Ten Musicians Worthy of Your Attention

None of these artists or bands is truly obscure, just far enough outside the mainstream that  you may not have encountered them unless you've gone out of your way to do so.

Arto Lindsay.  Formerly a pillar of New York's No Wave scene, Lindsay was famous mainly for his yelping vocals and his refusal ever to tune his guitar; instead, he'd just crank it up, distort it, and use it to throw sheets of atonal noise at the listener's head. But he'd grown up in Brazil and never lost his love for samba and bossa nova, and he later formed a band called the Ambitious Lovers that explored those traditions in the context of electronic funk -- with the occasional eruption of atonal guitar noise thrown in just to keep you on your toes. 

http://tinyurl.com/mzqayv

The Proletariat.  The Proletariat was one of the few truly original bands to emerge from Boston's hardcore punk scene. Their music was harsh but sharply disciplined; the lyrics (which were generally chanted rather than shouted or sung) were minimalistic and unabashedly Trotskyist. Melodies? None. But there was something strangely compelling and attractive about their sound, and whatever that something is, it has actually aged pretty well.

http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cch223/usa/prole_main.html

Cornell Campbell.  There have been lots and lots of great reggae singers, and a fair number of them have been falsettists.  But none could match the sweetness and purity of tone that characterized Cornell Campbell's voice when he was at the top of his game.  Songs like "The Gorgon" and "Dance in a Greenwich Farm" are still dancehall classics, 30 years after their original release.

http://www.bloodandfire.co.uk/album_detail.php?id=BAFCD030

T.J. Kirk.  The "T" stands for Thelonious Monk; the "J" stands for James Brown; the "Kirk" stands for Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and the compositions of those three artists constitute the entire repertoire of this fez-wearing, crazily funky quartet. Led by guitar wizard Charlie Hunter, T.J. Kirk creates medleys out of what seem like completely unrelated source materials, and makes all of it irresistible. 

http://www.charliehunter.com/discs/tjkirk1_dl.html

Asian Dub Foundation.  This London collective made the most exciting music of the Asian Underground movement, and its U.S. debut, Rafi's Revenge, is one of the most exciting albums made in the 1990s. The band blended bhangra, jungle, rock, hip hop, metal, and a million or so other pop music elements into a furiously bubbling stew of political outrage and polycultural exhilaration. 14-year-old rapper Master D led the crew with an amazing lyrical flow and a sharp political eye. Since he left things have been a little less interesting.

http://wwww.asiandubfoundation.com

William Billings.  America's first important composer, William Billings was a "singing master" in 18th-century New England and wrote some of the most stirring choral music in the English language. His music was like the young country itself: rough-hewn and vigorous, but deeply informed by the European verities. "Jordan" will be sung at my funeral if my children want to be included in my will.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Billings

Gordon Bok.  A singer, songwriter and freaking amazing guitarist from Camden, Maine.  As far as I can tell he's pretty much completely unknown outside the hardcore Maritime folk music community.  His bottomless barrel of a voice and his apparently unlimited guitar technique, combined with a song repertoire enriched by years of sailing schooners up and down the Atlantic coast with colleagues from all over the world, make his albums some of the richest and most satisfying I've ever heard.

http://www.gordonbok.com

Massilia Sound System.  The gimmick is that this French dancehall reggae trio comes from Marseille and performs its lyrics in Occitan, the regional language of southern France. What makes their music more than a vehicle for a cultural gimmick is the fact that they write such brilliant hooks, and incorporate local folk music in such catchy and sometimes hilarious ways. I've never heard a bad Massilia Sound System album, but if you can find Parla Patois, their debut on the RAS label, that's the place to start.

http://www.massilia-soundsystem.com

Kate Rusby.  A Yorkshire folksinger, Kate Rusby's exposure in the U.S. has been severely limited by her paralyzing fear of airplanes.  But most of her albums have been released in the States on the Compass label and all of them are things of crystalline, airy loveliness.

http://www.katerusby.com

Massacre.  This was a power trio composed of guitarist Fred Frith, bassist Bill Laswell and drummer Fred Maher. In the early 1980s they gigged around the northeast playing a bracing blend of composed and improvised music, all of it jagged and kind of harsh but also surprisingly lyrical. Their debut album Killing Time is one of the best albums ever made, in any genre. The reunion albums, made 25 years later, were pretty good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_(Fred_Frith_band)