - had a chance to chat with him about his solo album a couple of years ago, too. "Out Of Here" is his crowning achievement, though. "The New You" often runs through my head unbidden.

Animals That Swim - I Was the King, I Really Was the King

Completely underrated and unknown, it's so sad. They do things with horns in a rock environment that it seems no one else does - they're mournful yet joyful at the same time, and the lyrics are incredible. Seek out "Seven Days" from their last album. There's still a few vinyl-only b-sides I've never heard!

hmm, i should re-listen to the Departure Lounge album -- i got it because of the Robyn Hitchcock connection, found it pleasant, but haven't really returned to it.

Little Georgie and the Shuffling Hungarians, Live from Styleen's Rhythm Lounge. New Orleans-style soul & pop from a huge band; tight, funky, and surprisingly ambitious. Also a great cheesy hard-rock guitar sound for the solos!

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/8550/frenchpaddleconversions.jpg

charming, homespun cut-and-paste by half of Vote Robot

There's copies of the vinyl up for sale on discogs, email me if you just want the mp3s I can probably help you out.

Huh, never think to look on discogs for some reason (shipping vinyl from overseas to Aus makes me nervous anyway).

Wouldnt mind hearing even the mp3s again, hm.

Blinker the Star - "August Everywhere"

Pop with cellos. Heaven.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y142/Brushback/liquor-giantsOle181.jpg

I really believe I am the only one who loves this album. Power pop masterpiece. Glorious.

I think I am the only one with an undying, towering, genuine affection for Deadsy's "Commencement." It is definitely my favorite Book of Urantia-themed, synthesizer-based, $2-word-using band fronted by the son of Cher. (Unfortunately their second album was not good.)

http://www.mtv.com/shared/media/images/artist/d/deadsy/az_official/281x211.jpg

Hardly an unknown, but I really like this record...
http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/s/shuman_mort_mydeath~~_101b.jpg
Mort Shuman My Death

I actually tried to get into a lot of stuff because of that Deadsy album, but it was all really boring. Trying to read a book about the Hittites was a bust, but reading the actual Urantia text itszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz *snore*...sorry, I fell asleep remembering the time I treed to read the Urantia book.

holy shit abbott, i fucking love that deadsy record but no one else does.

wait tho, commencement is the second record by them i have, there was a first self-titled one as well

You have blown my mind!!!

You have the best taste in music (=most similar to mine) of anyone on ILM I think!

That self-titled one used to go for hella $$$$ on eBay.

"Phantasmagore" was the disappointment.

i am listening to the first one right now! lots of the stuff is on both this and commencement, but this version of cruella is def the better of the two

very glad that this is in the stuff that has been already been reloaded after hard drive crashola and recovery

yeah i have noticed that you have far better musical taste than the rest of these sucks, between this and SGM u r a#1 (something else too cant remember now)

I still think No Silver No Gold by Baptist Generals is the finest album Sub Pop has ever released.

Phantom Raiders - New Sound '67

This has been reissued recently by Norton. Its a cool garage rock gem from North Carolina that stands alongside other examples of the time, with its frenzy of energy & joy.

Idha Ovelius – Melody Inn

South San Gabriel - The Carlton Chronicles
Low Skies - All the Love I Could Find

I doubt I'm the 'only' person that loves the first one--SSG is a side-project of Centro-Matic who surely have fans on ILM. A simply excellent folk-rock album with great hooks and a late night vibe; "I Feel Too Young to Die" has become one of my favorite songs ever and is the reason I really got into the record in the first place.

being a college radio DJ at the time is the only reason I chanced upon Low Skies' third (I think) album. They broke up not too long after its release and even other folks at the station didn't take notice of the album---their loss. Melancholy folkish indie rock, like Band of Horses if they wrote dark songs and didn't suck.

probably The Brontosaur's album... I don't know anyone else who's heard it.

Someone mentioned Blinker The Star earlier and I'm pretty sure both bands have the same drummer..

I bought a $10 cd-r off the interweb directly from a nerdy girl in New England that used to record herself under the name Dinobrains. She gives her music away for free online, but for $10 she will custom-draw the cover art and mail you a cd-r.

The instructions were to choose 2 animals and she'd draw a hybrid on the cover. I asked for a Bat and a Squid and she drew one helluva squid-bat. There's a song on the e.p. called the "Picture in the House" which is inspired by the HP Lovecraft story. It's a very memorable song and makes me laugh everytime I hear it.

You can hear it here: http://www.bergmansbear.com/?page_id=129

I have to say, for all the free music I get, and the incredible devaluation that CDs have undergone in my life, this felt like the best $10 I'd spent in a while.

Boo Hewerdine, Baptist Hospital. Former Bible frontman somehow lucks into major label deal for his second solo album and makes it a sober, gorgeous delight.

I believe I am the only Depeche Mode fan in the world who considers "Construction Time Again" to be their biggest masterpiece.

Yeah that's not what this thread is about Geir, this is albums that nobody else listens to.

all-time favorites i rarely hear mentioned outside my own head:

kent 3 - stories of the new west
beehive & the barracudas - plastic soul w the white apes
superconductor - hit songs for girls (tried to make a case for this on freeform 90s poll, but i dunno that i made any headway)
magic hour - no excess is absurd (this one too)
badawi - the heretic of ether

^ imagine that people listen to all of these, despite the fact that they're seldom discussed

Hate what he's doing now, but this is actually one of my fav records:

http://www.vinylsurrender.com/Graphics/AlbumCovers2/Jimi%20Tenor%20-%20Intervision.jpg

Did I not mention "Pincer Movement" Jowe Head?

Consider it mentioned.

Jessamine - The Long Arm of Coincidence

Wow, I completely forgot Jessamine even existed! I saw them at Bumbershoot sometime back in the 90s and was completely entranced. Never sought out any of their recorded stuff, but the bits I just sampled on Amazon sound great.

beehive & the barracudas - plastic soul w the white apes

bumped a john reis thread a few weeks ago to mention how much i loved this record

I believe I am the only Depeche Mode fan in the world who considers "Construction Time Again" to be their biggest masterpiece.

― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Sunday, August 8, 2010 2:47 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you are wrong as I also hold this opinion

xpost. Other Jessamine fans out there. "You May Have Forgotton" is one of their best. Nobody has ever really replaced them...

This one's mine. I got *this* close to interviewing the bass player, but it fell through at the last minute:

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/29/1375/1024/Mass%20Tango2.jpg

Let's try that once again:

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/29/1375/1024/Mass%20Tango2.jpg

Hmmm, didn't take the first time, then suddenly it did. How odd.

bumped a john reis thread a few weeks ago to mention how much i loved this record

yeah, i remember that! think i'm ranting about them in that thread, too.

also love jessamine (re: cityworker and dlp9001), especially the self-titled debut. so spooky woozy great.

dlp: If that pic shows on the original source page, it may well show here.

The rest of us continue to get redcros.

That's one of the strangest things I've seen. First it was red cross. Then it appeared. Then red cross. The internet amazes me. Anyway, Mass Tango's self-titled album.

Sagor & Swing, Orgelplaneten. Infectious Swedish Hammond-and-drums workouts.

van halen 3

I think SOMEONE else must have bought VH3!

Anyone else a fan of Shallow? Shoegazy stuff from small-town Kansas.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KCCVZHJWL._CR0,0,300,300_SS105_.jpg

xxxxxpost - I saw Jessamine and have a few of their albums. Great band. Some of them went on to play in Fontanelle.

Rex also produced White 1 and White 2 for Sunn0))) which is how I met him. I recorded the timpani part in his leaky garage.

yea but I sold it and kept it

Am I the only giant Swell fan here?

they're good, but i don't love em

I think a good best-of compilation would convert many.

well, ruling out musicians who are my personal friends, probably balcony! some guy who decided to promote his songs by putting them out on filesharing networks labelled as other musicians like david sylvian, scott walker, nick drake, etc. end result is that anybody who was on audiogalaxy in 2002 has probably heard his stuff, but nobody knows who he is. then again i thought i was the only person in the world who had heard of maschina (the band, not the smashing pumpkins record) until i randomly ran into somebody at a convention in philadelphia who was a huge fan.

I looked for Balcony stuff for a long time online bc of that promotionally misattributed track! It was a really good track IMO. Still have not managed to hear any more Balcony.

We Ragazzi -- The Ache