Culture Bully Asks: What Are Your Favorite Hidden Gems?
This week, we want to hear about the best songs that were never singles or even B-sides; beautiful songs buried deep on an album by an artist not a lot of people even know about. A few examples:
“Growin’ Old” by Pigeon John: Indie hip hop heads might be aware of Pigeon John’s long and innovative career, but he’s never had a lot of crossover success. A few standout tracks like “High School Reunion” and “Identity Crisis” made some noise, but it’s this lesser-known track that’s just sublimely beautiful. On one hand, it’s a tribute to hip hop, but PJ really gets into the idea of growing old and life itself.
“At the End of a Slow Dance” by Van Hunt: It’d be easy to lump in Van Hunt with the neo-neo-soul D’angelo wannabes that pop up from time and time on the R&B landscape. His first album, while it featured some fine songs, did little to stick out from the pack. This track, however, from his second album, “On the Jungle Floor,” is a tremendously weird blend of ‘80s synth pop, rock and soul that not only defies genre conventions, but is a pretty brilliant piece of songwriting in its own right.
“Rap Pa Mi” by Arianna Puello: This is a monster song, but you could really take almost any track from Ari and put it on this list. One of my favorite emcees, female or otherwise, she’s a beast on the mic and has one of the best voices in international hip hop.
More? Let’s uncover some hidden gems.
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There are a few instances where I’ve had the good luck of being able to build friendships with musicians I meet through the site, and one in particular sticks out above all the rest. Kenyata Sullivan of the Majestic Twelve has a fantastic story behind his life: a veteran who was there with the best of them back in punk’s heyday, and has talked my ear off telling me about it for hours on end over the past couple years (come to think of it, I should probably give’m a call). Thanks to him I can say that at one point Todd Evans (formerly Beefcake the Mighty from GWAR) left a message on my phone once. That’s far from the most important thing that’s happened in our friendship… FAR from it… but it’s pretty cool all the same.
Clearly the song above is disqualified from submission since there’s a music video for it… so I’ll go with “Are You Ready?,” a political lashing washed over an aggro-polka… kinda sounds like Sponge Bob on steroids, but… y’know… good. The song (and entire album is) available free via the band’s website: http://www.themajestictwelve.com/merchandise/
couple of suggestions that – i don’t know why – came to mind.
cliff mitchell and the black roses – “abigail lonesome”
irepress – “cyette phiur”
roadrunner united – “independent (voice of the voiceless)”
orchid – “new jersey vs. valhalla”
starkweather – “into the wire”
all a bit heavy – except for cliff mitchell. that’s some country. good luck with these! don’t know if they’re available online..imeem don’t cater to the metal crowd so much.
Oh man, I really dug that Roadrunner United release when it came out… completely forgot about it after though. Might get back into that beast this weekend.