Seapony are what make music. Spector soul with a lot of dreamy spice.
Band of the Day (5.23.11) Seapony
There was a time last year where all we could talk about at NBD was the power of Tennis. The married Denver couple that sailed the high seas of the Atlantic, wrote amazing songs about inlets and seaports and then crushed it with a fantastic record. We missed that series of knock-offs, that usually follow successful indie trends. Days, months and almost a year went by before we heard a knock-off or at least a band that sounded similarly good. Seapony does the dreamy, female led 50′s pop that made 2010 a great music year. Seapony does that Phil Spector sound so well, you almost forget that you’re listening to contemporary music. The Seattle trio, give us one of our favorite tracks of 2011…so far. You’ll be getting this in your email box if you a fan on Facebook. The album releases on 5/31…pre-order it here. By the way we love them even more for their midwestern roots..Oklahoma and of course Lawrence, KS home to our Music Muse.
Vitals:
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Members: Seapony is songwriter Danny Rowland, singer Jen Weidl, and bass player Ian Brewer
Sonic Soulmates: La Sera, Tennis, Eternal Summers, Emily Haines
Trackables:
“Always” – My fave from these lads…one of our 5 for 11.
“With You” – Tennis served well in 2011. Good solid Spector 50′s pop track
Authentic pure quality sound of 60's bubblegum love pop - Chalk and Numbers
Band of the Day (1.31.11) Chalk and Numbers
Well you all are familiar with Tennis from our 2010 Hummingbird awards? Right? I used “Y’all because I am catching a connecting flight in Dallas right now. Well, the 60s pop XX/XY duo was a hot thingy in 2010. Many bands attempted it, many failed. Tennis succeeded because it captured the finest of The Walkmen, griity, somber rock guitar with what amounts to a perfect set of female vocals. Chalk and Numbers is even more of the 60′s bubblegum pop. Yeah 2010 was the year of it, but 2011 is the year others perfect it. Hell there were many many MP3 players before the iPod. It just took Apple to make the best one, with the content store…Chalk and Numbers are authentic and if you added some pop and crackle, you’d swear it was a 45 from 1963. I’m not equating Chalk and Numbers to Apple, but I am comparing them to Tennis. I think they’ve nailed the sound and the tamborines just close the deal for me. I’m sold. Hell it’s fun music, so enjoy it and let Chalk and Numbers know you love em too. Got the band tip from these “new to the scene” chaps from @_DeadJournalist on Twitter…Muchas Gracias. Find him here
Vitals
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Members: Sable Yong and Andrew Pierce
Sonic Soulmates: Spectoresque, The Shangri-Las, Tennis, Jenny and Johnny, Fitz and the Tantrums
Must hear tracks: “Here With Eachother” – It’s The Byrds with a little Tennis and whole lot of 60′s bubblegum love all over it.
“I Really Want to Work This Out” – Just so good.
Grab their new EP at BandCamp for free or a small price!
Widowspeak's mesmerizing vocals and simple riffs lull you into obsession
Band of the Day (1.6.10) Widowspeak
Is it Widow’s Peak or Widow Speak or Widowspeak, amazing how one space makes such a difference. The third version is my favorite, Widowspeak is a band of slow grind female led dreary rockers from Brooklyn, NY. Their music belongs in the 60′s with dream space vocals layered by a single amplified guitar. Garage rock with an air of creepy Misfits guitar strumming. Love hearing EPs from bands that have the sound, but not the overproduction. Get these cats in a studio and they’ll crush it. Your chance to hear em first and own em. Grab their EP from BandCamp below. Maybe I’m just obsessed with Cape Dory from Tennis, but I can’t help but play these tracks on repeat.
Vitals:
Hometown: Chicago, IL or Tacoma, WA or Brooklyn, NY
Members: Molly Hamilton, Michael Stasiak, Robert Thomas
Sonic Soulmates: Cloud Nothings, Eternal Summers, Mazzy Star
Must Hear Tracks:
“Harsh Realm” – so simple, but yet incredibly effective. She frightens me.
“Burnout” – The night is over, your bed is spinning and you need sleep, put on “Burnout”
Just in the nick of time, Music Muse sent us her favorite Top 20 songs from 2010. She’s been our inspiration all year long and she’s been reading and following since Day One! We love her and we love her picks.
Top 20 Tracks of 2010
20. Miniature Tigers – “Goldskull”
19. The Mynabirds – “Let the Record Go”
18. Tennis – “Marathon”
17. Cocoon – “Hummingbird”
16. Lost in the Trees – “A Walk Around the Lake”
15. Ferraby Lionheart – “Harry and Bess”
14. PS I love You – “Facelove”
13. Breathe Owl Breathe – Swimming
12. Adam Kesher – Hour of the Wolf
11. The Fresh & Onlys – Waterfall
10. Foreign Born – Early Warnings
9. Chief – In the Valley
8. Slow club – Giving Up on Love
7. Harlem – Someday Soon
6. The Tallest Man on Earth – King of Spain
5. Morning Benders – Excuses
4. Real Estate – Beach Comber
3. Chappo – Come Home
2. Dark Dark Dark – In Your Dreams
1. Efterklang – Modern Drift
I know these are too mainstream for NBD, but these were two of my favorite tracks of 2010:
Broken Social Scene – “Ungrateful Little Father”
Black Keys – “Everlasting Light” – Umm this was a VERY IMPORTANT Song for us in 2010
Read our Music Excavators Picks:
Editor Gems (Albums)
Editor Gems (Songs)
Arizona Turk Gems (Albums)
Arizona Turk Gems (Songs)
Music Muse Gems (Songs)
Best New Bands of 2010 Hummingbird Award: #13 Tennis
They’re the husband and wife, Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, duo from Denver, CO. They bought a boat, sailed the Atlantic Coast and wrote beautiful songs. They define our XX/XY duos. It’s Hemingway meets Buffet, meets Vampire Weekend, meets 50′s bubblegum pop. I love the blend of the organ and her eerily timeless vocals. They are so fantastic and the more songs we hear, the more we know they will be bigger than big.
Vitals:
Hometown: Denver, CO
Members: Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore
Sonic Soulmates: The xx, Vampire Weekend, Dusty Springfield
Track of the Year:
“Marathon”
“Marathon” challenges the time warp and forces us back 50 years ago, where one enjoyed the lovely optimism of America. Alaina’s voice is up there with the best of the them, but when it’s coupled with Riley’s organ, you have to wonder if on that boat they weren’t listening to some Doors. Enjoy. It’s hard to imagine that these two originated from The Rockies and not from Brooklyn post NYU film school.
BOD (6.29.10) Tennis – The husband wife duo Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, no not the former Laker coach, but the lead captain of this brilliant masterpiece of a band. The two decided to test their newly formed union, packed their duffles, left Denver, bought a boat and sailed the high seas of the North Atlantic. As their bond solidified, they discovered that a musical journal of their journey would be both hip and interesting. This travelogue is for our enjoyment and listening pleasure. It’s a Hemingway meets Buffet, meets Vampire Weekend, meets 50′s bubblegum pop. I love the blend of the organ and her eerily timeless vocals.
This impossible to Google band finds itself with only a lone MySpace page. visit it
The Arizona Turk is one the primary contributors to New.Band.Day. He’s been a fixture since 2010 and his picks are ahhhhmazing. They may seem confusingly unfamiliar, but that’s why we love him. His picks sound odd today, but if you look back over the past several years, you’ll notice that those bands are just now […]
She is our #1 Band Crush of 2012. Hands down a well deserved Hummingbird. After 3 years and four LPs she’s taken artist sensibility and created a wonderful record.
Don’t deprive yourself of Jessie because she may have crested to the mainstream. Just don’t be that guy…enjoy Jessie for the fact that she is one of the best new artists of 2012.
The Perfect Playlist for the End of Times. That’s right you Top 10 Doomsday Delights all compiled and ready to gooooooo!!! Now enjoy your final 39 days.
UNCORKED™ – Best New Bands of 2012 (10.22.12) GRMLN Lo-fi, still living in his parent’s basement and he’s only a Sophomore at UC Santa Cruz. Isn’t that the school where you have clothing optional Wednesday’s? None-the-less it’s a great segue to the stripped down sounds of GRMLN. It’s lo-fi, single guitar, vocals, electronic backing. Think […]
The Perfect Playlist for the End of Times. That’s right you Top 10 Doomsday Delights all compiled and ready to gooooooo!!! Now enjoy your final 39 days.
Three new nectarly fresh records to listen to…in their entirety. Don’t be a song slut, please listen to what they recorded. Do you just eat filling in the Oreo? I didn’t think so.
STAFF PICKS – Our own Arizona Turk finally put pen to paper and sent us his 2011 GEM list stuffed with reverb, sonic soundwaves and spacey dreams. My mind is a whirl with all this great stuff. Read his list, like the bands on Facebook and listen to his playlist on Spotify. There are some real GEMS in here….Top 10 Bands, Tracks and Albums of 2011.
No other band put a dent in our 2011 universe, then Other Lives. They are big now, but even back in May of 2011, the band was still small. Now they’re touring with Radiohead and they are so deserving of our #1 Hummingbird Award for 2011. Get the album, tell your friends you’ve been listening since early 2011, and make them your new favorite band of 2011 and for all-time.
We don’t care that everyone knows who they are…they deserve to be voted onto the list of Hummingbird Award Winners. Listen and enjoy what everyone in The UK loves. They are better than any rock band since…The Strokes.
I love you, I hate you, I love you again, don’t leave me…please. That’s how we feel about our 4th Best New Band of 2011. EMA is Amazing and we want you to love her as well.
Age ain’t nuthin but a number. That’s right this 64 year-old soulman brings electrifying emotion to our ears. His Daptone Record is quality and well deserving of the Hummingbird.
Best New Bands of 2010 Hummingbird Award: #1 The Tallest Man on Earth
He is the reason why I love music, why I love to share music, why we endure the crap…he is the gem that was excavated one Winter morning back in February, and now he is THE MOST IMPORTANT NEW ARTIST OF 2010. Thank you Kristian for making and creating.
Best New Bands of 2010 Hummingbird Award: #2 The Pomegranates
Fuzzy Cincinnati, Ohio surf rockers bring a fantastic new album to 2010. I think these guys have just enough quirk to break-thru. They’ve been grinders on the road and with 3 LPs and a few EPs, they deserve the accolades. Love them and so will you! Hear two new tracks now a grab the Daytrotter session NOW! They DESERVE THE HUMMINGBIRD!!!
Best New Bands of 2010 Hummingbird Award: #3 The Radio Dept.
They were voted #1 in our mid-year Best of 2010 list. They are perfection in motion, they’re Pet Shop Boys sounds are a new way to make the [Second] Wave worth it’s rise. The Radio Dept. has an amazing album and will make our final three Best Albums of 2010, posted later this week. We love The Radio Dept. and we know you will!
Best New Bands of 2010 Hummingbird Award: #4 Chapel Club
Chapel Club is Morrissey trapped in a Interpol video. They destroy the stereotypes of the Second [New] Wave, and make it fun to listen to again. They mix The Smiths, Interpol, My Vitriol, Glenn Danzig and Joy Division all into one. The single “The Shore” is brilliant and we are thankful that the Arizona Turk pulled an all-nighter to find this gem. Merry Christmas
Best New Bands of 2010 Hummingbird Award: #5 Jim Jones Revue
Seriously the Best Band of 2010 and they’re only #5…WOW, this is much harder than I thought it would be. They’re Little Richard, The Misfits and Jerry Lee Lewis all wrapped up in an angry little package. I love em soo much, I hope this endorsement gets you to listen. Listen to 2 new tracks.
This is the final post of 2010. The Top 10 Albums from Me the Editor. Damn it’s been a great year musically. If you said this year in music sucked, then you weren’t listening or reading. If you have a friend and you’re a friend then pass along NewBandDay.com to them. It’ll be their New Years Resolution, or yours if you’re looking to be a better friend. The albums are here. So go download them…NOW! See you next year.
