yes he recorded the entire record in this tranquil forest. James Vincent Mcmorrow deserves the accolades and the #2 Hummingbird Award
Best New Band of 2011
#2 Hummingbird Award – James Vincent McMorrow
He’s Irish, his songwriting is heart wrenching and he might be as good as Bon Iver. That’s a bold statement, but it should give you some context as to why James Vincent McMorrow is our 2nd favorite new artist of 2011. I would say he has the talent to rival Cody Chestnutt and James Blake. Buy Early In The Morning
Vitals:
Hometown: Dublin, Ireland
Members: James Vincent McMorrow
Sonic Soulmates: Bon Iver, Perfume Genius, Damon McMahon of Amen Dunes
Must Hear Tracks: “If I Had a Boat” – McMorrow’s smokey voice sings of freedom from that trapped place in his seaside cottage. Quite possibly my favorite track of the year.
“Like the River” – Winding through the acoustic mind of McMorrow sounds much like that or Ray Lamontagne.
“This Old Dark Machine” – Andrew Bird styled recordings. Love it.
Best New Singer/Songwriter James Vincent McMorrow photo by Julie Ling. julielingphotography.com
Band of the Day (2.7.11) James Vincent McMorrow
James Vincent McMorrow took Ireland by storm in 2010. He’s an offspring of the sad trapped indie folkster. Bon Iver was the leader in the physically trapped away from isolation singer songwriters. Bon Iver chose the chilly midwestern plains of Wisconsin. Then Damon McMahon of Amen Dunes trapped himself in a Catskills cabin. Now James Vincent McMorrow’s stunning collection of songs recorded over 5 months in an isolated house by the sea of Ireland. McMorrow wrote, performed and recorded the album by himself. He released it on a limited basis in Ireland in February 2010. Last week Americans were granted access to this perfection of sound. Buy Early In The Morning Now… I promise it will be your favorite record of 2011. Guaranteed!!! The uber DYI thing is great when you have the skills. I’ve heard many a record this year of others attempting this and failing miserably. I actually think James Vincent McMorrow crushed it, and I think he may be the most talented of the bunch. He adds clean acoustic guitars, wailing slide guitars, banjos and the pipes that rival James Blake, Neil Young and Cody Chestnutt. Our nomination for a Hummingbird has already been submitted.
Vitals:
Hometown: Dublin, Ireland
Members: James Vincent McMorrow
Sonic Soulmates: Bon Iver, Perfume Genius, Damon McMahon of Amen Dunes
Must Hear Tracks: “If I Had a Boat” – McMorrow’s smokey voice sings of freedom from that trapped place in his seaside cottage. Quite possibly my favorite track of the year.
“Like the River” – Winding through the acoustic mind of McMorrow sounds much like that or Ray Lamontagne.
“This Old Dark Machine” – Andrew Bird styled recordings. Love it.
Our favorite singer songwriter of 2013. Best New Band for sure!
Best New Bands of 2013 HUMMINGBIRD AWARD #3: Dustin Tebbutt
Every year there is one stand-out singer songwriter that turns our heads here at NBD. We recognized Justin Vernon or Tallest Man on Earth in 2010 or 2011’s James Vincent McMorrow. All of them had one thing in common, they went into isolation, vacuum packed their sadness and record EPs or LPs of wonderment. Justin went to the Wisconsin hills and Dustin Tebbutt packed it up and moved from his home in Australia to Sweden where he isolated himself in his songwriting. I’m sure all of them had a sad break-up or some tragic failing in life, if I could bottle it and sell it I would be a millionaire. It’s amazing that across the globe men suffer sadly in isolation and they all record beautiful records, usually somewhere very cold. Dustin recorded an EP of beauty and we can’t wait to see what he delivers in 2014.
Founded: 2013
Hometown: Australia to Sweden
Members: Dustin Tebbutt
Sonic Soulmates™: James Vincent McMorrow, Justin Vernon, Tallest Man on Earth
Trackables™: The EP released in 2013The Breach
Listen to “The Breach” & “Where I Find You”
The 4th Annual Hummingbirds – Best New Band of 2013
It’s been 12 months since we last spoke. Since the Hummingbird graced our presence and honored our 12 2012 BEST NEW BANDS. What are the Hummingbird Awards you ask? Well they are the DEFINITIVE AWARDS for the BEST NEW BAND OF THE YEAR. We’re on year four and we’re loving. Who are we? We are two passionate dudes who love their music, kids, wives and lives. We do this for fun, but we still buy vinyl, CDs and magazines. Why? Because we care about the music and the bands that create. Music is the subtext to life and when I think back on my life’s greatest moments I have visions of happiness, sadness and whatever, but it’a all accompanied with a soundtrack. We know you have it too or you wouldn’t be here to read our blog.
Editors Picks Top 10 Gems Albums and Tracks of 2011
So that’s it. One more year down the drain. Good, I love moving forward. This has been one of those odd years where the new bands were good, the sophomore albums were unusually FANTASTIC. Really, I had a hard time clearing our albums from Girls, Toro Y Moi, Cults, White Denim, etc. These albums are so great that I truly believe we are at a water shed moment in the music industry. Where the social connected world has created ARTIST, who can create and share. We listen, we judge, they create more and boom, we have great records. I hope the Apple created .99 cent song world is over and that we’re headed back to an age of records. Oh well. We’re not there yet, so I’ll share my final lists for 2011. It was a great year for the Muse, Turk and me. We have new little Hummingbirds fluttering around our homes, even more inspiration to weed out the Top 40 drivel and put on some quality music for our little ones to dance to.
EDITORS PICKS Top 10 Albums of 2011
10. Cults – Cults
9. White Denim – D
8. Young Galaxy – Shapeshifting
7. The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
6. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints
5. Yuck – Yuck
4. James Vincent McMorrow – Early In The Morning
3. Donkeys – Born With Stripes
2. Other Lives – Tamer Animals
1. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
If want to grab these and our Hummingbird winners on vinyl just grab them here
PLEASE SUPPORT THESE BANDS. I read a post from the lead singer of Pepper Rabbit last night and he stated “It’s very hard to be an “indie band” these days. You spend 100% of your time trying to get the band to another level, 75% of the time on tour losing money, and the rest of your time in either complete elation, or complete doubt.” So support them, love them, show them how much you care. Share them in this new socially connected world and claim them as yours. Claim them like a lover because they work their asses off to do it for you. I love new bands and I will spend every hour of my life finding something new for you.
The Arizona Turk's Gems of 2011 - Top 10 Tracks, Albums and Bands
Now that the Hummingbirds are distributed to the fine bands of 2011, it’s time for us to celebrate our Excavator Picks for 2011. The Excavator is a specialist only employed by NBD. They dig and dig and dig for the best tracks and bands.
Arizona Turk is the king of excavating, going to shows, buying records, digging the blogs and he finds some dandy gems. Here are his picks for the 2011 Top Tracks. Who better than the best gem of them all Arizona Turk.
Arizona Turk’s Gems of the Year – Top 10 Tracks of 2011
10. The Men “Bataille”
9. Trophy Wife “Canopy Shade”
8. Tribes “We Were Children”
7. Para Siempre “No Way Out”
6. Summer Camp “I Want You”
5. Sports Bar “Anisa, Nah She Don’t Live Here No More”
4. S.C.U.M. “Amber Hands”
3. Tours “Tough Lately”
2. Acid Kicks “Life Dreams”
1. I Heart Sharks “Summer”
Just missed:
Miles Kane Colour Of The Trap
Chapel Club Palace
Metromony The English Riviera…I know they have been around forever
The Antlers Burst Apart …couldn’t leave it off
The Men Leave Home
Sports Bar Demo
Cinemascopes Cinemascopes EP
My favorite album of the year:
The Horrors Skying
Welcome Back:
Death in Vegas Trans-Love-Energies
Best Reissues:
1. Talk Talk Laughing Stock (VINYL)
2. Ride Nowhere – 2 disc Rhino set
3. Archers Of Loaf Icky Mettle
4. Disco Inferno The 5 EPs
5. This Mortal Coil
Jeremy Charles thank you for this perfect photo of our #1 Best New Band of 2011. The Hummingbird Award is well deserved.
Best New Band of 2011
#1 Hummingbird Award – Other Lives
I like what we originally said back in May:
The band is really seven years old, forming under the name Kunek, they created an EP and made Stillwater, OK proudly scream for their hometown heroes. An album a name change and now a new record and Other Lives thrills America with a beautiful record. Think Wolf Parade, sprinkle the bells of Sigur Ros and a tad bit of National brooding without the guttoral leads. It’s a DNA favorite of Southern fried folk. Tamer Animals is a great record and one that I think you’ll be raving about all year. Buy the record here –> on LP
To add to that:
The band is so good, they deserve to be opening for Radiohead. They were the most viewed artist at NewBandDay in 2011, and the album never left our playlist. We’re not from Oklahoma, but I’ve been to Stillwater. I wish we saw them in 2009 when their first unnoticed record hit the streets. Stillwater, is a college town, but seriously something interesting is happening in the middle of the US. Even Radiohead noticed. We do tend to bend our own rules here…Other Lives’ first record was released in 2009, but to little fanfare. The blogs loved it, but it was mildly picked up. It took two records for the band to perfect The Red Dirt sound. Tamer Animals might be considered the water shed moment of the sound. It’s The National’s tear jerking vocals and songwriting, but the sounds are more layered and a little more airy. It doesn’t slip into the dream state, but it’s edges on it. Tabish’s vocals are so alluring, you can’t help but sing along, or hum along and you’re begging for the next track. The album is amazing and it’s worth a listen over and over and over and over…If you’re about to say “Other Lives isn’t a new band.” We say “We don’t care and you’re a lame music snob who needs to find another blog to read.” So take that and enjoy the best new band of 2011.
Vitals:
Hometown: Stillwater, OK
Members:
Jesse Tabish (piano, guitar, lead vocals)
Josh Onstott (bass, organ, Backing vocals)
Jenny Hsu (cello, piano, Backing Vocals)
Colby Owens (drums)
Jonathon Mooney (piano,violin, guitar)
Sonic Soulmates™: Mercury Rev, The National, Wolf Parade
Trackables™:
“For 12 (Demo)” – The song that made Thom Yorke stop for a listen.
A Hummingbird is the most prestigious award a new band can receive. Hands down, if you win one, your life will never be the same.
First of all let me thank you, again! This is the Second Annual Hummingbird Awards and we owe it to you. This has been an amazing year for us here at NBD. We profiled another 200 bands, bands have thanked us and you fans have been supported us. So to close out this year, we’re going to count ’em down STARTING NOW. It’s time, we’ve taken the last week to study our picks. We’ve found a few things..
1. The Rock Band rose from the ashes and then died again…
2. This may be the year of the AMAZING female and XY/XX duo. Screw that lilith crap.
3. Telling stories are so much better when you’re 60+
4. It doesn’t take much these days to become a star…slinger
5. The singer songwriter will never die
6. Elvis isn’t dead he may have just been reborn in an opium den
7. Arizona Turk has a lot to say about the list…though he’s very quiet these days
8. The Ark is now full
9. Our favorite band of the year is another shocker
10. Hummingbirds are amazing birds…Your Band Wants To Win a Hummingbird!
Battery about to die and it's at :11 minutes for the 11 best of 2011...eerie.
I can’t wait until next week. I’m anxious and excited and I just want to get it over with…you understand, the anticipation to tell someone some good news. So I’m all alone in a dark hotel room, I think the electricity just crapped out on me, so it means I have :11 minutes on my Mac to make this shizzle fo real. SO here it is, 11 Bands for 2011 in all it’s glory… THE BEST OF 2011…SO FAR
11. Other Lives – This is the band that won’t leave my playlists for 2011. I love them hard.
“Tamer Animals”
10. Suuns – 2010 year end dandies have captured our hearts in 2011.
“Arena”
9. Code Pie – The BSS of 2011. Canadian love children with layered sounds.
“Love Meets Rage”
8. Widowspeak – We were there in the beginning. We’ve heard from the fans and we’ve watched them skyrocket up our PAGEVIEW list. Wow. They have more traffic then all of the 2011 bands combined. Just listen.
“Harsh Realm”
7. Sun Airway – Found them to be the most delightful band of 2011. I think they’ll move up the charts by year end.
“Waiting On You”
6. The Vaccines – They are the ROCK darlings of 2011 and if you haven’t heard their singles then you’re trapped in a Chilean coal mine.
“Blow it Up”
5. The Antlers – One word “FINALLY” they’ve hit the hipster mainstage. We love them.
“Rolled Together”
4. The Donkeys – The Turk found these San Diego stoney garage boys.
“I Like the Way You Walk”
3. Seapony – The Trio from Seattle is our Tennis of 2011. So Spectory good.
“Always” – A little early Cure guitar riff.
2. James Vincent McMorrow – Do you know me? Really have you been reading us for awhile? Then you know we love Singer/Songwriters and JVM is better than them all this year.
“If I Had A Boat” – Try not to tear up.
1. Star Slinger – Dude has been a DJ for less than a year and his stuff is otherworldly.
“Mornin'”
GIVING YOU THE BIRD…THE WHOLE 2011…SO FAR PLAYLIST —>
Battery about to die and it's at :11 minutes for the 11 best of 2011...eerie.
I can’t wait until next week. I’m anxious and excited and I just want to get it over with…you understand, the anticipation to tell someone some good news. So I’m all alone in a dark hotel room, I think the electricity just crapped out on me, so it means I have :11 minutes on my Mac to make this shizzle fo real. SO here it is, 11 Bands for 2011 in all it’s glory… THE BEST OF 2011…SO FAR
11. Other Lives – This is the band that won’t leave my playlists for 2011. I love them hard.
“Tamer Animals”
10. Suuns – 2010 year end dandies have captured our hearts in 2011.
“Arena”
9. Code Pie – The BSS of 2011. Canadian love children with layered sounds.
“Love Meets Rage”
8. Widowspeak – We were there in the beginning. We’ve heard from the fans and we’ve watched them skyrocket up our PAGEVIEW list. Wow. They have more traffic then all of the 2011 bands combined. Just listen.
“Harsh Realm”
7. Sun Airway – Found them to be the most delightful band of 2011. I think they’ll move up the charts by year end.
“Waiting On You”
6. The Vaccines – They are the ROCK darlings of 2011 and if you haven’t heard their singles then you’re trapped in a Chilean coal mine.
“Blow it Up”
5. The Antlers – One word “FINALLY” they’ve hit the hipster mainstage. We love them.
“Rolled Together”
4. The Donkeys – The Turk found these San Diego stoney garage boys.
“I Like the Way You Walk”
3. Seapony – The Trio from Seattle is our Tennis of 2011. So Spectory good.
“Always” – A little early Cure guitar riff.
2. James Vincent McMorrow – Do you know me? Really have you been reading us for awhile? Then you know we love Singer/Songwriters and JVM is better than them all this year.
“If I Had A Boat” – Try not to tear up.
1. Star Slinger – Dude has been a DJ for less than a year and his stuff is otherworldly.
“Mornin'”
GIVING YOU THE BIRD…THE WHOLE 2011…SO FAR PLAYLIST —>
The Award Given to the Best New Bands Every Year since 2010
A Hummingbird is the most prestigious award a new band can receive. Hands down, if you win one, your life will never be the same. Who to coerce? Me the Editor and The Arizona Turk. This is the definitive list of best new artists every year.
NewBandDay 