Obscure Music Roundup Part 2

Part 1: Portland Pride

Ok folks time for some more obscure music.  First off the bat is Ether Circus, a band recently brought to my attention by my wife who is somehow related to the drummer/ organist. Of course when she asked me to take a look at this band I groaned inwardly because when it comes to musical tastes Danielle and I are a little bit like oil and water.  However these guys are legit.  They are a little like hardcore punk however more approachable and with an organ that kind of gives it a trippy and distinctly original type of feel that sets it apart from your average dime a dozen punk band.

Besides the Organ, the other instruments are well polished and the lyrics and vocals are what I would expect from a standard above-average punk throwback band.

Definitely check these guys out at

http://www.myspace.com/etherfuckingcircus  Give the song "the Quarry" a listen.



Part 2: The cLOUDDEAD diaspora. 

So last time on Obscure Music Roundup we were introduced to cLOUDDEAD, the flagship artist of the anticon record label.  This week we are going to take a look at Doseone, Why? and Odd Nosdam the 3 men who made up this legendary indie experimental group and have gone on in completely different yet equally weird directions. 

First up is Yoni Wolf the headman for Why? and former cLOUDEAD member.

This guy is a good song writer however he is really really weird:. His lyrics are more about creating some kind of image in your head than in really conveying a coherent idea, its actually a little bit like avant guard poetry and expressive imagery set to music.


Here's a music video



and another:



This is just a song but is its one of my favorites:




The next artist we'll be examining is Doseone, who is more Pure Hip-Hop as opposed to Why? 's Indie rock leanings also due to the fact that he is a hip hop artist he is a little more constrained to use lyrics that make a little more sense and have to rhyme more consistently. His delivery is a little lacklustre if you ask me compared to his time in clouddead. 


He is probably my least favorite of the three former members of cLOUDDEAD




The comments after this video say it all: "He makes me feel dumb all the time but I learned many words from him and use them all the time ^.^" -Some jackass.


This one is pretty solid:




Last but definitely not least is Odd Nosdam the former DJ of cLOUDDEAD, His beats go from bordering on hip hop to being more like ambient music.  He is very popular with skateboarders due to the fact that he was featured in the skate video "This is My Element" sponsered by element skate boards.  He did the music for all the skaters in the video, the soundtrack was also released as and album called the T.I.M.E. soundtrack.  It is very approachable music offering a little something for everyone.   

This is a sweet hip hop track along with a fan vid:





Here is a little bit of ambient experimental with a guest vocalist:



and some more of the same:



And finally one of his songs from the T.I.M.E. soundtrack:




Finally to end this post on a gansta note. Felipe Coronel a.k.a. Immortal Technique the Peruvian born battle rapper and current president of Viper Records. The reason you may not have heard of Tech, even though you should have is because his raps are mostly about social justice, politics, and how much major all the record labels can pretty much suck it. If you are either really liberal, or think that corporations are the devil than you will probably really enjoy this music. His quick wits and inventive beats are what really set him apart in a hip hop market that is oversaturated with mediocre artists.

An older song featuring Mos Def



Heres a song I mentioned in an older post about Pumpkinhead who is also in this song:



Another older one with what is possibly the funkiest beat ever and some hilarious lyrics hating on record labels and Bill O'Reilly featuring Pinnochio (seriously).



A more Serious song one of the best as far as rhymes are concerned:



Last but not least is my favorite song of his just because the beat is so intense:

The Days, The Nights.

So today I found out that I had my first request.  The request was to review "The Days The Nights"  a band based out of Portland, OR.  Of course this brought me to a realization, since people asking me to review things may have a vested interest in something receiving a good review. This leaves me with a dilemma, Should I help people I know out  by giving good reviews and possibly damage my integrity, or should I be brutally honest and damage projects that may be important to friends?

Well its not going to be a problem this time because this band is pretty solid.  Of course if you have my type of tastes and are more into Sizzla and Immortal Technique this band will probably turn you right off.  However if you are down with the Murder City Devils, or The Queens of the Stoneage this band might really do something for you.

For this review I only had the rather limited sample of four songs that are up on their Myspace page, but I will detail what I liked about them here.

"Her Name is Alice"  - Okay I can see why this song has the most plays out of all of the songs on their page.  It has a pretty sweet hook right off the bat, its got some heavy distortion and your basic hard rock instrumentation, the lyrics are nothing to write home about however the delivery of the lyrics makes this song shine. It is a little bit too long for me but maybe you have a longer attention span.  

"Greenlight" Again the guitar riffs in this song are catchy, this time the vocals could be improved. The bridge about 2:25 into the song actually really took me by suprise with an almost Muse-esqe chord progression and tempo change that was very pleasing to the ear.

"You Should Ask Yourself"  This song seems to be an attempt at showcasing the vocal talents of the lead singer however it lacks the interesting riffs and hooks which immediately caught our attention in the first two songs other songs, leaving this song alas, a bit mediocre, of course it has its moments, a interesting breakdown before a guitar solo that while not that impressive is probably the perfect length helps to break up the song so it is not monotonous.  By the end I was actually enjoying it bit more than I was at the beginning.

 "One Last Kiss" A little more punkish with less emphasis on trying to harmonize; makes this song the most unique of the four  It is nice and upbeat with a good catchy chorus and it is the perfect length to hold the attention of the listener. However the song is soured by the screaming at the end which I can never accept by any band besides 'System of A Down"  period.  This song was still good however it was my least favorite of the four. 

The Days the Nights will be playing Corvallis at a venue near you on December the 10th check them out.