Paris boys bring heavy loaded dance music with quick guitars, synths and a drum beat to get your arse moving. Since 2004 they’ve matured, think Bloc Party meets Muse. I’d be shocked if these guys are the top of the Must Hear list for 2010. As much as I loved Bloc Party’s first record, it’s about as much I like these dudes. Listen to the attached track and let us know what you think. This will be your new favorite band, it’s my favorite new music of the day!
Paper Crows is the London synth duo Emma Panas and Duncan McDougall. They’re a mix of Kate Bush, a bolder XX and Portishead. I’ve got the only three tracks I can find on every playlist. They met at music college in Killburn and they started recording in hidden session in Duncan’s bedroom. If this is what they create hidden in a loft, what will we get with a studio recording?
They’re current tagline….
Stop. Revive. Survive. I’ll add Repeat.
They are really one of the best new bands hitting. I can’t believe they only have three tracks.
Hear:
“Stand Alight” – I posted the SoundCloud tracks because the original is sooooo good. Please listen.
I recognize that she’s famous for covering probably one of the greatest rock songs of all time. I recognize that her latest album came out in September 2009. I also recognize that the music industry is a bitch to crack, so I want to refresh all of our memories as to why Taken By Trees is so special. Taken by Trees is Swede, Victoria Bergsman, the former lead singer for the Concretes. She’s recruited bandmates from as far as Pakistan, she’s worked with fellow Swedes Bjorn Yttling and John Eriksson (of Peter Bjorn and John), and her soft supple voice carries the mandolin, zither, guitars, strings or all of them together. The complicated world sounds are perfected and simplified with Victoria’s perfect vocals. Buy her record, tell her you love her and truly make her YOUR NEW FAVORITE BAND!
Hear:
“Greyest Love of All” – I think this might be a nominee for my favorite song of the year.
“My Boys” Yep that’s right, it’s the fantastic Animal Collective song sounding even better with a Jamaican island influence and Victoria’s perfect voice.
Garage folk and a little bit of backwoods punk best describes the boys of The Goodnight Loving. GNL have been tackling the basements of Milwaukee and other parts of Wisconsin for almost eight years and with a few LPs, several EPs and a 7″ or two, the band is ready to break. Their new album The Goodnight Loving Supper Club was released in July of this year and it’s splendid. What made the band famous was their Trampled By Turtles live show style, ripping up the floor and bringing the house down. Supper Club shows they’ve matured, it’s not a “keg and a studio” record, it’s well crafted with intelligent lyrics and a giant wall of garage folk sound. Thank you James, Ross, Paul and Jerome for great music.
Hear something from their new album and my favorite classic track
“The Pan” – I think it’s a punk folk version of “This Time” by Inxs, but you be the judge.
“Dead Fish on The Bank” – The Replacements with a banjo.
Glasser is LA based Cameron Mesirow (with help from her boyfriend Foreign Born’s vocalist Matt Popieluch). She has a knack for layering world sounds under her Bjork pitch. She’s more than just a voice, she writes, creates and is the embodiment of her music. Even the name Glasser, came from a midnight vision of a figure hovering over water. Her music isn’t heart-wrenching, it’s big, bold and complex. The only comparison I can make is that of Bjork or Emily Haines maybe sometimes I hear a little Kate Bus. I hope you enjoy “Home” and “Apply” please follow her before she becomes too famous.
Hear:
“Home”
“Apply” – I even hear a bit of Siouxsie Sioux in this track
Still Corners remind me of the early 80’s 4AD artists like Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance. First off, the vocals are angelic, dual harmonies create the rebirth of dream-pop queen Elizabeth Fraser. Fraser was a master of floating lyrics that grabbed your heartstrings without saying a thing. I don’t know what language she sang in, but it was the effortless airy vocals that made you cry every time. Fraser could sing my shopping list at the grocery store and I would cry. Still Corners is a special creation. Their dreamy London sound is made to break your heart. Enjoy two tracks and please please please download their new EP from BandCamp.
Hear: I posted two magnificent tracks, but if I were to suggest their best song…grab “Wish” here. It’s Swell Season meets The Cranberries, meets Elizabeth Fraser in 1:40 of perfection.
“Don’t Fall In Love” – Because break-ups are awful…maybe this track is a cool pillow to fall on when your heart is broken.
“Endless Summer” – The song that will make them famous.
Two albums, one EP, a stint as the lead of Telecast, an onstage call-out by Jon Brion and Ferraby Lionheart is finally about to break. It’s taken seven years for this Nashville native heartbreaker to reach the “I’m About to Break” stage of his career, but oh how lucky we are to get a chance to hear him as he’s on the rise. His new album The Jack of Hearts has been well received by the Indie press. He’s since moved to LA so I have a sense that in two years, he’ll be doing duets with Emmylou Harris, touring the Grand Ole Opry and on the “A” stage of every summer festival. I’m just glad I found him before it was too late. His sonic similarity lie somewhere between Rufus Wainwright and Travis, with a drop of Morrissey. His arrangements are borderline 50’s crooner with a mix of John Lennon tambourine/drum strokes. See him on tour with the Watson Twins.
Hear:
“Arkansas” – It’s the tragic 50’s song, kid travels back home to find his kin only to discover Dad is locked up. His voice is amazing here and I love the harmonies.
Download Three Tracks via Daytrotter for FREE! If you don’t know of Daytrotter…they rule. Great sessions of some great NBD artists.
Lafayette, CO is not the original home of South Park, no it’s the official birthplace of your new favorite band Gauntlet Hair. Andy R. and Craig Nice, who began making music together when they were 15, seem to have found a groove and we are so very lucky to be able to hear their success. They have The Pet Sound, but they are so much better than the others who attempt it. They are two guys who make layered guitars sound amazing because they add ummmph. Yeah, they make music with power, not sleeping pills. I think they’ve created a whole new approach to today’s sound. They have more of a New Wave approach then the Animal Collective bunch, which gives them an early U2 Boy sound. At first sound, they really have a sonic similarity to Surfer Blood, but there seems to be more depth and I think you’ll be glad you came to NBD today. I’m so glad I stumbled on these guys, because I think you’ll love em. Give em a whirl down below.
Hear:
“I Was Thinking” – I’ve read a good load of blogs about GH and it’s alarming how many people love this track. I admit it’s pretty darn good.
Prince Rama, formerly Prince Rama of Ayodhya, were raised on a commune in Florida, moved to Boston, now artfully creating in Brooklyn. They’re sound is ominous, spooky, arty and cool. I place them next to Jefferson Airplane and not as campy as Polyphonic Spree. They’re crafty and they pull off some very interesting 60’s world sounds. Shadow Temple, is their first album and you can pre-order it here before its release on September 14th.
Hear:
“”Lightening Fossil”
Band Members:
TARAKA LARSON
MICHAEL COLLINS
NIMAI LARSON
He says he’s from Bologna, Italy or Ottawa, Canada. Either way he’s shrouded in mystery but he’s gaining in buzz. Jonathan Clancy is His Clancyness and he’s a super fuzzy lo-fi performer with spacey, hazy vocals. When he wants to, he can be a vocal doppelganger for Ben Bridewell of Band of Horses. Frankly, I try really hard to find bands on NBD that separate themselves from the pack. Clancy is unique in his approach to simple melodies, clean crisp major chords on a Taylor Acoustic guitar. I say he sounds like Bridewell just so you get a sense of his emotional pulse. He has a way of drawing you in and really tugging at your tear ducts on “How It’s Done in Italy” but then something happens on his other posted track. “Summer Majestic” kicks it up a notch with a drum machine beat that makes you wanna move a bit. He pulls off a nice chillwave track and he transforms himself into a fantastic New Wave Bauhaus/Love And Rockets Daniel Ash, proving the dude’s got some depth. Really impressed.
The Acorn are one band that never leave my daily playlist since 2007. I’ve refused to share my favorite band, because sometimes I just want to keep things a secret. Well it wasn’t until this last weekend where I read this amazing review of The Acorn that I realized, I’m doing myself more harm than good by not sharing it with you. So here they are, the best new band of 2008, June & July & August. I won’t give them September yet.
The Acorn formed in Ottawa back in 2003, but 2007 was the first album that launched them to the forefront. They’re ambitious, mysterious and troubled. They’re soft pattering sounds, couple multiple acoustic guitars, brush drums and Rolf Klausener dented childhood. His mother, as profiled in their first album Glory Hope Mountain, barely survived birth, ran away from an abusive father and emigrated to Canada from Honduras.
Their newest album No Ghost is yet another gem. They recorded the album in a tiny little cottage in Ottawa, where they isolated themselves from the daily noise. The result is beautiful. They’ve embraced their Indie folk bones and the result is a cross between Travis, good U2, Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes layered with David Byrne vocals. My favorite track is “No Ghost” hear below.
It’s Monday morning and I was in the mood for something a little more emotional. Something a little out of character for me, but I puttered around the web and stumbled on this absolute beauty…Emma-Lee. Her album came out back in March 2009..I may be a little late to the game here, but I don’t care. She’s a Toronto native, one part Bonnie Raitt, one part Norah Jones, one part Chrissie Hynde and one part Rickie Lee Jones. She can sing with the electric guitars, full orchestras, or sound as if she’s recording in Nashville with a slide guitar. She makes the guitar sound better and she has a deep understanding of the music she loves. Even covers Skeeter Davis “The End of the World” in the YouTube video below. Her voice is sultry and big all at the same time, listen and follow please. She might even be a headliner at The NBD Inukshuk Festival.
Emma-Lee is accompanied by:
Devrim Eldelekli
Kevin Mendes
Mark McIntyre
Hear:
“Never Just A Dream”
Watch:
Follow: Emma-Lee site Facebook MySpace (Buy her new album Never Just a Dream from MySpace and get an autographed copy)
Teenage Fanclub fans rejoiced when the band announced and released their new album this year. They were probably the best kept secret of the 90s and even today. Grunge buried anything that didn’t have an amp with some level of distortion. I’m feeling like 2010 is shaping up to be similar. Bands with The Pet Sound, that melodic spacey repetition, with layers of sound taking the lead dominate today’s music market. Simple acoustic British bands are again being missed. Not anymore, Stornoway is a classic British sound, similar to Teenage Fanclub, Travis, Madness horns and Rufus Wainwritghtish vocals. Their poppy sound with clever songwriting bring us back to days of lore where music wasn’t managed by a Mac and albums were the only way to enjoy it. I miss those days, and Stornoway makes me feel good inside. Buy the new album Beachcomber’s Windowsillhere, came out on 8.11.10
Stornoway come from the Cowley area of Oxford, England and they are:
Brian Briggs – Vocals/Guitar
Rob Steadman – Drums
Ollie Steadman – Bass guitar
Jonathan Ouin – Keys/Strings
with:
Adam Briggs – Trumpet
Rahul Satija – Violin
Hear:
“Zorbing” single from 2009.
Watch:
“I Saw You Blink” – Happy upbeat Brits…love the feeling I get from this track
NewBandDay 