Wanna know a secret?

There are times obscure amazing bands and artist goes ignored, underappreciated, and over shadowed by tacky, trendy, and unoriginal music that is found on the radio, Mtv and the biggest problem American Idol! These are bands that influence the people that the people today are ripping off. Those bands that are ignored are actually some of my favorite bands and artists.




Gang of Four: Hailing from Leeds Gang of Four made some of the best post punk music in its early stages. What makes Gang of Four stand out is that they blended political theories, culture and status issues effecting England at the time, and love. They were able to do all this with a tight “grooving” sound that can make you either pump your fist in the air with rage or get on the dance floor. Gang of Four was influenced and at the same time influenced generations of music that I have grown to love.I’ve seen Gang of Four twice and after 28 years they conveyed the same rage, confusion, passion, “groove”,and loss of identity of any band now or of it’stime.
Album of choice: Entertainment!






Os Mutantes: Pretty much unknown in the U.S. but, wildly popular in their native country of Brazil. Os Mutantes or “You Mutants” in English were one of the most dynamic, radical, and smart bands of both the psychedelic rock and Brazilian pop.quite an accomplishment during a period when most every rock band spent quality time exploring the outer limits of pop music. A trio of brash musical experimentalists, the group fiddled with distortion, feedback, musique concrète, and studio tricks of all kinds to create a lighthearted, playful version of extreme Brazilian pop. Although,they sang only in Portuguese you are able to understand the universal language of good music. Os Mutantes went outside the realms of psychedelic rock and Brazilian pop with amazing guitar work and complex sounds to make their own version of music that really hasn’t been matched.
Album of choice: Everything is possible





Monks: One of the strangest stories in rock history, the Monks were formed in the early '60s by American G.I.s stationed in Germany. After their discharge, the group stayed on in Germany as the Torquays, a fairly standard beat band. After changing their name to the Monks in the mid-'60s, they also changed their music, attitude, and appearance radically. Gone were standard oldie covers, replaced by furious, minimalist original material that anticipated the blunt, harsh commentary of the punk era. Their insistent rhythms recalled martial beats and polkas as much as garage rock, and the weirdness quotient was heightened by electric banjo, berserk organ runs, and occasional bursts of feedback guitar. To prove that they meant business, the Monks shaved the top of their heads and performed their songs — crude diatribes about the Vietnam war, dehumanized society, and love/hate affairs with girls — in actual monks' clothing. The Monks only gained a cult following among collectors, and has ironically made them much more popular and influential on an international level than they were during their lifetime.
Album of choice:Black Monk Time




Ester Drang: One of my favorite bands coming out of Broken Arrow Oklahoma. I saw then open for another band about 7 years ago and blew me away Ester Drang have composed a sweet daydream trip since their 1995 formation. The best way to describe their sound is, if Brian Eno was in My Bloody Valentine and played “space rock and “shoe gaze (that’s a good thing).The lyric work shows these boys have grown up in a faith based way but, they tackle love, depression in a non over bearing patronizing way .I’ve seen Ester Drang around 4 times and each show had a inviting warmth to it. I have all their albums and each one together they derived a lush, bittersweet sound. I’ve also met chatted with the members over a beer after a show in Baltimore and theses guys wear their hearts on their sleeves. They were real and approachable. The drummer actually remembered me from another show where I recommended some obscure hip-hop to him! In a way I’m glad they are so under the radar because it keep them from becoming and sounding phony and fabricated like most bands today.
Album of choice: Infinite Keys

Now, any developed music scholar would have heard of at least one or two of these bands. What I like about these amazing bands obscurity is that it makes them seem like they are the best kept secret to me and other music scholars that we hold on to a appercaite more because we took the extra effort did our homework, went to shows , and most importantly did not settle for whatever is out there. My advice to you is to look deeper and find your little secret!
Manny