Who's the most underrated artist / band in your opinion?

H8GHOTI

TaosHum wrote: »

Maximo Park
Tokyo Police Club
Band of Horses
The National

pappyodaniel wrote: »

None of these bands are underrated.

Underrated is probably the wrong word alright.
But definitely, in the case of The National anyway, they are less well known than they should be. Maybe that's what they meant.
Another one that falls into that category would be Janelle Monae. Highly rated by many but I can't believe how she isn't more popular.
I'll stop there. This isn't the 'Who should be more popular than they are in your opinion" thread.

lordgoat

H8GHOTI wrote: »

Underrated is probably the wrong word alright.
But definitely, in the case of The National anyway, they are less well known than they should be. Maybe that's what they meant.
Another one that falls into that category would be Janelle Monae. Highly rated by many but I can't believe how she isn't more popular.
I'll stop there. This isn't the 'Who should be more popular than they are in your opinion" thread.

How more popular do you mean? I think she's a pretty big act.

She's on all the national radios during primetime shows. She played a UK tour in Feb/Mar this year and the venues she hit were the 02's in Glasgow and bristol at least, the capacity of the glasgow one is over 2000 people, that's hardly a small venue.

Same with the national, i'd expect them in the Grand Canal the next time in Dublin in not the o2. They are also playing oxegen and just played to one of the biggest crowds at primavera.

H8GHOTI

lordgoat wrote: »

How more popular do you mean? I think she's a pretty big act.

She's on all the national radios during primetime shows. She played a UK tour in Feb/Mar this year and the venues she hit were the 02's in Glasgow and bristol at least, the capacity of the glasgow one is over 2000 people, that's hardly a small venue.

Same with the national, i'd expect them in the Grand Canal the next time in Dublin in not the o2. They are also playing oxegen and just played to one of the biggest crowds at primavera.

Janelle Monae is playing 3 shows here next week. Black Box in Galway, Savoy in Cork & Tripod in Dublin and none of the 3 are sold out. She should be selling them out no problem given how good she is. Her album only reached 24 in the Irish charts. If she wasn't at Electric Picnic last year, I probably still wouldn't even know who she is. And that would be a shame.

I seen The National in the Olympia last year and they were great. I'd much prefer to see them there than the O2 but I think they should of been big enough to play there. As you say, next time they might but they've been around a good few years already.

As for radio play, I rarely listen to the radio so can't really comment too much. But anytime I do hear the radio it's usually Beyonce, Katy Perry, The Black Eyed Peas etc........... I flick through the music channels on tv regularly and I can't remember the last time I've seen a video for either of them.

lordgoat

H8GHOTI wrote: »

Janelle Monae is playing 3 shows here next week. Black Box in Galway, Savoy in Cork & Tripod in Dublin and none of the 3 are sold out. She should be selling them out no problem given how good she is. Her album only reached 24 in the Irish charts. If she wasn't at Electric Picnic last year, I probably still wouldn't even know who she is. And that would be a shame.

I seen The National in the Olympia last year and they were great. I'd much prefer to see them there than the O2 but I think they should of been big enough to play there. As you say, next time they might but they've been around a good few years already.

As for radio play, I rarely listen to the radio so can't really comment too much. But anytime I do hear the radio it's usually Beyonce, Katy Perry, The Black Eyed Peas etc........... I flick through the music channels on tv regularly and I can't remember the last time I've seen a video for either of them.

You mean in Ireland then? REM played the olympia a few years back, Ryan Adams was there two weeks ago. Henry Rollin is playing the Black Box in Galway, sometimes i find in Ireland the fact we have really good smaller venues means bigger bands are happy to play them.

The fact the JM isn't sold out does mean she's not huge in Ireland but the National sold out there 3 concerts in the olympia in less than 10 mins. It was carnage trying to get tickets for them.

H8GHOTI

lordgoat wrote: »

You mean in Ireland then?

Well, ya.

lordgoat wrote: »

...the fact we have really good smaller venues means bigger bands are happy to play them.

... the National sold out there 3 concerts in the olympia in less than 10 mins. It was carnage trying to get tickets for them.

Fair point, I remember that. A lot of unhappy people that morning.
But at the same time, would they sell 9 or 10 nights? Which is about the equivalent of the capacity of the O2.

Blackpitts

wild beasts

orourkeda

setantalive

The Frank and Walters
The Go Betweens

Bodhidharma

I think Brian Eno is one of the most underrated people in contemporary music

Anto McC

Deer Tick.
The Felice Brothers

overexcitedaj

The Dear Hunter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_xlCIGZr1g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc6fxV_vX5I

And from the new album which cuts across so many genres (Over 2.5 hours of music)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juMs_Tamj0A

Listening to him alot over the past month and he is fast becoming a favourite artist of mine. Just incredable musicianship

Anto McC

The Hold Steady

One_Armed_Dwarf

I think Arab Strap were seriously underrated when they were around, I know they have abit of a cult following but i've only ever met about 3 people who have even heard of them! The Shy Retirer would probably be one of their best known songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwvqUeosajs

handsomecake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-CukK3eYt0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcc07MyG1aU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpaPBCBjSVc

its perverse to me ,that the script play the aviva and a band like this plays tripod.

these guys are phenomenal musicians and ooze cool.

Nolanger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1g2zQoD4oA

DirtyLeeds

Mansun

H8GHOTI

Re: The National

This probably says more about the Oxegen crowd than anything else but it looks like a fairly bad turnout for them.
And Pendulum headlined that stage over them.

Bodhidharma

H8GHOTI wrote: »

Re: The National

This probably says more about the Oxegen crowd than anything else but it looks like a fairly bad turnout for them.
And Pendulum headlined that stage over them.

That is brutal in fairness. They are a great band and particularly good live. I guess they are just not 'in' with the oxegen crowd

H8GHOTI

Bodhidharma wrote: »

That is brutal in fairness. They are a great band and particularly good live. I guess they are just not 'in' with the oxegen crowd

They clashed with Beyonce and Chase & Status, who I suppose were bigger draws.

lordgoat

Beyonce was the biggest draw of the weekend, if i was there having seen the National about 8 times, i'd probably have gone to check her out and came back for the end of the National.

It's not the crowd at The National i'd be concerned over more the overall numbers being down dramatically. I can see there being big changes made for next year. Jim Carroll posted about this as well today and i agree with him.

NoQuarter

Interpol.

KeanSeenan

If anything, I think The National are really overrated.

jill_valentine

lordgoat wrote: »

Beyonce was the biggest draw of the weekend, if i was there having seen the National about 8 times, i'd probably have gone to check her out and came back for the end of the National.

It's not the crowd at The National i'd be concerned over more the overall numbers being down dramatically. I can see there being big changes made for next year. Jim Carroll posted about this as well today and i agree with him.

I ranted about this elsewhere, but Jim Carroll's weird beef with any indie band that plays Oxegen really grinds my gears. I agree with most of the other points he made in that post, but his weird fixation on his perception of "greed" among bands like that makes me want to slap sense into my laptop screen.

Granted, The National were probably paid far in excess of what they were worth to Oxegen's crowd, and no doubt they would have been better received at Electric Picnic - but it's a bit nauseating to hear Carroll slapping his thighs with a demented schadenfreude glee at the crowd pictures.

The fact is, The National have played Oxegen before to perfectly proportionate crowds, and had no reason to suspect that wouldn't be the case this time. The fault was with the booker, who should have known better; not the band, who could not reasonably have been expected to. The experience of Electric Picnic and Oxegen from the artist's side of the equation is probably much for muchness, so to damn them for playing the one that paid better is just ridiculous. It wouldn't make a lick of sense to demand that anybody else should pick the lower paying of two identical jobs, just for the sake of maintaining some vaguely defined sense of "indie" integrity, and it doesn't here either.

Matt and chums are hardly up to their arses in Lamborghinis or anything, and it's not like they got where they are overnight. Carroll's begrudgery could hardly be more misplaced. Accusing The National - or any of the other indie-ish bands that he can't forgive for daring to succeed - of being "stupid" and "greedy" for having the nerve to play Oxegen is moronic and pigheaded. It's an absurd, arbitrary, outdated standard for Carroll to insist on applying to jobbing bands from behind his keyboard, and he uses every Oxegen article he writes to whip somebody with it. As useful a writer as he usually is, I find that one thing really off-putting, and he indulges in it with absolute, clock-setting regularity, every year.

/rant

SleepAtNight

setantalive wrote: »

The Frank and Walters
The Go Betweens

I've only recently discovered the Go-Betweens thanks to youtube and from what I've listened to they are superb.

rcaz

Just spent the afternoon listening to Venetian Snares' Rossz csillag alatt született. Don't know if you can be underrated when you're one f those guys who's got a really hardcore cult following, but this guy is incredible.

Diving Board

Robyn

grindle

+trillions on Venetian Snares, although I'd rather he slowed down and kept creating masterpieces like Rossz rather than pumping out 2-3 breakcore-fetish albums a year.

My selection (number 1) is Bruno Pronsato. Beautiful, deep, clicky minimal techno, immaculately produced, with a liberal dose of muzique concrète, subtly mangled and tenderised for the ears.

So, so, good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5fDR9j0ZyI

Bodhisopha

I know he has a hardcore cult following but Bill Callahan is still the most underrated artist i can think of.

Ironman76

Alice In Chains

lordgoat

jill_valentine wrote: »

I ranted about this elsewhere, but Jim Carroll's weird beef with any indie band that plays Oxegen really grinds my gears. I agree with most of the other points he made in that post, but his weird fixation on his perception of "greed" among bands like that makes me want to slap sense into my laptop screen.

Granted, The National were probably paid far in excess of what they were worth to Oxegen's crowd, and no doubt they would have been better received at Electric Picnic - but it's a bit nauseating to hear Carroll slapping his thighs with a demented schadenfreude glee at the crowd pictures.

The fact is, The National have played Oxegen before to perfectly proportionate crowds, and had no reason to suspect that wouldn't be the case this time. The fault was with the booker, who should have known better; not the band, who could not reasonably have been expected to. The experience of Electric Picnic and Oxegen from the artist's side of the equation is probably much for muchness, so to damn them for playing the one that paid better is just ridiculous. It wouldn't make a lick of sense to demand that anybody else should pick the lower paying of two identical jobs, just for the sake of maintaining some vaguely defined sense of "indie" integrity, and it doesn't here either.

Matt and chums are hardly up to their arses in Lamborghinis or anything, and it's not like they got where they are overnight. Carroll's begrudgery could hardly be more misplaced. Accusing The National - or any of the other indie-ish bands that he can't forgive for daring to succeed - of being "stupid" and "greedy" for having the nerve to play Oxegen is moronic and pigheaded. It's an absurd, arbitrary, outdated standard for Carroll to insist on applying to jobbing bands from behind his keyboard, and he uses every Oxegen article he writes to whip somebody with it. As useful a writer as he usually is, I find that one thing really off-putting, and he indulges in it with absolute, clock-setting regularity, every year.

/rant

Only seeing this now jv, i agree with you completely. He does tend to bring up this every once in a while. Still was afraid to give Brunker a really good going over though. I was wondering if he would but he played it pretty safe in the end with her.

I also think that whoever got that slot in competition with Beyonce would have the same numbers or worse than the national. It made no sense to put them on against her. I'd also say that the oxegen gig was rolled into the Olympia gig package at the end of last year.