Forgotten Bands Week
This is the first of 5 postings this week that will feature tragically underappreciated bands. The contributions of the five bands are obvious from the very first listen to any of the MP3s and I hope you all run out and pick these records up. They are not simply obscure indie acts who I've unearthed for my own benefit, but solid bands and producers whose anonymity simply perplexes me. When mediocre bands like The Fiery Furnaces are getting huge as a result of a misguided media onslaught, it boggles the mind that others remain relatively nameless. Some of these bands are older, but all of the records should be available. I know there is a huge number of bands that could be posted, from an assortment of genres and eras, but these are my personal five from the last ten years or so, reflective of the hybrid styles so frequently posted on scissorkick.
The inaugural posting for Forgotten Bands Week is for the amazing Scottish quartet Long Fin Killie. You can read all about them here but it would be practically impossible to find a band as musically gifted and creatively forward thinking as these guys. Combining a heady combination of drum n' bass, atmospheric rock, dream pop and polyrhythmic percussion, Long Fin Killie can perhaps be compared to Macha, Lake Trout and possibly Red Snapper, but none of these comparisons really do the band justice. They were simply ahead of the game, and like many bands who preceed trends, were lost in the wake of the waves of less talented imitators that followed. Lead vocalist and multiinstrumentalist Luke Sutherland has since moved on to the fantastic Bows project and currently records with To Rocco Rot's Stefan Schneider in Music A.M. but Long Fin Killie will probably remain his most accomplished work for some time.
All three records, Houdini, Valentino and Amelia are available here and like the figures for which they were named, the life of Long Fin Killie was cut tragically short. Listen to these tracks, all from around 1996-97 and just imagine what the two different line-ups would be up to now.
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