I’ve always been a huge fan of Dog Fashion Disco. They never got serious interest from record producers, but damn were they some good fun stuff. Serj Tankian even sang with them on a song! Sadly, they’re not together anymore, but two of them went on to form Polkadot Cadaver. Something about their mix of heavy metal with carnival sounding interludes really does it for me.
Leper Friend – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17mD4reFUlw
Mushroom Cult (Feat. Serj Tankian) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoQMQCjQIaI
Acid Memoirs – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtznnKjjXYQ
Valley Girl Ventriloquist – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59WQ0l8v31k
Some acquaintances of mine from school used to have a band called Heschent. They were heavy fucking metal, and I won’t blame you if you don’t like them. They did get to open for some pretty big name bands though like Soilwork and Finntroll.
Saints (Awful quality, but its the best of their videos) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtTb3P3zS0A
Lastly, a good friend of mine who was one of the founding members of Heschent is a really excellent guitar player. He plays with a Go-Go (East Coast subgenre of hip-hop) group now, and while they’re not my thing I gotta give my friend kudos for doing what he loves.
Here he is playing some mellow tunes with some other friends of mine – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sX2LMoedGM
He started playing hip-hop with David Correy. Here’s “Dreamin” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_tg2LBZZhU
And the Go-Go group, Lipstick and Congas – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr6jzoez9Mo