Fallen Through the Cracks: Caravan to Chain Gang

A number of the artists unearthed below remind me that, long before I lived here, New York City was apparently a really exciting place to hear music. And some of the other artists unearthed below remind me that other places could be pretty cool too sometimes.

Caravan: '70s British proggers and Soft Machine cousins from Canterbury, with not-entirely-nerdy folk and jazz proclivities. Fun fact: not averse to silly titles about flying pigs, cunning stunts, golf girls and doing "it" all over you. Recommended: All Over You

Caroliner Rainbow: Certifiably insane San Francisco avant-skillet-licking psycho-roots wackos who've put out countless homemade-looking albums under random variations of their name since the mid '80s. Fun fact: among the disturbingly large Caroliner pile in this writer's apartment is one album inside sloppily hand-stencil-painted brown-box cardboard glued to a Segovia LP cover. Recommended: "Epic of the Well-Meaning and the Thick"

Joe "King" Carrasco: Farfisa-fond and accordion-addicted Tex-Mex bandleader stuck a crown on his head, made fast border polkas doused in Tabasco sauce briefly trendy among early '80s NYC hepsters. Fun fact: back of his best LP includes an advertisement for albums by such imaginary groups as Devadip Joseph Carrasco and the Alternate Consciousness Orchestra, the Divine Mr. C, and Ziggy Carrasco and the Gay Guys from Outer Space. Recommended: "Mescal Road," "Tell Me," Tales From the Crypt

Jim Carroll Band: NYC teen-beat (ha ha) poet with two good guitars fortunately backing him up hit rock radio (but not the Hot 100) in 1980 with an unforgettable novelty rap about his dead homiez; later inspired a Leonardo Dicaprio movie. Fun fact: Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug on 26 reds and a bottle of wine. Recommended: Catholic Boy

Jimmy Castor Bunch: Oft-sampled NYC former doo-wopper spent his '70s merging funk, soul, Latin bugalu and Hendrix metal better than anybody else in the history of the known universe. Fun fact: not averse to silly titles about troglodytes, anthropoids, King Kong, Southern fried frijoles and the creature from the black lagoon being Leroy's father. Highly recommmended: "The Bertha Butt Boogie," "Hey Leroy," 16 Slabs of Funk

Nick Castro & the Poison Tree: Not bad for freak-folk elves -- especially ones from L.A. Fun fact: instruments include cello, lap dulcimer, flugelhorn, dumbek, mijwiz and whistles. Recommended: Further From Grace

C-Bank: Glass-shattering electronic post-disco club entity proved some sort of historical missing link between electro-rap (in their early John Robie period) and house music and freestyle (in later phases produced by David Cole and less famous people). Fun fact: their best singer was Jenny Burton, whose own "Remember What You Like" also sounds extremely chaotic for a dance record. Highly recommended: "One More Shot"

Certain General: C-level early '80s NYC new wavers were often proggier and more psychedelic than the post-no-wave-norm, occasionally to their aesthetic advantage. Fun fact: set out to be a "pop version of the Contortions." Recommended: Holiday of Love

Chain Gang: Lost in time and space between Son of Sam and the Tompkins Square riots, unusually brainy NYC street punks threaten Ritz bouncers and drug czars while broadcasting doomsday warnings of coming gentrification through radio static reconfigured as Jamaican dub. Fun fact: back of their CD cover offers a "$1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction and/or execution of state police/security guards guilty of murdering rock fans at the Meadowlands." Highly recommended: Perfumed