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What unknown musical artist would you like to share with your fellow audiophiles?

When it comes to music, about half of my friends are "collectors" and the other half are true audiophiles. It seems the collectors are so obsessed with the size of their collections, that they leave no room in their budget for quality audio equipment. I think the audiophiles, with their focus on quality over quantity, are the ones with their priorities straight. So, unless you are on an unlimited budget, I'm guessing that audiophiles are more selective in their musical purchases. That being the case, I'm curious about what "buried treasures" have you been able to find? Thanks for responding and I look forward to discovering some good music, based on your suggestions.

I'll lead off with the band Crack The Sky, most notably their first two albums: "Crack The Sky" (1975) and "Animal Notes" (1976). I would describe them as a cross between Be Bop Deluxe and Frank Zappa. Their music is unique and totally unmistakable with anyone else. Choice cuts from the debut album are: "Ice;" She's a Dancer;" "Mind Baby" & "Sleep." Choice cuts from Animal Notes are: "Animal Skins;" "Wet Teenager;" Virgin....No" & "Maybe I Can Fool Everybody."
mitchagain
boxer12
8,656 posts
 
I'm not really sure how "rare" these are but a few gems come to mind:

Clem Snide
Forest For The Trees
The White Fronts
Disco Biscuits
moe. 
Jason Molina
Kiln
LOW
Bardo Pond

All of the above are different variations of "rock-type" bands. I'm travelling this week so I'm not able to reference my collection. If this is what you're looking for, I'll add some more next week. 


mitchagain OP
468 posts
 
@ Three_Easy_Payments

Thanks for the Kikagaku Moyo suggestion. I listened to their latest release "Masana Temples" and it was very interesting. I'll certainly check out the rest of their stuff.

Since you're a Crack The Sky fan, do you know about the double live acoustic release of theirs called "For Catherine?" It is essentially a band sanctioned bootleg of a show that they did in 2008 to raise money for a cystic fibrosis charity. It's an excellent recording with a great set list! 
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
@mitchagain  I had no idea Crack The Sky had been playing at all recently in the last decade but after googling now I see they've been active and even putting out new albums in 2018.  That's crazy.  I haven't lived in the Balto area for over 25 years but before leaving I recall going to see Carey Ziegler (occasional CTS bass player in the 80s) playing several times in tiny venues with Paul Reed Smith (of Annapolis guitar maker fame) in a fun side project (really just fun) called Band of a Thousand Names.  

Glad you found Kikagaku Moyo interesting!  I'm always on the hunt for an original sound.
rar1's avatar
rar1
1,803 posts
 

Folk 

  • Bill Staines
  • Good starting points - 1) The First Million Miles and 2) The Second Million Miles

Country & Western

  • Whitney Rose
  • Good starting point - 1) Whitney Rose 

1970's Rock - Psychedelic & otherwise

  • White Witch

As for collector vs audiophile ... I am both ... guilty as charged.

Curious as to why categorizing myself would matter.


Rich 
mitchagain OP
468 posts
 
@rar1 

Rich, I'm not interesting in categorizing anything or anybody. All I did was report on the people that I know.

The purpose of my post was for two reasons:

1) I've been very disappointed with the current music of the 21st century. I can count the number of newer artists on both hands that I've bought more than 1 album or CD of theirs. So, I was interested in how many responses mentioned current music versus music from the 20th century.

2) Knowing that most of us are on some kind of budget, I was wondering how that affects our ability to uncover unknown or at least fairly obscure music. After all, life tends to be a numbers game; so, if your budget is limited, one would think that would limit your opportunities to uncover buried treasure. Although I must admit, because the internet basically makes the whole world your record store, perhaps that's enough to offset any perceived budget issues. The internet surely allows us to now be more "selective" in our musical purchases. 
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