Abney Park

Steampunk. That is the genre name that Abney Park prefers these days. A label usually reserved for steam engine era "future" technology, it fits Abney Park's mixture of industrial dance beats and turn-of-the-previous-century orchestral instrumentation. With a bit of 90s goth and world music influences thrown in for good measure. What might end up being an unfocused mess in the hands of lesser musicians is held together perfectly by Robert Brown's vocal and the rest of the "crew." Though they've been around for a decade (and are probably not-so-obscure in some circles), Abney Park continues to become solid contiguous whole.

Abney Park offers quite a few songs for free via their Vault.

From their 2000 release Cemetery Number 1, this is "The Wake":


This year's "Airship Pirate" off of Lost Horizons:


And, better than anything you'll hear at the mall this month, "Little Drummer Boy" from Dark Christmass:


Four of Abney Park's albums are currently available from Amazon.com in both CD and digital form and in CD form off their website. Cemetery Number 1, Twisted & Broken (a remix album) and Dark Christmass are available through Vault access. I've purchased Vault access in the past and have found the band to be great to do business with.

Update (before I even post):
Dark Christmass is being offered for a limited time as a separate download!