Things that you love that nobody has heard. In this day and age thats a tall order, but I’m sure we all have something to contribute. (I know I do :))
It may be fun to use the comments to score just how obscure these tracks are. Maybe leaving a comment indicating whether you have heard the track and/or the artist before would work.
Lync -Silverspoon Glasses
Obscura:
From Lync’s only album, These Are Not Fall Colors, released in 1994 on Olympia’s K Records. I’m not sure Lync is obscure, exactly: maybe under-recognized is more accurate. If they had held it together for just a couple more years and relocated to Williamsburg I think they’d have made it past obscure, but so it goes…
John Oswald has made some really wild collage music. Here is the allmusic review of this album. Here is the emusic entry, which is interesting because of the artist listings for the tracks. This is the track entitled ‘power’.
From Wikipedia:
“His 1975 track “Power” married frenetic Led Zeppelin guitars to the impassioned exhortations of a Southern US evangelist years before hip hop discovered the potency of the same (and related) ingredients.”
I like this particular track loud.
Reblogged for (and from) newspeedwayboogie:
Chris Harwood, Wooden Ships
Not covers friday but I love this cover by Chris Harwood, obscure Brit folk singer , from 1970.
The Monks - Monk Chant (live in Germany)
[via @alexlines on Twitter]
I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve never heard The Monks before. Just watch this video, please—I can’t describe it in any way that does it justice. It’s clear that the authors of their Wikipedia entry hit the same “words fail me” problem:
The Monks are a rock and roll band, primarily active in Germany in the mid to late sixties. They reunited in 1999 and have continued to play concerts, although no new studio recordings have been made. The Monks stood out from the music of the time, and have developed a cult following amongst many musicians and music fans.
Artists to have acknowledged the Monks as an influence include Henry Rollins, the Beastie Boys and Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys, as well as The Fall.
Black Ox Orkestar, Az Vey Dem Tatn
A Jewish folk quartet of musicians from Canada, made up of members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and A Silver Mt Zion, among others, as they say:
“We draw from Ashkenazic, Transylvanian, and Balkan repertoires and add original Yiddish compositions, an ear for dark sounds, and improvisation. Expect political content and diasporic rabblerousing.”
Amazingly hot . . travesty this is “obscura” but themusic will try to change that
my submission to “TheMusic” slotted for the “obscura” category…though also qualifies for “most memorable” bands in my book…too It’s almost impossible to find footage for “Future Days” or “Moonshake” those would be tracks of choice. Enjoy the visuals…
Can - Paperhouse
Keith Richards and Mick Taylor, instrumental rehearsal of Wild Horses
I posted this back in May, but it’s so damn good, it needed a repost plus Ethan Miller from Howlin’ Rain’s words describe it best:
“Man, doesn’t it sound like Mick T. and Keith have been sitting around sniffing glue while jamming this tune? Just knocked out but sharp like tongues of snakes flickering in and out finding the heart of the tune. I love this version. Raw as it gets and just don’t give a fuck to the max. But that deep longing and sorrowful resonance is already there in spades. Awesome. I’ll bet it was hot as fuck outside, the tour bus was rolling through the American summer heat in New Mexico or East Texas and they were in the back with a little tape machine rolling, foggy drunk on beer and pills in the warm afternoon light pouring through the bus windows but the A.C. blowing down on em from the ceiling. After this take Mick probably said, “Hang on a second let me grab a sheet of paper to write down those changes ” and Keith just nodded off and slumped into the seat snoring by the time he got back with a pen and paper. Mick probably just cracked another beer and kept running those solos by himself as the bus rolled on.”
Daniel Johnston - Live and Let Die
Hearing the Spiritualized version of “True love will find you in the end” and seeing the recent pictures on pitchfork put me into a Daniel Johnston mood. (It doesn’t take much)
While this track is just Daniel with his Guitar, I suspect that there are actually multiple singers ;) This performance, even after dozens of listens, gives the impression of being totally off the cuff and captures Daniel in the confusing whirlwind of his own imagination.
I am posting this on covers friday, but I think its a close call as to whether its a cover at all. Its more like when folk musicians take old folk songs and repurpose them for themselves. Why don’t people do that anymore? (Other than sampling, but that’s different.) Well, regardless of the reasons, Daniel does it here, and it kills.
