A few bands I think everyone should know about

Ok, so I’m a bit of a musical explorer, but not in the Livingstone running into the wilderness with nothing but a compass and a good sense of who he is as a person, but more of a guy who follows the bewildering highway of the mainstream up to the point where some interesting bloke says ‘Oi! You! Over here! There’s something over here I think you should take a look at….’ The original ‘interesting bloke’ in my life was my sister (does that make it blokette?) who introduced me to a now pretty famous band called Incubus…. I know, not very far from the mainstream, but it’s a start, right?

Anyway, after the musical divulgence that my sister started me on I raided my parents cd collection for all the classic oldies, Led Zep, Thin lizzy, Genesis, Pink Floyd, stuff like that, which I see as providing my musical foundation… and from there I met a bloke in secondary school, and both me and him happened to leave that school at the same time, so we stuck together through the miracles of instant messenging.

Now I know this probably isn’t all that interesting to much of you, but bugger it if this isn’t my blog, so if you don’t like it you know where the address bar is. Anyway, this guy first sent me on the path of a band now known as Lamb of God, but then known as Burn the Priest… it’s pretty hardcore metal, but it’s of the variety that doesn’t overdo the screaming but does overdo on the pure awesome.

Fast forward a few years to when we’re both in between school and University, and we happened to go on a trip to South Africa together where we helped look after Cheetahs near the Kruger National park… anyway, we were stuck quite often in our hut with nothing but his mp3 player and my overly loud headphones…. anyway, that was where I met a lesser known Indie rap band called Atmosphere, who actually talked about stuff that I was remotely interested in, so they get my vote mainly because of that, but also because they have some pretty heavy beats… which I always love.

The next few bands I’m just going to throw at you because they were found out within the space of a month or two, mostly through my mate who spent far too much time surfing music forums, but a few of my own choices… anyway, here is Xploding Plastix, a acid jazz band so underground it’s not true.. Stars of the Lid, a ‘drone’ band that is probably THE best thing to utterly lose yourself in… I went to a gig of theirs in May and I swear it was like achieving Nirvana or something… Boards of Canda, an IDM band from Scotland which I think are quite possibly the best band to listen to at 4am in the morning, preferably by a lake… Neutral Milk Hotel, a folk band with a supposed love affair with Anne Frank, despite her being dead half a century… and finally, Bon Iver, some guy who locked himself in a shed for a few months and came back with pure beauty on a record.

So that’s it, a cross section of my musical evolution… of course there’s a whole plethora of bands that I’ve missed out, but I think that shows a good selection for you to be getting on with. I want reports people! Investigate and return!

P.S. This one isn’t so unknown, but it’s just as awesome. I give you Seasick Steve, you can thank me later.

Edit: So I’ve been asked to pimp my sister…. here she is: My Sister. Oh, and btw, if you’re thinking something dirty right now, I’ll murk you. For serious.