The Legendary Pink Dots

The Legendary Pink Dots (aka LPD) are a band that started out with an experimental edge in 1981, creating music that never fit into any category other than a catchall "post-punk" designation, which is still where they are today. The partnership between the two principals, vocalist Edward Ka-Spel and keyboardist Phil Knight has been highly prolific, leading to a remarkable catalog. Their music tends to be fairly melodic at its core, but never quite pop.  They have a somewhat theatrical flair, not unlike The Residents, plus an affinity towards krautrock, and a sense of sonic and textural adventurousness they share with bands like Throbbing Gristle and Einstürzende Neubauten, except for the noise or the abrasiveness, at least for the most part. They have a fascinating body of work, not all of which is available in the regular LP/CD format. A good number of albums were released as cassettes only, or CD-Rs, or in download media only.