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I'm looking for obscure music. If anyone knows about an underground artist, or genre, I would be pleased to have your help. I'll take anything from any year or century, as long as it is complex or weird (creative).

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  • Could you be specific about what would an objective and then an accepted answer?
    – Bebs
    Sep 23, 2019 at 13:15
  • @Bebs An accepted answer would be: - An artist or music genre that is unknown by the average listener. - Any type of music; fast or slow, loud or soft, etc. - The music has to be complex or well-composed, like classical music, jazz or progressive rock/metal. I don't want basic or repetitive chords. - It can be old or new.
    – Musicfan1206
    Sep 24, 2019 at 18:14

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You may be looking for "outsider music". Daniel Johnston, who passed away earlier this week, was perhaps the most famous modern "outsider artist."

Outsider music (from "outsider art") is music created by self-taught or naïve musicians. The term is usually applied to musicians outside the music establishment or who exhibit childlike qualities, and especially those who suffer from intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses. The term was popularized in the 1990s by journalist and WFMU DJ Irwin Chusid.

It can also refer to music that is deliberately outside the mainstream:

You might also enjoy anti-folk:

Anti-folk (sometimes antifolk or unfolk) is a music genre that arose in the 1980s in reaction to the insularity of the remnants of the 1960s folk music scene. The music tends to sound raw or experimental with the intention to shock and protest. It generally mocks perceived seriousness and pretension in the established mainstream music scene. Artists of the anti-folk genre seem to observe the "rules" of music, but then deliberately break them

Another deliberately boundary-pushing genre is experimental jazz:

On the classical side, you might enjoy the work of the experimental modernist composers:

Or maybe some surprising funky baroque music:

I often personally find some of the most interesting music to be songs from outside of the Euro-American pop tradition.

For whatever reason, Brazilian musicians seem to be particularly creative and innovative...

...particularly the ones associated with the Tropicalia movement.

Plunderphonics is a new style that creates deliberately surreal sound collages from found sounds:

Of course, there are some well-known artists who have become famous because of their own idiosyncratic or eccentric visions:

And even thoroughly mainstream artists sometimes get a little crazy:

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  • Wow, thanks a lot for all the information¡ By the way, how do you know all this music? I mean, how do you find it, because I would also like to learn how to find by myself.
    – Musicfan1206
    Sep 19, 2019 at 20:28
  • @Musicfan1206 There's no one single source. I've been passionate about all kinds of music my whole life, and I'm always looking for new songs. As I've gotten older, I've gravitated more towards the odder music because I've heard so much of the mainstream stuff. // This really barely scratches the surface --if you give me more of an idea what you gravitate towards, I can give you more.
    – Chris Sunami
    Sep 21, 2019 at 12:41
  • This is a well-researched and a good answer. I agree as well, there is a lot more weird music; and it has never been easier to reach the said music, in the information age.
    – Crime Doesn't Pay-Loyal o Eden
    Sep 22, 2019 at 12:55
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    @Musicfan1206 - Have you listened to the above list? If so, what do you gravitate to? What sticks out to you? I'll continue to edit new things in as I think of them.
    – Chris Sunami
    Sep 23, 2019 at 13:10
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    @ChrisSunami - From all the genres that you showed me, I liked experimental jazz and anti folk the most.
    – Musicfan1206
    Sep 23, 2019 at 20:33
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Genre for weird, obscure or underground music

I'm looking for obscure music. [...]

I don't think it's weird, but I don't know what you would think (what's to be weird in 2019 by the way?).

You might enjoy crust punk. Here's an example works by the defunct band ICTUS. It's dark. Is it obscure too?

What's obscure music?

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  • Obscure: not discovered or known about; uncertain. Talking about music, it would mean something outside the mainstream or that is not recognized by most average listeners. Something that would not enter the billboards. Don't get me wrong, I don't care if something is popular. J.S Bach, Pink Floyd and Coldplay are mainstream pretty much, but I wanted to listen to well-written music I may have never listened before. I do think that mainstream music has become more homogeneous and simple, so when I say ''weird'', I refer to music that is experimental and innovative.
    – Musicfan1206
    Sep 19, 2019 at 19:55
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Cybergoth is one strange sub-culture that involves music.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybergoth)

Psychedelic trance should be noted, but you can dispute adding this subculture, as it has somewhat entered the mainstream.

[Warning: Noisy, disorienting, and harsh sound in the YouTube link directly above.]

If you choose to interact with these sub-cultures directly, take the usual pre-cautions. Some of these sub-cultures just have eccentric but harmless folks, while others have varying levels of very real danger.

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