Thread: Underground music?

I feel like you should probably specify a genre unless you want a completely overwhelming amount of recommendations that you couldn't ever hope to fully digest. I don't even know where to begin in recommending anything. What are you looking for?

Good point. Hmm. Indie, techno, industrial, metal...nothing too poppy.
Really i'm open to anything though. Too much to name.

(By the way, LOVE the radiohead quote one of my favorites)

A good place to look for new artists is last.fm. But uh, maybe Justice, MGMT. If you like rap check out MF DOOM or DANGERDOOM. Im not sure if Gorillaz is considered underground but they're still amazing. All I have for right now.

@Goatboy He said nothing too poppy, mate, if my understanding is right MGMT could be considered pop-ish.

How To Use Last.FM effectively:
1) Use their "Radio" feature to listen to a lot of music within a particular genre, related to a particular artist, etc. See www.Last.FM for details - it's such a great site.
2) Last.FM has a brand-new feature being demo'ed that recommends artists to you based on your tastes who specifically have their music on Last.FM for full-track streaming and/or downloading. It's called Direct Recommendations - Directrecs for short - and gets you connected to up-and-coming artists. Who knows, you may even see some of my tracks in there! <end_shameless_plug>

Here's some tunes to get you listening right away if that wasn't fast enough for you.

ELECTRONICA
If you're looking for electronica, I'm into dubstep thanks to MementoMori in Invader's party thread when he became admin. Here's the song he started me out on:
Mt Eden Dubstep: Prodigy - Omen
I found a pretty sizable collection of other dubstep songs through Last.FM earlier today after I got out of my college classes. Here's a few you can listen to if you're interested:
caizzz: Ellie Goulding - Lights (caizzz Remix) - Download here.
Doctor P: Sweet Shop (download only)
Cato: Effed Up! (explicit)

This one isn't dub, but it's hardstyle electronica. You might like this, it's pretty funny, though is named for the excessive yet humourous profanity usage:
Showtek: The F Track (explicit)

Artists to listen to in "Electronica":
Dubstep: Doctor P, Rusko, Roksonix, Downlink
Drum n Bass: Pendulum (check out "Blood Sugar"), Juno Reactor
Hardstyle: Showtek
Happy Hardcore: DJ Ravine
Trance, Other: DJ Pookster, Breathe Carolina (very new and entertaining, but very poppish. Check out "I.D.G.A.F." for not-so-poppish fun!)


POST HARDCORE
My favourite genre. Wikipedia says it's borne from punk rock, but it sounds like metal to most folks due to....well, how it sounds.

Know this, in case you don't already: Screamo is NOT the same as metal that contains screams/growls. Screamo isn't exactly the same as post hardcore, but often times these bands are part post hardcore, part screamo. They have screaming - that's not what makes it screamo-flavoured. Give a few tracks a listen to understand the relation.

My favourite band, a unique hybrid of screamo and post hardcore:
A Skylit Drive:
They're getting some attention, so they aren't as underground as they used to be, but they're not poppish, so this'll take care of you there.
ASD's PureVolume profile has tons of their music. Here are some titles:
Those Cannons Could Sink A Ship!
Prelude To A Dream
Knights of the Round
Wires and the Concept of Breathing
I'm Not A Thief, I'm a Treasure Hunter
All It Takes For Your Dreams To Come True (live video in my sig)
Eris and Dysnomia
Drown the City
Listen to at least three songs before making a judgement, they do sound rather different as some songs are from different albums.

Dance Gavin Dance:
These guys broke up a long while ago, but their album Downtown Battle Mountain was something to sit up and take notice of.
These guys really help define post hardcore for me. Here's some tracks you need to hear if you're looking into them:
It's Safe To Say You Dig The Backseat
Strawberry Andre
Lemon Meringue Tie
I really don't like using YouTube to find music, but I'm not sure of other reliable sources for getting these for streaming, I don't recall them being on DGD's Last.FM profile. All three of those are worth your fifteen minutes or so to listen to them.

Emarosa:
Again, only their early career is very noteworthy in my book. Check out the "This Is Your Way Out EP" from them. It's 7 tracks, here's where you can listen to 6 of them. They're all great songs, I recommend Utah, Casablanca, and I Am Waves for the top three to listen to.

The Word Alive:
They're another great post hardcore group, putting out their first album in the next couple months - you're right in time to get listening to them if you're into their sound!
Their MySpace has several tracks from their EP "Empire", and they're great. Here's my choices:
Battle Royale
Inviting Eyes
Casanova Rodeo!!

blessthefall:
Kinda like mainstream post-hxc, but still good in their own way.
I recommend:
What's Left of Me
To Hell and Back
God Wears Gucci
Hey Baby, Here's That Song you Wanted

Asking Alexandria:
Post hardcore/electronica hybrid band out of the UK. They're good at what they do, but they're more mainstream-sounding than blessthefall. Still, they have their own sound, which I respect.
Tunes to check out:
If You Can't Ride Two Horses at Once... You Should Get Out of the Circus
The Final Episode (Let's Change The Channel)
A Candlelit Dinner With Inamorta
When Everyday's The Weekend

You might need to search on YouTube for some songs from these bands, in case you can't find them otherwise.

Artists to listen to in "Post Hardcore":
We Came As Romans, Motionless In White, Alesana, Miss May I, Greeley Estates, Of Mice & Men



If you need more, I say look at those Last.FM links up top. Happy listening!

Originally Posted by Clyde Machine

@Goatboy He said nothing too poppy, mate, if my understanding is right MGMT could be considered pop-ish.

Ya I guess some of their songs could be considered poppish. Most of the other stuff I listen to is pretty well know. But it looks like Clyde Machine is going to take care of your music interests all by himself lol.

I guess I just did! XD

Nah its fine. I listened to a few of MGMTs songs. I like Kids and Electric Feel. I like some pop im just not in a big pop mood right now haha.

The Venetia Fair. Awesome, live, too. As far as general indie, Josh Woodward is incredible.

I don't think I'll add to my earlier post anymore, as there's already so much music in that as it is. XD

Thanks guys this is enough to keep me busy for a while xD

If any of you are interested, I have a few suggestions.

Pogo-
My friend showed me about this guy a while ago. This guy takes movies and uses dialogue from them and turns them into songs. Pretty neat idea. One of his most famous is the one he did from the original Alice and Wonderland. Just called Alice.

Amphibious Assault-
Ex-guitar player of Kittie, Fallon Bowman left and started making industrial music. Pretty urban/modern themed songs.

Lodger-
I just recently discovered them while stumbling. Its an finnish indie band thats almost completely unknown in the US. I dunno if they're on youtube so heres a link to their website
http://lodger.tv/

Crystal Castles, more electronica for you, you'll need to search for these yourself:
Magic Spells
Courtship Dating (I really recommend this one)
Air War

Abney Park
Try this song for starters:

Spoiler for Black Day:

Pay no mind to the video, it's fanmade.