Some Hungarian rock from a band called called Karpatia. The song is about Erdely; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9VwiSkRgHU
Musically it's not a big deal, but it has a special meaning for me and the band is damn obscure!

Does http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4yzYKIiV9Y count as lesser-known? I don't know many fans of Prog-Metal outside of my sister and step-brother.

Art is hardly a lesser known artist but a great choice regardless. I like Wayne Shorter too though again he isn't really unknown:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njo1zvr216s

And just in case you haven't heard it here's one of my favorite Art records and it's one of his lesser known ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnaD9gU9N80

in my http://www.mixpod.com/playlist/56057855

A slightly fringe but nonetheless meritorious choice I feel would be Frank Zappa.
Obviously, much of his material is grossly inappropriate for this forum but he really is something.

I'm mostly a blues listener (and player) but I'm trying to get a foothold in jazz, I've found a lot of it to be polarising.

http://tunguskagrooves.com/en/ is a group of artists that make fantastically chill music, trance and ambient stuff mostly. Best of all, it's all free.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xLVWGNqyMM&feature=related

Some groups, artists, albums I never see anyone talk about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnEJhozn3J8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD1UY6KK-bc&feature=related (singer for Portishead, did a side project album seen here)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnLNXquIBVs (not necessarily lesser known, the singer especially is well known)

Postemptive warning about language, I didn't check them for any bad words.

After my fairly off topic post I'll say that I saw these guys recently and enjoyed them very much. Highly recommended:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugpUIm74GPw

Freshlyground is a South African band I like quite a lot. The majority of their songs are in English, but a few each album are in Xhosa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOWnJaW8Hzk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugfzVXIt6Co

This one is by the Villagers Band from Kenya (I like African pop music!). This one's sung in Swahili.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx4fLvQTJpA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teq2m0BN-Wo Is great. I also particularly love her rendition of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzN2g60BMA0.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBkVQSJEZAk&feature=related. Celtic Folk Metal. Metal with tin whistles and harpsichords. 'Nuff said.

Final, though he might be stretching the term "lesser known", this guy should have been a household name: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2ke-b8_hHU&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q05wB6F1UMk&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUb0C0iI_GE&feature=related It is an absolute travesty he's not in the rock and roll hall of fame. He had an incredible ability to write songs and tell stories, and was a great singer. The man died of lung cancer in 2003, but not before using his final months to record one last album. Listen to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHFDhOCuPyM and consider that the man you're hearing has months to live, and is slowly losing his ability to breath. That is his goodbye to the world. THAT is a singer.

Not exactly obscure but Atmoshpere. A underground hip hop group featuring mainly a MC named Slug and a few others. You only really hear Slug. I really like the way they just make their music and don't really care if people like it or not, at least insofar as they don't change their music to accommodate other people.

Sovereign Youth is a group I like as well but that comes with a good deal of bias and because they are my best friends lol.

Even though he's a big name I think this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo8eft6CEKg has one of the best guitar solos I've heard.

Good martial is just massive. Usually I like it to be even a bit more bombastic and harsh than this though.

Some less recent Kiwiana*: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9soiavy6iLc, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sFK2mqjMOA, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EED8F7P_q4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPag10yN01g.

*New Zealand

Well, since all Triarii videos seems to be gone from tube, had to go with my next favorite one...

I've noticed that as well, apart from two things, very strange...

But there's still this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3x7v_bioxE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmCZtvvmEts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bJN5RpQPBg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBPXMcvrYys

Oh yes. I absolutely love Arditi. Tho gotta admit that the "Leading the iron resistance" was bit of an disapointment. Omne Ensis Impera & Standards of Triumph are still the defining Arditi albums for me.

I've got to agree that there are songs on those albums that still pound me into nothingness whenever I hear them. But the same goes for Spirit of Sacrifice and Marching on to Victory.
I haven't heard their last one, so I'll keep in mind that I haven't missed anything worthwhile. Thanks for the heads-up.

http://thecosmicdead.bandcamp.com/album/psychonaut. Pretty cool psychedelic space rock. Don't know much about them though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdI7F-VtPKk. Soothing yet dark. Really dark and slow jazz music describes this pretty well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV7XN5eDOtM&feature=related. Pretty good punk rock. I know the bassist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_L-bx5YRhk (beware of ninjas chopping onions whilst watching this video to the end)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QURjAJPSQo0

Sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6y1KvNZUo0 by Cryhavoc; death metal from Finland. I randomly found it through 'Related Artists' on GrooveShark.

Nobody else I know of have ever heard of them, and their is no Wikipedia article of them (besides a draft of it in Finnish) so I assumed they weren't well known.
Pic in video may be less than suitable for people who shouldn't be using the internet either way.

Roses Never Fade - Dark, brooding neo-folkish stuff featuring members of Integrity (the hardcoe band).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH2zTBaYl9w

Nightchains - Punky heavy [censored] metal from Lebanon (a place where heavy metal is illegal). Talk about dedication to something you love...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltSxSv1C1uk

Probably not. The genre isn't hugely popular, but within the genre Dream Theater is probably one of the most famous bands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYooZ6vjkzU Ever wondered what hardcoe punk would sound like if you mixed it with 50s rock n' roll? Neither have I. The Computers did, however and while the result really shouldn't work in any conceivable way, it somehow does. Also probably the only band I've seen live where people started jive dancing before moshing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcUhxzvZ8Mc&feature=relmfu According to last.fm, they're a noise punk/post-hardcoe band, but some of their songs remind me of Black Sabbath and another sounds almost exactly like 'Ever Fallen in Love with Someone' by the Buzzcocks. Cracking stuff either way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj-QXey3gPk%5DStornoway%20-%20We%20Are%20the%20Battery%20Human While not as lesser known as the rest of these bands, Stornoway deserve more recognition. Playing a sort of pop-folk combo, they're like Mumford and Sons only they've got more than two songs. Lyrics are really good as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdPI96S-eiE If I was to describe this band in an attention seeking way, it would be 'satanic country', though this song is more like 'satanic gospel' or something. They've also done a few songs with Hank Williams' grandson as a bizzare aside.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRsfK3YvD-8 Let me start by saying that I'm not normally a fan of post rock. At best I find it delightfully pretentious and at wrost some of the most boring music ever made. *shels may just be an exception to that rule however.

Firstly I feel that I should point out that 上を向いて歩こう (Ue o Muite Arukou) is just about the best song I have ever listened to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws7-RN9ztXs

As for more obscure songs there is Amorphis, a melodic Finnish band my Grandson Haris showed me which I absolutely fell in love with:

Amorphis Songs
You I Need: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rs-or7As0k
Silver Bride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qjiWb1O_L4&ob=av3n
House Of Sleep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CleR2nYASdo&ob=av3e

There is also Kalafina, a Japanese Pop Band my other grandson Robert introduced me to. He really loves Japanese Pop and Anime and all that stuff, so this band is just the sort of thing he loves.

Kalafina Songs
Lacrimosa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFUs65fE0a4
Red Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbfpQ0dZ1KA&feature=related
Magia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1teE48q3BI&feature=relmfu

Dunno if anybody has said this but check out the band called Bison. And then their song "Switzerland". They are a new band, but super super good. They add a twist to the old celtic, folk, kinda music. I'm friends with the Celloest and the Violinist.