I'm fascinated by obscure and forgotten TV music videos. Stuff like MTV's Party Zone and Chillout Zone, VIVA's Berlin House, and unknown channels from smaller and less known countries. The aforementioned are predominantly for 90s and 00s electronic music; obviously this extends to more than just electronic music from that particular time period - there are obscure music videos for rock, hip-hop, metal, 80's EBM, New Beat, Industrial, even big label pop acts that flopped and were swept away by the winds of time; but electronic music happens to be my interest and it seems to be the richest and most well documented of all. What's more, it's a great method to discover obscure and forgotten acts that might've slipped past RYM and Discogs lists and radars.Here are some youtube channels that upload obscure-ish music videos (predominantly of the electronic kind)https://www.youtube.com/user/ambistoma1/videoshttps://www.youtube.com/user/poorsofreign/videoshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUUT3oVa1962KAEUaQFZssA/videoshttps://www.youtube.com/user/TMF90Dance/videosGeneral vintage music videoshttps://www.youtube.com/user/exclusivevids1000/videosChinese channels that put up eurodance and europop videos sometimes contain forgotten and unknown stuff amongst their uploadshttps://www.youtube.com/user/XiaoAn2012/videosLabels like SKINT and 4AD occasionally put up videos by their artists on their youtube channels.Below I'll post some selected cuts.
Asad Rizvi is a Tech-House producer but his first ever release was a jungle record. It had a music video that used to air on MTV music blocks.Asad - Glad To Be Of Assistancehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGVbz_bOHTshttps://www.discogs.com/Asad-Glad-To-Be-Of-Assistance/release/225096
UK duo Icarus are reminiscent of Autechre in the sense that they start out in an established music genre but turn more abstract with each new release. Below is a track from their first music album. Excellent sinister drum and bass of the Photek/Source Direct variety set to eerie visuals.Icarus - Moon Palacehttps://vimeo.com/129775027 (there used to be a good quality video of it on youtube by a guy who used to upload various MTM music videos but it seems like his channel is gone now)https://www.discogs.com/Icarus-Kamikaze/master/170044
Minimalphunk's only album compiles two earlier EP's. From what I've read on the web it was met with mixed to negative reviews upon release. A shame since while half the tracks are indeed barebones and lackluster, the other half are an interesting leftfield take on house and techno that predates contemporary lo-fi and outsider house music trends. Almost Legowelt-y even.Minimalphunk - Omniaurahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tojv79t2xoohttps://www.discogs.com/Minimalphunk-Counterbalance/master/435416
Natural Essence was a japanese trip-hop/downtempo group that included Raiden composer Go Sato.Natural Essence - Injury.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj6U9k0zoJAhttps://www.discogs.com/master/view/175527
Bentley Rhythm Ace included PWOI member Richard March and were hosted on Skint Records, home to Fatboy Slim. Their style is a mix of big beat with a more playful, plunderphonic approach to sampling.Bentley Rhythm Ace - Midlanderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRV_eHVuXWQhttps://www.discogs.com/Bentley-Rhythm-Ace-Bentley-Rhythm-Ace/master/53045
Another artist hosted on Skint was graffitti artist Ian Cassar, alias REQ. Quite possibly the most leftfield artist in the whole Skint roster, his debut album One is one (heh) of the most underappreciated releases of the 90's.Req - Subculturehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyJ4yDJClP8https://www.discogs.com/REQ-One/master/153177
Mouse on Mars needs no introduction, a cult german IDM group that used to fuse electronic dance music styles with krautrock elements. The video for their single Twift features visuals from a nonexistant (to my knowledge) low poly video game.Mouse on Mars - Twifthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAJ4OT6-5GUhttps://www.discogs.com/Mouse-On-Mars-Twift/master/15046
German IDM duo Scarcubem made an interesting blend of Autechre-esque IDM with New Wave-ish coldness. Sans one album and some compilation appearances they don't seem to have done much else.Scarcubem - First Dayhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6msrr64m3Ihttps://www.discogs.com/Scarcubem-4117-Pr%C3%A4senz/master/108226
UK techno duo LA Synthesis released one album and some singles. The video for their track Harmonic Disassembly happens to be one of my all time favorites. LA Synthesis - Harmonic Disassemblyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zi9nd5fnYUhttps://www.discogs.com/LA-Synthesis-Harmonic-Disassembly/master/11739
Babylon Zoo were a one hit wonder that achieved success with their song Spaceman after it was featured in a Levis advert. Their next singles were with diminishing success; the only available video for their third single from their debut album is in extremely poor quality and with the intro cut out, while the music videos for their second album are lost altogether - at most you can find live performances on Youtube, and half of the actual animated music video or All The Money's Gone.But enough about that ill-fated band. Below is a Goldie remix to the third single from their debut album, set to a montage from the single's music video. The tune is a quintessential example of late 90's drum and bass.Babylon Zoo - The Boy With The X-Ray Eyes (Armageddon Babylon Mix)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRZw52JW8yMhttps://www.discogs.com/Babylon-Zoo-The-Boy-With-The-X-Ray-Eyes/release/3029692
One of only two tracks by Hubris, issued on a compilation that has never ever been sold on Discogs.Hubris - Sports Casualhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SepN5Bn20SAhttps://www.discogs.com/Various-Disarmony/release/4696632
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UFEDBTejkMhttps://www.discogs.com/Curd-Duca-Elevator-2/master/118149
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIKpC_dU_KQhttps://www.discogs.com/Information-Artifacts/release/114722
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0cW-n9nAUQhttps://www.discogs.com/Readymade-F-C-Live-At-The-End/master/89651
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwZ0pKQO3vshttps://www.discogs.com/Muriel-Moreno-Required-Elements/release/206152
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NbWsz5MvbQhttps://www.discogs.com/master/view/19451
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv2KoZT9j7Ahttps://www.discogs.com/Earthling-Radar/master/60640
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydATyImh11Ehttps://www.discogs.com/Neotropic-Ultra-Freaky-Orange/master/83567
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGKXzcpgsTwhttps://www.discogs.com/Decal-Ultramack-004/release/2941
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R47EEUxOv90https://www.discogs.com/Van-Delta-Studio-Reality/release/520440
Can't seem to find neither the track nor the artist on Discogs, RYM or musicbrainz. They don't seem to exist beyond this music video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S50Ho8R8bBg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtH50Yvd9nUhttps://www.discogs.com/Peanut-Planet-Awakenings-Feelgood/master/37004
>>3I found out about Icarus not so long ago, I haven't listened to Kamikaze yet but Fijaka is pretty great.Kotai & Mo - Silencerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOJ5uTgxTk4Dave Clarke - X-Mix - Electro Boogiehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWKz7TTBPbQI-F - Secret Desirehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vICSM7a53MMQ - SushiI love this clip, unfortunately I've never found a complete videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_-u3SlYQD0
>>25Kotai is great.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY4te6TyQO8
The site for MTV Chillout Zone is just lovely.http://www.mtv-chilloutzone.com/
