debianlinux
Well-Known Member
I haven't gotten to the other recs yet but this was a solid one. It's been so long since I heard an actual hip-hop record I almost cried. I can't believe the bullshit that passes for that genre these days.
The Hidden Gems Thread
- Thread starter BoilerRhapsody
- Start date
I haven't gotten to the other recs yet but this was a solid one. It's been so long since I heard an actual hip-hop record I almost cried. I can't believe the bullshit that passes for that genre these days.
Clint Howard
Well-Known Member
If you like that, I definitely recommend checking out most of his catalog and the stuff he did with Sixtoo (Sebutones) or Dose One (North American Adonis) .. his earlier works are a tad more juvenile but all of his stuff post-Man Overboard is very mature.
I listened to these two albums yesterday based upon your recommendations. I really enjoyed Stephen David Heitkotter's album. This is definitely one of those hidden gems that I should have been listening to for years. Thank you!
The Gary Wilson album I had a lot of trouble getting into to. It may be because I just was not in the right head space yesterday to appreciate it or maybe its just not my cup of tea. This is surprising as I am generally a fan of more avant garde styles of music. I will let it rest for a week or so and then give it another go. We shall see.
Clint Howard
Well-Known Member
No problem wrt the Black Orckid record.. A record store owner who knows my tastes fairly well just handed it to me one day when I walked in and told me I'd love it. He wasn't wrong.
As far as the Wilson goes, he's definitely not for everyone. I think the outsider term gets thrown around far too much but I really think his musical output is the epitome of the genre.
BurningBright
New Member
Hooray! An obscure releases thread!
https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/11gK31t01ictIPjrWJwSlQ
Stara Rzeka, which translates to Old River, is a Polish psychedelic folk artist that pulls from drone, ambient, post-rock, and even atmospheric black metal and creates one seriously trippy record. His lyrics are in Polish, but that does not take away from the enjoyment of this record. It gives it an even more transportive feel, if anything. I see the word "transcendental" a lot when describing cinematic or psychedelic albums, but I can't really avoid the cliche here. This IS something that transcends traditional psych folk. Also, don't let the atmospheric black metal descriptor fool you because although there is a few blast beat moments on here, it's purely for atmospheric purposes only. This is not a metal record.
Start Rzeka only has two albums, this album (his debut) and Zamknęły się oczy ziemi. When I was introduced to this artist, it felt like the former album was receiving more attention, not necessarily less acclaim, probably because it's longer and wears less of its atmospheric black metal influences. Although Zamknęły się oczy ziemi is an excellent record that I seriously adore, I do think there is a mystique to his debut that's irresistible. Seriously give this thing a shot and definitely try his follow up if you loved this. Pretty sure you can find vinyl and/or CD copies of each album relatively easily.
To my knowledge, he doesn't perform under this project anymore, which is really unfortunate because these two albums are incredible and I would have loved to see this guy evolve.
https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/11gK31t01ictIPjrWJwSlQ
Stara Rzeka, which translates to Old River, is a Polish psychedelic folk artist that pulls from drone, ambient, post-rock, and even atmospheric black metal and creates one seriously trippy record. His lyrics are in Polish, but that does not take away from the enjoyment of this record. It gives it an even more transportive feel, if anything. I see the word "transcendental" a lot when describing cinematic or psychedelic albums, but I can't really avoid the cliche here. This IS something that transcends traditional psych folk. Also, don't let the atmospheric black metal descriptor fool you because although there is a few blast beat moments on here, it's purely for atmospheric purposes only. This is not a metal record.
Start Rzeka only has two albums, this album (his debut) and Zamknęły się oczy ziemi. When I was introduced to this artist, it felt like the former album was receiving more attention, not necessarily less acclaim, probably because it's longer and wears less of its atmospheric black metal influences. Although Zamknęły się oczy ziemi is an excellent record that I seriously adore, I do think there is a mystique to his debut that's irresistible. Seriously give this thing a shot and definitely try his follow up if you loved this. Pretty sure you can find vinyl and/or CD copies of each album relatively easily.
To my knowledge, he doesn't perform under this project anymore, which is really unfortunate because these two albums are incredible and I would have loved to see this guy evolve.
BoilerRhapsody
Active Member
Based just on your post I thought this was going to be some 70's country rock redneck thing, but that was actually really cool. Still a little redneck, but there is a whole Van Morrison/Soul thing running underneath. Hard to believe how few streams this has.
I listened to El Negro last week after I posted that archive of the old thread. Really out there and great. I lost count of how many different people and styles I was reminded of throughout, like 'this sounds like X if they were produced by Y' kind of thing came to me with probably 5 different people. This is the type of album that Soundcloud was made for.
lazylistener
Member
Played 'You Keep On Looking' in a DJ set once! Have not spent a lot of time with the entire album but love that song.
Anyway, in the spirit of sharing and spreading music, kept my list to gems that are also affordable on Discogs!
Virginia Astley - Hope In A Darkened Heart
Ambient pop from the 80s with shades of new age music, Virginia Astley goes in a more minimal direction after this but this entire album is a gem! Features David Sylvian on the opening track, and several tracks are produced and arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Daryl Hall - Sacred Songs
The anomaly in Daryl Hall's discography — and by extension Hall & Oates — this was more of a collaborative effort between him and Robert Fripp, so you can imagine many of these songs take some unconventional turns. It's brilliant, Frippertronics creep in and take over when you least expect them.
Hannibal - The Angels of Atlanta
If you bend towards spiritual jazz with vocals, please do not let this pass you by. These songs were borne out of a tragic backstory, and yet this album results in something triumphant and uplifting. If you dig John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, Eddie Gale's Ghetto Music, The Ensemble Al Salaam's The Sojourner, I can assure you will find a lot to love here.
Mice Parade - Candela
Recommended for fans of the math-y midwest emo sound, although Mice Parade veer towards indie rock.
kickerofelves
Member
The Capstan Shafts. I love him because he's obviously VERY GBV inspired but also his own deal and a little more focused on interpersonal relationships and not DADA pop rock word salad. The one album on Spotify, Euridice Proudon, is a concept record about Orpheus and Euridice crawling out of hell as metaphor for the disintegration of a relationship, which I think is DOPE.
BoilerRhapsody
Active Member
Finally got around to this, really enjoyed it too. It didn't seem as dark/emo as I was expecting though, definitely had those moments but a lot of it (maybe nearer the start? I can't remember now) was just kind of quirky. Crazy how old this is.
Listened to the debut, and I think I originally misread your description, as I was expecting psych-folk, but I see now that it was meant to be an ambient/atmospheric metal thing. Very interesting, I see what you mean about being transcendent, but I'd probably need another listen with the correct expectation before I can properly appreciate it haha.
BoilerRhapsody
Active Member
Thought I may as well revive the thread with a themed pair:
First is from The Avalanches, 'buts thats not a hidden gem!' you shout, well no, not that The Avalanches, but the other The Avalanches. From whom the newer group we all know got their name. Back in 1963 a group of studio musicians got together and recorded Ski Surfin', an instrumental Surf Rock album that one day became a favorite of some of the founding members of the Australian The Avalanches and inspired the name of their group. Very cool album, original era instrumental Surf Rock that guys like The Avalanches like really tells you all you need to know about this:
Next up is another one-off instrumental rock album made by unknown session musicians with a weird publication history. Know one seems to even know the full story of Blue Phantom - Distortions, it was recorded in Europe in 1971 by some obscure studio musicians, but apparantly not even all their names are well known. It is most popular as being by Blue Phantom, but it has also been published under the names Jean-Michel Lorgère, H-Tical and Distortion Pop. While it is another instrumental jam, this one is 60's Psych Rock inspired:
I'm also thinking from this point onward in an effort to keep the thread more active, you should only post a gem if you listen to and give an impression of an album someone else has suggested alongside it. While I may not have responded to every single suggestion, I'm pretty sure I've listened to all of them that I could easily find, and I can assure you it is worth the time. Hopefully this will inspire ongoing participation and discourage bulk suggestions with no substance behind them.
First is from The Avalanches, 'buts thats not a hidden gem!' you shout, well no, not that The Avalanches, but the other The Avalanches. From whom the newer group we all know got their name. Back in 1963 a group of studio musicians got together and recorded Ski Surfin', an instrumental Surf Rock album that one day became a favorite of some of the founding members of the Australian The Avalanches and inspired the name of their group. Very cool album, original era instrumental Surf Rock that guys like The Avalanches like really tells you all you need to know about this:
Next up is another one-off instrumental rock album made by unknown session musicians with a weird publication history. Know one seems to even know the full story of Blue Phantom - Distortions, it was recorded in Europe in 1971 by some obscure studio musicians, but apparantly not even all their names are well known. It is most popular as being by Blue Phantom, but it has also been published under the names Jean-Michel Lorgère, H-Tical and Distortion Pop. While it is another instrumental jam, this one is 60's Psych Rock inspired:
I'm also thinking from this point onward in an effort to keep the thread more active, you should only post a gem if you listen to and give an impression of an album someone else has suggested alongside it. While I may not have responded to every single suggestion, I'm pretty sure I've listened to all of them that I could easily find, and I can assure you it is worth the time. Hopefully this will inspire ongoing participation and discourage bulk suggestions with no substance behind them.
My local Balades Sonores has two Cy Timmons records for sale, apparently reissued under a Japanese label. I never heard of him but he is compared to the music/story of people like Rodriguez, Jim Sullivan or Peter Wale. It was enough to have me interested and this might be a new rabbit hole for me...
Bright Size Records is a Japan based record label releasing great unknown music around the world.
It mainly aims to add something to ordinary music that has good melody, seasoned style and lyricism.
It was conceptualized and is run by Shu Ikeuchi.
We think there’s always space for a new, different and pure thing which –even if it doesn’t appear that way at first–
can become, as specialists say, highly commercial. Because all people understand love, musical notes, simplicity and sincerity.
And our releases are simple, sincere, and extraordinarily musical.
Bright Size Records is a Japan based record label releasing great unknown music around the world.
It mainly aims to add something to ordinary music that has good melody, seasoned style and lyricism.
It was conceptualized and is run by Shu Ikeuchi.
We think there’s always space for a new, different and pure thing which –even if it doesn’t appear that way at first–
can become, as specialists say, highly commercial. Because all people understand love, musical notes, simplicity and sincerity.
And our releases are simple, sincere, and extraordinarily musical.