Obscure bands

Another criminally obscure artist is Bill Mallonee from Athens, GA. Bill has released a ridiculous number of albums to critical acclaim, but has never achieved significant commercial success. Both his solo works and his band Vigilantes of Love are excellent. Check out "Perfume Letter" where his guitar playing is very much like George Harrison. His 70+ albums are available for download on bandcamp and his website is www.volsounds.com. This guy can really write.

I like China Crisis a lot and thanks for reminding me of Crack the Sky. I always equate a band's relative obscurity with being regional independent acts. This is the type of original music I have always strived to find and seek out when I travel. Sometimes they hit it big and sometimes they end up in the cut out bins. So here are a few more: The Samples from Boulder, CO., The Connells from Raleigh, NC., From Good Homes (predecessor to Railroad Earth) from NJ.,  The Grapes from Atlanta, GA., and the White Animals from Nashville, TN. Most of theses acts are still performing, despite a lack of massive commercial success, but they all are well worth checking out. 

Had to dust off some Love Tractor after reading through this thread. "Themes From Venus" is a great album. Also, Marty mentioned some Feelies spin-offs early on, but didn't mention my personal favorite Feelies spin-off - Wake Ooloo. Silly name, but great music. A little harder than the other Feelies stuff.