Willful Obscurity: It's for Suckas
Most people who know me like to give me trouble sometimes about the truly obscure junk in my music collection, and how I'm always drawn to movies and music that nobody has ever heard of, or are publicly unavailable, etc. As an example, I've been interested in the band Devil Doll for a long time. They're an Italian/Slovenian/Mystery project fronted by a man with the pseudonym "Mr. Doctor". Their music is kind of interesting, if a little frustrating: Mr. Doctor doesn't exactly sing, but kind of speak-sings in that avant-garde German opera sort of way. The band's music is fairly gothic, progressive, and orchestral, with opera singers and a rock band in the background playing a riff here or there, with plenty of ambient interludes featuring Mr Doctor's theatrical ramblings. They tend to start really great passages, then pull away from them, but they definitely have their moments.
What's really been a pain, however, is that the band relishes their obscurity like it's some kind of badge. Mr. Doctor has printed under 1000 copies of most his records, usually on vinyl and distributed to their dedicated fan club (I have no idea how this elite group became fans in the first place). Their debut, for example, was first printed in a run of 500, 130 of which were distributed to fans at a concert, the rest of which were burned afterwards. If that wasn't enough, their REAL debut, published the previous year, had a very limited run of ONE, which Mr. Doctor keeps in a vault somewhere. I hate shit like this because, while it makes a great story, means that for years I was intrigued by the band, but gave up on ever really hearing them. Thankfully, this kind of nonsense is obsolete due to the internet. A quick 10 minute search of "devil doll discography torrent" allowed me to download their complete recorded works within an hour. Problem solved!
Devil Doll are actually kind of interesting, though their songs are usually an hour or longer (their 20 minute compositions are practically singles) meaning that linking to them on YouTube is pointless. If you are interested, then you probably want to devour all of their records, like me. And thankfully, now you can (without trolling Italian used record shops). They're not as mind-blowing as my boys in Mr Bungle, but they're still pretty unique.
What's really been a pain, however, is that the band relishes their obscurity like it's some kind of badge. Mr. Doctor has printed under 1000 copies of most his records, usually on vinyl and distributed to their dedicated fan club (I have no idea how this elite group became fans in the first place). Their debut, for example, was first printed in a run of 500, 130 of which were distributed to fans at a concert, the rest of which were burned afterwards. If that wasn't enough, their REAL debut, published the previous year, had a very limited run of ONE, which Mr. Doctor keeps in a vault somewhere. I hate shit like this because, while it makes a great story, means that for years I was intrigued by the band, but gave up on ever really hearing them. Thankfully, this kind of nonsense is obsolete due to the internet. A quick 10 minute search of "devil doll discography torrent" allowed me to download their complete recorded works within an hour. Problem solved!
Devil Doll are actually kind of interesting, though their songs are usually an hour or longer (their 20 minute compositions are practically singles) meaning that linking to them on YouTube is pointless. If you are interested, then you probably want to devour all of their records, like me. And thankfully, now you can (without trolling Italian used record shops). They're not as mind-blowing as my boys in Mr Bungle, but they're still pretty unique.