A twist on the official music thread

[McCulloch]

A twist on the official music thread

Who (other than Chance Jones) do you think is or was the musician who is the most underrated? Who is it that deserves more recognition than he/she/they got?

[Fallibleone]

Go on then I'll be boringly predictable - Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy). They had a few years of fame with what can only be described as 'pop' songs in the early 90s, but Neil is much more versatile than this, if not always terribly consistent. He stills gets very nervous indeed at gigs or when on TV which warms the heart ever so slightly. He has collaborated with Air, Yann Tiersen and Ute Lemper among others and has written the theme tunes and incidental music for a few UK TV shows (Father Ted, The IT Crowd, Tomorrow's World, Doctor Who). He recorded a version of So Long and Thanks for all the Fish on the Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy soundtrack. If I were to try and desecribe his style I would probably fail completely. Electropop, indie, orchestral rock, Brit pop...all these and more have been used to describe his music. His influences include Kurt Weill, Jacques Brel, Scott Walker, REM, Radiohead, Pulp, Michael Nyman and ELO (but I don't hold that against him). I am constantly surprised that he remains pretty much unknown outside of the music world itself, after 16 years or so in the business. Surprised but secretly quite pleased, because the relatively few of us who are aware of him would kind of like to keep him to ourselves.
Had the pleasure of meeting him in 2002 and he was a thoroughly nice man, although tiny.

[upallnite]

Greydon Square

http://www.thecomptoneffect.com/

He had a troubled life growing up, joined the US Army, served in Iraq, is currently working on a Physics degree, and making great Atheist Hip-hop.

I am not a fan of Rap but when I heard him I had to buy his CD. Go to his site and listen to a few songs.