StarDestroyer.Net BBS

So now that we're done bitching for a while about all the songs and bands we hate, let's hear about your favorite bands and songs that no one else really knows about since they don't get airplay. Hopefully we'll all get to discover a bunch of cool music to enjoy.

Artist: Sarah Slean
Album: Night Bugs
Genre: Symphonic Instrumental Piano Rock (for lack of better words)
Key Songs: "Sweet Ones", "Drastic Measures", "Eliot", "Book Smart, Street Stupid"
Personal Favourites: "Duncan", "St. Francis", "Drastic Measures", "Weight", "Sweet Ones", "Bank Accounts"

Comments: I kinda think of her as the Canadian Tori Amos since they're both piano babes, but Sarah's songs are more jazzy and upbeat, closer in style to Tori's "Wednesday" or "Wrong Band". She's a real good piano player and has an amazing voice, and she's also an amazing live performer. She's pretty unknown as her songs don't get played on the radio at all, but the video for "Sweet Ones" got played on MuchMore Music a couple times and that's what got me hooked.

Edit: Forgot about her website. Sarah Slean

Artist: Astral Projection
Genre: Techno/Trance (specifically Goa Trance)
Key Songs: "Aqua Line Spirit", "Aurora Borealis", "Dancing Galaxy", "Ionized", "Let There Be Light", "Mahadeva", "Nilaya", "No One Ever Dreams", "Typtomine Dream"
Personal Favourites: "Aqua Line Spirit", "Dancing Galaxy", "Nilaya", "Tryptomine Dream"

Comments: I don't know much about Astral Projection other than that I think they're a Goa Trance techno group from Israel. However, I do know that they're very good. Most of their songs are about ten minutes long, and have a great sense of depth. Some songs contain samples: "Dancing Galaxy" and "No One Ever Dreams" from Dune; "Let There Be Light" contains the readings from Genesis during the Apollo mission; and "Tryptomine Dream" has some Spock dialogue from TMP. Check it out, you should be able to find some import CDs on Amazon.com, or find them on P2P.

All the stuff by Stephen Lynch.

I especially like Hero, Priest, and Special.

Album: Handsomeboy Modeling School
Artists: Various
Genre: Trip-Hop/old skool

Produced by Prince Paul and Dan"Automator" Nakamura. Automator was one of the producers on the Gorrilaz album. Old school hip hop with a little flavor. This is what mainstream rap SHOULD be, a hellva lot more depth and talent then the crap on the radio. Awsome mixes with an underlying humor through the whole album featuring real hip-hop artist both known and underground

Album: Lovage: Music to Make Love to your old lady by.
Artists: Various
Genre: Trip-Hop

Quasi sequel to Handsomeboy Modeling School. Just the Automator producing this one. Getting your groove on is the name of the game and the tracks definantly do so with a blend of funky beats and smooth vocals.

Some stuff by Lake of Tears. Bizarre, occasionally. But good.

Band: ASKA
Genre: Power Metal
Albums: Various
Website: http://www.askaband.com

I found out about them more by accident while doing a search on Gnutella for Ride of the Valkyries. They're based in Dallas, Texas, and seem to be only really known in that area.

Artists: Trans-siberian Orchestra.
Albums: Beethoven's last night, Christmas Eve & Other Stories, The Christmas Attic, The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,
Songs: Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24, Mephistopheles, more

website: http://www.trans-siberian.com/

Band: Switchblade Symphony
Albums: Serpentine Gallery, Bread and Jam for Francis, Three Calamities
Genre: sorta gothic, trip-hop, described as 'dark dance music' by them
Good songs: Monsters, Wicked, Wallflower, Bloody Knuckles, Butterfly, Dollhouse

I prefer Serpentine Gallery, the stuff on the other two is a bit different, though Three Calamities does have some good stuff(wicked and monsters). Broken up now, I think.

Band: El Queso Allstars
Good Songs: Paul's Gonads and Hail Eris (all I've heard actually)

Subgenii and Discordians. There was some nastiness between them and the Church of $cientology. Don't know what the state of the band is now. Try running a search on em.


Enough for now.

Artist: Steve Earle
Genres: Rock, Country, Folk, Bluegrass, Rockabilly
Albums of note:
Guitar Town (1986)
Copperhead Road (1988)
Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator (Live, 1991)
El Corazon (1997)

History: Over his 20 year recording career, Steve Earle has been to hell and back. He left home at 14 and learned to play guitar by hanging out with the legendary Townes Van Zandt. At 19, he moved to Nashville, and started down the long rocky road of making a living as a musican/songwriter. He eventually made it, but after receiving several Grammy nominations, a gold record, critical acclaim, and putting out 8 albums, he was dropped by MCA for his rampant drug abuse problems. He spent fours years on a "ghetto vacation" (his words), and at one point was living on the streets, homeless. After a short stint in jail and rehab, he started recording and writing again. In 1995, he put out a new album, Train a Comin', which was Grammy nominated for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Since then, he has put out 4 more albums, and recorded albums with several other artists covering many different genres. His new album, Jerusalem, is in stores now. He has several books of poetry out as well. He's written songs that have been hits for Carl Perkins, Travis Tritt, and Bonnie Raitt, among others. He even wrote a song for Elvis, but the king didn't show up for the session!

Comments: My first real taste of Steve Earle was Copperhead Road. Although I liked the song, I never bought the album, and he disappeared from music in a haze of heroin. Years later, living in Nashville, someone brought over El Corazon, and I was hooked. Some songs were pure rock and roll, others were old school country/bluegrass, and even a few poetic accoustic songs that spoke of a man with a deep, tortured soul. I was amazed that a musician that crafted a brash and rebellious rock song like "Here I Am" could also croon about the hard side of life in the classic country styled ballad "The Other Side Of Town". Like a junkie on a binge, I searched for as many Steve Earle albums as I could get my hands on, consuming them as fast as my ears could take it. The depth of his songwriting is truly amazing, and he definitely sings from the deep, dark heart of his soul. I once saw him live, and he rocked out for 3 solid hours. Although Steve Earle is a talent in his own right, he could easy be called the bluegrass Bruce Springsteen of Country Rock.

Websites:
E-squared Records (the record label he formed in 1995)
Steve Earle's bio

Artist: Oxymoron
Genre: Oi!
Key Songs: Dead End Generation, Mohican Tunes, Dawn Patrol
homepage: http://www.oxys.de/englisch/edisco.HTM

Artist: Laurel Aitken - The Godfather of Ska
Genre: Ska
Key Songs: Skinhead, Skinhead Moon invasion, Rumble in a Brixton Market,
Unofficial Homepage: http://www.working-class.com/laurelaitken/

aerius wrote: Artist: Sarah Slean
Album: Night Bugs

Got it. It's a great album and worth every penny. Bought it the same day I got, "Waiting" by Maren Ord. Also a great album worth every penny.

Artist: MC Hawking
Genre: UberG33K Gangsta Rap
Key Songs: GTA 3, All My Shootins' Be Drivebys, QUAKE Master, Fuck the Creationists , Entropy, E=mc Hawking
Homepage: www.MCHawking.com

Artist: Die Kassierer
Genre: Deutsch Punk
Key Songs: Ich toete meinen Nachbarn und verpruegel seine Leiche, Rudelfick im Altersheim, Mongo mit der Bongo, Das Leben ist ein Handschuh
Homepage: http://www.kassierer.com

Artist: Bal-Sagoth
Homepage: http://www.bal-sagoth.freeserve.co.uk/
Genre: Metal
Home Nation: Britain
Albums: A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria, Starfire Burning Upon The Ice-Veiled Throne Of Ultima Thule, Battle Magic, The Power Cosmic, Atlantis Ascendant (they're working on a sixth album)
My Personal Favourites: Star-Maps of Ancient Cosmographers, And Lo When The Imperium Marches Against Gul-Kothoth Then Dark Sorceries Shall Enshroud The Citadel Of The Obsidian Crown, To Dethrone The Witch-Queen Of Mythos-K'unn, A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria, Of Carnage And A Gathering Of The Wolves, The Dreamer In The Catacombs of Ur, A Tale From The Deep Woods

Comments:
Bal-Sagoth are one of my favourite metal bands, although they tend to overestimate themselves. They started out as a regular black/death metal band, but they quickly developed their own unique style. They are characterized by following things:

1. More use of keyboards than most other metal bands - although it sometimes get a bit too much. (their fourth album, The Power Cosmic, suffers A LOT from this) However, sometimes it just works perfect - such as in The Dreamer In The Catacombs Of Ur.
2. Their vocalist shifts between two styles - the archetypical metal growling, and a deep, narrative, James Earl Jones-ish voice. This is Bal-Sagoth's trademark.
3. The band has created an entire fantasy world as a setting for their songs. Yup, I'm not lying!! Instead of setting their lyrics in existing fantasy worlds (like Blind Guardian, who made a concept album based upon Tolkien's Silmarillion), they have created a fantasy world based not only upon ancient legendry, but also upon the theosophical quasi-religions as promoted by Helena Blavatsky - while one may question theosophy as a religion, it makes great inspiration for fantasy. There's even a map of it on their website. I'm not going to explain it further, but their fantasy world is supposed to be what our own world was "before the great cataclysms." (Yes, they are a bit loony!!)
4. The incredibly articulate lyrics - and they're often jam-packed with gadzookery - which really makes it believable that they're set in the ancient world.

Artist: Robert Michaels
Album: Utopia
Genre: Flamenco style acoustic guitar
Fave Songs: Utopia, Memento, Playa del Sol, Terra Cotta, Sierra, El Dorado

Comments: Robert Michaels is such a talented guitar player it's a shame that he doesn't get more exposure. Very nice flowing music, kinda like Jesse Cook but more creative I think. Robert explores different ways of playing and works modern styles and unique techniques into his music. He's also known to do cool covers of Santana in live concerts. It's all intrumentals by the way, no singing on the album, just an hour of cool acoustic guitar tunes to groove to.

Simon H.Johansen wrote:Artist: Bal-Sagoth
Homepage: http://www.bal-sagoth.freeserve.co.uk/
Genre: Metal
Home Nation: Britain
Albums: A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria, Starfire Burning Upon The Ice-Veiled Throne Of Ultima Thule, Battle Magic, The Power Cosmic, Atlantis Ascendant (they're working on a sixth album)
My Personal Favourites: Star-Maps of Ancient Cosmographers, And Lo When The Imperium Marches Against Gul-Kothoth Then Dark Sorceries Shall Enshroud The Citadel Of The Obsidian Crown, To Dethrone The Witch-Queen Of Mythos-K'unn, A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria, Of Carnage And A Gathering Of The Wolves, The Dreamer In The Catacombs of Ur, A Tale From The Deep Woods

Comments:
Bal-Sagoth are one of my favourite metal bands, although they tend to overestimate themselves. They started out as a regular black/death metal band, but they quickly developed their own unique style. They are characterized by following things:

1. More use of keyboards than most other metal bands - although it sometimes get a bit too much. (their fourth album, The Power Cosmic, suffers A LOT from this) However, sometimes it just works perfect - such as in The Dreamer In The Catacombs Of Ur.
2. Their vocalist shifts between two styles - the archetypical metal growling, and a deep, narrative, James Earl Jones-ish voice. This is Bal-Sagoth's trademark.
3. The band has created an entire fantasy world as a setting for their songs. Yup, I'm not lying!! Instead of setting their lyrics in existing fantasy worlds (like Blind Guardian, who made a concept album based upon Tolkien's Silmarillion), they have created a fantasy world based not only upon ancient legendry, but also upon the theosophical quasi-religions as promoted by Helena Blavatsky - while one may question theosophy as a religion, it makes great inspiration for fantasy. There's even a map of it on their website. I'm not going to explain it further, but their fantasy world is supposed to be what our own world was "before the great cataclysms." (Yes, they are a bit loony!!)
4. The incredibly articulate lyrics - and they're often jam-packed with gadzookery - which really makes it believable that they're set in the ancient world.

Cool. Ever heard that Blue Oyster Cult album, Imaginos(sadly unavailable right now). Kinda sounds like this.

Anyway, for my own...

Artist: Oysterhead
Genre: Not sure. Technicalish, very distorted. Sort of like Primus.
Album: The Grand Pecking Order
Favorites: Weild The Spade, Oz is Ever Floating, Mr. Oysterhead, Shadow of a Man

Comments: Stewart Copeland(The drummer from the Police), Les Claypool from Phish and Trey Anastasio from Primus in a weird little solo project. Very weird and with a lot of technical proficiency. A bit like Frank Zappa. That and Primus are the closest things you could compare it to.

Artist: Bree Sharp
Album: A Cheap and Evil Girl
Genre: Err...she sounds like a combo of Ani DiFranco and Natalie Merchant (voice kinda sounds like her, style is like Ani sorta)
Songs to note: "David Duchovny" and "The Cheap and Evil Girl," although all the songs are kickass.

EDIT: Want to copy the lyrics to "David Duchovny" for y'all. Not that any of you are as in love with with him as Bree and I are, probably, but just in case you want a bit of a laugh...

It's Sunday night, I am curled up in my room
The TV light fills my heart like a balloon
I hold it in as best I can
I know I'm just another fan
But I can't help feeling I could love this secret agent man
I can't...

Wait anymore for him to discover me
I got it bad for David Duchovny
David Duchovny, why won't you love me?
Why won't you love me?

My friends all tell me,
Girl you know it's just a show
But deep within his eyes
I see me wrapped up like a bow
Watching the sky for a sign
The FBI is on my mind
I'm waiting for the day
When my lucky stars align
In the form of...

David Duchovny floating above me
In the alien light of the spaceship of love, I need
David Duchovny hovering above me
American Heathcliff, brooding and comely
David Duchovny, why won't you love me?
Why won't you love me?

So smooth and so smart
He's abducted my heart
And I'm falling apart
From the looks I receive
From those eyes I can't leave
And you can say I'm naive
But he told me to believe

My bags are packed, I am ready for my flight
Want to put an end to my daydream days and sleepless nights
Sitting like a mindless clone
Wishing he would tap my phone
Just to hear the breath of the man, the myth, the monotone
And I would say...

David Duchovny, why won't you love me?
Why won't you love me? Why won't you love me?
David Duchovny, why wont you love me?
Why won't you love me? Why won't you love me?
David Duchovny I want you to love me
To kiss and to hug me, debrief and debug me
David Duchovny I know you could love me
I'm sweet and I'm cuddly--I'm gonna kill Scully!
David Duchovny, why won't you love me?
Why won't you love me? Why won't you love me?

I'll be waiting...
In Nevada...

(The bolded stuff is my fave )




Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

David Duchovny, why WON'T you love me? *pout*

Zaia wrote: Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

David Duchovny, why WON'T you love me? *pout*

I'm just glad I'm not the only one throwing themselves at celebrities.

Another band to look out for are The Refreshments

BTW, this is an AWESOME site for looking up bands. I'd recommend bookmarking it immediately.

I knew this thread was around here somewhere...anyways....

Artist: Hawksley Workman
Album: Lover/Fighter
Genre: Groovy Pop-Rock music (some people can't be catagorized)
Key Songs: "We Will Still Need a Song", "Anger as Beauty", "Future Language of Slaves"
Personal Faves: "Even and Ugly Man", "Wonderful and Sad", Tonight Romanticize the Automobile"

Comments: I got dragged to a Hawksley Workman concert a few weeks ago by one of my chick friends and damn was it ever good. He's got an amazing voice and sounds a bit like Bono at times, but Hawksley's music has this upbeat feel to it even when he's singing about relationships going to hell & people dying. The music's got a cool beat that make you want to tap you feet & stuff, nothing fancy, just good solid musical playing from a band that's really gelled together.

Website: http://www.hawksleyworkman.com/


p.s. - I think I just set a record for thread necromancy.

Artist: The Darkness
Album: Persmission to land
Genre: Retro glam rock
Key Songs: "get your hands off of my woman", "i believe in a thing called ove", "growing on me"
Personal Faves: "Friday night, "Black shuck"

these guys should come highly recommended from anybody living in the UK.

if not said UKers are crazy

Sarah Slean - No
Astral Projection - LOVE 'em
Stephen Lynch - Not too bad
Lake of Tears - No
ASKA - No
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Trust me, I want to be able to be a part of that.
Switchblade Symphony - [bounces around happily]
El Queso Allstars - People on crack, I assume...
Stever Earle - No
Oxymoron - No
Laurel Aitken - No
MC Hawking - No
Die Kassierer - No
Bal-Sagoth - I know I've heard 'em but don't remember 'em
Robert Michaels - No
Oysterhead - No
Bree Sharp - No
The Refreshments - No
Hawksley Workman - No

As for my own, one of my favorites is The Crüxshadows.
Album: Whichever
Genre: Goth, Techno
Key Songs: "Deception" ("Täuschung for German version), "Marilyn, My Bitterness v2.0," "Tears," "Winterborn"
Personal faves: The above and "Eurydice," "Ave Maria," "Annabel Lee," "Jabberwocky."

Comments: Found out about The Crüxshadows at the local gay nightclub here in town by going to Goth night. Never could get enough of them since. I have an autograph by the lead singer, Rogue, and the violinist, Rachel, seems very snobbish. Stacy and Chris are also very personable. (I went to a concert with Hyperion here in town last month.)

~ver

Zac Naloen wrote:Artist: The Darkness
Album: Persmission to land
Genre: Retro glam rock
Key Songs: "get your hands off of my woman", "i believe in a thing called ove", "growing on me"
Personal Faves: "Friday night, "Black shuck"

these guys should come highly recommended from anybody living in the UK.

if not said UKers are crazy

Your saying nobody knows these guys???

They're album was number one for a couple of weeks and their newest single was only kept off of number one because of the godlike qualities of Where is The Love? !!!
They also seem to be the new Queen, complete with male singer who can go abnormaly high !!!

Personaly i blame Walmart for the lack of knowledge in the US as they banned the album from their shops because it has a naked woman (ass shot) on the front.

2000AD wrote:

Zac Naloen wrote:Artist: The Darkness
Album: Persmission to land
Genre: Retro glam rock
Key Songs: "get your hands off of my woman", "i believe in a thing called ove", "growing on me"
Personal Faves: "Friday night, "Black shuck"

these guys should come highly recommended from anybody living in the UK.

if not said UKers are crazy

Your saying nobody knows these guys???

They're album was number one for a couple of weeks and their newest single was only kept off of number one because of the godlike qualities of Where is The Love? !!!
They also seem to be the new Queen, complete with male singer who can go abnormaly high !!!

Personaly i blame Walmart for the lack of knowledge in the US as they banned the album from their shops because it has a naked woman (ass shot) on the front.

i dunno about how they are doing outside the UK, all know is they kick ass and everyone has to like them.

Christ man, i could list just about every metal band i've ever listened to.

Most people havent even heard an Iron Maiden song, and they're about as big as a metal band can get! Even classic stuff like Judas Priest and Dio and Manowar is foreign to most people....

for a headbanging good time seek out:

Nocturnal Rites
Nightwish
Wizard
Iced Earth
Blind Guardian
Anvil
Kamelot
Heavy Load
Angel Witch
Stormwitch
Jag Panzer
Gun Barrel
Tierra Santa
In Flames
Nevermore
Savatage
Motorhead
Accept
Running Wild
Grave Digger
Annihilator
UFO
I could go on but most people are probably going to ignore this post anyway

zombie84 wrote:Christ man, i could list just about every metal band i've ever listened to.

Most people havent even heard an Iron Maiden song, and they're about as big as a metal band can get! Even classic stuff like Judas Priest and Dio and Manowar is foreign to most people....

for a headbanging good time seek out:

I could go on but most people are probably going to ignore this post anyway

Ok, and so you've tempted me to post my Goth/Industrial/Techno list.. hehe

Diva Destruction | Funker Vogt | Assemblage 23 | The Crüxshadows | VNV Nation | Front 242 | And One | Apotheosis | Botch | Miss Kittin and The Hacker | Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds | Ladytron | Consumeobeybreed | Xiphoid Process | Apoptygma Berzerk | Bauhaus | Bella Morte | Claire Voyant | Covenant (not to be confused with Kovenant) | Zeromancer | Deadstar Assembly | Dimmu Borgir | E Nomine | Front Line Assembly | NOFX | Lords of Acid | Velvet Acid Christ | God Module | Golden Boy | Lights of Euphoria | Pain Station | I *hope* people have heard of Rasputina | London After Midnight | Siouxsie and The Banshees | Stromkern | Sisters of Mercy | Voltaire | Wolfsheim

I think I beat your list.

~ver