5 International Bands You Haven't Heard Of But Should Listen To

It's widely believed that music has no language, and discovering new music is a wonderful thing. So I've spent two nights looking up music ranging from Japanese noisepunk to Indian classical to let you know what's actually worth listening to. 

Soapkills
Soapkills is a Lebanese duo formed in 1997 in Beirut, consisting of Zeid and Yasmine Hamdan, who have formed various other bands together and separately. The music is electro-indie jazz, with Yasmine's vocals very Arabesque cabaret. Their work, from the late 90's to their latest album released in 2008, is quite consistent, all romantic lyrics against the background music of trumpets, violins and percussions. You can find a few of their songs on their Soundcloud page.

Favorite track: Enta Fen

Alcest
Alcest began in 2000 in France as a black metal solo project by Neige, until drummer Winterhalter joined in 2009. Most of Alcest's music is more shoegaze rock than metal, in fact, the metal influences they speak of are hard to distinguish, and their music videos pretty bright. Alcest is one of the more well-known bands in this list, and if you like Opeth, you would probably like them.

Favorite tracks: Autre Temp, Les Voyages de L'Ame 

Kaizers Orchestra
The only popular non-metal Norwegian band, Tom Waits-inspired Kaizers Orchestra is almost My Chemical Romance reminiscent, while claiming to be alternative rock. The lyrics are absolutely brilliant, almost poetic ("When I was born by a doctor through his experiment/ I am a mixture of a little everything/ But there is probably no doubt that I must be half-cat"), and the music heavy with great drumming. "Six Norwegians, some guitars, a drum set, a double bass, a pump organ and several oil barrels, steel rims, trash cans and sirens. Sounds very strange at first glance, but it all fits together perfectly!" is how they describe themselves and it's pretty spot on. Irony and gas masks are kind of their thing, and they pull it off like no other. 

Favorite tracks: 170; Resistansen; Bastard; Aldri Vodka, Violeta

San Ul Lim
Long dissolved, 70's psychedelic rock band San Ul Lim (meaning "mountain echo" and also spelled Sanulrim) are like Korea's answer to The Beatles. The band is made up of three brothers playing guitar, bass and drums, with occasional organs played by their sister. Clean drumming and sharp electric guitars with catchy vocals, this band produced about twenty albums, but only a few of their songs are available on YouTube.

Favorite tracks: It Was Probably Late Summer; Frustration

Tryo
A reggae band, Tryo is probably the only French band that is popular in Southeast Asia, too. The band is made up of three guitarists and a percussionist, usually playing unplugged. The lyrics range from 'politically charged' to something that reminds you of beautiful friendships and and good times gone by. They've been around for a long time and are still just as popular, with songs about current topics, like Je Suis Charlie.

Favorite track: J'ai Trouve Des Amis

Aysha Amin's life is a struggle of meeting the unrealistically high goals she sets for herself while being too lazy to ever do anything. Contact her if you're anything but human (semi-human will do at times of desperation) at [email protected]