Bands You Can't Understand

[culturejam]

The one that comes to mind for me is Ebba Grön

[flanagan0718]

Nikki Minage...nuff said


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[EBRAddict]

This wouldn't be complete without The Germs

[raulduke]

I'd go with Sigur Ros too. I like that I can't understand what he's singing. Makes the music all the more beautiful for me.

Kings of Leon as well (also previously mentioned). Their first two albums were totally incomprehensible, but brilliant... then they got shite.

[pickdropper]

For some reason the first one I think of is Elizabeth Fraser's Cocteau Twins material from the 1990's.  She is one of the most unique vocal stylists I've ever heard- and I used to get into listening to all the creative stuff she came up with- but I don't think I ever understood many of the words.  I honestly think a lot of it is rhythmic nonsense syllables to fit the feel of what she's singing, so it could be you aren't really meant to understand it.  It's "art" haha.

One of the bands of my youth.  I really like Elizabeth Fraser's voice.  Check out Blood by This Mortal Coil, which also has her on some songs.  You can even understand the lyrics. 

[Addy Bart]

Great choice with the Cocteaus! For similar reasons, MBV and early Stereolab deserve a mention.

How about Can? Twenty years later and I'm still none the wiser 

[GermanCdn]

I feel bad for Hanson. No one takes them seriously, but they've always been a pretty serious band. They had a serious amount of talent; they always played their own instruments, wrote their own songs (certain only passable lyrics, but if anyone says that Mmbop is actually a bad pop song, they're kidding themselves, even if you don't want to listen to pop [usually I don't]), and their harmonies were incredible. They were signed at SXSW because of their LIVE set, not because someone said, "Hey, I bet we can sell these kids to pre-teen girls." They won a grammy for a song they wrote barely into high school. They've done multiple albums that aren't radio pop. They had a #1 album after going independent. They still tour, and they do pretty well for themselves, but the Stevie Wonders and Justin Timberlakes of the world who can escape the shadow of what they did when they were young are few and far between. People don't have to like them, but I wonder how many people just see the name and think, "Lol, Mmbop" and don't listen to anything else even if they might like it.

Could not agree more Jon.  I remember picking up This Time Around and thinking how far ahead it was of Mmmbop, from the songwriting to the lyrics to the overall performance.  I still have it digitally somewhere, going to load it up on my phone and listen to it again.  Same thing happened with a Canadian band called the Moffatts, very similar to a Hanson type thing, first couple of albums were really poppy, but I think the third one  (?) was stellar.

[peAk]

one of my favorite artists - Bjork

English, sure. Understandable, not so much.

[mattc]

Magma.  They made up their own language (Kobaïan) for their songs.

https://youtu.be/vzyOi5XRu_g

[nzCdog]

Genius? So catchy... but so very strange

[davent]

Genius? So catchy... but so very strange

Was the first Primus song i ever heard. Was camping in the state park outside Ithaca NY on a Moosewood pilgramage, song was played by a very cool Ithaca Radio Station, 1991(?) or so, when i got home went out and bought the album.  Fan ever since.

Same trip went and visited Jon Gaines at his shop in Rochester. Nice guy!

dave

[matmosphere]

Genius? So catchy... but so very strange

Somebody told me those guys suck.

[Betty Wont]

I second the Boredoms! They collaborated with Ween in the 90's. Their album Z-Rock Hawaii is my all time favorite.

[alanp]

Just ordered a copy of the Kalevala. A translated one, in English. (Not really interested in the epics about Thor and his pantheon -- I'm a bit Thor and Loki'ed out, with all that recent hollywood.)

Still quite like _Tervaskanto_.

[somnif]

Just ordered a copy of the Kalevala. A translated one, in English. (Not really interested in the epics about Thor and his pantheon -- I'm a bit Thor and Loki'ed out, with all that recent hollywood.)

Still quite like _Tervaskanto_.

My favorite Finnish folk lore ingestion methods are old MST3K russo-finnish co-production episodes, and a fantastic web comic based on bits of the Kalevala (and other assorted folk lore) called "A Redtail's Dream" http://www.minnasundberg.fi/comic/page00.php Dunno why I find the folk lore so fascinating, maybe just because its just alien enough to be new-ish to me.