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The Best Albums You've Never Heard

Sit back and relax. I have done the digging for you.

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The Best Albums You've Never Heard

With all the garbage on the radio, it might be refreshing to take a break from the monotony and broaden your musical horizons. It can be intimidating, though, with so much great music out there. Fear not, for I have done the work for you and compiled a list of fantastic albums that are most likely new to most people.

Danger Mouse- "Rome"

We've all heard Gnarls Barkley, the pop duo comprised of vocalist Cee-Lo Green and producer Danger Mouse. What few people have heard, however, is Danger Mouse's solo venture (which also, at times, is mostly a collaboration).

It is high quality pop music intertwined with cinematic, 007-style orchestrations. The album also features multiple appearances by the legendary Jack White and Norah Jones lending vocals to a few tracks.

The Zolas- "Tic Toc Tic"

Great indie piano pop with dynamic song structures and melodies that you can't shake. The Zolas will easily please fans of both folk bands like The Head and the Heart and the more mainstream sound of bands like Twenty One Pilots.

Wet- "Don't You"

The debut album from this synth-pop trio bodes well for their future. Tracks like "Deadwater" and "Don't Wanna Be Your Girl" are radio-ready, but hopefully this band remains enough under the radar to stay cool. Their blend of organic and synthetic sound makes for one of the realest personalities in music today.

Ben Howard- "Every Kingdom"

The new indie darling keeps finding ways to evolve as an artist, but his first album is worthy of mainstream exposure. Aside from having a great voice, Howard is the master of melodies. He manages to convey his heavy emotions without falling into the stereotypes of typical indie folk artists or becoming another Bon Iver wannabe. Howard has his own feel, and it is captivating.

Bayside- "The Walking Wounded"

Perhaps it is because Bayside's rise to fame lived in the shadow of pop-punk giants like Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco that they never truly made it big. Though they have a dedicated fanbase, their most played/downloaded songs came from the 2011 era onward. Ironically, their best album came years before in the form of "The Walking Wounded." It is more of a collection of singles than an album.

Kishi Bashi- "Sonderlust"

Few artists these days really stoke the imagination like the classic bands of old. Kishi Bashi resurrects the feel of spacemen like David Bowie, and fuses organic, classical instruments with electronic pop.

The results are the new New Wave, resurrecting the sound of bands like the Talking Heads. "Hey Big Star" is an homage to Electric Light Orchestra if there ever was one.

David Byrne and St. Vincent- "Marry This Giant"

Speaking of Talking Heads, their frontman, David Byrne, has also led a fairly successful solo career. One of his finest works, though, comes as a collaboration with St. Vincent. The mix of duets and solo songs sounds mostly like David Byrne, but if you listen closely, you can hear Annie's signature guitar sound.

It's weird, as can be expected, but those looking for something different will appreciate the weird.

The Format- "Dog Problems"

If you are fans of the band fun. and their frontman, Nate Ruess, then it is worth checking out his previous band, The Format. With theater sensibilities mixed with pop-punk drums and guitars, The Format had everything it took to be huge.

Now that Nate Ruess has gone solo, there's probably little hope for a reunion, so we should treasure tracks like "Dog Problems" and "Snails" like antiques.

Highasakite- "Silent Treatment"

A ridiculous number of Scandinavian bands sing in English and many have found mainstream success in the US like Of Monsters and Men. Highasakite has managed to never quite make it big in America, but their album, "Silent Treatment" is basically a collection of pop singles. The opening track "Lover, Where Do You Live?" is a haunting break-up song, but the album changes its tone fairly quickly to pair highly contagious melodies with enigmatic lyrics deserving of a band name, "Highasakite."

Anaïs Mitchell- "Hadestown"

It's everything a hipster could want, aside from being nonexistent. Mitchell's magnum opus is a folk opera based on a re-imagining of the Eurydice and Orpheus Greek myth, set in a post-apocalyptic world heavy with Depression-era imagery.

In other words, there's nothing out there like it.

Think "Jesus Christ Superstar" but for fans of City and Colour. The cast of voices includes the stand-up bass that is Greg Brown as the titular Hades, and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver as Orpheus. Mitchell's lyrics are as simple as they are ingenious.

The album has already been translated once into a theater production, and it won't be long before it takes off big time like "American Idiot."

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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