Lesser-known bands worth sharing with others

JHS
Sat, 15 Apr 2017 15:26:23 +0000

My favorite kind of topic!

I am currently over the moon about Waxahatchee and Allison Crutchfield, two separate acts who sound a lot alike, in large part because they are identical twins and back each other up. Lo-fi indie power pop about being twenty-something. A little mopey, but mostly joyful. Wonderful summer music.

I don’t know if Spoon counts as a hidden gem; it’s a perpetual critical darling that has been active for 20+ years. (Although nowhere near as long as Johnny Clegg – he must be at or near retirement age!) Sharp, well-constructed songs that are rarely about anything comprehensible but somehow sound perfect. Liking Spoon is probably an index of musical hipsterdom, but that’s not a reason to avoid them.

A band that has given me a lot of pleasure over the past decade is Okkervil River. Literate, sometimes ironic singer-songwriter rock. The most recent album, Gone, is uncharacteristically slow and orchestral, but very beautiful. My favorite albums are The Stage Names and The Silver Gymnasium.

Another artist who after 25 years seems permanently stuck between universally acknowledged genius and obscure cult figure is Raphael Saadiq. He has played in Prince’s band, fronted Tony Toni Tone and Lucy Pearl, and produced D’Angelo and Solange, among many others. He was featured in Luke Cage. His 2008 album The Way I See It is almost perfect, 60s soul music updated with utmost cool. He’s wonderful live, and one of the few artists who really, truly attracts an audience that’s diverse in terms of age and race. He supposedly has a new album coming early this summer.