I'll be the first to admit that I have been known to be a hipster to a fairly extreme level. Scroll through my iPod and you'll find no end of artists that have ploughed through their careers without much mainstream recognition, relegated forever to the depths of obscurity. Not that I mind particularly - in keeping with that side of my personality, I kind of like the fact that I appreciate music that others may never get the chance to hear. Unsurprisingly, this kind of attitude comes in for a huge amount of abuse on the internet, simply because it's little more than arrogance. And so today I shall be playing my part in making the world just that little bit more aware of:
5. 4 Non Blondes
4 Non Blondes are a fairly typical case of the one-hit wonder. Emerging from South California in the early 1990s, they had some mainstream success with What's Up? before disappearing from view completely. The group disbanded in 1994 while attempting to record a follow-up album to 1992's Bigger, Better, Faster, More! and that, effectively, was that. Nonetheless, Bigger was arguably one of the most underrated alternative rock albums of the decade, missing out on high chart positions but blending blues, rock, soul and funk with disconcerting ease. Opening with 1970s-style blues-rock (Train), the album slides effortlessly between genres until the chaotic acoustic funk-metal of No Place Like Home finishes off the work with a bang. The group's musicianship remains spectacular throughout, with vocalist Linda Perry being the standout member - her impressively powerful voice holds nothing back from beginning to end. What's more, the songwriting is as good as any other comparable band from the era.
Hipster Rating: 3/10
If you can't recall What's Up?, the video may help:
It remains one of the definitive songs of the era, and was even covered by characters from the cartoon series He-Man, which seems like a pretty good benchmark in terms of success. In addition, Perry went on to write songs for an impressive array of pop singers, from Alicia Keys to Christina Aguilera. It may not have been by the most conventional methods, but 4 Non Blondes actually did have their fair share of fame.
4. Rasputina
Nirvana aficionados may remember that, during the band's final tour, they were occasionally accompanied by a cellist. This culminated with their now iconic Unplugged Live in New York show, where said cellist performed alongside the group for the entire set. Her name was Melora Creager, and she had in fact been the leader of her own band, Rasputina, for a few years prior. Consisting of various combinations of cellists, guitarists and drummers over the course of their career, Rasputina dabbled in folk, cabaret, punk, industrial - pretty much any genre of rock music to have been successful over the past two decades was re-interpreted with their trademark vintage gothic aesthetic. Creager shines as a songwriter, her lyrics dealing with everything from media mind control to feminism, while the instrumentation of their music ensures Rasputina sound unique in the truest sense of the word.
Hipster Rating: 5/10
They only released one music video, because such things are too mainstream:
With The Olde HeadBoard weighing in at a ridiculously low 86,000 YouTube views, Rasputina are pretty obscure for a band who toured with Marilyn Manson at one point, which is a decent claim to fame. Also, fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will have heard Transylvanian Concubine featured in an episode. Despite this, Rasputina's fanbase consists mostly of the (presumably very small) percentage of Nirvana fans who bothered to look up their cello accompanist and then actually liked her work, and intellectual goths. This level of talent deserves better than that, especially as the band are still going strong in the 20th year of their career.
3. The Black Box Revelation
Belgium's youngest garage punk two-piece exploded onto the scene in 2007, releasing 3 albums in 5 years. Well, exploded on Belgian radio - the rest of the world seems to be taking its time acknowledging the music of Jan Paternoster and Dries van Dijck. Their debut album, Set Your Head on Fire was a riot of minimalistic guitar, crashing percussion, and Paternoster's abrasive vocals. The pair shifted between blues, punk and even the odd acoustic tune, creating an enjoyable sense of cheerful experimentation. Following on from that, 2010's Silver Threats drove the group into darker territory, with a murky atmosphere and an ultimately heavier sound. The lyrical content was also noticeably more intense, with Paternoster coming across as a much more introverted vocalist. Last year's My Perception sent The Black Box Revelation in another direction again, with its cheerful and catchy pop-rock tunes melting into a lo-fi symphony that matches the Rolling Stones in their early prime.
Hipster Rating: 7/10
Their videos are consistently exceptional so this was a hard choice, but have a listen to Rattle My Heart from My Perception:
Then watch the videos for My Perception, Love Licks, Sleep While Moving and Never Alone/Always Together. These are among the most innovative audio-visual works of the past ten years, and yet the closest the band have come to mainstream success is being played on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show once. That said, they are still young, and a couple of their videos have exceeded the 500,000 views milestone on YouTube, so clearly they do have fans out there. Just not as many as they rightfully should have.
2. Tub Ring
Chicago's most intellectual experimental punk act took off in 2001 after enlisting Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance as a producer.Their debut studio album The Drake Equation largely aped the chaotic sounds of Spruance's former group, yet while Mr. Bungle often took up to 10 minutes per song to transition between sounds and moods, Tub Ring crammed all of their insane, genre-bending hyperactivity into tracks generally less than 4 minutes long. The result was a breathless, frenetic blast of noise that does not make for easy listening. And yet at times Tub Ring switch into an altogether gentler mode, such as the piano ballad Numbers or the smooth jazz interlude on No More Refills. Since then, the group have continued to refine and define their sound, becoming increasingly more reliant on solid songwriting than musical shock value. The Fermi Paradox is a notably outstanding album, underpinned by a lyrical thread on mankind's unwillingness to accept scientific progress.
Hipster Rating: 9/10
As with Rasputina, Tub Ring apparently find music videos too mainstream and have only released two in their 9-year history. Here's Faster:
Not a single video related to their music has over 50,000 views on YouTube, and the vast majority are yet to be upgraded to 360p definition. They have never had an album or single in a mainstream chart position, and while their music may not be the most accessible, it's hard to understand why they are so much less popular than, say, System Of A Down or Mindless Self Indulgence, who began championing a similar sound at a similar time. For all of their effort and commitment, the band can claim Plain White T's as their most successful touring partners, which is quite unimpressive for a group with so much talent and versatility. With a career that has already lasted over 10 years, it looks like Tub Ring may never achieve the commercial breakthrough they deserve.
1. Major Parkinson
Comprising six slightly deranged individuals from Norway, Major Parkinson are actually the most recently-formed band in this list, having released their debut album in 2008. The self-titled effort was a somewhat cagey affair, mixing crunching guitars with acoustic heartache and clips of circus music. Vocalist Jon Ivar Kollbotn led proceedings, his voice switching between a seductive growl, a delicate falsetto, and the bark of a disgruntled Victorian aristocrat. The work as a whole was split in two by the tearjerking ballad Casanova, with the songs on either side forming a maelstrom of borderline chaos that throws itself in every possible direction and ultimately goes nowhere, in the best possible way. The album ends with the epic double closer pairing Awkward as a Drunk and The Greatest Love, summing up the whole gamut of emotions previously displayed. And if that wasn't enough, Major Parkinson completely redefined their sound with 2010's Songs From A Solitary Home, the heavy riffs replaced by vintage pianos, Hawaiian steel guitars, orchestral backing and a tuba solo. Again, the set is divided by a short ballad piece, this time the Tom Waits-style Card Boxes and ends with a double closer, the euphoric Adville and the world-weary The Transient. Music as ambitious as this does not appear often, and their third album, already in progress, should be well worth the wait.
Hipster Rating: 10/10
Despite all of this, you've probably never heard of them; they are pretty obscure after all. But unlike other hipsters who would want to keep it that way, I for one will happily promote their music to anyone who has bothered to read this far, or who will listen to me in the future. As with The Black Box Revelation, their videos are as innovative as anything else around at the moment, so I recommend you give all four a watch. The latest single, Heart of Hickory, is probably the most accessible so here it is:
And Death in the Candystore also deserves a mention in order to show the group's versatility:
In an ideal world, these guys would be bigger than the Beatles.
TJGreenwood.
