Suggestions for not mainstream music

Ooh I love Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer's stuff. If you like them, try the Wailin' Jennys.

Look up Jon Boden's folk song per day project, if you're into esoteric English language Folk Music.

Try Oskorri if you wanna check out some really cool Basque modern-folk fusion. Catchy as heck. A music style that you've probably never heard unless you live in Euskal Herria... or possibly Boise, Idaho.

Look up Wolgemut for a touch of Medieval Jam Session bangers.

Tishmal is a modern sort of prog-rock, electro-alternative singer rather in the lines of Aurora and some of the stuff you might like from Eurovision.

 

Epik High is my favorite group though they're pretty well-known in Korea and among people who listen to KPop so not really obscure. They do have a broad range of sounds throughout their discography though so if you're familiar with their more recent works, you could try digging into their older albums. Pieces of You is one of my favorites among their older tracks.

I like Heize a lot and she has a track featuring Ahn Ye Eun on her Happen album called From the Rain. It's one of my favorites from that album. I also like B.I and Woodz especially B.I's Waterfall album and Woodz' Only Lovers Left album.

LUCY is a band that has a violinist and their tracks are pretty great too. I don't think Clazziquai got very mainstream? They don't have much in recent releases but I still find myself going back to listening to their older songs every once in a while.

 

Off the top of my head, two Japanese bands I like are BUCK-TICK and GARNiDELiA!

 

For obscure Asian bands...
If you're looking for a hilarious good time, try Bump of Chicken (kid you not, this is the name of the band)


For neo-Japaneseque (so, a Japan-infused pop/rock), try Kagrra, (the comma is part of the name)


For an OG boy band, try Arashi.


Hope this helps!

 

I love Bump of Chicken! Brings back memories haha

If you want traditional music, try Enka! That's a whole genre.

If you're looking for a different kind of sound, maybe Kawaii Metal is up your alley? My favorite band is BAND-MAID but the big name in that genre is BABYMETAL.

 

For the obscure, my two absolute favorite Japanese musicians are Jun Togawa and Miharu Koshi. They're amazing, and so fun and eccentric. Other favorites are YMO, Kanon Wakeshima, Kukui, Flipper's Guitar, Kikuo, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. If you're looking for very similar to Kpop I'd try giving Daoko a listen too! And for Japanese singers that sing in English, I love Cibo Matto!

Hope you find something you like!

 

She's been nominated for a Grammy, so I'm not sure if that would make her mainstream (It was in the metal category, so I don't think she is), but Poppy is my new offbeat favorite. Her music started as experimental/satirical pop but she switched to pop/electronic metal (think BabyMetal) which is honestly fantastic. Some of her songs have 4-5 genres stuffed into one song, and it works. She has a lot of JPOP influences in her music, so if you like JPOP or KPOP and alt rock/metal, you might like her stuff.

My recommended first songs of hers to listen to are "Concrete" and "X" as they really sum up what Poppy is about. "BLOODMONEY" was her Grammy-nominated song, which is fantastic as well.

I'm also a huge fan of Lindsey Stirling, who does electronica/pop with her violin. She might be considered mainstream, though.

 

Jorn's good to check out if you're open to metal. Here's a song from the Dracula: Swing of Death album. Everyone I've introduced this album to loves it to death, pun intended.

 

Not really sure if this is mainstream or not but a Korean song I really like is "Contrail" by MoonMoon. I think the singer is listed on the k-indie wiki so I guess he's not mainstream? I'm not really familiar with the artist aside from this song.




Another korean song I like a lot, "If You Come Into My Mind" by Jo Deok-bae. It's from a movie so it might be popular in Korea? But I don't think it's well known elsewhere. It's a really beautiful song though!




As for Japanese music, I don't really see people talk about Kinoko Teikoku (きのこ帝国) much. I like this song from them, but they disbanded a few years ago.




I'd also reccomend the band Lamp (ランプ), a Japanese indie band. I like their album "Lamp Gensou" the most, but most of their music is really good regardless!
Here's a video with the entire Lamp Gensou album. My favourite song on it is track 7, 日本少年の夏.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shmd-WlaJzU&t=1483s
Just a link because you can't add more than 3 vids, sorry!

 

I tend to like stuff a little harder hitting than pop. But I'm a big fan of Wagakki Band and Ninjen Isu from Japan, The Hu and Aryuna Nimaeva from Mongolia, and Voice of Baceprot from Indonesia.