<p>It’s okay to like the popular stuff, y’all should know. Mainstream songs are not inherently unredeemable. :p</p>
<p>It’s true that only 10-20% of “mainstream” music is meritable, but that’s still a pretty sizable quantity.</p>
<p>I don’t listen to the radio really- unless it is NPR or traffic- so am not sure if you are sying that the music that has been mentioned * isn’t popular?*</p>
<p>I think bands that play major rock stadiums & festivals could probably be described as " popular". ;)</p>
<p>Is there a band that you are thinking of?</p>
<p>What is mainstream anyway? David Bowie? Prince? M.I.A.?</p>
<p>USATODAY ( a mainstream newspaper if I ever saw one)
says that[the greatest rock band *ever is *…](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/popcandy/2005-07-05-pop-candy_x.htm”>http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/popcandy/2005-07-05-pop-candy_x.htm</a>)</p>
<p>:D</p>
<p>Yeah baby!</p>
<p>I hardly implied that all the items listed here weren’t popular, but even the OP used “obscure” haha.</p>
<p>If someone is asking for suggestions of music that they may not be familiar with " mainstream" would not be the first genre that comes to mind.
Hence the suggestions of music that may be less advertised.</p>
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<p>Have you heard his take on the Dr. Dre song?</p>
<p>A little older, but some things I still currently spin: Counting Crows (their new album is great, but start with “August…”), Foo Fighters (check out “Skin and Bones” for acoustic versions of their hits), Matthew Sweet (“Girlfriend” is a power pop tour de force), Smithereens (so Beatlesque they actually put out a note for note “Meet The Beatles” CD), Semisonic ("Feeling Strangely Fine’ another great power pop album), & REM (latest album “Accelerate” finds them rockin’ again).</p>
<p>and no rock and roll music discussion here would be complete without a shout out to a former CC’er who convinced me The Red Hot Chili Peppers were more than strategically placed tube socks. Their most recent album, “Stadium Arcadium” is a masterpiece.</p>
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<p>Let’s get this right:American rock band, EK, so that doesn’t count Beatles, Stones, Zep and a host of other British bands that make Pearl Jam look like The Banana Splits.</p>
<p>i am reading this thread with more than passing interest as my son is in a band and just completed their first full-length album. They are in the midst of evaluating and signing contracts and such, but hopefully it will be available soon. I have an “advanced” copy and (naturally) think it’s wonderful…ubiased, of course! :)</p>
<p>Their music is pretty “edgy” (as described by my son who writes the music and sings lead vocals), but with enough melody lines to satisfy even more traditionally oriented people like me. Blues/rock is what I guess I would say.</p>
<p>So, if you do want to explore some of the very newest stuff out there, you can go to the website of a brand new label called Favorite Gentlemen and check out some of those bands. I won’t tell you which one is my son’s, though…</p>
<p>But you all will hear about the album when it is released, trust me!!!</p>
<p>Ah, one of my favorite topics. I like a lot of the bands people have already mentioned (audiophile could be a member of my family), so I’ll range farther afield. But I will note that the Penn radio station (which is financially and managerially independent of Penn at this point) pretty much exists for the purpose of playing new music that educated 30-50 year-olds like, and it streams on the web: [WXPN</a> 88.5 FM :: Public Radio from the University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.xpn.org%5DWXPN”>http://www.xpn.org). It produces The World Cafe, which is widely distributed among public stations. Lots of you would like it.</p>
<p>Anyway, this is what’s hot in my family these days that hasn’t been mentioned yet:</p>
<p>Vampire Weekend. Everyone likes Vampire Weekend, from 12 year-old girls to their grandfathers. They could be CC’s house band – four 2006 Columbia grads, one of whom is even Asian (sort of). Sweet, minimalist pop about girls and college, spiced with a lot of Afropop. The buzz band of 2007, and album of the year in 2008.</p>
<p>The Hold Steady. This is what you listen to if you are 20 and secretly like Bruce Springsteen but that’s not cool with your friends. The frontman has an even more limited vocal and emotional range than Springsteen, but it’s good rock and OK neo-beat lyrics.</p>
<p>CSS and Bonde do Role. Art-pop by overprivileged Brazilians imitating what they play in the favelas. CSS have ambitions to make it here (they had a song in a cellphone commercial), and work mainly in English; Bonde have already broken up and worked almost entirely in Portugese. They are both completely inconsequential but completely fun.</p>
<p>Cafe Tacuba. The R.E.M. of Spanish-language rock, except that their stylistic range exceeds anything you would see in the Anglophone world. Almost 20 years into their career, they have yet to put out a bad album, and have yet to put out an album that sounds like any of its predecessors. The most recent, last year’s Si/No, is a tribute to the early 80s.</p>
<p>Twee. Not a group, a genre. The music of my daughter and her friends. Big names in the category include Belle and Sebastian, and Tullycraft. Death Cab for Cutie is sort of twee, as was a lot of the music in Juno. This summer’s twee hit is Los Campesinos (who are from Wales). Twee subjects are sexual and social insecurity, religious faith and doubt, boredom, silly ways to have fun. When you get sucked into an alternative universe from gangsta rap, where you are is twee.</p>
<p>Okkervil River. Another sorta literary, sorta alt-country group that takes a lot of inspiration from The Band. And its name from a Tolstoy story, which is a little tip-off that it’s not your grandma’s folk-rock.</p>
<p>Rachid Taha. For almost the past decade, my favorite artist in the world. A hybrid of rai, North African chaabi, French chanson, eurodance, and straight-out rock. Both musically and lyrically, it represents that part of the Muslim world that is open to conversation with the West (while proud of its own culture) and anxious for progress, reform, justice. Taha has a great voice and a great band. (He’s playing for free in Central Park July 5, too. Don’t miss a chance to hear him if you’re around NYC.)</p>
<p>Yes, JHS is right - WXPN is great -best station ever - they play lots of new interesting music, along with the new and old music from older musicians, such as Bob Dylan Bruce Springsteen, The Clash - so it’s not all new and scary! I found the station when I lived for awhile in NJ about 10 years ago and was never so happy as when they started streaming it on the web, since I live in the West.</p>
<p>JHS,</p>
<p>Have the Vampire Weekend, a couple of Death Cab CDs, and one of the Belle & Sebastians. Heard of The Hold Steady (and may have one of their songs on my Ipod). The rest I’ve never even heard of and will check them out, particularly Taha (but I’m not a big fan of world music).</p>
<p>A couple of other recent releases I’ve purchased and enjoyed: Foxboro Hot Tubs (Green Day going back to their garage roots)& Mudcrutch (Tom Petty resurrecting his pre-Heartbreakers group). One of the cuts on that CD sounds like it could have been written by The Grateful Dead and there’s also a cover of The Byrds’ (and obvious Petty influence) “Lover of the Bayou”.</p>
<p>I like a lot of the stuff that Audiophile has mentioned. I am finding that I am listening to more of the new things out and my teenage daughter’s current favs are Nirvana, The Cure, The Who and a whole bunch of stuff from the 80s. She has tons of my old CDs on her Ipod.</p>
<p>I was freaked by that USAToday survey till I realized it was only * American * bands - I thought, “What - no Zeppelin?!”</p>
<p>Thanks for the link to WXPN radio. Listening to it right now. Until recently I usually streamed a radio station from Italy (Radio Capital) They play a lot of really great stuff & a lot of English-speaking tunes. Plus it’s fun b/c you get to hear the DJs seaking Italian b/w the songs!</p>
<p>Here’s a link to that if anyone wants to try it:
[Radio</a> Capital - Homepage](<a href=“http://capital.repubblica.it/capital/home]Radio”>http://capital.repubblica.it/capital/home)</p>
<p>audio: Taha’s MySpace page has four songs that are a pretty good cross-section of what he does, one from each of his last four studio albums. He’s sort of world music – after all, he sings in Arabic and French – but there’s a lot of electric guitar and recognizable rock attitude. If you liked Joe Strummer’s solo work at all, you ought to respond well to Taha.</p>
<p>I forgot, before, to shill for my homies:</p>
<p>The Roots. Their new album, Rising Down, is a great return to form after a couple of disappointing releases.</p>
<p>Marah. Ten years ago, Marah were in exactly the same position that The Hold Steady was a couple years ago. Then bad luck, bad choices, and bad personalities derailed their ambition to be the greatest rock band on the planet, even if they managed to convince Nick Hornby that they were. But they keep writing good songs, and putting every last drop of themselves out there when they play.</p>
<p>Slo-Mo. Just what the world isn’t ready for: A country-tinged r&b revue centered on a 40-something lap steel guitar player, with four singers (each of whom has been an almost-successful solo artist or lead singer), fronted by the most positive of positive rappers. My wife, who hates hip-hop, loves this. My daughter, who hates hip-hop and r&b, says, “They’re adorable.” Just really enjoyable, uncategorizable music.</p>
<p>Will check out his Myspace, but I find it hard to judge music coming out of computer speakers.</p>
<p>Know of Marah from the Springsteen connection and have two of their albums. Ken Kweder & Robert Hazard were popular in Philly when I was there in the late 70s/early 80s and know they’re both still around (and can recommend Hazard’s latest acoustic CD “Troubadour” for fans of Dylanesque singer/songwriters). Both of those guys also just missed hitting it big.</p>
<p>Yes, the streets and bars of Philly are lined with people who just missed hitting it big, and a few who hit it big but less so than maybe they should have. All of which has been necessary to cosmically balance Will Smith.</p>
<p>I was freaked by that USAToday survey till I realized it was only American bands - I thought, “What - no Zeppelin?!”</p>
<p>Well they are called ** USA** Today 
No * Who/Beatles/Stones/Cream/Pink Floyd/U2* either, but Zep was my favorite- I don’t think I ever saw them live though- but then again, it would have been the 70’s so I am not sure.</p>
<p>* Red Hot Chili Peppers were more than strategically placed tube socks. Their most recent album, “Stadium Arcadium” is a masterpiece.*</p>
<p>I like the Chili Peppers, but while Flea in particular puts on a great show, they aren’t as good live. They just don’t sound right :(</p>
<p>NPR just did a piece yesterday featuring some favorite bands of the “All Songs Considered” host. (CD’s from this past year). Here’s the link:</p>
<p>[The</a> Best CDs of 2008 (So Far) : NPR Music](<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91883649]The”>The Best CDs of 2008 (So Far) : NPR)</p>
<p>really liked Bon Iver</p>
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<p>Umm, not everyone. We (D, her dad and I) heard them play last August and I find their music to be pretty much the same…in other words, many of their songs sound alike. Catchy, yes, but once you have heard one, you have heard pretty much all of them, IMO. I personally like a bit more variety than they offer…</p>
<p>another band from Portland that is a little different - not sure what genre this would be. Indie /Alt is such a catch all term. I don’t usually know from obscure but one of them worked for D. Glide mag compared them to GodSpeed
[Strangers Die Every Day - PORTLAND, Oregon](<a href=“Strangers Die Every Day | Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos”>http://www.myspace.com/strangersdieeveryday</a>)</p>
<p>[MAKTUB[/url</a>] Soul/Rock
lead singer [url=<a href=“http://reggiewatts.com/]Reggie”>http://reggiewatts.com/]Reggie</a> Watts](<a href=“http://www.myspace.com/maktub]MAKTUB[/url”>MAKTUB | Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos) is multitalented plus has great hair.</p>
<p>churchmusic: If you saw Vampire Weekend last August, they have since doubled the time they have spent as professional musicians. I don’t have the sense that they are a great live band (having only seen them on Saturday Night Live). The songs on the album don’t sound all the same at all, and there’s hardly any that doesn’t have something to recommend it. WXPN is working its fourth Vampire Weekend single at this point.</p>
<p>emerald: I agree on Reggie Watts’ talent AND hair.</p>