What's an album with a completely unique sound
While re-listening to Bitches Brew tonight it occurred to me, there's never been anything that sounds quite like it since, and there never will be again.
What are your favorite unicorn albums?
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Daft Punk
Discovery
That's a good unicorn. I think Daft Punk also had Human After All as another unicorn type, very industrial, very unique, often overlooked.
My Life In The Bush of Ghosts by David Byrne and Brian Eno.
Holy shit.
That's what I was going to write. I don't think people in 1981 knew what hit them.
The soundtrack for 'The Catherine Wheel' that Byrne did around the same time is pretty out there as well. 'The Red House' in particular blows me away with what he did with 1981 technology.
The band[s] that jumps out at me when I think unique/original is anything that Les Claypool touches. It's never just him but he has a knack for finding people with unusual talent to make something different. Even when they are doing covers. For example the Frog Brigade doing Pink Floyd's Animals.
Tom Waits*
The Pixies*
Portishead*
Kruder & Dorfmeister the K&D Sessions
Massive Attack*
But maybe the most uniquely gifted musician on my list would be Richard David James.
Great call on Waits! I love Step Right Up
Thats a great track. Reminds me of a band I forgot.. Morphine.
Came to mention Les myself. Anytime I hear he has released something with another artist is always a surprising treat.
The Prodigy - The Fat of The Land
It's a one of a kind album. I don't think the prodigy ever made another album that good. And I don't think there is anything else out there similar to it. It has its own energy, it's definitely a unicorn type.
Smack My Bitch Up is insane. They won't even play it in music venues and bars anymore, sadly :(
The music video was insane!
Yeah. For quite a while I thought this was a best of, given the name too, until I realized it was just a regular album. Definitely their best.
The first album of The Crystal Method also no givese similar vibes.
Cannot believe I forgot this. Absolutely incredible album. Every single tune a banger and such a unique sound.
They absolutely nailed the Zeitgeist with it.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞
Jean-Michel Jarre - Concert in China
I'd say pretty much anything by Jarre counts.
Absolutely, I just really like the composition of the concert in China, he managed to take songs that are all part of a very specific story, as all the early electronic pioneers were classically trained and wrote albums in movements, and create a new one with them. I tend to not like lives much, but he's an absolute master as turning each one of them into their own distinct story.
If you've never seen the video for the concert in Houston it's absolutely worth the watch. RIP Ron McNair. Nearly two million people saw it. It blocked the entire highway, and the craziest shit is the vast majority of people there had not a freaking clue who he was. The concert ends and people get interviewed: "what did you think? - I have no idea what the hell I just saw but it was the best fucking thing I've ever seen 🤯"
The craziest part is despite holding the records for some of the biggest free concerts on heart, he's largely forgotten to history, only true connoisseurs and those who were true fans back then remember who he is.
The first time I heard F# A# ∞ I was so blown away. I still regularly listen to it even 20 years later from the first time I heard it. I recently saw them live which was incredible, but I was a tiny bit sad I didn't get to hear Dead Flag Blues.
Definitely one of my favorite bands of all time.
Prince - Sign O the Times
One of the few albums I listen to beginning to end.
Also, Pink Floyd. Pretty much any album, but specifically Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here.
Check out the 1977 Prince Funk Sessions!
Future Shock by Herbie Hancock. Dude released like 25 jazz and funk albums over two decades, then in '83 just drops a hip hop bomb
Rockit
Also, Dr. John - The Night Tripper. 60s psychedelic New Orleans perfection
Oh my God that's one of the things I love about Herbie so much! He was not afraid to push himself in new musical directions. He has so many albums in his vast discography that changed the musical landscape forever.
Hell, I just listened to Headhunters before I listened to Bitches Brew, before I posted! And on that album is the seminal Watermelon Man where he incorporates hindewhu (pygmy music).
I would encourage anyone to listen to any Herbie album, in full, from any era. His first 6 albums are dope as hell!!
Totally almost picked Headhunters because of Watermelon Man! There's nothing like it. Herbie occupies a different plane of existence
Agree. If Stevie Wonder is made of music as McCartney says, Herbie would be the quantum music field.
I came here to say Future shock. I just listened to it on the drive home.
‘Rockit’ was pretty much entirely made by the production team of Bill Laswell and Michael Beinhorn, from the band Material, with GrandMixer DXT and three other dudes doing the scratching. Hancock basically came in at the end to play some synth lines.
Cake's first album Fashion Nugget is the kind of unique that we rarely see twice.
I'll throw my few in here:
Lemon Jelly - KY
Paul Simon - Graceland
Air - Moon Safari
Portishead - Dummy
Alt-J - An awesome wave
The two i listened to most when i was young were Sgt Pepper and Dark Side of the Moon. Happy for the vinyl revival so my kids can experience the two sides of an album.
Here is mine.
https://youtu.be/J2WP-55FLNk
Such a unique time when it came out. Electronic music was at peak experimental stage in the late 90’s. Kind of like B**ches Brew was the peak 60’s psychedelic experiment. This album was the perfect culmination of two masters of world music, psychedelic trance, and ambient music. Simon Posford is the absolute genius sound engineer at the peak of his game and Raja Ram was the old hippie wizard guiding him through realms unknown.
Wow I forgot about Shpongle! Haha cool memory, thanks for sharing!
I had a friend who was always on coke and acid and always was asking people to get spongled with them
Dr. Pnut, wherever you ended up, I hope you're still spongle-ing.
Thanks for this. Listened to about 20 mins and already found an album for sale which is now on its way.
Shpongle are a trip. Been years since i heard this, thanks
The Postal Service
There are many synth artists that try to target a similar feel, but the way they tug on your emotions with just the subtlest of sounds. Everything feels like it’s meant to fit. Never has a song made me feel more homesick than Recycled Air. And I don’t even want to go back home.
Honorable mention goes to Moon Safari by Air. First time I heard every song on that album felt like I’d heard it before in a memory.
I still remember my first time hearing this too.
The dregs of a house party. Only a few chill people still up. Sun starts coming up and someone put it on. Absolutely perfect setting to hear that album for the first time.
I can immediately place myself in that room it seared itself into my memory with how well it hit.
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
The first, like, 5 albums by They Might Be Giants are unique in their own ways. Just different blends of wackiness and musical sophistication, it's sublime.
They are such a blast! Their children's albums are great, too; I played them all the time in English classes.
I grew up with them, and to this day I've never found anyone who quite matches that sound. Just pure musical creativity.
I wanted to add some of my faves!
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra
William Onyeabor - Who is William Onyeabor? - An enigmatic and reclusive Nigerian funk jazz wildman who was prolific and fairly popular in Nigeria in the 1970s. Let's Fall in Love is so innovative!
Miles Okazaki - The Sky Below - Just brilliantly innovative avante-garde jazz and guitar. I was struck when I first heard this album
Smoke - Everything - A group of friends and musicians quietly got together in the heart of San Francisco to record this mysterious, challenging and psychedelic jazz trip. The whole album is a journey and should be heard at once, but if you just want a taste try this timestamp
The Flying Luttenbachers - Destroy All Music - The song Fist Through Glass is the song that got me into jazz! I heard it on a late night radio show called Brave New Waves while coming down from mushrooms lol
Endtroducing by DJ Shadow
It's his inaugural album and there's never been anything quite like it. Even his follow up albums, with his unique sound, feel a bit different than this one (not in a bad way, but I don't think they meet your unicorn criteria).
Also, I think this easily goes in my top ten albums list.
I never heard of this artist or album before, so far I'm 1/4 through the listening and digging it, thanks for posting
Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys
Not to be mistaken with ‘The Beach Sounds’ by Pet Shop Boys.
Any album by Pink Floyd.
Even mostly works if you compare said album to other albums by Pink Floyd. Dark Side of the Moon as a classic notable callout.
It's hard to pick not a one hit album wonder band, because bands will tend to have a lot of continuity in their sound. But dark side of the moon is both very popular and unique. Yes (Green) album was a bit of a one hit wonder.
Steely Dan and KC Roberts Live Revolution are sounds that were never copied by anyone else. NiN was very unique until copied.
2112 by Rush
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
I'm the only person I know that's heard side 2
Wreathed in smoke in Lebanon...
Iron Butterfly has an excellent live album too. The sound quality is tinny at best, but it has a good rendition of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
Captain Beefheart
The Tiny
Future sound of london
Ren
I'm kind of surprised it took so long to see Trout Mask Replica here. Although the prompt was for an album you like, which might exclude it.
I'm not sure if I like it, but I definitely have the phrase "fast and bulbous" run through my head sometimes.
Yei, I was hovering on nominating a FSOL album. Glad someone did.
The Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come ... blending melodic, hardcore, jazz, and electronic into one punk album
Salmon - Paco Drop the Chicken ... Very eclectic rap / punk, beat-oriented with lots of changes. A personal favorite "local" band.
Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada.
Aphex starter track
A Grand Don’t Come For Free by The Streets. I love this album start to finish and it’s got a great story right through it.
First time I heard it I’d gotten an email from Vice promoting it and I clicked the link thinking it would just be the first 20 seconds of each song but it was the whole album! Was just starting a movie but I never watched it, just listened to the album straight through. So good.
His first few albums really are seminal. If you're a HHH there really is no comparison to them.
If this makes sense, there's a feeling of old outlaw country in those albums and the stories he tells.
It’s funny because I’m not a HHH by any stretch of the imagination! But man, this is a desert island album for me. I absolutely get what you mean about the outlaw feeling though.
Radiohead—Amnesiac (especially the B-sides) Mr. Bungle—California ミラクルミュージカル—Hawaii: Part II (strongly related to Tally Hall, which is famous for their hit debut Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum) Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE (my preferred recording of this legendary unfinished album for its complete orchestration, but I very much get the argument that it just doesn’t sound right without the Beach Boys’ voices, so I also recommend giving the Dae Lime mix a try for its combination of original and deepfaked vocals)
Purplechick was always my favorite version of SMiLE.
Nothing is deep faked, it's all taken from the original studio recordings.
just checked a few of its tracks out. like what i think is every other fan mix that doesn't use the deepfakes it lacks the (missing) vocals for Look, Worms, and Dada, the latter absence of which makes the album extremely unsatisfying and confuses the contextless first-time listener who's likely looking at this thread; see, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkJ-jRHVIxY&t=12084s
TL;DR: It's a great fan mix, but fan mixes with missing vocals are probably not the first-time experience you want to go for.
Ween - Chocolate and Cheese
Also Nightmares on Wax - Smoker's Delight, for absolutely capturing a certain mood
Could literally say any Ween album lol
tru dat
I'm loving these comments, so many great albums! And a ton I've never hear of and will need to check out.
I have a few of these, but two that really jump out at me are
These are albums that you've just gotta let play.
e: can't believe I forgot Shatner!
Love that Lovage baby. That album is a gem.
Lovage is actually quite similar to instrumental hiphop/breaks that was released on Ninja Tune in the nineties. DJ Food, The Cinematic Orchestra, Wagon Christ, Coldcut, that kind of stuff.
I really like Pretty. Odd. by Panic! At the Disco - it sort of reminds me of the later Beatles albums but is still unique.
Love this album. It's the music that plays when the time finally arrives:
As I walk home from work on a dreary day, suddenly the clouds split apart, and in the warm light of a new day a clockwork dirigible bears down upon me. A beautiful androgyne, resplendent in a dashing suit of the color of burnished gold, leans down from the deck with a white gloved hand and grabs my eagerly lifted palm. I am borne away from this world of pain and sorrow on wings of song to take my place in the skies.
It's like they took they're sucess as a pop rock band and used it to make a proper art piece.
I actually think their first album has much more of a unique sound than that second one.
Avalanches, Since I Left You
I live under a rock, and I live in my own temporal warp field of mostly avante garde jazz works from 1940s-1990s
So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for sharing this, I am loving the hell out of it!
reporting back; this album is lit.
In particular "Since I left you" and "Frontier Psychiatrist" are both jams.
This is one of my favorite albums ever.
If anyone was wondering, I believe nearly the whole album is made up of samples.
The Avalanches have a ton of other stuff. If you are a fan of Since I Left You, definitely check out the Gimix version which starts similar but has a lot of different tracks in it (including much more famous songs) https://youtu.be/X7i8bIhJY8c
They're by far one of my favorite artists. And you are correct. The band has claimed the album has no original recordings at all. And something like over 3000 samples. I still don't even know how that was possible to do back in the mid 90s when they were making it. They're other two albums are also great, each one with a different vibe, although they started relying less on samples because of how much it complicated things to ask for so many rights to so many different tracks.
The shaggs.
A fortune teller told a father his kids were destined for stardom. Empowered by this, he forced the teen/adult kids to form a band. The result breaks all the rules of music. ALL of them. Ones that you don't even know existed. Frank Zappa considers them better than the beatles
If Zappa says they're good... Saving this comment to check 'em out later.
Igorrr - Spirituality and Distortion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality_and_Distortion
Latest album is great too. And the OG whourkr stuff
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana
Lemon Jelly - lemonjelly ky
The Flashbulb - Opus At The End Of Everything
I'm gonna resist quibbling about what "completely unique" ought to mean, but in the spirit of how people are answering, I'll submit Daliborovo Granje, Hainin. https://daliborovogranje.bandcamp.com/album/hainin
Croatian psychedelic instrumental rock.
Ha, I came here to say Bitches Brew before seeing it was in the OP!
I'd add Loveless by My Bloody Valentine: much-imitated, but there's nothing quite like it.
Also, my early '90s bias is showing here, but In Utero by Nirvana is uniquely brilliant. No one's melded beauty and ugliness so successfully in any medium.
hahaha no way, came across this comment as When You Sleep is playing.
agreed, oft imitated but never matched
So happy they finally made
m b vthough. It was an amazing coda to their masterpiece which gave some much appreciated closure and cemented loveless's place as the gem of their collection.I saw an interview with them about how once they figured out how to play that way, time started to pass differently, and it was a healing experience for them.
what's the story with m b v? I just looked and saw that it's the only full album on spotify, loveless (and others?) is missing
Idk about spotify, but m v b has some poppy tunes, some experimental tunes, and def goes on a little journey. Kevin Shields talked about how part of it was music he had shelved after loveless and dusted off and got out the door. There are two or three tracks that stand out to me, but it is definitely worth a listen!
Anything by King Gizzard & The Lizzard Wizard
I mean, I like kgatlw, but they’re not that unique
KLF - the White Room . It is a quite unique combination of a early 90s dance album (with a few bangers that still sound good) and road movie soundtrack.
Also, excellent tread!
I'll nominate Deep Forest's 1992 self-titled album.
Gee that brings me some flashbacks!
Ugly Casanova. Someone left modest mouse on the burner for too long and made a powdered concentrate.
Literally every album by The Mars Volta. Each one is unique and I'll never find anything like them again.
Yanni-live at the Acropolis. There's was a brief moment in 1994 when yanni actually achieved world peace. Also Tribute, another live album, that shows how unbelievably massive yanni was. He sold out a show at the fucking Taj Majal.
Anna ash and the family tree- hello friend, from bird above. An indie folk album that's a perfect cross between a prairie home companion and the hipster folk Renaissance of the early 2000s.
Pity sex-dark world. One of the best albums out there. Emo shoegaze garagy jams with killer guitar work.
+1 for The Mars Volta!
Animal Collective
Cocteau Twins: Heaven Or Las Vegas
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Nothing sounds quite like it
Loving and saving this whole thread, I'll add in
Ones & Zeros, Vol. 1 - 3rdegree, not SUPER unique, but it's instrumental and commitment to they're concept album's theme of uploading your consciousness into the internet gives it a ton of charm!
Larks' Tongues In Aspic - King Crimson , very surprised I haven't seen this one in the thread, a classic weird ass prog album by the Kings of Prog themselves (IMO of course). They got a guy to do a bunch of random sounds for the album and he left to become a monk days before they started the album tour lol.
Extol's "Burial". Very smooth sounding record considering its bordering on Technical Death Metal.
Decapitated's "Nihility". I don't know if drums have ever sounded more violent, tonally.
Suffocation's "Pierced From Within". Unique in that IMO that level of brutality and density has still never been matched.
Ulver's "Nattens Madrigal". Bees in a tin can.
Literally anything by Ad Nauseum.
Man, I could go on and on about this. So many metal records have one of a kind production.
Hilarious and accurate. And that one acoustic passage that makes you think "hey maybe there will be more like this".
At least they gave us Kveldssanger to scratch that itch. 😆
Hell yeah. And Bergtatt, "ahh, just right".
A beautifully written and produced record for sure.
Not only are none of those unicorn albums if you randomly select timestamps in most of them, you can't tell you even jumped. I used to love this kind of music, but you've failed the assignment. The question was not to solicit albums you like.
Entombed - Left Hand Path is an example where it helped redefine a genre, and nothing before or since has sounded like it (because they innovated the 'buzz saw' guitar sound).
Pierced From Within didn't define the sound of Brutal Death Metal?
Nattens Madrigal didn't innovate for Raw Black Metal?
There's not a single record that sounds like Nihility does, nor does anything sound like Burial both in production and composition.
This question is asking for subjective answers. There's no such thing as failure as you so kindly put it, only difference of opinion.
Your suggestion that LHP is somehow more appropriate of a response ignores the fact that it did the exact same thing for Swedish DM as Suffocation did for BDM.
The crux of my question was "unicorn".
So if I can listen to 100 random metal tracks and they all sound derivative, it misses the point. Reach for albums that actually are unique in your suggestions.
I used to be a serious metal fan, so I'm no hater, but let's be real.
I researched and listened to much of what was suggested in the comment, it all sounds exactly the same as every other death/speed/thrash/grind that's been done to death aha. At least with LHP there's a sound that can never be created again due to the unique equipment they borrowed, and their special configuration thereof. I don't even think LHP qualifies as an answer to my own thread but at least there was effort in that suggestion, and I'd put money down that you can't reference another album that sounds like it, where I can post 100 for every in the parent comment.
Metal folks ITT seem to be profoundly missing the point of my post.
You're telling me you can't get a hold of an HM-2 and a Peavey Rage 158 or a Bandit? Three of my friends had the Rage 158 as their first amp and you can just buy an HM-2 on Reverb if you don't know anyone that already owns one.
People have recreated the LHP sound countless times. Entombed is not the only band to ever do it.
I've been trying to find something similar to Holly Herndon's Proto, but haven't succeeded yet.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWGJxgOf-Z3CW7tJoN9f4lzIf8CEuMgne
Would you an everyone else reading this comment, please go into that playlist, find the unreleased video, click and Report it. I've been trying for 2 years... that crypto spam has infested 10's of thousands of full-albumn playlists.
edit adding praying hands JPG to hopefully get eyes on this. This crypto spam has been driving me mental for years and I can't understand how YT's automated tools haven't scrubbed it from the platform
How is it possible that I'm the first to mention Days of Future Past?
*Passed, right?
Yes. Of course. My bad.
possibly Speak for Yourself by Imogen Heap but I'm not sure
Gustav holst - the planets
Makaveili - the don killuminati the 7 day theory
Madlib - beat konducta vol 5-6 in india
Scientist - rids the world of the evil curse of the vampires .
There are many more artists that come to mind with unique sounds but that have more than one album with that sound.
Literally anything by madlib
This thread showed up like it was meant for me in this very moment as I'm currently laying in my sofa and blasting this on high volume and drowning in the vibe:
Afro Celt Sound System - Volume 2: Release (Real World Gold)
Haven't heard anything truly like it so I think it fits the thread.
This album has been with me since my childhood.
My mom used to house sit this crazy special house during the summers around 1998-2005 that belongs to a clay sculpture artist, my mom discovered this band there and loved this album especially.
It was mostly my mom, me (born 1990) and my little sister (born 1992) in the middle of the woods all summer break in this absolutely dream like house, it's something out of a movie really.
A lot of the house was built by the artist dude, with tons of handmade clay sculptures, mosaics, wooden details of animals and twisted tree logs built into the structure. The sides of the road through the woods to the house was filled with totem poles, human-ish figures and other sculptures.
We just enjoyed the woods and the house, made clay art and nice food, went bathing in the river and took care of the garden.
There are so many deeply connected smells, sounds, sights and feelings in me to that house, it really affected me in a great way.
I so wish I could post photos of it but I have no contact with the owner and don't want to do it without his permission.
It was cringe then and is still cringe
Natural Snow Buildings - The Dance of the Moon and the Sun. It's a mix of drone, post-rock, and folk that is unlike anything I've ever heard (NSB's other albums have similarities, but this one stands out to me)
Honorable mentions:
Boris - Flood
Agalloch - Ashes against the grain
Grace Cathedral Park - In the evenings of regret
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUfQzCvWRPGdjZQR2Snca0k275TIaJ8Qh
"In kommer Gösta" is my favourite proto-progg track!
My word. That is both rancid and compelling at the same time. A great listen!
Neil Young, Le Noise is amazing on a good system. The sub sub octave acoustic efffect is very unique.
Protomen volume I - they purposely went against arbitrary recording "laws"
Rush-2112, moving pictures
Also a rare one: Burlap to Cashmere, ,is there anybody out there. Its soooo clearly mixed. Hard to find any in depth info on this album.
Steve Reich, music for 18 musicians
The Books - The Lemon of Pink
There are some greats listed here (Ween, Jarre, FSOL, Lovage, Aphex, Shpongle, Air, etc.)
However my pick is Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn The only thing similar to this is his own album Incantations a few years later, but there just isnt anything like it from start to finish.
If you want a positively singular album, check out Oldfield's Amarok. It's a unique experience, start to finish, and the story behind it is great.
This is very true. It is very unique to its sound and how it was put together.
Gorguts - Obscura
Death metal band takes death metal and flips it on its head. I forget the exact phrasing from an interview with the frontman Luc Lemay, but he said they wanted to make their instruments speak in a new way. It's highly experimental and maybe tough to digest even for death metal fans, but it's undeniably unique and brilliant.
So great. Coloured sands as well
Little Man by Little Dragon
Didn't see that accordion coming.
Tierra Whack - Whack World
The melding of the audio and visual on a high art concept album is just chefs kiss. Everything she does is just genuine Christ she's on Twitch now and just a blast to watch. Genuine creative people are amazing to watch.
Aleks and the Drummer — May a Lightning Bolt Caress You
It no longer seems to be easily streamable anywhere online, but it's an absolutely insane EP. You needs to listen to it either on good headphones or in surround sound, and that's a fraction of the live experience. When those thunderous drums roll in and the electric organ starts wailing... shivers.
KLF - Chill Out
Astounding album. Nothing quite like it.
Fingathing and The Big Red Nebula Band by Fingathing. Kind of a big beat/instrumental hiphop thing, the band already has a fairly unique sound but it stands out even in their output.
Want to save this thread for later, may as well name a couple as well
The Faceless - Planetary Duality. Technical death metal album that found an outstanding balance between technically-impressive musicianship, interesting compositional intricacacies, and raw primal brutality. Nothing scratches that itch like this album does for me. And if you're into drums, Alex Rudinger's drumming in Xenochrist is wholly and entirely inhuman. The dude is an octopus trapped in a man's body. I'd recommend watching his Xenochrist drum playthrough video if you're particularly interested
Infected Mushroom - Converting Vegetarians. These two guys are absolute wizards of music production, and this album showcases their insane ability to bring out such colorful personalities from their meticulously crafted synth leads, through gradual and dramatic evolution... Which they usually do in a familiar psy-trance setting. But the "chill side" half of this album accomplishes this wonderfully in a unique, much more relaxed, low-tempo style that I'm genuinely struggling to find words to describe
LITERALLY EVERYTHING HORSE THE BAND HAS EVER DONE!
Seriously, one of the most under appreciated bands of all time. A Million Exploding Suns is a fucking masterpiece.
One that comes to mind is Hella - Hold Your Horse Is
There have been 'Math Rock' bands before and since but these guys were on another level IMO, especially the drummer.
I would also say anything by Melt Banana.
Just a few old ones...
Art of Noise - The Best Of .. but all are good
Yellow - Pocket Universe .. but also The Essential
Moloko - ?
Kosheen - Kokopelli (I think)
One classic one I forgot
Art of noise - The seduction of claude debussy
Phenomenal blend of styles to create something truly unique.
Der Fall der Psychiatrie - Das Flug
At least that was the name I originally knew the EP as. I think it's since been rereleased as Alles Musz in Flammen Stehen
German electronic punk by a solo artist who's sadly stopped releasing music some time around 2015.
Keygen church ░█░█░░█░█░█░ Nothing ive found sounds like this guy, its quite incredible
Splashdown - Blue Shift album
Geneva jacuzzi - Lamaze. I challenge you to find something more unique.
Lord Huron's Vide Noir is a significant departure from the rest of their work so far, and I really wish they'd do more in that style
Major organ and the adding machine
Lightening Dust: Infinite Light
https://mattespy.bandcamp.com/album/hawksworth
Imaginary Audience by Mindchatter comes to mind.
Last 8 coheed albums honestly.
The Hissing of Summer Lawns by Joni Mitchell. I like JM well enough, but don't really listen to many other albums of hers. But HoSL just has this unique vibe that keeps bringing me back, especially on those slightly delirious hot days of summer.
Oh man I just can't get enough of Court & Spark, myself.
Red - Red (1983)
Alamaailman Vasarat - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk8rHXLLFdw&list=OLAK5uy_lYZj_YUq87l-FS9wF8anChzP4jOXXMxTA
Heads up it's an acoustic band, not some dude with a synthesizer.
The North Borders - Bonobo
I'm really relieved that this thread isn't just filled with a bunch of hiphop from the last 10 years that is not actually unique at all, which is 100% what I was expecting.
Edit: this is a really fucking good thread
Dubstep has entered the chat - two standouts for me:
The One - Ganja White Night Tesseract - Subtronics
No one out there is able to emulate their sounds, they really sound unique!
Laurie Anderson Strange Angels I don’t know why but that album hits me so hard. It’s like nothing else I like but I’ve been know to listen to it on loop for hours on end.
It may not be a "unicorn" per se, but it's often forgotten since it came out in 2020 and they weren't able to tour the album. Coldplay's Everyday Life is an art piece to me.
Honorable mentions:
Black Pumas - Black Pumas Watsky - x Infinity The Avett Brothers - Mignonette Parker Barrow - Jukebox Gypsies Childish Gambino - Because the Internet Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium The Black Keys - Brothers
Absent Moon by Chuck Salamone
Leaving Your Body Map - Maudlin of the Well
Let's put in Joker's Daughter - The Last Laugh. The track Lucid particulary is exemplary of what puts the corn on this uni. A Danger Mouse joint.
Weird Tales by Golden Smog. Kind of like country on acid but not like the Grateful Dead. Very creative.
Between the Buttons by The Rollong Stones. Unlike other Stones albums - Jagger and Richards don't even seem to like it anymore. But it has a sound of its own, and might be Brian Jones' last significant effort with the Stones.
And of course T.Rex
Crash Injury Trauma by isolrubin.bk. I once read a review stating the album was “music for binge drinking”.
Most albums by Mamaleek. They change up the sound on each record, and still stay unlike anyone else. Check out ‘Diner Coffee’ and ‘Vida Blue’.
'Mirrored' by Battles (2007).
They've got a mostly traditional setup and instrumentation, but the sounds they make are really strange and unique. Sometimes the words of the songs aren't real words. It's just really out there, from start to finish.
Skinny Puppy - Last Rights
Stereolab - Dots and Loops
Aesop Rock - Bazooka Tooth
GWAR - Scumdogs of the Universe
Herbie Hancock - Headhunters
Bones and Beeker self titled album, 2015.
Rage against the machine - rage against the machine album
Pig destroyer - prowler in the yard
Eminem - the slim shady lp and marshal Mathers lp
Alice in chains - dirt
Rob zombie - hell Billy deluxe
Korn, I can't pick one album
Guns n roses - appetite for destruction
Gutalax - shit beast
Kendrick Lamar to pimp a butterfly
Magma - Mekanik destruktiw kömmandöh. Magma did a 13(?) Album journey in an alien language
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones - Sea Brazil Banjo jazz 'nuff said. Live in Montreal is insane but not an "album"
Terry Reilly - Persian Surgery Dervishes a legendary improvisation
Keith Jarrett - The Köln Concert Dude is out of his tree. A true legend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuy3dPrZQWM i haven't found anything like it since.
Metallica - ...and justice for all
But not in a good way.
Their last good album, imo
Kill em All was their last good album
Found the Dave mustaine stan
🤣 not exactly a Mustain "fan" but he was the reason that whole album kicks all the ass
Well it's official, metal fans ITT have the worst reading comprehension