Music

3 Artists I Overestimated

…or expected to become bigger

Don’t get me wrong: I greatly value the artists I mention in this article. It’s just that I have a knack for being wrong in predicting an artist will make it big.

There’s no real logic to the artists here. I recently discovered a great new singer. I love everything about her. If my fortune-telling skills are reliably off, I fear that she might fade into obscurity, despite the attention she is getting from the media. That’s an article for the future, though. Now, I will focus on the past.

This article includes links to Youtube videos. Some of them link to the more obscure or alternate versions of the songs. Use the Spotify-playlist with regular versions at the end of this article to listen while reading.

Little Boots

When she was just YouTubing herself into stardom, I had followed Little Boots’ FUN TIMES with a lot of pleasure. She made fun little covers in her own unique style of a silky voice with electronic backings. I was especially fond of her covers using a Tenori-on.

When she announced she got signed to create an album, I was thrilled. I was especially pumped that Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard helped produce it. I immediately pre-ordered the exclusive bundle of the upcoming album Hands. When I finally received it, I handled the galactic speckled 12-inch vinyl with extra care. Surely such a limited edition was going to be worth a fortune someday. And I would have it on my wall!

To be fair, I was greatly disappointed by the album. The tracks somehow didn’t feel like the artist I had grown to love. Remedy and Stuck on repeat (notice the similarity to Hot Chip’s Over and Over?) are great. Still, I have not given the vinyl a place of honour on my walls.

She has some new material out, but I haven’t checked it since 2010. So much for an artist I had claimed to become the next Madonna.

Starsailor

What a poor misguided fool I was. Back in 2000, I was so certain that this British band would dominate the music industry for times to come.

I was looking for another you And I found another one I was looking for another you When I looked round you were gone

— Excerpt from Alcoholic by Starsailor

I did find another band at the time. I gave both Starsailor and this other British band equal airtime. My guess was that Starsailor would become the bigger of the two. The other one was… Coldplay.

I don’t really want to think about it. At the time I was a student. I spent all the money I could spare on music. It is very well possible I have passed on an opportunity to buy the EP The Blue Room back then. Being an early follower, chances are that I’d obtained one of the first pressings. Only 5000 copies have been made. Now that would be something on the wall!

Sometimes I do still play Starsailor’s album Love Is Here. I didn’t quite get into their later Silence is Easy. Their later albums? I skipped them altogether.

I am surprised that Four to the Floor is their most popular song. I’ll admit it is catchy, but there is nothing much to it. Alcoholic, however, is a song that I will definitively include in my top 50 songs of all time.

Robert DeLong

It is an absolute pleasure to see Robert DeLong perform. He is surrounded by instruments. I am mesmerized by his ability to manipulate that many instruments outside of a forgiving studio:

Robert creates his own peripherals for his setup. It’s not just the pebble-filled tin at the start of the video, but also the modified joystick at the 3:25-mark. It is clear that DeLong has a background in percussion. It makes watching him all the more enjoyable. And he does some things with his drum kit I can’t get enough of. From the 5:00-minute mark, you see him banging his sticks on a sample of his own singing. Maybe this is his signature effect? Once you know what to listen for, you notice this percussional madness on a lot of his songs.

According to Wikipedia, Robert DeLong last published an album in 2018. His album Just Movement has been on my running playlist well after that. His electronic beats are timeless. I hope more people discover his work before he fades into obscurity. He deserves it.

Sadly, there are a number of artists I could have included in this article. For the sake of brevity, I have not included them. Maybe next time, ok? I hoped you enjoyed my nostalgic ramblings. Let me know in the comments. And do let me know if you were familiar with these artists! It’s always nice to know if you’re surrounded by people with great taste.

Hoping not to insult anyone, I’ll do a confession about my own tastes: I enjoy Atari Teenage Riot’s early work. A lot! I’ll refrain from adding this to the playlist to spare readers with sensitive ears. I won’t promise not to write about them, however. Overdue update: I did