I am sure the vast majority of us were music lovers a long time before we were into audio. In my early childhood I hooked up large antenna arrays into the orange trees outside of my bedroom so I could get my (tube) radiogram to pick up stations all over the world in very lo fi AM (and shortwave) just so I could listen to music all the time. The first time I heard (or heard of) Led Zepellin was on a Venezuelan classic rock station. At the time my only exposure to contempory music was the American Top 40, which LZ did not break into until 'Trampled Underfoot' some later. So for a while I was under the illusion that I had 'discovered' a great singer, who had the curious first name of Led, and managed to get my music loving friends also to erect large antennas and try to tune in to this station that played music that got to my marrow who were completely off the radar screen of the AT40. I had 'found' somebody that no one else that I knew had heard of, and to be sure when we convened the next day at school we would talk about the music we had listened to that night on this Venezuelan classic rock station with breathless excitement. Later on I found out that Radio Luxenbourg and other pirate stations provided the same service as Radio Barquisimento-I think that is how it was spelled- which was to introduce listeners to real music not the music that was fashioned out of sugar fibres to be consumed by the masses...AOR as it became to be known.
This was a day when cassette recorders cost quite a bit more than cassette players and the costs of cassettes were above what us impecunoius schoolboys-it after all was a BOYS school- could afford. So the way we 'shared' music was simply to tell others about it, rather then uploading a file to their e-mail address. The instant gratification of internet radio streaming, youtube, downloads and everything else was incomprehensible in that era when computers were the size of small closets and data was on cardboard punch cards. So the ability to listen to a song was a special occasion that was fortuitous and could not be conjured up by a few keystrokes.
EPILOGUE
If you have managed to read this far, and I am sure many of you did not, the purpose of this post is for me to share one artist that I have been listening to lately-as recently as 30 minutes ago. And this time you do not have to scale an orange tree in order to draw in the signal, for a simple click on a link will suffice. Although there are many, many near unknown artists I have been listening to lately, I will for now pass on the name of just one.
DYLAN LEBLANC.
I am sure his parents were avid readers of Dylan Thomas and named their child accordingly. I find his music to have much of the beauty of Chris Isaacs best and the world weariness of Gregg Allman. Which is rather unusual for someone in their early twenties.
Here are a couple Youtube links
And the more Gregg Allmany one
So fellow music lovers, what are YOUR suggestions for music you think should be heard by more people?
Posted on: 08 January 2013 by Jan-Erik Nordoen
Wow, that second clip gave me goosebumps, and from an iPad ! There are so many wonderful hooks in there. Thank you Ron for posting this ; I've just ordered the two albums. Dylan reminds me very much of Ray Lamontagne, who was to be my first suggestion of an artist who should be heard by more people, although he is not exactly unknown (I hope) by now. If you don't know Ray's work, I would suggest starting with "Till the Sun Turns Black" ; it's a stunner, a visceral experience.
My early methods for discovering music didn't involve orange trees, but *radio* played a big part. Along with some friends, we formed a radio station in our high-school basment, that emitted as far as the adjoining lounge. Since we had radio-station status, we could regularly visit the Polygram distribution warehouse a few miles away and load up with as many free "Promotional copy - Not for sale" albums as we could carry back to school, provided that we promised to play them at our station, which we did, in the process turning on our fellow students to a mix of bands, with heavy emphasis on psychedelia ; it was the early 70s after all. The radio "station" consisted of a closed room with two turntables, a mixer and a PA system feeding the lounge... and we had the keys!
Jan
Posted on: 08 January 2013 by Ron Toolsie
Jan,
I am glad that you enjoyed this as much as I did. The second link has got the dulcet voice of Emmylou Harris doing backup vocals, but you have to listen really hard to make her out.
This artist came to me through the local NPR station here, which has a very eclectic and excellent playlist. They also broadcast a very strong FM signal with exceptional fidelity-fodder indeed for my NAT01. I was driving at the time, but still managed to whip out my smartphone and have Soundhound sniff out the artist and title. Not too long ago this would have been a snatch of great music that would have eluded my attempts to seek it down.
Posted on: 08 January 2013 by Cbr600
Young and upcoming Sheffield based band
Posted on: 08 January 2013 by fatcat
Enjoyed the Dylan Leblanc links, I can definitely hear the Chris Isaacs influence.
An artist that is obviously unappreciated is Aynsley Lister, the venue in the clip below bears this out. I saw him supporting Robin Trower about 4 years ago, playing to an audience of under 100, seems things haven't changed much. Can't understand it, writes some great songs, OK singer and excellent guitarist.
Posted on: 08 January 2013 by Derry
There was once a reason why artists were unknown and underappreciated - the interweb did not exist.
Now we have more "artists" than there are sticks to wave at them. Most deserve to be unknown.
chacun a son gout.
Posted on: 08 January 2013 by Ron Toolsie
++ for Two Skies. Here is a very good example. If the rest of the album is this good it certainly is worth getting.
Posted on: 08 January 2013 by Ron Toolsie
Derry,
While I agree that the free availability of global distribution via Youtube or one of the social media networks does encourage the equivalent of vanity publishing, I do not think one can dismiss some 'artists' just because they have not enjoyed recognition or commercial success. The purpose of this thread is to hopefully bring forth some truly talented musicians who are not household names.
Otherwise we would have this....lets see if you can stand to get through the entire eight minutes..... I know I could not. Apologies for introducing this 'noise' when all I am trying to do is get good signal.
Posted on: 12 January 2013 by Ron Toolsie
And as retribution for that awful contempory music above, may I make the following offerings.
David Blue-House of Changing Faces from the album 'Stories'. He is allegedly referenced in a Dylan song, and according to one urban myth was the name behind Joni Mitchells album. This track is obviously deeply personal about a very dark era of his life.
Fred Neil-Please Send Me Somebody to Love. From his obscure semi improvised album 'Sessions'. He is probably best known/least unknown for having penned 'Everybody's Talking'. But you should really hear this track on a system of some merit....the gravelly baritone voice and the slow plucked upright bass are effortlessly recreated in your room.
Phil Roy-Melt, from his 2003 album Issues and Options. This is a song about love lost, which although is not a particularly original theme is dissected to the bone in this beautiful track. After losing his record contract and his wife, he retired from the music business and now cooks and serves dinner in his townhouse while serenading patrons.
Posted on: 16 January 2013 by Bert Schurink
Longer time listening to this band - basically mainly known in Germany - Sylvan
First up, a declaration of interest - the main man in the band, Max, has been going out with my younger daughter for nearly three years now so I know him and the rest of the band really well. But, genuinely...
...I love this lot. The indie end of pop, but with an 80s feel to the keys and seriously catchy songs that could have come from any period over the last 40 years.
Max has an almost Abbaesque ability to make you feel as though you've know the song for ages even on first listen. They've been on Radio 1 several times this week as part of BBC Introducing with their new single Midnight Kiss:
Landslide and Untouchable (which has a great, near-Chic bassline) are almost impossible to keep still to and Rattlesnakes has this great 1966/67 garage keyboard sound.
