Best of the artist-variation artists

[Darkness_Fish]

Catchy title, huh?

Joanna Gruesome


Joy Orbison


Duran Duran Duran


Wevie Stonder


Gringo Starr


Kylie Minoise


John Cougar Concentration Camp


Heorge Garrison

[Penk!]

You missed Com Truise.

[Goat Boy]

I could never listen to any artist who did this.

[Darkness_Fish]

Bah Humfuck.

[Darkness_Fish]

You missed Com Truise.

All based on musicians, not actors, ya see. Had to draw the line somewhere. I was going to include Iron Curtis, but I'm not sure if that is an Iron Curtain or Ian Curtis reference.

And I nearly included Donna Summer, but he didn't even bother changing a letter of the name.

[Penk!]

[Penk!]

There’s Danananaykroyd too.

And Whitey Houston.

Why is it such a ”thing”?

[Dayodead]

Went with Joanna Gruesome and Heorge Garrison as far as songs went, but the best name might be Jon Cougar Concentration Camp.

[pcqgod]

[Penk!]

Joanna Gruesome
I enjoyed this one, tough and scuzzy but melodic. The name is a bit of a mundane pun, and doesn't suit the catchy and agreeable music.
Song: 8/10
Name: 5/10

Joy Orbison
I already knew and liked this one, it was quite the underground hit a few years ago. A decent mix of dubstep and clubby house, with nice bass and dynamics, though it goes on a bit longer than necessary given the lack of development.
I think he was also one of the first people to do this punny name thing, and he came up with one that, though not that creative, is pretty well suited to his style.
Song: 7/10
Name: 7/10

Duran Duran Duran
Drum'n'bass is rubbish. This tries to mix drum'n'bass with glitchy techno. It's still rubbish. And the name was probably amusing down the pub after a few years, but they must be annoyed about getting stuck with it.
Song: 3/10
Name: 3/10

Wevie Stonder
This cut-up stuff was all the rage about ten years ago. Onetime BCB Clique the Earnest Post-Rock Brigade - long-since vanquished in a side battle of the Prog Wars, and now mostly departed - used to listen to it. Nobody else did. Because it was mostly shite.
The name is also shite. They've taken the basic "switch the initials" idea without doing it in a funny or clever way.
Song: 2/10
Name: 2/10

Gringo Star
See this is how to do the name puns: simple, but with a meaning that tells you something about the artist. Or at least I thought it did, as the name "Gringo Star" suggested some kind of Latino counterculture maverick, a flamboyant genrehopping singer-songwriter-producer-model-actor type, like Beck but way cooler.
Instead it's stodgy indie circa 2003.
Song: 3/10
Name: 8/10

Kylie Minoise
OK I get from the name that you do "noise" stuff. But why bring Kyle into it? What's the point? It's not even a good pun.
I find it hard to judge this kind of music. I can dig some of the more abstract and challenging end of IDM, I can get with Tim Hecker or Fennesz, I appreciate the beauty and fascination of sound, but this is too out-there for me. I don't really know what people get out of ninety seconds of white noise followed by ten of a badly-recorded loop of a simple riff.
Song: 1/10
Name: 1/10

John Cougar Concentration Camp
I'm sure the name is quite offensive really, but I find it quite amusing and it's more imaginative than most of the others. The song is badly-sung neo-punk of the sort I might have listened to for a week or so when I was 15 and a friend had bought the album, then quietly forgotten.
Song: 3/10
Name: 7/10

Heorge Garrison
Reasonable skittery IDM effort with acid bass. Listenable if not exactly mindblowing. Nice spooky breakdown in the middle. The name is another half-arsed initial switch.
Song: 6/10
Name: 3/10

[Darkness_Fish]

I actually really like that Wevie Stonder album, it's half-arsed, crap, and puerile, but there are bits which crack me up for some reason. The over-the-top DJ voice on "Glidstep" is a killer. Not the sort of thing you'd sit down to and contemplate in a sober fashion, mind.

The thing that gets me about a lot of this initial-switching malarky is that a lot of the 'artists' seem to be coming from the breakcore scene, where you know 90% of the people are complete chancers. And they seem to run with that, it's almost like they're trying to emphasise how half-arsed and shitty they really are, they're reclaiming chancer-dom for themselves. Which I guess is positive...

Joy Orbison and Joanna Gruesome are clearly the better acts out of all that lot though. I've nearly bought something from either quite frequently, before ultimately being put off by the name.

[Tom Waits For No One]

Ringo Deathstarr

[Sneelock]

what's in a name?
I'm not in the mood to watch videos so I voted strictly by name appeal.
Duran Duran Duran & John Cougar Concentration Camp.

[Darkness_Fish]

In the newly discovered and might actually be quite good camp, we have Lana Del Rabies

https://deathbombarc.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-world

[George P. Smackers]

Making fun of JCM's name was maybe a bit played by the time that group appeared.

Butt-head: This dude dances like John Cougar Mallomar. Beavis: Yeah. But he doesn't suck as much. Butt-head: Yeah. John Cougar Melon Balls really sucks! Beavis: Yeah. John Cougar Military Camp.