i thought it'd be fun to start a thread of current bands who are extremely talented(in your opinion) that are overshadowed by mainstream music. mine is the band MuteMath, the bassist and drummer have such a natural groove that it is inspiring to me. the singer and guitarist are both very talented as well.
 

 
~Taylor

the bad plus.

 
there are a lot of other better videos of them, but i love this.

I love The Bad Plus.  Fantastic stuff.

Mine would be Porcupine Tree. Strange that they still fly under the radar....
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XspR65gDRE&feature=related

I will second Porcupine Tree.  Incredible band.

Third Porcupine Tree
 
Also Spock's Beard and of course, Marillion

I would add Cynic to the list as well. These guys are tight! Listen to Textures below.
 

NRBQ - whoever they are these days... whoever's been in the band over the years, they've always been great fun.

Hmmm ... I'm probably bending the definition of current a good bit, and maybe even the definition of band, but I was watching this video a couple nights ago and thought it might be at least a little bit appropriate for this thread.  It does meet some of the other criteria; for instance extremely talented - check; not in the mainstream - check.  The band is Shakti, and the is from 1999.
 
But probably something much more in line with what you're looking for, and what I think many of you will love, is , here doing a really cool cover of Fly Like an Eagle.  Garaj Mahal features extremely talented and very well known bass player Kai Eckhardt and guitar player Fareed Haque.  Enjoy!

P-Tree for me too. Saw them on their last mini tour in San Francisco. We got there early, and I was huggin' the stage. Not the best for sound, but a great place to see them play.

MuteMath was pretty cool - you would probably also like Ozric Tentacles - spacey groove prog rock - no vocals though.
 
And I second the Porcupine Tree, Garaj Mahal, and Marillion (our daughter is named Kayleigh BTW)
 
A couple more bands that are somewhat under the radar include Dejam Karet, Boud Deun, Tunnels (w/ Percy Jones on bass), Transatlantic (a new find for me), Agustin Barreto, Doug Johns, Jazz Pistols, and Niacin.  
 
All of these bands were found via Pandora Radio www.pandora.com   Just start a radio station with a favorite artist and it will pick songs/bands that are similar - if it goes the wrong direction, just click the don't like button.  A good example is Genesis - it can go prog-rock or pop girly-crap (due to Phil's later stuff).  Awesome resource.
 
Plus - I have found some cool stuff via the Alembic Club - this one in particular.  I need to get some of the CDs that Joeri is on    http://www.joerihommerson.com/
 
And here's a local legend - Stan Lassiter - fastest fingers I have ever seen.  Pretty low key guy.     Make sure to check out part 2 - he rips it up an violin.  We used to see him play when was 18-24 (1982-1988) and it was a definite treat.  Enjoy!
 
Keep this thread alive - I'm going to check out all the recommendations.
 
Stephen

Self-deleted inadvertent dupe.
 
(Message edited by hifiguy on May 04, 2011)

Nice catch on the Ozrics.  Love 'em and have about 10 of their recordings.  Ed Wynne is an incredible guitarist.  Very much in the space fusion with trippy synths mode of the great Gong (not the Pierre Moerlen-led version, but the Daevid Allen/Steve Hillage crew).

Guys,
may I take the opportunity to present you my own?
Plse take a look and hear at:
 
www.martigan.com
 
Let me know what you think...
Greetz
Oliver (Spyderman)

Some good suggestions - recently started listening to the Bad Plus and Porcupine Tree. Still want to see Garaj Mahal.
 
Here's one of my all-time favorite bands - still going strong, though they never really hit the big time - King's X!  
 
then and now