I'm really confused by what point you're trying to make, toilet and bowels. There is a LOT of noise bands in Michigan, moreso than most other states I've noticed. That's ALL I'm saying. There's really no reason to debate this, I'm simply stating that there's a ton of noise bands/shows/a big scene there, it doesn't matter if every band releases 1 copy of every release. I've just noticed a huge influx of noise bands that are from Michigan.
Also, the "obscure" is a synonym for "unknown", right? If you bring up Animal Collective to 100 people, I bet you at least 3-8% have heard of if not heard Animal Collective because of their exposure on television. That doesn't seem like a lot -- but it's certainly not UNKNOWN. Animal Collective are extremely popular and getting more and more popular... again look at the last.fm play count/listeners if you don't believe me (and take into account that probably 3 times that many people actually listen to Animal collective that don't have last.fm players). Also note, unlike what someone said earlier (that people will hear 2 seconds and turn it off), I'm almost 100% positive last.fm only counts plays if you play the ENTIRE song (or most of it) all the way through. Anyway, my point is, someone said Animal Collective are "obscure" -- to even be mentioned in something like ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY or to be on CONAN O BRIEN means you're not obscure anymore. Why bother arguing with that? It doesn't matter if people ignored them or didn't like them -- they still saw them. I just don't understand people's definitions of obscurity on here: It's like saying Zappa -- for lack of a better example right now -- is obscure because he doesn't have a platinum record or something...
EVERYBODY knows Zappa.
Anyway, off topic, and I don't think I have anything left to add here, but:
http://www.last.fm/user/AleXX%5Bjournals.ru%5D/
This guy sure does love Radiohead!